tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3786398192181893132024-02-19T01:37:44.781-06:00Still Life With Cheese Politics, Human Interest, and Random Acts of Verbiage by a Political and Interpersonal Communication Professional - May contain displays of irony, humor, intellectual curiosity, mixied with the occasional display of disappointment, fear, shock or outrage. Anything not safe to view around children, in the workplace, or near the faint of heart will be marked as such. MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-53398513113232247072017-09-25T04:25:00.000-05:002017-09-25T05:53:31.018-05:00Just A Man With A Gun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">B-b-b-b-but... liberal anti-gu- I mean, pro-common sen- No.. I <b><u>do</u></b> mean anti-gun (and anti-contstitution, by definition) folks have been telling me for decades that ordingary gun-carrying people don't stop crimes with guns. That can't happen, they assure me, because as everyone knows, the gun will get taken away, or they might hurt themselves or kill themselves, or scare the shrinking violets of the left so badly that they must seek counseling at the mere sight of a scary, black, loud and powerful handful of equalizing potential; and then of course they insist all gun owners are mentally ill and will almost always run to the nearest public school or mall and commit mass murder because the gun made them do it. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">But every good liberal will tell you until they are blue in the face and until you want to cry out to the gods, asking what horrible thing you did in your past life that justify sitting there, listening to the pure flow of bullshit that comes out of their mouths sounding like they are telling you that citizens who carry guns don't prevent crimes. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">Only cops preven... well, actually, no, they don't... except by accident, as a secondary function at best. Their job is <b><u>not</u></b> to prevent crime, but to discover it, investigate it, and collect revenue for their bosses- and no, that's not <i>"the people"</i>; it's whichever government agency (or corrupt individual) that funds them. This cannot be disputed, since the Supreme Court has ruled that<i><b> no law enforcement officer</b></i> has a duty to protect any person, their property, or their rights. They are allowed to watch someone stab you to death right in front of them without intervening. They are allowed to let you bleed to death while waiting for EMS without so much as applying pressure, or even holding your hand. They can let you drown, get beat up by your spouse, and burn to death because they chose not to pull you from your wrecked car when it started on fire.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">Knowing this, why in <b>HELL</b> would anyone want to prevent upright, consciencious, educated citizens from carrying guns? The only ones they want to ALLOW to have them don't have to lift a finger to defend anyone, by law, and yet they want to ensure that citizens are unable to defend themselves. Sounds surreal, to me.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">This officer, if roles were reversed, could allow the attacker to kill the citizen in front of his eyes and do nothing to stop it, and just wait till there is no longer a hostage in the way of the criminal's capture to get a commendation, promotion, raise, and his name in the national LEO professional journals. All without losing his paycheck, his pension, his other job benefits.. and depending on the cop, maybe without losing his bribe money, or all the neat, cool stuff he gets for the department (and maybe a little for himself on the side) from civil forfeitures that somehow either never make it to the station, or never gets returned and can be used by the department to buy helicopters, M-RAPs, riot gear, infrared cameras to see through your walls or roof, tech devices to intercept your cell calls without a warrant, ... all the trappings that the military has that they salivate over and covet unrepentantly- not to use against a foreign enemy, but against the very people they steal from-I mean terrorize- I mean .. Yeah, I mean terrorize. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">Maybe they should spend some of that on gun training and use of force training. Some communication skills training wouldn't hurt, either, like dispute resolution training, intercultural communication, and effective listening. A mandatory class on animal behavior and handling is a must, so they stop killing friendly family pets in front of the children, or while they are chained in their own yards. Such brave souls who kill animals because they felt threatened- not because they were actually attacked or even saw any indication they might be- when there are so many other things to try <b><i><u>first</u></i></b> to control the situation and ensure the safety of EVERYONE, including those animals- should never be allowed around animals, children or civilized humans let alone be hired as an officer. They are too reactionary, emotional, and too cowardly for the job. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">I'd also throw in some mandatory and ongoing anger management that includes teaching the biophysical processes and a psychological education component that teaches them about how and why they will eventually become corrupt, no matter their good intentions- why power attracts the corruptible and by virtue of choosing that profession, they have already shown they are likely to abuse any power they are given. Included in this training should be detailed and intensive education on how to know when they've become an adrenalin junkie and the resulting brain damage that occurs from the hormone continuously being pumped into the frontal cortex-which regulates reactions, rationality, and impulse control- something many cops exhibit a lack thereof. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">I'd top it off with mandatory ongoing education on stress management and emotional discipline training, so they can hopefully stop killing the deaf, the mentally ill, old people with dementia, teens trying to run away from them, and middle aged women in their pajamas who have called them for help who get shot through the cruiser door from the passenger's side and across the partner who is driving, more than two minutes after they show up and are talking to her- because the officer was "startled". </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">These "brave" men and women in blue wouldn't have to be so "brave" if more citizens carried guns, no matter what the liberal anti-gun people will tell you. They are either ignorant, liars, or fools. Its up to you to figure out which one applies to the specific person or persons in your life who are telling you that it should be harder for citizens to buy and own guns, that they never prevent crime, they are too dangerous to have in the house, and that somehow, if people don't have guns, then the criminals won't either. Educate those who are ignorant, call out the liars and expose them by using the facts instead of appeals to emotion, and use your own discretion when dealing with fools- in groups, and individually, they are nearly always more dangerous than the liars who fooled them. No one will hold an idea more dearly than someone who discovers they've been duped, and in order to not appear the fool, they'd rather help the lie by assuring the desired outcome happens so they feel vindicated. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">The definition of a criminal is someone who does not follow the law. Making more laws to restrict guns and make it more difficult or even impossible for qualified citizens to own them will not stop criminals from having, getting, keeping, or using them. But it most assuredly <b><u>will</u></b> stop more citizens like the man in this video from preventing a cop from getting killed, or a woman from being raped, or an elderly woman who lives alone from having her home invaded, or a school full of children being gunned down by a radicalized zealot or the kid who didn't get to eat at the cool kids' table.</span></span></div>
MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0 St Cloud, MN 56304, USA45.490945692627328 -94.13085937544.07450719262733 -96.712646375 46.907384192627326 -91.549072375tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-21800416219832807402016-10-31T22:13:00.001-05:002016-10-31T22:13:57.216-05:00<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<b><u><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">October 31, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">My Personal and Non-Professional Assessment of
the American Voting Public</span> <o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 200%;">An Opinion Piece, by<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Marcia La Vine</span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">Individual people aren't dumb... but groups of
people are not only dumb, they are dangerous- utterly incapable of independent
thought, let alone capable of exercising the critical reasoning necessary to
make competent decisions about anything. I wouldn’t want most voters to decide
something even as meaningless as what type of sandwich I should order for lunch.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">M<span class="textexposedshow">embers of political parties/ groups are capable of the
simultaneous belief that as a voter, they are both responsible for any positive
outcomes and yet are totally blameless for negative outcomes. This isn’t even the
worst part. Consider this: political party members and pretty much all voters
either deny or are completely ignorant of their having taken part in electing either
another mentally impaired person, someone suffering from criminal insanity, or
a rational but amoral, narcissistic, and sadistic psychopathic personality and
gave them the job of running the nation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">My assessment may seem harsh, of both the candidates in question and
their supporters, but let me explain. </span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br />
<span class="textexposedshow">Why do I think someone running for president is so
clearly mentally ill or evil? Look at it this way: These people are TRYING to get a
horrible-paying job that has the highest level of responsibility in our nation,
the highest level of stress imaginable, entails perpetual sleep deprivation,
constant surveillance, constant public and international scrutiny, and they
instantly become a clear, specific and desirable target for all who are
disgruntled- both nationally and internationally. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">They know that they will be recognized by millions if not billions, and
varying numbers of people either will revile or adore them, depending on what
this person can manage to deliver to individual citizens. The job applicant, in
my set of memories, always believes they will only get and then retain the
position if they succeed in placating, duping and/or subduing or subjugating most
of those they supposedly "serve", then strive to do well in this
regard, rather than going with the job review given when being judged by each
citizen’s honest, objective and unbiased assessment of how well they believe
the candidate could do or may be doing to fulfill the actual duties of office.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br />
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">First, why would any sane, rational, thinking human being <i>WANT </i>this job? And why would any sane,
rational, thinking human being trust anyone who not only WANTS the job, but
wants it so badly that they are willing to do and say what virtually all
politicians I have observed proved themselves willing to do and say to get that
job, no matter how despicable, lowdown, vile or corrupt?</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And why do people keep voting the same type of
person into office, while simultaneously bemoaning the levels of corruption,
greed and lawlessness in government?<br />
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I believe this is because people in groups are nearly always twice as
dumb collectively as the least intelligent member. They are lemmings. More
specifically, I think the American voting public are lemmings, incapable of
intelligent, rational thinking. It is true that individual persons are
intelligent, thoughtful, bright, amazing beings capable of astonishing,
brilliant and profound things, but the voting public is nothing short of a mob-
a creature with anywhere from dozens to millions of eyes, ears, arms, legs, and
mouths… but absolutely no brain whatsoever to prevent them from joyously dashing
towards that cliff. Party members, or members of most groups, remind me of people
at a hockey game afterparty that suddenly shifts from a limited local
celebration to an angry, and violent throng, leaving devastation, destruction
and losses impossible to calculate in its wake. No one ever knows why. Because
they are brainless while acting as a group. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Groups of people also seem to be populated by individuals who believe
that being a member of a group is an automatic, appropriate, adequate and
acceptable absolution of guilt. We see it all the time- membership in group
activities is always used to completely deny an individual's own portion of
responsibility for the consequences of the actions of the group/mob. Even
worse, most members truly do believe that they hold no responsibility because
of their low-ranking group membership status, and lack of understanding of
their own group dynamic which led to negative consequences. </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br />
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I've never heard a single average voter- the least involved and least
invested member of the political system- say they were personally responsible
to any degree for what happened during their candidate’s presidency. No voter I’ve
ever spoken to has admitted that even a small fraction of what may follow could
possibly be their fault. Instead they all openly and adamantly deny their small
but clear and undeniable culpability for the consequences of their individual
voting decisions. I’m positive that I never will hear an average voter admit to
having a share of blame for any political mess, because no one believes they
ARE responsible. Not even the candidates themselves. Why? Leadership lays it on
the members, and members on each other, leadership, the opposition, anyone but
themselves. Because as a member of their political party, or any group, they
see themselves as an unidentifiable, anonymous, insignificant and a minuscule
part of a whole that no one of importance could possibly lay blame to for
anything. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">They see no cognitive dissonance when, though they have admitted to
varying degrees of involvement with their group, they behave as if they have no
real connection to their chosen congress of baboons or murder of crows, except
maybe an admittance of agreement with that party’s foundational ideologies or
stated grievances, or perhaps they buy into the rhetoric. But the consequences
of supporting those things? Here is what I hear almost daily: “Oh, heavens, no.
It wasn’t my fault! I didn’t: [vandalize that building/trash that park/increase
taxes/support an admitted criminal/cause the deaths of tens of thousands both here
and abroad]. All that happened in a place whose name I can’t even pronounce let
alone point out on a map. I just [partied with/camped out with/voted for the
mandate/voted for the candidate/demanded action in the form of revenge from our
leaders] in retaliation for them attacking us.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I swear, it makes me want to throat-punch someone sometimes. So instead,
I smile and either change the subject or exit the conversation. I at least happen
to be aware that of ALL my actions, large and small, have consequences.
Besides, I was brought up to control myself like a big girl without collapsing
into hysterical violence or uncontrolled weeping whenever things don’t go my
way.<br />
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">People need to realize that group membership always stipulates they are
not merely passive observers, but are instead agreeing and accepting the
position of a legitimate, active, and representative member of a specific group
– and the higher order mammals are not only aware of but have a willingness to
use their own portion of individual power and the responsibility that comes
with it for the group they align with and work to elevate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The lemmings are literally every group of people which gathers for a
cause but identifies themselves as a group, rather than identifying themselves
as a collection of individuals with separate identities, with individual names,
who choose to gather to support a common cause. This type of coalition has united
for a defined purpose, and the responsibility for all consequences which flow
outward from the actions of the group are shouldered by <i>every</i> individual associated with it. Responsibility is not shrugged
off, passed on to the next guy, or weaseled out of. No blame, no abdication
after the fact. They are willing to pay the freight, so to speak. These are
rational, thinking, higher order humans. But most are lemmings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Why do people join groups without accepting the often-unspoken
obligation which comes with membership in a group? I’ve had it explained to me
once: This person said it was fantastic to be able to feel safe, anonymous, belonging,
important, justified and yet, still blameless and able to deny knowledge of and
responsibility for what the leadership decided to do and say for the group. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I must point out that
the empirical evidence seems to indicate that she wasn’t the only one, by a
long shot. <br />
<span class="textexposedshow">And it doesn't matter WHICH party or ideology those
lemmings agree with or which group they choose to march toward the edge of the
cliff with, because they all march while insisting they are <i>not</i> a member of the group and instead are
merely walking the same way, to the same place, at the same time, for the same
goal, together. But it’s not their fault.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The general voting public is not interested in
accepting personal responsibility or accountability for even this smallest yet
most important action the American people can do to participate, determining
the direction and subsequent actions which our government will perform in our
name for the next four years. If anything goes wrong, it is always the other
guy’s fault. To me, this qualifies most voters as being "dumb.” And
dangerous. And doomed.</span></span><br />
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<span class="textexposedshow"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></span>MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-59139069411039995872016-01-07T11:11:00.001-06:002017-09-26T01:44:53.699-05:00No one needs that many air bags! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I'm on a roll lately. I just crafted a pretty good piece of hyperbole that perfectly matched a ridiculous meme comparing guns and cars. Here's what I wrote on that one:</div>
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I didn't know that cars were a right! Cool! And of course, the government needs to be the ones to control all of that safety gear, even if the constitution said that everyone has a right to own seatbelts and airbags. How could the framers possibly have foreseen the use of super-strong, almost unbreakable materials when all they were using was woven cotton or wool? Ridiculous! And besides that, everyone knows that only rational and peaceful people like me choose not to buy those dangerous implements. Nuts who think the government is going to take their cars surely don't need extra safety precautions that exceed mine. It offends me that they believe their right to be as safe as they choose doesn't agree with my right to demand that their rights be removed! Because of this, I demand that the government ensure my ability to force those who have extra safety gear to get rid of them. If we can't do that yet, lets make them register so that the government will be better able to control those who legally purchase their equipment, while ignoring the illegal black market seatbelts and side air bags that the criminals have, some of which were even distributed by the government. That shouldn't matter, because my right to not have something I don't like should outweigh their right to have it! </div>
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The government's job is to make sure my neighbors never have a car that is safer than mine, because no one really NEEDS that much safety gear. The only reason to ever have that much is simply because you want to make sure you're going to survive, which is totally wrong since that equipment is scary looking and makes me uncomfortable, and you probably only got it to look cool instead of ensuring your safety even if the people who don't have all of that die. How awful! It's simply psychotic, I tell you.. these seat-belt nuts just don't have any sense, so we now must enact common-sense seat belt laws to force them to curtail their zealous purchases of items intended to save their lives. People who don't believe in too much safety gear want to make sure that your ability to survive a crash never exceeds their own, even though its been shown that criminals who install illegal safety gear never follow the laws, anyway, because.. well, they're criminals.<br />
Oh, and did you even get proper training for all those buckles and straps? You did? Well, someone else didn't so clearly, you should have to suffer because of it. I know! Lets make those permits for airbags exceeding some arbitrary minimum that has no correlation to safety at all, and is primarily driven by being as inclusive to those poor disadvantaged folk who just never wanted all that extra responsibility of learning how to use the best protection they could get. They should be so expensive that only people who make more than $25 an hour can afford to get extra belts!</div>
