Monday, April 22, 2013
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
My Wife Shook Ron Paul's Hand!
My wife, who's an OB/GYN doctor, just saw Ron Paul in his rounds at a hospital and SHOOK HIS HAND! I am therefore consecrating my 2ft by 4ft hand-painted Ron Paul for President sign forever.
I have never felt star-struck by a politician, because since I was young my parents taught me (oh how the might have fallen; mom's voting for McSame) to distrust them.
But Paul's different. This is a man with a real skill, doctoring, that I share. His voting record is impeccable; he votes on principle each and every time. He speaks truth.
I have never felt star-struck by a politician, because since I was young my parents taught me (oh how the might have fallen; mom's voting for McSame) to distrust them.
But Paul's different. This is a man with a real skill, doctoring, that I share. His voting record is impeccable; he votes on principle each and every time. He speaks truth.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Scandinavian Cruise--if you have the means, I highly suggest you pick one up!
The title is bullshit. We don't have the "means", by modern American standards. In fact, we are in self-imposed poverty; our housing costs are about 1/5 of our income, putting us well below the average in our area. I just love saying that phrase because of Ferris Buellar's Day Off...my second-favorite movie next to Train Spotting.
My wife and I went on a Scandinavian cruise. If any of you men out there are reluctant to take a cruise, don't be; it's the best vacation there is. You'll relax on the deck by the pool, while eating sushi or nachos (whatever suits your fancy); you'll attend lectures by university professors (or not, whatever suits your fancy); you'll go on excursions to the various exotic loci the ship visits and tour their delights (or not, whatever suits your fancy).
Point is: great holiday. I learned more about history and culture in two weeks than in two years of high school; I guess that lends truth to the phrase "Youth is wasted on the young" since I ignored European history in high school.
BTW, Finland is awesome. What a progressive and free society....Google them with "site:wikipedia" to get the gist.
My wife and I went on a Scandinavian cruise. If any of you men out there are reluctant to take a cruise, don't be; it's the best vacation there is. You'll relax on the deck by the pool, while eating sushi or nachos (whatever suits your fancy); you'll attend lectures by university professors (or not, whatever suits your fancy); you'll go on excursions to the various exotic loci the ship visits and tour their delights (or not, whatever suits your fancy).
Point is: great holiday. I learned more about history and culture in two weeks than in two years of high school; I guess that lends truth to the phrase "Youth is wasted on the young" since I ignored European history in high school.
BTW, Finland is awesome. What a progressive and free society....Google them with "site:wikipedia" to get the gist.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
When will the world say "Fuck You" to the United States?
As a U.S. citizen, I'm eager for the world to say "Fuck You" to our government. That's right. I love the people around me; in the majority, they are deeply decent people with kindness in their hearts.
However they are also deeply deluded by a cunningly arranged media organization more deceptive and deceitful than any in history.
Most people here in the U.S. are so busy paying for their extravagant lifestyle, promulgated by a corporate-subservient press, that they simply do not have the time to educate themselves in what their purported "leaders" are doing in their name, or what they are paying for with half their incomes and most of their childrens' incomes.
Americans are a nation of slaves to the debt currency system of the "Federal" Reserve Bank--a PRIVATE banking cartel falsely sold as a government entity serving the People, but in fact enriching a criminally over-compensated cabal of fat-cats and their evil overlords. As slaves, we have little time to attend to the workings of our mind-control masters over whom we supposedly exercise control. In fact, our corporate uber-lords tell us what to think, when, and how much via conduits such as Faux News and the Clinton News Network.
The last bastion of truly free exchange--under vicious attack now through vehicles such as the senate bill criminalizing dissident thought with the Orwellian name "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act"--is the Internet.
I wonder sometimes at the motives of the noble soul within DARPA who opened the bottle of the Internet genie; was he/she a saint? Yes, in my eyes. What greater gift than the modern equivalent of the Gutenberg press?
Returning to the subject of the post: I think, based on my reading of foreign blogs and economic news, that the world has long ago issued the long middle finger and the British two's-up to the United States.
Thank you for you moral stance; back it up by denying US corporations any money, by denying the US government any more loans of money it will never repay, by denying the US government any concessions in the United Nations (as farcical as that organization may be).
I am going on a trip to Europe with my wife soon. I'm eager to hear Europeans' opinions on the current world situation.
It saddens me that the world is undergoing a devolution to Statism and Tyranny again. I long for the downfall of authoritarianism everywhere, and the rise of individual righteousness, liberty, and dignity again.
I mourn for the one million-plus Iraqi civilians who have been killed in my name; I am ashamed and mortified, and I am doing everything I can short of jeopardizing my family to stop that killing. My moral peril is that I am too cowardly to do more, including jeopardy to my family--for if I were truly moral, that too would I imperil to stop this great evil done in my name.
