What’s in Paul’s grab bag?\u00a0 Unconnected thoughts and observations which don\u2019t rate separate blog posts, but when aggregated together might amount to something:<\/p>\n
Recently Overheard:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI knew the car companies were going under 20 years ago, when the union guys started making six figures and buying summer homes.\u201d \u2014 attorney friend at a house party<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI told them according to Nevada employment law they had to pay me overtime for more than 40, so they fired me.\u00a0 Then they screwed me out of unemployment.\u201d \u2014 unemployed 20-something in a Las Vegas parking lot<\/em><\/p>\n Wishful Drinking:<\/strong><\/p>\n I admire Carrie Fisher and very much want to see her one-woman show, Wishful Drinking<\/a>.\u00a0 According to the link it’s being made into an HBO documentary, so I may be able to order the DVD one day (yay).<\/p>\n Of all the reasons I quit drinking, one that still resonates with me was the realization I’d fallen into the trap of thinking that this bout of drinking — this night, this dinner and a movie, this set of convivial friends, this particular bottle of expensive scotch, this particular party — was going to be different from all the other nights I’d gotten drunk, this this time it was going to be better.\u00a0 If that isn’t wishful drinking, what is?\u00a0 Because it never gets better.\u00a0 It’s always the same, unless it’s worse.\u00a0 Booze is such a liar.<\/p>\n The Military & the Cult of the Generals:<\/strong><\/p>\n When I was an Air Force fighter pilot I was perforce aware of general officers, and even worked closely with a few of them.\u00a0 One showed a general a great deal of deference and respect, of course, but at the same time one didn’t fawn.\u00a0 Halfway through my career I spent three years in a joint command led by Navy admirals and Army generals, and became aware that outside fighter pilot circles in the USAF fawning is de rigeur<\/em>.<\/p>\n As with everything the military does, escalation has set in, and today’s generals and admirals now expect genuflection.\u00a0 Two summers ago I saw an article about the USAF’s new “senior leader intransit comfort capsules<\/a>“:<\/p>\n See, the idea is you slide one of these babies into the cargo section of a C-17, KC-10, or C-5, and our betters don’t have to rub shoulders with the troops.\u00a0 They don’t even have to see them!<\/p>\n I copied the link, meaning to blog about it within a few days, but lost track of it until today.\u00a0 Searching Google for updates, I can find only the same articles and citations I saw two years ago, so I don’t know the current status of this particular manifestation of flag officer worship.\u00a0 Either the USAF got a grip, or they hid the project somehow.\u00a0 Since the first alternative could only occur in an alternate universe, they must have hidden it.<\/p>\n Arizona, Pride of the Nation:<\/strong><\/p>\n Of course every loyal Arizonan understands that the new laws in our great state have nothing — nothing, I say — to do with race or ethnicity. Show us your papers?<\/a> It’s not that undocumented migrants are Hispanic, it’s that they’re illegal (oh, sorry . . . the preferred typography is ILLEGAL!!!). Firing teachers with Spanish accents?<\/a> It’s not that teachers with heavy Spanish accents are Hispanic, it’s that they’re hard to understand. Banning ethnic studies classes?<\/a> It’s not that we don’t want Hispanic kids learning about Hispanic culture, it’s that we want them learning about America. It’s perfectly logical and aboveboard.\u00a0 So why is everyone twisting our words and intentions around and accusing us of racism?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/media3.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/photo\/2008\/07\/17\/PH2008071703163.jpg\")
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