This is the faux intellectualism we are faced with today in America.
People who in trying to APPEAR intelligent, who wish to believe in their superiority, in their conflated intelligence, who may indeed seem and in general may even be smart people, still do not have the depth of mind, experience (or energy apparently) to see (or look) into a situation and NOT say:
"Well let's hear the other side of this, we don't know the other side."
Sounds typically reasonable, right? Well, not always to be sure.
Sometimes that statement merely points out how ignorant if not outright stupid we can be. I've certainly known people like that. In point of fact, we now even have a president who is the ultimate purveyor of such nonsense (one might even suspect "Nonsense" could be his middle name).
Everyone wants to think they are brilliant and yet at times, when no one is watching, you can see them if not metaphorically then physically walk themselves into a door frame. Apparently they are fully unable to hit the space between the doorway's borders. More often metaphorically, if you watch and listen carefully. Though many times anymore, not even carefully.
Some make these repeated faux pas simply because, though they may have booksmarts, they certainly seem to lack any sense of streetsmarts. There is simply no depth to them, no natural or learned sense of reality. At times even in the most simple of things and situations. And their followers, follow along, as if mesmerized by a pied piper of political absurdities.
In 1982 Billy Wilder on the Dick Cavett show spoke of two interesting things. More only two, but two that I'm mentioning here.
One was how a friend of his went to see the play, The Diary of Anne Frank with a younger American friend.
Afterward the man said to this younger friend, "Can you imagine such things can happen?" To which his friend replied exactly and as I mentioned above, "Well let's hear the other side of this, we don't know the other side." Seriously? How uneducated or unintelligent does one have to be to make such a statement?
We have been hearing this same exact mindset from our American (supremacist?) right so much anymore and so sadly about white supremacists, right wing bigots and racists, and about authoritarianism and authoritarians, about Donald Trump, his family his klan.
The other thing was Wilder being asked how Jews in Berlin could possibly have stayed when they actually saw for themselves what the Nazis were doing to their friends and neighbors in dragging them away. Was it because they believed it couldn't happen there in the country of such great thought and giants of human culture?
And yet, it did. Could it now happen elsewhere too? Could it?
It is a sobering thing to consider. For we are there, now.
#POTUS #realDonaldTrump #GOP #Republican #Conservative #NeoNazis
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Monday, December 25, 2017
A Christmas Reflection
Merry Christmas! May we all ever better mind our own business!
Walk with me a moment.
Yes, an atheist and a Buddhist of my own orientation, I can certainly celebrate Christmas. Especially having been raised with it as a Catholic. After all it was something that started out as a pagan celebration and was blended with Christmas and Christianity by the Catholic church in order to assimilate those pagan's lands they wished to acquire.
It certainly can be a pagan or secular holiday, too and has become one more and more anyway. And no we don't have to remember what it's roots are in order to celebrate it. But, it is wise to do so for several reasons.
Odd, I know. But true enough.
We can easily use it as a positive reason to treat one another with respect and love without needing to bring a deity into it. A strange consideration for a theist of that particular denomination but hey, there it is.
I think Jesus might just be more accepting of that than many want to believe, or his followers could accept.
Moses? Probably not so much either.. But then, he was a kind of an Old Testament sort of guy.
Muhammad? Well, let's face it. He had some pretty weird ideas and wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack and pretty much the same with anyone believing in all that.
I suppose Jesus had some odd ideas himself but he wasn't actually the one who turned his beliefs into magic. He wasn't the Buddha surely, but then according to the Dalai Lama, Jesus himself was a Buddha. And he taught some basic Buddhist beliefs in order to alter Judaism.
Perhaps Mohammed too was a Buddha, though I have my doubts on that.
Jesus had that need to blend with Judaism and the old Testament in order to build change into the nonsense he had grown up and into. Teachings that weren't so ridiculous back then before the advent of refrigeration and other advancements. Though he did as I said, incorporate elements of the Buddha Dharma to create his new Judaism (later, Christianity) and well, that was a very good thing.
But let's face it. In simply reading the record...we have Mohammed on the bottom, then Moses, Jesus and finally and foremost, Buddha, from least to most. It doesn't take a genius to see that's the order. Sad? Perhaps. But reality can be difficult. And besides, that is to be expected since Gautama Buddha, Siddhartha, was the best educated and least superstitious of all of them.
Still it matters little as all their legacies have been abused and subverted by some or many. It is after all what you pick and choose to believe. Sad as that is. It is much like trying to decide which is the best martial art. A foolish endeavor and does no one much good, for it is all about how you use what knowledge you have chosen, how you apply it, that is most important.
It isn't because I understand Buddha (not his descendants, not his followers, but The Buddha), makes more sense than all the rest of them combined. Consider, Jesus in his life had access to the teachings of the Buddha from travelers, if not from his own. He incorporated those teachings into Judaism and tweaked it so it worked to lead Jews into a more sane belief system. Just as Catholicism centuries later would incorporate paganism into their beliefs in order to assimilate new tribes and beliefs as they infected their world. These aren't wild beliefs. Just reality and history.
I read, I discussed, debated and analyzed and that's how it panned out. Look, don't get mad at me. If God supported anyone of those guys (and I don't think he does, or exists for that matter), then He would have made it quite obvious who was on top. Not much more to say after that, is there....
Yet that's not really what is important here, though. No, really. It's not.
First... allow me to wish you and yours a happy holiday season. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, a cheery whatever you wish you want to enjoy and celebrate at this winter solstice time.
But what is all this really? Let's lay off for a moment with what history, reality and tradition tell us and just think about what actually is.
You see, there is after all, magic in life.
It isn't the magic of religion or Gods or what we wished (or fear) exists. It's the magic of Humanity. Though we're mostly too humble to allow ourselves to accept that. As vain and greedy, terrified in the face of the universe and life as we are, we are still too humble to accept that we are it. That this is it. All of it.
Isn't that odd?
There is a movie that exemplifies what I'm trying to say here. A 2011 film with one of my favorite entertainers in it, Eddie Izzard. The film is Lost Christmas. It's not about religion but the magic that is Life. And if that doesn't work, here's some others who can explain Christmas a little better.
In life, we have who we have and the memories we have with them. We also have what we believe we will have and those memories that we will then have with them, whomever "they" will be. What we leave, after we no longer exist, really isn't what we will have ourselves at all. Though sometimes we act like it, but it is really what others will have after we are no longer there.
So all we really have is ourselves, our others, our memories. Then we're simply gone and it's the end.
