Tag Archives: politics

Legislative Act No. 34e5-1c

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Let it be known throughout the land that on this day, the 20th day of our month of the longest day in which we bless the harvest that will receive the most highest sunlight for lo, these many days, that our latest legislative act, No. 34e5-1c, has been sent out for our citizens’ enlightened reading and understanding.

Let this legislative act bring onto our people the deepest meaning in their lives as the details of this act are more fully appreciated when the days of their lives are filled with more and more acts like this one that conflicts with both older and newer acts, confusing our citizens and making them less efficient but also less likely to figure out that the body of the legislative electorate is just as confused and conflicted and thus not a good reason for the citizens to cause an uprising and take over the crafting of crafty legislation like this, No. 34e5-1c.

Let this legislative act forever after to be known as the Greening of Our Land.

Let this act be carried with the following rules set in place and enforced by our glorious protectors, the Serve-and-Protect Police Brigade and Lawyer Guild.

Therefore, upon giving these rules unto you, our citizens, the denizens of peaceful obeyance but not yet abeyance (not for a while, at least), you shall agree to abide by them until such time as enough conflict and confusion makes it difficult for all of us to comprehend how this ties in to our regular daily lives, let alone the thoughts expressed in written opinions by our Founding Fathers  Cohabitating Fertile Birth Partners.

Here are the rules:

  1. Now, and forever more, shall the delivery of household pesticides, herbicides and other means to control the spread of unlegislated life unto the domiciles of our citizens not be made by land-based individual pest control or lawn maintenance service vehicles.
  2. Now, and forever more, shall the purchase of household pesticides, herbicides and other means to control the spread of unlegislated life unto the domiciles of our citizens not be made by citizens or their representatives at retail, wholesale or other outlets.
  3. From this point forward shall the delivery of household pesticides, herbicides and other means to control the spread of unlegislated life unto the domiciles of our citizens be made by aircraft authorized to spray or otherwise drop from the sky household pesticides, herbicides and other means to control the spread of unlegislated life unto the domiciles of our citizens.
  4. For the sake of these rules, the word “domiciles” refers to places of habitation by our citizens, which may include, but not inclusively, houses, huts, recreational vehicles (a/k/a caravans), offices, warehouses, shopping centres, tents, and other places that members of the Serve-and-Protect Police Brigade and Lawyer Guild deem necessary to prevent the intrusion of unlegislated life into the productive, efficient lives of our esteemed citizens.
  5. For the sake of these rules, the word “citizens” is currently undefined, having fallen out of favour, much like the phrases “global warming” and “scented air fresheners,” replaced, as needed, with words that serve a happier purpose, like “corporation virtual person,” “replaceable cost of production,” “cyberspace inhabitant,” or other terms joyfully associated with the legislative body that spent long, arduous hours crafting these rules after many nights away from family while drunkenly carousing in local pubs, avoiding sunshine laws, where serious drafting of these rules took place out of view of citizens’ galleries above legislative debate chambers.
  6. Any protests against the release of these rules shall be deemed treasonous.  All protestors are subject to summary judgement by the Serve-and-Protect Police Brigade and Lawyer Guild and shot on sight as needed to preserve the peace.
  7. Any derogatory or inflammatory statements in relation to this Act shall be censored from Internet search results.
  8. Any Internet searches for negative responses to this Act shall be deemed anticitizenry behaviour and the deviants sent to retraining camps immediately.
  9. All happy, positive reinforcing behaviour associated with this act shall be rewarded with extracitizen rights and privileges.  See Act No. 87-2w for details about extracitizen rights and privileges for which you may be eligible (note: the Act is not now currently available for general citizenry review; only those already having extracitizen rights and privileges may see how they can obtain extracitizen rights and privileges in the first place).
  10. Thus concludes the current set of rules assigned to this Act.

