Tuesday - August 02, 2016

the_end_may_be_in_sight

I just got word from my server hosting company that they are moving to newer, up to date machines at the end of the month.

Certain older software that was written with archaic SQL etc may no longer run.

This blog was old when I got it, with out of date software even then. And I’ve been running it for how long? 10 years? No, not that long. January 7, 2008 I took over from Mr. Christian, and he had it a bit more than half a year from when The Skipper died, and that was around the end of May 2007. So I’ve been doing this eight and a half years, going towards nine.

And ya know what? Not a damn thing has changed. Every single issue I’ve written about and railed against is still out there, just as bad and nasty as before, if not worse.

Here’s a paste from one of Allan’s last posts:

Meanwhile, while you slept a few thousand more Mexicans crossed the border last night, Wal-Mart built six more stores somewhere, the trade deficit with China increased by a few billion dollars, the North Koreans and Iranians came up with seventeen more plans to prove they are barking mad and several thousand more non-Muslims were murdered in Darfur by followers of the Prophet For Profit.

Then again, you already know all this and just need a place to get together and figure out what we’re all going to do when the roof caves in - and make no mistake, the rafters are crumbling. Depressing? Sure, but what are we going to do?

We can start to fix our government eighteen months from now in the 2008 elections. The interim is going to be dicey as somebody out there decided in the last election to install a whole bunch of really crazy people in the Congress and Senate. That was not my fault, by the way - and neither was it George Bush’s fault.

As for the rest of the sitrep, we can wall ourselves off from the rest of the world and experiment with isolationism again or we can continue to muddle our way through the minefield of international relations - and that is where the problem comes in. We’re just no damn good at realpolitik. Not this administration, the whole country has never been real good at the devious games diplomats play. We haven’t been at this game long enough to understand all the rules.

All I can really tell you is (a) keep a firm grasp of right and wrong, (b) stay involved in government and watch the bastards in Washington every minute, (c) use every legal means to make sure you can defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and (d) keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere.

Hardly a thing has changed.

Anyway, it would cost a fortune to bring this old clunk up to date, and it would require a ton of work to migrate everything to a new platform, blah blah blah. I’m not going to do it.

And frankly, I miss Jay terribly every time I sit down at this keyboard. The fun is gone for me.

So what I’m saying is ... if the blog survives the server move, fine. If it doesn’t, well, so long and thanks for all the fish.

And if it does survive, I think it’s time to pass the mantle. I covered the Obama years. Who wants to cover the Clinton ones?

All I can really tell you is (a) keep a firm grasp of right and wrong, (b) stay involved in government and watch the bastards in Washington every minute, (c) use every legal means to make sure you can defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and (d) keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere.

Good words to live by. Who will carry them into the future for us?

Posted by Drew458     on 08/02/2016 at 08:59 PM   
Filed Under: • Blog Stuff •  
• Comments (6) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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