Haircut and a Shave

I got my hair cut and beard trimmed today. I clean up pretty good sometimes. It's funny, though, I have more hair on my face than I do on my head, but the haircut cost more. I guess it evens out in the long run. The barber spent more time on my beard.

Sometimes I wonder if I am narcissistic. Actually, scratch the wondering part. I AM narcissistic. And I hate to admit it, but I'm getting older, AND ITS SHOWING. Dark circles under my eyes and permanent frown lines in my forehand, and I don't frown that much. Oh well, I suppose I can't stay young forever. No, nix that... I CAN stay young forever... I just won't look young forever.

I made it through three songs today until Eva Cassidy's cover of Sting’s Fields of Gold got me a little bit emotional. But that one always does it. Even Sting himself admits being moved to tears by her version, and he wrote the thing. I suppose one's authorship of a song does not preclude one from being moved by it.

The 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's historic moonwalk occurs on July 20 of this year. As much as I was into space stuff when I was in elementary school, I completely missed the first man on the moon event thing (I think that's the official name for it). What was I doing back then except for hanging out at Fort Scott Park with my cousin? The Laurel Pop Festival had been on July 11 and 12 of that year. I don't even remember that that well. I've got the days mixed up thinking I saw the Mothers of Invention on Friday instead of Saturday.

I've been on twitter for a couple weeks now. I follow a few friends and also Brent Spiner (who is very funny), Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi. I figure it's good to keep a balanced viewpoint. Oh yeah, I also follow Obama news.

Up until this last election, I was never very involved in politics, but the fact that a good friend of mine was dreadfully afraid of Obama getting elected prompted me to try to dig up some facts that would support my liberal views. I knew that I favored the social democracies of Europe, in particular that of the Netherlands, mainly for their tolerant views on marijuana use and prostitution. But did I really want that for America? Of course I did.

As distasteful as prostitution is to some Americans, the unwelcome truth is that it's going to exist nevertheless, so why not legalize it and regulate it to minimize the human suffering factor? Legalizing marijuana is more straightforward. It is by far the most recreational of all illicit drugs, and keeping it illegal creates criminals of its users and keeps certain criminal elements involved in its sales. In the infamous Amsterdam (and Holland in general) marijuana is not legal per se, but its sale and use is tolerated in the "coffee houses," and so pot smokers don't have to associate with drug dealers. It's no longer a gateway drug. Who would've thought? I would go one step further and legalize all drugs and just tax and regulate them. We could put the big drug dealers out of business, and maybe all this bloodshed in Mexico would stop.

The good friend who was afraid of Obama is a libertarian, and they have a pretty good philosophy. They pretty much believe in a laissez-faire government (French for "let it alone). But they don't believe in free medicine. So I have to beg to differ. But now I'm watching a PBS special (on DVD courtesy Netflix) entitled "I.O.U.S.A." and it is stressing fiscal responsibility for government (as well as individuals). Robert Rubin, Sec. of treasury under Clinton, said that by the end of the 20th century the United States federal government had reached a crowning achievement in balancing annual budgets and creating revenue surpluses. It was a turning point for both political parties for it was Republicans and Democrats working together. Now they fight again, and our deficit is being increased dramatically by unprecedented government spending (for better or worse -- there are arguments both ways). I like Obama, but is he right? That's the big question. I'm still searching for the answer.