Lessons from Grade School

  As many of you know, I am an older person (at least in the calendar sense), and I may have been brought up differently than you.  I was told, you are entitled to your own opinions, beliefs and belongings, but they should never be forced on others, used to ridicule the beliefs of others, or to show others how successful you are, or are not.  Your opinions and your rights were only to extend as far as you can reach your arms, and beyond that, NUNYA!! (For those without access to younger people, that means None of your business).  That being said, let me say what so many others have said...If you oppose abortion, do not get one.  If you oppose gay marriage, again, do not have one.  If you oppose legalization of marijuana, do not inhale.  And, if you oppose drinking and driving, either have a designated driver OR be one for your friends who also feel the same, but want to drink away from home! 
  That being said, lets be honest.  We all want a free and open society, unless it makes us uncomfortable.  No one wants to live next door to the 'au natural' people, who see clothing as societies weapon of conformity, or to the rasta's, who make their living picking up cans and other throwaway stuff to recycle or sell at the swap meet.  Yet, we don't want to infringe on their rights, as this may lead to our own being infringed or limited.  Maybe, it is time we began reinforcing the grade school lessons, or at least relearning them.  If a surgical procedure is legal, make it so.  Worry about counseling the patient about what brought them to this decision, instead of trying to guilt them into changing their mind.  How can our society, on the one hand try to criminalize abortion, and at the same time only allow our schools to teach abstinence for sex ed.  Really, how many people follow the educators guidelines, with regard to premarital sex??  I know neither I, nor my wife, did, and probably, none of our children did.  We show sex on TV, in the movies, etc, and make it a "MACHO" thing for the guys to do, and usually the girls are along for the fun, but OMG, let a girl get pregnant, and she might as well be branded with the Scarlet A!
  I was also taught the flag code, something that was written to give some guidelines as to how to show, preserve, and care for, the US flag.  In the flag code, which periodically was carried in the Readers Digest, it stated, "The US Flag shall not be used as a garment, burned or in any way maltreated, even when used as a form of civil protest".  It was illegal, until recently, to burn the flag, unless it was dirty or damaged, then there was a proper procedure to do so!
  But, now, the point of this article.  I, and many, many others, were taught to respect funerals.  In the town where I went to school, between the high school and the grade school, was the town cemetery. When ever a funeral passed, if we were outside, we stopped and faced the procession, and remained still and quiet until it had passed by, even if it meant being late returning to class.  Even football practice was not exempt.  Many times we formed up, removed out helmets and watched the procession passing by, wondering who they were and what they had to show for their lives.  Whatever they had done, we would not disrespect them in their final ride.  Which is why  it pains me to admit, I am a Kansan, as is my wife, and all of our families, for generations back.  We are from a state, that used to respect tradition to the point of officially teaching creation,and allowing less than 4 contact hours to be spent on 'that theory, Evil-oution', but is now home to the so called 'Westboro Baptist Church'.  A 'church' that appears to be mostly one family, who desecrate military funerals, who force their intolerant beliefs onto people who are at their most vulnerable, trying to find meaning in the death of a loved one.  Most of my friends are too young to remember the troops returning from Viet Nam, and being yelled at, accosted and even spit on, on their return from doing the bidding of the PTB, and the country.  The WBC's behaviour brings these memories flooding back to myself and others who either are veterans of that war, or family of those who were.  And now they have found support in the courts, that their vile behaviour and proselytizing are protected speech!  Since when?  When they leave the confines of their church, they should lose the right to protected speech, especially when they crash a funeral, where they are disrupting a private service, as unwelcome as  a gay wedding would be at their church.  When will we remember the grade school lessons, and keep our opinions where they belong?  Maybe it is time for that other grade school lesson, if you keep pushing and name calling to some one, they may remind you, sticks and stones do break bones, and you should keep your opinion to your self, unless you want to know what others really think of it!

Truth in Advertising, the Political side!