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MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-41231571454768707672016-01-07T01:40:00.000-06:002016-01-07T01:43:55.044-06:00And another piece of evidence pointing to the inevitable extinction of our species<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">It just gets more surreal by the day, I swear.. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">I came across a post about how bullies are now running roughshod, unchallenged by their peers, because now the schools are cracking down on the children who are "bullying the bully" as a way to make them stop their behavior. Good lord, why am I not surprised at such idiocy? I can tell you.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">My son was bullied in grade school.. Instead of disciplining the kids who tormented and abused him, it was easier for the admins to call him the trouble maker. inciting and asking for the older kids to repeatedly thump him in the back of the head with a large text book, day after day, during recess, or simply just punching him in the stomach when the faculty attendant was pointedly watching traffic on the road instead of the kids on the playground. Once they decided that he was the reason he was getting beat up every day and not the bully's responsibility for doing the beating, I understood when my son became angry, a bit hostile when it came to the adults he trusted to protect him so he could learn. Not only did he become frustrated and angry, my own made his look like a mild reaction given by someone half way to comatose. I was LIVID, and I told them so. I was beyond frustrated, shall we say, with the administrators and their excuses, blame and shame game that they used as a tactic in their attempted bullying of ME. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">So, when my son's attitude of distrust and contempt showed through to the useless playground monitor when he was getting punched less then fifteen feet from her, they stepped it up and labeled him as "oppositional-defiant disorder". I was threatened with court action in order to force me to take him to a psychiatrist and get him medicated at that point. I found my own therapist, refusing to take him to the pill pusher they strongly "recommended", simply because he fought back against the bully, once, and held those charged with his safety accountable for their failure. Some time later, the special ed teacher he was forced to have class with physically assaulted him by grabbing and jerking his arm, so he pulled away and his hand came into contact with her forearm as he pulled his body away from her assault, so she had HIM charged with assaulting HER. A TEN YEAR OLD had to go to court for assault charges against the teacher who was supposedly trained to cope with "difficult children", and knew better than to touch any child without permission or with compelling reason. Yes, I'm still angry, still vocal, and still "oppositional- defiant", But he isn't. He never was, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">He's now 28, was never medicated, and never had ODD, ADHD, or any other "mental or behavioral disorder" that they claimed he "suffered" from, and for which they tried to charge me with neglect because I didn't take the word of someone who doled out pharmaceutical speed like candy to kids as young as 5 and sleeping pills to the parents so they could "maintain their own sanity". What a racket. Now to the good part.. Pay attention, Class... there may be a pop quiz later....</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Check out the list of criteria for this supposed "Disorder" they claimed my son who was clearly well-adjusted until that time suddenly acquired out of nowhere, with no known cause, and lots of "treatments" from pills to hospitalization available, provided your insurance was up to snuff....</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">The entire list of symptoms and behaviors is nothing but very ordinary, common, occasional behaviors of pretty much ALL CHILDREN, at varying stages in their lives. Ask any mother who's had more than two, and was a stay at home mom. We know normal behavior when we encounter it. None of the things on that list is anything other than what kids do while learning their limits. See what happens when you remove limits from kids? Even the psychs don't remember how kids once responded to them! Seriously, this is normal stuff.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Its how children grow up to learn how to become self-sufficient, trust their own judgement, question unsubstantiated claims, and THINK FOR THEMSELVES. Kids who exhibit the behaviors listed are considered a threat to the society the social engineers want to create, well, except those whose treatment leads to them becoming either too afraid to challenge their elders in any way, or such damage that renders them just a bit too dim to figure out that they're being trained as a good little monkey, whose sole purpose is to become a good big monkey one day. Shut up and take your pill.<br />From the May Clinic Website, under <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/oppositional-defiant-disorder/basics/symptoms/con-20024559?reDate=07012016" target="_blank">"Diseases and Conditions" </a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">"DSM-5 criteria for diagnosis of ODD show a pattern of behavior that:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Includes at least four symptoms from any of these categories — angry and irritable mood; argumentative and defiant behavior; or vindictiveness</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Occurs with at least one individual who is not a sibling</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Causes significant problems at work, school or home</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Occurs on its own, rather than as part of the course of another mental health problem, such as a substance use disorder, depression or bipolar disorder</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Lasts at least six months</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">DSM-5 criteria for diagnosis of ODD include both emotional and behavioral symptoms.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Angry and irritable mood:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Often loses temper</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Is often touchy or easily annoyed by others</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Is often angry and resentful</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Argumentative and defiant behavior:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Often argues with adults or people in authority</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Often actively defies or refuses to comply with adults' requests or rules</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Often deliberately annoys people</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Often blames others for his or her mistakes or misbehavior</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Vindictiveness:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Is often spiteful or vindictive</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Has shown spiteful or vindictive behavior at least twice in the past six months</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">These behaviors must be displayed more often than is typical for your child's peers. For children younger than 5 years, the behavior must occur on most days for a period of at least six months. For individuals 5 years or older, the behavior must occur at least once a week for at least six months.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">ODD can vary in severity:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Mild. Symptoms occur only in one setting, such as only at home, school, work or with peers.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Moderate. Some symptoms occur in at least two settings.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Severe. Some symptoms occur in three or more settings.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">For some children, symptoms may first be seen only at home, but with time extend to other settings, such as school and with friends."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">It scares the crap out of me that the psychiatric community gets away with pseudo-science like this, and many parents just let them drug their kids at the first mention of "mental disorder", and it's all just based on unproven opinions that their friends all agreed sounded good, would make them tons of money, would prevent individuality and creativity from spreading like the plague, and nothing more. Oh, yeah.. profits and power are winning over parents' discretion and those lucky few kids who actually get a childhood in spite of those who claim to be "protecting" them from the big bad world.</span><br />
<br />MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-2658935517178456832016-01-06T23:11:00.003-06:002016-01-06T23:12:19.132-06:00This Month's Rant<div class="_45m_ _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="a0tib-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="a0tib-0-0">I can easily draw parallels to the myths and legends of all religions and all societies to what I've been seeing in recent years within this so-called "civil" society. I wonder if maybe I've seen the seventh sign, or the fourth horseman of the apocalypse. I don't know. I've been seeing some totally nonsensical bullshit served up as if it were ambrosia, and people are buying it, so what else can explain this sorry state?
I think my first obvious sign of the approaching end of mankind has been the sharp, concurrent and almost proportionate declines in both manners- common courtesy- and reading proficiency. I myself saw the end draw so close to me, more than once, that I thought I could finally plan my last party and see who shows up to mourn.
The utterly schizophrenic and pointless hate-fest between what were purported to be reasonable adults who were once capable of simply being happy to be taking another breath are now reveling in their dual party system, all poised to devour anyone who dares to voice any type of dissenting view of any kind, on any subject, even if they're right is proof enough for me.
Such behavior isn't just now the norm, it seems to have become an excepted, and expected show of worship for One Side, or The Other. We're being led to become the cannon fodder for either the delusional far-left, whose belief that more government control will result in a sustainable, unchanging equitable wealth distribution (as if this is something to be desired in the first place), while insisting that we allow the government to decide how we must eat, sleep, learn, be entertained, blame for our lot in life, value as a meaningful calling, but just call it a career because you don't dare use words that might illicit emotions associated with joy, faith, happiness, wonder and mystery- Why? I've actually heard this argument, almost ver batim, from a 24 year old white guy sporting smelly dreads and a $350 pair of jeans that his mother just gave him. He said " they sound too Christian..unless the Dalai Lama says them,, that's totally cool. Or Muslims.. they're the religion of peace, you know.. or Wiccans... yeah.. Wiccans aren't Satanists. They're all about nature, so they're a good religion...Some words sound good from those people, but not white, redneck, republican Christians. They're racist and believe in a religion which once killed probably billions, for all we know..They slaughtered half the world's population in less than ten years, more than the Black Plague, according to this article I read last year. Yeah, they didn't stop till around 150 years ago, give or take. At least in Europe. They were still burning Jews and witches then. It's an evil religion that white redneck republicans believe, so I just can't help it if I insult them." I shit you not. I just think he believed what he was told and taught, so it's hard to fault him for that, as he was a college student on break in NV at the time.
Oh but wait! There's More! It slices, dices and makes Julienne fries! Just Look at that tomato! Turn your gaze to the other team, maybe this one is your team! You should be delighted to know that I hold the other side in equal amusement, and appalled fascination...
I refuse to be cannon fodder for the far right, whose blind faith has led to more death, despair, evil, hate and utterly incorrect theories" throughout all of history than.. I don't know, anyone? They once called them "science", supported by the might of the Vatican's thirst for killing heretics, but its now called an "alternative theory" when it really should just be called what what it is:Fairy Tales and Myths from Long Ago. Both of these opposing sides notify us daily on TV (and here) of who we must associate with and who it's okay to insult, because it can't mean anything if we are forbidden from acknowledging them as fellow human beings- right? they're evil Capitalists! They're evil Socialists! They deserve our expressed revulsion and hatred! I've heard it said so many times, I can't even smile wanly when I hear it any longer, let alone muster up the energy to engage them in an attempt at rational argument through civilized debate. They attack my gender, age, education, place of residence, or the imagined political affiliation attributed to me by both sides, each calling me a member of their hated enemy camp. It was once funny, now it's just sad. An exercise in utter futility, and I'm the only one who seems to appreciate the poetry of such an occurrence.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="70ilt-0-0">Just the other day, we were yet again informed that the agency of the week, whatever it might be now, has been declared by our leadership and the sychophants behind them, cheering, have signed a paper that not only justifies what was commonly accepted as a crime yesterday suddenly becoming the approved and standard method of the government to prove they're right, because they said so. They manage fetes like this by obtaining the assistance and collusion of the government equivalent of official interpreters of the English Language, bought and paid for by whoever managed to buy enough congressional votes to get them a seat on the bench. They're given sole authority to assign any words they might choose whatever meaning that proves either more lucrative or more popular, depending on which side they support. They now have grasped, unchallenged, the supreme authority to change what was once a simple expression of a simple concept into something so utterly nonsensical, only those same official interpreters are qualified to determine a word or phrase's new meaning. For example, perhaps the new meaning of the word "might" could eventually be used as legal grounds to move forward with the armed enforcement of a questionable arbitrary mandate, as if it were a law, fundamentally changing the documents that those same interpreters and their cohorts in congressional and executive branches have taken an oath to protect. Huh... Must be one of those phrases that have been interpreted for modern times but I just haven't heard the new official definition of it yet. ...</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="a8dvf-0-0">The Administrative Branch's new additional role as lawmaker has begun by taking perhaps the first step towards removing all the choices once enjoyed by anyone who wanted to defend themselves in an equal manner of their most dangerous threat- the people who were once individuals but are now simply known and referred to as "The Government". Those people now get to tell everyone else how they'll be allowed to defend themselves against itself. HUH? You heard it right.. the government has grasped the brass ring, giving itself the authority to tell you how you will be allowed to defend yourselves against it! Next thing, your neighbor will be allowed to tell you what you can and can't do, when they decide to break in and murder your spouse and steal your wedding rings. You can't be trusted to decide that for yourself, after all- because someone else broke a different law, causing people to feign emotional distress over actions that they never experienced, don't understand, and don't really care about in the long run, because everyone's doin' it, man... </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="bh1g9-0-0">It's been decided on your behalf that you aren't responsible enough, smart enough, from the right family, from the correct ideology, the right religion or no religion, have poor health and cost us money, are in vigorous health so you're a dangerous menace- or perhaps just a really annoying self-congratulatory vegan with too much money, not enough, or you are oppressed as a minority, or are a part of the tyrannical majority... they've got logical reasoning on their side to justify being given the autyhority to act, and make "sensible" laws, because no matter what everyone else does or doesn't do, we'll never be trustworthy enough by government standards to choose for ourselves and accept the consequences like grown ups... so they have taken it upon themselves to act as your benefactor...or not, merely because it's "For Your Own Good". Americans never stood a chance. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="1lg9h-0-0">Shut up, and be happy! Just accept your government masters, and you will finally experience the new government-approved definition of "freedom" , the way the founders didn't know they had mistakenly interpreted as oppression and serfdom, but which we were meant to embrace and enjoy, as we call it freedom and social enlightenment. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="7fchu-0-0">I'm not done. They aren't the only forces of evil I've seen! </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="23m7c-0-0">This leads us to the swing of the pendulum the other way.. of far-right religious zealots insisting that only the legislating of morality backed by the force of the law as wielded by thick-armed and even thicker headed soldiers-in-disguise, dressed as servants of their communities for photos one day, and the next as an armed gang of enforcers without conscience, wearing the proverbial jackboots, khaki fatigues, black bullet proof vests, while driving tanks and threatening to shoot your dog because.. they felt their life was threatened by a 22 lb mutt. They were too busy busting down the door of a family unlucky enough to have a house number not even close to the one the DA and chief of police quote on TV as a crack house, based on nothing but the word of perhaps one known criminal whom they promised to pay for such "valuable" information about six or eight weeks ago, and we should trust that they know what they're doing, won't harm people who "don't deserve it", and if you would only just obey all the laws, even if they themselves don't know what they are and don't follow them, then you don't have to worry about being shot by mistake the next time their hired thugs try to shoot your poodle for viciously panting in their direction, making them fear for their safety, and for yours, of course. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="bnfg3-0-0">We're assured by BOTH sides, to one degree or another, that men such as these are necessary in the battle against other people's vices, poor choices which may harm the collective, and to save us all from ourselves, because only their wisdom, backed by their own assurances of righteousness or their social conscience, will set all aright in this nation, while simultaneously saving the souls of imaginary children who were never wanted by the people who chose their own wants over any concept of responsibility for their own actions. </span></div>
<div class="_45m_ _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="bnfg3-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; direction: ltr; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="bnfg3-0-0">Neither side will face the stark reality of having to admit you can't control anyone else but yourself. They use the word "love" while sneering openly and making the most vulgar of insinuations or snide and almost always incorrect judgements of people they don't know, as well as all those they hold in contempt while calling it "hating the sin" or "supporting the weak". Their missions seem to be to save all individuals from any personal rights they might possibly, somehow, get the government to protect, so they might use their free will to do something which offends the sense of morality of right-wing nutjobs.., but don't ask if their neighbor's sex life harms them directly..you might get called a liberal as if they were calling your sister a strumpet, your mother a whore, and your father a fudge packer, all at once... proving that they themselves behave contemptibly on a daily basis, but it's okay for them, God told them that they have the right to demand their interpretation of moral law is the only "right" and "true" view, based not on preventing bad behaviors of only the believers, but in the mistaken idea that if they could only just forcefully prevent OTHERS from exercising fundamental rights they don't agree with, all would be well, and they'd finally be taken up in the rapture.. or be voted in for another term.. either one is fine by them.....</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ahsq3-0-0">Yep. This stunning state of ridiculously hypocritical and nonsensical ideologies, both equally bad and equally wrong, equally dangerous and equally destructive, are what I see as the most obvious sign of the end times that all ancient civilizations told stories about. This chaotic, and inescapably idiotic time on earth is what may very well result in the imminent destruction of modern society, and all in less than three generations. And as the final death blows are dealt to our species and our planet, both sides will STILL be shouting down the opposition, using many words to say absolutely nothing, even at the end of all, claiming themselves as winners because of the obvious rightness of their positions... until the silence of oblivion shuts them all up equally, and without choosing a winner.. Because there are only losers in a battle of politics. Always. Every time. So... Finally, peace. . </span></div>
MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-78944658256107014732015-12-15T07:26:00.000-06:002015-12-15T08:04:37.264-06:00My Masterwork: A Global Warming Rant for the Ages<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">When
“concerned citizens” begin to speak of "global warming", my first
reaction is usually to ask them if they know when that rise in sea level is
going to happen as promised. I’ve been promised a lot of things in my life thus
far, and this is one of those that I just can’t quite decide if I’m unhappy
it’s been broken so spectacularly or thrilled that my first assessment of such
outrageous claims backed by nothing that could be verified by independent means
using the original data and methodologies was incredibly accurate.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">These
famous studies that can never be replicated are the foundation on which these
horror stories of level 9 tsunamis, 10.5 earthquakes, Noah-and-the-Ark-level
flooding, and all manner of apocalyptic prediction that’s only surpassed by
what's in the book of Revelation itself. WHY do people so readily accept
extraordinary claims without the requisite extraordinary evidence? The data
used to create the models that produced these<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>(lies)</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>predictions was destroyed by the
“scientists” who conducted the studies, claiming it was no longer needed?
Really? Last I heard, if any experiment was impossible to replicate
independently and at will, then any results from the original studies must be
thrown out. Those results are meaningless to the scientific community if all we
have is their word for it that the data was sound, the methods were stringent,
and the information generated was not subject to tampering and could be proved
not to have been, through what real scientists call "the chain of
possession", documented by signatures at each stage of the processes
involved. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Any good,
ethical and intellectually honest man or woman of science will tell you this.