It is hard for many to contemplate dying, or not existing. We don't relate to it as humans. And so we have invented ways, som rather bizarre ways, in our ancient ignorance to deal with it. Okay.
So now let's take a step beyond that and talk about....
Religion and Guns.
No, really, bear with me a moment longer.
Believe it or not, there is something familiar there between those two things.
I'm going to tell you a secret. Something people need to share. Something people need to not keep quiet about. In fact if you need one thing in life to shout to the world, this would be it.
Those who want to spread the "word" will tell you otherwise, but that is from their inside out. Possibly your inside out, too. But that is dysfunctional. It is dangerous. It is against the need of the many, the need of all. Here it is.
Do not share your religion with everyone. Please. Keep it to yourself. Share it with others of a like mind. Offer to those who inquire of you about it. And let that be it. For the benefit of us all. Be open to sharing. But be quiet about forcing the issue on others. You're only doing yourself and your beliefs a disservice. And a disservice to all the rest of us. Regardless what you religion or leaders tell you. Especially in the money grubbing super churches and many of the evangelical corporate thinking type endeavors.
Evangelicism being one of the great banes America has infected the world and our nation with.
Although some of us do believe you should be ashamed to share your "faith" in these beliefs you hold, with anyone, you are welcome in my world to live your life as you see fit, to pursue happiness for the most part, as you see fit. This is America, still, and hopefully we will survive Trump and his minions.
And so everyone is welcome to their own delusions which we all have. Just be aware, if you bring down our most basic ideals of freedom in the name of a faux freedom as designed by the greedy now in charge, you will eliminate not on that freedom but your right to your own personal delusions. In religion, in everything.
And you will have to begin to believe in what those in power want you to believe. Much as Trump is doing now, in forcing fakeness and diatribe upon us all in order to enrich both himself and his cohorts.
With only this exception.
For the good of all you should wear your faith under your coat, not on your sleeve for all to see. Signs of your Faith, quiet signs like jewelry, is fine. But the vocal part, you should wear just as you should wear your gun under your coat and out of sight. If you have a gun, and want to carry it around.
Though better it is best for all for you to leave it at home. Rather than forcing force by vigilante actions, force the government to apply funding and resources to protect us properly. THAT is a far better way. Hold our representatives to task to protect us so we do not have to protect ourselves to the degree tha is now perceived, many times incorrectly, but so many. And so many whoa re ignorant and believe whatever their favorite pundits say.
Faith extremists will tell you to preach the word to all and any! Spread the word to assure the continuation of your addiction! Shove your beliefs down the throat of any and all because your God demands it!
But no. That is the way of the immature.
As in religion they will say, propagate, raise your children up with your religion. Force religion down the throat of all humanity until they have no choice but to be subjugated to whatever your choice of religion is and to Hell with all others! Because they become indeed then, The Others.
But that is from within. Don't you see?
From without, from within the whole of humanity, we are many and varied. Diversity is good. But delusion not based in reality is of late, endemic and dangerous and could bring about our own demise.
We need therefore to coexist in order to be, together. That means we need to allow others to seek their faith as they see it. Even when it seems foolish or anti to your religion. Because your religion (even if it's guns) may seem anti to theirs.
Maybe you're right. Maybe, they're right. Because, what if you're wrong? But then, your religion doesn't allow for that, does it? Would it? No, because that is the design of religion in the first place. Isn't it.
And that is fine, I suppose. Mostly. For now.
I would say that in today's world it has now reached a point where we need to kill those who push their beliefs on others so that those who do not, who live to allow others their lives and beliefs, can be the ones in the end to survive and prosper.
Because we do not need those who will push their beliefs on others. Besides it will only, counterintuitively lead to the demise of those who are most obnoxious and pushy. As religion is on the decline globally anyway. It just seems like it's growing because any animal dying and in a corner, becomes louder and more dangerous, until it's dead.
For they are the troglodytes, those who push the ancient and archaic mythologies as reality. The proto humans who need to die off so the evolved humans can survive to propagate and replace them.
Just as children one day finally need to leave their childhood selves behind so that they too can become adults.
We all need to grow. But we do not all need to make others into our own image. Even if we believe that is the image of our God. We need... to all live together. Together in ways that will allow us all to live and prosper and be happy. Together.
And those who do not believe that?
They need to find their end. Quickly. And if they cannot then they need, they are asking us for, our help to end them in their difficult journey.
Hard words, right? Well? Life is hard. But it doesn't have to be. Global warming is real. To think that "God will save us" or "God will fix it", is ludicrous and childish.
We don't need to be making it any harder. Regardless what our beliefs are. We just need to get along. Believe what you will, but remember to treat others with respect and leave the judging to your God. Because if you don't believe your God will judge them, then you do not believe in your God. So either way...stop being demeaning to others.
So, a cheery winter's solstice to you and may you be happy and may you leave others alone, when they need it.
Sláinte!
Walk with me a moment.
Yes, an atheist and a Buddhist of my own orientation, I can certainly celebrate Christmas. Especially having been raised with it as a Catholic. After all it was something that started out as a pagan celebration and was blended with Christmas and Christianity by the Catholic church in order to assimilate those pagan's lands they wished to acquire.
It certainly can be a pagan or secular holiday, too and has become one more and more anyway. And no we don't have to remember what it's roots are in order to celebrate it. But, it is wise to do so for several reasons.
Odd, I know. But true enough.
We can easily use it as a positive reason to treat one another with respect and love without needing to bring a deity into it. A strange consideration for a theist of that particular denomination but hey, there it is.
I think Jesus might just be more accepting of that than many want to believe, or his followers could accept.
Moses? Probably not so much either.. But then, he was a kind of an Old Testament sort of guy.
Muhammad? Well, let's face it. He had some pretty weird ideas and wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack and pretty much the same with anyone believing in all that.
I suppose Jesus had some odd ideas himself but he wasn't actually the one who turned his beliefs into magic. He wasn't the Buddha surely, but then according to the Dalai Lama, Jesus himself was a Buddha. And he taught some basic Buddhist beliefs in order to alter Judaism.
Perhaps Mohammed too was a Buddha, though I have my doubts on that.
Jesus had that need to blend with Judaism and the old Testament in order to build change into the nonsense he had grown up and into. Teachings that weren't so ridiculous back then before the advent of refrigeration and other advancements. Though he did as I said, incorporate elements of the Buddha Dharma to create his new Judaism (later, Christianity) and well, that was a very good thing.
