What's Wrong With Us? (Blast From the Past)

 (Editor's Note: I've been going back through my files and updating the labels, and I've come across some worthwhile articles that are still relevant today.  This is one of them.  My friend Maury was a retired scientist in Texas who passed about two years ago, but he contributed a great deal to P&D.  This is one of his public offerings.  RK)

Maury and Dog Wednesday, October 5, 2016

After watching this VP thing Tuesday evening as well as others in the past, prompts the question for me: do people even learn good manners anymore?  Wonder what Sen. Kaine's parents thought of their son's behavior tonight?  Wonder what Kaine's wife and kids think?  Does anyone care?

Why aren't 'moderators' trained to moderate?

And when one enters a restaurant and asks for the closest table or booth, why does the waiter then lead you to the back or far side of the restaurant?  Is the word, close, no longer an English word?

If one pays the legal minimum income tax, why is this behavior denigrated?  If one accepts legal deferments from being drafted, since when has this become immoral? Is there no longer any distinction between illegal immigrants and immigrants; or between criminal Mexicans and Mexicans; or between radical Muslims and Muslims; or between radical Islam and Islam?

What is the difference being murdered and being murdered by someone who hates you or murders you because you are a Jew or because you are a Morman or a Methodist?

Oh well . . . .  guess I've been hanging around too long 'er somthin', but in the meantime, I'll continue to favor Trump as President.

Maury and Dog Will be Missed

By Rich Kozlovich

Those of you who’ve been readers of Paradigms and Demographics for some time know I’ve posted articles from my friend Maury Siskel, which he signed as “Maury and Dog”. But these commentaries weren’t intended as articles to be published. He had a large e-mail list of friends and acquaintances to whom he sent out links to articles, jokes, cartoons and what I considered commentaries to express his views on some social issue or other. When I would ask him if I could take his thoughts and work it into an article in his name he always said yes, which pleased me very much as I thought highly of his views. Often times he would send me something that would trigger an article such as this one - Conclusions In The Face Of Reality!

Then there was his unfailing sense of humor, which resulted in Thoughts For the Day From Maury.

What pleased and surprised me was how thrilled he would be when I said I wanted to publish his thoughts. It appeared he thought highly of my work and what I was trying to accomplish.

I’m not a professional writer, nor am I formally trained in any of the things I discuss at length, including any field of science. In fact, I’m largely an autodidact who reads a lot of history. Having Maury think highly of my work, which occasionally he would share with his net of correspondents, was always flattering.

I’ve made my living as an exterminator for over 35 years and think of myself as a bug man with a lot of opinions, and I hope opinions that are well founded in reality and history. I believe Maury felt that way also, at least I hope he did.

My friend Maury was a retired scientist who lived in Texas. He once told me in what field of science he worked, but that was so long ago I can no longer remember, which embarrasses me now. His family has been sending me e-mails keeping me updated on his condition, and from the last communication I thought he might be recovering to some extent. Unfortunately that was a lost hope as I received an e-mail from one of the family last night informing everyone my friend Maury Siskel passed away on May 12th, 2018.

Here’s what was sent to me:

Hello everyone,  

As most of you know, my father, Maury Siskel, passed away on the 12th. There will be memorial services with military honors for Maury at the Dallas Fort Worth National Cemetery on Wednesday, May 30th, 2:30pm. You are each more than welcome. The 30th would have been his 90th birthday. As Dad was not religious, we will ask some of his closest friends if they would each like to say a few words rather than having a minister. If any of you would like to say something there, please let me know and we will accommodate as many as possible. I realize that being a weekday, it may be difficult for many to attend - but the National Cemeteries only do internments on weekdays. They schedule 30 minutes for the services at a large covered pavilion, with roughly 15 minutes of that involved in the military honors. Fortunately, I was able to arrange with a local DFW veterans group to have a live bugler for TAPS and a rifle salute, in addition to the normal color guard and flag folding ceremony.  