This Act may be added upon or revoked at any time without prior consent from citizens, their legislative representatives, or members of the Serve-and-Protect Police Brigade and Lawyer Guild.  Further, revocations of or additions to this Act need not be sent to the citizens in any form, now or ever.

In the mouth of madness, a voice of reason

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How can I, an uneducated servant, give meself over to this online world of blah-blah-blogging, lollygogging, tongue-wagging nonsense?

I am but a simpleton, they tell me, hidden behind old shells of hatched cicadas.

I am probably a harmless fungi — “fun guy” — an improbably possible retelling of the myth of Neal Cassady.

A nymph or larva, a crazy buffoon.

Me pals call me the Alliterative Illiterate.

I tell ’em I ain’t no feckin’ joke.

I got me dreams.

I got me visions.

There ain’t no reality.

Them books is what did us all in.

Made us talk like this, full of shite statements about stuff we know nothin’ ’bout:

“The highest ideal of our schools is to produce good citizens.  Good citizenship calls for an understanding of the great problems which a democracy such as ours must face.  The good citizen does not expect to be an expert at solving every problem; but he at least may know that certain important problems exist and he may establish sound principles on which to base his thinking with reference to them.

“The last opportunity that millions of our citizens will ever have to consider some of these problems in a formal way is in the secondary school.  Here education for the many ceases.  And even for the smaller number who go to college it is well that at the age when they begin to form positive opinions a definite opportunity should be afforded to consider the great questions of society, industry, and government.  And so we have in many schools, and shall have in many more, a course known as Problems of Democracy.

“Such a course should consider not only the problems of government, though these may well be looked upon as connecting links by which to bind together all the interests of the American citizen, but also the great questions of social and industrial relationships which are in every way as vital as any questions of government.  Indeed, government exists because we have social and economic problems which cannot be solved without its aid.”

— R.O. Hughes, Peabody High School, May, 1922, Problems of American Democracy, Pittsburgh [Pennsylvania, USA]

I ain’t no scholar.  I never was published by no major book club or put in the Reader’s Digest for thoughtful arogrammatic bathroom readin’.

I’m au jus’ me.

But I’m smarter’n I look and wiser, too.

I ain’t no wise guy or good fella, if you know what I mean.

What I’s got is connections.  Lots of ’em.  More’n you got.

It’s time to pull a few strings, measure a few dirt coffins and go ’bout my business like you ain’t here watchin’ me.

Hey, it’s family.

You know that.  Many of you’ve been here wit me before.

I’m the knucklehead what injured himself on the field of sports, cuttin’ short my professional career and fallin’ back on the ol’ neighbourhood to support me habits and get you to pay for yours.

I’m the invisible guy behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer rig or workin’ the forklift at the warehouse behind your favourite big box store.

You don’ see me, I don’ see you, even if we’d done business together sometime.

I got this crazy notion you gotta hear me story ’cause it’s gonna change our futures like there’s no tomorrow.

I had just walked through the nasty, clean air of the No Smoking Zone, joinin’ the friendly chaps on the back dock for a couple of drags on fags when up walked this dame in cut-off jeans and a camo tanktop, draggin’ the remains of a giant squid behind her…

Yeah, it started just like that…

But you gotta wait until tomorrow to hear the rest of the adventure because, strangely enough, it ain’t happened yet!

See what I mean about crazy?!

My mother’s valedictorian speech — 60 years later…

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Evelyn’s Valedictorian’s Speech

for Graduation at Everett High School

Maryville, Tennessee

May, 1952

Blount County Schools

Our schools in the past have had an important part in making our county the great county that it is.  You have heard the report from Miss Long which tells us what our schools have meant to many of our professional and industrial leaders.  It is true that we have accomplished much, but we must not be satisfied until we have made our schools meet the needs of our people.

There are many needs, but I shall discuss only a few.

