Author Archives: LastFullMeasure

The Gales of November

Political Social No Comments

 

November. Decision time America. It’s just a day away. Are you ready?

I hope that all of you who have expressed concern, concern in the extreme, about this country and where it is being dragged (not led, not directed) then this is your chance to do the rightest thing. You may think that the candidates on the ballot are not worth a trip to the polls but you cannot possibly advance a defensible argument that can support one candidate not being a better choice than the others. C’mon!

Sometimes in life we just have to take the lesser evil, the better thing. Even if it ain’t the best or maybe still smells a bit. The shortest path from A to B may be a straight line but the only way to do it in real life is just a series of tacking maneuvers.

Check out the ads. The politicians all know that the easiest way to make progress is to show that the other guy is bad bad bad…implying in the process that their guy may be once bad but not thrice. It is a matter of degree and they know it. My guy simply sucks less.

Sure, we should strive for the end goal that one day we might return to actually voting for the guy who has a good record, clearly defined positions on the issues, and a communication strategy that will educate all constituents but, until that nirvanic day has arrived for us I believe that we just need to keep the ball in play. Like baseball, as long as we have one out remaining to us the game ain’t over. Get ‘em on, get ‘em over, get ‘em home. One bloody run at a time if necessary.

How will these mid-terms go? I guess we will see by the end of the day tomorrow- or very early Wednesday.

Meanwhile life goes on.

The family situation is better (though always a sensitive organism). Muslims continue to recruit radical members from around the world for jihad or whatever the hell they want to label their evil (but maybe some countries are beginning to wake up just enough). American voters are still uniformed for the most part (but getting pissed and maybe that can be put to temporary good use as we continue to try to educate them). The Christian religion remains under attack, even here at home (but folks are pushing back on this with some measurable amount of success). Our culture and its moral underpinnings are not improving (but maybe the degradation is slowing just a bit). Our schools still mostly suck (and I hope that parents will rise up in protest one fine day and make teachers teach and not do just about everything else but). Youth sports continue to amaze me with how badly too many are run and how irresponsible and even reprehensible the coaching is (and how many good kids and potentially great athletes just end up quitting as a result). Music can still inspire those who truly listen (though some of it moves people in the wrong direction). Obama continues to lose support (more people in his audiences now sit behind rather than in front of him…hurrah). America may finally be waking up to the false accusations that face those of us who have the audacity to disagree with “the agenda”.

Bottom line, there is still hope. We still have one out to go and the game ain’t over.

Not for me; not for you; not for this country.

Get out there and vote tomorrow. Remember, triage is needed at times to keep the heart beating and life prolonged until the real doctor can get there.

One out left; heart still beating.

I kinda somehow sorta like our chances.

Halloween

Personal No Comments

 

Gonna be a miserable day for the kids around these parts to go out trick-or-treating later on- cold, windy…they say there might even be some snow flurries. It’s too early for that. Or is it?

Gonna be a rather sad day for us as parents. Seems at times like we are losing control of our kids and I suppose that is somewhat normal with teenagers but it was never supposed to happen with ours. Last night was one of the worst nights we have had yet and it seems like it is a never-ending struggle.

Mixed in with all if this is yet another super-wonderful youth sports experience for our boys. There are a lot of thoughts and feelings on this but I need not bring those to light here. Not just yet. For the most part they are hanging tough and trying to do the right things in the right way so that just has to, yet again, run its course. On all of that I am proud of them for sure.

Oh, to be sure, there are some good things happening but we always seem to gravitate toward the negative don’t we? I guess that’s pretty much human.

So today is the last day in October and almost all that I had planned to get accomplished this month remains uncompleted. Well, that’s not completely true but pretty close. I am not being lazy; maybe just inefficient. Maybe just too much on my plate or just a lack of focus.

I have always loved Halloween although it marks the end of my favorite month and pretty much signals the coming of winter. I have some stuff to get finished outside before it gets too cold but I am running out of time.

Time is also running on (maybe not out?) for our family. It runs on and I try to catch up to it but am failing, I am falling. I feel that my kids are moving away from us too quickly. Such movement is normal, of course, but it just seems that it is happening too damn fast and our reaction to things and decisions are made too hastily and, too often no doubt, incorrectly.

Sometimes I wish that we had had more kids. Seems to me that there is a benefit in going through the whole process a few times so that you can finally get it down, get it together. Trial and error…and error…and error. And then more trials and many more errors.

