As the eldest son, it has twice fallen to me to spread the ashes of a parent - the last occasion was in front of a small group of close family on a rifle range, as per my dad's request. It such a situation, one is expected to say something as your dad is committed to the wind. This is what I said. to live a life that's wide and deep to know the things he can and cannot keep Wide And Deep from " Here We Go " - Karen Savoca  My dad was a hard-bitten athiest, yet, in the face of death, he was remarkably composed. With tears in his eyes, he said had led a full life. With nothing to look forward to except that ceremony on the rifle range, he was seized by a bittersweet love of life along with the acceptance that it had come to an end. There are many roads that lead us to the wonderful truths of life. These are rough roads for those who rely on logic and philosophy alone. They are glimpsed by the whole mind with overwhelming emotion and sweep of memory. They are deeply pers...

Buddha's first Noble Truth is that life involves suffering and that everything is impermanent. "Our Town" - Iris Dement And you know the sun's setting fast And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts Go on now and kiss it goodbye But hold on to your lover 'cause your heart's bound to die Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town Can't you see the sun's setting down on our town, on our town Goodnight Up the street, beside that red neon light That's where I met my baby on one hot summer night He was the 'tender and I ordered the beer It's been forty years and I'm still sitting here But you know the sun's setting fast And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts Go on now and kiss it goodbye But hold on to your lover 'cause your heart's bound to die Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town Can't you see the sun's setting down on our town, on o...

I urge the reader to take the time to listen to this son g - sorry about the ads. Rows and flows of angel hair And ice cream castles in the air And feather canyons everywhere Looked at clouds that way But now they only block the sun They rain and snow on everyone So many things I would have done But clouds got in my way   I've looked at clouds from both sides now From up and down and still somehow It's cloud's illusions I recall I really don't know clouds at all Moons and Junes and ferries wheels The dizzy dancing way that you feel As every fairy tale comes real   I've looked at love that way But now it's just another show And you leave 'em laughing when you go And if you care, don't let them know Don't give yourself away I've looked at love from both sides now From give and take and still somehow It's love's illusions that I recall I really… You can run into the same idea all over the place and through the ages. For example, I remember t...

When you call someone a "Hitler", you don't need to add much to the epithet. Hitler's historic combination of personality disorders, viscousness, and outright insanity requires no elaboration. He defines the class all by himself. In the future, we will be calling someone a "Trump" for similar reasons. No need to expand upon the details of what it means to be a malignant narcissist and anyway, that hardly covers the grounds *. For example, it misses the spectacular ignorance and incompetence along with the psychopathy that pushes all narcissists into a fantasy world as their self-image is challenged by the real world.   Perhaps the single best word to describe Trump is "whore". But his twisted narcissism is revealed in his eagerness to "give it away" to his VIP customers such as arch criminals like Vladimir Putin or Kim Jung-Un. In order to bask in the notoriety of such famous persons, Trump is willing to give away anything...

(Based on my Amazon review of Bolton's "Room Where It Happened") This is a dreadful piece of writing, devoted mainly to advocating the Bolton view of world affairs that gave us the Gulf War and all that followed. Bolton characterizes Trump as ignorant, incompetent, and ill-suited to the job. This is the way Bolton characterizes all his opponents, which tends to have the effect of pulling his punches against the ignoramus in chief. He does, however, provide a consistent close-up of Trump's pattern of behavior, confirming dozens of other sources. It particularly shines a light on Trump's delusion that he's a great negotiator and beloved of such arch criminals as Kim Jung-Un and Vladimir Putin. He has no insight into the motives of others, seeing these relationships only in terms of his own grand self-image. The result continues to be a catastrophe on every front. This includes facilitating North Korea's dream of becoming a full-fledged nu...