It seems to me that one of the most important needs is to let our schools grow up.  The old ways of living have passed.  We are now in an electrical and atomic age.  Educational facilities of horse and buggy and dirt road days do not meet the need of our motorized and fast moving age.  Our industries have grown into adulthood and our employers are demanding that our employees have more and better training.

We must stop looking at our schools as childish toys and our teachers as baby-sitters.  We must see our schools as institutions where the lives of our youth are being molded to become leaders who will have life’s responsibilities of tomorrow.  Children are not toys to be played with, but men and women in the making.  They must be given the principals [sic] of health, honesty, moral and spiritual living.  The school environment must be such that these principals [sic] can be properly taught.  Children must not only be taught, but must see the things practiced which are taught.

In the pictures which you have seen you noticed that all lunchrooms in the old buildings were in basements where artificial light was necessary and ventilation was very poor.  In the new buildings you noticed that lunch-rooms were modern and the most attractive room in the building.  This is as it should be.  Do you know of any home where the kitchen and dining room is in the basement?  If we practice in the schools the things which are taught, teaching is much more effective.  We are taught that in order to digest our food properly we should have a cheerful and happy environment.  It is evidence of growth in our schools when we take our lunchrooms out of dingy, damp, dark basements and put them in light attractive rooms.

There is a need for school growth in our transportation system.  We teach moral, and spiritual growth in our schools, but when we get on our bus to go home, boys and girls are packed together like sardines in a can.  We have one bus which has a seating capacity of 48.  The driver says that at times he has a load of 86.  Such conditions do not teach moral and clean living.  We need to allow our transportation system to grow up so that boys and girls can ride as our adults ride.

We must see our school needs and have a desire to do something about them before our needs are supplied.

We are able to supply our needs.  We are living in one of the wealthiest and most progressive counties in the state.  In population we rank 9th.  In wealth we rank 6th.  We are rich in industries.  We have excellent farming land.  We have lumber.  We have thousands of tourists.  We have marble.  But our greatest asset is the boys and girls in our schools.  We have the material.  If we have the will we can supply our needs.  There is evidence that we have that desire.  Within recent months our County Court has appropiated [sic] an additional $3,000,000 to meet pressing building needs.  Our school should prepare students for life responsibilities whatever they may be.  We are facing many new and difficult problems which must be rightly solved or our national life, as we know it today will be in danger.  Our educational system is the key to a solution of many of these problems.  In 1941 in Blount County 1124 children entered the first grade.  In 1950 there 1307 entered.  In 1941 we had 359 entering high school.  In 1950 there were 698 entering high school.  Our county superintendent said that he expects 150 more first grade pupils next year than we had this year.  This means that we will need 5 new teachers and of course 5 new classrooms for the teachers in the first grade.  It also means more teaching material and more buses.  This is only an example to show how our schools are growing.  If our schools are to adequately prepare our pupils for tomorrow’s citizenship, these needs must be supplied.

We are building great industries where people are earning a comfortable living.  We are improving our farms so that we may have better crops.  We are building more comfortable and attractive homes and we are furnishing them with the most modern equipment.  We are building larger and more beautiful church buildings where we can satisfy the hunger of our souls with the Bread of Life.

We are making progress, but much needs to be done.  Our school buildings and grounds must be made attractive and kept that way the entire year.  We must pay our teachers so that we can get the best.  Then we must demand of them satisfactory service.  Our transportation system must be modernized so that each youth will have a place to sit in decency and comfort.

God had given us our beautiful country.  He has given our county more than 10,000 school boys and girls.  293 of this number are graduating from high school this spring.  We thank God for His blessings upon us.  We thank you public officials and our parents for your efforts on our behalf, but our work is only in its beginning.

Fellow Classmates!  We have had many difficult problems during the past four years.  But now payday has come.  In our joy let us not forget those who have made this day possible for us.  Jesus healed ten lepers at one time, and only one returned to thank Him.  Let us be like that one.