The United States has become Nazi Germany over the last sixty years, and in fact has created more evil and destitution in this world then Hitler ever could have imagined. Let us hope that a righteous, indignant, and DECENT generation arises from the ashes of this modern Rome.
However they are also deeply deluded by a cunningly arranged media organization more deceptive and deceitful than any in history.
Most people here in the U.S. are so busy paying for their extravagant lifestyle, promulgated by a corporate-subservient press, that they simply do not have the time to educate themselves in what their purported "leaders" are doing in their name, or what they are paying for with half their incomes and most of their childrens' incomes.
Americans are a nation of slaves to the debt currency system of the "Federal" Reserve Bank--a PRIVATE banking cartel falsely sold as a government entity serving the People, but in fact enriching a criminally over-compensated cabal of fat-cats and their evil overlords. As slaves, we have little time to attend to the workings of our mind-control masters over whom we supposedly exercise control. In fact, our corporate uber-lords tell us what to think, when, and how much via conduits such as Faux News and the Clinton News Network.
The last bastion of truly free exchange--under vicious attack now through vehicles such as the senate bill criminalizing dissident thought with the Orwellian name "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act"--is the Internet.
I wonder sometimes at the motives of the noble soul within DARPA who opened the bottle of the Internet genie; was he/she a saint? Yes, in my eyes. What greater gift than the modern equivalent of the Gutenberg press?
Returning to the subject of the post: I think, based on my reading of foreign blogs and economic news, that the world has long ago issued the long middle finger and the British two's-up to the United States.
Thank you for you moral stance; back it up by denying US corporations any money, by denying the US government any more loans of money it will never repay, by denying the US government any concessions in the United Nations (as farcical as that organization may be).
I am going on a trip to Europe with my wife soon. I'm eager to hear Europeans' opinions on the current world situation.
It saddens me that the world is undergoing a devolution to Statism and Tyranny again. I long for the downfall of authoritarianism everywhere, and the rise of individual righteousness, liberty, and dignity again.
I mourn for the one million-plus Iraqi civilians who have been killed in my name; I am ashamed and mortified, and I am doing everything I can short of jeopardizing my family to stop that killing. My moral peril is that I am too cowardly to do more, including jeopardy to my family--for if I were truly moral, that too would I imperil to stop this great evil done in my name.
The United States has become Nazi Germany over the last sixty years, and in fact has created more evil and destitution in this world then Hitler ever could have imagined. Let us hope that a righteous, indignant, and DECENT generation arises from the ashes of this modern Rome.
Friday, March 21, 2008
My OWN MOTHER is a Neocon Androidette!!! God Please Kill Me!
We immigrated to America from South Africa more than thirty years ago. I was a precocious seven at the time; aware that we were leaving and moving Somewhere Else.
My parents told me about where we were moving; my seven-year-old memory recalls that they told me we were moving to the Beach.
Well "beach" in my mind meant "Umhlanga Rocks", specifically the Cabana Beach Sun Hotel; God Bless Saul Kerzner, that South African real-estate magnate! I've gone there regularly since I was about four years old. The beach itself holds all the charms of a South African beach; for American readers, imagine the very best of the California coast as a Reader's Digest version, condensed into 1/10 the space but with all the beauty held intact.
So my young mind had high hopes for the Big Move To The Beach; Umhlanga Rocks, here we come!
My parents hyperbolated slightly. Our move was to drab brown Galveston Beach, Texas. In case no-one had added two and two: Galveston is west of the Mississippi delta. The Mississippi drains the middle 1/3 of the United States. This makes Louisiana the fecalith of the United States, the Gulf the swirling toilet bowl of American flushing, and Galveston the shit-spot left over when the detritus settles. Definitely Note Umhlanga Rocks.
7-year-olds are pretty resilient, and arriving in 1976 during the beginning of the bicentennial celebrations gave Galveston enough Ooomph that I overlooked the brown beaches and thought it was all really quite grand. A little hot, mind you.
Here I am thirty years later living in Houston, barely forty miles from where I landed three decades ago thousands of miles from "home". A child, a wife, a home, a career, a whole new citizenship...plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. We fled South African because at the time, my parents were worried about the Soviet proxy-infringement to the north, and the general political situation, aka apartheid. We came to America for its promise of Liberty, with a capital "L". I am grateful for the acceptance and welcome Americans gave me as a young South African then, and as a naturalized citizen today.
"Liberty" to me means the libertarian, Robert Nozick, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Freidman-at-his-best, Ayn-Randian "do unto others", and "do not unto others period" philosophy. That is: my freedom extends to the tip of your nose. I can do whatever I want, given that it does not interfere with your right to do the same. I am surmising from my many conversations with people I know that most people feel about the same--granted, most people are blissfully unaware of their Orwellian double-think in that they agree with the precept, but also think that People Shouldn't Be Allowed To...(fill in the blank for private behaviors).
