Hop To It!

Between battling a major round of insomnia, and the most hectic times at work in quite a while, I have not been posting as regularly to the blog as usual. Politics have reached new lows of slinging mud...no, more like slinging crap...especially from the McCain campaign. So let's look at something a bit easier on the brain.

Today, one of the little bunny rabbits that live under our trees was sitting out in the yard, looking all fat and happy. I don't know if this is a pregnant bunny, or just one that is well fed on my poor lawn, but in any case, it is cute. That said, if times get tougher, this could begin to look less like a cute little bunny, and start looking more like dinner and four "good luck" keychains, cotton tail notwithstanding!

Poor Pa Kent! Killed Off Again!

Let's take a quick break from politics and economics. Too much of that can make your head hurt!

As I was growing up, the Superman mythos was an important part of my childhood. When comic books were from 10 cents to 12 cents each, even my modest allowance of 75 cents a week would buy several comics. I loved the characters of the DC line; Superman the most, but also Batman, Aquaman, and Green Lantern.

The Superman story line and continuity was as familiar as if it were my own life. Jor-El, the leading scientist of the planet Krypton, which revolved around a distant red sun, warned the Science Council that the planet would soon explode. No one believed him, so Jor-El and his wife Lara, placed their baby son, Kal-El, into an experimental rocket and sent him to Earth, where he was adopted by the elderly Jonathan and Martha Kent, who lived on a farm just outside Smallville, U.S.A. The Kent's named the space child Clark, and he had a career as Superboy. After his foster parents died, Clark moved to Metropolis to work for The Daily Planet newspaper. All this was immutable comic book reality. Then came John Byrne.

Byrne was hired away from Marvel Comics to do a total reboot of Superman in 1986. While in some ways the reimagining of the character was a welcome relief to bring about a more interesting and limited version, it was a major change, doing away with such characters as Superboy, Supergirl, Krypto, the bottle city of Kandor. In fact, the entire DC Universe was redone via the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" storyline crossing all DC titles. But two characters came out of the relaunch better than before...Ma and Pa Kent were still alive back in Smallville, and Superman was able to go home for visits.

The 1978 film, Superman, starred Glenn Ford as Jonathan Kent, who died of a heart attack. Not even his son's super powers could save him. In the television series, Smallville, Jonathan Kent, as portrayed by John Schneider, has been killed off. So this week, Jonathan is killed off once again in Action Comics #870.

So the moral of the story is, it isn't good to be either Superman's real father, who died on Krypton; nor his Earth father, Jonathan Kent, who is now dead for the fourth time. Much better to be Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen.

From Nixonian to "Bleeding Heart Liberal"

If you read this blog regularly, you know I lean politically pretty hard to the left. But what you may not know is that this wasn't always so. A combination of my evolving views and life experiences, along with a takeover of the GOP by more radical right elements resulted in a shift in my views. You may ask yourself how does a Reagan Republican become a Democrat? There are probably stories how people have done this. For anyone interested, this is mine.

Early Years

I was politically-aware at an early age. I was seven years old during the 1960 election campaign, and vividly remember that my parents supporting Vice President Richard Nixon for the Presidency. Since Mom & Dad were backing Nixon, in my young mind, that was the obvious and only rational choice, right? When I found out from the kids next door that their family was for Kennedy, it actually caused some playtime ill-will, since they had the same view of their parents’ choice as I had of mine. Yet none of us were smart enough to tell you a single issue in the campaign. Like any other children, our views on politics, religion, morality, and how the world should be, was inherited from the environment of our respective homes.

When my parents went to cast their ballot for Nixon in 1960, my younger sisters and I had to stand with them in what seemed to be an infinitely long line of people waiting to vote. When we finally got to the front of the line, a poll tax had to be paid in order to cast a ballot. Poll taxes were instituted shortly after Reconstruction in 11 southern states as a way to keep blacks and poor whites from voting. The growing civil rights movement had brought the issue to the forefront, and by 1962, Congress sent a proposed constitutional amendment that would abolish the poll tax, to the states for ratification. This became the 24th Amendment upon ratification on January 23, 1964. The impact on national elections was felt in the five states that still had poll taxes, one of them being Texas, the state where we lived at the time.

