Coronavirus and other stuff

Do you realize the chance of spreading or contracting COVID-19 while outdoors enjoying God’s gift of fresh air and sunshine is, according to the CDC, just about zero (less than one-hundredth of one percent). And interestingly, the self-described smart people who enjoy telling us how to live the details of our lives have known this for many, many months, probably since April 2020. This is why I have never worn a face mask when outdoors, and why I never will. Since I have been vaccinated, and received my second Moderna shot over a month ago, I don a mask indoors only when a business or organization demands I do so. After all, it’s their property and if it makes them happy, okay, I’ll comply, even though it’s idiocy. As a form of mild protest, I have started to seek out businesses that actually follow the science and realize vaccinated people are not a threat to others. As our enlightened Governor Ron DeSantis stated: “If you been vaccinated, act like it!”  I am so happy I live in Florida. Our president, though, lives in the nation’s most corrupt city, Washington, D.C. Because he is old, almost two years older than me, he too has been vaccinated. And yet he apparently wears his mask wherever and whenever there’s a camera to capture his image, even when he’s on a video call with other world leaders. “It sets an example,” someone in the administration remarked. But what kind of example? Does he hope to convince the leaders of other nations that Americans are fools, or at best led by one? It would seem so. 

Hot news flash! Actually two flashes! The first, President Biden told us today that if you’re vaccinated, being outside without a mask is okay with him...unless you’re in a group, then you’d better ignore your common sense and wear a mask. Too late and too little, Mr. President. You and the CDC are still waaay behind the science. Oh, how the power hungry just love to keep control of people. It’s time to revert to normality and live our lives as we’d like. Interestingly, as the President walked across the lawn to the podium to deliver his message that masks were no longer needed outdoors, he was wearing a mask. Ah, well, maybe he should join the rest of us here in The Villages. He’s certainly old enough. The other flash: I just read that our esteemed Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, will permit President Biden to speak to a semi-virtual joint meeting of Congress this week without wearing his mask. The fact that our congressional leaders still require their members to wear masks, despite the fact they’ve all been vaccinated, is more than ludicrous. But I suppose it helps advance the “we’re got the power, peasants, and don’t ever forget it” syndrome. Whatever happened to the founders’ belief that the people are sovereign, not the government formed to do the people’s will?

By the way, speaking of Nancy Pelosi — the “I’m a devout Catholic” politician who rejects Church teaching — did you happen to catch a rather interesting statistic? In San Francisco, the city she represents in the U.S. Congress, a total of 257 San Franciscans died as a result of coronavirus. But during the same period 713 of the city’s citizens died of drug overdoses. And also during this same period we have spent trillions on coronavirus and relatively little on fighting these killing drugs. As I write these words, these same drugs are pouring over our borders thanks to the incompetence of the Biden administration. As border patrol and ICE agents are distracted and overwhelmed by thousands of unaccompanied children, invited to come here by the president, other illegals are crossing the border carrying drugs like the deadly fentanyl and spreading them throughout our country. The cartels are running the show, running drugs and trafficking children, while our federal government supports them in this evil.

Did you watch the Oscars? Didn’t think so. Judging by the ratings it seems the only folks who actually wasted a Sunday evening watching these woke, out-of-touch, narcissistic imbeciles were other Hollywood types and their immediate relatives. Don’t you just love people who condemn the country that made them rich and famous? They also condemn its citizens as a collection of ignorant racists.  These citizens are the same people that actually pay for the mediocre films Hollywood’s produces. The entertainment industry, of course, has no monopoly on imbeciles. They also fill the ranks of NFL, NBA, and MLB teams, along with the boardrooms of many Fortune 500 companies. Based on the organizations these luminaries support with gobs of money, one can only conclude that they’re hoping for the ultimate triumph of socialism. Another irony, since they’d be the first to lose their incomes, and perhaps their heads, when the proletariat revolution hits the streets. 

