Passing Thoughts on Some “T” Topics

Talent - That which makes one better than most people at performing a particular task. Some talented people do not recognize or choose to use their talent. Some are frustrated getting others to let them use it. Too many untalented people mistakenly think they have talent, and sometimes they are allowed to perform - with disastrous results. Case in point - George W. Bush.

Tangent - Where I often go, sometimes worthwhile and sometimes not. Life without tangents might be more direct, but less interesting. And what’s the hurry - especially when one gets older?

Tea - A drink with jam and bread the song said. I prefer it to coffee and drink it at home for a small fraction of the cost of a Starbuck’s concoction.

Team - People working together for a common goal, some out of sincere conviction and some merely out of need. The better teams are composed of people committed to the goal with a need to be part of attaining it, and the best ones also have talented members.

Technology - From the Greek meaning the art of making things that do work. The term now sometimes seems to mean Geek made things we can’t figure out how to make work.

Term Limits - Except in the case of the all powerful US President, where we should strongly consider shortening the duration from two terms to one, term limits do not really work. Professional office holders merely play musical chairs, running for different offices when the limits bounce them. The best term limit is the one least used - voting out incumbents.

Terrorism - A tactic as old as creation. In fact the Intelligent Designer has made continual use of the device, according to the various published accounts. The so-called War on Terror is one of the biggest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people.

Testing - Requiring proof of knowledge. The younger and less powerful are subjected to the most testing requirements. Those who hold seniority and power usually escape testing. Testing can be used to discourage participation (e.g. Jim Crow literacy testing of black voters), and it can be used to undermine institutions (as some say the No Child Left Behind law intends to do to the public school system). Testing is best used to encourage progress and protect against injury by incompetents.

Time - There is so much one can write about this subject - but I don’t have the time right now.

Tobacco - A ceremonial drug of indigenous people, turned by a secretive corporate industry into a highly profitable mass addiction. The remedy for tobacco litigation should have been to put the corporations into receivership with the stock ownership being transferred to the victims who then could decide how to liquidate the corporate assets.

Tolerance - Cutting slack for people who are different - up to a point. Some people put the point quite close to themselves. In the US, our tradition has included a more open attitude toward diversity. Libertarians are the most tolerant, conservatives the least. Liberals are on the tolerant side of middle, moderate Republicans just over the line toward intolerance.

Torture - A bad way to get bad information. When bad people do it, they are called brutal. When good people do it, they say the end justifies the means, without ever showing evidence torture produced a good end. The international community had the sense to agree to outlawing torture, but the Bush administration did not have the sense to live up to the agreement.

Trade - Swapping, or in the case of the US today, buying huge amounts from China with comparatively little sold in exchange.

Tradition - Something done twice in a row, and so pointed out by someone who wants to see it made an ongoing requirement.

Transcendental - Something beyond natural, rational, knowledgeable or experienced understanding - such as how in the hell the American people allowed themselves to end up with George W. Bush in the White House.

Transportation - Movement of people and things, usually mutually intended, but sometimes at least in part, involuntary. [See also, for example, rapture and rendition].

Travel - People transportation, sometimes for fun and sometimes of necessity. Traveling to other countries and experiencing other cultures can be a broadening experience. George W. Bush, when he assumed the Presidency, had not traveled abroad, except to Mexico, one of many factors contributing to his colossal ignorance of international affairs and to his personal rejection by the international community.

Trees - Only God can make one said Kilmer, apparently considering seeds, arborists and botanists as secondary causes. I just visited some 1,000 year old trees at the Grove of the Patriarchs on Mount Rainier. Experiencing their aged presence did not make me think of Deity creating them, but rather of man’s sad inclination to cut them down.

TV - The boob tube, home of the vast wasteland of the 1960s. Back then, in a college speech course, I argued that pay TV would produce better programming than advertiser supported TV. What we ended up with is cable TV, a more vast wasteland , for which we have to pay while still putting up with advertising.

Two Party System - An early, mostly unexpected development in US history, that seems to have ingrained itself to the detriment of our government. On a few occasions, third party movements have had temporary impact, but a strong argument can be made for the value of developing permanent minor parties to work for progress in areas where the two parties are stagnant.