If the models which cannot be replicated because the data used to create them
can never be recovered for use are considered to be so good, then tell me
honestly what you think of this: What has happened within the scientific
community to alter its standards, practices and expectations so much that it
will now accept unverifiable results using a method known for its propensity to
inaccuracy and false results? </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">What kind of men and women are they who can look
us in the eye with a straight face and tell us that “The Science is settled”, when<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>the very premise on which science is founded demands that no science ever
be settled, as science is the fundamental quest to learn all that can be
learned? </i>Once something is declared “settled”, the door is forever and
irrevocably slammed shut on that subject—no more can be learned, else the act
of learning something new proves the fallibility of those who declared that
subject to be finished, and without new information to justify its study? Nice going,
guys. You just cut off your own nose to spite your own face.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">There are
some of us who maintain healthy skepticism, so we have always known that this
particular model approach just isn't generally accepted alone as evidence
because of those known tendencies to run off the grid without extraordinary
evidence to support ANY explanation or theory as to why that happens. When did
these “Scientists” decide that most people are now ignorant enough that their
claims would be believed, simply by repeating the words while refusing to
provide any detractors the necessary tools to substantiate or refute the claims
independently? Did it happen when the IPCC delegated these same
“scientists” to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>"prove"</i> specific,
clear and corrupt results supporting claims of global warming? When did these
scientists disregard the scientific standard of methodology which dictates absolutely
that no sound experimentation begins with a predetermined result which they are
told to produce? Solid science begins with a premise, not a result.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The
experimentation must always be designed to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>DISPROVE</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the theory or premise,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>NEVER</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to prove a supposition, opinion, or
theoretical conclusion. This entire subset of the general scientific community
set out, and still sets out today, not in order to conduct scientific work but
instead it seems their primary job is to design experiments and studies which
confirm the original results. They do this rather than design sound
experimentation and studies which may disprove them. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Can you
imagine the dedication needed to perpetrate that type of fraud? They surely do
love their man-made global catastrophe theories- and do please note, they are
THEORIES, NOT FACTS- regardless of the words you’ve heard from persuasive
shills and con-men disguised as respectable politicians, social leaders and men
of learning which have been crafted and designed specifically to convince you
otherwise.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">There is
no such thing as "settled" in science, and when someone with a PhD.
or M.S. behind their name tries to tell you that there is, you should discard
anything they present by authority of their title as a supposed “expert” as
either intellectually dishonest at best, or a blatant lie at worst. I guess
what was once a small segment of the scientific community involved in the field
prior to the switch from global cooling alarmist to global warming alarmist
expected everyone to forget that in the 70s we were told we'd be under a meter
of ice by now, After all, that was over 40 years ago. How dare some of us
actually retain information we learned in school during the 70s!</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Now is
about the time that most people who believe the climate change narrative are
thoroughly enraged, sputtering and red-faced in near-blinding anger, accusing
me of hating the planet, loving corporations, being guilty of the crime of
“greed” and “selfishness” in the face of the imminent death of the planet and
all of mankind with it. What rubbish. Try again, and please find something
either based on reason and logic, or at least original and entertaining to use
to support your position concerning my character, not simply opinion and
indignant insistence. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">I am none of those things, by the way. I hold this
opinion for two reasons. The first and more important of the two is that </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="background: #F6F7F8; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I simply have never seen credible evidence as
dictated by the scientific method to convince me</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> that if I use
recycled p</span></span><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">aper, turn off the
ceiling light and read by a dimmer bulb in my lamp that I will be
contributing to the effort designed to result in the reduction of global
temperatures at all, let alone even by one hundredth of a degree centigrade or
more, at any time into the foreseeable future on this planet. It is their job
to convince <i>me</i>. I do <i>not</i> have the obligation to accept it
just because someone else does, or because I’ve been told for ten years that
it’s true. I’ve not been given anything close to what I can accept as credible
evidence. And guess what? The scientists and their supporters do <i>not</i> get to determine how much evidence
is “acceptable” or how credible any of that evidence should be. As a skeptic,<b><i> I
get to make that determination, not them</i></b>. I’ll let you know when you’re
getting close. Other than that, the onus is on the experts making the claims,
not me.<u1:p></u1:p></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">On the
subject of “peer review” which is constantly being trotted out as evidence that
the “science is settled” I have only a few things to say…. Do any people
outside of the scientific community even know what “peer review” actually
entails, or do lay persons simply think that because more than one scientist
agrees with another, this somehow translates to credible, repeatable,
independently verifiable reports on verifiable, independently repeatable
experiments? You gotta be kidding me! Are people<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><i>really</i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>that gullible? They never once
consider that “peer reviews” are always conducted within a small community of
men and women who simply have to say that they either liked their reports,
agree with the premise, result, method, a portion of the presented “evidence”,
or more likely they simply are being paid by the same employer who<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">expects</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">them to produce specific
results as a team?
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">They
never thought of the obvious, which they are so keen to point out as a flaw
with the opposing view?</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(I’m now giving an epic Face Palm<face palm=""> that
even Picard would approve of, along with a slow, sad shaking of my head afterward)</face></span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I mourn
for humanity, I truly do.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The fall
from grace began with all of the public attention given to this scientific
field when they first raised the hue and cry about how the earth was going to
freeze us to death. This directly caused an explosion of "climate
science" specialists to appear where there had been only a handful
worldwide before then. Their government grants, privately funded university
endowments, or university funding that is generated directly from student fees
and registrations is what supports every single one of them who supports the
idea that the planet is warming due to the activities of man.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It
doesn’t help that the opposition is paid for by big business who have clearly
defined vested interests of their own, and because their funding is not public
thievery, they can be pointed to as biased, while the pointers are enjoying the
protection afforded them through the idiocy of the populace in their belief
that governments can’t be biased, but corporations are always biased.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s now
big business for the people with money and power to continue this push for
everyone to get on board, to believe we are under constant threat of
"climate change", and to these now-pseudo scientists, it is
fundamentally crucial. They rely on the population’s continued ignorance, so
the general population so often thought of as their inferiors can be ever more
easily led to believe what they tell us to believe-- that we not only have
caused this impossible to predict prediction <i>(it’s still prediction, because absolutely<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>NONE<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of the predictions have borne out in
the last 15 years or so since we began hearing them…Really! Look it up if
you don’t believe me)</i>, but also to have us believe without question that we
must also then have the ability to control it by our actions and policies.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The scientific
community is willing to perpetuate their pseudoscience as fact, no matter how
patently ridiculous the claims may be, as long as the dollars keep rolling in.
Now, even the skeptical scientists are in collusion with them, since the money
to be made by this ongoing dispute is phenomenal! Just think about all the
opportunities to make money on the side by controlling the “results”, either
way! How could that carrot dangling in front of them not be appealing,
especially since college and grad school are <i>SO</i> expensive now! After all, these men and women with letters after
their names are still human, and have bills to pay, too.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I expect
nothing less than to be proved correct in my assessment that we will certainly
see more sloppy work coined as "research', and modeling, along with “peer
review” will be considered sufficient “evidence” of a claim, instead of
replicable results from experiments using actual scientific method. I'm
resigned to it, but I don't have to just accept it, because<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>NO</b>... the science is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><i><u>NOT</u></i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>settled. I’ll keep trying to make
everyone understand, on both sides, that they’ve been had. And know
this: I take no pleasure in having seen it longer than you may have. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-39547180524459163362015-02-20T11:21:00.000-06:002015-02-20T11:21:40.753-06:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 20pt;">I’m Nobody’s Victim<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://jezebel.com/allowing-guns-on-college-campuses-will-not-save-women-f-1686548679">http://jezebel.com/allowing-guns-on-college-campuses-will-not-save-women-f-1686548679</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">The above linked article really pushed a lot of
buttons for me. In fact it infuriated me so brace yourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"...
first, the idea that carrying guns makes your surroundings safer ..."</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I don't think many
people believe guns make your surroundings safer anymore than more cops on
the street make a neighborhood safer. Both carrying a gun and police presence
come into play after the fact: when a woman is attacked, if she carries a gun,
she can shoot the mother fucker and, depending on the situation, keep him from
raping and killing her or keep him from doing it again. Cops cannot and do
not prevent crime, they merely clean up the mess. If a cop is around, most
criminals including rapists won't commit their crime THEN. He/she/they will
wait until the cops leave or go somewhere else to commit their crimes. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"...
second, the idea that the onus is on rape victims—rather than their rapists—to
prevent their rapes."</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You know I get
pissed as hell whenever someone says something like this. As if a victim or
potential victim is absolved of all personal responsibility for their safety.
As I said, the police cannot prevent a crime because Knuckle-dragger #42 isn't
going to attack anyone while their around but, aside from hiring a 24/7
personal bodyguard, every female will be at risk sometime. I'm not apologizing
for the sick freaks who prey on women or children nor am I blaming the victim
but, dammit, a little foresight goes a long way to keep anyone safER. Not safe,
because no one is safe all the time - or any time in my estimation. Nothing
will prevent a would-be rapist from attacking someone somewhere. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The idea that a
woman is not or cannot be responsible for her own safety is the rankest form of
paternalism to come down the pike. This mentality keeps a woman from
feeling or becoming able to care for herself without someone - usually a male -
to "take care of her". It keeps women weak and needy and under the
thumb of someone else - again, usually a male. But what happens if that male is
not around when #42 spots a possible victim. She sure as hell can't take care
of herself, prevent or minimize the damage inflicted by #42 or one of his
spiritual brothers. Anyone who doesn't teach their children, male or female,
how to take care of themselves, how to recognize a potentially dangerous
situation, how to extricate themselves from that situation with the minimum of
damage to themselves is a neglectful parent and an accessory before the fact.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Furthermore, if a
woman doesn't take steps to prevent her own victimization nobody will. I am
absolutely certain that, if the onus to prevent rapes is on the rapist, no
rapist is going to prevent their raping someone. To suggest such a thing is
patently absurd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Gun use can obviously be responsible in the individual instance,
but in the aggregate, it's not ..." <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">First of
all, I don't care about the aggregate, I care about one individual walking
alone in the dark on campus. If I or someone I care about is carrying a gun, I
know that I or they are properly trained in it's use. If faced with a situation
in which I or those I love cannot avoid or get away from then I want to be
absolutely sure we have the maximum chance of survival. </span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Second,
when they are talking about "the aggregate" what are the parameters
of the study? Are we talking about an 18 year old who has never been away from
home, a 26 year old single mom who's never fired a weapon, a 46 year old who
has been educated and educated herself in self-defense up to and including
firing a gun or a 52 year old veteran with hand-to-hand combat and weapons
training? Does their aggregate include prior victims of assault, domestic
assault or sexual assault? An aggregate is as useful or useless as the
parameters used to develop it.</span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"... having firearms within reach makes men four times more likely
to commit suicide than in situations when the guns are not accessible ..."<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">In this
case, I don't care about possible suicides and including it in this discussion
does nothing more than cloud the issue under discussion which is the safety of
WOMEN. Also, anyone truly bent on suicide will find a way to kill themselves. </span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">" ... and it makes women three times more likely to become homicide
victims."<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">As for
women being more likely to be homicide victims; says who? PERHAPS this is
true but, again, what woman are we talking about and who owns the gun? Are we
talking about one of the ladies I mentioned above? Is she at home, in her car,
walking down the street or on her way to the campus library? Is it her gun? Has
she been trained to use it? Who is the her killer? IS this a domestic violence
situation? Because if it is the dynamic changes drastically. </span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Show me
the research instrument and methodology before you make such sweeping
statements. Is the statement based upon a survey instrument? If so how was it
administered? What population data is it based on; urban, suburban or rural?
How big is your sample? Does it include college students in the sample? What's
your error rate?</span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">In reality
none of that matters because I don't care about "women" in general or
as an aggregate. I care about exactly one at a time. It might be me or my
roomie or one of her daughters or her granddaughter and I guaran-damn-tee that
all of the above are not shrinking violets. We might still be raped but it's
not going to easy and the rapist is not going to get away without some damage.
The mere possibility that we will be murdered because we have a weapon has
nothing to do with the probability that we will be raped.</span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"...
that college campuses are already unstable in a regulatory sense—and
consequently, that the introduction of guns into an environment marked by
drugs, drinking, and other forms of constant, experimental (if often mild)
illegality would be a literal death sentence to many people involved."</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If it's that fucking
"unstable" then that's a whole other issue. If a campus is that
unstable - which is hard to tell since most university boards of directors and
administrators would rather be skinned alive than admit they have a
violence and/or sexual assault problem let alone publish actual numbers of
assaults or attempted assaults. That very instability is why these women need
to be educated in protecting themselves and being able to carry a gun is an
OPTION they should have.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Since
empirical data suggest that most victims of homicide know their assailants, the
higher risk for women strongly indicates domestic violence."</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Says who? Show me
the numbers on THAT and you'd better be able to back them up with hard
data. Again, this may be true but the author, Jia Tolentino, herself
admits that it's merely an extrapolation of data that was not gathered and
evaluated for that subject. The data originated from a study about rape on
college campuses not domestic violence. The proper research instrument could
be, should be and would be VERY different.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"So: guns make domestic violence more deadly for women."</span></b><b><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Depends on
who's holding that gun and whether she knows how to use it.</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Rape on college campuses (as well as in general) happens in
situations that mirror very closely the dynamic of domestic violence—the
introduction of coercion and sexual assault under the cover of relationships
and interactions that seem outwardly acceptable. And yet the weird abstraction
of rape, the displacement of it from within the community—the idea that sexual
violence is committed by people jumping out of bushes, instead of</span></b><b><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-offenders" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">three-quarters</span></a></b><b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> of it being committed by
people the victims know—"<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">So it's
only date rape that occurs on college campuses? And "in general" rape
off campuses are also date rape? Better pony up with some hard, verifiable
facts on that before I will even consider that to be a valid statement. And, IF
rape is an acquaintance-based crime, how distant does the relationship have to
be for a rape to NOT "mirror very closely the dynamic of domestic
violence"? What is it when someone "jumps out of the bushes"?
"Three-quarters of it"? Really? Prove it. And even if you can, again,
how close or distant does the relationship - the degree of "knowing"
- have to be to fall into either category?</span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"...
this rhetoric invokes the safety of potential rape victims as a reason to allow
guns on campus, which is a situation—due to the power differential that
underlies sexual assault—that would dramatically decrease whatever safety these
potential rape victims have."</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I absolutely
disagree with this. The power differential is at least situational and
at most nonexistent when a properly trained, armed woman is the potential
victim. A rape victim, potential or otherwise, has no safety thus it cannot be
decreased. Ask a rape survivor and find out if SHE thought she was safer not
having a gun.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="background: whitesmoke; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The
sponsor... </span></i><a href="https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Legislator/A/Assembly/Current/4" target="_blank" title="https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Legislator/A/Assembly/Current/4"><i><span style="background: whitesmoke; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Michele Fiore</span></i></a></b><b><i><span style="background: whitesmoke; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, said in a
telephone interview: "If these young, hot little girls on campus have a firearm,
I wonder how many men will want to assault them. The sexual assaults that are
occurring would go down once these sexual predators get a bullet in their
head."</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is absolutely
true. A dead rapist will rape no more; therefore the number of subsequent
assaults would automatically drop every time one of these brutal bastards bites
it.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"As for how many of "these young, hot little girls" would
agree, the answer is 14 percent. According to the <i>Times</i>, 86 percent
of women and 67 percent of men are in opposition to gun carry on campus, as are
a "</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/us/in-bid-to-allow-guns-on-campus-weapons-are-linked-to-fighting-sexual-assault.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1" target="_blank" title="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/us/in-bid-to-allow-guns-on-campus-weapons-are-linked-to-fighting-sexual-assault.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">vast majority</span></a></b><b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">" of college administrators
and faculty."</span></b><b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That's fine but what
about that 14 percent? Why shouldn't they at least have the OPTION of trying to
protect themselves? And, personally, I don't really think men deserve a vote on
this subject, unless one considers them to viable targets for sexual assault.
That's possible but, again, that's another story. Neither do administrators and
faculty get a vote other than as potential victims. Their position in the
college hierarchy doesn't make them disinterested parties. If they're honest
they should admit that at least part of the reason for their opposition to
carry permits on campus is to lessen the college's potential liability in a
lawsuit.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Those
in favor, I'll venture to say, are either getting paid or </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/us/in-bid-to-allow-guns-on-campus-weapons-are-linked-to-fighting-sexual-assault.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1" target="_blank" title="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/us/in-bid-to-allow-guns-on-campus-weapons-are-linked-to-fighting-sexual-assault.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">deluding themselves</span></a></b><b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: longitudinal studies have shown that a 1
percent increase in gun ownership </span><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/01/good_guy_with_a_gun_myth_guns_increase_the_risk_of_homicide_accidents_suicide.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/01/good_guy_with_a_gun_myth_guns_increase_the_risk_of_homicide_accidents_suicide.html"><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">leads to</span></a></b><b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> "a 1.1 percent increase in
the firearm homicide rate and a 0.7 percent increase in the total homicide
rate." </span></b><b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Who, pray tell, is
paying them? Self-delusion is in the eye of the beholder. Which longitudinal
studies? Who did them? When? Why? Who PAID for them? Again, show me the
research models. If an increase in gun ownership causes a 1.1 percent increase
in the firearm homicide rate - and I'm saying IF because I haven't seen the
numbers - then should not the increase in the total homicide rate
also be 1.1 percent? </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Also,
"homicide" is the act of a human being killing another
human being. Lots of things including death through military action, lawful
execution and getting shot by accident are considered homicide. The real
question lies in the MANNER of death; was the homicide murder,
accidental or self-defense? In other words, was it a justifiable homicide? So,
yes, if a victim is armed and kills her attacker in self-defense it is indeed
classed as a homicide. However, it is a justifiable homicide in self-defense.