Maybe I worry too much but I don’t know. This stuff all seems to follow a pattern and that pattern has been established for some time now and no matter what we do it seems to persist and grow stronger. Maybe there is still a solution. It might not be a complete solution but could still be a best solution.

For now, for today, for this Halloween and beyond I just need to stay calm and focus on just the most important things.

This may sound selfish but here is an idea. For a long time I have stayed mainly focused on others and maybe it is better to shift some of that attention back to myself. That way I will have a better chance to get more of what I need to get done, done; that way I will manage to leave other things that can be left alone, alone. That may indeed be the best, or at least a better, approach might you not agree?

Had to take a break to take the dogs out this early morning. It’s Halloween. It’s snowing.

Yes, snowing. It is cold and snowing.

The family is up and in the kitchen. In there it is not snowing.

But it sure seems to be pretty damn cold.

Sombero

Personal Reflections & Memories No Comments

 

Another early morning. A cup of coffee and the news. And, of course, the faithful old computer.

I ponder on so many things and I worry on many others. I wonder on what the big plan is and if there even is one.

I look outside this Fall morning and I see darkness and I hope and trust that before long day will bring the light. And along with the light will come new hope for me and my family.

Still, it is dark and I am tired.

My family seems to be mostly all that I have and that is really just fine with me but, still, I must be careful. Some time, not now long enough in the future and likely too soon upon us, our boys will be off and on their own. As it should be, as it has always been, I know. Normal and right but sad nonetheless. I think about all of the time that has passed and all of the things that I did not do with my boys when they were younger. Then I think that, still, we did a lot. I know I never actually did my best but I also know that there were many times that I tried.

I’m wondering how long I have left in this world but I really try not to think about it too often. What I truly think about is how I might still leave a mark upon this world. My own mark upon the world. In some small but significant way leave a trace that I was here. That seems simple and honest enough.

I think about my father and his legacy and realize it was just left, as it was, with his children. Beyond us it dies. I try to pass along what I can to my kids but since they never met him it is unlikely that they will carry much of what he ever was along with them into what they will themselves become. His memory fades with the passing of each person who knew him and that too is sad.

What can I do to leave something more than passing relationships and words to my children in this world?

Don’t get me wrong, my life and its efforts are very much focused upon my kids and I do all that I can to help them, to provide for them, to open up as many opportunities as possible for them to succeed in their own lives, today and tomorrow, but I have always wanted to do more. You know, personally.

Who can ever know or precisely define the rise and fall of a life? Who knows the point at which it tips from the former to the latter? Just how much time is left to me from this still-dark morn until the very moment of my own passing?

We have our problems and there are probably too many times that I may think that life kinda sucks but I can’t afford to be that way. I really can’t. Not for myself and not for my wife and boys. I still believe in how much life has to offer, especially for them.

And, hopefully, still, for me.

Foreign Policytical

Political Stories No Comments

 

I just don’t get it. I just don’t understand why all of them are doing this. To me!

I have tried, really tried to stay way away from any conflict, to appease all them as suggested (I really was never good with that but that’s what they suggested so I went with it- not really my fault man!) but all this they’re doing is going so wrong, so much against me.

I don’t get it. What do they want? Who can I talk to who can take care of all this for me? I need to appoint someone to handle this. A new “World Peace Czar”. Or maybe it’s “Tsar”, don’t remember. But I have people and they aren’t doing it, they ain’t getting the job done. No, they ain’t, they aren’t. And it’s hurting me.

I have tried and tried. I have been generous, I have been good to them and even tried to be more like them in what I said and the things I decided to do or have done and they just keep coming. Things don’t seem to be settling down and they said it would be different. Did they lie to me?

I suppose I could try a different approach but what? I don’t want to do what them others suggest since it wouldn’t be good for the Party and it would cause problems in November. Like I care about that shit anyhow. Forget the damn October Revolution, we can’t afford a November one. I guess. They tell me that. Shit man! Why do they keep this up? I’ve stepped over the line that I drew; I extended my hand; I kept bringing down things here so that they would get it and stay over there. But they ain’t, man, they ain’t! They just keep comin’, just like those damn zombies on that TV show. We throw them bodies and they just want more. Shit man! I thought all this would make them want to join me, want to listen to me, want to like me. Be like me. Think like me. Love me. Worship me.

