Who has the real power?

    That is to say, the power of even the strongest government rests entirely in the people, in their willing support and obedience. It follows that government in itself has no power at all. The moment the people refuse to bow to its authority, the government ceases to exist.

     Now, what strength has capitalism? Does the power of the capitalists rest in themselves, or where does it come from?

     It is evident that their strength lies in their capital, in their wealth. They own the industries, the shops, factories, and land. But those possessions would do them no good but for the willingness of the people to work for them and pay tribute to them. Suppose the workers should say to the capitalists: 'We are tired of making profits for you. We won't slave for you any more. You didn't create the land, you didn't build the factories, nor the mills or shops. We built them and from now on we will use them to work in, and what we produce will not be yours but will belong to the people. You will get nothing, and we won't even give you any food for your money. You'll be just like ourselves, and you will work like the rest of us.'

     What would happen? Why, the capitalists would appeal to the government for aid. They would demand protection for their interests and possessions. But if the people refuse to recognize the authority of the government, the latter itself would be helpless.

     You might say that is revolution. Maybe it is. But whatever you call it, it would amount to this: the government and the capitalists- the political and financial rulers - would find out that all their boasted power and strength disappear when the people refuse to acknowledge them as masters, refuse to let them lord it over them.

     Can this happen, you wonder. Well, it has happened many times before, and not so very long ago again in Russia, in Germany, in Austria. In Germany that mighty war lord, the Kaiser, had to flee for his life, because the masses had decided they did not want him any more. In Austria the monarchy was driven out because the people got tired of its tyranny and corruption. In Russia the most powerful Tsar was glad to give up his throne to save his head, and failed even in that. In his own capital he could not find a single regiment toprotect him, and all his great authority went up in smoke when the populace refused to bow to it. Just so the capitalists of Russia were made helpless when the people stopped working for them and took the land, the factories, the mines and mills for themselves. All the money and 'power' of the bourgeoisie in Russia could not get them a pound of bread when the masses declined to supply it unless they did honest work.

     What does it all prove?

     It proves that so-called political, industrial, and financial power, all the authority of government and capitalism is really in the hands of the people. It proves that only the people, the masses, have power.

     This power, the people's power, is actual: it cannot be taken away, as the power of the ruler, of the politician, or of the capitalist can be. It cannot be taken away because it does not consist in possessions but in ability. It is the ability to create, to produce; the power that feeds and clothes the world, that gives us life, health and comfort, joy and pleasure.

--Alexander Berkman

Christmas and it's commercial season

Let’s talk about the Christmas season. Every year Americans begin the big push. Economical studies look at this year’s sales versus last years sales. They use it as a measure to find out how well the economy is, and also how well it could be. Economists will admit that the Christmas season can sometimes boost a sluggish economy. Let’s discover this and much more as we examine why the majority of Americans agree that Christmas has become too commercial.

First of all, if people are afraid that the economy might not continue to be well, they may miser some of their money during Christmas. The fear of not having enough to provide for their families may cause them to shop less, shop for less expensive items, or not shop at all. News channels, the stock market, and the consumers wait for polls to announce how well the Christmas spending is going. Almost as if it is an indicator to our well-being. At the present time, maybe it is. Christmas season comes in the winter. There are plenty of industries that thrive in the winter. The heating oil trucks in the Northeast make all of their money in the winter. When it is not winter they try to take on the business of air conditioning. On the contrary, a builder’s business slows down in the winter. Whether it be the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, or even the landscaper. So he may be less capable of spending exorbitant amounts during Christmas. Besides the people with lots of money who buy cars for their loved ones in the winter, there are many car dealerships that do not do so well during the winter months of the northernmost states. Massachusetts uses salt to clear the ice and snow from the road. Salt destroys cars. No matter how much of the outer shell is fiber glass...the frame, the engine, the exhaust and the gas tank are all made of materials that deteriorate in the salt. So the push to make people spend in December does not leave all Americans equal. Isn’t this country built on equality?

Now if the economists can convince us that this is a good time to spend a lot of money, it will be said that we are enjoying a prosperous time. Why is it important to use a specific day of the year to increase spending? If we really had the good will to buy presents for the people in our life, we would do it whenever we wanted to. Some of us do just that. So it doesn’t matter if you spent $5,000 buying your loved ones gifts in the summer, because if you don’t spend it in the winter,we feel as if the economy is suffering. So...what if the economy is suffering? What are we to do then? Are we to be more selfish and worry about feeding our families? What does the economy have to gain by encouraging us to spend our dollars during Christmas season? For the rest of the year, the economists only worry about: The stock market, the price of gold and silver, and the price of oil. During Christmas time they push the material products. If we really have a sluggish economy during any given year, shouldn’t we spend our money helping everybody survive? Should we panic because Aunt Rosa couldn’t buy me clothing apparel, candles and other decorations, an MP3 player, or a big screen TV? Somebody has an interest in hoping you will buy all this stuff. So who is that, and why is it important to them?

The business that have invested so much to create some of these products need to see profits. It doesn’t matter if we have enough to eat, it matters if we can buy their product. If we can’t buy their product they will eventually have to sell it at a loss. If we buy their product, we send them piles of money which leads to the owners of that company living in even better conditions. So if we struggle to find food, shelter and heat…they might lose a limousine or one of their vacation getaways. If we have enough to spend on their products, all is well for them. Figure in the sales tax, and the government makes out as well. And hey, it’s Christmas…the collection plate fills up much faster during the holiday season.

