Author: Vic Socotra

…And Taxes

Big week, gentle readers. Maybe the most significant event was a strong rebuke from a dear lady friend who demanded additional information on the assertions of famed Plague Scribe Marlow, who did not include his recipe for what he claimed was the ultimate Old Fashioned Cocktail. I immediately sprung into decisive action and sent an […]

Passing of Ray Bollinger

Colleagues, Friends and Shipmates, I got one of those phone calls from Louisiana this morning you never want to get. We have all lost a friend, a comrade, a fellow in the great struggles of the last century and the one we are struggling through now. Ray was a Master Chief Bo’sun, among a myriad […]

Arrias: To No Earthly King

Quick quiz: Who was Ralph Rose? Before answering that question, consider something we’ve all seen several times in the past week, and for that matter over the past several years: people kneeling in public. In some cases it has been clearly a sign of deference to and thanks to God. Such acts have come in […]

Sixty-Nine

This is an account of the mess I managed to get myself into as I approached retirement, but which has its roots in my boyhood, and the thrilling aspect of contact sports. First was football, then lacrosse and the occasional and spirited crashes while on duty as a Ski Patroller. The distance running that I […]

Pierce County Executive Endorsment

Larry Seaquist: the Leader Pierce County Needs! I am a dedicated voter. I view it as a duty, and living and working in the Washington Beltway hothouse, I have had the pleasure to meet some of our legislative luminaries. I want to tell you about an extraordinary friend and public servant who defines what we […]

Farm Sounds

There is a fair but tolerable level of gunfire here at the farm in all the seasons to augment the sound of tractors and the occasional rumble of livestock truck out on the county road. I am happy to join in the shooting when my mood is right. An exception was last Friday- or very […]

Arrias: Snake Plissken and the Progressive Vision of America

Socrates argued it was his duty to remain in prison because he had a contract with the city. This idea, more fully flushed out by Hobbes and Rousseau, came to be termed the social contract. Simply stated, there exists a de facto contract between the individual and the government and that contract forms the basis […]

Life & Island Times: Plague Chronicle Notes — Part XXI — Clockworks

Antique German clockwork tin toy This plague has resurfaced age old, hard questions regarding public behaviors like wearing masks: “Should we via our governments impose these behaviors? If so, are we denying them moral choice and free will? Thus denied free will, does he cease being a man? Isn’t life sustained by the grinding opposition […]