Don’t Call It an “Oil Spill”

I don’t get all the “oil spill” coverage. I mean, at first I could see it. We thought it was a spill of some oil from a rig that wouldn’t affect too much of anything, for too long.

But now it appears to be a much different situation. Not only is the oil not “spilled”, it’s gushing at an unimaginable rate from more than one spot on the floor of the gulf. And not only that, but apparently the well that used to be there has now turned into something that can’t be managed anymore at all. And it’s growing.

Because of all of this, we have another variable added into the mix as well: chemicals being thrown about, in an effort to control the oil. Oil’s bad, but oil + poison floating around in our air = worse. I mean, I hate to see birds killed – but I hate (even worse) to see my kids get cancer or for me to die from ingesting toxic crops. You know, I realize that sounds selfish but I can’t help it.

With all the bad news out there, I want to know who I can turn to. Is it my president? Probably not. Is it BP, the company that caused this and is cleaning up manipulating this situation? No, I’m not feeling any romance here.

Maybe I can turn to the EPA – maybe they’ll tell me exactly what’s in the water me and my family bathes in and drinks and what’s in the air we all breathe. Well, I don’t know if I’m more afraid of what they are telling me or what they’re not telling me. But I’m sure they think it’s for my own good.

Maybe…maybe there’s no one to turn to. Maybe I just need to leave. Five years ago, I thought Katrina was bad. And I left. Now, I suspect that the BP Destruction of the Gulf may be much, much, much worse – only, we won’t know how bad until we’ve all started our chemotherapy and our breathing treatments.

I have a lot of maybe’s floating around in my head at the moment. There are a lot of things I don’t know right now, because I’m not being told or because no one has answers.

One thing I do know: this is no longer a simple oil spill. It’s a monumental disaster, with unimaginable consequences for our future.

Selective Technology and our Future

If you look around at people today (in virtually any public place) it seems that you’ll see at least one iPhone or similar device. If you ask around, you’ll find that most of the people you know probably have a Facebook account or similar social networking profile. And if you generally observe societal trends and compare our attitudes to those of just a couple of years ago, I think it’s fairly obvious that people have moved toward a more technologically-centered way of life.

Ponerology and Our Government

There has been a recent development of a field of study known as “ponerology“. It was developed by a Polish psychiatrist, Andrzej Łobaczewski. I find fascinating because it can help explain some of what has been happening in this country for the past few years – including what has been happening since January of this year.

Basically, ponerology (in the political structure) is the study of how and why groups of psychopathic individuals are able to become part of a political organization, gain power, and exert their influence. To a large degree, our entire government shows strong evidence of ponerization in both parties and in all branches.

The level of influence the psychopaths have been exerting has been skyrocketing in the last few months, after making steady and steep increases since 9/11 (or thereabouts). Little distinction needs to be made between the parties at this point, as they seem to be very close in their goals – even if the masses of “regular” people seem to believe differently.

What are the goals?

• Government precedence over private freedoms and private industry
• Nation-building, whether via wars or other means
• Increasing taxation
• Erosion of Constitutional rule and people’s rights
• Diminishing of “checks and balances” in government and a gradual turn to rule by the executive branch alone

There are other things happening as well, but the overall trend is quite consistent: we are being attacked, as a free people, by own own government and our rights are being stolen. (Along with our money.)

Some people will scoff and tell me, “You’re a right-wing alarmist”, or worse. (Usually, the followers/supporters of the current regime are quite vocal and mocking of anything that deigns to call an alert or warning.) While I am neither right-wing, nor an alarmist what I am is a person who chooses to execute thought and reason and who places his own personal liberty (and those of others) above any government or state.

We should all feel the same way – whether we see ourselves as liberal, libertarian, or conservative, or whatnot. We should (and must) see ourselves correctly – as Americans who need to unite and evaluate what is happening to our country. Because if we don’t correctly judge the direction it’s headed and protect our country, we will lose it (as we have known it).

Scoffers think it will never happen, or they think that any “changes” will only be good or at worst that they’ll be negligible. Not true: the loss of liberty by any people is always (always!!) a negative thing and a cause of suffering.

It can be argued quite strongly that we are losing liberty. The cause? The psychopaths who are running things have fooled the people. We must recognize that our society is being governed by a ponerized group of individuals.

The Internet is Made of Geniuses and Idiots

It has been said that the internet is comprised of 100 million geniuses and 300 million idiots. (This is a great quote I was told a coworker of mine said. Context not important.)

Whatever you think of the internet, it is made up of millions of people’s output. Some of these minds are sane, some are not, and the levels of intelligence vary. But that’s ok! Because the whole “thing” is quite interesting because of it.