Parents, teachers, and friends, if it had not been for your patience, thoughtfulness, interest, and love we could not have come to this hour.  We thank you, and we promise to work with you in making our schools the best possible, and our county a better place to live.  We shall do our best to live in such a way that you will not be disappointed in life.

=======

NOTE: My mother’s school advisor for this speech was also a local minister.

Ever wonder…

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…why we spend billions/trillions of dollars on drone killing [alleged] members of al Qaeda in Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan, who are responsible, at most, for a few thousand dead one time in the U.S. (and a few billion dollars in [re]construction costs) but we seem to make no effort, on any advertised regular basis, to drone kill those in Mexico and other countries south of the U.S. border who are responsible for the loss of thousands of U.S. lives yearly and billions upon billions of dollars in lost wages, sick leave, hospital healthcare costs, and untimely early deaths due to the [illicit] drug trade?

…why Ray Bradbury waited until the day after the Venus transit to die?

…why species migration/extinction is “bad” rather than par for the course in Earth’s history? [assuming, for the sake of this argument, we are no more important a species on this planet than any other]

…why we aren’t working faster to build an Ark to set up alternative colonies on the Moon and Mars?

…why block-shaped rooms are popular forms of internal living habitats for many of us, when our bodies are not block-shaped?

…why a government that tries to stabilise the population for the sake of the leaders and the leaders’ supporters by controlling what people can and can’t say in public discourse is considered censorship but no government is great/strong enough to stop the Sun from shining?

…why we have to make sense at all when all civilisations are bound to fail, no matter how civilised we tried [not] to be to each other as one generation followed another into history?

…why three dots indicate [a lack of] continuity?

…why we spend so much time and money on blogs and other avenues of entertainment like these in the moments of idle distraction between the times we need to eat, sleep, and protect ourselves from inclement weather, instead of doing something else?

…why “why” is “why” and not some other word, sound, or set of states of energy to question why?

…why the Wandering Wondering meditates?

The New, Reformed Catholic Church for Modern Women

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I guess we knew it was coming sooner or later.

Today, the organisation, Our Lady for the Reformation of Male-Led Religion, announced its official split from the Roman Catholic Church.

Nunneries around the world are holding secret ballots to vote on whether to stay with the Roman Catholic Church or join Our Lady for the Reformation of Male-Led Religion.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Our Lady for the Reformation of Male-Led Religion has hinted that a later announcement of a name change, possibly to the Rowomyn Catholic Church, may be possible, off the record, of course.

The Vatican has flatly denied the right of Our Lady for the Reformation of Male-Led Religion to leave the Church, citing multiple traditions, as well as possible passages in the Good Book, itself, as valid reasons why women must continue to submit to the biggest, original Male-Led Religion of them all, for now and for eternity.

The leader of Priests for Equal Pay would neither confirm nor deny whether Priests for Equal Pay were in support of nuns asking for equal religious leader positions in the Church.

Rumours spread that the rise of Our Lady for the Reformation of Male-Led Religion has increased mumblings within Islam of women seeking equal job status in the religious leadership positions of mosques and, given time, being restored to the ancient roles of gender-neutral imams again.

The European Central Bank announced that these recent events have no bearing on the decision to lean on the Vatican’s vast stores of wealth to pull Europe from the brink of disaster and return Catholicism to its primary role as a healing force in modern economic policies.

When asked for ‘is opinion, Fidel Castro held up a cigar and say, “This is for you, Señor Richard Dawson.”

Bury the Curmudgeon, not the Man

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In business, as well as real life, we make decisions based on evidential test results.

In real life, we made decisions based on opinions, dreams, imaginations and occasionally facts.

So it is with grieving the loss of my father in the rest of my natural life.

He lives on here — in recorded memories and anecdotes, photos and videos, audio files and books — the cybersphere.

I mentally cried in my thoughts up until yesterday, making it…oh, about two and a half weeks of heart-wrenching solace and mourning.