But let's face it. In simply reading the record...we have Mohammed on the bottom, then Moses, Jesus and finally and foremost, Buddha, from least to most. It doesn't take a genius to see that's the order. Sad? Perhaps. But reality can be difficult. And besides, that is to be expected since Gautama Buddha, Siddhartha, was the best educated and least superstitious of all of them.
Still it matters little as all their legacies have been abused and subverted by some or many. It is after all what you pick and choose to believe. Sad as that is. It is much like trying to decide which is the best martial art. A foolish endeavor and does no one much good, for it is all about how you use what knowledge you have chosen, how you apply it, that is most important.
It isn't because I understand Buddha (not his descendants, not his followers, but The Buddha), makes more sense than all the rest of them combined. Consider, Jesus in his life had access to the teachings of the Buddha from travelers, if not from his own. He incorporated those teachings into Judaism and tweaked it so it worked to lead Jews into a more sane belief system. Just as Catholicism centuries later would incorporate paganism into their beliefs in order to assimilate new tribes and beliefs as they infected their world. These aren't wild beliefs. Just reality and history.
I read, I discussed, debated and analyzed and that's how it panned out. Look, don't get mad at me. If God supported anyone of those guys (and I don't think he does, or exists for that matter), then He would have made it quite obvious who was on top. Not much more to say after that, is there....
Yet that's not really what is important here, though. No, really. It's not.
First... allow me to wish you and yours a happy holiday season. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, a cheery whatever you wish you want to enjoy and celebrate at this winter solstice time.
But what is all this really? Let's lay off for a moment with what history, reality and tradition tell us and just think about what actually is.
You see, there is after all, magic in life.
It isn't the magic of religion or Gods or what we wished (or fear) exists. It's the magic of Humanity. Though we're mostly too humble to allow ourselves to accept that. As vain and greedy, terrified in the face of the universe and life as we are, we are still too humble to accept that we are it. That this is it. All of it.
Isn't that odd?
There is a movie that exemplifies what I'm trying to say here. A 2011 film with one of my favorite entertainers in it, Eddie Izzard. The film is Lost Christmas. It's not about religion but the magic that is Life. And if that doesn't work, here's some others who can explain Christmas a little better.
In life, we have who we have and the memories we have with them. We also have what we believe we will have and those memories that we will then have with them, whomever "they" will be. What we leave, after we no longer exist, really isn't what we will have ourselves at all. Though sometimes we act like it, but it is really what others will have after we are no longer there.
So all we really have is ourselves, our others, our memories. Then we're simply gone and it's the end.
It is hard for many to contemplate dying, or not existing. We don't relate to it as humans. And so we have invented ways, som rather bizarre ways, in our ancient ignorance to deal with it. Okay.
So now let's take a step beyond that and talk about....
Religion and Guns.
No, really, bear with me a moment longer.
Believe it or not, there is something familiar there between those two things.
I'm going to tell you a secret. Something people need to share. Something people need to not keep quiet about. In fact if you need one thing in life to shout to the world, this would be it.
Those who want to spread the "word" will tell you otherwise, but that is from their inside out. Possibly your inside out, too. But that is dysfunctional. It is dangerous. It is against the need of the many, the need of all. Here it is.
Do not share your religion with everyone. Please. Keep it to yourself. Share it with others of a like mind. Offer to those who inquire of you about it. And let that be it. For the benefit of us all. Be open to sharing. But be quiet about forcing the issue on others. You're only doing yourself and your beliefs a disservice. And a disservice to all the rest of us. Regardless what you religion or leaders tell you. Especially in the money grubbing super churches and many of the evangelical corporate thinking type endeavors.
Evangelicism being one of the great banes America has infected the world and our nation with.
Although some of us do believe you should be ashamed to share your "faith" in these beliefs you hold, with anyone, you are welcome in my world to live your life as you see fit, to pursue happiness for the most part, as you see fit. This is America, still, and hopefully we will survive Trump and his minions.
And so everyone is welcome to their own delusions which we all have. Just be aware, if you bring down our most basic ideals of freedom in the name of a faux freedom as designed by the greedy now in charge, you will eliminate not on that freedom but your right to your own personal delusions. In religion, in everything.
And you will have to begin to believe in what those in power want you to believe. Much as Trump is doing now, in forcing fakeness and diatribe upon us all in order to enrich both himself and his cohorts.
With only this exception.
For the good of all you should wear your faith under your coat, not on your sleeve for all to see. Signs of your Faith, quiet signs like jewelry, is fine. But the vocal part, you should wear just as you should wear your gun under your coat and out of sight. If you have a gun, and want to carry it around.
Though better it is best for all for you to leave it at home. Rather than forcing force by vigilante actions, force the government to apply funding and resources to protect us properly. THAT is a far better way. Hold our representatives to task to protect us so we do not have to protect ourselves to the degree tha is now perceived, many times incorrectly, but so many. And so many whoa re ignorant and believe whatever their favorite pundits say.
Faith extremists will tell you to preach the word to all and any! Spread the word to assure the continuation of your addiction! Shove your beliefs down the throat of any and all because your God demands it!
But no. That is the way of the immature.
As in religion they will say, propagate, raise your children up with your religion. Force religion down the throat of all humanity until they have no choice but to be subjugated to whatever your choice of religion is and to Hell with all others! Because they become indeed then, The Others.
But that is from within. Don't you see?
From without, from within the whole of humanity, we are many and varied. Diversity is good. But delusion not based in reality is of late, endemic and dangerous and could bring about our own demise.
We need therefore to coexist in order to be, together. That means we need to allow others to seek their faith as they see it. Even when it seems foolish or anti to your religion. Because your religion (even if it's guns) may seem anti to theirs.
Maybe you're right. Maybe, they're right. Because, what if you're wrong? But then, your religion doesn't allow for that, does it? Would it? No, because that is the design of religion in the first place. Isn't it.
And that is fine, I suppose. Mostly. For now.
I would say that in today's world it has now reached a point where we need to kill those who push their beliefs on others so that those who do not, who live to allow others their lives and beliefs, can be the ones in the end to survive and prosper.
Because we do not need those who will push their beliefs on others. Besides it will only, counterintuitively lead to the demise of those who are most obnoxious and pushy. As religion is on the decline globally anyway. It just seems like it's growing because any animal dying and in a corner, becomes louder and more dangerous, until it's dead.
For they are the troglodytes, those who push the ancient and archaic mythologies as reality. The proto humans who need to die off so the evolved humans can survive to propagate and replace them.