I remember quite well when I was a teenager and had gotten access to some internet chat rooms via Telnet. Then, I made it to college and used the Lynx browser to browse the very limited amount of information on the baby internet.

Around 1995 or 1996, I was making rudimentary web pages and had a fairly good idea of what sites were out there. Then the whole thing exploded, just like the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Well, not quite the same as that – but just as messy.)

Now, I like to (from time to time) type in random words (in search engines) and see what I get. Sometimes I find very cool stuff. Like today I typed in “plep” and found this site. On this site are a gazillion links to weird, interesting and cool stuff.

Sometimes I use StumbleUpon to find random cool stuff. Sometimes I browse Reddit.

But all of this would be unimaginable ten years ago. The sheer volume of information out there is too much for one person to ever be able to absorb. And how’d we get such a cool environment?

By the efforts of a bunch of geniuses and idiots. Not bad work!

Are Closet Commies Running America?

In recent times, you may have heard accusations against our president and even some other members of our government which charge them as being “Communists”, “Fascists”, or (most often) “Socialists”. Of course, none of the accused has ever replied, “Why, yes! I am a socialist. Anything wrong with that?” nor has anyone ever said “ok, you caught me”.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some “closet socialists” or real live geniune commies in positions of power. In fact, I’d be surprised if there weren’t at least a few. Nevertheless, there are some die-hards who will never even consider such a possibility and who believe the only thing wrong with America is Republicans.

You gotta admire people like that. They have such strong faith.

Now, one of the things wrong with America is the Republican party and its staff of loyalists who will die for their clique. But they have nothing on the Democrats – some of the most blindly loyal and…well, just plain blind people you may ever be able to witness, anywhere ever.

Here’s the thing: unfailing loyalty to a party is unwise. And unquestioning belief in the goodness of people is naive. And accepting everything for what it appears to be is just plain stupid.

Like I said, I would be surprised if there weren’t at least a few actual Communists and Socialists and other types of “-ists” secretly posing as Democrats or (almost as likely) as Republicans. If there are such people in the world, they have no qualms about simple lying, don’t you think? (As it is, that’s what politicians seem to do best.)

Because of the pure likelihood and (dare I say) logic that there would be at least a few Communists within the ranks of our government leaders, I will go out on a (short) limb and say something that might sound a bit kooky: closet Commies are running America. There! That was fun.

However, I have no idea who they are – and I’m not about to go accusing people of something so serious. If they do things that are things Communists do, then fine. “By their fruits ye shall know them.” We can only blame ourselves for not recognizin’.

As for myself, I will pledge loyalty to no party and to no man. I only pledge loyalty to just principles, sound policies, and the highest ideal of all – liberty for all men. If we lived by the words of our Constitution and held our government to the same, we wouldn’t have to wonder if our president might or might not be a socialist.

We would be strong enough as a people to not be threatened by such a weak ideology.

Ron Paul, the Thinking Man’s Politician

It used to be that people had a general distrust of politicians. At least, that’s the impression and the memory I have of our past. The politician jokes were right up there with the lawyer jokes. But lately, I haven’t seen so much of that. It seems the Politician has become (somehow) an honorable profession!

Ok, before I try to make my own politician jokes, I’ll stop. But seriously take a look around: people have become mindlessly loyal to their “team” and their team’s leader.

Take President Obama, for instance. People you would normally think were intelligent act like giddy schoolgirls with President Obama. They stop short of explaining it to you (“Hi there. I support President Obama, and I’ve decided to throw objective thinking out the window. Listen to me as I tell you how wonderful he is…oh, and did I mention how loyal I am?”) before telling you how wrong you are for not agreeing.

Look, I know they want to be liberal and I know they want to be seen as progressive and I know they want to be seen as being on the winning team…but Obama just isn’t cool anymore, dudes. (Sadly, that might be the only thing I can probably say that will get their attention.)

What’s cool, now, is Sense. And actual Facts. And Truth. Oh yeah and Liberty. And let’s not forget good ‘ol Sanity.

I just got back from seeing Congressman Ron Paul speak, here in New Orleans (at Loyola University). Lest you think I am no better than the Obama-ites I just poked fun at, please get ahold of yourself and read on for a minute. I’d like to invite any and everyone to consider what Mr. Paul has to tell us, as Americans. (Oh, did we forget that we’re in this thing together, and we aren’t just “Democrat” or “Republican” or “Conservative” or “Liberal”? That’s right, we should all remember we have something higher in common, and that’s our citizenship and our country. Not our partisan affiliation!)

