CYA

I was enjoying lunch with a former student and long-time friend yesterday after walking across campus on a gloriously sunny day in the American Southwest. I mentioned to my friend the resurgence of “fashion” among young women — women without pants, I call them. You’ve probably seen one of these fashion princesses, wearing a skin-tight pair of sheer, black tights topped by a tee shirt. But my friend hadn’t noticed, even though she has a teen-aged daughter.

How timely, then, when the hostess walked by, sans pants. And, better yet, she dropped her pen right in front of us. As she bent down to pick up the pen, she literally covered her ass with her left hand while picking up the pen with her right hand.

At least modesty isn’t completely dead. But I have to admit that, even with her relatively small butt, her hand didn’t quite do the trick.

I’m not saying I don’t appreciate the born-again fashion scene, last popular a decade or so ago. In fact, the CYA hostess reminds me to mention, as if I haven’t done so enough already, that it’s time to start covering our own asses.

On the front of economic meltdown, the Pentagon is ratcheting up its plans to deal with civil unrest. In itself, this is not news. What’s new is that the Pentagon is not hiding it. The news broke on CNBC, which is hardly a fringe player in the realm of the blogosphere.

The government is not your friend. They are not here to protect you and yours. In fact, a quick look at the latest climate-change projections, along with the associated inaction, suggests the government is working pretty hard to kill us all.

Decent human communities offer a solution for each of us, albeit partial ones. These communities are necessary, but likely not sufficient, to fend off the ongoing evils of imperialism. It’s time to deepen the bonds within our tribes. It’s time to fend for ourselves, and prepare to fend off the government.

The prescient words of Edward Abbey come to mind: “A patriot must be ready to defend his country against his government.”