Now, I live with him as a reminder, a silent, unspeaking totem on an imaginary column standing invisibly behind me.

The good and the bad, the kind-hearted elder and the stern disciplinarian wrapped in fading memories.

In other words, I personify the genetic and nurturing elements of a man toward his son, his eldest child.

My father’s influence upon others started at his birth, with most, if not all, who nurtured him now gone, too.  His best friend of 73 years still lives, his neighbourhood playmate, classroom buddy and adult confidant.  His wife of 55+ years — my mother — is quite much alive, although in mental pain as she reconciles the loss of a dear friend and husband, the father of her children.

I am no longer a child.  Bigger problems than the loss of a parent push in on my thoughts but they are not more important.

How do we tell readers that the situation in Syria is merely a place for the national production of weaponry to turn a tidy profit, loss of lives a necessary component of the process?

There’s always some hotbed of violence we can use to our species’ economic advantage.  More people die from person-to-person combat between people who know each other — gunshots, knife stabbings, choking, burning, poisoning — than all terrorist attacks combined.

After all, “terrorist” is a label we reserve for “them,” not amongst ourselves.

The brother who stabs me is not a terrorist — he’s just a close relative with an anger management issue and a drinking problem — unless he gets the attention of the media ahead of time and becomes notorious, shooting off his mouth about socially-unacceptable concepts and ideals.

But we know all that already.  New crops of journalists, editors and publishers seem not to — they just as easily fall prey to the idea of perpetuating extremist thinking for a profit that also divides the political opinions of the majority of Americans, for instance.

Anyway, I digress.

After a discussion with the Committee, I’ve decided to share with you more of the products coming out of our laboratory and into a grocer’s market near you:

  • DNA tracking devices disguised as cereal flakes and coffee beans/grounds
  • Chemical hypnotic material mixed into charcoal briquets that are released at high temperature, used at backyard BBQ events to turn whole crowds into well-organised mobs when the need arises
  • Bacteria in ice cream and other products in the frozen goods department that activate at body temperature, lodging in people’s bodies at strategic locations; can be turned into cancerous growths with a certain level of mobile phone radio signal strength exposure.

Well, that’s all for now.  The use of comic literary devices is all about timing.  We’ll save the rest of the items for a more perfect moment.

Happy eating!

Oh, I’m back in the saddle again…

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Amazing, what a few days mean in the life of one species.

Part of the annual cycle of life here locally, for instance — the little “sugar” ants have found their way into our kitchen sink like clockwork.

And who says astrology doesn’t work — why, the Earth’s position around the Sun is directly connected to these ants before me.

And the Moon-influenced tides…well, I’m sure if I traced the ecosystem connections I could find the tidal pools in the Gulf of Mexico have an indirect influence on the movement of species in and around this domicile.

Not sure about Venus aligning with Earth’s view of its transit across the face of the Sun, though.

But hey?  I’m just a bigger ant on this planet.  What do I know?

Pop music flows through my thoughts today, from this century and centuries past.

Dreams have flowed through my subconscious thoughts, dreams that center on my dead father and his last two months in a variety of healthcare facilities.  Just another shot.  How about one more day with him?  Have we considered this experimental treatment?  Or that one?  Were there any unkind words I said through the years that weighed down his thoughts in his last days?  Did he feel I neglected him recently?

Part of the healing process, no doubt.

A new crossroads in the road in front of me — I can choose “Happiness,” “Depression,” “Anger,” “Denial,” “Remorse,” “Regret,” or the one I plan to take, “Unknown.”

A bit overgrown.  Underused.  Neglected.  Quiet.  Secluded.

In other words, the usual path of mine.

Wandering in and out of the actions of my species.  You, me, us, as usual.

Synching back to my self’s syncopated rhythms, out of step and in tune with our social changes, our connections with the universe at large.

Thinking my thoughts, no matter how strange, weird or normal they may be, sharing a few of them here.