In 1964, since my parents were for Barry Goldwater, so was I (not that it mattered who an eleven year old child was for). The political leanings I was taught at home were so ingrained, that I never really questioned them growing up. Even during my teen years, and with the dark specter of possibly being drafted to fight in Viet Nam, I unquestioningly assimilated the Republican mindset.

The events of 1968 were compelling, and I was a bit put off by Nixon’s “secret plan” to end the Vietnam War if he were elected. It turns out there was no secret plan, and the war dragged on during his first term. The assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Democratic Presidential candidate, Senator Robert F. Kennedy; along with the protests on college campuses across the country, coupled with the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago showed that the nation was experiencing a time of major unrest and political upheaval. The incumbent President Lyndon Johnson declined to run for a second term, as the war took its political toll on him. The Democratic mantle fell to Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Between Humphrey and Nixon, neither one got me really excited, but alas, I was still too young for any of it to matter.

When the Ohio National Guard opened fire on protesting students at Kent State University in 1970, it horrified me. Four students were killed, and nine others wounded. You cannot ignore something like that. I see it all quite differently now, but at the time, I was either too young or too apathetic to really dig into what happened. Had I known then what I know now, I would never have supported the President for re-election.

Young Adulthood, The Draft, and The Rise & Fall of Nixon

The 1972 elections were the first to be held after ratification of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which granted the vote to citizens who were at least 18 years old. As 19-year-old college student, I was ready and eager to participate in the political process. I was one of the few lonely campaigners on my campus for the re-election of President Nixon. I recall telling my dad that if the upcoming election were decided by my fellow students, Senator McGovern would win overwhelmingly. His reply was something like, “Well, those students won’t be deciding the election.” As it turned out, he was right, as Nixon won re-election in a landslide, only to resign a short time into his second term in the disgrace of the Watergate scandal.

At the time, I was not a fan of Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern , and given the Nixon landslide of 1972, neither were very many others. His early gaffes surrounding the abortive selection of Senator Thomas Eagleton as running mate, and his hasty replacement with Sargent Shriver won him few fans. Then his promise to immediately withdraw from Viet Nam within 90 days of his inauguration as President, and a promise to travel to Hanoi to beg for the release of our prisoners of war, did him in. At least it did for me. Despite my strong desire for an end to the war, I felt (and still do) that it was beneath the President of the United States to effect an immediate surrender, and then to travel to the “enemy” capital to grovel at the feet of Ho Chi Minh.

A rite of passage for young men when they reached age 18 was registering with the draft board. How well I remember the day I went in. The war was largely executed by reluctant recruits drafted into service. As I came of age, the Selective Service System started using a lottery system to determine the order of call up into coercive induction. It was a lottery you definitely didn't want to win. Prior to the lottery, men were called up by local draft boards, starting with the oldest eligible men first. They started with the 25 year olds and worked down from there.

The lottery changed all that, including the scrapping of the policy of starting with the older guys first. The initial lottery was held in December 1969 to cover all men born between 1944 and 1950. Subsequent lotteries were conducted for the next three years, which were for a single year only. As I was born in 1953, I was in the fourth, and final, lottery for the Vietnam-era draft. It was held in February of 1972 at the start of my second freshman semester in college. My birthday came up about one-third of the way down the list, effectively meaning I was not very likely to be drafted, but it was still possible. As it turned out, the year my age group would have been called up was 1973, the year the draft was finally eliminated and the United States transitioned to an all volunteer military. While I am sure I would have submitted to the draft had things worked out differently, today I have a very different view of what was going on at the time, and have a deep respect for both those who fought, and for those who protested against the unjust war in south-east Asia.

At the time, I bought into the Nixon administration's assertion of the “domino theory”. Simply stated, the idea was that if we were to leave Viet Nam, the Communist Chinese Army and their North Vietnamese proxies, would continue to take over nation after nation until we would be battling them in downtown Los Angeles. (We hear the same rhetoric from George W. Bush today, with lines such as “We are fighting them over there, so that we don’t have to fight them here.”) Over time, I came to the realization that the Vietnam War was a tragic mistake and a horrible foreign policy blunder which cost this nation dearly in resources and in lives needlessly cut short.