It is for this very reason that Christmas has become so commercialized. We can’t blame it entirely on the commerce, government and church because we buy into it. We follow their lead. We say, “What can we do, dear masters?” “How can we be assured of our future?” If this economy ever got so bad that we couldn’t survive…go to the capital. They threaten with low economies, without ever caring about what you personally have to do to survive. They worry that you may not be so willing to fill their pockets. So they make you a part of it, by offering you “shares” of this profiteering. So we buy shares in Enron…we buy shares of the Martha Stewart line…we invoke savings and loan, and keep trying to up our credit. In a small way, this helps us try to reclaim our own interests in this country…but we put ourselves at the mercy of this system. If AOL suddenly proclaimed that they lost $1 billion dollars last year, would we wonder how? Or maybe instead we kick a can, look down at the ground and say, “Times are tough.” You have more control over your lives than you know, but the more you let the richest, most powerful people in the world dictate how you feel about the economy, you will stray further and further from your natural instinct. I’m not saying that technology and all it’s gadgets are wrong. I’m saying that people like you and me made this stuff for such a small portion of what they cost the consumer. The workers that built the factory, the workers that devised the blue-prints to build these gadgets, and of course the workers sitting on the assembly line. That my friends, are the people that deserve the dollars from your hard work…not the man in the mansion, with the limo and private jet. What does he do? He can’t even take care of himself. Let him pick out his own suit, cook his own food, drive his own self to the airport. We don’t need him to be who we are.

another run-in

In our apartment building, people occasionally leave items in the hallways with signs indicating that they are free for any who wants them.  One day my neighbor picked up a huge work of art.  3x2 feet in approximation.  She asked if I wanted it, and I said I was holding out for the other picture like it that I saw in my other neighbors house.  We decided to hang it up in the hallway.  We got a kick out of ourselves as I went into my closet to find a bunch of posters from my younger years.  We hung them all up and it really made the place look good.  All the neighbors were commenting on how nice it was to personalize the hallway a little, and it seemed to be a pleasant move for all.

Until the other night.  I came home from my family Christmas party and was told that they took all the artwork down.  I said, "Who did?"  They said the manager of the building.  I'll leave her nameless because I'd rather say what a piece of shit manager she is.  Getting anything done is like pulling teeth, and it's not because she's trying to protect the landlord...it's because she couldn't be bothered with our silly issues, such as my heat doesn't work, my toilet's broken, our refrigerator died, and so on.

So I headed down to the dumpster, and by complete coincidence I ran into the manager heading out the door.  I asked her what she did with my stuff and she said, "you can't put those up there" I said, "That's not what I asked you, I asked you what you did with them."  She said she put them in the dumpster.  Satisfied I went to the dumpster while she was trying to tell me that I KNEW that I wasn't allowed to put those up.  I don't remember seeing that in the handbook, but my focus was on getting my stuff back.  Everyone in my building knows that I put the artwork up.  Don't you agree that the civil thing to do would have been to ask me to take the stuff down, or take them down and give them to me? 

With every intention to clean up after myself, I started digging through the dumpster looking for my stuff.  I say intention to clean up because I live here, and I don't want to live in a pig-sty.  Maybe a pig-pen, but not a pig-sty...haha.  The police showed up, naturally.  I didn't look too happy, I was ripping trash out of the dumpster, and I was wearing a new mohawk to boot.  He asked me what I was doing, I told him I was looking for my stuff that the manager threw away, and I assured him I would clean it all up.  So he took my ID and joked, "Let me make sure the FBI isn't after you, or anything," which seemed funny to me, but I didn't smile I just said, "I know they're not."

     At this point a second cruiser pulled up, they didn't need backup, but how are they to know?  Meanwhile my neighbor was out there pleading with me to calm down, pleading my case to the police.  Both of us telling my neighbor to get away and not worry about it.  I said, "My neighbors love me, I help them dig out their cars after snow storms, I help them move in and out of the building, I help them carry their groceries in from the parking lot."  When the officer was out of earshot, I lowered my voice in a solemn manner, and told my neighbor, "Don't worry dude, I know what I'm doing...let me handle this."  The cop said, "It doesn't matter how much your neighbors like you, we're here to protect the owner."  The back-up police officer asked if my car was the one in front of the building with the ladder on it, I said it was...how the fuck did he know that?  Did he cross-reference my ID?  Did he have his eyes on my truck already?  I do not know.  I just started spitting out social values and the importance of our brotherhood.  They plainly stated that they were here to protect the owners.  I told them that they are put in place to protect the money of a man who doesn't live here, has no idea what it means to live in Holbrook and the police are protecting this man from us...his brothers and sisters who make his life better, day after day.  I told him that I respected him for trying to keep the public safe and feed his own family, but that he was merely protecting money, and letting his brothers suffer.  The back-up policeman smiled, put his head down and turned around.  I kept repeating something ain't right, something's wrong...we are more important than money, and as long as we protect money, we will suffer more thefts, murders, and so on.  They didn't seem to be opposed to my viewpoint, but of course they couldn't say a whole lot.  They let me go, I had asked them if I was breaking a law they should tell me now, so I could stop.  They assured me that I wasn't breaking a law, that they appreciated that I was keeping my word by cleaning up aftermyself, and that they believed the manager could have dealt with the situation a little better.  That's all I wanted. 

Police run-ins

     Because of my propensity for freedom, and outside-the-box methods, I find myself talking with the police a lot.  Not because I've broken any law, just because I was doing something that is similar to what criminals do.  I shared with you the story of me "up on the rooftop," so here's a couple more:

     Picture this, I walk outside my apartment building and proceed to walk around my neighborhood.  I keep myself on the sidewalks or the parking lot that surrounds my building.  I was going on a small mission to learn things.  I know what you're thinking..."Why would he want to learn things?  That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."  Anyway...I was studying plants, and trees comparing them to one another...I took a look at some of the telephone poles, and all the wires/lights/ and transformers suspended by them.  I investigated the various decorations that people had placed in their lawns or on their porches...(from the sidewalk, mind you.)  As I came around the block, back towards my building I noticed some vents sticking out of the second floor of the side of my building.  So I walked over to them and discovered a cable TV wire draped across the side of the building into the window of a nearby apartment.  I wondered if somebody was possibly stealing cable...but I decided it wasn't interesting enough to look further.  At this point I sat on the front steps of my building and began reading the newspaper that was left there for its subscriber.  That's when the police showed up.  He walked up to me, as I continued to read...sort of a "it's none of my business until he makes it my business" attitude.  He asked me, "What are you doing here?"  In a gruff tone.  I told him I lived here.  That caught him by suprise for some reason...I guess I'm the only one that likes to enjoy the sunshine in front of my residence.  As I handed away my ID to prove I lived here he asked me if I had been looking in people's windows.  First of all, nobody on side of the building would even be worth sneaking a peek and, and second of all, I don't do that sort of thing.  I told him exactly what I was doing that may have provoked the call, satisfied he left...he didn't even leave me with the usual instructions that police usually do...such as, "stop looking in people's windows."  The more they come for me, and find out that I'm doing nothing wrong...won't they grow tired of the people calling them out to look at me?  Next story...coming up in the next entry.

OK...back to the important stuff

Let me try to teach you a valuable lesson. We have one life to live, and the more tools we acquire to survive, the better off we are. Not all of us were fortunate enough to be born with these tools, in fact not many at all. The most important tool in this world used to be our physical body. Our hands with opposable thumbs, our two legs for walking, our genitals to create new life, and our brains all helped humanity survive. Slowly these tools are diminishing in importance. A new tool has come to the forefront. A small portion of the human beings on this planet were born with this tool, but the majority of us are not. With this single tool we can eat, breathe, sleep, stay warm, be popular, look good, have sex, control lives, commit crimes, wage war, and if used properly, bring peace to the world. But the holders of this tool in its ever-inflating glory will never use it for that. Peace on earth is the enemy of this tool. Peace on earth takes away every usefulness of this tool. The need for this tool would disappear, but for those who want to use this tool to control lives, peace on earth would devastate them.

This tool was invented by mankind and is not used by any other life form on this planet. For those of you that believe in God, it would seem that a careful examination of the masterpiece called life would reveal that God has given every tool necessary to support this system. When a new tool is needed, God introduces new tools with evolution. Mankind has invented another kind of tool to help uphold a very different kind of system. The church itself uses this tool claiming to serve God, but does not take responsibility for this tool’s harmful effects on society.

With every good there is a bad, and vice versa. So don’t get me wrong when I talk about this tool. It has it’s uses, but is completely subject to exploitation amongst the less scrupulous types. This tool can in fact help a man who has lost his natural tools. It can help him walk if he loses his legs. It can help him talk if he loses his voice. It can help a handicapped person survive amongst his fellow humans who have all their natural tools to draw upon. Without this tool, this handicapped man perishes; possibly freezing to death on the street, unable to escape from predators, or unable to gather food. Sounds like a very noble tool, doesn’t it?

The fact is, this tool is only necessary as long as this tool exists. Without it, life is still going to go, rivers still goingto flow, and the trees are still going to grow. Whether this tool was invented out of goodwill or not, it’s use has extremely harmful effects on this planet’s natural system. The invention of this tool has required the invention of another tool to help protect this tools use. This secondary tool is also referred to as law. It is law that protects this important man-made tool. But depending on the amount of the tool you have, these laws may not apply to you. With enough of this tool, you can escape punishment for breaking the law. You can use this tool to actually commit the crime if you like.

If you take away this tool, we can return to freedom. We started our species a free entity. We were free to do as we please, but we were one man against another. Until we realized how much easier life was through cooperation. Cooperation eventually evolved to trade, and then we invented the tool. We’ve evolved as a species to incorporate this mystery tool into our survival, and without it we suffer every injustice that the world can hand us. Some choose to use the tool to help those who do not have the tool. Then they claim to have rule over those less fortunate.

Slowly we realize that joint effort, mutual respect and freedom are the real tools we need to use. But we have no choice in the matter. If you don’t use THE tool, you are sub-humans, backwards Third World, hippies, or perhaps criminals. Criminals LOVE this tool. They love it, and it is the very reason they are criminals. They may steal this tool, break the law so other criminals will give them this tool, or if the feeling of despair from not having this tool sits in their hearts with anger, they may lash out at others who have this tool, or take their aggressions out on the other humans that cannot use this tool against them. Until we realize that this tool is NOT the driving force behind our kind nature…we will forever be slaves to this tool. We will be slaves to the master who uses this tool as our golden ring on the carousel of life. The vicious cycle that must be broken because until it is, we will be sheep in a society of greedy wolves. Wolves that we…WE elected to office, that WE support by “keeping up with the Joneses,” that WE support in the collection plate to build monstrous palaces to worship God, instead of using this “tool” to give the less fortunate a chance at happiness in this world, while instilling in them a feeling of good will towards their fellow man, and ultimately a chance at heaven.

The model of a family

     I was at the family Christmas party...I was enjoying myself, and it became plainly obvious that everybody else was enjoying themselves as well.  If there is one thing I can appreciate, it is the sentiment that is felt by all, but recently put into words by my uncle Kevin.  I call him Hokey from time to time, and we call him Uncle Rudy from time to time.  But his words verbatim were, "We are very lucky to have the crazy family we have, and most families would envy us." 

     Which leads me to this.  I love my family, and I WOULD envy this family if I weren't a part of it.  I realize the positive factors.  I realize how many people in the world may never have the chance to connect with the most important people in their lives...their family.  So I thank you.  I thank me.  I thank us.  I've realized that most of the complaining I have done in the most recent years were not a selfish attempt to nit-pick my own deficiencies or even those of the people closest to me.  My complaining is only there to discover why other families cannot be as solid as mine.

     Although I cannot solve the injustices of the world, I can use my strength, and draw upon my family's experiences to help push the less fortunate into our corner.  To push the meek into our own sort of union.  And to never, ever take for granted the things that we (me, you and a lot of other people) have been afforded in this world. 