The cause of death is homicide, the manner of death is self-defense. Such a
situation would indeed cause the homicide rate to increase but NOT the
murder rate. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"It's
sickening to imagine what guns on campus would do in terms of rape."</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not to me. What is
"sickening" to me is that someone else gets a vote on how I defend
myself. Personally, I'm all for increasing the homicide rate among rapists. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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auntypsychotichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677870291653769726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-79956706039784278672013-09-25T23:01:00.001-05:002013-09-25T23:01:33.838-05:00<h2 align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">'nuff said</span></h2>
<h2 align="center">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"></span> </h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgwpeJm9bb2zaHRgAP2mPXdTvvXjVoWbfnCNcgOk-p6HD880fM4EvJ6E41KoBpgLlCQ150AUJv7fJDoyTLpdQmYZrX9fP7ku6erB_96FSIfoRy5dlU9UaZR9Ezh5m_c3LbiEBdeAcT48EZ/s1600/hF7E791AC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgwpeJm9bb2zaHRgAP2mPXdTvvXjVoWbfnCNcgOk-p6HD880fM4EvJ6E41KoBpgLlCQ150AUJv7fJDoyTLpdQmYZrX9fP7ku6erB_96FSIfoRy5dlU9UaZR9Ezh5m_c3LbiEBdeAcT48EZ/s320/hF7E791AC.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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auntypsychotichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677870291653769726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-25887236195925562522013-09-18T06:43:00.001-05:002013-09-18T06:45:56.521-05:00<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #663300; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 18pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Is Bipartisanship A Myth?</span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #663300; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
</span><br />
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<span style="color: #663300; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><strong><span style="color: #663300; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-george-w-bush_n_3906150.html" title="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-george-w-bush_n_3906150.html"><span style="color: #663300; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-george-w-bush_n_3906150.html</span></a></span></strong></span></div>
<span style="color: #663300; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">
</span>
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<b><span style="color: #663300; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This was originally an online conversation, in
the form of individual posts and replies, regarding an article in The
Huffington Post. The link above will take you to the article.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
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<span style="color: #877550; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/ycplum?action=comments"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">ycplum</span></b></a>
</span><span style="color: #877550; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">There was a time when politics was just a difference of opinion on
the best route for America to take, not a dogmatic religion that cannot suffer
the existence of others.</span><span style="color: #877550; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<b><span style="color: #663300; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #663300; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well said.<br />
<br />
Politics is a business just like anything else; your competition of one day may
be your ally the next. Moreover, politics is also theatre and in a world
overwhelmingly populated by lawyers whose world is also theatre, partisanship
and bipartisanship, have all the stability of the sands of Araby.</span></b><span style="color: #663300; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #877550; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/ycplum?action=comments"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">ycplum</span></b></a>
</span><span style="color: #877550; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">There was a time when politicians on both sides of the aisle
recognized that their differences were really about degrees so they negotiated a
compromise that was acceptable. Now, there are no degrees, but black or
white. Both sides demand all or nothing. Our government was not designed for
this and cannot survive if this continues for very long.</span><span style="color: #877550; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #663300; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">No, it can't but that's not where change
has to start. <br />
<br />
After WWII, America changed. An individually self-supporting, self-reliant
public saw the good times roll and decided they always would. And should. Who'd keep them
rolling? Why, the government of course. We could afford it, individually and
nationally. We'd won the war; we'd saved the world; we were ENTITLED to it.<br />
<br />
As we rolled, we exported that sense of entitlement when the US started rebuilding and "helping"
the rest of the world. Whether we should have or not is a subject for another day. What is important here is that we and the rest of the world came to <em>expect </em>it and WE ALLOWED IT! <br />
<br />
Then along came Civil Rights, Women's Rights, Environmental Rights, LGBT Rights,
Criminal's Rights, Children's Rights and Victim's Rights, which combines them
all into one great entitled horde of "VICTIMS". <br />
<br />
With all those Rights, which I'm not attacking so leave me alone, ethnicity crept
in. I'm proud to be Irish/Norwegian. Yep, that's me, born to pillage. However, I was
raised to be proud of being American FIRST, last and always.<br />
<br />
Now everybody has Rights but nobody has responsibility ... except the
GOVERNMENT. Let THEM drive the bus, let THEM burp the baby. While every group
scrambles for their RIGHTS. <br />
<br />
Separately. </span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #663300; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br />
Now it's the National Separatist Victim's Rights Movement. Our politicians resisted
the trend longer than almost anyone else, longer than I thought they could or would. <br />
<br />
Freedoms are never really taken, they're GIVEN AWAY. I'm a Rational Anarchist; I don't believe that we need <em>any</em> laws other than the Golden Rule and a loaded gun in
every pot. However, like it or not, we're stuck with government, so cut the politicians <em>some</em>
slack. Venal and self-serving they may be but they're still a cut or two above their constituencies.
<br />
<br />
For bipartisanship to return to government, we must return it to our lives.</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
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auntypsychotichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677870291653769726noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-11301077088293731252013-09-14T03:04:00.001-05:002013-11-23T03:12:57.436-06:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b> </div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: x-large; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GO AHEAD. EVERYONE ELSE DOES:</span></b> </div>
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<strong><span style="color: #643200; font-family: Garamond; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">A Long-winded Rant of Self-pity</span> </span></strong> </div>
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<strong><span style="color: #643200; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">This started as an e-mail but by watering it with tears of self-pity, self-righteous anger and bureaucratic frustration it bloomed into a veritable bouquet of assorted bitches, moans and complaints. I decided it was so nice that I would put it in a pretty vase and set it on a table in the window and share it with others. So, in these days of cyber-sharing of every bump, scrape and boo-boo in our lives, <em>THIS</em> is my window.</span></strong></div>
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<b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Will write more later,
some stuff is just betwixt OUR family. It’s been a crappy day and I’ve
been up all night again."</span></b></div>
<br />
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The crappy day was
actually a crappy night. Last Thursday night </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(09-05-13) I was the emergent
social butterfly of the season; all kinds of visitors in cool vehicles and
pretty lights. While watching TV, I had suddenly started sweating, feeling
dizzy, nauseous and then I had trouble breathing. </span></b><br />
<br />
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Normally, these symptoms
wouldn't bother me too much but <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I<em>
am</em> 50 now</span>. Sweating is nothing new, I keep hoping it's menopause but no
such luck. I’ve had random vertigo for years, I don’t know why. I’ve asked my
VA docs but get no answers; it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> the
VA after all it's not like they're supposed to actually help me but I've got meds for it. I got my mum's nervous tummy;
trouble breathing is rare <i><u>now</u></i> but for years my heart didn’t hold
a rhythm, so for 13 years, the VA medicated me for a heart condition which I
didn’t have. Once I was properly evaluated, diagnosed, medicated,
treated and got a ticket on the Looney Express the cardiac problems vanished. Until
now I’ve had no real problems since.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, having the first
3 hitting all at once, rapidly followed by breathing problems was a new and
"exciting" phenomenon. See, my dad had his first heart attack when I
was 6 and he was 48 and my mum's first was when I was 9 and she was 50. I <i><u>grew
up</u></i> knowing the signs and what to do; we ultimately developed a family
policy of if you ask the question, "Should I go to the hospital?" out
loud, you call the meat wagon and go. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><br /></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So when I queried
the universe as to "should I or shouldn't I?" I already knew what I had to do. Even though, I have <i><u>no doubt</u></i> that the VA will fuck me
over again on the bills. They’ve done it TWICE, once when, after a noctural trip to the ER, a VA
doc agreed that my gall bladder had reached critical mass and was eventually jerked out. I don't know how I’m going to pay for it but I wasn’t about to
risk a heart attack for a steaming pile of bureaucratic bullshit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I may be a 100% totally
and permanently disabled veteran, but I had the temerity to object when
they fucked me and fucked me over. You see, I fought back when they flat-out
discriminated against me for being a nutter. Instead of being slavishly, but
silently, grateful that they even deigned to notice my miserable
existence and bestow their largesse upon my inferior self. The Department
of Justice (DOJ) investigated and determined that they had indeed discriminated
against me because of my disability, specifically, my mental illness. So, when Mr.
Barry Bahl, </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">director of the
Saint Cloud Veterans Administration Medical Center (SCVAMC) takes the time to
pass judgment on and deny payment of a little ER bill from the Saint
Cloud Hospital it's pretty obvious even to a loon like me that I’ve been deemed
beyond the pale and have been blacklisted. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Several people who work
there have said that it's most certainly NOT normal for him to pay attention to
such minutia. In this case, I'm not </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">just being</span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> paranoid, other people see it too; my name <em><u>is</u></em> flagged so that anything pertaining to me finds it's way to his desk. It's so obvious that a blind man with no teeth can see that.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">None of them would admit of their statements or
put them in writing but I can't blame them for that. All the VA can do to
me is kill me with institutionalized incompetence and obstructionism; VA employees have to support their families and they need jobs for
that. For my part, unless I’m on fire or bleeding from the eyes, I don't go
near the place. Both Moon and I know that I will never </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">again get anything
more than the bare minimum of whatever care or treatment I might
need. SCVAMC is my drug pusher and that's all I want from them.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
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<span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><strong>So, I went downstairs to ask Moon to take me to the civilian hospital ER, the VA in it's infinite lack of wisdom, does not <em>have</em> an ER or it's own. However, having become fully vertical it became apparent that if I didn't sit down, I was going to fall down. So I told her to call 911, I wasn't fucking around with going into full-arrest in a car. And I wasn't going to do that to my girl Moon.</strong></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I never actually passed
out, was able to give my personal/family medical history, gave them my
meds case and told them about losing Igraine. Grief and/or belfry issues
being what they are, what did I know? My dad always had pain but no nausea; mum
always had the nausea but no pain. Heart attack or anxiety and panic due to
stress? Then I edged closer to shock as I got dizzier and started
shivering like Obama facing a sodium amytal session.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They kept me most of the night while they ran tests and such. They doped me up some
and I dozed a bit, Moon went home to get some rest until they sprung me.
Sprang me? Whatever. </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The ER folks and staff were great. They took good care of me
and did everything they could to find out what the hell was wrong with me. The
only bitch I had was that as they moved me around and tested me (I
hadn't studied either) one person or another would highjack my blankies. I’ve
have GOT to get me one of those blanket warmer thingies. Along with the bidet, it is one of the acme's of civilization.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Anyway, the long and
short of it was no heart attack and, since it wasn't VA docs making that
determination, I’m willing to take their word for it. Felt like hammered shit,
slept all day Friday, then went into insomnia mode. </span></b><br />
<strong><span style="color: #643200; font-family: Garamond;"></span></strong> </div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Emotionally, it’s been up
and down, understandably but it's not that gods-awful, disemboweling,
paralyzing agony that I went thru when I had to put Grace down. <i><u>Then</u></i>
the guilt almost killed me but the idea of Rain leaving was in the back of
my mind from the moment I saw her outside on the ground. I didn't speak of it
because I was willing to do whatever I had to in order to help my baby. In the
end, letting her go <em><u>was</u></em> the </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">last and only thing I <i><u>could</u></i>
do to help my girl. </span></b><br />
<strong><span style="color: #643200; font-family: Garamond;"></span></strong> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I miss her and it hurts
and I cry but it's like it is a "gentler"
pain; mostly anyway. Those 3 weeks that I had her after her injury were a
bona - fucking - fide GIFT! For which I am endlessly grateful. You, my darling
Deb, and you, Mama Jeanne; oh, stop looking over your shoulders; yes, YOU
two, you gave me another bona - fucking - fide GIFT! If you hadn’t
nagged me into taking those videos of her, I think I might finally have ended
up in-patient and I’m not sure I would've come out again. </span></b><br />
<strong><span style="color: #643200; font-family: Garamond;"></span></strong> </div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I watch all the videos at
least once every day and always before I go to sleep. I see my girl when she
was healthy and strong and <i><u>HAPPIEST.</u></i> Outside, in the snowy
wastes, rompling with me with that goofy lunatic grin of hers. I’m able to
watch the pure, clear joy she got from <em><u>running </u></em></span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">around like a
psychotic with ADHD on meth, rolling around in 3 feet of snow with me and <em><u>dancing </u></em></span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">with me </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">on the deck. Those videos tell me that I made the right
call. Regardless of what might've been done for her, she would never again have
been my adored, "abdominommal snow beastie".</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most importantly, I
know I couldn’t let her be in pain at all, let alone constant pain. I promised
her from the beginning of our love affair, that I would take care of her and <i><u>NEVER</u></i>
let her hurt. Pain or no pain, seeing those images, I know my rainy day
doggie would've never understood <em><u>why</u></em> sh</span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">e would never again be able to romple with me
in the only way she ever learned how to play. If I was out of her sight longer
than acceptable she would use her hind legs to push herself along and crawl on
her belly and her elbows <i><u>without making a sound of pain</u></i> until she
got to the bottom of the stairs to wait for me when she knew I was up here
without her. It was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>MY</u></i> job to
keep her from hurting and from hurting herself.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It makes me cry when I
watch them but the tears rolling down my face meet the smile coming up. I thank
you for that, Sweet Deb. I thank you for that, Gentle Jeanne. I’m so incredibly
<em><u>lucky</u></em></span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> to have been able to teach her fun and love and JOY. Having her was overwhelmingly worth losing her.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, more of a downer; I
don't know if I ever told you guys just <i><u>where</u></i> we were when
Igraine decided to go empirical </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">test the law of gravity. We were at the Social
Security office to make an appointment to start a new claim. Moon went
with me to that appointment last Friday (09-09-13). I was told that,
having had a hearing with an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) where <i><u>that</u></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fucktard made an imbecilic ruling and despite
the fact that my well-dressed, expensive attorney was lazy AND in - fucking -
competent, I can no longer even <em><u>APPLY</u></em> for SSDI.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to the
documents I got from my lawyer (I know I should have looked at them sooner
but life and crazy happened) the slimy, scuzz-sucking, maggot made my claim as
"back and neck pain". NOT that I’m a toothless, incontinent,
twitching, seizing, <i><u>dangerous</u></i>,
half-blind, half-deaf, half-crippled, ALL-crazy basket case with no sense of time,</span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> can't </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">remember what day it is or be allowed out without a keeper, a
leash and a prong collar. No, no, NO; I’ve
got <em><u>back</u></em> owwies.</span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> I do but for now </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m way crazier than I am broken and the side effects
of my meds are getting pretty grisly. Well, the lawyer got his cut, so I
suppose it wasn't a total loss. I got what was left of my settlement money <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">only</i> <i><u>AFTER</u></i> I dropped my
appeal. If that seems like extortion that's because it was. </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I didn't want to but we were so broke it was that</span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> sell my blood
like a wino or a street junky.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">MOTHER FUCK ON TOAST! </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What the fuck did I do in
a previous life that <i><u>this</u></i> is my karmic retribution? </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">G</span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ODSDAMMIT, WHAT? </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Did I wash my hands? Was I Hitler? Or did I do something </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">truly horrible; like invent
polyester? </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I swear to dogs (Rain,
Zeus and Grace to be precise), I went in determined to be nice and I was. <i><u>Really</u></i>!
