Loving my bird

I rarely find myself wrestling with a topic for a post. My difficulty runs more along the lines of how to say a thing rather than actually finding something to talk about. As I have mentioned in the recent past, this web log is the only outlet I have to let my thoughts run free. In a way it's kind of similar to the casual conversations you have during the day with your neighbors, co- workers or the complete strangers you might happen to meet at the bus stop or train platform.
So I have to consider something:

How much of myself do I want to expose to the world?

There are limits to how much truth one is willing to tell and occasionally there are even stricter limits as to how much someone wants to hear. I have to occasionally remind students that when most folks ask, "How are you, today?" they are just being polite. They really don't want to hear about your stomach virus or erythrodermic psoriasis. Well, maybe they would, but only if you were Will Smith or Jenna Jameson.

On the other hand the truth can often be a harsh mistress, demanding from us acceptance or understanding of things we'd rather not hear. At the moment I don't want to get into an epistemological discussion of what exactly truth is nor is it germane to deduce whether or not subjectivity vs. objectivity influences the outcome of what we think. Yet if you believe that is an important point and feel uncomfortable with the nonclementure, you can substitute the word 'opinion' for 'truth' and save us all a lot of trouble.

Where does one draw the line of how much one ought to say to others and how much can we believe of what is being told to us everyday.

If you read the Misplaced Man then you must realize that I avoid almost all things political. I have my views, but I usually keep them to myself.
Unless you have been living in a cave you might have noticed the the world is having a slight monetary problem (That's right America your economic fuck up has affected more people than you realize.) it also is having a major problem with unchecked violence and a maelstrom of troubles that on the surface seem incurable.

Here in Japan, I viewed the presidential campaign with no small amount of mirth.
I think that many Japanese also sought relief from the hum drum of everyday life with the spectacle that American politics has become.

You now have a fabulous new president (elect) and he got there on a platform that advocated change. He is now paraphrasing FDR and looking less original and almost less sure of himself. This is what President-elect Obama said, when asked during an interview on CBS's 60 Minutes, what voters expect of him when he takes office.

'You know, they're not expecting miracles.'

From the sound of things I was thinking that not only was the American republic not only expecting miracles, they were praying for them. I hope that most of you are open to new cultures (not talking about yogurt, here) because the people who are bailing you out are looking like the folks you have loved to hate. I give you, Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud.
I ain't passing judgement. I am just telling you the facts. My truth. He owns five percent of Citibank because Americans can't afford to invest in their own country.

You ask for too much and you give too little.
You have all the best of everything and you toss it away for trinkets. The accumulated debt of American households is larger than that of many countries- 13 trillion dollars. That's a lot of moolah.

When you give thanks this year take the time to think about something more than cranberry sauce. Even when you got it bad, you still got it pretty good.

Guard, protect and cherish your land,
for there is no afterlife for a place that started out as Heaven.

Charles M. Russell, Montana, 1929.