     I wouldn't give my family away for anything, but I would give every material possesion I own to see a majority of mankind have the awesome feelings I have experienced.  Thank you...and thank you for allowing me to get a little sappy for a minute.  After all, I'm hours away from Vermont, a state that is well known for the syrup they create from sap.  Keep laughing...I'll be here.

jealousy

This is not quite the usual "political banter" but it DOES talk about truth and lies, and that is the core of what I'm trying to expose.

I’m beginning to realize something about myself. I know…I know…I’m getting older, and most of what I say will become irrelevant to the younger cliques. I realize that all of my jealous moments in the past were based on lies. I didn’t get a chance to be jealous all that often. But the jealousy I felt stemmed from one thing, and one thing only. Some girls told me that I am/was/will be the only one. Some of those girls meant it at the time.

If a girl tells me she loves me that means one thing. If a girl tells me I’m the only one, that’s another. The times that I was jealous were born from this feeling that the particular girl only wanted me. So to see that same girl be close (physically or emotionally) with some other man had a major effect on me.

What if I went into a relationship knowing that I loved a girl and that she loved me, but yet I understood how much fun it was to take life as it comes and kiss other girls, and forgive my girl for kissing other men? I am quickly slipping away from the need to control another’s life. I guess the scary part is this…I may be open, honest and willing to accept a girl’s wishes. But she may wish to have some fun with another man. And that other man may feel the need to keep “his woman” away from any other man that could threaten his hold on this girl.

Can a man like me enjoy the happiness of love? Is there a girl out there that would be herself, refuse to limit herself, and yet still return to me, kiss me, fuck me or whatever else would keep us close?

I have never enjoyed a woman that cared about nothing else as much as she cared about me. I have never found a woman that wanted to be near me, to please me as I please her. I have found women that like to take chances, I’ve found women that enjoyed my company, I’ve found women that like to feel my tongue on her nether regions. I’ve found women that care about people the way I do, I’ve found women that share my sense of humor, I’ve found women that live by the basic values that I live by. But I’ve never found a woman that agrees with my way of living enough to want to be a part of it. Some have said they did, but where are they now?

Can I overcome the jealousies of other men? Can I overcome the labels that have jaded the best of women? Can I be happy with a woman by my side, or do I have to resort to masturbation for the rest of my life? Do I have to be somebody, other than myself, to feel the gentle touch of a woman? To feel like I can say anything to her? To have somebody to love and to hold when I’m fucked?

Y O U T E L L M E !!!!

Sheep? Slaves? What?

The lottery, you know it's all the same

Ain't shit changed, since the big game

They're fuckin with your brain

The government strain

Tax is stealin, but they got you trained.

Kottonmouth Kings

Why is it so hard to accept religion into my life?

  Can the church help you?

     Maybe you are a Christian, or a member of some other religion -Jew, Mormon, Mohammedan, Buddhist, or what not.

     It makes no difference. A man should be free to believe whatever he pleases. The point is not what your religious faith is, but whether religion can abolish the evils we suffer from.

     As I said before, we have only one life to live on this earth, and we want to make the best of it. What will happen to us after we are dead we don't know. The chances are we'll never know, and so it's no use bothering about it.

     The question here is of life, not of death. It is the living we are concerned with; with you and me and others like ourselves. Can the world be made a better place for us to live in? That's what we want to know. Can religion do it?

     Christianity is about 2,000 years old. Has it abolished any evil? Has it done away with crime and murder, has it delivered us from poverty and misery, from despotism and tyranny?

     You know that it has not. You know that the Christian Church, like all other churches, has always been on the side of the masters, against the people. More: the church has caused worse strife and bloodshed than all the wars of kings and kaisers. Religion has divided mankind into opposing beliefs, and the most bloody wars have been fought on account of religious differences. The church has persecuted people for their opinions, imprisoned and killed them. The Catholic Inquisition terrorized the whole world, tortured so-called heretics, and burned them alive. Other churches did the same when they had the power. They always sought to enslave and exploit the people, to keep them in ignorance and darkness. They condemned every effort of man to develop his mind, to advance, to improve his condition. They damned science, and silenced the men who thirsted for knowledge. Till this very day institutionalized religion is the Judas of its alleged Savior. It approves of murder and war, of wage slavery and capitalistic robbery, and always stands for the 'law and order' which crucified the Nazarene.

     Consider: Jesus wanted all men to be brothers, to live in peace and good will. The church upholds inequality, national strife, and war.

     Jesus condemned the rich as vipers and oppressors of the poor. The church bows before the rich and accumulates vast wealth.

     The Nazarene was born in a manger and remained a pauper all his life. His alleged representatives and spokesmen on earth live in palaces.

     Jesus preached meekness. The Princes of the Church are haughty and purse-proud.

     'As you do unto the least of my children,' Christ said, 'you do unto me.' The church supports the capitalist system which enslaves little children and brings them to an early grave.

     'Thou shalt not kill,' commanded the Nazerene. The church approves of executions and war.

Alexander Berkman 1929

Self policing is true justice and equality

     Suppose you see John beat and kick Bill when the latter is on the ground. Both may be strangers to you, but if you are not afraid of John, you'll tell him to stop kicking a fellow who is down.

     But when you see the policeman do the same thing to some citizen you will think twice before interfering, because he might beat you up too and arrest you to boot. He has the authority.

     John, who has no authority and who knows that some one might interfere when he is acting unjustly, will - as a rule - be careful what he is about.

     The policeman, who is vested with some authority and who knows there is little chance of any one interfering with him, will be more likely to act unjustly.

     Even in this simple instance you can observe the effect of authority: its effect on the one who possesses it and on those over whom it is exercised. Authority tends to make its possessor unjust and arbitrary; it also makes those subject to it acquiesce in wrong, subservient, and servile. Authority corrupts its holder and debases its victims.

