Bump's Stump

Watched the academy awards last night. The show was one of the worst I can remember. It began with the usual pre-ceremony red carpet celebrity walk, and the interviewers from Channel 5 were excellent - but what is that entire two hour part of the program all about? The known and unknown are captured as they supposedly arrive and walk the torturous five hundred foot red carpet path headed to their pre-assigned seats in the theatre. This display on the entry path consumes more time than a Republican political debate - and is twice as meaningless. Year after year the pampered celebrities wander aimlessly towards the theater, bumping shoulders with their fellow pretty people and stopping at each microphone held by a Hollywood Press person. The press people are strategically standing in the middle of the surging crowd. They stop as if they have no choice, and proceed to prattle about the beautiful multi-thousand dollar dresses and tuxedos that almost defy describing.  There are some who

Tim Cook has become a folk hero in my book.  The government  has ordered him, as President and CEO of Apple, to effectively eliminate the critical secrecy now inherent in their products. He said "NO", and good for him.   The FBI says they are only interested in 'how to read the encrypted' data in Apple's IPhone products.  They have ordered Apple to show them how to break their encrypted programing.  Tim Cook says that Apple does not know how to do it.  I suspect they do - but it  makes no difference.  He also states that Apple does not want to do it and has no plan to try. He feels that to obtain and them make this information public would have terrible consequences to the entire industry of computer technology and information security. The FBI insists that it do so anyway.  Apple (rightly) believes that no government entity has the right or the power to make the demand in the first place. Common Sense The Government, federal, state or local, has no

CAPITALISM. The Pope is an obviously intelligent and devout person. With his knowledge of the Catholic Church and it's history, it is surprising that he is so naive regarding real world economics and it is especially discouraging hat he does not advise the church how to better apply it's assets to help the poor. These two factors are areas that recent Popes appear to avoid. Capitalism requires "competition" and in my view "competition" is a stimulant to progress. I believe the impulse is part of the human character  at birth, and  stops only at death. The current Pope would rather this was not true.  He has been going around the world preaching the evils of Capitalism vs the benefits of Progressive Socialism .  He has made a terrible mistake. He needs to go  back to school on these subjects. Progressive Socialism, and it's close relative, Communism,  have repeatedly failed when attempted.  They have  always failed and certainly are faulty political s

It must be the season or what I ate last night, but whatever the cause I am disposed to think more about religion. I continue to question the basis for teaching something that more or less defies intelligent study. It is difficult for me to simply accept  any leap of faith .  This rejection automatically leads one to consider a more scientific explanation of human experiences. Admittedly, in many ways this is a desolate picture. According to this view,  the end of life is just that. The end. There is no afterlife. No heaven or hell. Just, the end. While  I do question religions' importance. I absolutely believe that religion has comforted human beings since day one.   It simply cannot be disregarded as a psychological and  philosophical benefit to mankind. I hope that one day I will be able to make that leap of faith so critical to all religions. Meanwhile, the clock begins ticking at birth,  and  everyday death is closer.  Early mankind apparently figured out that they couldn'

Failed the old person's driving test. I really didn't,  but that's what the examiner said. Actually, I passed easily - but was marked down because of a difference of opinion involving the interpretation of the test by the driving examiner. Because I am old (79) and have minor short term memory loss,  a slight cognitive impairment, and a hint that I may have the beginnings of Parkinson's Disease,  my doctor recommended that I take this special test to affirm to the DMV that I am capable of driving a car.  All of this is true and I welcomed the opportunity to take any driving test required to confirm that none of these age or health factors interfere with my driving skills. The fact is that I drive carefully, know the laws (passed the last regular written test with only one error),  and drive exceptionally well. In  my  reasonable judgement I drive better than my wife, daughters, grand daughters, and almost all of my "over 65" friend's. Also in my favo