I know some folks are mad because Americans are dying. I can’t help it they’re dying! As if any of that’s my damn fault. Shit! Why do they have to die on me?

I tell them I just want to be left alone to do the things I need to do to get things right here- like I always planned but never bothered to mention. Ha! That comedian guy on TV was sure as shit right on- Americans are stupid! Hee-hee. But wait, no, no time for funny stuff now. I got this world thing to deal with; I got these people outside of this country who won’t get in line and do it the way I want it done. I have to find out who is responsible for not getting those assholes in line.   Why? How? Who!? Shit!! I have a plan and they need to get in with it but I need to know who dropped the frickin’ ball on this one. Who the hell did this to me?

I can’t make this a racism thing. Or can I? Shit, I don’t know. Not a rich against poor or war on women thing. Hell, those assholes are killing their own women so that’s a tough one to spin just right. Let’s see. Maybe the Christians? Hmmm.   Maybe something there. Can’t use minimum wage or the unions or the oppressed folk without jobs since they don’t seem to care about the economy or working or anything like that. Hell, I wonder what they do for work. Gotta be something when they ain’t fighting me.

I know. Maybe they just want money. Maybe we could give them some of our money or land or something- take it from someone who has it and give it to them. Probably won’t work though- it didn’t with Israel and those Jews and Palestine people. Don’t they get it? What do they want anyhow? Don’t they know what this is doing to me?

I’m getting really mad here. At them. At my people who don’t seem to know shit and are failing me.

I’m getting really, really mad. The elections are coming up and I know I’m just gonna wind up taking action on my own after that- who the hell would challenge me? Me!!?

I am getting more than really mad. They all failed me! And on top of all the things that seem to keep getting fucked up here then this stupid fucking ebola thing- gottta get a czar on that-  has to come in and really fuck things up even worse for me!

I gotta think. Get control man. I gotta take a minute. Be a man. That’s what my father would have said to me if I had a father who looked like my father. But he didn’t stick around. Still a man though. Had to leave though because it was too tough, too damn tough to stick around. Rough. Probably had a lot of folks failing him just like me. You can put them in place and listen to their words and believe what they say when they pledge their allegiance to you but you can’t rely on them when it is time to make your decisions. How am I supposed to make these decisions if there ain’t no one to rely on anymore? Gotta have someone who can make my decisions. But I gotta be careful because I don’t wanna make it all about them when it needs to be all about me.

I think that’s it though. Be a man. Let the American people, stupid as they are, know that their president is a man who can make decisions. Strong, dependable, manly. But still kinda soft and loveable when he needs to be. But now, gotta man up. Let’s see if I can remember how to get in touch with the man in me.

I know. “Hey Michelle, Valerie! Come on in here I need some decisions! Come on in here and give ‘em to me!”.

It all starts with I and ends with me.

To Vote

Commentary Political No Comments

 

I think that if you want a say in where this country and her people are headed then one of your few choices is to exercise your power of the vote. It is about all that a lot of us still have. And they want it.

Why do you think that the government is so willing to take so much from the bad man who has (one vote) and through the magic of redistribution give it freely to the helpless hordes who have not (many votes).

Works great I guess until the man who has winds up having no more. And when he has no more then you have no more neither. Every fat cow only has so much milk to give.

But so many of you out there just don’t get it. Why not? Are you really that stupid or simply just so willingly oblivious? Why do think that ALL of the big socialist experiments wind up with so many, a tremendous majority, of the population in absolute destitution? Forever until the system is one day replaced. Time and again this is learned but then forgotten.

Read your damn history folks- it is all right there. And I don’t mean the revisionist crap that the schools defecate. I mean REAL history that tells the real tales from an honest and unbiased viewpoint. It is a bit hard to find but hardly impossible. Try a few different angles and read and learn and educate yourselves.

THEY are betting that you are too damn lazy or too damn stupid or maybe both to ever do this. THEY are the smart ones; THEY are the ones that know best; THEY are the ones who get to make the decisions of who gets what and when and why. And THEY will be the ones who will just toss away your votes when voting is no longer needed. Maybe not that far away in the future if we keep going the way we are going.

The complete transformation of America. Think it isn’t happening?