You can ask Moon. However, I didn't stay that way. I asked reasonable
questions, although in an increasingly loud </span></b><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><s><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">voice</span></s></i></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> snarl. I told him that even though I’ve
been hosed on all sides and no longer qualified for SSDI; I was sure that
"all of the dozen or so towelheads in the waiting room would more than
qualify". </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
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<span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><strong>Yep, I played the racist
card and I don’t fucking care. There is a very large Somali community here that
not only doesn’t have to pay any taxes for 5 to 7 years; they are also given
grants of various shapes and sizes so they can start their own tax-free
businesses. In most public and/or educational facilities they request and GET
special rooms dedicated to </strong><strong><em><u>only</u></em> </strong><strong>their religious needs; I guess
godless infidel cooties </strong></span><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><strong>would contaminate their holiest of holies. It is NOT a
stereotype that some of them actually demanded and received special facilities
for foot washing so they wouldn't have to use the toilets anymore. </strong></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b> </div>
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh, while I was still
being "nice," he did say that when I’m 65 or whatever, that I would
qualify for SSI. To which I replied "if it still exists". </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, that errand to set up the
appointment was all for naught. Had we not gone, there would have been no time
or reason for Rain to take flight and bung herself up. Thus does my screwed up
<strong><span style="color: #643200; font-family: Garamond;">brain find a way to
logically blame the government for killing my dog. Even <em>I</em> don't usually go that
far but a + b <em>does</em> equal c.</span></strong></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Gods! I am so tired. How
did it all go so wrong? I don't go away from home much and I don't want to. All
I wanted was to live with my odd but loving little family of 2 -, 4 -, and no
feets </span></b><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and my baby girl dog. Now she's been taken from me and the country
that my father and others fought and bled for says I don't count. The normies
as well as the very people and agencies that are supposed to help me have
unanimously shit on me and made it clear that I should gratefully
accept the crumbs from their table but have the decency to be neither seen
nor heard.</span></b><br />
<strong><span style="color: #643200; font-family: Garamond;"></span></strong> </div>
<span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><strong>As much as I’ve fought it
and beat it for months, I cut again last night. A lot. The shrinks say that it’s
a maladaptive coping mechanism that I’ve developed to deal with traumas. Yeah, so? There are a helluva lot of far more damaging or dangerous
maladaptive coping mechanisms. This one only hurts me. <br />
<br />
I don't know, maybe it's
my teeth. <br />
</strong></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><strong><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ve got a news flash for you superior but gutless, government hacks and clueless normals; you can continue to treat your armed forces, veterans and their families like turds in a punch bowl but sooner or later you might just hear them say; “Take our your own fucking garbage, Jack.”</span></b></strong></span></div>
<span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><strong>
</strong></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><strong><b><span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, I’ll end this epic the way it began, with a shitty day.<o:p></o:p></span></b></strong></span></div>
<span style="color: #643200; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><strong>
<o:p></o:p></strong><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<br />
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</div>
auntypsychotichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677870291653769726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-60297971962500493792013-06-14T23:48:00.002-05:002013-09-18T05:22:10.912-05:00<strong><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></strong><strong><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-large;"></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia; font-size: x-large;">Well, DUH!</span></strong><br />
<br />
<br />
<strong><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And now for something completely stupid. </span></strong></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<div>
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I was channel surfing and hit The
Documentary Channel at just the right
moment. The show was "The Heretics," released in 2009; the
show's description blurb said "The second wave of the Women's Movement". So, the tide had changed on the first one? Who'da thunk it?</span></strong></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">
</span></strong></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">All of my adult life I have lived, worked and played in
what <em>could </em>be called (but not by me) "a mans world;" first in the Navy, in construction, as a security specialist, bartender and bouncer and even as a biker for a combined total of more than 35 years. Now, I don't
generally foam at the mouth in the first place but I tend to take care of any such "issues" myself though it hasn't been necessary much.
</span></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"></span></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Of course, <em><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">I</span></em> don't see the mere existence of men as oppression, a threat or an affront to my position as a strong, empowered and fully-actualized "womyn" and "humyn being".</span></strong></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: xx-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Blech!</span></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"> </span></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Still, the topic is mildly interesting to me so I paused in my rather forlorn
search for something not completely stultifying to watch/listen to while on the
'puter. Lo and behold, I heard perhaps the most inane utterance in the history of television. A
documentarian (and member of the Lesbian Mafia or, at the very least, the East Coast chapter of The Foaming Feminists Sensitivity Circle AND their all "womyn"
orchestra) was bemoaning how much the world has NOT changed. </span></strong></span><br />
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">
<em>"</em></span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: magenta;"><em><span style="font-family: inherit;">She speaks yet she says nothing; what of that?</span><span style="color: black;">" </span></em></span></span></strong></span><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">so sayeth Saint William The Literate.</span></span></strong></span><br />
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Brace yourselves, folks: the flannel queen spake the immortal words,
"Women are still looked at different<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em><span style="color: magenta;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">than</span></em></span></span></span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">*</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"> men are."</span></strong></span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Gee, ya think? </span></strong></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">
</span></span><div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"></span></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I just had to share this with my roomie about it; the first thing she said was exactly the same thing that I
yelled at the TV; "We ARE different </span><em><span style="background-color: white; color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">from</span></em></span></span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana; font-size: large;">*</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"> men!" </span></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong></strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">
</span><div>
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">
</span></strong></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">
</span><div>
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">I figure the few minutes I was exposed to this shit made me lose at least a
dozen or so brain cells.</span></strong></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">
</span><div>
<strong></strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">
</span><div>
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">
</span></strong></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>And now, you did too.</strong><br />
<strong> </strong><br />
<strong> <img src="http://cdn-cf.aol.com/se/clip_art/gstres/celebrte/kiss" /></strong><br />
<br />
<strong>Toodles, kids.</strong><br />
</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong> </strong><br />
</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong> </strong><br />
<strong> </strong></span><br />
<h2>
</h2>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>*</strong></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">We're both grammar nazi's and this is one of our least favorite semi-illiterate screw ups.</span><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></strong><br />
<div>
</div>
<strong>
<br />
</strong><br />
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
auntypsychotichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677870291653769726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-80015163431219781822013-05-10T03:11:00.002-05:002013-05-10T05:55:29.107-05:00MST HAS NO GENDER<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><strong></strong></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLrsY-SayMtaWjOuQ44dsUnf-qGQ6iNvqhZmNWjYGQ_eHd1XJuZ1KyPItL-Cdr9kWV6Clk-es9ANdSrgkC904wSlEPS29gFFuuInhWZjJ2I2knQjjCzAcGjVQQW4F0bPfSd8VIDnKskp9/s1600/the_face_of_mst_by_auntypsychotic-d5kutk5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFLrsY-SayMtaWjOuQ44dsUnf-qGQ6iNvqhZmNWjYGQ_eHd1XJuZ1KyPItL-Cdr9kWV6Clk-es9ANdSrgkC904wSlEPS29gFFuuInhWZjJ2I2knQjjCzAcGjVQQW4F0bPfSd8VIDnKskp9/s400/the_face_of_mst_by_auntypsychotic-d5kutk5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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</div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><em><span style="background-color: white; color: red;">the
face of mst: </span></em></span></strong><strong><span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"><em><span style="background-color: white; color: red;">military
sexual trauma</span></em></span></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: medium;"></span></strong> </div>
<span style="background-color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/07/obama-military-sexual-assault_n_3231513.html">President Obama recently addressed the issue of sexual assault in the armed services. This is in response to his statements.</a></span><br />
<strong><span style="background-color: black; font-size: medium;"></span></strong><br />
<div>
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sexual assault is unacceptable anywhere, especially the armed
services. It must be exposed, discussed and steps taken to deal with it.
However, it's not only women who are the targets and victims. </span></strong></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
<div>
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">There is a sick double standard at work, and sometimes women
perpetuate it even more than men do. In a way, the reality of sexual assault is
easier for women to handle in that isn't unexpected. It is NEVER easy for anyone
but from the day we're born we're taught that it's a possibility; whether it's
"don't talk to strangers," "be home before dark," or "no means no". From age 3
to 90 women know it can happen and, while it may not be fully effective, there
IS a system of sorts to help women deal with and recover from it, even in the
military. </span></strong></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
<div>
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">However, men have almost nothing to help them understand both the
possibility and the actuality of sexual assault. Other than that shadowy
"stranger," who tells a young boy who to watch out for? Girls share among
themselves who to avoid; "don't be alone with Mr. sicko-pervo-freak, the english
teacher". Boys don't have that sort of "network" or support other than, which
coach likes to watch boys in the shower just a little too much.</span></strong></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">As a victim or prisoner, there is virtually nothing that can be
done to a woman that cannot be done to a man. The mechanics vary
but the purpose and damage are the same if not worse.</span></span></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Times;"></span></strong> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="color: black;">Rape is about power and control. Sex is the weapon. Not gender.</span></span></strong></div>
auntypsychotichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677870291653769726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-28108353789358123102013-03-06T23:07:00.003-06:002013-03-06T23:22:06.547-06:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/rand-paul-filibuster_n_2819740.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D279777"><span style="color: blue;">Sed Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes</span></a> </h2>
<br />
<br />
<div>
<strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">WAY TO GO, Senator. WAY TO GO!</span></strong></div>
<strong><span style="color: #cc0000;"></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I once swore to "</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;">...<em>support and defend the
Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and
domestic...</em></span>"</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: #cc0000;"></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Now, one of Obama's spit-licking sycophants has</span> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #dc0c1c; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">"</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">... <em>asserted the U.S.
government [has] the legal authority to kill a U.S. citizen on American
soil.</em></span></span><span style="color: #dc0c1c;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">"</span> </span></strong><br />
<br />
<div>
<strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">"</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="color: black;"><em>Congress shall make no law [...] abridging
the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances.</em></span></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">"</span></strong></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Obama has signed <span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">H.R. 347</span>, aka "<span id="goog_34546469"></span></span><a href="http://reason.com/blog/2012/03/01/bill-passes-house-protests-near-secret-s" peppycount="51" title="http://reason.com/blog/2012/03/01/bill-passes-house-protests-near-secret-s"><em><span style="color: blue; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">First Amendment Rights Eradication Act</span></em></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span id="goog_34546470"></span>," into law granting the Department of Homeland Security and the
Secret Service the authority to "abridge" our right to free speech.
Moreover, THEY define the circumstances under which they may do so.
</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">It's now a felony to protest anywhere
someone under secret service protection may appear. Thus wiping out our freedom
of assembly and our right to call our government to account for violations of
our Constitutional rights.</span></strong></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
<strong></strong></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sadly, the Constitution I swore to defend is dead and the President
has become an enemy "</span><em><span style="color: black;">foreign and <u>DOMESTIC</u></span></em></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">".</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Constitution may be resuscitated but not while its assassin is
President. Obama has violated his oath of office to "</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">...<em><span style="color: black;">
PRESERVE, PROTECT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED
STATES<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">.</span></span></em></span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">"</span></strong><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em> </em><strong>If there is any hope of regaining
our Republic, he must be removed from office.</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
<strong></strong></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?</em></span></strong><br />
<div>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">
</span><br />
<div>
<strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">at the moment, not many.</span></strong></div>
</div>
auntypsychotichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677870291653769726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-67072245786646124792012-09-10T06:44:00.002-05:002013-11-23T03:28:12.092-06:00<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ-KORAzv8Alvy01L67kIch0Na2PlXYSy_Av7fWiMrAdvuLmQhlMfcwa2cYJaYYTRMGj19s7EbK_kEJf5OSUCIb3tvZ-WI8veCB8ymzMwCfDfXYgP-HACB1CiNJgBWHRUG3uf_B1wMlY0J/s1600/300323_263909543646935_167821829922374_699776_535506807_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ-KORAzv8Alvy01L67kIch0Na2PlXYSy_Av7fWiMrAdvuLmQhlMfcwa2cYJaYYTRMGj19s7EbK_kEJf5OSUCIb3tvZ-WI8veCB8ymzMwCfDfXYgP-HACB1CiNJgBWHRUG3uf_B1wMlY0J/s1600/300323_263909543646935_167821829922374_699776_535506807_n.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">A
Remembrance.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Like many people I’ve been viewing and reviewing the images
of the September 11, 2001 attacks. And,</span><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_3" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" style="height: 2in; left: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; mso-position-horizontal-relative: margin; mso-position-horizontal: left; mso-position-vertical-relative: margin; mso-position-vertical: top; mso-wrap-distance-bottom: 0; mso-wrap-distance-left: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-top: 0; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; text-align: left; visibility: visible; width: 2in; z-index: 251658240;" type="#_x0000_t75"><v:imagedata o:title="" src="file:///C:\Users\Beci\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.jpg"><w:wrap anchorx="margin" anchory="margin" type="square"></w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> of course, considering and
reconsidering what was said and done in the wake of those attacks. We as a
nation and a people were attacked with no warning and for no apparent reason.
The world changed, almost literally, in the blink of an eye and for a while
none of us had any idea why, how or what we were supposed to do or feel. At the
time, I watched the news along with everyone else to find out what had
happened, who was responsible and what we were going to do about it. Once I did
though, I didn’t need to keep seeing the same ghastly images again and again; I
stopped watching.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Until today I had made a conscious decision not to review
those images of shock and fear, of pain and of loss. Frankly, I’ve had enough
on my plate just dealing with my own life and the monsters that populate my
personal nightmares without adding even more visions of horror. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Still, with all that has happened since, the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq, the hunt for those responsible and the death of the
architect of that terror; I decided that I would try to revisit those days of
fear and death. I have come to the conclusion that everyone involved did the
very best they could given such an inconceivable situation. We <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i></b>
did what we had to do.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">There has been much talk about how our government and we as
a nation responded to the attacks and, in hindsight, what should have been done
or not done. There is no primer for how to live in a country that is suddenly
thrust into a war of smoke and shadows. It’s a war against fanatics and cowards
who shoot us in the back from the security of dark alleys. I don’t think we
could <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">or should</i></b> have done anything different.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">What President Bush said and did occurred in a crucible of
fire and blood and none of us are qualified to judge his actions, particularly
in the days and weeks immediately after the attacks. There is no briefing for a
president whose country is suddenly subject to cowardly attacks by a largely
unidentified enemy whose goals and agendas don’t follow any kind of reasonable political
or military pattern. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The American people needed explanations and reassurances
that simply were not available in any form that the general public was prepared
at that time to understand or accept. We needed an identifiable enemy and we
needed to know that those responsible would pay for their actions. We needed
someone to tell us that, while the horror we experienced was beyond our understanding,
it was not beyond the president’s understanding or that of his advisors. We <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">needed</i></b>
to believe that he knew what to do and how to do it. But in the immediate
aftermath, he didn’t; nobody did. Nobody could. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">However, he did what he could, he did what he thought was
best in a situation that no one, anywhere was trained to deal with. The
comparisons to December 7, 1941 are inevitable but the situation is not even
close to comparable. While FDR was also faced with a “sneak attack,” that
attack came from an immediately identifiable enemy with a specific and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">known</i></b>
location. There is no way that anyone, any <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">one</i></b>, could have done any better.
Perhaps someone else would have done things differently, although the situation
itself limited the available alternatives.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Should our government have anticipated the attacks? Yep, but
we should have too. Despite our fatuous, self-satisfied complacency and belief
that we were somehow immune to realities the rest of the world lived with, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i></b>
probability was brought home to all of us in 1993 and the use of commercial
airliners as weapons of terrorism became commonplace back in the halcyon days
of sky-jacking in the 1970’s. Any American citizen, to say nothing of any
American politician, alive after December 7, 1941 could have and should have
anticipated the possibility of another sneak attack. Any adult even remotely
conscious after February 26, 1993 should have anticipated the probability of
this specific type of attack. An indictment of President Bush and his administration
is unfair, inaccurate and just plain stupid.</span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Were things done that turned out to be wrong? Yeah. Were
actions taken that had unforeseen results or consequence? Absolutely. Were
decisions made that might have benefited from a delay for more information?
Maybe. But, remember what life was like immediately after the attacks, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we</i></b>
wanted answers, explanations, reassurances and we wanted vengeance. Oh, I know
it’s now fashionable to say otherwise and many people try to deny it but, if we
are honest with ourselves, we wanted revenge on whoever was responsible for the
murder of our people <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i></b>, perhaps more importantly, the
murder of our sense of security. We wanted them publicly paraded and summarily
executed in a way that was both painful and prolonged. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So, I come back to what led me to write this in the first
place, the assorted replays of that time and the visions of horror and my
current reaction to them. Perhaps being a military veteran affects my
perspective and my reaction, I don’t know and, really, I don’t care. Even now,
knowing what I know now, my reaction is exactly as visceral and exactly the
same as it was that bright day in September 2001: “They don’t get to win!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Saddam Hussein and, by extension, the nation and people of
Iraq; Osama bin Laden, who was sheltered in Afghanistan and welcomed, admired
and supported by the Afghani government and most of the Afghani people had not
been shy about how they felt about the US and what they wanted to do to us.
They hated us, they wanted to bring us down, they wanted us <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gone</i></b>
and they still do. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">That there <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">were</i></b> actual weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq is not open for debate, Hussein himself admitted to them on
various occasions. That they were moved, and perhaps removed from Iraq, once we
carried the war to them is also not open for debate. That bin Laden designed, facilitated,
ordered and, later proudly claimed responsibility, for the unwarranted attacks
on the US is also not up for discussion.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">There are large numbers of people in the Middle East and the
rest of the world who still feel exactly the same as Hussein and bin Laden.
