Dean Clough

July 7, 2021

Portico Darwin: The New Old Normal

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS
This past Monday afternoon and evening, The Pandemic ended.  Yes, it's over.  At least for me.

No, not because I've been vaccinated (I have) or because we hit some arbitrary number by July 4th set by Papa Joe or even my man Dr. Anthony Fauci (we didn't).  And no, it's not because I live in San Francisco, which has a superb vax rate.

Rather, it's because I went to the extraordinarily Textbook (Killer, too) Perry's on Union Street - easily our favorite place in SF.  And for the first time in 15 months, it was completely, 100% normal there - no masks, no spacing, no anything.   Ol' Purple Label, Julie and I bellied right up, just like the good old days.  Silly the pseudo-dog was there, too, discretely tucked away and seemingly oblivious to the Fernet shots that were being tossed back right before her very snaggletooth. 

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(The funny thing is it seems like only yesterday that Hunter "Green Circle" Deuce shredded the slopes [and his knee] in Park City in celebration of his 50th.  I know because I was there.  The shredding was on 3/13/20 [a Friday the 13th for those keeping score] and SF closed on 3/16/20.  It's now 7/6/21 as I write this - that's 15 whole months.   But what a 15 months.  Right?  Shred.  Virus and lockdown.  Fires and smoke.  Coming in a close second on The Presidio Trust job.  Retirement.  Election.  Insurrection.  Vaccination.  Best Travel Year.)

To commemorate, here is a slide show of drinking spots we used in between real visits to Perry's.  These are all real, actual photos taken mostly from parks, where it was wine, whiskey, beer, and etc. - just like normal.  But for 15 months it was on blankets and lawn chairs, not barstools, and it was anything but normal. 

Mr. Butler, it is so good to be back.

FROM THE UNWASHED MASSES
10 seconds of seriousness:  Like Perry's, something else that will never change is my respect and love for my close friends.  So a reminder that I'll be happy to never refer to you (fake name or not), your biz and/or your activities in this blog, if that's your preference.  You just have to let me know - I write this blog to share information and for fun, and yes, maybe to post boastful photos.  But never to hurt feelings or create angst, for anyone.  

On with the show.

One unbothered by my feeble attempts at humor and sarcasm is Arthur, who had something not that humorous to say about communism, socialism, and everyone's favorite, capitalism.

"People who rant about socialism and communism in the USA are ignorant of what these terms actually mean:

Communism - 'A theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs. https://www.lexico.com/definition/Communism'

Socialism - 'A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.'

There are no alternative definitions of these words, so unless Bernie Sanders advocates the nationalization of Microsoft, or AOC wants everyone's salary sent directly to the Treasury where they in turn give each person only the amount they determine they need, these people are neither Socialist nor Communist. You can call them tax-and-spend liberals, social program advocates, etc., but that is not communism or socialism.   And despite what FOX News reports, California is no more a socialist state than Alabama, it just has more social programs.

Communism, Socialism, and Capitalism are neither good nor bad in and of themselves, they are just differing economic systems.  History has shown that Capitalism is the most practical among them, and that is why there are only a handful of truly communist or socialist countries left (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_state), and most of them have some elements of capitalism within them."

YOU TELL 'EM, FRANK! 

Seriously, though - what Arthur said.  As he notes, Capitalism is the most practical system, but unregulated Capitalism doesn't and can't work.  But that's a topic for another post . . . 

Thank you to any one that is reading this blog.

KLUF
As you may have assumed from this blog post, yes, in fact, I am ready to rock.  So here is New York's seminal Blue Oyster Cult, and their underappreciated live album, "Some Enchanted Evening".  In fact, the album's title is an apt description of Monday at Perry's, and "Don't Fear the Reaper":  words for us all to live by?

About Dean Clough