I dislike government-declared holidays. I hate holidays designed to evoke uncritical emotional reactions. Above all, I hate holidays that demand that we all adopt some government-supremacist worldview — or keep our mouths shut when we disagree. We now have two holidays in the year that serve the same purpose: to impose upon us the lie that all soldiers who fight in any war are always “fighting for our freedom.” (As long as they work for the U.S. government, of course. Presumably soldiers who work for opposing governments are all poltroons at best and baby-raping war criminals at worst.) Today, we’re…
Category: Mind and Spirit
Spirituality, moods, feelings, and thinking free to live free.
“Sovereignty without Territoriality?” (H/T Hobbit) Anybody seen Mud yet? A friend recommended it glowingly and it’s at 98% on RottenTomatoes.com — almost unheard of for a live-action feature. Become your very own spy agency with these secret! NSA! Google! Tips! (Creepy, and a far cry from a Orphan Annie Decoder Pin). (Tip o’ hat to JJ) Speaking of creepy: Skype. It could have been very non-creepy. But it’s a M*******t product; so what can you say? It’s creepy. (H/T Wendy McElroy) Oh, that laugh-a-minute IRS. Turns out they also gave supposedly “private” info on conservative groups to a liberal group.…
Emailing the other day, a friend happened to drop a great phrase: “whoever, or whatever, is masquerading as Uncle Sam” (unstated but implied was “at the moment”). I thought, now there’s a phrase with the power to wake some sleepy folks. We like to go on about the capital-F Founders. Some people talk as if America was their living, breathing gift to us. In a way, it was of course — the idea and the ideal. But the actual, practical thing those Founders bequeathed us was a mere corporate shell. A shell in the shape of a constitution and institutions.…
When we were kids, the adults around us often told us things they implied were both true and very, very important. Sometimes those adults were right. Other times, we eventually learned that certain “truths” were neither true nor important. In retrospect we realized somebody was telling us those things solely to compel obedience (“This will go on your Permanent Record!”) or mold us to social norms (“You have to go along to get along.”) Question of the day: What are some of the “truths” from you childhood that turned out either not to be true or not to be important…
One day when I was a senior in high school I got called into the office of the Dean of Girls (weirdly quaint title). I was being “awarded” an F for the day in all my classes, having gotten caught skipping school to attend a peace march. Funny thing. I skipped school a lot that year, mostly just to hang out somewhere that wasn’t around my increasingly intolerable family, town, or school. Don’t recall ever getting in trouble for it, except that one time when somehow my parents and the dean discovered that I had gone (gasp!) to an anti-war…
… but a worldview makes one of them bad. I watched Les Miserables earlier this week. I had never seen the stage musical or even heard any of its songs. Although I read Victor Hugo’s book many moons ago, back then I probably would have simplistically considered Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman in the film) the “good guy” and his relentless pursuer Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) the “bad guy.” Watching the movie, I was struck instead by how much alike they are. Both are diligent, dutiful men. Both have an extreme sense honor, honesty, and justice. Each believes he’s doing God’s…
Community Emergency Response Team training started tonight. Here’s what I got out of it: Well, that a big, fat binder filled with such scintillating (and useful!) information as “At the end of this unit you should be able to identify the roles and responsibilities for community preparedness, to include government, community leaders from all sectors, and the public.” I kept wondering why “the public” and “leaders” were always separate things in the CERT book when in every real-world disaster, “the public” becomes the leaders. I kept wondering how I ever — ever! — got through high school. Or heck, not…
Coolness. The guys in the chopper know it, too. 🙂 (A few f-bombs.) Source in case you can’t see the embed. And I think this version has the f-bombs bleeped out. H/T to my friend L.
This was a week for getting reminded of unconventional freedoms — and unconventional Outlawry (though some might call it just plain criminality). First, we got fascinated with Christopher Knight (aka the Maine Hermit), whose solitary life some found irresistible. Imagine speaking only one word to another human in 27 years and sleeping outdoors through 27 northern winters. Imagine doing that, yet remaining so un-resourceful that you think stealing from a camp for handicapped kids is a legitimate way to survive. Then yesterday afternoon, NPR interviewed Mike Brodie — not their usual sort of book author. At 27, Brodie is a…
On guns and “mental illness” You know I don’t usually get into conspiracy theories, but some connections are just too convenient. First, you build a medical/pharmaceutical industry that successfully pushes the notion that every little sorrow, nervous twitch, or bit of restlessness is a “disease” that needs to be treated with psychoactive drugs. Then you go on a holy crusade to take guns away from the “mentally ill” (and all the bobbleheads who haven’t thought about the implications repeat “good idea, good idea, good idea”). So with the consent of the ignorant, complacent, well-programmed, and the devious slimeballs who take…