Just as children one day finally need to leave their childhood selves behind so that they too can become adults.
We all need to grow. But we do not all need to make others into our own image. Even if we believe that is the image of our God. We need... to all live together. Together in ways that will allow us all to live and prosper and be happy. Together.
And those who do not believe that?
They need to find their end. Quickly. And if they cannot then they need, they are asking us for, our help to end them in their difficult journey.
Hard words, right? Well? Life is hard. But it doesn't have to be. Global warming is real. To think that "God will save us" or "God will fix it", is ludicrous and childish.
We don't need to be making it any harder. Regardless what our beliefs are. We just need to get along. Believe what you will, but remember to treat others with respect and leave the judging to your God. Because if you don't believe your God will judge them, then you do not believe in your God. So either way...stop being demeaning to others.
So, a cheery winter's solstice to you and may you be happy and may you leave others alone, when they need it.
Sláinte!
I wish you all the best, the best of Life, Memories and the after...for your others.
One last thing....treat one another as if all you know was:
And you only have, one another.
Finally....
One last thing....treat one another as if all you know was:
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Special Post: US Government UFO Program Sightings
Hopefully this fascinating news release isn't just another #realDonaldTrump / #GOP distraction, cuz the timing is amazing.
The most important thing this former government official says in this interview about the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) is:
"A lot of times when we don't have information we tend to fill in those gaps with what we think is logical. And there's still by the way, a lot we really don't know."
And that, is how we get conservatives, Republicans, and nutty conspiracy theorists.
Just become it seems like it could be something has little bearing on what it actually is. In studying espionage over the years, and that is a good example of UFO studies, you see things that aren't there, and you don't see things that are there. Also, viewing in hindsight is very different from viewing in foresight, or actual eye witness accounts supported by facts (remember facts? I so miss facts in public discourse).
What we have discovered in #UFO sightings, that is, and listen to how he describes in an intelligent way, what he is discussing, it is left open for other unconsidered possibilities, many of them benign.
Aside from weather balloons, swamp gas, or aliens (extraterrestrials), our own experimental aircraft and drones (which have been sighted and labeled UFOs), we could be seeing natural phenomena explained by physics dealing with little known natural phenomena (interdimensional coalingments), rather than aliens from other planets, it could be us, from our own future, it could be others stepping through into this universe (so pan dimensional, not extraterrestrial), other things, or things we haven't even considered, thought of or known about.
Yes, it could be extraterrestrials. But we've remained too focused on that as an answer due to our own, especially public mindset.
IS someone visiting us and why? Perhaps they have monitored our insanity at putting Trump in office as president and they finally decided we really needed to be saved from ourselves.
Or perhaps it is exactly what some people fear. IS it yet another distraction from Trump, from government officials distracting from Trump and Republicans, or somehow from Russia interference to distract us yet again? Odd coincidence of timeframe.
The point here is, don't be so closed minded. Zanshen, total awareness, and not closed minded considerations. Some conspiracy types think how they don't want to look stupid because they don't "see" what is "really" going on. When that is typically exactly what they do.
And if it IS just aliens? So far, they don't seem to be interested in contacting us overtly. They haven't taken us over (unless they are running the Republican party (a group pretty alien and apparently anti Human after all). Yes, I jest (somewhat) about Republicans and even some conservatives (not so much about Trump, nothing like letting an idiot lead).
Anyway, try not to be stupid in trying to be "smart".
And also, this...and this from a Navy pilot.
The most important thing this former government official says in this interview about the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) is:
"A lot of times when we don't have information we tend to fill in those gaps with what we think is logical. And there's still by the way, a lot we really don't know."
And that, is how we get conservatives, Republicans, and nutty conspiracy theorists.
Just become it seems like it could be something has little bearing on what it actually is. In studying espionage over the years, and that is a good example of UFO studies, you see things that aren't there, and you don't see things that are there. Also, viewing in hindsight is very different from viewing in foresight, or actual eye witness accounts supported by facts (remember facts? I so miss facts in public discourse).
What we have discovered in #UFO sightings, that is, and listen to how he describes in an intelligent way, what he is discussing, it is left open for other unconsidered possibilities, many of them benign.
Aside from weather balloons, swamp gas, or aliens (extraterrestrials), our own experimental aircraft and drones (which have been sighted and labeled UFOs), we could be seeing natural phenomena explained by physics dealing with little known natural phenomena (interdimensional coalingments), rather than aliens from other planets, it could be us, from our own future, it could be others stepping through into this universe (so pan dimensional, not extraterrestrial), other things, or things we haven't even considered, thought of or known about.
Yes, it could be extraterrestrials. But we've remained too focused on that as an answer due to our own, especially public mindset.
IS someone visiting us and why? Perhaps they have monitored our insanity at putting Trump in office as president and they finally decided we really needed to be saved from ourselves.
Or perhaps it is exactly what some people fear. IS it yet another distraction from Trump, from government officials distracting from Trump and Republicans, or somehow from Russia interference to distract us yet again? Odd coincidence of timeframe.
The point here is, don't be so closed minded. Zanshen, total awareness, and not closed minded considerations. Some conspiracy types think how they don't want to look stupid because they don't "see" what is "really" going on. When that is typically exactly what they do.
And if it IS just aliens? So far, they don't seem to be interested in contacting us overtly. They haven't taken us over (unless they are running the Republican party (a group pretty alien and apparently anti Human after all). Yes, I jest (somewhat) about Republicans and even some conservatives (not so much about Trump, nothing like letting an idiot lead).
Anyway, try not to be stupid in trying to be "smart".
And also, this...and this from a Navy pilot.
Monday, December 18, 2017
The Beatles 1966 Concert in Seattle at The Coliseum
I recently watched the Ron Howard documentary, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years (2016). If you're into that sort of thing also consider the new two part documentary, Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge. A fascinating documentary about an important American magazine on American culture.
Okay, back to The Beatles....
In the beginning it is stated that this may be the first time the remaining Beatles have ever actually heard what they sounded like in concert from those years. I can definitively say I fully understand what that means. The sound in the concerts in the film are excellent and a far cry from what my slightly older sister and I heard when we saw them ourselves in Seattle at The Coliseum (now called, Key Arena), August 25, 1966.
They had been to Seattle in 1964 which was famously documented and covered by the media.
When I saw them I was in sixth grade. My sister was in ninth.
