All Men Are Created Equal

   All men are created equal. Those are five words worth believing in and fighting for, yet those simple words have been forgotten as we heap praise on someone whose very existence spit in the face of that noble concept. The hagiographies filling the front pages of newspapers all over the world tell the story of someone who never had to do anything for a seat at the top of humanity—even the entitled moron who was our 45^th president had to get elected.

   The worst thing is that this insult to humanity, this monarchy continues as a new king has been named as a successor to the dead monarch, 244 years after the American Declaration of Independence that boldly set down those five words as a blueprint for democracy and self-rule. Granted, from the first day, America failed to live up to such a hallowed principle, but at least the idea was given a voice for one of the first times in human history.

Queen Given McDonald's Highest Honor

 A new king! In 2022! Is that really something the world needs at this moment in history, to leap backwards into the past? I understand that the British monarchs no longer actually rule or have any sort of real power, but to me that makes even less sense if you're trying to justify their continued existence. They serve a valuable service: they illustrate that all men are NOT created equal.

It’s time to do away with monarchies once and for all. Instead of finding where we stored the guillotines, I propose that we take all the money the royalty has stolen from the people and make all of those morons work at Burger King wearing paper crowns and making minimum. Then we can raffle off their position in the lotto's new game, "Queen for a Day."

Jesus, I just heard Elton John's new single, an adaptation (again) of "Candle in the Wind" with lyrics praising the old dead cow.

OK, that isn't true, but the day is young and I don't listen to the radio, so it could be true.

All Hands on Deck

  If I only had a dollar for every time conservatives have changed their opinion regarding global warming, or climate change, or whatever you want to call it. First, they said it wasn’t happening. Then, they said it was only a natural cycle. Then, they said it was happening, but that mankind’s actions weren’t responsible. Then, they said that we may be responsible, but it would be too expensive to correct. I have no idea what they are saying now as the American conservative movement has gone from mendacious and greedy to batshit crazy.
  It seems obvious to any thinking adult who’s read a newspaper or turned on the TV in the past year that the global climate patterns have become nothing less than insane. Records in weather-related disasters are stacking up like cars in a highway pile up. Here in Spain, we’ve had the hottest summer on record, at least until next summer. How much hotter will it have to get before most plants and animals die out? Hell, I almost died a couple of times this summer riding my bike, an activity I generally relish.
   Combatting climate change should become a world-wide priority, especially in the developed countries that use much more energy and resources than the poorer nations.
   For the first time, the USA has made a major commitment to fighting climate change with the bill recently passed by President Biden. It’s a start. The biggest concern should be educating the public on the need for all of us to work together towards this end. We should be asking every citizen to do their part to work towards a goal of reducing carbon emissions and overall waste.
   I would never lecture anyone, or expect them to follow my example, but mine isn’t a horrible example to follow. I gave up driving years and years ago to the point where I hardly even bother with taxis. I shower in a container and use this water for other purposes. I walk up and down the stairs in my building, taking the elevator only when I have my bike. I recycle fanatically. The thing is, my behavior is not that out of the ordinary here in Spain where water resources are scarce and people learn to live frugally.
  What’s wrong with frugal?

  The weird thing is that I don't have kids and I won't be around a lot longer (but probably long enough to at least begin to see the shit hit the global warming fan). I just follow this path because it seems like the right thing to do.

Canícula sin Tregua

They are saying this is the hottest summer on record. It has been a relentless torrent of sunshine and heat, not even cooling down in the evenings. The Mediterranean had reached a surface temperature of 30° which scientists say will cause weird weather this autumn. We’ll see.

Update