30+ years later, I realize that American is Very Far Indeed from a libertarian paradise; in fact, we are one of the furthest from libertarian nations on Earth. In fact, we are a Fascist nation.
Now here's the rub: American people are not fascists if you question them individually. But if you ask them about their world view, if you ask them what America stands for or what "the law" should be, they are generally unable to reconcile what is human, or intuitively obvious about what "law" should be, from the myths we hold as a society. Most people are shocked/mortified/irritated...or oblivious and uncomprehending, when I'm frank about my beliefs regarding drug legalization, property ownership, taxes, imperialism, liberty, and a host of political subjects. I, in turn, am shocked at our collective IGNORANCE. When did we become so FUCKING STUPID????!!? Is it something in the water, perhaps all those bacterially-indigestable residues of fluoxetine (Prozax)? Is *everyone* on goddamn Xanax? Does nobody else see the shocking horror of what our national policy has been for sixty years? Does no-one else recognize that
Greece, Rome, England, and now American are all going down the same Imperialist path to national bankruptcy, corruption, and dissolution?
NO! Many people recognize it. More and more every day; join the class of the informed, the knowledgeable, the incorruptable, the truthful! I read dozens of blogs by well-informed, educated, and erudite people every day. Make it your duty as a human being to educate yourself.
But why?
Because most people are not sociopaths (unlike our "leaders"), and wish the best for everyone. As an American, you owe it to yourself and to your identity as an American to learn how the government you and I voted into office has systematically deceived you, manipulated you, experimented on you, and subjected you to classical Tavistockian mind control.
BBRRRING! The bell rang, Skinner-dogs! Drool for your masters, the politicians, the police, and their Banker Puppeteers!
Oh yeah and By The Way, my own mother who knew about the private banking cartel known as the Federal Reserve, knew about the upcoming Police State of America...is now intent on voting for Heil Hitler Junior, John McCain. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!
My parents told me about where we were moving; my seven-year-old memory recalls that they told me we were moving to the Beach.
Well "beach" in my mind meant "Umhlanga Rocks", specifically the Cabana Beach Sun Hotel; God Bless Saul Kerzner, that South African real-estate magnate! I've gone there regularly since I was about four years old. The beach itself holds all the charms of a South African beach; for American readers, imagine the very best of the California coast as a Reader's Digest version, condensed into 1/10 the space but with all the beauty held intact.
So my young mind had high hopes for the Big Move To The Beach; Umhlanga Rocks, here we come!
My parents hyperbolated slightly. Our move was to drab brown Galveston Beach, Texas. In case no-one had added two and two: Galveston is west of the Mississippi delta. The Mississippi drains the middle 1/3 of the United States. This makes Louisiana the fecalith of the United States, the Gulf the swirling toilet bowl of American flushing, and Galveston the shit-spot left over when the detritus settles. Definitely Note Umhlanga Rocks.
7-year-olds are pretty resilient, and arriving in 1976 during the beginning of the bicentennial celebrations gave Galveston enough Ooomph that I overlooked the brown beaches and thought it was all really quite grand. A little hot, mind you.
Here I am thirty years later living in Houston, barely forty miles from where I landed three decades ago thousands of miles from "home". A child, a wife, a home, a career, a whole new citizenship...plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. We fled South African because at the time, my parents were worried about the Soviet proxy-infringement to the north, and the general political situation, aka apartheid. We came to America for its promise of Liberty, with a capital "L". I am grateful for the acceptance and welcome Americans gave me as a young South African then, and as a naturalized citizen today.
"Liberty" to me means the libertarian, Robert Nozick, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Freidman-at-his-best, Ayn-Randian "do unto others", and "do not unto others period" philosophy. That is: my freedom extends to the tip of your nose. I can do whatever I want, given that it does not interfere with your right to do the same. I am surmising from my many conversations with people I know that most people feel about the same--granted, most people are blissfully unaware of their Orwellian double-think in that they agree with the precept, but also think that People Shouldn't Be Allowed To...(fill in the blank for private behaviors).
30+ years later, I realize that American is Very Far Indeed from a libertarian paradise; in fact, we are one of the furthest from libertarian nations on Earth. In fact, we are a Fascist nation.
Now here's the rub: American people are not fascists if you question them individually. But if you ask them about their world view, if you ask them what America stands for or what "the law" should be, they are generally unable to reconcile what is human, or intuitively obvious about what "law" should be, from the myths we hold as a society. Most people are shocked/mortified/irritated...or oblivious and uncomprehending, when I'm frank about my beliefs regarding drug legalization, property ownership, taxes, imperialism, liberty, and a host of political subjects. I, in turn, am shocked at our collective IGNORANCE. When did we become so FUCKING STUPID????!!? Is it something in the water, perhaps all those bacterially-indigestable residues of fluoxetine (Prozax)? Is *everyone* on goddamn Xanax? Does nobody else see the shocking horror of what our national policy has been for sixty years? Does no-one else recognize that
Greece, Rome, England, and now American are all going down the same Imperialist path to national bankruptcy, corruption, and dissolution?
