Play On!

• The recent folderol accompanying the British marriage that replaced the common-law arrangement reminded me that my family would likely have been British for centuries, had it not been for King George III’s greedy taxing shenanigans. Compared to the present-day political scoundrels taxing us, George III looks like a fumbling piker who needs a trip to Chicago to turn pro. There is much in the American heart that remains forever English, with the spirits of Runnymede and the Magna Carta still inspiring historic moments.

The Irish and the English have never liked each other much — there’s an understatement for you! And for those of us who are a combination of both, there is an eternal civil war going on in our dorsal aortas: the Anglo Saxon impulse is to keep the peace short of mayhem, while the Hibernian is ready to come out swinging first and talking later. A few drops of French blood confuse my own hemoglobin, and make me throw up my hands in despair when I cannot glorify Napoleon as a hero and, simultaneously, vilify Marshal Petain as a bum. The English in me bows to no man in praising the peace that flows ubiquitously from hearts and minds when human beings of all descriptions decide to be wise.

“Peace” is the hard-to-secure magic clime in which human good originates. In how many wars is “peace” the prize that both sides maintain they are fighting to win? After four years in World War II, I wondered whether the belligerents had stopped the killing in order to return to peaceful ventures, or simply to rearm for the next difference of opinion. The broad study of human history is simply a long narrative where human strife never ends and becomes increasingly suicidal. At civilization’s end, will there stand only a pair of belligerents staring each other in the eye, and wondering, “Should we shake hands and call it a draw, or shall I kill you and be the last human being on Earth?”

• The British royal wedding should have made a deep impression on the world’s economists. Where else can you find two people who can amicably draw such a crowd, and cause so many of the common folk to part with their hard-earned lucre? Heavyweight championship fights used to be big economic items, but where are there today prizefighters who can draw enormous crowds and fill sports arenas? Ballyhoo made Joe Louis, Max Schmeling and Rocky Marciano outdraw the president of the United States. But then what president had a left-jab that could knock you flat on your back? Today the president’s left hand holding a fountain pen is able to flatten the national treasury — as is being proven!

• After President Obama spoke briefly last week, Israel’s Netanyahu gave him publicly a clarifying history lesson.

•All beautiful, idyllic and idealistic things on today’s Earth seem vulnerable to the lie called “Liberalism.”

• Chatting with my friend Commissioner Carolyn Cooper is rewarding — she brings consistently positive energy to both her public and private thinking.

• My pal Victor is the best neighbor anyone could have. If we didn’t already own our house, I’d buy it pronto just to have Victor as my neighbor!