Many of them have said so publicly and repeatedly; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">they</i></b> are still our
enemies and they have not abandoned the goals and agendas of Hussein and bin
Laden and, as we have had cause to know, will still do whatever they must and
whatever they can to destroy the US. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;">We have not found specific WMD’s in Iraq, it took us years
to get bin Laden and now he’s dead and can’t be questioned (if one believes
what we have been told about <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i></b> operation) or brought to the
bar and held accountable. We have had the so called “scandals” of the</span> <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Abu Ghraib
prison and that at Guantanamo Bay with its “mistreatment” of detainees and
waterboarding or other forms of what some people call “torture”. Some of it <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i></b>
torture but it is also sometimes the only recourse in the exigencies of war. There
have been military missteps and scandals both overseas and here at home. All of
which have been decried by various factions including celebrities most of whom
have no experience with military service let alone <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actual </i></b>combat or <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">functional</i></b>
politics, rather than that of the pretty pink ponies and pixie dust variety, in
an unfriendly world. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Here at home we’ve got Homeland Security, the Transportation
Security Administration and the Patriot Act. All of which, I will admit give me
cold chills. But there has always been a tradeoff between national security and
national freedom as well as personal security and personal freedom. Personally,
in the case of the former two, I watch the watchers and if necessary take
evasive action. In all four cases, I maintain a balance between them by being
careful, owning weapons and practicing with them.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We have learned to live in a new, unsafe world. Oh, it was
always unsafe but now we all know about it because it has come to roost on our own
doorstep. All the hand-wringing and knee-jerking by Fluffy, Muffy and Steve
will not change the fact that a large proportion of the world just doesn’t like
us and they would prefer that the US be a vacant lot or a large, empty hole in
the ground. That being the case, while I am not thrilled with what must be done
to keep unfriendly strangers from maiming and killing our citizens, I’m ok with
it. I’m ok with all of it. I would far rather that it be our enemies
that are killed and/or tortured than our people.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, whatever it takes; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>They don’t get to win!</u></i></b> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
auntypsychotichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677870291653769726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-20103179397867352042012-01-18T12:58:00.001-06:002012-01-18T13:20:23.152-06:00SOPA/PIPA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uqRbKD8v7iE8cZjU6EZVPuFxidbt_PzoKYMi3eFpYud25tzk9Fuzx_MPcPK9LSdiz4EIUV37gmhyphenhyphenlKPp9T1g2cH625tQi4i9Um31moJ65VRMqe8FEZ7mSjLzSV4pDBXqwEpfecIEHHk/s1600/SOPA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uqRbKD8v7iE8cZjU6EZVPuFxidbt_PzoKYMi3eFpYud25tzk9Fuzx_MPcPK9LSdiz4EIUV37gmhyphenhyphenlKPp9T1g2cH625tQi4i9Um31moJ65VRMqe8FEZ7mSjLzSV4pDBXqwEpfecIEHHk/s320/SOPA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Educate yourself before you no longer can, when censorship of the internet becomes a part of what makes America stand apart.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h3261/show">http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h3261/show</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/">http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57360665-503544/sopa-pipa-what-you-need-to-know/">http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57360665-503544/sopa-pipa-what-you-need-to-know/</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/technology/sopa_explained/index.htm">http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/technology/sopa_explained/index.htm</a> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2012/01/16/obama-says-so-long-sopa-killing-controversial-internet-piracy-legislation/" target="_blank">While President Obama has killed SOPA</a> for the time being, this is only a temporary reprieve, as it could be allowed to be revisited as early as next month. The Protect IP act goes to the floor on January 24th, and poses just as much of a threat of censorship as SOPA, in the long run.<br />
The arguments in favor of these bills, while they may sound reasonable on the surface, are anything but, when taken into the context of our federal government having the power to decide what we can see, learn, listen to, or watch and what we aren't allowed to.<br />
They do not nor should they ever have this power, for good reason. No government (not even ours) is ever satisfied with using such a measure of power backed by force without increasing that power and force over time. It is not only possible, it is <i>inevitable</i>, that the power to censor the internet will extend to all kinds of materials they do not currently mention, should either of these measures pass into law.<br />
We must all chose which side we will take- and yes, it's an all or nothing, black and white issue. Either you agree with censorship, or you do not.<br />
I do not. Nor will I ever.<br />
<br />
Now is the Time to Speak Up, Speak Out, and Speak before they give themselves the tools to stop you.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/">https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/</a> <br />
<a href="http://sopastrike.com/strike">http://sopastrike.com/strike</a> <br />
<a href="http://blacklists.eff.org/">http://blacklists.eff.org/</a> <br />
<a href="http://www.congress.org/">http://www.congress.org/</a> <br />
<br />
<img src="http://conservativedailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sopa1.jpg" /> <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-44727766478087035322011-10-11T07:20:00.008-05:002011-10-12T01:25:10.112-05:00Sometimes the universe reminds us ...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdQWY2WxMKCoFg3J21-gcPPx7NsfJVswoeLr85xWP5XhviWZ_4O0vyzP7LM-qRqZNIXbsH8-TN7FCtNwnER-nEtvkdSHMcHYp3uZ6tdbdFCgc9z0NozRS7CRoSfWIcTk6CMi5k0aRRL4B/s1600/tenacity.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 321px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 225px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662215812915335714" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjdQWY2WxMKCoFg3J21-gcPPx7NsfJVswoeLr85xWP5XhviWZ_4O0vyzP7LM-qRqZNIXbsH8-TN7FCtNwnER-nEtvkdSHMcHYp3uZ6tdbdFCgc9z0NozRS7CRoSfWIcTk6CMi5k0aRRL4B/s400/tenacity.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Sometimes the universe reminds us that not everyone is an asshole.<br /><br />It seems to be getting easier and easier to only see the shit that gets flung at us. Conversely, it also seems to be getting harder and harder to see the gentle kindness that might tap us on the shoulder.<br /><br />Is it really easier to only believe that a couple of young people harassed an elderly man walking his dog in a park than it is to believe that another pair of youngsters walked up behind a pregnant mother with a toddler in tow and helped her carry her groceries in? I know that often it is for me.<br /><br />Oh, I know that there are bad people out there, that there scam artists and men who beat their wives and wives who beat their children. I know that there is hate and pain and misery in great abundance and sometimes, on a really bad day, I think that that's all there is.<br /><br />Well, I am here to tell you that it's <em><strong>NOT</strong></em> all there is. There <em><strong>ARE</strong></em> good people out there, most of which we never hear of or see for ourselves except for the rare "puff piece" used as space or time fillers in the media. Most of us are running as fast as we can just to stay a step ahead of the real darkness. Most of the time it's a "good" day if we manage to maintain our position in the grey twilight that's the usual rule of the day. We can't or don't take even a split second to notice much of anything else.<br /><br />This isn't some warm, fuzzy "believe in the essential goodness of people" piece. I will be the first one to say that it's <em><strong>NOT</strong></em> paranoid to believe that the whole world is out to shit on us like pigeons on a Civil War general. However, I have decided that I will also be the first one to notice that it's truly been a good day because someone let me slip into traffic ahead of them.<br /><br />I'm a "totally and permanently" disabled veteran due to my years in the United States Navy. That means that I not only can't work but, since I can't afford health insurance, all of my medical and psych treatment comes to me courtesy of the Veterans Administration.<br /><br />My experience with the VA goes back to the "bad old days" of incompetency and what we called the "rent-a-doc" system. Physicians barely able to avoid jabbing themselves with a hypo would contract with the VA for six months or maybe a year. It was a grim time for our vets; at the time I declared that I wouldn't let anyone from the VA lance a boil on my butt.<br /><br />Now, I am pleased and proud to declare that the quality of care provided by the VA has risen dramatically and is almost always top notch. And, believe me, if it were not, I would be the first to say so. Hell, I'd be the first to walk around with a sign that said so and bellowing it at the top of my lungs. I am wonderfully stubborn, with a positive gift for invective and unpleasantness. I'm also crazy as a pet coon so I don't really give a fuck about "what people think".<br /><br />However, for all its improvements, the VA is still (brace yourselves) a bureaucracy. The dinosaur is big, it's klutzy, it's slow and often it strangles itself with it's own red tape and "policies". Tonight I faced that tape without so much as a fingernail clipper.<br /><br />Around 11:00 PM, I was revisited by the joys of a urinary tract infection. Ever the overachiever, I got all the options with this model; extreme pain, urinary incontinence, fever, dehydration; nothing I did or what meds I took worked to make it even a little better. Now, I realize that <em><strong>THAT</strong></em> is much, too much information but I really do have a reason for showing you around my bathroom.<br /><br />All I wanted to do was get thru the night so I could hit the VA in the morning, see my doc and get the drugs to kill first the pain and ultimately the infection. That ship had sailed when it started but I refused to accept it. Along about 1:00 AM, after bellowing like a gut shot steer from the latest bout of agony, I gave up my illusions, checked with the VA night watch and headed off to the local emergency room.<br /><br />The folks at the ER were kind and competent but there really wasn't much they could do even after the lab work came back. When, after two hours, it finally did, it told the doc's and nurses and I exactly what we all already knew; namely that I had a UTI. <strong>"Gee! Ya think?"</strong> The doc did his doc thing; wrote me a couple of 'scripts and sent me back out into the night that had disgorged me.<br /><br />So, it's 3:30 in the bloody AM, I've got almost no cash and I'm willing to kill my resurrected mother with the winning lottery numbers if it would stop the gut-ripping pain. When I got home, I called the VA in the forlorn hope that there was any joy to be had there. There wasn't.<br /><br />The receptionist and the night nurse would have liked to help me but there is no pharmacist on duty in the wee hours and, besides, the nurse can't write 'scripts or call them into my neighborhood Walgreens store. The {ahem} "Physicians Assistant" on duty would A. not talk to me on the phone; B. pony up the drugs; C. check for samples; or D. call the 'scripts into Walgreens to let them know that the VA would cover the charges. I happen to know this is doable because it was done for me during my gall bladder-sponsored vacation of not so happy memory.<br /><br />After wishing that PA hemorrhoids and a proctologist who uses a wire brush to treat them; I tried the only other thing I could think of, I called Walgreens. I asked the pharmacist how much the antibiotics which would cure me and thus stop that annoying screeching I kept hearing. By his accent I could tell that he hailed, most likely, from the Middle East. He told me the cost was $11.43; disappointed, I thanked him and hung up.<br /><br />After a few more moans, I began to to toss the place for any spare cash; I flew thru the house like a drunken bat in a cell phone store. <em><strong>EUREKA!</strong></em> I scrounged up an old crumpled five dollar bill and $6.97 in change. I grabbed my keys and set out for salvation. I gave the little, elderly pharmacist my prescription with the air of Sir Percival at his utmost extremity.<br /><br />I wandered around for a few minutes, trying not to bite pieces out of my own shoulder blades, while he composed my personal Holy Grail. When he called my name over the intercom, I rushed back to find the magic elixir bottled and ready for me. Ok, <strong>OKAY!</strong> So it wasn't an "elixir", it wasn't even a liquid; it was a small bottle of pills but they were damn sure "magic" to me.<br /><br />I was already apologizing for all the change as I began to pile it on the counter.<br /><br />Shaking his head, he said, "No, no. You don't have to."<br /><br />I looked up confused (not an unknown occurrence) and asked him, "What? What do you mean? I don't have to what?"<br /><br />He shook his head again and said, "You don't need to pay. No charge."<br /><br />Still not getting it, I tried to push the change to him; he smiled and said, "No, no charge." He pushed the change back at me and put a little bag into my hand. The attached receipt read, "TOTAL $0.00"<br /><br />I must've thanked him a dozen times before he managed to make his escape back into the bowels of the pharmacy safe from thick-headed, desperate headcases. For some reason, my eyes were kind of moist and I was almost home before I remembered to shut my mouth.<br /><br />Like I said,<br /><br />"Sometimes the universe reminds us that not everyone is an asshole."<br /><em></em>auntypsychotichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677870291653769726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-28199059694898732152011-10-04T00:57:00.014-05:002011-10-04T04:45:16.290-05:00Is North Dakota The New Saudi Arabia?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyeRERQHMkFp46pDrrYBI_yxee_ZjKXGeXld9zEbeV3YIEbMwwf9RSjnhjV3dYpmL4OOw1_VZdfFeBhNz7QAt1IZY-AHwYfN4rZG3vEwXk0w0iWOTSDQPjOQUQDLv8cPwHFmOLrpQrqLEC/s1600/high+plains+storm+clouds+MERGE.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 309px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659545762039658850" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyeRERQHMkFp46pDrrYBI_yxee_ZjKXGeXld9zEbeV3YIEbMwwf9RSjnhjV3dYpmL4OOw1_VZdfFeBhNz7QAt1IZY-AHwYfN4rZG3vEwXk0w0iWOTSDQPjOQUQDLv8cPwHFmOLrpQrqLEC/s400/high+plains+storm+clouds+MERGE.jpg" /></a><br /><br />I'm lucky, North Dakota is home for me; it’s beautiful and, even if I no longer live there, I love it. The cost of living has always been unnaturally low but that also meant that incomes were fairly low as well. In part that has been because it’s so rural and primarily agriculturally-based but things got worse when the bottom dropped out of the ag markets. However, the low population and the natural self-sufficiency of that population kept things pretty much the same for most folks.<br /><br />In the early to mid 1970's there was an "oil boom" in western ND that significantly increased the average income statewide. Along with a increase in wealth there was a huge influx of people to work in the oil fields and all the rest of the attendant increases that are the secondary and tertiary effects of a sudden, large increase in wealth. The somewhat "dark side" of this was that North Dakotans in general, both personally and institutionally, became much more aware of, and more dependent upon, the benefits of more discretionary income and the "extras" that were more commonplace in the rest of America.<br /><br />However, as has long been known, with a "boom" there comes the inevitable "bust" and the ND oil business was no exception. As Mr. Hamm mentioned, in the late 70's and early 80's Jimmy Carter did his thing with "windfall taxes" and suddenly oil, even huge quantities of it, was all but worthless.<br /><br />In my opinion, the impact of the "bust" was so devastating not just because of the gain and then loss of a lot of money but because it happened in such a short time. It all happened so quickly that ND industry, economy, government and residents simply hadn't the time necessary to become accustomed to all the changes, both positive and negative, as well as the wild fluctuations of the industry as the pendulum swung back and forth and to see the more gradual ups and downs of the industry. The boom just didn't last long enough for both the economic and social environments to become stabilized and normalized. In contrast, other "oil" states such as Texas and Oklahoma have had close to a century of highs and lows and are much more able to absorb them and surf the oil tides.<br /><br />During the first ND boom one of the most crucial and far-reaching aspects was the sudden, critical housing shortage. Heretofore, the residential real estate market had not been all that important, particularly "in town". However, all those new workers needed somewhere to live and, in the beginning, available land was plentiful and cheap leading to a corresponding building boom as well. As part of the sharp but general downturn from the bust, oil associated workers disappeared but, nevertheless, mortgages for both owner-occupied and rental properties needed to be paid.<br /><br />In the 90's there was another, shorter and much less extreme oil boom in ND and the state institutions and people were more experienced and better able to avoid getting caught up in the excitement and sudden wealth. But the scars of the first one remain and, I suspect, that people of North Dakota face the prospect of a third oil boom with a paternalistic anti-fossil fuels democrat president with all the joy of a bridegroom facing emergency root canal on his wedding night; it’s gonna happen but it still sucks and it’s gonna hurt a lot.<br /><br />Much of the country, including the president, has been seduced by pixie dust and the pretty, utopian pictures painted by the environmental, green energy and global warming crowds in much the same way rainmakers and snake oil salesmen seduced the residents of the Dust Bowl and rural American in general.<br /><br />However, as in Eden, there is a snake in the grass; it's called the environmental industry. And it is indeed an "<strong><em>INDUSTRY</em></strong>" in which billions of dollars and, more importantly, reputations (and campaigns) are at stake.<br /><br />The smug superiority and blatant hatred of the "Greenies" toward anyone or any business who does not worship in the same church is no different than any other cult. Its saints are John Muir and Patrick Moore; its prophets are Al Gore and Ed Begley Jr.; its apostles are Michael Moore, public educators and a host of celebrities. Make no mistake, this is a church militant with its own army of enviro-sheep shock troops and its General is Paul Watson. Such people are usually (self-) deluded or, like their rather shady predecessors, con-men. If one must put up with such creatures (and, given the climate of spinelessness and political correctness, one <em><strong>MUST</strong></em>) of the two, I prefer the latter; con-artists are in the game for money and one can do business with them. True believers can't even be reasoned with.<br /><br />If Mr. Hamm is correct, and at this point there is no reason to doubt his knowledge and expertise in his field, there is a strong possibility that the US does not <em><strong>have</strong></em> to wait for scraps at the table of foreign oil. That President Obama, his administration including Secretary Chu or the energy industry refuses to accept or utilize these resources in the face of <strong><em>no specific short- or long-term solutions</em></strong> from so called "green energy" means, to me at least, that their motives are suspect. Although what is even worse is that they may be true believers and have already sampled the kool-aid, in which case their motives might be pure but they are based upon ignorance, delusion and tunnel-vision and <em><strong>that</strong></em> is not only irresponsible, it's stupid.<br /><br />According to the article, Hamm's company and other oil companies have been targeted recently by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and <em><strong>President Obama has stated that it is his goal to raise $40 billion through additional taxes on the oil and natural gas industries.*</strong></em> There can be no clearer warning that, regardless of the ineffectiveness and lack of cost effectiveness of the "green" industries, the Obama administration has decided that the American people shall have no voice and no choice but to accept and join the Green Religion.<br /><br />I am, by training, experience and nature, a skeptic and a darkly suspicious one at that. I don't automatically believe everything that I read, hear or that anyone says or does, and I never believe <em><strong>ANY</strong></em>thing entirely. However, in this case, I have personal experience and direct information about this situation. As the author of the article, Stephen Moore, says at the end;<blockquote>"Mr. Hamm calculates that if Washington would allow more drilling permits for oil and natural gas on federal lands and federal waters, "I truly believe the federal government could over time raise $18 trillion in royalties." That's more than the U.S. national debt, I say. He smiles.