NO! Many people recognize it. More and more every day; join the class of the informed, the knowledgeable, the incorruptable, the truthful! I read dozens of blogs by well-informed, educated, and erudite people every day. Make it your duty as a human being to educate yourself.
But why?
Because most people are not sociopaths (unlike our "leaders"), and wish the best for everyone. As an American, you owe it to yourself and to your identity as an American to learn how the government you and I voted into office has systematically deceived you, manipulated you, experimented on you, and subjected you to classical Tavistockian mind control.
BBRRRING! The bell rang, Skinner-dogs! Drool for your masters, the politicians, the police, and their Banker Puppeteers!
Oh yeah and By The Way, my own mother who knew about the private banking cartel known as the Federal Reserve, knew about the upcoming Police State of America...is now intent on voting for Heil Hitler Junior, John McCain. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Bass...A Fundamental Right
Bass. The lowest frequencies of human hearing, and below. Boom. Associated with wealth, anti-social personality disorder, reckless behavior, teenagers, inherited wealth, the Lowest of the Low. Bling.
I love bass. It reminds me of carefree college Friday nights spent absolutely fried on Ecstasy wandering around in Club XCess (cunningly named) standing in their twin bass horns, being hammered by acoustic waves at 20Hz to 120Hz at about 130dB. The somatic sensations were so intense, they bordered on climax; the shuddering waves of rich, MaxxBass- or UltraFex-enhanced bass rippling through my body on their way to the hot brunette next to me, writhing a millisecond later to the wave I'd just enjoyed...Ah yes, college. No mortgage/kids/insurance!
So I've decided to relive these experiences in a Mature, Responsible Way. Subject, of course, to my beautiful pixie-like but Fierce wife's approval! Of Course!
Yes: I have built my second Bass Horn*. Pictures included above, in no particular order.
The first bass horn I built was a straight horn, modeled after those at Club XCess. It was limited to a lower frequency of 60Hz, because it had to be semi-portable and fit in a dorm room leaving room for Drunk Chicks and their attendant Football Players; the horn math came easily but separating those two never did.
It was cast in the Diabolical Dimensions of 6 feet by 6 feet, by 6 feet, for a 36 square foot mouth. Its response was smooth and even, but its lower registers were lacking.
For this latest incarnation, I took advantage of "floor loading" to create a quarter-space-capable horn with a lower cutoff frequency of 32Hz. Its mouth is a relatively tiny 24 square feet (5.6 m^2), while bending it like a nautilus shell allowed me to extend its length to 2.5m--about 8 feet.
I'm so pleased with the result. Today, it's still sitting in my garage awaiting final lacquering, but having tested it with a small 800-watt Carver amplifier, I'm satisfied it will Blow the Doors Off. My previous horn actually pulverized the concrete door frame of our dorm room, leaving us with a rattling door that rebounded off its post like a pinball off a flipper with every beat; it added harmonics to the 2LiveCrew album but just sounded like noise everywhere else. We played 2LiveCrew a lot.
The new one is New And Improved; I built it with absolute rigidity in mind, modulo a need to actually be able to lift it into our house; thus, I chose birch plywood and rigid A+B two-part expanding foam as the structure instead of concrete and steel. Had I begun earlier, I would have cast it in concrete like the rest of the house!
A moment's note: WAF, or "Wife Acceptance Factor"; this horn borders on Un-Acceptable, like a motorcycle or an Ariel Atom. But I digress. The Wife, Mighty Master of the Domestic Universe and All Entangled Quantum Entities, has Decreed that this bass horn is Acceptable.
Hence, I'm finishing the fucker as quickly as I can before she Changes Her Mind, the wife's prerogative.
I'll soon post actual at-the-mouth performance figures, biased to our decidedly odd concrete-and-steel house's acoustics. Should be interesting. I estimated that with 400 watts of input from the Carver, it was already louder than the un-reinforced 145dB of the previous horn. Theoretically, the Crown amp I will use to drive it with 2,000 watts will yield a peak performance of 151dB at 35Hz; it should be interesting.
To what, dear reader, will I listen? Well first, Maor Levy's "Shapes", then PAFF's "There Is No Spoon". Followed shortly by the acoustically excellent "War of the Worlds". I'll throw a house-warming party--a year after its completion--like a retro rave for 30-something Establishmentarians who wish they were X-ing!
pictures:
*
http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.htm
http://www.eaw.com/info/EAW/Loudspeaker_Product_Info/Current_Loudspeakers/BH760/BH760_PHOTO.jpg
http://ldsg.snippets.org/HORNS/images/hornsub/hornsub2.jpg
http://vincent.brient.free.fr/bass_horn.htm
War on (some) Drugs
First: if you believe that anyone, least of all the Gubmit, has the right to tell you what can or cannot be in your bloodstream...SUSPEND that belief. Put yourself in a frame of mind that says the following:
I am a sovereign individual. My body, my mind, and my spirit belong to me, and no-one else. My thoughts are my own. My body is my own. I have free will.