Conforming to (staying within the parameters set by) local laws to preserve my relative freedom from conformity.

Letting subcultures be — live and let live.

Competing in the marketplace of ideas when I feel like going up against adverts of marketing machines blaring deafening sounds and spouting subliminal messages.

So many stories to be told, like the young lady whose [great]grandparents’ home in Hamilton has been transformed for a new generation of nonfamilial owners.  Sound familiar?

Or watching the tiny facial twitches on the President when he gave a[n election season] speech for the unveiling of a previous President’s portrait.  How easy is it for you to be a mind reader then and predict the future?

We learn a lot when we learn alot about Camelot on the backstage lot.

Do kids still learn to type “These are the times that try men’s souls“?

Is there proper thumb-typing body posture or mobile phone use etiquette taught in schools these days?

When technology moves faster than generational education cycles, what is a generational education cycle for, that period of time we stop children from performing manual labour and coerce them into classroom settings between ages 4 and 24, just to watch many of them drop out of the cycle to return to ageless, aging manual labour practices?

In the days when everyone is more equal to everyone else than ever before, is it still safe to refer to the peasant class even where literacy rates are a nonissue and people still want to get their hands on simple, low-paying, physically laborious work, no matter how many memes float through their language-filled thoughts?

How [un]important are the economies of geopolitical zones we call countries like Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland to the global economy at large?  What if we let them deteriorate into complete chaos?  Can we not wait to see the phoenix that rises from the ashes or are we too afraid to risk our investment portfolios to find out?

Why am I sitting here instead of enjoying the pleasant weather outside?

A-ha!  Finally, a question I can answer.  Time to close down this laptop and invite mosquitoes to savour the flavour of the blood-filled organ called my skin.

And remember: a fine, country dinner shared with David and Evelyn in their house overlooking a forested creek; pulling out bushes with David, Melinda, Melinda’s father and John; sorting through family memorabilia with Dan and Fay; Robbie, Aaron, and Christopher at the Rave; Martha at Carson’s Grille; Rogersville Produce Market; Debra, Pat and Veronica at Hales Spring Inn; Pals #13; Oh Henry’s; my blog-connected friends, and more…

A World of Ideas, or an Idea of Worlds?

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How much of what goes on in our species is necessary for you/me/us to go on?

How much more austerity is necessary for a place like Greece to endure in order to inspire real innovation for change?

Simply pouring government funds, part of which is covered in taxes, does not make those holding the vessel which collects the funds (users of the money) more efficient and thus profitable.

Terms like bonds, taxes, government treasury bills and loans float through the airwaves constantly.

And then a spacecraft, nicknamed Dragon (with many a symbolic meaning there), is grappled and floats in unison with the ISS.

Racecar mechanics race against time to prepare for the big race.

Race itself is a a term with many a symbolic meaning.

But these are words in one language.

We see terms, symbols, memes, languages, and other sets of states of energy as we see fit.

We may have a fit in the process.

The storyline of the Committee picks back up again.

We are 8.5 strong, adding PegLegs to the mix.  The 0.5 has grown into the 0.65, becoming more adultlike and responsible every day — when it reaches 1.0, we remove a member from the Committee.

Attrition may place its part ahead of time.

What’s next on the Committee’s agenda?

A balancing act, of course.

Expanding our knowledge and experience in the known universe, as usual.

Always weighed against personal loss.

Celebrating the simplest of events, like digging up an old boxwood bush with a shovel and cutter mattock.

Or welcoming the 1000th guest onboard a space hotel.

Today, we finished plans for the cruise ship that travels from Earth to the Moon and back again regularly.

Frequent launches from our planet to the cruise ship allows guests to spend time in space, with many dropping to the Moon for extended holidays and business trips.

Sure, a few find the travel inconvenient, wasting valuable time commuting between laboratories where robotic surrogates cannot complete assignments in ways that our species can.