<br /><br />This estimate sounds implausibly high, but Mr. Hamm has a lifelong habit of proving skeptics wrong. <em><strong>And even if he's wrong by half, it's a stunning number to think about.*</strong></em> So this America-first energy story isn't just about jobs and economic revival. It's also about repairing America's battered balance sheet. Someone should get this man in front of the congressional deficit-reduction supercommittee."</blockquote>It is indeed stunning and it behooves us to explore the options associated with it. While I agree with Moore's evaluation of Mr. Hamm's experience and stature in the energy industry, the significance of what Hamm said, and the sentiment behind Moore's proposal, I don't particularly agree with his suggestion to have Mr. Hamm testify before a congressional committee.<br /><br />If we want to get anything substantive done with the Bakken oil fields, the absolute, very last thing we should do is involve Congress or other politicians. In my opinion, in virtually every situation the very best thing that our government can do is nothing. If it is at all possible we must keep their greedy, stickly little fingers out of it or, regardless of what the issue may be in the beginning, any usefulness that it may retain will be strictly by accident. Anything that comes out of our nation's capital usually bears little resemblance to its original form and intent.<br /><br />*emphasis addedauntypsychotichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677870291653769726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-18278916676015388582011-07-14T01:19:00.003-05:002011-07-14T01:38:00.081-05:00modern miss manners: MY WAYi wrote this in response to comments regarding <a href="http://smallbusiness.aol.com/2011/07/12/restaurant-bans-young-children/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl11%7Csec3_lnk1%7C218716">an article about a restaurant/bar owner</a> who has chosen to refuse admission to children under six years of age.<br /><br />At one time I might have disagreed with this guy's action but I have to say that now I would be grateful if more public places would decide to do this. <br /><br />Lots of people would like to ban service dogs for any and all sorts of reasons and, as we all know, someone who's SD is ill-behaved can be, and in my opinion should be, asked to leave. However, public opinion and public behavior (and also the waning concept of good manners) has changed in many ways, including the public breastfeeding of infants which I support if the mom is ok with it - after all it does shut the kid up. It has become more common for people to believe in the "live and let live" style of child-rearing for fear of damaging their developing little psyches, that or the adults do not "wear the pants" in their families. <br /><br />C'mon though, when I was being raised, if a baby did what babies do best - make sounds approaching hypersonic and creating smells that constitute weapons of mass destruction - one or both parents had the consideration, genteel manners and inherent noblesse oblige to remove themselves and the offending nascent human being so as not to cause disruption for others. When I was a little older if I even tried to behave the way little animals do now I would have gotten my ass warmed, been removed from whatever location we were at (store, church, etc), gotten an extra swat or two when we reached the car and, almost certainly, gotten my ass beat again when we got home. <br /><br />I don't go away from home much now but when I do I really hate it when one or more of the little beasts starts to shriek, throw food or other items or in any way make life a living hell for anyone not directly related or associated with them including the wait staff. I don't much care what they do to their keepers, that's their problem not mine. <br /><br />Then there are the unruly little monsters who roam around stores or restaurants free-range, putting their inevitably dirty, sticky little meat-hooks on other people, their coats, clothing and/or purses. I am not blaming the kids, like any other animal they are only doing what they have been taught to do (and what they can get away with), but their adult companions should be publicly flogged.<br /><br />I am not such a fan of unfinished humans that I can take that kind of thing with the equanimity that I once did. I am old, fat and crazy - I don't much care if someone I don't know and don't expect to see ever again likes it when I make my displeasure known to them. Truthfully, when it comes right down to it, I don't much care if I do know them or will see them again. <br /><br />When I am not related to them or even acquainted with them, I am bound by neither a gender nor a racial (human race) imperative to put up with them. When I am related or acquainted with them I have no compunction about swatting their little asses whether in public or private or whether mom or dad approves or not. At the very least, I will succeed in partially achieving my goal of tranquility since those adoring breeders who are upset or offended by my smacking their little darlings will usually view me as a dangerous, child-hating harpy and will not wish to subject themselves or their cute little genetic mistakes to my presence henceforth. <br /><br />So, when I am sufficiently annoyed, I will let them know in no uncertain terms that no one, small or large, who whines, cries, screams or throws public tantrums is neither accepted nor welcome in my little piece of the [public] world. And don't get me started on adults, elected officials and/or those running for office who throw public tantrums. When it comes to the larger little ones, toddlers and up, I have no problem bending down, making eye contact with them and growling menacingly at them prompting them to run (sometimes screaming) back to their assigned larger human. While I don't really care for the screaming; it does get me at least part of what I want, namely that they get the fuck away from me. I have also been known to take "little numbskull" by the hand, return him/her to the person who appears responsible for him/her and ask them to leave the premises or, at the very least, leash and gag the offending creature.<br /><br />Thus, I am in favor of this gentleman's decision to ban small bipeds to avoid irritating [PAYING] members of his clientele and those who chose his establishment to enjoy a peaceful interlude without a floor show which reiterates and reinforces the myriad joys of birth control. Moreover, they may have chosen his location in desperate need to self-medicate against ('bar seating' indicates this) and/or to momentarily escape from the slings and arrows and outrageous misfortunes associated with their own, perhaps ill-advised, spawn. <br /><br />Bravo, Mr. Vuick. Bravo.auntypsychotichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04677870291653769726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-47635491300356520422011-03-29T21:39:00.000-05:002011-03-29T21:39:48.406-05:00What to do in AugustIf you want to go to London this summer, the 13th and 14th of August would be a great time, as you could attend <a href="http://www.claudiaconuk.com/index.htm">ClaudiaCon UK</a>, and report back to me, since I can't go. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOjMYtsykaUUi8eN6E11X0u-EnF_TtlH3euhNkOkr_7QQffXYztoAhXa0rxoo9ZpVibYpikYF1MUIXEpisV-47MI3V4zQ11oTn3Zljnh7iJWaKxILbKfT0OzKxfwCx9EEq9XLjOPvyw8/s1600/CC_Header3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="125" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuOjMYtsykaUUi8eN6E11X0u-EnF_TtlH3euhNkOkr_7QQffXYztoAhXa0rxoo9ZpVibYpikYF1MUIXEpisV-47MI3V4zQ11oTn3Zljnh7iJWaKxILbKfT0OzKxfwCx9EEq9XLjOPvyw8/s320/CC_Header3.jpg" /></a></div>MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-35964456912548194792011-03-23T10:03:00.000-05:002011-03-23T10:03:46.764-05:00Tune Time!<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P8CCxuVNibI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-28741232238014043942011-02-26T15:13:00.001-06:002011-02-26T15:14:50.231-06:00Safety and Other Fairytales<b><i>I'm reposting this at the top, so it doesn't get lost</i></b><br />
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As ol' Ben Franklin said: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."<br />
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There is no safety this side of the grave and those people who believe otherwise are self-deluders at best and liars at worst. Like the sanctity of life, "safety" does not exist but as a human construct and as an attempt to sleep soundly. There are a myriad of reasons why I am not an Obama supporter and think that he will do more do restrict personal liberty than a chastity belt . However, there is not diddly squat that he or anyone in the oval office can do to make or keep us safe. Even if he were rational and competent the best he could do is provide our military and the civilian public with the necessary tools/weapons to increase our own personal safety. We can each make ourselves saf-ER but no one and nothing can make us "SAFE".<br />
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To believe that the government, be it in the form of elected and/or appointed officials or police or military personnel, can make us safe is to invite someone to prove the believers wrong and usually catastrophically. We MUST all do what we can and what we can get away with to increase our own personal safety and that of our families.<br />
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The average American wishes to delegate responsibility for their own safety to someone, ANYONE rather than take on that RESPONSIBILTY for themselves. To do it themselves means that there is no one to blame when, as is virtually inevitable, their lack of safety is shoved up their noses. Even some (and possibly most) conservatives would rather not have to do it themselves. Bitching and whining about big government and all the while calling for the government to do this, that or the other thing to keep them "safe".<br />
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The "peepul" bless their flabby, black hearts want to believe that each individually, and collectively "we", are or can be "safe". They are bitterly disappointed and full of angry recriminations whenever something happens to show them to be anything but safe.<br />
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However, these same people who believe and demand that the state or it's functionaries keep them safe are not willing to pay the freight that goes along with even the illusion of safety provided by the state. On the evening of 9/11 I was tending bar and listening to all the booze-fuelded outrage and opinions on the subject. The bar I ran was about 100 yards from the main gate of Ellsworth Air Force Base and a good number of Flaps who were, along with the local civilians, my clientele. I say this to indicate that there were very few deliberate morons involved in the discussions.<br />
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As we discussed what happened, what would happen and what SHOULD happen the subject of airline security was hotly debated. I said then that after the initial shock wore off most people would begin to bitch about delays and searches etc at air ports. I told the assemblage that within 6 months John and Jane Q. Public would be loudly protesting the inconvenience of what needed to be done to insure even a modicum of safety in the world that now existed for most Americans.<br />
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Sadly, I was much too optimistic; it was less than 3 months before the protests I first heard and saw reported in what passes for news in this country. Again, the dear people want safety but not at the cost of personal inconvenience.<br />
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The same can be said about who to "blame" for a couple of dozen religious psychotics attacking our country and our people. Even before 9/11 it was not news that planes could be used as weapons and bombs; Pearl Harbor taught us that or it should have. The true outrage most people felt about the attacks was not about the method or even the attacks per se but rather it was about the violation of the illusions of our safety, our supremacy and our immunity. Long before 9/11 I, and many others, knew that we have no safety, we have no supremacy and we have no immunity and we never have had any of the three. Anyone over the age of 10 and with a pulse should know it too.<br />
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When certain actions were taken (not including the war) the people were all for them. They didn't ask for particulars, they just wanted to feel safe again. Then the methods used started to be reported in the news and all politically correct hell broke loose. This method was invasive, that action was unconstitutional, those measures were "torture", blah blah blaaaaah. I'm not a huge fan of the Patriot Act but much of it was necessary. "Why?" you may ask. Because in the 70's and early 80's we hamstrung our intelligence communities and forced them to fight an undeclared and covert "war" while blindfolded with one foot in a bucket. Reality was much too unpalatable for the American public to accept so they put on their collective blinders, shoved their collective heads into the sand thus exposing their vulnerable collective asses to the tender mercies of those who don't like us.<br />
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Since 9/11 reality is once again too unpalatable for the American people. Abu Ghraib, water boarding, Guantanamo Bay, humiliation of prisoners ad nauseam have shown the public what is necessary to even begin to increase our state of readiness and create circumstances where we, as individuals, can take the necessary steps to keep ourselves safe. But the public doesn't really want to know; they want to be kept in blissful ignorance and maintain their little fantasy world of safety. When they are forced to know the truth they both bitterly resent it and feel the same compulsion that Pontius Pilate felt and wash their hands by attacking and indicting those who do their (the publics') dirty work.<br />
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I had a discussion with a young man several years ago about the new practice by law enforcement in South Dakota (where we lived at the time) that stated that everyone must have their identification on them at all times. I do not recall if it had been passed into law at that time or not but what it meant was that if one was stopped by the fuzzards and did not have his/her ID on them the fuzzards were then permitted to cuff and stuff the miscreants and take them to jail.<br />
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Not surprisingly, I was against this little gestapo tactic and said so. "Papuhs! Papuhs! You haf papuhs? Ve haf vays of making you talk!" The young man then said that he believed it to be okay since they did it to "keep us safe". When I asked him how in the world my carrying a piece of laminated paper would keep him safe he had no answer other than "It just does!" and that the police would then "know who to watch and/or arrest". When I queried as to WHY such desperados would or should be arrested he had no answer at all other than to sing the same old self-deluding song of "it will keep us safe".<br />
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And HE and his ilk are part of our electorate. THAT makes me feel very UNsafe.<br />
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Like I said at the beginning of this little missive:<br />
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As ol' Ben Franklin said: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." <br />
Posted by auntypsychoticMoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-8898853888480191462010-11-19T20:43:00.000-06:002010-11-19T20:43:14.268-06:00TSA Has Gone Off The Deep End<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VN6pJ7nP1yA?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VN6pJ7nP1yA?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
I DEMAND to know what threat a 3 year old little (American) boy is to American airport security. I DEMAND to know why this little boy, barely out of training pants, was subjected to a FULL BODY PAT-DOWN.<br />
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I DEMAND to know why we, as a nation, are ALLOWING this behavior to go unchecked, all in the name of “security”.<br />
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You know what? The government and the TSA are lying to us all by telling this helps “keep us safe”. It doesn’t, and we all know it, especially when they will soon give all muslims exemption from pat-downs because of their religion. The only way it would ever come even close to working as they say is if EVERYONE who boards an aircraft was subjected to this, regardless of race, religion, age, or sex, no exceptions. But that won’t happen, so it’s POINTLESS.<br />
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What we need is Israeli-style profiling at airports to weed out suspicious persons before they get even close to the gate. Yes, I said (gasp!) PROFILING. It’s one of the best ways to ensure security and we ALL know it. <br />
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We profile everyone we come into contact with, naturally.<br />
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After all, I don’t see many people going out of their way to conciously chose a meth-whore as their best friend, a drunk for a taxi cab driver to drive them to the airport, or a burgler to watch their home when they are away on vacation. Why not? Because we profile the people we have contact with. We judge them on how they look, behave, and talk. That IS profiling. If anyone tells you it’s not, and that they don’t do it, they are lying not only to you, but to themselves. <br />
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It has nothing to do with race, except as it applies to probability. It is much more probable that your home will be burgled if you hire a burgler to house-sit. It is much more probable that you will be in a car crash if you hire a drunk person to drive you to the airport. It is much more probable that you will get ripped off, or at the very least put through an emotional wringer if you have a meth-whore as a best friend. And absolutely no one in this nation can deny that it is much more probable that a 20 year old muslim from the middle east would be a terrorist than a 3 year old blonde little boy from Atlanta GA. <br />
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So, why are we wasting time patting down 3 year olds, and letting people who wear a turban, burka, or carry the koran in their hands slip right on through without any inconvenience? Racism.<br />
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The TSA is actively engaging in racism already, in their wish not to appear as racist profilers. In not applying the SAME measures to everyone, they are engaging in discrimination, which is what they claim they wish to avoid. <br />
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We should just be honest and USE THE TOOLS WE HAVE, instead of allowing this rediculous sham to continue.<br />
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It’s time to have the guts to do what needs to be done, instead of putting on a really lousy show at the expense of that 3 year old, or that 80 year old grandma with the walker.MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-63997701534588216162010-09-18T09:28:00.000-05:002010-09-18T09:28:33.607-05:00More Muslims Now Than Before 9/11?Last week, someone asked this question in a comment thread of an article on another site, concerning the controversy of Rev. Terry Jones’ intention to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on US soil to date.<br />
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The question of if or why there may be more muslims now started me thinking, which started me typing. It begs an answer of me, even if the supposition may be incorrect -since I have no data to actually support it- and even if my theories of why this may be occurring can’t be proven.<br />
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I can make relatively educated guesses as to some of the reasons why the numbers of followers of Islam are or may be up from what they were prior to the attacks of 9/11, but it’s certainly not based on anything other than the extrapolation of that supposition, a decent working knowledge of human nature, and reasonable deduction. Do NOT read this to be anything of a provable scientific nature, but rather as an acedemic excercise designed to ignite the imagination and pursue interesting possibilities. I will not be drawn into arguments over the validity of anything I suggest here, when I’ve now made it clear that none of what follows is anything more than speculation. <br />
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One factor that I can see immediately, which many may overlook while accounting for these possible increases is that many communist countries have relaxed their stand on relgious practices in recent years, and are allowing more religious freedoms than they have in decades. People who were once oppressed and afraid to voice their beliefs for fear of persecution are now more able and willing to do so in places like China and Russia. This can account for relatively significant increase, which is deceptive in nature because the majority of those just now being counted in these areas were Muslim all along. We just didn’t have the correct numbers before. Also, now that they have some freedom to actively recruit new members, many branches of many faiths are doing so. It is reasonable to assume that Muslims in these countries are converting who they can, when they can, how they can.<br />
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The second factor that is likely to be in play is that Muslims are encouraged to have more children, where other religious faiths no longer actively encourage members to do so. Families with large numbers of children within the Christian faiths, even among traditional Catholics, are fewer and further between for many reasons, including the ongoing trend of marrying at a later age, financial concerns, and general paradigm shifts in what constitutes cultural norms. Not so with followers of Islam. Their average family size is rising- or at least being maintained- worldwide, while people of other faiths, especially in the western world, are still on a decline that started decades ago. I don’t have the figures and studies to cite at the moment to support this, but I did read about this recently.<br />