Think again, and get out and vote for anyone who can help stem the tide. He or she may not be the best choice, this is rarely the case, but there are always better choices that leave better on top of worse. That may be the best that can be done at present but it is a start.

Don’t lose your country, don’t just give up your freedoms, and sure as hell don’t give up the fight. Not now, not ever. Too many examples of this being done all throughout history. Just go read to find out.

But if you still say you don’t have time to read then at least make time to vote. And vote for the person who believes in the things that made this country great once upon a time and not the person who willingly admits that this is an evil country that needs to be torn down.

Get out and vote and do this to help save this great land of ours before the time to turn back has passed us by.

It ain’t too late people.

It’s Time

Commentary Political No Comments

 

Some folks would have you believe that 2016 is the key year for elections, given that is the year when we decide to turn over the helm of this sacred ship to either one who can and will correct its course or simply to another who will maintain the destructive heading set and sailed to by the current captain.

All true of course. But there is an earlier call that you, that we all, must hear and heed if we are to begin the catharsis toward what we once were when we followed the original plan our founders fought and thought so hard to establish and grant to those who would, indeed, follow.

That call is now upon us, all of us, who still care to begin to heal.

I am aware of precious few who stand out and stand up within any political party to speak truth to fallacy and fact to fiction. If it does not serve them personally or politically within their party then they tend to give, at most, vacuous words and lip-like service to what it is that concerns us who still believe in the family; God; Christianity but also the right to worship or not as you please as intended in the Constitution; a cleaned-up culture; American strength at home and abroad; the entrepreneurial spirit; the free marketplace of things and ideas; limited and restrained government; a hand up over a handout; much better and honest education for our children; reduced taxation for people and businesses made possible by greatly reduced government spending; significantly reduced public welfare and support programs made possible by much greater personal motivation; a much less regulated statist structure; American exceptionalism even and especially at the exclusion of other nations who want a free piece of our pie; the elimination of racism where it exists in minimal actuality but also the cessation of perturbations from those who continue to make such fallacious claims so as to produce it in maximal falsity; the elimination of foreign aid to any and all countries who support or refuse to denounce radical Islam and other such terrorist evils; the clearing out of the pernicious liberalism that has infested in cockroach-fashion our institutes of higher learning; laws against activist judiciaries and a reinforcement of making sure that their job is done as originally intended by the law, for the law; the right to arm ourselves as prescribed in the Constitution; term limits; the gradual weakening of the never-ending PC leviathan and a return to fair but common sensibilities; simplification of the tax code; elimination of Obamacare and the proper and effective overhauling of our great medical-care system in a way that makes it even better but cheaper and more available, not free or subsidized by others who must foot the bill; smart counseling for our high school grads so that they pursue a life-career that is right for them and not some overly-expensive and government-subsidized college education that simply produces more personal debt along with some useless degree; the reduction of our huge national debt and the return to proper government accountability for the budget and spending, not in the form of some very convenient continuing resolution; exercise, ownership and personal accountability for our youth, troubled or not; a renewed sense and enhancement of parental responsibility; greatly reduced abortions; and, just to finish this incomplete list off, the Constitution of these United States as initially intended, drafted, and enacted all those years ago.

Socialism is bullshit and does not work. It never has and never will. If you disagree then show me where it has been successful. All that it does is to starve the many in order to feed the few who have done nothing but talk their way or be born into positions of power. Talk about an elitist structure.

Why not create and pursue a system that encourages and rewards those who take risks and work hard for years to achieve a goal, to fulfill a dream, to serve a productive purpose? Why not set up everything within such a system to not inhibit or interfere with such unique and lofty ideals? A system where we are all recognized as being equal and are limited almost exclusively by our own capabilities or ambitions. A system where politicians and government do not rule, but serve- no one rules.

Oh, yeah, we did that already. It’s called free market capitalism; it’s called a representative (not ruling!) republic; it’s called the United States of America.

Or, at least, it used to be.

On November 4th you have the chance to join in our journey back by voting for those who come closest to supporting as many of these very same beliefs and initiatives as possible.

2014 can be the beginning of the end or the end of what we have allowed to begin and grow and mutate for far too long.

Go ahead, stand up and be counted and do all that you can for what you believe in.

Don’t vote or vote incorrectly and you will have no one more to blame than yourself. And we will have lost our country as a result. Believe that.