On the political front, I was happy at the re-election of President Nixon. I think my little 1963 Rambler was the only car on my university campus to sport a bumper sticker proclaiming “Re-Elect The President.” I was likewise sadly disappointed as the misdeeds of Watergate eventually led to the Oval Office itself. As the walls were closing in on the President, my dad wrote him a letter strongly urging him to fight the charges and not to resign. After the revelations of the White House tapes and the passage of Articles of Impeachment, the inevitable happened. I will always remember that while visiting my grandparents in Oklahoma, I watched the President of the United States resign his office, and depart for California the following day.

Skipping an Election

Despite the resignation of Richard Nixon, I still believed that the Republican Party was the party that anyone with any sense would support. Surely Nixon had just been caught up in his own “Imperial Presidency”. So when America's bicentennial year brought the 1976 elections, I was pulling for President Ford to legitimize his claim to the office of President by actually being elected to it. Even so, I was not an enthusiastic Ford supporter, and that blasé attitude, led to my sitting out the actual election. I had a busy day at work on election day, and somehow in my mind believed that there was no way that Georgia Democrat Jimmy Carter, would win anyway. So for the first (and only) time, I didn't go to vote. Much to my dismay, I felt somewhat responsible when later that night, the television networks declared that the Georgia governor had beaten America's first unelected President. I wondered how many others did what I did, resulting in this outcome.

As it turns out, years later I would meet former President Gerald Ford when I had the chance to ask him a few questions while covering a GOP fund raiser in Houston when I was a political reporter at KTRH Radio. The Secret Service agents thoroughly searched me and my tape recorder before letting me in. I didn't tell him that I felt somewhat responsible for his defeat in his bid to be elected.

1980 and the Reagan Revolution

The 1980 election was my chance to redeem my sitting out in 1976. I was not just voting against President Carter. I was energized by Ronald Reagan. As a child, I remembered Reagan as the host of one of my favorite television programs, Death Valley Days, sponsored by 20-Mule Team Borax. Reagan took over the program from the original host, Stanley Andrews as “The Old Ranger”, following Andrews' departure in 1965.

I had also noticed Reagan in the '76 Republican primary season, and was leaning toward supporting him, but in the final analysis, felt the incumbent Ford would have a better chance of winning. In the interim, Reagan hosted a talk radio program which kept him in the forefront of political discussion, and I ended up enthusiastically backing him when he gained the GOP nomination in 1980.

Reagan was a great speaker who clearly laid out his vision of America, and I bought it all. Even the whole “trickle down” Reaganomics” seemed like it just might work. Unfortunately, the trickle down became a stream of bubble up, giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, resulting in a redistribution of wealth that continues to the present. If only I knew then what I know now!

I voted for Reagan in both 1980 and 1984, and seriously wished in 1988 that he could run for a third term in office. I would have voted for him. I was not that impressed with the whiny-sounding Vice President, George Herbert Walker Bush. Still he ended up as the GOP nominee, so I voted for him, hoping he would continue the Reagan policies, even if he were not made of the same Presidential timber as President Reagan. I voted for him again in 1992. It would be the last time to date that I gave my vote to a Republican for President of the United States.

When Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton won the 1992 election, I was very worried about the future of the nation. While President Clinton largely won me over during his eight years in office, I never voted for him. By the time he ran for re-election in 1996, I had undergone an epiphany of sorts, but it wasn't the Democratic Party that garnered my support.

The Libertarian Years: 1996 – 2000

After developing an intense interest in studying the Constitution, I became convinced that the government that governs best is the one that governs least. By 1996, I decided to back the Libertarian Party. I was (and still am) drawn toward their ideas of liberty. Where the Constitution is silent, leave matters up to the state. Why should the government outlaw personal behaviors where no one else is harmed. Why are “victimless crimes” deemed to be crimes at all?

I still hold to many, if not most, Libertarian Party ideals. I don't believe the government has any business regulating things legal adults may decide for themselves, like marriage, prostitution, pornography, seat belts, motorcycle helmets, or executing the so-called “War on Drugs”. Let me be clear; I have never been paid for the services of a prostitute. I have never used illicit drugs, even as a teen coming of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This is not a pat on the back for me. These things just never held any interest for me, and I knew they were something I didn't want to have in my life. I also am only speaking of consenting adults of legal age. Children who are not of majority age should always be protected by the state where their parents and guardians are lax or negligent.