Congressman Paul deserves to be listened to, at least to be heard and considered. He’s honestly one of the only (if not the only) politician I’ve ever listened to and watched who seems like it would be hard to scandalize or mock. The man simply seems to have integrity, honesty, and wisdom – and I find it hard to even think of an objection to those things. It’s a shame that a man like this is the exception rather than the rule.

Anyway, in listening to him tonight, I heard a lot of sense. Not just, “Hey that’s pretty good. I might think about that,” but rather a lot of “ohmygosh it makes total sense when you put it like that” and “zowie” and also I think I had a moment where I said “jeepers”. But at the end of it all, I was inspired and had a greater clarity of thinking.

Here are some random distillations of what I took away from Dr. Paul’s lecture:

• Liberty is the most essential aspect of a prosperous society. The best type of society is one in which the people are moral AND have liberty. Ideally a society would defend liberty, and the people would show each other compassion.
• We should not fight unjust wars.
• The Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) has thus far been unaccountable, and should be held accountable for it’s practices. (i.e. the Fed should be audited; we have the right to know its dealings as citizens)
• Personal responsibility is essential. Everyone should be personally responsible for their actions. The government is not responsible for people’s failures, or for supporting them.
• Because of 40-60 years of devaluing our currency, our dollar is worth very little now. We’re living on borrowed time, and our currency is doomed to fail without changes in our monetary system.
• One of the important things for us to avoid is becoming partisan. Partisan politics is harmful.
• Eventually, people will simply leave the mainstream economy if our government continues to weight us down with their failed economic policies and heavy taxation. The underground or gray market will be where people go to survive.

There was a lot he said that I can’t say quite as well, and I wish I took notes. But if you’re the least bit interested in his ideas (which are shared by many people before him, and many people since) you can of course easily find him all over YouTube and elsewhere on the net.

I will attempt to re-evaluate my thinking and hopefully come to some clearer thoughts on what I really beleive about my society, and I’m glad Ron Paul is in the public eye and that he’s on a mission to challenge the status quo and bring new ideas to our corrupt, controlled quagmire of government.

Thank God for Ron Paul.

Norm Macdonald Rules (Usually)

I stayed up late last night. Normally, I don’t stay up much longer than half-past-ten. But last night was special, because my TV listing guide told me Norm Macdonald was appearing on Conan – and I happen to be a huge fan.

So I stayed up, and waited. I watched Conan’s monlogue. I saw the ultra-cuteness of “puppies dressed as kittens”. I sat through commercial breaks. All the while, just waiting for Norm.

Why all the fuss, you ask? There are many reasons. Norm Macdonald was one of the first stand-up comedians I can remember watching on TV. Later, he was on Saturday Night Live and it’s been said that Chevy Chase complemented Norm as being the only other guy who did the Weekend Update “right”. I just like Norm. The man is unique, and quirky, and makes me laugh.

Oh yeah. He’s sorta mean, and acts like he doesn’t care. So he might be a bit of an acquired taste. But here’s an example of what I think is “funny” Norm Macdonald:

In fact, he’s appeared on Conan a few times. But that particular clip is my favorite. No other appearance has been as funny. (And that wasn’t even supposed to be his segment.)

Which brings me to last night. It was not the best. In fact it wasn’t even halfway as good as some of his other talk-show appearances. And Norm was unusually mean and boorish toward Thomas Hayden Church (who I think of as a nice guy, and funny in his own right).

Anyway, I loved seeing another appearance of Norm and hope next time is better!

The Girl Who Cried “Rascist”

The other day, I was having a conversation with a couple. We were discussing the two subjects my grandpa always told me not to discuss: politics, and religion. Great fun! You can learn so much about someone when you talk about those two things.

I learned, for instance, that she thought the proposed U.S. government takeover of the health care system was a great idea. He did not think so, but was resigned to it happening eventually – no matter what. The conversation eventually came around to the subject of President Obama.

It was time for us to get personal. So I threw something out there to see who would pick it up.  “I read that the President’s approval ratings are the lowest they’ve ever been. Why do you think that is?”

Stop right here, and imagine the scene. I’m standing with a couple in their early thirties. The couple is a black woman and a white man. Each of them alone has more income than the average U.S. household. They both are intelligent and fairly aware of current events. Okay, now let’s see what they think…

“It’s because he’s black,” they both asserted.

I looked at them as they nodded their heads and looked to each other in agreement. It was touching, to see this perfect couple so together, backing each other up in their opinion. They were so cute. I felt sorry for them, though.