Becalmed and Taking Water

Observations Political No Comments

 

Sails are funny things. Sailboats as well. They work with wind; they don’t work without it. Wind…work. Wonderful. All hands on deck and lay out the canvas.

So when the wind is blowing strong it is good. Too much can be bad, say a hurricane, but a good steady wind fills the sails and makes progress possible. Fill your sails and reach your destination.

Hell, I know that and I ain’t even a sailor! Some things just come naturally to those with a modicum of common sense. And sometimes I got mo’ modicum than most. At least I like to think so.

Back on land you can go ahead and continue to vote for those who don’t do just enough to stay out of serious trouble, personally and politically. They know how to lay anchor and perhaps ride a current into the channel. But without the wind there is no work and no progress. Do they know this? Do they care? Are they doing much to change it?

They don’t do much to get you a job. They don’t do much to improve your education or the education of your children. They don’t do much to reduce crime in your neighborhood and make it safe to step outside again. They don’t work very hard to protect the borders of your country. They don’t do much to improve the economy that works to lift all boats in the harbor. They don’t do much to let you know much of what it is that they are actually doing or not doing. When they speak they say nothing. Nothing. They don’t seem to care anymore for the old standards of a decent life- no one fights for the poor old white man, the heterosexual man, the conservative woman, the married woman who stays home with her kids, the Christian couple who still believes in the American dream and deeply desires some of it for themselves and their children… They don’t seem to care too much for the Constitution of these United States. But are they not, in fact, making it just fine to ignore it more and more each day?

The interests and efforts are so limited and specialized now, targeted for the simple purpose of locking in a long-term voting base, that everything that once seemed important once, long ago, is no longer so considered. All that was is no longer. It was and is not now.

And before you go all slinging-racism on me you should know that they ain’t really doing anything much to help out the black folk, or the Hispanic folk, or the women folk…they just sayin, they ain’t doin. There ain’t no wind for those sails or, there ain’t no sails for that wind. And wind is all it is if you could just be honest with yourself. Lots of wind.

And, oh, by the way, the ones talking most and loudest may BE like you and SOUND like you and say they have your interests at heart but the ones who are making the decisions are still not much like you, are they? You ever wonder why? You ever wonder if the mouthpieces who stoke your passions are under the control of folks strangely similar to those they demonize. Weird? Yeah. Hypocritical? Sure is. Despicable? Only if you make it so; otherwise it is just the status quo and will always be so. Spin, becalmed, and wait for the wind.

So how do you guarantee the sinking of the ship?

Find no wind or unfurl no sails. Disable the rudder. Poke a hole or two in the hull. Throw your old and experienced sailors overboard. Lots of ways.

Do nothing.

Or at least appear not to.

When Worlds Collide

Thought Exercises No Comments

A man asked himself the following questions in an effort to discover how he felt, where he stood, and, ultimately what he might be prepared to do- or not do- as an outcome. Amazingly (to him at least) it did not take long to reach a final conclusion.