As I understand it, my older brother had tickets but heard no one could really hear the music over the screaming girls at other venues, so he didn't want to go. And so my sister got the tickets and I got asked. I was beside myself in not only going to such a grown up thing (and I was surprised when I arrived I was more grown up than most of the audience), but also to actually get to see the Beatles!.
I remember the place being packed with screaming girls. We were on the left of stage mid way up above and I seem to remember the banister right before us. So lower mid level or lower upper level. But we could see them well enough though I wouldn't have wanted to have been any further away either.
I had my ticket stub until a couple of decades ago when I realized that I had the wrong end of the stub and it had no indication on it whatsoever so I tossed it.
What |I remember most is The Beatles coming on stage and the girls screaming. My sister leaned over and complained that if the girls would stop screaming we could actually hear them play. We were both upset that we came to hear a concert and we weren't getting to.
I looked around me and I didn't see a girl not screaming. My sister was sitting there like me, steaming over not hearing the band well. If I listened closely, I could just make out what song they were playing, but not consistently throughout the song.
I remember noticing the size of their amps. Simply not sufficient for this sized venue. See, my sister and our older brother had a band themselves, Cindy and the Barons, in Tacoma, WA. I was used to band practice every Thursday night from 7:30PM to 10PM (curfew times).
It was obvious to me even at eleven that they didn't have big enough amps or PA system. I couldn't then and do not now understand as this wasn't their first concert, how they (someone) couldn't have figured out they needed more equipment. I suppose they probably saw it as a cost analysis decision. The fans don't care about the music, it was an Experience. And in a way, they were right.
As for Ron Howard's documentary, it is an excellent documentary and the Rolling Stone documentary is an excellent companion to it.
Okay, back to The Beatles....
In the beginning it is stated that this may be the first time the remaining Beatles have ever actually heard what they sounded like in concert from those years. I can definitively say I fully understand what that means. The sound in the concerts in the film are excellent and a far cry from what my slightly older sister and I heard when we saw them ourselves in Seattle at The Coliseum (now called, Key Arena), August 25, 1966.
They had been to Seattle in 1964 which was famously documented and covered by the media.
When I saw them I was in sixth grade. My sister was in ninth.
As I understand it, my older brother had tickets but heard no one could really hear the music over the screaming girls at other venues, so he didn't want to go. And so my sister got the tickets and I got asked. I was beside myself in not only going to such a grown up thing (and I was surprised when I arrived I was more grown up than most of the audience), but also to actually get to see the Beatles!.
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| Seattle Times 1966 |
 |
| According to this we must have been in section 42 |
 | |
|
I looked around me and I didn't see a girl not screaming. My sister was sitting there like me, steaming over not hearing the band well. If I listened closely, I could just make out what song they were playing, but not consistently throughout the song.
I remember noticing the size of their amps. Simply not sufficient for this sized venue. See, my sister and our older brother had a band themselves, Cindy and the Barons, in Tacoma, WA. I was used to band practice every Thursday night from 7:30PM to 10PM (curfew times).
 |
| Cindy and the Barons |
As for Ron Howard's documentary, it is an excellent documentary and the Rolling Stone documentary is an excellent companion to it.
Monday, December 11, 2017
God, Humanity, Religion, America
You must please forgive me, for I cannot help myself to not consider things and openly share them.
For it occurs to me that the ridiculous strictures upon Humanity by such things as religion, or the ten commandments, by conservatives, by the Republican party of late in blending so much religion with politics in a country that has forbidden that, have been so much a bane to our Humanity.
Having over-focused on so many of the wrong things, these and such things have led us to misunderstand our Humanity.Much as religion does from time to time. Think ISIS. Think GOP.
Remember that the ten commandments ignored slavery, domestic violence, child abuse, abuse against women, and why?
I don't see where blacks should be offended by that flyer going out (above). How very true is it first of all? Let's face it, this wouldn't even be an issue to dump Roy Moore if he were black.
So called Good Christians are actually going to vote for Moore. Confusing. Stupid. Some say because Trump, a man who has crass and base views in life, whose sense of class and style is brutish at best, was also accused repeatedly and more so of sexual harassment which he admits to, and yet HE became and is somehow still, president. Although his acceptance rating is at 32%, the lowest for any president ever in American history. Now there's a precedent, right?
These are religious people? "Good" Christians? Racists? And let's face it, if Moore were white as he is but had been chasing after young black girls, he would lose his race hands down, not because they were young black girls per se, but because he was after girls who weren't white.
What can one say but... The South. And... Republicans. Conservatives. Silly people. Better a seat in the Senate than a Democrat, even if an old geezer was a young girl chasing child molester who had been blocked by the local shopping mall and YWCA because of those behaviors. But hey, better a pervert than a Democrat or someone liberal. Good grief.
"Forty years ago in Alabama, people could get married at 13 and 14 years old. My grandmother at 13 was married, at 15 had two children and a husband. If Roy Moore was guilty, if he was at the mall hitting on this 14 year old, forty years ago in Alabama,there's a lot of momas and daddies who'd be thrilled that their 14 year old was hit on by a district attorney." Southern focus group male member this week on Vice News.
OMG, seriously? That's the American South? And they admit it? In public? On national TV?
Okay, so Alabama admitting to its perversions. Things that it has recently been ruled on the world stage in other countries is child abuse and sexual molestation and needs to stop.
But in our American South, oooorah! Go get em Roy! Perve away on our young daughters. Woohooo! You old rascal! Just like our President! Nail that girl to the bedpost old sir!
#GOP is being pretty slimy....Republicans are still supporting perverts and openly and no one's gonna stop them! Remember decency? Yeah, it's fading.
Red is a good color for Republicans at this point as the blood of our morals leaks out as they are dying, all across America's Congressional floors.
In limiting our behavior and with due consideration to Humanity's sense of innate OCD, or of extremizing things, we have consistently misunderstood and denied ourselves of just who we are. Better of who we should be and what is best to try to achieve to be.
And so ridiculous strictures have sorely damaged us again and again as in our misunderstandings against such things as sexuality in just who we are. We have consistently misinterpreted these as denying any aspect of us.
Rather than our reveling in it all. Instead of merely having mature and controlled attitudes about it. Instead we have forced archaic and immature attitudes about it and shied away from more mature reasonings about it.
For instance rather than has self discipline and practicing not raping or abusing women, some cover women up hiding their appearance so men won't what? Really men, you can't act like mature adults? Grow up. We're not letting ourselves practice maturity. So how do we get people like Islamic terrorists? Huh, I wonder. It's been built in.We did it to ourselves.