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The third factor, and that which I find the most compelling to study and discuss because it explores the complexity of human instinct versus learned virtuous behavior and how it affects all groups- People who are looking for ways to validate themselves are converting to Islam.<br />
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In our need to assure ourselves that life has meaning, most humans have learned to keep that need to fulfill it in line with the needs of others around us. Joining or belonging to a movement- be it a mainstream religion, special interest group, political party, fringe group or cult- is often used to fulfill the need for validation, personal empowerment, and meaning to our lives- a sense of belonging and sharing. My best guess is the majority who are turning to the Muslim faith who were not born to it fall within this group. But on occasion, when people lose their sense of self, some may turn to an often unconcious and basic selfishness in order to fill that void. I would assert that a number of those who’ve lost a sense of self, or have experienced disillusionment in what used to fill that void, have latched on to a growing, energetic, and controversial religion because it has garnered much more attention in recent years than any other faith, movement, or special interest group, specifically and conciously in order to boost their feelings of validation. I don’t necessarily believe that a large percentage of any added numbers to the Islamic faith can be attributed to this motivation, but I’m absolutely certain that a percentage of any religion or large group of any kind happen to be people with this emotional outline that’s based on self-fulfillment over all other considerations.<br />
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Negative attention does not prevent these kinds of people from exploring the possibility that this might be what they need in their lives, but rather encourages it, so it’s reasonable to assume that some people have done so, and will continue to do so.<br />
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A good example of this phenomenon is when Satanism became fashionable in the late 1960′s and early 1970s after the publication of the Satanic Bible and media exposure of Anton LaVey, the leader of the Church of Satan. The church gained legitimacy (thereby growing it’s membership) by virtue of notariety- most of it through negative media attention and public outcry- not by sound theological structure, an inherently supportive congregation, or any of the traditional ways that a religion establishes itself over time. They recruited the confused, greedy, and selfish specifically, through the church’s very structure, and the publicity they received ensured their message would be heard by those who would be enticed by it’s mystique and promises of personal empowerment.<br />
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Let me be clear- While I use this as an example, do not confuse Satanism as a parellel to Islam. They are vastly different from eachother, including the fact that Islam has a sound theology, ideology and dogma which has lasted for nearly two millenia (whether you agree with it or not is moot), while modern Satanism is clearly a fad that comes and goes in conjuction with media hype, pop culture, and the wholesale disenfranchisement of young people. I am in no way saying that Islam is Satanic, evil, or otherwise not a legitimate faith. I’m not even saying that Satanism isn’t legitimate. I merely used the rise of Satanism in recent history as an example to illustrate why someone might join a church or movement that has aquired the reputation of being violent or negative in current mainstream perception, and that it is indeed a known phenomenon often encouraged -rightly or wrongly- by sensationalistic, though not necessarily inaccurate media coverage.<br />
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Many of the converts who fall into the above description of the self-serving believer may or may not actually believe in the fundamentals of the Islamic faith, but they certainly have to believe they gain something personally by joining any group that stands apart by virtue of perceived violence or hatred. What those personal gains might be are numerous and predictable, since human nature itself is inherently selfish, and followers of any group or religion have expectations that they want to be met.<br />
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The self-centered follower gets a feeling of personal power in belonging to an established group- and an even stronger one when that group is singled out by society for any reason; often they are given a venue where they can vent their personal rage- disguised as righteousness- in ways not available to them before; they may gain tangibles such as goods and services; intangibles such as authority over or perceived superiority over others; there are usually promises of rewards in the afterlife- or when the movement succeeds- for the faithful, etc. Because of the utterly selfish nature of this type of follower, it is easy to predict that converts and lifelong believers alike who follow a belief system based on fulfillmlent of a selfish need, must continually be receiving something from it or they won’t continue to do it. They will move on to something else in that search for fulfillment when following the doctrine and rules is a higher price than what they are willing to pay for what they believe they gain from it.<br />
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Often enough to recognize, they may instead opt to stay within the original framework, but chose to attempt to alter it enough to suit their needs rather than go through the emotional work of trying something completely different.<br />
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We should all hope that these people do abandon their chosen vehicle as soon as possible rather than engaging in the latter, should they recognize that their original choice of religion/movement/interest group has failed to give them what they need. We are all safest when they are busy searching, rather than finding or creating. Need examples? Read the biographies of nearly EVERY tyrannical leader in human history. Read the bios of a few sociopathic serial killers. Then read the bios of cult leaders like Warren Jeffs, Jim Jones, Charles Manson and David Koresh. The similarities in their character flaws are easy to pick out. It is also impossible to deny the fact that once they settled on a single path to attain self-fulfillment, destruction and violence ensued.<br />
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While their overall number may be miniscule within the populations of any country, we must take note of them, since history has repeatedly shown us that this kind of follower of any religion, any movement, any special interest are the very people who are, should they stay within the mainframe of an unsatisfying group, the most likely to BECOME the fanatics- the leaders and sychophants of the fringe elements- intent on feeding fires, creating division and increasing tensions which can lead to both general and specific violence, in their misbegotten attempts to gain a sense of self.<br />
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This, I firmly believe, is the singlular most glaringly evident reason why, as a species, we have come to value the virtues of selflessness and generosity; of finding one’s self through giving rather than taking.<br />
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I’m sure there are other factors that also may lead to an increase in followers of Islam, or any other group or religion for that matter, but I will end this excercise at this point. My own personal conclusions are that the majority of new members to the followers of Islam can be attributed to previously uncounted followers, those they are actively recruiting, those newly born to it, and those who have chosen it for personal reasons based on legitimate human need for a sense of community and belonging. A minute fraction of new-and old- members of Islam must also be those who have conciously chosen it as a self-serving vehicle for personal gain of one type or another. I believe that the latter, in spite of the relatively small number, are responsible for the majority of what has become twisted and altered, causing confusion and discord within the faith itself, as well as the violence and hatred that has stemmed directly from it.<br />
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People needn’t worry about rising numbers of Muslims. We need to worry about rising numbers of those power-driven, self-serving heretics within ALL faiths who would pervert them for no other reason than to fulfill their own base and selfish needs, figure out why there seems to be more of them now than there used to be, and fix whatever it is that’s ailing humanity that can cause such a destructive phenomenon before it gets beyond our ability to do so.MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-88082188851982649962010-05-10T22:11:00.000-05:002010-05-10T22:11:57.932-05:00Michele Bachmann's Jobs Forum<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKeiYDR-9P9eBbT6Udh1t5E5IczuEynScIwMW7HRSkO30wvvxgMdUu3MPR8OGd7hDM7rDlb-EMDAvnbIqdlh3Sj43PblJzYCljO_T2ZD6JggqIPI-alnrAr-Fi6mV-xUXR7sNcrYgOq7k/s1600/Jobs+Forum+001+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKeiYDR-9P9eBbT6Udh1t5E5IczuEynScIwMW7HRSkO30wvvxgMdUu3MPR8OGd7hDM7rDlb-EMDAvnbIqdlh3Sj43PblJzYCljO_T2ZD6JggqIPI-alnrAr-Fi6mV-xUXR7sNcrYgOq7k/s320/Jobs+Forum+001+copy.jpg" tt="true" /></a></div><br />
I had the pleasure of attending the first of four <a href="http://www.bachmann.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=183767">Job Forums,</a> sponsored by Congresswoman Michele Bachmann across the 6th Congressional District.<br />
The focus and intent was to give a local update from business owners and jobs specialists, and explain some of the challenges small businesses are facing, and put real concrete reasons behind the lag in employment on the local level as well as the national level.<br />
The congresswoman did a wonderful job moderating, asking each speaker to specifically address certain points they each had made in their presentations in order to clarify or expand on an issue.<br />
The first to speak at this forum was Chuck Rau, a local small businessman who is facing the challenge of actually wanting to expand and needing to. He brought up the most obvious and recurring issue facing all businesses today, and that is one of uncertainty, across the board, as well as the credit issue many businesses are facing. How do they finance their companies, when lenders are not lending?<br />
No one really knows how all the new laws being passed, or up for passage will truly effect business or the economy, since they are so huge, vague, and unfinished. Congresswoman Bachmann said that the healthcare bill alone has over 14,000 lines that begin with the phrase: “The Health and Human Services Secretary will…” meaning that there are no answers to at least 14,000 points of action, on which no decision will be made until after the fact, not before. This is just ONE bill. Uncertainty? I think that’s an understatement, myself.<br />
Our next speaker was Greg Theis, a locally self employed contractor. His concerns were primarily the cost of doing business, overregulation, and the healthcare mandates.<br />
He brought up the fact that the proposed penalty fees the new healthcare bill will levy against businesses who do not offer healthcare plans are actually much cheaper than providing pre-tax healthcare coverage, so we can expect many businesses to opt out of even offering any healthcare to their employees. This will mean millions of people will lose their coverage, and have to purchase their healthcare with post tax dollars.<br />
He did have some good news, in that he did tell us that some of the stimulus money has actually been put into the construction industry, so projects that wouldn’t have been done this past year were able to be completed.<br />
The next to speak was David Borgert, the St.Cloud Hospital/CentraCare Director of Government and Public Relations. He gave us the perspective of being a very large employer, as well as that of being a huge part of the local economy, and how recent changes and prospective changes are set to affect the local healthcare industry.<br />
Other speakers were Matt Skwira, a self employed local man, who used a silhouette target to show how he feels when he looks at himself in the mirror- a governmental target. He brought up the use of restrictions to such a rediculous degree and without common sense that they are hamstringing industry and self employment in this state. “They are always coming up with new rules and laws. We have enough, we don’t need more. Let us alone and let us work.”<br />
Next was Mark Bragelman, a banker, who not only spoke about the credit crunch and it’s ongoing effects, but also that even the banking industry has made changes in their hiring practices, chosing to focus on investing in technology instead of human resources. He told us how the administration is saying that banks should be lending, but no one has told the regulators who are visiting the banks, literally yelling at them for doing just that. I guess they didn’t get the memo yet.<br />
Mike Myre, a small business specialist from the State of MN. He brought up the obvious point as to why businesses aren’t hiring as they could be- they are in survival mode, not growth mode. He gave information on the support organizations for small businesses in the state of MN.<br />
Our final speaker today was William Beach, from the Heritage Foundation. He spoke about how the current government policies have failed, and why. Mr. Beach also spoke of how things could have been different, had congress made different choices earlier on. He showed powerpoint graphs that will be available at some point on Michele Bachmann’s website, and I’ll update when they’re available to view. They explain it all much better than I can.<br />
All in all, I didn’t really learn anything new, but did get some clarification on what concerns our local businesses have, and why they are not pulling it together as quickly as the White House had led us to believe they would be.<br />
The speakers were very good, well prepared, and all talked of very specific issues that are hindering our economic recovery on a local level, which seems to be lost in the grander overview of national recovery.<br />
There were numerous other points that were made and discussed, concerning businesses and jobs, but I’m still processing the whole thing, to be honest. I’m sure I’ve missed some things, but if they come to me later, I’ll write another post.<br />
It all boils down to one simple thing that all business owners agreed on during this forum-<br />
The Government is the problem, not the solution, when it comes to putting people to work.<br />
Business owners have no clue if what they had done in the past to pull out of recessions or near recessions will work this time again or not, since the game has no certain rules anymore, with all the new and sweeping legislation on the table like Heathcare, TARP, and Cap and Trade.<br />
As long as this uncertainty lasts, we can expect to see more of the same from businesses. They will continue on in survival mode, not expansion and growth. We should get used to it, as long as government itself thinks it can fix the problems by spending our way out of debt, and taxing, regulating and restricting businesses to the point of closure. <br />
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I also had an opportunity to speak with Congresswoman Bachmann after the presentation, and we briefly discussed the provision in the Healthcare bill that will require the filing of 1099′s for businesses on purchases over $600. I had spoken to her about this last week, in her latest telephone town hall. She has informed me that she is following up on that, bringing it up to various committees and congressmembers as another reason why the healthcare bill should be viewed as hostile to businesses, and should be repealed.MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-378639819218189313.post-82323685799636196802010-04-07T12:30:00.001-05:002010-12-21T22:40:45.315-06:00The only fundamental differenceWhile writing a response a few days ago to another post, I said something which I really think needs to be reitterated and expounded upon.<br />
I had said that the only difference between the far right and the far left is that the Right wants to legislate morality, while the Left wants to legislate social concience (<i>You can substitute social justice in for that, since it amounts to the same thing</i>).<br />
There is a difference between the two goals, as we can see in the arguments and platforms on each side, but the mechanism they are both attempting to use is the same. Government. <br />
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The Right Wing wants to use government to enforce what their God has told them are the right things to do in life- do not kill, do not steal from others, etc. These ideals sound good, but coming from a religious standpoint, only their own definititions of what constitutes these moral behaviors matters to them. Our society has too many diverse opinions on what constitutes “moral” behavior, beyond the obvious necessary to continue as a working society, for any real agreements to come about with the Far Right. Judeo-Christian moral boundaries are not the same as my own, for instance, and I will never tolerate any government entity to force me to change those that do not coincide with their own (<i>common sense, based on societal need</i>) already. I don’t expect people of other religions to do so, either.<br />
For instance, it is common sense that we not allow people to murder others, thus depriving them of the right to life. However, it is NOT common sense that a belief of when life begins, formulated from a religion dominated by men for 2,000 years, can determine what a woman can or cannot do with her own body. Nor is it common sense that a book written by men over 2,000 years ago be a foundation to disenfranchise a person for not being attracted to the opposite sex, depriving them of the same protections, benefits, and rights as those who do- ie marriage to the one they love, raising a family, and equal protection under the law for taxation. <br />
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The Left Wing also wants to use government to enforce thier beliefs that we are all equal, thus deserving of the same lifestyles, and of respect and nonjudgement. Again, these sound like good ideals, but they fall flat.<br />
It is common sense that we allow others to live within the constraints of the constitution, without demanding compliance to our own biases.<br />
However, it is NOT common sense to expect all to be equal, as we are all born with different talents, intelligence, and ambition. Some are predisposed to a nasty disposition or a lack of intelligence, and the Far Left would have us believe that it is simply because they do not have what others have in life. This may or may not be so, but what stops them from TRYING to attain it, instead of bitching and moaning about their lot in life? Some people may very well have less advantage than others, but the glory of our system is that they can crawl out of their own puddle of shit, should they chose to do so. And too bad- its HARD. It’s hard for everyone, really it is.<br />
It is also not common sense that we not judge others. We do it every day, in everything we do. We chose our friends through judgement of others. We base every decision in every social situation on how we judge the others around us. It literally dictates everything we do, say, and chose! However, it is NOT common sense that we allow our personal judgements to dictate what constitutional rights we allow to those who are different from us.<br />
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Both sides’ goals are absolutely impossible to attain, for many reasons. The primary being that changing laws does NOT change minds. As long as we have freedom of thought, it cannot and will not change how people perceive their world, it will not change fundamental human behavior, nor will it change what we are taught at home and within society itself just by living within it. <br />
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This is why our government was set up as it is, with as LITTLE government interference in morality AND social concience as possible. Our founders knew that neither religious nor secular ideologies can coexist when one or the other dominates through law. Its why we have both freedom of religion, AND a secular government. They even things out, so to speak, so neither one has the opportunity to dominate our lives through law. The government should no more be allowed to tell us we MUST not drink on Sunday or women MUST not have bodily autonomy than they can tell us we MUST not gather in faith, or that we MUST accept government enforced charity to those we don’t believe are deserving of taking what we have earned. <br />
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You may believe that anyone who isn't far right or far left is wishy-washy and can’t make up their minds, but this is far from the truth. We certainly CAN, and we’ve decided that <b>both</b> sides are out to do nothing short of controlling- not governing- the populace through the same mechanisms, and are simply pursuing a different population management strategy.<br />
Both the Far Left and the Far Right are WRONG. Plain and simple.<br />
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(originally posted at http://lmliberty.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/the-only-fundamental-difference/ )MoonliteSonatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17379958787247419337noreply@blogger.com1