Wolf In The Fold

In myth and in kids' cartoons we have all seen the image of the wolf who disguises himself as a sheep to infiltrate the flock and turn it into a fast-food buffet. We even use the phrase, "Wolf in sheep's clothing" to describe a person who presents himself as one thing but is, in fact, another. However, we think of this as a rare occurrence and one that is usually quickly recognized.

When that belief is held by the sheep it is almost always fatal…for the sheep.

Cracking The Corporate Shell

Worse, since the basket makers now had to spend many extra hours a week making baskets just to keep food on the table, they no longer had time to teach their children how to hunt—or even to play with them. Their children could only learn how to make baskets, thus guaranteeing this unbalanced system would self-perpetuate. In effect, the mercantile system stole a third of the providers' and customers' lives, using them to enrich the merchants.

…And Your Little Dog, Too!

A bill was passed before the 2006 elections to erect a 700-mile fence along our southern border, to keep out "illegal immigrants". The efficacy of such a fence aside (the Great Wall of China failed to keep out the Mongols, and it was almost 4000 miles long…and the Mongols didn't have airplanes), we again see the parallel to the walled city that buys its groceries from outside. If we are so afraid of human immigrants we want to wall them out, how much more cautious we should be about the microscopic immigrants that we welcome, via a hundred interrelated multinational corporations, from overseas with open arms.

Lenses

Just before leaving on our historic Caribbean cruise, I realized I was just about out of contact lenses. So I ran to the store to pick up a pack of them—and ran smack dab into the government's latest foray into my personal business and none of theirs.

I Have A Sale

The man who was martyred on April 4, 1968, for his activism in trying to end the de facto slavery of America's largest (at the time) minority couldn't be silenced by death. You might think that creating a national holiday in his honor would be proof of that; but it's quite the opposite. The man who once "had a dream" now is used as an excuse for three-day-weekend sales. Don't believe me? Here's a full-page ad from the L.A. Times:

Dog Fight

Last night, Zachary informed us that he really wanted to take the dogs for a walk. His mother is very strict about adhering to his bedtime, so he had to elicit a promise from Michael and me that we would leave at exactly 8:00 pm. We agreed.