By this time of year, most of us are already tired of the political ads, especially those from the special interest groups.  I don't care what your beliefs, your economic status or your religious status, the ads are not only obnoxious and mostly mind numbing, but also insulting.  Please, no more 'man on the street' interviews where Joe Citizen states, clearly and without hesitation, that raising taxes on the energy companies is a bad idea, that increased taxes would restrict energy resources, blah blah blah!  Really, in a time where the people have begun to see the evidence that gas prices have little to no relation to any costs 'in the  pipeline', and the utilities are posting record profits, we are to believe that asking them to pay their fair share would in some way hurt them!  I call bullshit, and am tired of it!  Utilities here in Missouri claim they need to increase rates to 'maintain right of ways, clear trees and improve the infrastructure'. The justification is they have to hire tree trimmers and linemen to keep up with the demand and to help trim trees that are encroaching on the power lines.  Completely understandable, right?  Until you think back a few years (2004-5, I think) when the utility in question laid off a large part of their tree teams and many of the maintenance line crews, and told the public utility commision, this would NOT impact service or the upkeep of the infrastructure.  Could this be a back peadling that leads to more costs passed along, that were caused by a bad decision WE had NO input on!  Again, I call BS!  It is time we start calling the PTB (Powers That BE) to task for both outright lies AND poor management decisions!
     It is time, also, to tell the PTB to stop telling lies before an election, then admitting immediatley after that they were completely unrealistic.  (Not picking on John B, Majority Leader of the House, but the day after the midterm election, in a nationally televised interview, he state that many of the Republican promises were completely unrealistic and probbably unatainable.)  If they know the promises are bunk, then why make them?  Of course, all parties play this game, and they continue to get away with it because no one wants to call them to task for it! It is time to hold not only the PTB accountable, but what about the high dollar talking heads on every channel who suck it all in, and never say, "Hey, Mr/s Candidate-that is not true and you know it!"  No, no.  We have become stuck in PC land (Political Corectness) and are afraid to speak out because we might embarass or insult some one!  Maybe we would be better off if we began treating our 'leaders' like we do our children, and correct them at the time of the problem, either by speaking to them, or if needed, time out or even more 'hands on' corrections.  (Would we have had to listen to Sarah say 'Maverick', if some one had had the cojone's to tell her that a true maverick was an unbranded steer found on the common praire grazing land of the American West.  As a candidate for a major party, the unbranded part was sure to be a problem, and what politician wants to remind the voters they have been castrated some time in the past?)
Well, as it is getting late and I am winding myself up, I will end this one about now.  Remember, the elected work FOR the electorate, would you like your employees to lie to you and give you misinformation that makes them seem like a better employee than they really are?
Coming soon, Corporate rights-really?, as well as Slick Ricky 2, rewriting the voter's rights laws.

Rick Perry 1

Oh my!  As you can see, I have a feeling this is a subject we will be returning to many many times before the man disappears in to the obscurity he so richly deserves.  Where to start??  A man who has changed his 'public' persona several times to better meet the criteria of the power brokers who are running him, and running him for election.  Once a moderate on gay marriage and abortion, now vehemently opposes both of them, to the point of wanting to force thru an amendment to the Constitution!  AND that is another point.  Appearantly, Rick seems to have the opinion that as President, he has the carte blanche to make changes to the very frame work of our freedoms, at his whim!!  He has written (and this appears to make it holy writ) that the congressional checks and balances of the Constitution are not working for him, and he wants to add some amendments and retract others.  He would further remove some of the protections guaranteed, such as the appointment of judges and add an opportunity to override the Supreme Court.  Lets see, first we would make the judges basically another election(look how well that is working in congress!  Judges that are concerned about their jobs will truly be an asset to protection our freedom, wont they?)  Then, the congress, the guys so concerned about posturing and making points for their 'side' they allowed the country to teeter on the edge of insolvency until our credit rating was downgraded!, the congress will have the opportunity to override a Supreme Court decision, because they don't like it!  Really.  A mob of men who have no connection to the populous they supposedly serve, who appear to be bought and paid for by special interest groups, will have the ability to override the courts.  Where will we find justice or any semblance of it?  Probably in our own hands, since the courts will have to stop making hard or controversial decisions, because if they do, the Congress will just start overriding them until they have what thier masters' want as a 'legal' frame work to complete the rape of the American citizen!
Tricky Ricky would also take the election of senators out of our hands, transferring the duties to the state governors and the state legislators.  He seems to feel, direct control of the senators would make them far more biddable to the wishes of those who control the state governments.
What a wonderful candidate to consider!  And this is only the beginning!  I will have more to say as things develop.

Greetings

So, after sitting quietly by and watching the developments on a national level, I have decided it is time to make my views known, and 'edit' some of the national events.  I, as many of you might know, have a rather unique view on things, seeing connections others may have missed.  I am also not one to suffer in silence, so I may occasionally venture away from the national scene to comment on other things that need comment or interpretation. 
As some of you know, I am an older man, with 6 children, a dog and several cats.  I am married to the Painted Lady, of thepaintedladysplace.com, a wonderful artist and hugely understanding wife, who has suffered my tirades on things that are ridiculous and just plain wrong!
I have worked most of my adult life tending the machinery of industry, repairing the machinery that makes the things that keep the capitalist machine running.  I am also a trained chiropractor, and have a decidedly non-western view of health and especially 'modern medicine'.
Thats all for now, I will be posting later with a REAL topic, to start the ball rolling!