Which was why I created The Church of the Pure Purple or Purpleism back some years ago as a reaction against not only the ridiculous in religion but also against the ridiculous and ignorant things forced upon us in our lives, by ourselves (as a species). The smartest (absurdist) religion in the world says:
That, if there really were an all knowing all seeing God, should be the FIRST Commandment OF ANY and EVERY religion. But then again, a God did not set up any of these religions and so we see what we have seen for millennia. Ludicrous behaviors supported by those in power and abused all the way down the line to the most common and ignorant and then back up agains from the bottom.
Yes, yes good things have been done by religions throughout history too. But serial killers have also done good things. What's your point? If not for religions, more rational types would have done these things. So that's not even an argument. If not for religion, we'd already be out into the solar system and yet, we're barely now off this planet. You don't see that? Read history. Learn about all the science that was put down, destroyed, scientists through history murdered, all by religion. Yes, religion supported some science, but more so, it tried too many times to destroy it.
We have found because of established religions a need, no, a desire...to be interpreting things in the most ridiculous of ways. Such as in Islam covering its women up completely merely to protect men from themselves rather than teaching and requiring of them to have a mature sense of discipline about it. We have stoned non heterosexuals because they deviated from the norm. A norm to this day many religions deny. Then we have male religious leaders sexually abusing male boys. And hiding it in a systemic way.
In reality the norm is exactly what we have in their existing. Yet we deny reality for the status quo of defending and perpetuating the belief system.
We have ignored our inhumanity to one another over the worship of what we cannot see, over entities who have demanded of us even in their having been fully created by men, demanding of us our full and undiluted attention all while fully against reality and... one another.
What then is the true crime against Humanity? If not merely that of the considerations of our crimes against worshipped idols, regardless what it may deemed to be?
All we need to do for now is simply to drop religion form politics and vote sanity.
Vote Humanity.
Vote compassion and humane treatment of our fellow human beings. Vote, American. Vote our most basic of ideals in separation of church and State, in order to allow freedom of each citizen and that of their choice to suffer worshiping the ethereal in the sky.
Look. Enjoy your personal delusions. It's America. Just allow the rest of us, ours.
It's not rocket science people.
For it occurs to me that the ridiculous strictures upon Humanity by such things as religion, or the ten commandments, by conservatives, by the Republican party of late in blending so much religion with politics in a country that has forbidden that, have been so much a bane to our Humanity.
Having over-focused on so many of the wrong things, these and such things have led us to misunderstand our Humanity.Much as religion does from time to time. Think ISIS. Think GOP.
Remember that the ten commandments ignored slavery, domestic violence, child abuse, abuse against women, and why?
 |
| Anti Roy Moore poster |
So called Good Christians are actually going to vote for Moore. Confusing. Stupid. Some say because Trump, a man who has crass and base views in life, whose sense of class and style is brutish at best, was also accused repeatedly and more so of sexual harassment which he admits to, and yet HE became and is somehow still, president. Although his acceptance rating is at 32%, the lowest for any president ever in American history. Now there's a precedent, right?
 |
| Let's face it, none of what this says is a stretch |
What can one say but... The South. And... Republicans. Conservatives. Silly people. Better a seat in the Senate than a Democrat, even if an old geezer was a young girl chasing child molester who had been blocked by the local shopping mall and YWCA because of those behaviors. But hey, better a pervert than a Democrat or someone liberal. Good grief.
"Forty years ago in Alabama, people could get married at 13 and 14 years old. My grandmother at 13 was married, at 15 had two children and a husband. If Roy Moore was guilty, if he was at the mall hitting on this 14 year old, forty years ago in Alabama,there's a lot of momas and daddies who'd be thrilled that their 14 year old was hit on by a district attorney." Southern focus group male member this week on Vice News.
OMG, seriously? That's the American South? And they admit it? In public? On national TV?
Okay, so Alabama admitting to its perversions. Things that it has recently been ruled on the world stage in other countries is child abuse and sexual molestation and needs to stop.
But in our American South, oooorah! Go get em Roy! Perve away on our young daughters. Woohooo! You old rascal! Just like our President! Nail that girl to the bedpost old sir!
#GOP is being pretty slimy....Republicans are still supporting perverts and openly and no one's gonna stop them! Remember decency? Yeah, it's fading.
Red is a good color for Republicans at this point as the blood of our morals leaks out as they are dying, all across America's Congressional floors.
In limiting our behavior and with due consideration to Humanity's sense of innate OCD, or of extremizing things, we have consistently misunderstood and denied ourselves of just who we are. Better of who we should be and what is best to try to achieve to be.
And so ridiculous strictures have sorely damaged us again and again as in our misunderstandings against such things as sexuality in just who we are. We have consistently misinterpreted these as denying any aspect of us.
Rather than our reveling in it all. Instead of merely having mature and controlled attitudes about it. Instead we have forced archaic and immature attitudes about it and shied away from more mature reasonings about it.
For instance rather than has self discipline and practicing not raping or abusing women, some cover women up hiding their appearance so men won't what? Really men, you can't act like mature adults? Grow up. We're not letting ourselves practice maturity. So how do we get people like Islamic terrorists? Huh, I wonder. It's been built in.We did it to ourselves.
Which was why I created The Church of the Pure Purple or Purpleism back some years ago as a reaction against not only the ridiculous in religion but also against the ridiculous and ignorant things forced upon us in our lives, by ourselves (as a species). The smartest (absurdist) religion in the world says:
That, if there really were an all knowing all seeing God, should be the FIRST Commandment OF ANY and EVERY religion. But then again, a God did not set up any of these religions and so we see what we have seen for millennia. Ludicrous behaviors supported by those in power and abused all the way down the line to the most common and ignorant and then back up agains from the bottom.
Yes, yes good things have been done by religions throughout history too. But serial killers have also done good things. What's your point? If not for religions, more rational types would have done these things. So that's not even an argument. If not for religion, we'd already be out into the solar system and yet, we're barely now off this planet. You don't see that? Read history. Learn about all the science that was put down, destroyed, scientists through history murdered, all by religion. Yes, religion supported some science, but more so, it tried too many times to destroy it.
We have found because of established religions a need, no, a desire...to be interpreting things in the most ridiculous of ways. Such as in Islam covering its women up completely merely to protect men from themselves rather than teaching and requiring of them to have a mature sense of discipline about it. We have stoned non heterosexuals because they deviated from the norm. A norm to this day many religions deny. Then we have male religious leaders sexually abusing male boys. And hiding it in a systemic way.