In both 1996 and 2000, I voted for the late Libertarian, Harry Browne. I went to a Browne rally at a hotel in Englewood, Colorado. I gave to his campaign. Yes, I knew Harry wouldn't win. But that wasn't the point. Third party candidates have virtually no chance of winning the White House. However, I don't consider those votes “wasted”. Third parties succeed not so much by winning elections. They make their mark by garnering enough votes to push their ideals into the mainstream where they may be adopted by one of the two major parties.

The Shift Continues – On to the Democratic Party

As mentioned, in 2000 I voted for neither Texas governor George W. Bush, nor for Vice President Gore. But given the ignorance and corruption that I perceived in the second President Bush and his team, I knew that the only way to make a difference in 2004 was to vote for the only party with a chance of unseating him. Starting with his father’s political machine steering the system to award “W” the White House, to his misguided invasion and occupation of Iraq, to the no-bid contracts for his cronies, to the torture and detainment of prisoners, to the falsely-named USA PATRIOT Act which legitimized the government spying on American citizens, this was easily the worst administration in my lifetime; and quickly moving toward the absolute bottom of the heap. Watching the Republican National Convention in 2004, I was particularly sick to my stomach over how the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001 were used for political purposes. I was incensed at how some widows of those attacks were trotted out as stage props for the GOP’s political propaganda machine.

Top it all off with the vitriol and absolute lies continually churned out by the GOP, and they lost me for good. I cannot support the type of political tactics that the late Lee Atwater renounced on his death bed, the tactics employed by the likes of Karl Rove, the tactics that have destroyed rational political discourse in this country.

Are the Democrats perfect? Absolutely they are not. But I find that the GOP is the party of pure greed. The attitude of “I got mine, so screw you” doesn’t cut it with me. America has to work for all. We have to be a compassionate society. George W. Bush claimed he was a “compassionate conservative”. He is not. Is it compassion to deny children healthcare while spending hundreds of billions on an invasion and occupation? Is it compassion to watch our elderly making choices between food and medicine, while giving our taxes to your buddies via “no-bid” contracts?

Call it socialism if you like, but as I often say, some things are better done collectively than individually. I don’t have my own fire department. I don’t have my own air force. Yes, we will always have the poor, but do we have to continue to ignore their plight? Compassion dictates that we use the resources of this nation to the betterment of all, not just those whose life circumstances have put them in positions of great wealth and power. This is one other contributing factor to my parting with the Libertarian Party. They embrace too much to the idea that you are on your own.

Until we get rid of the “Me first, screw you, I don’t want my money to be helping you” attitude that has taken over the Republican party, we will continue our decline toward becoming a second-rate nation. I hope that historians don’t look back on these times as the beginning of the end of America’s greatness. We are better than that.

The Real VP Debate

For those of you who may have missed it, here is the Vice Presidential debate, unfiltered SNL style!

A Maxim For Facing Adversity

I saw where the mayor of Parker, Colorado was talking about the current economic situation, and he repeated the oft-stated maxim that "What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger." The veracity of that idea is in doubt, as it could be that what doesn't kill you, only makes you so miserable that you wished that it did. Or perhaps it is only half the story. For example, one could finish the statement thusly:

"What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger. But that which does kill you, well . . . kills you."

Cheerfully yours,
Randy

See Ya O. J.

The Moody Blues sang, "Isn't life strange, a turn of the page, can read like before, can we ask for more." Well, the turn of the page didn't quite read like before for former football star, former actor, former murder suspect, former golf course hunter for the "real killers" , and now convicted armed robber O. J. Simpson. Thirteen years to the day from his acquittal for the brutal slashing murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman, O.J. has been found guilty of armed robbery in Las Vegas.

Jurors deliberated 13 hours before finding Simpson guilty of all 12 counts against him. Based on his age of 61, he could conceivably spend the rest of his life in prison. While I believed the evidence proved his guilt in the murders, the jurors found him not guilty. That decision set him free to grab a golf cart and begin his hunt for the "real killers". Of course, besides enjoying a round of 18 holes while on the hunt., O.J. has been in trouble for one thing after another over the intervening years.