 

Alexander Berkman  1929

Setting the stage, and other things we don't want to do

As time marches on, we experience many changes in the world. What was once thought taboo is now common. What was once an acceptable practice is now persecuted. The common denominator is the older generation’s disgust in the situation of society. They fail to realize the vital part they play in catalyzing the loss of values and the liberation of what was once denounced .

The alarming rate of children’s desire to wear sexy clothing at earlier and earlier ages, causes much concern for the older generation. The fashion statement escapes them. Many people have shown disappointment in types of language they see and hear in everyday life. They can’t understand the obsession with young adults paying for breast implants. They can’t believe that things that were once free of charge, now cost money. They show despair for the lazy attitude and lack of work ethic in the young generation. They are appalled at the violence portrayed in the video games kids play today. It used to be very shameful to live with a member of the opposite sex, unless they are married. Today many couples have children together without getting married. They can’t believe the amount of money professional sports players earn today.

Less than two hundred years ago, slavery was still an accepted practice in the United States. During the abolition of slavery, many white people had a very difficult time dealing with the freedom of the men and women from Africa. Later still, people had a hard time accepting them as Americans, today we still call them African-Americans. There was a time that it was perfectly acceptable to smoke marijuana, which has now been prohibited. Children could ride their bicycles down the street with out a helmet. The people could speak freely with their opinions on the government, without fear of being targeted as a terrorist. There were less taxes, more freedoms and a more united spirit in the world amongst the citizens. In fact…only the governments of the world are experiencing more unity as they try to gain control of the entire world. The more land to cover, the more government officials will be needed to control the world, so there is no fear of losing power.

After all this, our grandmothers and grandfathers are frequently asking the rhetorical question. “What is the world coming to?” What the world is coming to is the train station at the end of the railroad they put us on. Everything that we do today, we learned from our elders, applied knowledge and learned more to provide the future with the new platform. If we like wearing sexier clothing, getting plastic surgery, and starving ourselves, we learned that from the older generation. Directly or indirectly, The elders showed us how important is was to look good. They taught us racism and judgment. They showed us that humans could not handle marriage the way humans did in the older days. They proved how we can not be trusted with our own safety, or our own opinions. Whether we follow their advice and examples or rebel against them, it was the elders that failed to guide us into positivity by example. It may be too late for them to do anything, but instead of blaming it all on them, we need to correct the problem. Starting today, understand that everybody that follows you, will reflect you. You can refuse to believe it all you want, but without our direction, humans would be wandering around the Earth, picking fruits and nuts for food, playing and procreating in the sunshine. Embrace the future, and set the stage for all of those that come after you. You will see the fruits of your examples before you die, so make sure you will feel satisfied when that day comes. If you aren’t satisfied, nobody wants to hear you say, “What has this world come to?”

Let me get this off my chest

What does it mean to get something off your chest? 

Is it the simple fact that you say it out loud?  If so, anybody can do that anytime...even in front of a mirror if that's what they need. 

Is it telling another human being?  Do we need to tell somebody something that is bugging us, to dispel the stress?  What if that person has nothing to do with the situation.  If the person DOES have something to do with the subject you need to get off your chest, I can understand the feeling of relief. 

Or is it a matter of seeking out another's opinion or solution to that very "something" that you need to get off your chest? 

I'm very disappointed that I haven't heard many comments on the things that you read here.  You can always email your comments.  It's quick and painless.  How am I supposed to know what is right, if I never hear from you whether or not I make sense?  How can I do my best at making your life better, if I don't hear whether or not I'm misguided?  How can we learn the truth, if you dismiss ideas without adding your two cents? 

OK...I got that off my chest.

Justice

This chapter is too long for my journal...so click here to view my message

 

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_8.html

Lyrics from the band

The Earth,, the wind, the sky, the sea

The birth, the life, the air we breathe

The truth, the lies, the in between

The hate, the love, the waking dream

 

In the waking dream, of all the things unseen, the cycle is complete

The universe has justified my life and set me free

A smile spreads across my face, prepares me for the ride

The setting sun begins to set the perfect way t die.

 

homelessness and vehicle registration

Let me set up a scenario.  I am a homeless man, who owns a car.  I would like to register this car, because I have enough money to pay for a car, but not for shelter.  Shelter is much more expensive than a car.  How do I register my car?  I have no address, and no family and friends to provide me with one.  I do not reside in one town, I reside wherever I land.  I can provide services to scrap together enough for the car, insurance, and food, but no more than that.  What do I do?

A joke, oooor is it?

  The following is supposedly an actual question given on a University of 
  Toronto chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" 
  that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, 
  of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.
 
  Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic 
  (absorbs heat)?
 
  Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas 
  cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.
 
  One student, however, wrote the following:

 
  First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we 
  need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at 
  which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul 
  gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.
      As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different 
  Religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state 
  that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since 
  there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong 
  to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.
 
  With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls 
  in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of 
  the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the 
  temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has 
  to expand proportionately as souls are added.
      This gives two possibilities:
 
  1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls 
  enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until 
  all Hell breaks loose.
 
  2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in
  Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
      So which is it?
      If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year 
  that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you, and take 
  into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must 
  be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen 
  over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it 
  follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, 
  extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine 
  being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."
 
  THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A

I get arrested for smoking pot, sniffing coke, and taking pills of ecstacy...

But I don't get arrested for wasting my life away with alcohol.  Do you see the problem here?

Some more stuff to think about.

Always looking for reasons to believe that we should regain control of our own lives, I stumbled across this... http://www.pushhamburger.com/criminal.htm is where to find the rest of the story...The majority of Americans have been duped.  Be willing to admit your mistakes.  We aren't perfect, and "going with the crowd" is a good way to ignore those mistakes.  The more peole that admit their mistakes, the more people we will have to bring this criminal government to its knees.  Your mistakes are like little fish in a big pond.  The mistakes by the government and corporationsare giant sharks in this same pond...who pays the price?  Us. 