In reality the norm is exactly what we have in their existing. Yet we deny reality for the status quo of defending and perpetuating the belief system.
We have ignored our inhumanity to one another over the worship of what we cannot see, over entities who have demanded of us even in their having been fully created by men, demanding of us our full and undiluted attention all while fully against reality and... one another.
What then is the true crime against Humanity? If not merely that of the considerations of our crimes against worshipped idols, regardless what it may deemed to be?
All we need to do for now is simply to drop religion form politics and vote sanity.
Vote Humanity.
Vote compassion and humane treatment of our fellow human beings. Vote, American. Vote our most basic of ideals in separation of church and State, in order to allow freedom of each citizen and that of their choice to suffer worshiping the ethereal in the sky.
Look. Enjoy your personal delusions. It's America. Just allow the rest of us, ours.
It's not rocket science people.
Monday, December 4, 2017
America Private Civilian (non) Militia Playtime Armed Forces (APCnMPAF)
We should all be sick by now of the abusive nonsense by conspiracy paranoids, extremists, Republicans, conservatives, agents of our enemies, and agents of profit seeking special interests pushing ridiculous agendas.
This nonsense about the 2nd Amendment by those who cannot understand the difference between their current situation in a powerful and well established America and that of the original and tentative America founded through our US Constitution and the need not that much later on for Amendments to that Constitution.
Look, entire books have been written about this subject. The Supreme Court even unwisely ruled on it. I'm not saying I'm smarter then them, but partisan issues to come to bear there. I've read some of the books on this, many articles and papers and researched this to my own satisfaction as a university educated and professional researcher. Which means I'm not seeking to prove my beliefs, but to find the truth. Remember that? Truth? I'm not going to expend lots of verbiage here on this. I'm going to try to simplify it for those who want a quick answer and for those (probably those against what I'm saying here) who seem to have trouble understanding the second amendment.
Or even the simplest of concepts. Like how a Pres. Trump is bad for America (yes, worse than even a Pres. Hillary Clinton from what we're seeing, far, far so much worse) as well as the entire world. But that's another topic where now several (not one or two) government investigations are under way.
Those who cannot understand this are our ignorant and apparently poorly uneducated (or if not, then simply disingenuous) Americans who appear to be willing (like our current travesty in Pres. Trump) to lie, cheat or steal in order to keep their favorite toys (military assault weapons) easily available to literally it would seem, anyone.
Do we need to appeal the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution's Bill of Rights?
Because those who are abusing its meaning and intent now 200 years after it was written, seem to have no idea what it means or indicates? Do we need to restate its meaning? I'm beginning to think we need to restate it merely so these people can understand clear and modern English.
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Civilian so called militias are not the militia indicated in the 2nd Amendment at all. The intended may be referring to, using civilians as militia, but it refers to a top down not a bottom up, entity.
Also, to bear arms seems to confuse some people. For instance, we need to define, bear and to bear.
In the Oxford Dictionary, it means to bring something to bear, which is a good point in relevance.
That is to bear down upon or aim at. To bear arms therefore indicates taking up a weapon against someone seen as enemy with intent to aim at and kill them. As in martial actions against another. But as governed by the state.
Even if militias organize, practice (some would say for many of them, playing at) for the good of the state in the case of the GOVERNMENT needing them for the security of a free state.
Not the security of the civilians against a free state as many now believe. Rather to be ruled over or governed by the state over those militias.
That means that a militia is allowed to be prepared, but not against the state, as many of them feel they are. Rather FOR the states and against as should most reasonably be considered, all enemies foreign and domestic! We now actually have to concern ourselves with whether this includes our current Pres. Trump and his administration. Brought to us by many of the same people who cannot understand the meaning and intent of the amendment in question here.
There is also the point that one does not bear arms against a rabbit. Therefore it does not actually indicate hunting as so many claim.
Also, arms as in the right of the people to keep and bear seems to confuse too many people. Far too many people, actually. But then that gets into our abuse and lack of support of our educational system. We have been dumbing down Americans who cannot afford a decent education for decades now.
And here we have the results. Uneducated if not outright stupid Americans voting against their best interests and unable to understand what the Founding Fathers thought was one of the simplest of amendments. But one they knew people would misinterpret, which is why it was worded as it was. Also though, worded as it was merely because they wanted to get something passed and put into law, accepted by all the states then voting. And they did.
Though I doubt they could have foreseen the nonsense we're seeing today they more assuredly saw some of it. But only perhaps, a third of it. I doubt they foresaw modern assault weapons or even the self contained firearm cartridge for that matter.
The bottom line here is that the second amendment is for the government, not the citizens.
We also have to be wary of religious militias. Christian militias for instance. We've seen what so called Muslim militias can do in other countries in the form of ISIS. The last thing we need in this country are religious based militias. Or even conservative, right wing, ultra extremist militias.
Granted, although some militias may take themselves seriously and professionally, we still have to deal with the many that do not. Some of which shouldn't even be allowed near a gun to begin with. And even the professional militias, still need to be governed under the government and not aligned against it, as so many covertly (or overtly) are.
And that is its orientation. In now having a standing army, we no longer need militias. Therefore that amendment no longer has any real standing or need.
It may be sad that Thomas Jefferson was against America even having a standing army, as it begets empire building (actually kind of as we've been seeing).
There are instruments so dangerous to the rights of the nation, and which place them so totally at the mercy of their governors, that those governors, whether legislative or executive, should be restrained from keeping such instruments on foot, but in well-defined cases. Such an instrument is a standing army. Thomas Jefferson to David Humphreys, 1789, 549
Yet, in over two hundreds years we're not seeing this happening. So it's become a moot point. Was Jefferson wrong in his concern? No. But the system as designed would seem to be working well enough that it has not become an issue.
And let's not forget other wise things Jefferson said:
What then is the issue? The second amendment. Not really so much that of itself, as those who wish to twist its meaning and bastardize its intent for their own reward (NRA, gun industry, conservatives) and benefit (maintaining power, self aggrandizement, financial reward).
There are several things we now need to address and remove in our government because of the abuses we've been seeing that have led us here to this dysfunctional point.
First and longest term, we need to address our educational system. Free school at least up through a two year degree...for all. Better, four year colleges should be free, and more of them (and less (and NO more or any at all, private corporate) prisons, which is entirely another important topic).