Last year, Simpson had the cajones to publish "If I Did It", a book telling how he would have done the killings "if" he had done them. The outrage caused a movie based on the book to not be released, and the Goldman's eventually got the rights to the tome.

So, maybe O.J. thought he was invincible, that he could beat any rap against him. But this time there were no slow band of police cars chasing a creeping white Bronco at slow speed. Only the sight of O.J. being led out of the courtroom in handcuffs to await sentencing for the counts of which he has been found guilty. I am sure the Brown and Goldman families will sleep well tonight. Oh, there might be a tee time available at his favorite golf course in Miami. O.J. won't be taking it.

The Veepstakes Debate

I had many thoughts while watching Governor Palin debate with Senator Biden last night. I was planning on writing an analysis of the event myself, but the editorial in The New York Times said it so well, that I will provide a link here to their review.

I will say that while Ms. Palin avoided any major flubs (short of calling the senator from Delaware "Senator O'Biden"), she didn't show any substantive understanding of either foreign or domestic issues. It was also apparent by her refusing to answer the questions, and just sticking to her rehearsed answers, that she still cannot think on her feet. This is demonstrated in her interviews, and that her handlers obviously coached her to stick to the GOP talking points and false accusations. I can almost hear them now..."Sarah, whatever you do, don't try to answer the questions. Here is what you say, and do NOT vary from it."

If the Republicans win the presidential elections in November, we had all better wish, hope, or pray to whatever deities we believe may or may not exist, that the new President stays healthy enough to complete his term in office. If Palin were to ascent to the Presidency of the United States, would it be a disaster? To use the governor's own words, "You betcha!"

Maverick McCain

Okay, enough is enough! I between Senator McCain and his running mate proclaiming him to be a "Maverick", it's getting a bit tired. Maybe they have been watching too many TV westerns. When I think of Maverick, I think of this guy.


"Maverick" McCain's plan for raising taxes on the middle class

Or maybe we should be voting for this other guy, Lucas McCain, who always set the bad guys straight on "The Rifleman".


Vote McCain! LUCAS McCain!

Flags Over Larimer

Early last month, I had to work at my employer's booth at the CEDIA Expo in downtown Denver. Some of the days, I took Denver RTD's Light Rail system to the Colorado Convention Center, but on the Sunday of the show, RTD's schedule didn't work out. So, I drove downtown, and while there, I saw a display of state flags hung over Larimer Street left over from the Democratic National Convention. I pointed my cell phone camera and snapped this photo while driving, so it isn't a masterpiece picture.

However, I wonder how many other people notice the trivial things that I see. Maybe a lot, maybe only a few. But take a look at the picture. Do you notice anything? I noticed it before I took the picture, which is one reason I did so. After you look, keep reading and I will share what I see.

The thing I saw is the order of the flags. I didn't see all the way up the street, but notice the closest row. I quickly noticed it had US territorial flags for American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It also has the flags of the states of Hawaii and Alaska, our 50th and 49th states. Then look at the next row, and you see starting on your left, the flags of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington, the 48th through 42nd states admitted to the union, respectively. So obviously, these flags were hung in order of admission, followed by the non-state U.S. flags, and we are looking from the "wrong direction". I have no doubt that if we went to the other end of the block, Delaware's flag would have been the first one on the first row (I learned about that when I was a schoolchild in that state, where we celebrated "Delaware Day" every December 7, the date the Diamond State became the first one to ratify the Constitution of the United States).

Trivial? Yes. But I wonder if most people seeing this sight just thought it was a random collection of state flags. I think that my mind works in unusual ways. Maybe that's good, maybe not.

C&O Canal Bike Ride on CNN.com

About a month ago, I posted some pictures from in and around Cumberland, Maryland as the lovely spouse and I passed through going to and coming back from her parents' home in West Virginia. I lived in Cumberland from 1972-1976, and it remains one of my favorite towns in America. Today on CNN.com, the town is featured as part of a travel story about biking the towpath of the historic Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. I thought I would start off October by sharing a link to the story, so CLICK HERE to read it. There are also 3 photos featured, the second of which is an AP Photo of the "Blue Bridge" that I posted my photo of, that connects Cumberland to Ridgeley, WV.

