A Matter of Faith

So I'm told there are approximately 6,000 religions in the world.  Adherents of each believe pretty much  fervently and whole-heartedly that followers of the approximately 5,999 other religious beliefs are seriously wrong and fall short of the glory of the deity or deities of their choice and are therefore condemned to whatever version of punishment has been outlined for them by some kind of group-accepted authoritative source.

So what we have essentially is a situation where everyone is going to hell. 

You are welcome to your beliefs, but include me out.

Poster Seen at GEMS Academy, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

I've got this.

Eventually I'll get to the point where I do absolutely nothing to perfection. I will have achieved Nirvana.

Leaving Morocco

On to Dubai today.

I like Morocco. Every time I'm here it reminds me of an old 50s TV show, "Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion." Thank you Google for providing this information.

Anyone remember this? Starring Buster Crabbe and someone named Fuzzy Knight with Buster's actual son, who was named Cuffy on the show. Where are the great names like those any more? Fuzzy Knight. Fighting off desert tribes of wild-eyed Arabs, then relaxing in the casbah after a hard day of French imperialism. We're still fighting them off, but only when they're pushing stuff in the souk.

Fearbola

A month ago the threat was ISIS sneaking across the Mexican border. That "imminent threat" no longer  gets much airplay. What will be dooming us next month?

How Capitalism Works

Woodrow Wilson, then President of Princeton University, wrote this in 1907:

"Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down. Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked of left unused."

He said this in 1907, over a century ago. You think we go to war to "defend freedom" or stop Communism or "make the world safe for Democracy?" Then you, my friends, are sadly mistaken.

Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler spent most of his 36 year military career fighting wars in Central and South America. He wrote a book called "War is a Racket."

He wrote "I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in."

Don't ever think otherwise. War is economics by other means.

And Another Thing I Don't Understand...

Why do people care about college sports? I'm talking football here. Maybe basketball too. Yeah, definitely basketball. March Madness you know. Most of the time they didn't even go to the damn school. In fact, even if they had tried they wouldn't have got in. Yet people are all gaga over Ohio State or Michigan or, I don't know, Florida State. That one seems to be in the news a lot. Alabama, that's a big one.

Why do they care so much?

I went to Ohio University. They play in what is admittedly a second-tiered conference, the Mid-American Conference (MAC). I think it's a second-tiered conference. Might be third for all I know. I'll venture to say most OU grads are Ohio State fans. Schools from the MAC serve as tune-ups (or cannon fodder if you will) for bigger, more nationally ranked "programs." I was in the gym a few weeks ago and they had Akron playing Penn State on TV. Akron hadn't beaten a Penn State team since a couple years after The Battle of Little Bighorn.

But, Ohio U fields a football team (and basketball, baseball, etc.) for some reason. They give scholarships to players too. And once every blue moon some player catches on with a pro team. But, it's hardly worth the effort in my mind. Couple MAC teams get tossed a bone with the odd post-season bowl game. Played in the middle of December, when no one's looking. The Uncle Chuck's All Meat Wiener Styrofoam Bowl, played in some place like beautiful downtown East Hamhock, Nebraska. Something like that.

OK, OK, I know, you're gonna say Ben Roethlisberger. University of Miami (Ohio). Yeah, he made it big time with the Steelers. But man, that's a rare exception.

Bottom line I can't see the point.

Pro sports, that's different. It's regional and may I say cultural. Steelers fans are found all over the world. It's true, I've seen them. But they don't have to live in the 'Burgh to be a fan. They identify with the team's perceived blue collar work ethic. While I'm on that, who wears blue collars any more? 

Same with the hated Cleveland Brownies.

Cold weather people identify with Green Bay or Buffalo. Laid back California dilettantes with the 49ers. Unless you're from Youngstown. Y-town people are allowed to be 9ers fans. But again, that's cultural. DeBartolos are Y-town people.  People with fifteen gallons of manure in a ten gallon hat with Dallas.

But I digress. 

I know it's business. Money. TV contracts. Apparel sales. Beer. Lots of beer. And something about getting people to donate to schools.

It just all seems pointless, that's all. 

Should I Get This?

I see it on my Facebook feed. Being as I'm a nut for T-shirts I'm sorely tempted. The state outline should have the state flag though.