Right. Now let's pretend you, dear reader and sneaky confidante, and I, writer and imprimatur ultimus, have these rights and both live in These United States of Amerika. Oh wait; I'm sorry, suspend your disbelief a smidgen further, we in fact DO NOT have those rights, but let's pretend we do as though it were pre-1914*.
You're a moral reprobate, the caricature of the phrase "if it feels good, do it", you low-life 60's hippie you! You go home on a Friday night and (gasp! horror! worse than all the porn and bloodshed on on XBox AND PS3! ) you smoke pot with your harlot wife! She must be a harlot, because she smokes pot with you! The two of you spend your evening in unspeakable chemical bliss, fornicating (even though you are husband and wife, the pot puts you in the category of fornication! Because I say so! Sinner!), and falling asleep from the horrible DRUG you have ingested!
...or so I think. But it's not just me; millions of other people think so, too; they, too, share in my moral indignation that YOU, you reprobate castoff from Hellish minion, should indulge yourself so and corrupt your sweet-assed little brunette wife (whoops, strike that remark from the record). I will punish you! I will make sure you don't enjoy this illicit pleasure again! I will make sure your wife remains pure (for me) and does not toke your Evil Weed and become Reefer Mad (for you)! Yes, I will call the police! They will take away your Evil Weed, your livelihood, your freedom, your savings and rescue your corrupted wife (for themselves)!
And that's what happens today. In fact, nearly one million people per year go to prison for just marijuana, including simple possession of personal-use quantities. That is not to downplay the absurdity of arresting those who possess supra-personal quantities; for otherwise, from whom would the personal-use possessors purchase theirs? But leave that for now...
We jail nearly one million people per year, one every 45 seconds, for marijuana!
I don't use marijuana. I found it about a 50/50 split between stupid hilarity which was enjoyable, and dark paranoia which was not, when I used it at Rice U. To me, it wasn't worth the gamble. If it were legal, I'd see it the same way; I've made my judgement on factors OTHER than its legality.
That last point is salient: most people, judging from the percentage who use it, choose to use it regardless of the "law" and more in keeping with personal preference.
Now I ask you: do YOU have the right to dictate what appears in another's bloodstream? NO! What if they crash into your car while under the influence? Then, YES! But we have good legal framework in place for that eventuality, anyway; it's called DUI. It works reasonably well; from accounts I've read, drunk-driving deaths have fallen since strict enforcement came to be.
You see, our founding concepts don't rely on intent, they rely on outcome. If you're driving intoxicated, or you injure someone while intoxicated, your irresponsibility is punished. But the sovereign individual, absent harm to another, is private and protected. Or at least, that was the way we were established.
Today, we're coerced at gunpoint with dozens of spiteful nasty little regulations and "laws". No longer are you free to do in your own home what you wish. If you choose to go home and get stoned with your lovely spouse (I just called her a slut previously to emphasize a point, I'm sure she's quite ladylike) then you're a "criminal". Did you hurt anyone? Did you so much as endanger anyone while you were at home doing unspeakable things with her? NO. Does the Police State have an interest in your activities? Sadly, YES.
I do not drive drunk. I do not drive intoxicated. In fact, I enjoy my M-5 wholly sober because its level of performance demands nothing less; 450 BHP is enough of a trip without any chemical enhancement! I fully support my, and your, right to indulge in any intoxicant you wish as long as it does not interfere with my right to enjoy any of life's many liberties.
I hope you agree that you are free, you are At Liberty, to enjoy any of your god-given rights to pursue happiness without impinging on my right to do the same!
* 1914:the year Harry Anslinger, the Puritan Saviour of our Souls, advocated (by force of law) the First Prohibition against Evil Drugs. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger; truly a hero for all times
I am a sovereign individual. My body, my mind, and my spirit belong to me, and no-one else. My thoughts are my own. My body is my own. I have free will.
Right. Now let's pretend you, dear reader and sneaky confidante, and I, writer and imprimatur ultimus, have these rights and both live in These United States of Amerika. Oh wait; I'm sorry, suspend your disbelief a smidgen further, we in fact DO NOT have those rights, but let's pretend we do as though it were pre-1914*.
You're a moral reprobate, the caricature of the phrase "if it feels good, do it", you low-life 60's hippie you! You go home on a Friday night and (gasp! horror! worse than all the porn and bloodshed on on XBox AND PS3! ) you smoke pot with your harlot wife! She must be a harlot, because she smokes pot with you! The two of you spend your evening in unspeakable chemical bliss, fornicating (even though you are husband and wife, the pot puts you in the category of fornication! Because I say so! Sinner!), and falling asleep from the horrible DRUG you have ingested!