It's a nice story, and makes me want to make the bike journey. Enjoy!

Do You WaMu?

Last week, a few days after the debacle that was Washington Mutual, I opened the mailbox and what did I see? A preapproved credit card offer from WaMu! Oh boy, oh boy! Easy credit from a defunct bank! Then watching MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olberman" last night, they were talking about the takeover of troubled Wachovia Bank by Citigroup. Then the commercials came on, and there was a beautifully-produced spot trying to convince me to get a credit card from Wachovia, asking "Are you with Wachovia?".

Maybe someone will try to sell me a Plymouth today. Or perhaps I will get a solicitation from MCI. Looks like media campaigns are hard to stop once they get going! The thing with WaMu, they were spending a fortune. Both I and the Lovely Spouse got offers from them at least once a week, and we don't, and never have had, any business dealings with them. Maybe they should have saved the cost of all that postage and printing!

Failed Oilman Officially Nation's Worst President!

Sometimes the end can come swiftly. I am hoping we are not on the precipice of the end of the United States as we have known it. This abject and total failure of a President who has occasionally sat in the Oval Office over the past eight years has driven the nation into massive debt when he attacked and occupied the wrong nation; gutted civil liberties of American citizens; and now has misled us to the verge of our entire economic system going down and taking us all with it.

Now while I know Bush didn't do it all by his ignorant little self, it has been said when the team is losing, the coach takes the blame. And Bush has been much more than a coach, but more of an active participant, instigator, and cheerleader for the failed policies of his administration.

Now I am no economist, so perhaps the greedy investment bankers have gotten us to the point where without government (us) bailing them out, the economy could sink into the abyss. Or perhaps it is more of Bush's scare tactics, the same tactics he used to convince Congress that we should invade Iraq. The same scare tactics used to spy on innocent Americans. The same scare tactics used to kill habeas corpus and to put people in prison with no charges, no legal representation, and no date for a hearing or release. Maybe the Bush who cried wolf is partially right this time, but who knows?

The Republican drive to deregulate everything in sight, including these investment banks, has led us to this point. When the history of these times is written, I believe it will make an interesting case study as to how quickly a powerful nation like the United States imploded. I also believe history will record that the Bush administration was not only worse than that of Herbert Hoover, but will rank at the bottom with that of James Buchannan who saw the republic disintegrate as states began to secede from the union, and civil war broke out.

It was largely deficit spending in an arms race that led to the demise of the Soviet Union. I don't think these United States are far from a similar fate themselves.

Sadly, despite Bush's claim that Al Qaeda hates us for our freedom, that is not the problem. Do you think Osama bin Laden was sitting around Tora Bora one day and happened to read the Bill of Rights and think, "Man I hate these people for this. Let's attack them!"? The 9/11 attacks on America were targeted at our economy as much as anything else. The Bush war deficits and the greed of these capitalists have handed the victory to bin Laden. Game over. Please insert $700-Billion to continue playing.

As for today's vote in the House of Representatives to deny the passage of the bailout bill, I believe it to be one of those instances of even some of those members voting against it were hoping someone else would vote for it. They are too concerned with their own jobs to worry about yours and mine. When it gets down to it, if we enter another Great Depression, it is those of us who did nothing wrong who will pay the price. It will be our children and grandchildren who will pay the price; and who will be left to figure out how to fix the mess we are leaving behind.

Regardless of the outcome we have seen that a purely socialist economy doesn't work, and now we see the same thing about an unregulated capitalist economy. As I have often said, some things work better as collectively-provided services (e.g. police, fire protection, air traffic control, national health care, etc.) The unfettered capitalist model eventually destroys the nation by taking from the middle class and redistributing it to the top, until the entire top heavy mess collapses upon itself. If the economy collapses, that will make twice in a mere 79 years. Greed is its own undoing. Though I am an ardent critic of religion, there are some nuggets of wisdom in the various sacred texts. The New Testament book of I Timothy says that "the love of money is the root of all evil." I think we see some of that playing out right before our astonished eyes.