Speaking of revolutions, the left would love one, but they hesitate because of one overriding truth: the citizenry of the United States is better armed than the leftist rabble. (Yes, even some deacons have a few firearms tucked away.) One can understand, then, why the left spends so much effort on “gun control.” Of course, it has nothing to do with controlling guns, but everything to do with confiscating guns, for the latter is their goal. This, sadly for them, will be an impossible task because every gun owner I know has no intention of turning over his or her rifles, handguns, or shotguns. And the people of the USA own over 400 million firearms. The leftist revolutionary wannabes face other obstacles, Perhaps the most obvious is the Supreme Court and its recent support for Second Amendment rights; hence the attempt to redefine the court’s makeup. The goal: a friendly, rubber-stamp court that ignores the Constitution. Finally, they hope to restructure the leadership of our military by packing the upper ranks with careerist officers who will go along and get along with the politicians. Once they have the military leadership in their pockets, they can bring in the big guns to control the country as needed. If they succeed in all these efforts the banana republics of Central America will look to us with envy.

Oh, there is so much more...particularly our new, defeatist policy relating to Iran and the resurrecting of Obama’s anti-Israel approach to the Middle East, but I’ll save it for another day.

Pray for our nation, brothers and sisters.

Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, Dragons, Men...oh, yes, and a Wizard and a Hobbit

Sunday afternoon Dear Diane and I sat in the very comfortable seats at one of our many theaters here in The Villages, munched overpriced popcorn, and watched the 3-D version of the latest Hobbit movie, the second of the trilogy. Unlike many Tolkien purists who have criticized the film on pretty much every level, I have to admit I kinda enjoyed it. Let me explain why.

Before watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I knew that one can't expect Hollywood to follow any book very closely. Film versions of books will always include unexpected and inexplicable omissions, gratuitous additions, and odd changes. I knew that any movie based on a book that I truly enjoyed will always disappoint. All the producers, directors, screenwriters, and actors just can't help themselves. Overflowing with self-importance, they're certain they can improve any story, particularly one written by an old Oxford academic. And so they refashion the story to suit their own whims and to cater to their concept of what the prevailing marketplace wants. Today's mover-makers are also very taken by all the remarkable and very cool technology that allows them to create worlds and beings that most of us can't even imagine. They create these things simply because they can, resulting in a dumbed-down finished product, a sort of fantasy of a fantasy.

Despite all this I enjoyed the LOTR movies and even purchased a DVD set which I've since watched a few times. I enjoyed them because I sat down knowing I'd be disappointed unless I tried mightily to suppress any expectations based on Tolkien's three volumes. I decided to view the movies as stand-alone stories, divorced from Tolkien's books, and was at least partially successful. I'm sure Diane will agree that I didn't gripe too much about the differences. I tried doing the same with the first Hobbit film, but failed horribly. Overwhelmed by special effects and action scenes that lasted far too long, the story and the characters suffered. I left the theater disappointed.

On Sunday I entered the theater hoping that part two would be an improvement and that I would be less critical. I can honestly sat that I came away far less disappointed than before. I realize that's hardly a rousing endorsement, but it's very difficult to set aside Tolkien's wonderful tale, especially when I've read it many times over the years.

What did I like? The dragon. Smaug was wonderfully depicted, the perfect CGI creature and I truly enjoyed him and his interplay with Bilbo. The film is also visually striking, almost overwhelming in its depiction of the places encountered by Bilbo and the dwarves. Some folks have objected to the CGI versions of the orcs, but I found them perfectly nasty if a bit incompetent in carrying out their evil work. But the good guys are always supposed to be more capable than the bad guys.

My disappointment centers on the needless changes to the story itself, especially the diminished roles played by Bilbo and Gandalf. Neither seemed to know what they were doing. It was as if they were along for the ride and were simply thrust from one dark crisis to another by a sadistic screenwriter. And the dwarves just didn't look like dwarves. Indeed one was so good looking he attracted the attention of a female elf who was apparently added to the story for a bit of inter-species romance and to demonstrate that females are equal opportunity warriors. In truth the dwarves acted more like the seven dwarves of Snow White fame as they stumbled and bumbled their way through the script. Legolas, his she-warrior sidekick, the elfin king, indeed all the elves we encounter, are not at all very elf-like. They lack any of the ethereal, almost angelic qualities Tolkien attributes to them. They become instead merely super-warriors, and are diminished as a result.

But I can't help it, for I am far too easily amused. I enjoyed all the cool CGI and the 3-D effects, so if you too like that sort of thing, go see the movie. Just don't expect to find very much of J.R.R. Tolkien there.