Bertrand Russell’s classic text, The History of Western Philosophy, is nearly 800 pages long. This little collection of thought-fragments — more like “clippings,” really, since they’re all off the top of my head — is much shorter, but just as philosophical.

A.

Abstinence: 

Most who preach about abstinence, quite frankly lack options.

Aging: 

Growing old.  Both my legs are numb due to a pinched sciatic nerve. So why, when I go to a doctor, do I get a finger up the ass? 

Americanism:

My connection to the architects of America is not driven by nostalgia.  It is based on their profound understanding of the political animal called man.  I am a big fan of the dynamic society that has emerged from their handiwork.

B

Boyish behavior

in men is the number-one contributing factor to the resting bitchy face in women.

C

Cheating:

 Seven-year itch.  Itchy is natural, scratchy puts you back in your mom’s house.

Why do I hold the woman more responsible? I think women are better human beings.  At least that’s their vibe.

Choice:  

What separates and defines the human animal is free will and choice.  We have to consciously choose to work hard at being human. 

Being a good man is not easy.  It takes hard work and a plan.

Choice: It would be unfair to call man a slave to his appetites.  A slave does not choose servitude.  He is forced against his will into the service of another.   We can say no. We know what is right.  When it suits us, we say yes to what we know we ought to say no too.  We are not forced. We choose.

Compassion

is a modern concept.  It means putting yourself in the shoes of another and saying thank God that’s not me.

Conservative. 

It is an adjective that requires a noun to make sense. What do I want to conserve?  Human dignity. What is the foundation of our dignity? Our human equality and its defense is the soul of our enterprise.  This is the value that ought to bind “We the People”.   

Courage:

There are two types of men. Those few that are drawn by nature and training to run toward problems to find a solution.  And the many who run the opposite way, to become problems.

D

Daughter:

Feminism is the greatest gift to young girls in that it gave a green light to fathers to mix his art with his daughter’s mental, moral and physical development. They say that behind every great man is a great woman. The same could be said  of the daughter-father relationship

I have a daughter, which pretty much makes me a man-hater. What kind of man do I want my daughter to marry?  I hope it’s not a man like her dad.  While I am a good match for her mother, I’d like her to find a guy a lot less tested and with a better-ordered soul.

My advice to her: If a guy is being nice to you, he wants to get into your pants and I want to kill him.

Death:

The Dearly Departed: You remember them by talking about them.

Disparate Impact: 

Men like things.  Women like people. They differ by one standard deviation—which is huge—in what attracts their attention. And if you think a more egalitarian society will bridge the gap, you are wrong.  All the evidence is to the contrary.   

Divorce 

for the majority of men, equals living in a tent.   Only the rich and the poor can afford divorce.

Dinner Table: 

“What is said at the table; stays at the table.”  The table is where my wife and I parented.   We let the kids into our heads and they let us walk around in theirs.

Double Standards, a Defense of:

My mom always criticizes me about my double standards.  She’d drag out the old trope, What’s Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander.  Really?  Is acting like a goose good for a gander?  Double standards are required because men and women are different.

Drinking:

I don’t have a drinking problem.  I have a drinking gift. 

E

Education:

Product Discussed Within:

Planned Manswers: Health care proxies.

Schools are failing to teach the 3 R’s.  Critical race theory is progressive moral editorializing with bad grammar and no facts, resulting in an ever-growing educated incapacity in our citizenry. 

Veritas has been switched for a fake ersatz-Diversitas—a diversity that requires all to think alike.  I like above-the-shoulders diversity.

F.

Family:

In defense of somewhere in between: my little platoon is neither wholesome like the Cleavers nor as depraved as the Bundys.   A Modern Family with its own flare.   

Forgiveness: 

I forgive those who have offended me for selfish reasons.  It makes sense. If you can’t hit the douche bag in the mouth, it’s better to forgive and forget.  Do not give those whom you dislike a place to live in your head.

H

Happiness:  

Built on détente.  To agree to disagree.

Humanity:  

We are born in the likeness of God, but made out of monkey parts.

Human nature is brackish.  It’s a mix of reason and appetite; humility and pride; nature and grace. In a word, it’s paradoxical.  Human beings are a mixed bag: we instinctively know what is basically good but we have a hard time doing it.

Human nature is an oxymoron:  Man can chose to be beastly. Beasts cannot choose to be human.

Humor:

A divided nation can be united with humor.   

Hypocrisy:  

Being a Christian does not make you perfect.  Nor does it mean that you pretend to be. I pray for the Grace to be a Saint.  Short of that, I would rather be a hypocrite—at least I pay lip service to the truth even when I lack follow-through. Better that than a consistent, trans-valuating bastard

I 

Intimacy: It’s like sleeping with your lawyer.

L

Love is the signal in the noise.

M.

Marriage:

Women are drawn to marriage and they bring to it high expectations.  Men run away from it—but when  they submit to it their expectations are more realistic.  Women are romantics, introducing disjunction between reality — and that introduces tension.  By contrast, men are happier because their expectations are more earth-bound.  What a proof? There is no magazine called Groom. 

Marriage Maketh Men.  Get Married to a good woman. Character is everything. Look for someone you can do time with.

Marry Up:  You don’t know who you are and what you are capable of until you get married.  Marriage changes men because women want to change their man.  You have to marry up to have a lateral relationship

Doing Time with Another for Life:  No mention of the word happiness in the vows.  Do your duty to love and honor forever—this is what makes you happy.  Happiness is a bi-product.  Think in these terms and you are not looking for the door, because the door does not exist.

