Random Notes from a Crank

I'd like for someone to give me a scientific explanation as to why chili tastes better after you've cooked it, stored it in the refrigerator, and eaten it later.

Here are some interesting stats and factoids from the May Harper's Index:

• Number of weeks the median American head of household had to work to support a middle-class family in 1985: 40
• In 2022: 62
• Percentage increase over the past two decades in the number of Americans over 65 in the labor force: 132
• Percentage increase since 2011 in the number of managers in the U.S. labor force: 32
• Factor by which this is more than the overall increase in U.S. workers: 2.5 

And here are some more the April 3/10 issue of The Nation:

• Amount the United States spent on its military in 2020: 778 billion
• Number of Iraqi citizens killed in direct war-related violence since the 2003 U.S. invasion: 275,000
• Amount the U.S. paid private companies for products and services during the Iraq War between 2003 and 2007: 85 billion
• Estimated number of people killed directly in major U.S. wars since September 11, 2001: 900,000

The Nation had a good reprint of their editorial in that issue about how they came out against the Iraq War. What a waste of lives and resources. We never should have invaded Iraq, a position I shared with the editorial staff of The Nation.

Random Notes from a Crank

Any American citizen needs to pick up the June issue of Harper's because one of the articles is a forum done at West Point. The title in the magazine is "Combat High: America's Addiction to War." The panel was made up of former soldiers, most of whom saw combat in Afghanistan and/or Iraq. 

Here are some snippets that should get your attention: 

• Dempsey: "Americans are beset by an attitude of respectful indifference."
• Kreps: "The United States has its tentacles everywhere."
• Dempsey: "It is utterly absurd. It ties in with the idea that the military can do no wrong."
• Dempsey: "Sadly, being played for suckers in other people's wars might just be the purest expression of American exceptionalism." 
• Bacevich: "To acknowledge that is to commit what, in the context of our civil religion, is a mortal sin."
• Daddis: "We have moved from having respect for the military to being unable to criticize it." 
• Daddis: "It's not a job ~ it's a drug. We've addicted our soldiers to war, and to the cycle of war. The costs of being addicted ~ damaging soldiers' psyches, tearing families apart, creating an unhealthy relationship between soldiers and the adrenaline rush of combat ~ are hidden until later." 
• Dempsey: "He's [Moscow Don] almost irrelevant to the argument. He was probably faced with, 'Do you want to be seen as a loser, or do you want to just keep bombing for a couple of years? And keep bragging about how great you are?" 

In addition, the issue has an essay that Seymour Hersh adapted from his memoir. It's about his dogged pursuit of his first and subsequent articles about the My Lai massacre, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. It's titled "Looking for Calley: How a Young Journalist Untangled the Riddle of My Lai." 

On a dumb lark the other day, I bought a tiny bottle of Old Camp Peach Pecan whiskey at my local liquor store. I poured it into a highball glass, took a drink, and hated it immediately. I dumped it out in the sink. 

Why do all these bourbon companies have to corrupt perfectly good whiskey with flavorings? Honey, blackberry, cinnamon, and whatnot are adulterating perfectly fine bourbon. What a shame. The fact of the matter is though that probably most of concoctions use some bourbon and then use grain neutral spirits to make it cheaper and thus not true bourbon. Atrocious.  

Random Notes from a Crank

I'm trying to invent a new word. This word needs to concisely sum up this feeling: a professor who has taught for many years sees freshmen making bad decisions that he or she has seen year after year, but he or she has a sense of futility that whatever advice he or she might give is not going to be heeded. 

If you have any ideas for the new word that exemplifies that feeling, please post in the comments. 

Here are some intriguing data points from September's "Harper's Index":

• Amount that Carrier promised to invest in an Indiana plan in a deal with Donald Trump to save domestic jobs: $16,000,000
• Percentage of that money that will be used for automation: 100
• Amount taxpayers spent in 2013 on food stamps, Medicaid, and housing assistance for Walmart employees: $6,200,000,000

This evening I watched the final episode of the Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's documentary The Vietnam War. The ten-episode film is one of the most poignant and powerful documentaries I've ever watched. When they talked about the Vietnam Memorial tonight, I choked up and then started crying. 

Random Notes from a Crank

If you'd like to read a detailed, informative, and intelligent perspective on MoscowDon's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, read "Trump Flip-Flops on Afghanistan, Opts for Years-Long Quagmire." Cole relates six reasons why the Taliban is so powerful, reasons why providing more troops isn't going to do much at all. The last sentence is acerbic but spot on: "If Afghanistan's curses are corruption, fanatical identity politics and a hatred of globalization, its more problematic organizations resemble most of all ... Trump's base." 

In somewhat more positive new, Grist reports that "California Defies the Claim that Environmental Regulation Kills Economic Growth." The state's cap-and-trade law is reducing emissions and spurring innovation. As the report's main author relates, “The narrative that strict environmental policies that impact large parts of the economy are always bad is simply not the case. These policies have pushed innovation, and innovation is always good in a capitalist system.”

Unfortunately, that report doesn't take into account California's water problems. 

And don't get me started on Arizona. 

Music Friday: "Gimme Shelter"

It a Rolling Stones kind of morning, folks. 

Here's a Stones song set to footage of Vietnam. 



Whenever I hear someone use the phrase "winning hearts and minds," I think about footage like this.