...or so I think. But it's not just me; millions of other people think so, too; they, too, share in my moral indignation that YOU, you reprobate castoff from Hellish minion, should indulge yourself so and corrupt your sweet-assed little brunette wife (whoops, strike that remark from the record). I will punish you! I will make sure you don't enjoy this illicit pleasure again! I will make sure your wife remains pure (for me) and does not toke your Evil Weed and become Reefer Mad (for you)! Yes, I will call the police! They will take away your Evil Weed, your livelihood, your freedom, your savings and rescue your corrupted wife (for themselves)!
And that's what happens today. In fact, nearly one million people per year go to prison for just marijuana, including simple possession of personal-use quantities. That is not to downplay the absurdity of arresting those who possess supra-personal quantities; for otherwise, from whom would the personal-use possessors purchase theirs? But leave that for now...
We jail nearly one million people per year, one every 45 seconds, for marijuana!
I don't use marijuana. I found it about a 50/50 split between stupid hilarity which was enjoyable, and dark paranoia which was not, when I used it at Rice U. To me, it wasn't worth the gamble. If it were legal, I'd see it the same way; I've made my judgement on factors OTHER than its legality.
That last point is salient: most people, judging from the percentage who use it, choose to use it regardless of the "law" and more in keeping with personal preference.
Now I ask you: do YOU have the right to dictate what appears in another's bloodstream? NO! What if they crash into your car while under the influence? Then, YES! But we have good legal framework in place for that eventuality, anyway; it's called DUI. It works reasonably well; from accounts I've read, drunk-driving deaths have fallen since strict enforcement came to be.
You see, our founding concepts don't rely on intent, they rely on outcome. If you're driving intoxicated, or you injure someone while intoxicated, your irresponsibility is punished. But the sovereign individual, absent harm to another, is private and protected. Or at least, that was the way we were established.
Today, we're coerced at gunpoint with dozens of spiteful nasty little regulations and "laws". No longer are you free to do in your own home what you wish. If you choose to go home and get stoned with your lovely spouse (I just called her a slut previously to emphasize a point, I'm sure she's quite ladylike) then you're a "criminal". Did you hurt anyone? Did you so much as endanger anyone while you were at home doing unspeakable things with her? NO. Does the Police State have an interest in your activities? Sadly, YES.
I do not drive drunk. I do not drive intoxicated. In fact, I enjoy my M-5 wholly sober because its level of performance demands nothing less; 450 BHP is enough of a trip without any chemical enhancement! I fully support my, and your, right to indulge in any intoxicant you wish as long as it does not interfere with my right to enjoy any of life's many liberties.
I hope you agree that you are free, you are At Liberty, to enjoy any of your god-given rights to pursue happiness without impinging on my right to do the same!
* 1914:
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Sick of Israel...Israel, Israel, Israel!
Like Jan...I'm just sick of hearing the slavish refrain "Israel, Israel, Israel" from OUR "elected leaders".
I put the latter in quotes because I'm not wholly convinced we *did* actually elect these shorts-stains who pretend to represent us; but let's assume we did for a moment. That would be the most dire indictment of the American populace, a people so oblivious and mind-controlled they
A) believed they had a choice
B) believed the "news" on the major channels
C) selected a "candidate" from those "choices"
But I digress; I'm ignoring the potential anti-semitic bombshell. No I'm not anti-semitic, nor am I pro-semitic. I'm just neutral, like I am about adherents of any religion. I've met fine and despicable people of all faiths.
But why do OUR "leaders" so slavishly support Israel? Oh yeah...because they're our "allies", in the all-important Middle East.
Here's what I did to shake myself of the Israel-Delusion: I Woke up. I Read a little about history. I Understand the fundamental precepts of our Constitution. And I came to see; "HEY! MEATHEAD! We are not supposed to be off adventuring in Imperialist-land acting like Mr. World Cop in Shiny Reflective Glasses and Bulletproof Vest with Tazer"; no, the people who starved, got shot, and generally acted like hooligans when they founded our country very wisely determined that adventurism abroad == (== is the C language symbol for "equals", not to be confused with "=" which implies assigning a value to something)...adventurism == "imperialism".
What? Is the United States, that shining city on a hill, the night of a thousand stars, an Imperialist dictatorship? Gosh no. Or maybe, hell yes. Actually more "hell yes". Did you know, Citizen, "Ihre Papieren, Bitte!", that we have a military presence in about 130 countries around the world? Did you vote for that? How do you like paying for it?