  1. I come face to face with an ISIS fighter who holds a knife to my throat and says “convert or die”. Standing next to me is a Muslim who I do not know. Will that Muslim stand with me, against me, or remain silent? Based upon that response what should the next person in line, behind me, ready to be presented the same ultimatum, do?
  2. My wife and daughters are suddenly forced to live under Sharia, or just Islamic law. Am I okay with that?
  3. I am no longer allowed to freely practice my Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist religions or beliefs and I am also not allowed to be an atheist. Am I okay with that?
  4. I somehow wake up living in a small village in the middle of Lebanon. I am an unmarried, Christian woman who uses birth control and has always worked to support myself. I am told that I have nothing to worry about in my new surroundings. Do I believe what I am told?
  5. I am an aspiring young Hollywood producer who has chosen to make my new film “Submission Again” in the middle of Saudi Arabia. I am excited about attending the opening at a theatre in Riyadh but should I be nervous about the reaction?
  6. I am an American woman who has married a man from Egypt who has settled in the U.S. Unfortunately a history of domestic abuse and violence is established- not unlike at some other homes in America. I decide I want a divorce and custody of our two small children. Would I tell my husband this in person and would I later do anything beyond what is typical to protect myself and my kids?
  7. I am a gay man with a great job at a high tech firm in California but, unfortunately, I have been told that due to cutbacks I will need to choose one of three options: 1) be laid off with an okay pension; 2) continue at my current position at our facility in Austin, Texas; 3) continue at my current position at our just recently-opened facility in Tehran. I have only an hour to make my choice- what will it be and why?
  8. I am planning an anti-war protest against our current government leaders along with several other fellow students here at the University of Baghdad. What might I expect?
  9. I am watching the evening news and see a clip on anti-Western protests in Gaza. There are signs denouncing and calling for the elimination of Israel and the U.S. I ask myself where the counter-protesters are and why, seemingly, the only Muslim voices raised against such protests seem to be in the U.S. and seem to be far and few between. And I answer…?
  10. I am a brilliant political satirist and cartoonist. I have just drawn up the most brilliant and influential cartoon of my entire career and need to submit it for publication in ten minutes. It is a cartoon that uses religion as its basis and can convey the point equally well with either Jesus or Mohammed as the key character but neither would be presented in a respectful fashion- in fact, just the opposite. Who do I show in what I submit and why?
  11. I speak with the realtor who is selling the house next to mine. Though she is not supposed to discuss such things she says that there are two equal offers on the table- one from an Israeli family and one from an Iranian family, both families recently emigrated to the U.S. I later encounter my neighbor who is torn as to which offer to choose and asks my opinion. What do I tell him?
  12. I am this very day called to Washington to a meeting attended by the President and all of the current members of Congress I am told that the U.S. has just been paid back $1 trillion of the debt owed it by the rest of the world for the last 100 years. I am allowed to (only) target that money for either 1) existing and new social programs or 2) the defense of this country. What do I choose?

Like following the progression of any investment, in this case your time, life, future and family, take a look at the world and this country each and every month and decide whether we are getting closer to or moving farther away from a world order that would make these questions less theoretical or more a matter of real probability.

Your free choice in such matters may indeed be more than slowly fading fast away. If we do nothing you may not have to answer these questions as they will either not be asked at all or will be answered for you.

Think about that for a minute and then tell me how you feel.

Just Die

Commentary Political Social No Comments

 

We are a caring nation, yes?

Our private citizens and companies give generously to many charities. We love to help.

Our communities reach out to help those in need. At least they used to. That help now comes quite often from outside of the community and is funded by those who do not know Mrs. Jones around the corner or Mr. Jensen down the road a piece.

When I was growing up the folks who needed help in some way, shape, or form got it first and foremost from the family, many of whom were still nearby if not right in the home itself. Those that had, gave; those that could, helped; those with blood ties, cared and helped and gave. It was a beautiful system that complemented the role of the limited, local government. The only time you dealt with the bigger guys was during elections, at tax time, and perhaps with a visit to the DMV.

Sometimes we had older folks who had no children nearby any longer or perhaps had lost their only son to the war or some other calamity. They had lived there forever and everyone knew them.   And whether they were liked or not, when they needed help they could turn to the church and the groups sponsored by the church or some other caring and giving organization.

There always seemed to be someone or some group or some institution that could and did help out when the family could not or, less likely, did not. It was a beautiful system.

And what did they help with? Family counseling, family planning, hospice, food, home maintenance, rides to and from the store or church, recovery from an accident or illness, watching young children for an hour or two before or after school, maybe with some mentoring for kids in trouble… The problems that received local help and the ways in which the help was given were innumerable. Family and neighbors and parishioners loved to help. Even if it didn’t directly get your soul into heaven it sure as hell nudged your heart and mind into a better place.

You just did and gave what you could. Communities helped and since they were already organized there was no need for that.

Activism was not required to elicit results and aid to those truly in need.

No organization, no activism, just good old fashion giving-a-damn and doing something to help. Anything.

A beautiful system once upon an older time.

Now, neighbors do not often know each other, at least not very well, and much less local help is requested or given. Families are scattered about the country and are unable to provide any assistance. So help is provided from afar. A simple and a new system.

But what is provided is provided from those who have no choice and have no ties to those who receive. That used to be okay, for example, when we used to give (freely!) to organizations that provided, say, medical aid to poor countries around the world. We kind of knew where our bucks were headed. Nowadays we do not have that freedom of choice and we have no direct connection to those who we are purported to be helping.  Nowadays we just provide the money and resources to the middle man. And after they take their cut then some of what is left may find its way to some who need it.

Or maybe not.

What do we support with this tithe to the middle man?