We have not totally given over our toughest jobs to robots.

Robots have not totally resigned themselves to being outside the realm of our species’ capabilities.

Long ago, we crossed the threshold where the difference between cybernetic humans and robots with human body parts is indistinguishable.

Still, there are areas of the human brain that have not been fully duplicated.

We no longer call the synergy of these areas intuition.

Instead, we focus on the data complexity and efficiency of neuron transmission and information storage within a single brain, as well as the meme set carrying capacity of [sub]cultures.

A brain does not operate in a vacuum.

But students at age three already know this.

Why am I repeating myself, then?

Good question.

I chose not to enhance my central nervous system.

I am an old man, willing to face the deterioration inherent in brain cell loss and reduced cardiovascular functionality associated with a naturally aging body.

I have never lost the thought set of self-importance.  There is not a point in my narrative, like retirement or worker status/title, that indicates a change in my usefulness.

I can manage a group of hackers, police officers, counterterrorism agents and freedom fighters within the same brain.  I can create crime and prevent crime in the same sentence.

I can promote diplomatic solutions and bomb innocent villages between heartbeats.

I can act the dove and the hawk, the liberal and the conservative, at the same time.

The role of the Reluctant Leader in this storyline demands no less.

Happiness is sitting quietly, thoughts spinning in and out of consciousness.

Happiness is giving orders at a rapid pace that is still too slow to keep up with the seven billion thought sets that make up our species.

Forgetfulness is part of the solution, not part of the problem, a key variable in the equation of life.

We remember so that we can forget.

We forget so that we can remember.

We create wars in order to create warriors who become heroes who create peace which fosters a need to create wars again.

Have you wondered why someone could make a profit off the taxes you have to pay your government?

Shouldn’t the profit be used to refund your taxes, not create new taxes to be paid on profit earned or siphon taxes out of your local economy?

Austerity is just a word.

Just like poverty or prosperity.

Or planetary settlements.

Ideas.  Visions.

Were Spanish missions in California a mission from God?

What’s missing in that sentence?

Have geeks already inherited the earth?

Do proofreaders with pens scratch out a living?

Who is responsible to give you a job?

What is a job?

What is a living?

If the efficiencies of modern society eliminate the need for many of the seven billion of us, what do we do in the meantime?

Are we means-tested in realtime?  How do we create the sense of wellbeing — usefulness — when contract work and part-time jobs are the norm for the majority?

How many of us can handle the day-to-day competitiveness of us not only against each other, but also against the excess capacity of just-in-time automated manufacturing?  Or hoarded profit holdings?

Can you compete against the noise of everyday life, wanting just to be able to hear yourself, let alone find something to eat, clothes to wear and a place of your own to lay down your head and sleep?

If you had ten children, would you constantly ask, “If I only had food for two of my kids to survive, which ones would it be?”  Would you love the other eight any more or less?

What about two or three billion out of nine billion?

Life Imitates Art – Part 3,284

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Just when I thought it was safe to go back and read rational news headlines, I find that a fictional spacetime traveler was responsible for bringing down an allegedly notorious international criminal.  See for yourself:

Doctor Who Helped Find Bin Laden Convicted of Treason in Pakistan

If you don’t get, I’ll bother to explain it to you.

See, first of all, there was this programme on the tellie about a science fiction story centred on a character named Doctor Who.

Next, there was an area of our planet Earth that split away from one geopolitical entity and called itself Pakistan.

Finally, a person associated with his wealthy Saudi family decided he wanted notoriety rather than mainstream prestige and fame.  His name, they claim, is Osama bin Laden.

Alternatively, a medical professional stepped forward to assist in the capture and/or killing of bin Laden who was hiding in Pakistan not far away.  The doctor, who might be Doctor Who (can we ever know for sure, with certainty, etc.?), has been caught up in political maneuverings to punish him for his daily activities.

That, my friends, is the news for the day.  Happy surfing!