As the National Cemetery limits floral arrangements to a single one at the ceremony and gravesite, please consider making a donation to a charity in lieu of flowers if you are so inclined. As most of you know, Dad would have preferred something like that anyhow, especially to charities which support our civil liberties, or those which help people in need or who are disabled, or which support wounded veterans, etc. I've included links to a few possibilities that way below - Dad has donated in the past to both Judicial Watch and the Pacific Legal Foundation in addition to other charities.  

Mark asked me to send his apologies to any of you who may have been missed in the email announcement he sent of Dad's passing, or that he should have called.  

I know Dad very much enjoyed his interactions with each of you over the years. Mark and I know some of you ourselves already of course, and of course have heard many of your names through conversations with Dad over the years - but would dearly love if you would be willing to eventually send a little something about yourself, how you got to know Dad, and a little about your typical interactions with him. He collected quite a group of friends over the years. If some of you wind up in from out of town, I'm sure we can arrange to do something after the services. We're also planning a celebration of his life for Sunday the 3rd, at a close friend's home.  

The evening he passed, the hospital offered a "Final Salute" as Dad was a veteran. It was extremely moving. They had security come to the room with an American flag when the funeral home person arrived, and we all waited outside the room as Dad was placed on a gurney and covered. An announcement was made in the hospital of his passing and veteran status, asking those so inclined to stand lining the hallways with their hands over their hearts as he was moved to the front entrance.  

The American flag was draped over him, and with security as an honor guard leading the way and us behind Dad with more hospital personnel and security following we formed a procession to the main hospital entrance. The halls were lined with hospital staff and some others - and there were probably 30 or more people in the main entrance when we arrived, all standing with their hands over their hearts in honor of those who served our nation. A short statement was read about Dad and his service from information we provided as follows (although I don't recall the exact wording they used to lead into his rank and service branch):  

Name: Maurice Siskel, Jr. Highest Rank: Corporal, Military Branch: Army 82nd Airborne, 333rd Infantry, Heavy Mortar Company  

Maurice Siskel, Jr., voluntarily served in World War II, Korea, and in the reserves. Known as Maury to his friends, his dedication to the cause of freedom and decency continued throughout his career designing training systems for military aircrews and also in his personal life and family. His devotion to the United States' Constitution, this nation, and our founding principles was profound and inspiring to many who know and loved him. He will be greatly missed.  

After which Security proceeded to fold the flag in the military tradition, and presented the flag to me as his daughter with Mark (his son of course) by my side. Then Dad was loaded in the hearse. The entire process was extremely respectful and very moving.  

Some of you may be wondering about "Dog" from "Maury & Dog." "Dog" is a big chocolate lab named Jake who's 8 years old now. I was extremely grateful to the hospital - they let us bring Jake in to see Dad the day before he passed, and Dad loved seeing him - he utterly adored that dog and they were great together. 

Anyhow, Jake is being cared for and has a good home with a lifelong family friend Amanda Christopher. Her father was our postman back in the 80's. Dad started inviting him in for coffee when he'd deliver the mail - and Curtis has been one of Dad's best friends ever since then. Amanda helped Dad find Jake some time after Dad's first "Jake" had passed, with the understanding that she would take him if he outlived Dad. So Jake is in a very good loving home, and even has a buddy with Amanda and her husband Luke's little dog.  

We hope to see you at the services, but regardless know that Dad thought highly of each of you and very much enjoyed his interactions with you.  

Mark and I send all our best to each of you and yours,  

Robin

Over the years I've written much about science in defense of my industry, and I've had the privilege of becoming friends with a number of well known scientists, some of whom allow me to publish their work. Most of these friends are either atheists, or as in the case of Maury, non-religious.  But I’m a believer, and I believe there’s a place for my friend Maury.

I shall miss his daily missives. I will miss Maury, and I’m glad Dog is going to be well cared for. I'm going to be 72 soon, and it’s my belief I will finally meet him someday........just not too soon.

My deepest sympathy to his family and all his many friends. 