Oh let’s see some. Free phones. Endless compensation for those who can work but choose not to do so. Endless compensation for those who have kids they cannot afford to have and then have more. Free food for those who look like they have not missed too many meals. Free contraceptives. Services that no one really even needs but take nonetheless. Housing for those who do not even live here and have entered outside the law. Reduced or free transportation. Free college for those who will never do anything with it. Grants to universities for doing research that has no purpose and no direction other than to perpetuate such similar largesse. Subsidies for utilities to those who should be providing that themselves. Cheap or even free abortions. Subsidies to huge corporations who are in political favor (and then enter into political control).   I tire of even thinking on this endless list. And it is endless but still grows. One more though- healthcare.

I mean, why not?

So what would be a good plan?

How about this. You take what used to be- the family, the church, the close-knit, long-term community and you abolish it, demean it, erase it, degrade it, destroy it, eliminate it completely.

But wait, aren’t the same things that the individual really (and I mean really) needs still needed?

Why yes they are. And there is just the right and convenient solution- the government can provide.

And if the simple staples and needs of life are not enough then provide some more. Provide so much that the person receiving has no desire to change things and has every fear that it will be taken away.

What was a hand up, a limited offer so that you can help yourself to get back to where you should be, to where you want to be because of how you grew up, because of what you were taught all along, has now become a hand out. Free, free, and more free. That is the new freedom in our country.

Well, not quite completely free. While receiving with your right hand you simply give with your left. A simple vote is all it takes. Vote for and you get to keep; vote against or not at all then you will lose all that you have been trained to expect, all that keeps you alive and well all that your ever-growing government has given to you. Don’t even think of leaving the plantation.

What a plan.

Oh, and just to make sure the leverage is complete, just take control of healthcare. Nothing more controlling than that next to air and food I suppose.

And certainly none of that could ever, would ever, be taken away.

Right?

Only if they decide to do it. When they have grown so large and so controlling that they no longer need your vote. The family, the church, the local community cared from the heart. Does your government do the same?

Later on they may decide who will be born, perhaps even the genetics of those allowed to be born.

For now they are content in moving swiftly to decide how you will live.

And, oh yeah, who will die.

Wondrin

Jibberish No Comments

 

Just what will happen if it all goes south and there is no one of enough intelligence, courage, or capability to turn things around?

Where are those heroes exactly and when will they emerge on the scene? There has to be some left somewhere in this world doesn’t there?

What did you answer? Really?

It is Friday and Fridays for me are a lot different than they used to be. The weekend doesn’t look as different from the regular week as it used to and there is not all that much that I look forward to more than any other two day stretch within the other five days of the week. Did this ever happen to you?

Believe. If you don’t believe then really nothing at all is possible in the end. Certainly the unlikely or, dare I stretch to it, the impossible can never even take a shot at being possible. That is a natural law and can really belong to whatever force, power, or god to whom you so select to pay umbrage.

Ignore. It is the correct thing, just the absolutely right thing, to do on your way to complete ignorance. Makes sense does it knot? In fact, I think it might even be deemed necessary.

Knotted and fretted and fettered and sometimes torn. What is all of this anyhow? How did I get here and when does it all finally end for me?

I ain’t sayin that I wants it ending. Heck, in a lot of ways I feel like it ain’t really ever yet begun. Did you ever get left at the starting line? Stand there long enough and it may turn out that, given it is also the finish line, that those who ran so fast and far from you will return and you may finally feel like you have never been left at all.

Just do nothing and stand and wait. Ignore but believe while you still can.

Then again it would seem hard to believe when you are spending so much time ignoring on your way to complete ignorance right? It does to me at any rate. In any event and even in any case.

Friday and a full two days ahead that will not really be much different than the two days that rest now in my past. I guess they rest now in everyone’s past but I do enjoy doting on myself at present. Not narcissistic mind you but damn sure trying to get there.

Narcissistic ignorance with what must now be a false projection of belief. Do you believe that I believe? Do you believe that I truly believe or that I am just faking it?

I really like myself and I am too ignorant of the real truth to think otherwise. And even if I knew what I really am, who I really am, I would do my best to believe otherwise. Or at least try to make you believe.

You probably guessed by now that I am not really referring to myself right?

Believe.

Who then could I possibly be talking about? Can you figure it out? No, you say? Are you sure? I know you can do it. You need some help?

Can we figure it out together?

Why, yes we can.