E. C. (Gene) Ayres Blogspot

The mythical interpretation of the Second Amendment to the Constitution originated, not surprisingly, with an NRA gathering in Texas in the 1950s, sponsored, not surprisingly, by the gun industry, that saw (correctly) huge profits to be gleaned from paranoia. The origins, of course, are and were racism. It was very simple, really. When the Constitution was being written, Southern delegates to the convention, led by Patrick Henry, were very worried about the dread possibility that slavery might be abolished in the New Republic; or even worse, that slaves would be inspired to rebel, should any of them be able to read, or overhear discussions regarding 'freedom,' and might wrongly construe that it somehow might apply to them; thus goading them to act inappropriately, i.e. revolt. Mr. Henry, a prominent Virginia lawyer as it happened, owned 110 slaves, and other family members many more. His worry was very simple: there must be a readily available means for putting down any poten...

I know it's hard to believe, but Hollywood once made good films. Even great ones. The one that the blowhards in North Korea apparently blew their tops over would not have qualified as either, but that, it seems, is about as good as it gets any more in that self-absorbed town that still fancies itself as the entertainment capital of the world. What Hollywood still has--Sony Studios or no--is an archive, a repertoire if you will, of great films, from over the last century. And believe it or not, as I witnessed first hand and played my own small part in making it happen, it was those films that carried out the real revolution in China: the post-Maoist, post-Communist revolution that made the people (if not yet the government) of China want to join the rest of the world--really for the first time in it's 7,000 year history. It wasn't intentional--far from it. And Hollywood moguls still fret about how the Chinese 'stole' all their movies. But the point they miss is t...

With all due respect to the FBI, The New York Times , and President Obama, there is more to this picture than meets the eye, and more to this story than we've been given. In my previous posts I've defended China and dismissed North Korea. As to the latter, I am forced to retreat from my dismissal of their involvement, but not surrender.  if it was NK after all, it was a blanket hack and they released everything, since they wouldn't know one person from another (apart from major stars) and certainly would not have grasped the jargon. In which case it was the media who picked and chose which emails to release, and explain who was who. And I very much doubt the Chinese were involved. There are North Koreans in China, and they could have orchestrated this, but the Chinese have no motivation to help NK commit a major international crime like this. Helping a bad nephew because he's your nephew is not motive enough. Somebody, I still think, played into Kim's hands who ...

I stand by my prior position, that no one in North Korea has the sophistication to pull off that successful cyber attack on Sony Pictures and cancellation of their Christmas release "The Interview." (On a separate matter, why exactly, was Christmas Day chosen to release a movie about a political assassination anyway? Not that North Korea would care). They either had an insider, or someone capable of straddling both worlds (the Communist Far East and 'decadent' West) simultaneously. That would be the Chinese. I know this because I spent 30 months there teaching American English and using Hollywood movies as a basic teaching tool. So, could one of my students have done this? I hate to think so, but yes, in theory that would be possible. My students were smart, sophisticated, eager to communicate with and learn about the West (not just the U.S. but also Europe and Latin America) and most certainly had the skills. But someone beholden to Kim Jong Un? I don't think...

One has to wonder: how could such a good company go so bad? No, wait. I was thinking of the old SONY. The one that made all those great electronics. The New SONY is in the movie business, and to call a film studio a good company is an oxymoron. I should know, I've worked for several of them, and in order to be at the business end of that business one has to be morally immune. That said, all the finger pointing is going so far afield as to be ludicrous. I'm talking about North Korea. The notion that North Korea is somehow behind the hacking of SONY Pictures is about as rational as the notion that North Korea invented the Peace Corps. To back up a little, I spent 30 months working inside North Korea's only friend and sponsor on the planet: the People's Republic of China, which really ought to know better by now. North Korea to the Chinese is like a really bad nephew who, on account of a common uncle or grandpa still skulking around, must still be regarded as 'fa...

The new prime minister of India, Narenda Modi, has announced he intends to remove virtually all those pesky environmental regulations India was ignoring anyway, in the name of progress (spelled 'p-r-o-f-i-t'). China, where I spent three years, has already tried this. It works great if you don't mind wearing gas masks full time when entering urban areas. (A hospital face mask seems to be the new required fashion accessory there). India, of course, is a country where until recently wives were burned when their husbands died, girls are still killed for the crime of being raped, and dead bodies floating in your water supply is considered no big deal. India, as a sidebar, was also the source of all the opium the lofty British insisted on enslaving China with for close to a century, back in the glorious Victorian reign. Now Afghanistan, on our watch, has taken over the opium trade but no worries, they're doing great, thanks to the C.I.A.'s watchful supervision, and ...

It isn't just happening to black people, although they are certainly taking the brunt of it. Much as occurred in Nazi Germany prior to World War II even white, middle class people are being targeted by the police. I should know. It happened to me. Three years ago I was accused of a minor misdemeanor (a charge later dismissed) and arrested on the spot. I was handcuffed behind my back, paraded past a terrified wife and daughter, marched past curious neighbors and onlookers, and thrown into the rear of a police car which had hard plastic 'seats' in back with no upholstery. There I was forced to sit on my hands (and those handcuffs) for 90 minutes, until finally booked into the county jail (by contract in another county). That was only the beginning. For starters, if you are ever arrested for any reason, you can forget about the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which has been all but deleted. You will be treated as a criminal until such time as you can prove your inno...

For those of you who once read my blogs, and might read them again, I am back. It has been a year of silence, that happily is about to be broken. I was fighting many battles in my absence, in many ways and at many levels: for my life. I am back, at least for now, because I have won those battles at last, if not the war. As to that, one cannot truly control the outcome of one's life, much as we might wish otherwise. Still, we can try. Imagine, if you will, having to pick up your life and move (we've all done that) but in the process, incurring a grievous injury requiring surgery. Then take it further: that you go to sleep in pain, and wake up a different person. Or two different persons: persons who do not relate to you, who are hostile to you and to each other. One is manic; the other profoundly depressed. So then you reach out for help and are given medications, and the medications trigger a terrible reaction. So then you try, try again, and finally find balance. Imagi...