 

While the 1990s was a decade of booming markets and booming profits, it was also a decade of rampant corporate criminality.

There is an emerging consensus among corporate criminologists.

And that emerging consensus is this: corporate crime and violence inflicts far more damage on society than all street crime combined.

The FBI estimates, for example, that burglary and robbery -- street crimes -- costs the nation $3.8 billion a year.

Compare this to the hundreds of billions of dollars stolen from Americans as a result of corporate and white-collar fraud.

Health care fraud alone costs Americans $100 billion to $400 billion a year.

The savings and loan fraud -- which former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh called "the biggest white collar swindle in history" -- cost us anywhere from $300 billion to $500 billion.

And then you have your lesser frauds: auto repair fraud, $40 billion a year, securities fraud, $15 billion a year -- and on down the list.

Recite this list of corporate frauds and people will immediately say to you: but you can't compare street crime and corporate crime -- corporate crime is not violent crime.

Unfortunately, corporate crime is often violent crime.

 

 

The FBI estimates that, 19,000 Americans are murdered every year.

Compare this to the 56,000 Americans who die every year on the job or from occupational diseases such as black lung and asbestosis and the tens of thousands of other Americans who fall victim to the silent violence of pollution, contaminated foods, hazardous consumer products, and hospital malpractice.

These deaths are often the result of criminal recklessness. They are sometimes prosecuted as homicides or as criminal violations of federal laws.

And environmental crimes often result in death, disease and injury.

I hope this leads you to go to website I copied this from.  The worst cliche in the world seems to be, "That's life."   "That's life" should refer to the common dangers that all living entities on this planet endure.  A tree who can not hold its branches against the wind.  Oranges that can't survive an early freeze in Florida.  A squirrel who doesn't quite know how to stay out of the automobile's path.  In our case, losing a loved one to accident or natural occurence.

The logical concession speech by John Kerry

My fellow Americans, the people of this nation have spoken, and spoken with a clear voice. So I am here to offer my concession.   I concede that I overestimated the intelligence of the American people.  Though the people disagree with the President on almost every issue, you saw fit to vote for him. I never saw that coming.  That's really special. And I mean "special" in the sense that we use it to  describe those kids who ride the short school bus and find ways to injure themselves while eating pudding with rubber spoons. That kind of special.

I concede that I misjudged the power of hate. That's pretty powerful stuff, and I didn't see it. So let me take a moment to congratulate the President's strategists: Putting the gay marriage amendments on the ballot in various swing states like Ohio... well, that was just genius. Genius. It got people, a certain kind of people, to the polls. The unprecedented  number of folks who showed up and cited "moral values" as their biggest issue, those people changed history. The folks who consider same-sex marriage a more important issue than war, or terrorism, or the economy... Who'd have thought the election would belong to them? Well, Karl Rove did. Gotta give it up to him for that. Now, now. Credit where it's due.

I concede that I put too much faith in America's youth. With 8 out of 10 of you opposing the President, with your friends and classmates dying daily in a war you disapprove of, with your future being mortgaged to pay for rich old people's tax breaks, you somehow managed to sit on your asses and watch the Cartoon Network while aging homophobic hillbillies carried the day. You voted with the exact same anemic percentage that you did in 2000.   You suck. Seriously, y'do. Thank you. Thank you very much.

There are some who would say that I sound bitter, that now is the time for healing, to bring the nation together. Let me tell you a little story. Last night, I watched the returns come in with some friends here in Los Angeles.  As the night progressed, people began to talk half-seriously about secession, a red state/blue state split. The reasoning was this:  We in blue states produce the vast majority of the wealth in this country and pay the most taxes, and you in the red states receive the majority of the money from those taxes while complaining about them. We in the blue states are the only ones who've been attacked by foreign terrorists, yet you in the red states are gung ho to fight a war in our name. We in the blue states produce the entertainment that you consume so greedily each day, while you in the red states show open disdain for us and our values. Blue state civilians are the actual victims and targets of the war on terror, while red state civilians are the ones standing  behind us and yelling "Oh, yeah!? Bring it on!"

More than 40% of you Bush voters still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. I'm impressed by that, truly I am. Your sons and daughters who might die in this war know it's not true, the people in the urban centers where al Qaeda wants to attack know it's not true, but those of you who are at practically no risk believe this easy lie because you can.  As part of my concession speech, let me say that I really envy that luxury. I concede that.

Healing? We, the people at risk from terrorists, the people who subsidize you, the people who speak in glowing and respectful terms about the heartland of America while that heartland insults and excoriates us... we wanted some healing. We spoke loud and clear. And you refused to give it to us, largely because of your high moral values. You knew better: America doesn't need its allies, doesn't need to share the burden, doesn't need to unite the world, doesn't need to provide for its future. Hell no . Not when it's got a human shield of pointy-headed, atheistic, unconfrontational breadwinners who are willing to pay the bills and play nice in the vain hope of winning a vote that we can never have. Because we're "morally  inferior," I suppose, we are supposed to respect your values while you insult ours. And the big joke here is that for 20 years,  we've done just that.  It's not a "ha-ha" funny joke, I realize, but it's a joke all the same.

As well as conceding the election today, I am also announcing my candidacy for President in 2008. And I make this pledge to you today: THIS time, next time, there will be no pandering. This time I will run with all the open and joking contempt for my opponents that our President demonstrated towards the cradle of liberty, the Ivy League intellectuals, the "media elite," and the "white-wine sippers." This time I will not pretend that the simple folk of America know just as much as the people who devote their lives to serving and studying the nation and the world. They don't.