“You believe that half of America doesn’t approve of the President…”

Yes, we believe the CNN poll…

“…and you’re telling me that those people do not approve of him because he’s black.”

Yes.

“You’re serious?”

Sure. What’s the problem?

“All of those people are rascist? The people who oppose the President are all rascists? That’s what you think.”

Yeah. They’re rascists.

It was one of those moments where all one can do is look uncomfortably away and say “oooooh-kaaaaaay…..”, because when confronted with that kind of argument, there’s no come-back and no intelligent retort. Once someone claims rascism, the other party can’t win the argument. I know I sure wouldn’t “win”, meaning there was no way I could convince her to think critically.

Now, don’t get me wrong: she didn’t actually win, and she wasn’t correct. At least, she has no facts to back up what she’s saying, and she has no reason to come to the conclusion she came to. In fact, there’s plenty of evidence out there that would tell her why people oppose President Obama – such as blog posts, forums, news interviews, magazine articles, and just talking with people. She would learn that people have reasons, and those reasons come from facts or beleifs, and that very few people actually cite race as a prime reason (or even as ANY factor) in their opinion of the President’s performance.

So what did I learn from all this? I learned that some people really do believe things I could never imagine actually believing. And if this kind of ignorance exists, then I suppose this couple has to be correct and their rascist counterparts also exist.

I do not believe the majority of those who oppose our President are rascist, however. Statistically, that would encompass too large a percentage of people for me to live in at least a semi-sane world (which I think I do). Additionally, there are plenty of valid reasons for political debate (and have been, for centuries) – and the President’s ethnicity has never seriously been brought up for discussion in any of the fora I’ve seen, read, or been a part of.

In the backwoods of Louisiana, I’m sure there’s a larger percentage than there are in downtown L.A. that are just plain rascist. All over America, there are people who have ignorant, unfounded, bigoted points of view.

But to label anyone who opposed the President’s policies or performance as rascist? That’s just as ignorant, unfounded, and bigoted.

We need to grow up in this country. We need to deal in facts. And we need to stop name-calling, and begin thinking.

My Big Seattle Breakfast

I like diners. Every time I enter a new city, I look around for the most old-school, old-timey, greasy spoon diner I can find.

Not many cities have them any more, but every once in a while I find one that’s o.k., or maybe even good.

When I was recently in Seattle, I entered “food quest” mode and looked up the best diner in the city (on Google). The search results led me to one of the most old-school (as in circe 1997), crappiest websites I’d ever seen.

“This is actually a good sign,” I surmised. “Being that they’ve obviously neglected their website, one can only come to the conclusion that they’ve been too busy serving hungry customers to even care.”

Supposedly, this place called “Beth’s Diner” was halfway decent and has been featured on various food shows.

[Let's pause. A sidenote about food shows: I hate them. They always come on late at night, and I watch them as they eat their tantalizing meals and I have nothing to eat in the house. If I'm fortunate, maybe some stale Cap'n Crunch that will rip the roof of my mouth to shreds. But never the things they're showing me on the T.V.]

I made a point to travel to Beth’s. I got there early, but no matter – Beth’s serves their 6- and 12- egg omelettes 24/7. Bulla! (That’s “boo-ya” for you modern people.)

Immediately when I entered, I was greeted by my waitress. Her name was “Cat-Head”. Think about this.

Cat-Head suggested a seat – “Sit anywhere you want” – so I did.

Have you ever made a bad seating choice? Have you ever had to eat in a restaurant, alone? Either of those is bad enough; both are unpleasant when paired together. I chose to sit facing an old man at the opposite booth. I had nothing to read, and nowhere to look except straight ahead, so I looked at the walls in an effort to not make creepy eye contact with him.

In retrospect, I should have probably just stared at him. That would’ve been fun. Cat-Head probably wouldn’t have thought anything of it, since her name was “Cat-Head” after all.

“Whaddya have?” she asked, this lithe ageless woman who appeared to perhaps belong in some kind of “alternative” band or whatnot.

“Um, I’ll have the 6-egg omelet. The ham & cheese one,” I answered – knowing that I normally only ate mere 2-egg omelettes and this one was supposedly “as big as my head” according to the menu.

The omelette came. I ate perhaps only a third of it. However, it was nowhere near as big as my head. Definitely, it weighed less – I read once that a human brain averages about ten pounds, and this dish was maybe only three or four pounds. So they lie at Beth’s.

Overall, the service that Cat-Head provided was only o.k. But I really wasn’t about to hold her to the high standards of someone with a name like…I don’t know…not the name of an animal’s head.

So, what’s the lesson here? It’s simple: try diners. You never know what you’ll experience.