Removal of the Gerrymandering process which has corrupted our system for far too long.
Removal of the electoral process which again has corrupted out system for far too long.
And finally, removal or rewording of the second amendment which has been corrupted in meaning and intent through disingenuous definitions by mostly conservative interests and greed.
I would argue for removal of the amendment since until we address the other two issues (three if you wisely include fixing and bolstering our educational systems which will take at least a generation to return wisdom to our culture in properly educated citizens), we will find any attempt at rewording the second amendment will merely further corrupt it in the dysfunctional direction I have just pointed out above.
So here we are where we now need to move forward and stop the slaughter at home of civilians by civilians.
Or will we simply remain at the current and dysfunctional status quo, which conservatives so love and have forced into place while we all know that moving forward, being progressive, is the only way to progress and to move forward.
This nonsense about the 2nd Amendment by those who cannot understand the difference between their current situation in a powerful and well established America and that of the original and tentative America founded through our US Constitution and the need not that much later on for Amendments to that Constitution.
Look, entire books have been written about this subject. The Supreme Court even unwisely ruled on it. I'm not saying I'm smarter then them, but partisan issues to come to bear there. I've read some of the books on this, many articles and papers and researched this to my own satisfaction as a university educated and professional researcher. Which means I'm not seeking to prove my beliefs, but to find the truth. Remember that? Truth? I'm not going to expend lots of verbiage here on this. I'm going to try to simplify it for those who want a quick answer and for those (probably those against what I'm saying here) who seem to have trouble understanding the second amendment.
Or even the simplest of concepts. Like how a Pres. Trump is bad for America (yes, worse than even a Pres. Hillary Clinton from what we're seeing, far, far so much worse) as well as the entire world. But that's another topic where now several (not one or two) government investigations are under way.
Do we need to appeal the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution's Bill of Rights?
Because those who are abusing its meaning and intent now 200 years after it was written, seem to have no idea what it means or indicates? Do we need to restate its meaning? I'm beginning to think we need to restate it merely so these people can understand clear and modern English.
Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Civilian so called militias are not the militia indicated in the 2nd Amendment at all. The intended may be referring to, using civilians as militia, but it refers to a top down not a bottom up, entity.
Also, to bear arms seems to confuse some people. For instance, we need to define, bear and to bear.
In the Oxford Dictionary, it means to bring something to bear, which is a good point in relevance.
That is to bear down upon or aim at. To bear arms therefore indicates taking up a weapon against someone seen as enemy with intent to aim at and kill them. As in martial actions against another. But as governed by the state.
Even if militias organize, practice (some would say for many of them, playing at) for the good of the state in the case of the GOVERNMENT needing them for the security of a free state.
Not the security of the civilians against a free state as many now believe. Rather to be ruled over or governed by the state over those militias.
That means that a militia is allowed to be prepared, but not against the state, as many of them feel they are. Rather FOR the states and against as should most reasonably be considered, all enemies foreign and domestic! We now actually have to concern ourselves with whether this includes our current Pres. Trump and his administration. Brought to us by many of the same people who cannot understand the meaning and intent of the amendment in question here.
There is also the point that one does not bear arms against a rabbit. Therefore it does not actually indicate hunting as so many claim.
Also, arms as in the right of the people to keep and bear seems to confuse too many people. Far too many people, actually. But then that gets into our abuse and lack of support of our educational system. We have been dumbing down Americans who cannot afford a decent education for decades now.
And here we have the results. Uneducated if not outright stupid Americans voting against their best interests and unable to understand what the Founding Fathers thought was one of the simplest of amendments. But one they knew people would misinterpret, which is why it was worded as it was. Also though, worded as it was merely because they wanted to get something passed and put into law, accepted by all the states then voting. And they did.
Though I doubt they could have foreseen the nonsense we're seeing today they more assuredly saw some of it. But only perhaps, a third of it. I doubt they foresaw modern assault weapons or even the self contained firearm cartridge for that matter.
The bottom line here is that the second amendment is for the government, not the citizens.
We also have to be wary of religious militias. Christian militias for instance. We've seen what so called Muslim militias can do in other countries in the form of ISIS. The last thing we need in this country are religious based militias. Or even conservative, right wing, ultra extremist militias.
Granted, although some militias may take themselves seriously and professionally, we still have to deal with the many that do not. Some of which shouldn't even be allowed near a gun to begin with. And even the professional militias, still need to be governed under the government and not aligned against it, as so many covertly (or overtly) are.
And that is its orientation. In now having a standing army, we no longer need militias. Therefore that amendment no longer has any real standing or need.
It may be sad that Thomas Jefferson was against America even having a standing army, as it begets empire building (actually kind of as we've been seeing).
There are instruments so dangerous to the rights of the nation, and which place them so totally at the mercy of their governors, that those governors, whether legislative or executive, should be restrained from keeping such instruments on foot, but in well-defined cases. Such an instrument is a standing army. Thomas Jefferson to David Humphreys, 1789, 549
Yet, in over two hundreds years we're not seeing this happening. So it's become a moot point. Was Jefferson wrong in his concern? No. But the system as designed would seem to be working well enough that it has not become an issue.
And let's not forget other wise things Jefferson said:
What then is the issue? The second amendment. Not really so much that of itself, as those who wish to twist its meaning and bastardize its intent for their own reward (NRA, gun industry, conservatives) and benefit (maintaining power, self aggrandizement, financial reward).
There are several things we now need to address and remove in our government because of the abuses we've been seeing that have led us here to this dysfunctional point.
First and longest term, we need to address our educational system. Free school at least up through a two year degree...for all. Better, four year colleges should be free, and more of them (and less (and NO more or any at all, private corporate) prisons, which is entirely another important topic).
Removal of the Gerrymandering process which has corrupted our system for far too long.
Removal of the electoral process which again has corrupted out system for far too long.
And finally, removal or rewording of the second amendment which has been corrupted in meaning and intent through disingenuous definitions by mostly conservative interests and greed.
I would argue for removal of the amendment since until we address the other two issues (three if you wisely include fixing and bolstering our educational systems which will take at least a generation to return wisdom to our culture in properly educated citizens), we will find any attempt at rewording the second amendment will merely further corrupt it in the dysfunctional direction I have just pointed out above.
So here we are where we now need to move forward and stop the slaughter at home of civilians by civilians.
Or will we simply remain at the current and dysfunctional status quo, which conservatives so love and have forced into place while we all know that moving forward, being progressive, is the only way to progress and to move forward.
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