No damn WMDs, and no damn sense

Veterans Day.

Today is Kurt Vonnegut's birthday. The American novelist who was a cult figure in the late 60s and 70s died last year at the age of 85, and he was writing up until the end.

In "Cat's Cradle," one of Vonnegut's first novels, two characters were having a conversation. "No wonder kids grow up crazy," one said. "A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of X's between someone's hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those X's..."

"And?" the other one said.

"No damn cat, and no damn cradle."

Vonnegut's best book, probably, was "Slaughterhouse-Five." Its subject was war. Vonnegut had this to say, apropos of veterans: "We had forgotten that wars were fought by babies. We had imagined that they were fought by aging men like ourselves. When I saw those freshly shaved faces it was a shock. 'My God, my God,' I said to myself. 'It's the Children's Crusade.'"