So that's why I'm asking for your vote in 2008, America. I'm talking to you, you ignorant, slack-jawed yokels, you bible-thumping, inbred drones, you redneck, racist, chest-thumping, perennially duped grade-school grads.  Vote for me, because I know better, and I truly believe that I can help your smug, sorry asses. Thank you, and may God, if he does in fact exist, bless each and every one of you.

This will go down in Jaylectricity history

Who makes the majority of money in this country?  The entertainers.  Musicians, actors, sports players.  Governmental officials rival the entertainers in income.  Maybe we should start electing entertainers to the government.  After all, government officials seem to be little more than entertainment for us sheep.  Then I would feel we were spending our tax dollars wisely. 

haha...I kill myself.

An exchange of ideas

Email I received

IMMIGRANTS,
NOT AMERICANS,
MUST ADAPT.
I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we
are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11,
we have experienced a surge
in patriotism by the majority
of Americans. However, the dust from the attacks had
barely settled when the "politically correct! " crowd began complaining about
the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.

I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America. Our population is almost entirely made up of descendants of immigrants. However, there
are a few things that those
who have recently come to
our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand. This idea of America being a
multicultural community
has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Americans, we
have our own culture, our
own society, our own language and our own lifestyle. This culture has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.


We speak ENGLISH, not Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language.
Therefore, if you wish to become part
of our society, learn the language!

"In God We Trust" is our national motto. This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan.. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women,
on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented.
It is certainly appropriate to display it
on the walls of our schools. If God
offends you, then I suggest you
consider another part of the world as
your new home, because God is part
of our culture.

My response That's hogwash.  Everyone's individual preferences have caused us to be divided?  The only part of government that should have any part in your life, is the part that the government was set out to accomplish.  The government is not here to tell people how to live their lives.  We are here to live our lives.  Forcing any immigrant to live like the people in this country have lived before is against our constitution.  The more immigrants that come to our country, the more people there will be to defend our rights, from many a different persuasion.  Diversity will help the brainstorming process, and give us many a vault of creativity to draw upon.    His response However, I will argue.  I am tired of walking into hospitals, for instance, and seeing every imaginable language translated.  Or paying interpretors to help people who are freely in the country.  You want to become American, speak American (English).  Don't make my government have to take extra measures to accomodate you, with ONE exception.  We could provide classes in English. But, that's the only thing we should do. My response: I have heard your argument so many times in the past, not just from you.  But this is the land of the free.  Even immigrants deserve to be free.  Why should they have to do something they don't care about doing?  If life gets too hard for them, they will find out how to learn our language...or maybe they will start teaching us theirs...either way, it is a road to understanding.  I thought America was about thinking differently from all nations in history.  Most of the people that immigrateto our country are outcasts in their own country because they didn't want to conform to the forced religious and political practices in their country.  Again, didn't we build this country on freeing yourself from coerced religious beliefs?  Didn't we build this country to allow the people to control the government?  I welcome anybody who is attempting to excersize their human rights of freedom.

 

Wal-Mart Stop & Shop and others

     I watched South Park the other day, and guess what? Wal-Mart was their target. They didn't tell me anything I didn't know, but it was funny as hell. Here's why I'm on the fence about Wal-Mart.
     Wal-Mart does anything and everything possible to provide you with inexpensive commodities. It has many markets to offset any profit loss in a specific region. It devours all local markets, and leaves business owners with no choice, but to shut down and start being a wage slave. It is dangerously close to being a monopoly. Only companies that can compete will do the same things Wal-Mart is doing to control the market. In my area, (New England, U.S.A.) Stop and shop is a very big supermarket chain. They recently started selling gasoline in their parking lots. As they increase their profits, they can use the profits as capital to encompass another market.
     This is the reason I support Wal-Mart. Can you guess why? Probably not. If these huge companies continue to corner the markets, lay off American workers, and exploit less fortunate nations on this planet, they will go too far. I am implying that if we give them enough rope, they will hang themselves.
     All animals, including humans...will fight for their lives if they feel too oppressed. If they didn't, we would still be mired in the royal leadership and dictatorships that we have cast into the wind as time goes on. The powers that be will fight till the bitter end, so fighting them may only prolong the tyranny.
     So my solution is an "all or nothing" approach. Either boycott them, or patronize them until they control everything. At that point, we can unseat them. I know you guys are with me, but it's the fear of the unknown that will hold us back.
Don't we deserve to be free from the upper hand? Did not our country fight to abolish slavery? We are slaves, until we stick together, and take care of each other...for we are the majority, silent or not.

 

The Day After

I don't think it matters if we have to wait 11 days to count all the votes.  If Kerry concedes defeat, does that mean that even if the final tally of votes proclaims Kerry the winner Bush will still be president? 

The second peculiar topic of discussion is which states voted for Bush, and which states voted for Kerry.  If you look at the span of the country, All the huge, lower populated states in the center of the country voted Bush in.  All the smaller, more populated Coastal states, kept the race close.  Which states are the biggest targets of terrorism?  California, Massachusetts, New York, even Washington D.C. who voted 90-10 in favor of Kerry have the largest amount of targets for terrorists to hit.  We wanted to feel safe, but we were denied by all the central states.  The central states who have no fear of terrorism, because they are not on the front line.  So thank you Bible Belt, for putting the economy of this nation in fear.  Thank you for giving us the privelege to be the first ones to fight the terrorists if they decide to infiltrate our soil.  For it is not you that loses, unless we can't handle the pressure.  By then, you won't have a redneck to stand on...and you call us cowards?

Election Day

Well, worried is a strong word, but I see a few things happening.  If either candidate wins by a landslide, "The People Have Spoken."  It's the close race that I'm worried about.  If this race is close, and Bush wins it, I foresee a little bit of unrest.  Some people will be bullshit, and some will be content...but even the bullshit people will affect the content.  How can we have a nation that is fairly opposed to each other and still get what we all want?  People might say, if you don't like it, move out of America. 