How do you like paying for the overthrow of legitimately elected leaders* in other countries? Yes we do it all the time, and Iraq was just the latest. Did I mention we put Saddam in power to begin with? Yes. Remember too: we funded, trained, and supported Osama bin Laden during the 1980-1990 Soviet/Afghanistan invasion! Yes, Osama was/is a CIA asset; here are some pointers, and if you dig you'll find many more from multiple independent sources:
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/linkscopy/RSblowback.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/nimmo01282003.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109C.html
http://www.infowars.com/articles/sept11/bin_laden_fbi_let_charter_flight_after_911.htm
Back again to "Israel, Israel, Israel". Here's the deal: We are America. We are a sovereign nation; that is, we are our own highest authority, beholden to none, not even the gottverdammt United Nations. Our "leaders" (how that word has fallen!) are beholden to US, the "We the People" from the Constitution. They are our servants. Moreover, those same "leaders" are the servants of the Constitution, and (remember grade school?) "the Republic for which it stands."
Not Israel.
Now tell me: how do Israel's interests align with ours? Wait, before you inelegantly regurgitate (scenes from Bush I's visit to Japan) the mantras Faux News has formatted into your mental hard drive: pause for a moment, and ask yourself how many hundreds or thousands of dollars YOU PERSONALLY would pledge to helping Israel kick the crap out of some know-nothing neighbor? How much do you really care, in terms of your own wallet and in sacrifice of your own child's material needs, about that little dot on the map?
OK I have more. Take this little object lesson of Israel-favoritism and apply it to the other 129-odd countries in which we have a presence. How much do YOU care, to the detriment of your childrens' material needs, about those 129 countries? Was there a vote I missed?
Another quick side-trip: can anyone NAME those 130 countries in which we have a military presence? Where in the Constitution does it recommend policing them? When I backpacked through France and the UK in college, I wondered why they hated me just for being American. Well I'm not, I told them, I'm a South African who became an American citizen; they hated me more! Why? Because we are the new Imperialist, bigoted, fat, foul-mouthed bully on the block!
Yes--We're "That Guy", the bloviating, Dunlop-diseased** oaf who lumbers about in Shiny Sunglasses and Bulletproof Vest with Tazer beating everyone into submission. Of course we're hated world-wide. So were the National Socialists, aka the Nazis. We've become that which we despised.
Hate yourself yet, fellow American? Feeling a smidge ashamed? Me too. But I'm doing something about it; I'm expiating my guilt and shame by educating myself on the real truth behind our corrupt, power-hungry NeoCon Fascist government.
You can, too! The internet is the latest incarnation of the free press; use it before it's closed down and we have to wait for the Next Enlightenment.
* Among many others, the dirty little sociopaths in the CIA have participated in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/
http://educate-yourself.org/mc/spooklandtricks19oct06.shtml
** Dunlop's Disease: A condition in which one's panus, or belly, has "done lopped over" one's belt giving the appearance of a plumbing professional in profile.
I put the latter in quotes because I'm not wholly convinced we *did* actually elect these shorts-stains who pretend to represent us; but let's assume we did for a moment. That would be the most dire indictment of the American populace, a people so oblivious and mind-controlled they
A) believed they had a choice
B) believed the "news" on the major channels
C) selected a "candidate" from those "choices"
But I digress; I'm ignoring the potential anti-semitic bombshell. No I'm not anti-semitic, nor am I pro-semitic. I'm just neutral, like I am about adherents of any religion. I've met fine and despicable people of all faiths.
But why do OUR "leaders" so slavishly support Israel? Oh yeah...because they're our "allies", in the all-important Middle East.
Here's what I did to shake myself of the Israel-Delusion: I Woke up. I Read a little about history. I Understand the fundamental precepts of our Constitution. And I came to see; "HEY! MEATHEAD! We are not supposed to be off adventuring in Imperialist-land acting like Mr. World Cop in Shiny Reflective Glasses and Bulletproof Vest with Tazer"; no, the people who starved, got shot, and generally acted like hooligans when they founded our country very wisely determined that adventurism abroad == (== is the C language symbol for "equals", not to be confused with "=" which implies assigning a value to something)...adventurism == "imperialism".
What? Is the United States, that shining city on a hill, the night of a thousand stars, an Imperialist dictatorship? Gosh no. Or maybe, hell yes. Actually more "hell yes". Did you know, Citizen, "Ihre Papieren, Bitte!", that we have a military presence in about 130 countries around the world? Did you vote for that? How do you like paying for it?
How do you like paying for the overthrow of legitimately elected leaders* in other countries? Yes we do it all the time, and Iraq was just the latest. Did I mention we put Saddam in power to begin with? Yes. Remember too: we funded, trained, and supported Osama bin Laden during the 1980-1990 Soviet/Afghanistan invasion! Yes, Osama was/is a CIA asset; here are some pointers, and if you dig you'll find many more from multiple independent sources:
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/JohnJudge/linkscopy/RSblowback.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/nimmo01282003.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO109C.html
http://www.infowars.com/articles/sept11/bin_laden_fbi_let_charter_flight_after_911.htm
Back again to "Israel, Israel, Israel". Here's the deal: We are America. We are a sovereign nation; that is, we are our own highest authority, beholden to none, not even the gottverdammt United Nations. Our "leaders" (how that word has fallen!) are beholden to US, the "We the People" from the Constitution. They are our servants. Moreover, those same "leaders" are the servants of the Constitution, and (remember grade school?) "the Republic for which it stands."