Maury's Thought For the Day

By Rich Kozlovich

I receive daily e-mails from my friend Maury Siskel, a retired scientist in Texas. Some are of a serious nature, which I appreciate because Maury seems to read extensively. He also shares that information - including some of my articles with a large list of people - and he's a legitimate conservative.

Depending on the topic and my schedule I try to investigate the information and link the articles. At other times the information he may send me off in a new direction to work on an article of my own. Either way - Maury has been a great source for me for some years now.

Then there are the jokes.

Some I just laugh at - especially about the vagaries of old people - Maury is in his 80's and I'm 71 - and then delete them. I don't normally resend them or even post them. However, occasionally I share one with you because the joke has broad implications. Here's one joke about Chicago that's always been considered "real" and funny.

This is Maury's thought for the day.

My Uncle Frank was a staunch Conservative, and voted straight Republican

until the day he died in Chicago.............Since then he has voted Democrat.

Best wishes and have a good weekend,

Rich Kozlovich

Maury's Thought For the Day

Thanksgiving Tragedy

By John Stossel November 23, 2016

Tomorrow, as you celebrate the meal the Pilgrims ate with Indians, pause a moment to thank private property.    

I know that seems weird, but before that first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims nearly starved to death because they didn't respect private property.  When they first arrived in Massachusetts, they acted like Bernie Sanders wants us to act. They farmed "collectively." Pilgrims said, "We'll grow food together and divide the harvest equally."  Bad idea. Economists call this the "tragedy of the commons." When everyone works "together," some people don't work very hard.     Likewise, when the crops were ready to eat, some grabbed extra food -- sometimes picking corn at night, before it was fully ready. Teenagers were especially lazy and likely to steal the commune's crops.   

Pilgrims almost starved. Governor Bradford wrote in his diary, "So they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could ... that they might not still thus languish in misery."   

His answer: He divided the commune into parcels and assigned each Pilgrim his own property, or as Bradford put it, "set corn every man for his own particular. ... Assigned every family a parcel of land."  That simple change brought the Pilgrims so much plenty that they could share food with Indians. Bradford wrote that it "made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been."......To Read More.... 

My Take - Some added information sent to me by Maury and Dog.  The Puritans landed in 1620 with 132 people.  By fall of 1621 only 53 were left alive.  But, they had a harvest, but didn't thrive until they accepted the foundation of capitalism - personal ownership of land, personal responsibility and personal profit!  Personal profit isn't a dirty word it's the foundation for across the board wealth accumulation for society as a whole.

By 1640 there were 11,000 people living in what's now the New England region.

As would be expected with that sort of wealth creation and success, New England flourished, and was a key component of the 13 colonies.  It was a society of based on individual farmers and families working their own land.

The Jamestown colony formed in 1607.  According to Richard Maybury - Within 12 months over half would be dead.  As a result of their socialist concepts, "most of the work was being done by only one-fifth of the men, the other four-fifths choosing to be parasites." "In the winter of 1609/1610, called "The Starving Time" the population fell from 500 to 60."  The Virginia colony had 8000 people land there between 1607 and 1625 with a 15% survival rate. 

So, what drove people to keep coming?  Religious conflict and instability in England as well as the rest of Europe.  Also, Spain's exploitation of the New World gave them unprecedented economic power in Europe and it was realized the vast majority of the New World was untouched - the potential for riches was obvious in "fisheries, timber, furs and expanses of fertile soil."  Not the easy wealth of mineral resources, but wealth that could only be developed by real colonization and hard work.  Long term wealth and power.

But once they all abandoned the insanity of socialism and adopted capitalism they thrived beyond their dreams."In 1614, [Virginia] Colony Secretary Ralph Hamor wrote that after the switch, there was "plenty of food, which every man by his own industry may easily and doth procure." He said that when the socialist system had prevailed, "we reaped not so much corn from the labors of 30 men as three men have done for themselves now."

So the most important meal officially celebrated in America is a toast to capitalism, individual ownership of land, and personal industriousness - and an absolute repudiation of leftism in all it's manifestations.  Truth is the sublime convergence of history and reality.