Think about your marriage.  Like anything, attentiveness makes you better at it.

On the Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus front.  It is true,  you can’t please a woman.  But you can certainly piss them off. Focus your attention on not pissing off your woman.

Masculinity

is located between the excess of toxic masculinity and deficiency of the mangina. The Planned Man is the masculine mean.

Planned Masculinity, Qualities of:

Only the strong can truly be gentle. Without strength, gentleness is the painted face of weakness.  Right without might is helpless.  Might without right is tyranny.

Be a Swear-By Not a Swear-At Guy in all things.

Leave a Mark but not a Mess:  Make yourself and the world you touch better while you are on it.  Clean up after yourself.

Govern your relationship  with the The Four F’s.  If you Fuck up, Fess Up, Figure Out, Forgive.  If someone fucks you up, work them through the process.

Bend Over Backwards, Not Forward.  The customer is not always right. And neither is your boss, your wife, or your government.   If you feel yourself being bent over—stand up.

Develop an eye for the Confluences of Interests. Man is a pattern-recognizing animal.  Identify trend lines and get on the right side of them. 

Men:

What do men want?   To be loved and left alone

Men with options are naturally polygamous.

Modesty: Don’t-ask, don’t-tell is a good policy with regards to sexual history.  If you have sucked a lot of dicks, keep it yourself.

Monogamy: It’s like being exiled to your favorite restaurant.

Serial-Monogamy:  nothing real or lasting comes from this.  When the problem arises you are naturally looking for doors.

Moralism: I am a churchgoer. There is more moralizing done in the public square than at my pulpit.

Money might be the root of all evil, but the Good can’t do good without it.

P.

Parenting: Raising a good kid is more art than science.  Our faith and reason gives us an idea of north, but we all take our own unique path to self-development and happiness.

Pleasure:  Pleasure is pleasant and that which is pleasing tends to be habitual.  (An Aristotlean denial of pleasure for its own sake, but no such denial for my wife and children, everyone who works for me, and who provides any essential service). 

Porn: In the 1960’s, it was hard to find, stacked in dark corners in basements, or scattered in the charred fragments of campfires, or in your left hand. Now, it’s on the giant screen right in front of you and mirrored everywhere.

Prodigal Redemption: By standing up for the right things, you give them something to come back to.

R

Religion:

Being a believer does not make you perfect.  Nor does it mean that you pretend to be.   I pray for the Grace to be a Saint but being a good man is hard work.  I fall short of the golden rule and have to be satisfied with the bronze.  

Christianity comes with a self-righteous warning label.  Its rock, Peter, denied God three times. Another time, Jesus says, “Get behind me Satan.”  When asked to keep watch while he was waiting to be delivered, the disciples fell asleep on the job.   One of the Twelve was a rat who sold him out for some silver, and another, Thomas, doubted the Resurrected Christ unless he could stick his fingers in His mutilated body. Jesus was forever correcting Disciples. In their and our defense, Jesus had a tendency to be vague.

Christianity is a good deal for a fallen soul.  There is Judgment but it is tempered with grace, love and forgiveness. It is made not for the perfect but for the prodigal.  Its signal through the noise is love.

S

Secrets. 

I live a compartmentalized life. It’s not the politically correct thing to say but I do hide things from my wife.  I wish she hid things from me.  Please shut the bathroom door.  My bartender does not know me best but he does know me well.   

Sex:

Bombing in Bed.  Women don’t have to deal with it.

Sin:

It’s a natural consequence of self-consciousness.  Nature and human nature are both inhospitable to the right, just, good and joyful.

T

Toleration is conditional:  

“I Don’t Care if my neighbor believes in 0ne or 20 gods” is conditional:  As long as my neighbor does not personally or through the government, twist my arm (physical coercion) or pick my pocket (financial coercion).   

Terrorism

is like VD.  It hurts but it if addressed early and with modern science,  it can’t kill us.

Transactional Sexuality:

Let’s face it. There is no way that this woman is fucking this guy for his looks, wit or charm.  Chicks like Money and Power as well.  Not quite a Prostitute but not a good girl either.  I am not saying that she is a gold digger.  I am just saying…

V

Vice

Public Vices: 

Cutting your fingernails in public.  Eating Smelly Food in closed spaces: Putting your dirty  shoes on a seat.  Talking on a Phone with the speaker on.

Mother’s one rule:  I was raised in the fraternity of men—with a loving house mom, who loved us and smiled at our imperfections.  Her one request was “pick up the seat.”  We were not required to put it down.

Virtue

Virtue, Civic:Our Country and its character:While we don’t require great virtue, we do require some.(Stan Lee)

Female Virtue today.  It’s non-virgin versus Virgin, its pre-owned versus Used.

Urban Virture:  Don’t be a dick   What is it to be dick?  At core: personal indifference to calls of justice and love of the individual.  You don’t step over those you should and can help.  

A nod of the head says all is OK.  I am neither a Viking or a Victim. 

Say Please and Thank you.  

Women and Children First. 

How kids  behave in public is important.  People watch and judge you—particularly on how your children behave in relationship to you.

W

Work: 

It’s called work for a reason; it’s not always fun.  Those who love their work can’t deny the grind, the ground-hog repetition.  It’s hard work.  What makes work fun is putting your shoulder behind things that are worthy.