Not Israel.
Now tell me: how do Israel's interests align with ours? Wait, before you inelegantly regurgitate (scenes from Bush I's visit to Japan) the mantras Faux News has formatted into your mental hard drive: pause for a moment, and ask yourself how many hundreds or thousands of dollars YOU PERSONALLY would pledge to helping Israel kick the crap out of some know-nothing neighbor? How much do you really care, in terms of your own wallet and in sacrifice of your own child's material needs, about that little dot on the map?
OK I have more. Take this little object lesson of Israel-favoritism and apply it to the other 129-odd countries in which we have a presence. How much do YOU care, to the detriment of your childrens' material needs, about those 129 countries? Was there a vote I missed?
Another quick side-trip: can anyone NAME those 130 countries in which we have a military presence? Where in the Constitution does it recommend policing them? When I backpacked through France and the UK in college, I wondered why they hated me just for being American. Well I'm not, I told them, I'm a South African who became an American citizen; they hated me more! Why? Because we are the new Imperialist, bigoted, fat, foul-mouthed bully on the block!
Yes--We're "That Guy", the bloviating, Dunlop-diseased** oaf who lumbers about in Shiny Sunglasses and Bulletproof Vest with Tazer beating everyone into submission. Of course we're hated world-wide. So were the National Socialists, aka the Nazis. We've become that which we despised.
Hate yourself yet, fellow American? Feeling a smidge ashamed? Me too. But I'm doing something about it; I'm expiating my guilt and shame by educating myself on the real truth behind our corrupt, power-hungry NeoCon Fascist government.
You can, too! The internet is the latest incarnation of the free press; use it before it's closed down and we have to wait for the Next Enlightenment.
* Among many others, the dirty little sociopaths in the CIA have participated in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'%C3%A9tat
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/
http://educate-yourself.org/mc/spooklandtricks19oct06.shtml
** Dunlop's Disease: A condition in which one's panus, or belly, has "done lopped over" one's belt giving the appearance of a plumbing professional in profile.
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Because everyone likes a good story.
And they’ve been trained to like good stories. Every movie, every TV show–neatly lined up in the allotted 30, 60, 90, or 120 minutes to end with a satisfying narrative denouement.
The Good Guys Win; preferably with a clear-cut delineation between Good and Bad. Most literally portrayed in westerns like Gun Smoke, with the Bad Guy wearing a Black Hat and the Good Guy wearing a White Hat…in case you nodded off in a Schlitz drunk and woke up toward the end.
It’s so obvious that the doyen of the neocons, evil old Leo Strauss, propagated the idea of the Noble Lie to his protege’s…among them, Willy Clinton. Leo’s favorite show was Gun Smoke.
So here’s my epiphany:
Amoricons will continue to reject the truth in favor of good narratives. He’ll take the good story every time, over messy (and difficult to digest) truths.
My neighbor. CEO of a several hundred million dollar company. Late 40′s, early 50′s. Fairly smart guy, Jewish; not a pushover. Walked over to his house yesterday to let my kids play with his German Shepherd; first thing out of his mouth,
“Hey didja hear? 9,000 of our guys and we got’em!”
“Got whom Mark?”
“Ya know, those terrorists in Boston!”
“Mark you believe that?”
His face fell. Clouds over his expression, from sunny child-like satisfaction to a dour expression. Because deep inside, he KNOWS he’s being had–but he WANTS to be had!
So I gave him a quick introduction; Mark, explain how 400 troops and 2000 cops missed the bomb sitting on the fucking curb by the finish line. Explain why at least a dozen obvious operatives (Craft, Seals 3 & 5) were walking around in civvy uniforms carrying the identical backpack.
“C’mon, where have you been reading all that crap?”
“Mark, have you done any reading of your own? How can you call it crap when you’ve read nothing?”
Gave him a brief intro to false flags–Gulf of Tonkin, Gladio, Ajax, Northwoods.
“Yeah, that stuff might happen there but HERE, in AMERICA?”
“It can and does, Mark. We’re not so special; Germans thought they were pretty special too until 1945″
I don’t count on Mark inviting me over for dinner again any time soon.
Because I ruined the story.
It’s addictive, you see. The good story; the Good Guys, Our Team, how wonderful they are and by extension how wonderful We Are. The collectivist's dream, glory reflected to the individual from the State, the Collective. So wonderful, in fact, they’ll purposely, diligently, carefully lie to themselves to maintain the illusion.
He didn’t ask questions. Just guffawed, c’mon, never here! Gotta go.