Uncle Roger's Notebooks of Daily Life

Colonel Klink for President

When I was younger, I used to watch Hogan's Heroes. One of the unimportant details I remembered most from the show was the Geneva Convention. I didn't know who was at the convention, but I figured it must have been some pretty powerful people since whenever Colonel Klink tried to do something mean, Colonel Hogan just had to say "Geneva Convention" and Colonel Klink would straighten up and fly right.

That seemed to me to be pretty impressive -- and pretty important. The Geneva Convention was something special if it could make even the callous Nazis do the right thing. I was very impressed.

Of course, the Geneva Conventions are a set of four treaties that deal primarily with the treatment of non-combatants and prisoners of war. What is sad is that these treaties which, at least in Hollywood, could temper the Nazis, seem to have no effect on our own leaders. Our president, sad as it is, has decided that we, for some unknown reason, don't have to follow those treaties, the earliest of which dates back to 1864 and which we signed in 1882.

It seems to me that we, given our great wealth and power, ought to be setting an example, especially if we want to run around forcing our form of government onto others. If we want other countries to do as we do, then we probably ought to be doing as we want them to do. Bush said that "we expect them to be treated humanely, just like we’ll treat any prisoners of theirs that we capture humanely... If not, the people who mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals."

I would gladly trade our current idiot in chief for Werner Klemperer's Colonel Klink. He was smarter, far more lucid and coherent, and, it seems, both more human and more humane.

[ Posted: 08:00 | comments: 1 | print ]

Miss Teen South Carolina

I'm sure you've heard all the hullabaloo (and seen the video) about Miss Teen South Carolina's answer to a question about education in the US. I don't see what all the fuss is about -- she's certainly more literate and coherent than the President of the United States. How much more must we require of our bathing beauties?

[ Posted: 09:00 | comments: 0 | print ]

Miscellaneous Jared Quotes

While making sandwiches:

"Do you want some tomatoes? I'll squish them."

June 3, 9am

To his sister, at the top of the stairs with a cardboard box:

"It's a box roller coaster. You get in and I'll give you a push."

"It's only three steps high so it won't hurt anybody."

June 5, 9:15pm

Looking at a picture of two little people:

"I would say to them, you're different than me, but you can still be my friend."

June 6, 8am

Describing a toy lizard:

"This is a friendly lizard. He loves kisses."

Undated

Musing on current politics:

"Do you know why we're naughty children? It's because out president is naughty. He makes us do naughty things."

"I want to call the president of the United States to welcome America to our house."

August 20, 8:30am

[ Posted: 08:00 | comments: 0 | print ]