Chapter xxx - Harbinger

“They (preachers) dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subversions of the duperies on which they live”

Thomas Jefferson

Feb 20

It is Sunday and we have all laid around on the living room floor all morning.  Jonathan has spent the better part of the  morning trying to tie me to different objects around the house; first  the dining room table, then the couch, then the chairs, and finally to  the chair in front of the computer from which I write this.  I'm  listening to a tape,"The Best of the BeeGees."  Currently the song  playing is, "I Can't see Nobody."   

I can't see nobody

Now, I can't see nobody

My eyes can only look at you

I love my life.  Maria is the most beautiful wife a man can have;  kind, intelligent, empathetic, introspective, jubilent of life.  Our  children are beautiful.  Jonathan is 4, Peter 8 months, and a little  girl on the way -- we hope.  Peter spends his time crawling about  looking for things to put in his mouth.  Jonathan lays traps of  devious conception for all of us to fall prey.   Maria sits on  the floor near the computer collecting bills and expenses for this  year’s taxes.

I must go into work and prepare for a presentation we have next week  concerning the current level of plutonium production and the effect of  potential plutonium surplus in light of potential treaties decreasing  the nuclear arsenals of this country.  I do not like to try and  estimate a future base on insufficient data.  I'm not given enough  information to make decisions based on facts.  It is the nature of our  current political system that forces me to make decisions based on  provided data.  In light of this and given the pressure I have  received from Ron Tapica the current head of Los Alamos National  Labratories I am forced to slant my presentation in a direction that  leaves plutonium production at its current level regardless of the  current demand on plutonium for new nuclear weapons.

Chapter xxx - Athena Smiled

“Well didst thou speak, Athena's wisest son!/ All that we know is, nothing can be known.”

Lord Byron

September 18

All my intellectual training has not prepared me for my inability to notice improvement in mankind's lot over the course of a lifetime.  In my own country I have seen people give away their freedoms for the promised security provided by government programs.  My friends, families that live near me, people from across the street, even my own children believe that it is worth their freedom to establish some form of future security for their family and themselves.

I cannot understand how these very intelligent people can fail to see the connection between their economy, their freedom, and the increased provision of security by the government.  With each passing year the government redistributes their earnings to projects that support government employees with minimal provision for safe keeping of personal property, and protection of individual rights.  I have been a prostitute my whole adult life working for the government in nuclear physics in order to provide myself with an environment where I can participate in research , live in the mountains and provide my family with a secure peaceful existance.  I am perpetuating the very system that I am against.