Just what WOULD happen if all the people that were slighted in this election DID move out?  What kind of shock to the system would that send?  Where would the government get all the billions of dollars it needs to live lavishly, get special treatment...uh I mean, where would the government get the funds it needs to support this war...uh...wait...I mean...where would the government get the money to accomodate us Americans? 

If those people that are sore about the opposing side winning stayed in the U.S. is it unreasonable to believe that they feel they have no choice?  If they have no choice, aren't they slaves?

I can guarantee you a post tomorrow, when the dust has settled.  I ask many questions in my journal here, only to let you think.  I can offer my ideas, but if you can answer my questions, feel free to post them...if posting to this site is too tedious for you, email me with the comments and which post you are referring to, and I'll add them for you.

A poem to a woman

More I see, More I know
cliches not my way to go
it takes away from what I say
other's games I do not play
I watch your slender body move
I want to add you to my groove
held your rings rubbing all the curves
felt them ALL like a trench coat perv
NO, not THAT dirty...just in my fingers
Now in all my thoughts, you linger
when you look in my eyes, what do you see?
can you belong to someone, and still be free?
I don't have all the answers, but I know the way
to make the best of everything, day after day

Sports and their minor relevance

In this world of placing trivial values on monumental consequences and monumental values on trivial consequences, I would like to offer the following. In the grand scheme of things, sports are not all that we have to live for. Sports do, however uplift the spirit on many occasions.

New Englanders have enjoyed two Super Bowls and a World Series since the year 2001. Two dismal professional teams facing ultimate defeat year after year rose above all the expectations. The New England Patriots recovered from a devastating injury to their starting quarterback, only to win the Super Bowl with a back-up quarterback fighting the odds every step of the way. In fact, the Patriots have transcended the yearly success by instilling an attitude of positivity and teamwork. They found men who could connect with each other to excel in their pursuits.

The Red Sox proved how going through life without taking things too seriously can relieve the pressures that each and everyone feels day to day. They too, showed us what it means to be a team. They also showed us why we should never give up. When all is said and done, they know that if they fail…it is because there was absolutely no way to succeed. Yet, even the times when it seemed there was no way to succeed, they proved that nobody should give up on their goal.

Sports in themselves, seem to provide trivial entertainment. Can a sports team affect your daily life? If you say it can, than you must realize that these two teams have provided a very important message. Don’t ever give up…believe in your teammates…meanwhile you will see why the human race continues to press on. You will see why it is unwise to give up or rest on your laurels. Either way, you will not be giving your best, and that will lead to regret.

debit cards

     I am concerned with the growing popularity of debit cards.  The reason I use them is partly because of the advertised convenience.  It is so easy to spend my money when I need it, even if I forgot to hit the ATM... and partly because I know that the money in my pocket is the same as the money in my bank account.  So if I keep the money in the bank, it doesn't get lost as easily. 
     This is where the problem comes in.  As you may or may not know, I'm a licensed electrician, doing business for myself.  I usually get paid cash, and when I get paid by check I usually go to the bank the check was drawn on to get my cash.  Many people like me, want to keep control of their own money, either for tax purposes, or, or...ok I guess it's just tax purposes.  Not me, of course...but let's just say that they convince us to use debit cards and checks and do away with paper money. 
     In that event, all of my money would have to be in a bank account in order to spend it.  Which means 1.  There is a computer record of all money that I have.  2.  All peoples giving me money would have access to deposit the money in my account.  3.  The banks would have control of the money.
     The problem is, some of us have debts to banks that don't allow us to have a checking account and some of us have even exploited a checking account to spend money we don't have.  If we are required to let the banks control our money, we would lose a way to help tear down the system that enslaves us and robs us of our labor.  That would help the government eliminate those guys that always keep all of their money in cash, and skirt their taxes.  Good for the government, bad for us.  Also, once we put our money in total control of the system, we could be robbed for more money.  How?
     When you get a ticket, you may be in a situation where you barely have enough to eat, let alone pay that ticket.  But with your money in control of the bank, the government can force you to pay that ticket.  An indirect result is that you will be forced to follow their rules, because if they find you guilty you could be seriously fucked.  Once that happens, they can pass any crazy law they want, and you will have no recourse...except of course to steal everything you need to survive.  As the thefts increase, the iron fist of government will impose even more laws, furthering the difficulty in your life.
     I would prefer to live in a world with no money, but that is another story.  As long as we slowly give up control of the tokens we gained by slaving over a job, we are actually helping them enslave us even more.
     No matter what, we cannot allow the government to do away with paper money.  As soon as they do, we are giving them permission to fuck us even harder.  In a hotel room in Las Vegas, that's not such a bad thing...but in day to day life?  You decide.

Thank god for the workers, we wouldn't want to bankrupt the multimillion dollar companies.

As the world spins in the turmoil of war and attempts at international exchange, we realize that an entire earth full of humans haven’t exactly agreed completely with one another. On the simplest level, humans share the need for food, water, air, and it helps to have sleep. Instead of destroying the humans that haven’t been around as much civilization as us, we need to find out what their ideas on life are…some of their ideas may be religiously based, but so are most of the morals in America. Once you get past the simple commonness, we web out into many ideas…it is those ideas, and the ability to share those ideas that make us great. War remains necessary until we realize this.

The internet may teach us something about this.  On the simplest level it is a means for boxes of silicon (read 'computers')  to share ideas.  These ideas are then categorized.  On AOL for example, the 'welcome screen' has listings of topics to the left side.  Such as news, sports, jobs, kids, music, as so forth.  If you click on these they take you to other screens that are broken down into sub-categories...So many of the 'welcome screen' subjects I've never looked at...imagine how many sub-categories I haven't looked at.  It's up to each individual person to decide which of those categories interest them.

Without computers there would be ZERO categories, ZERO sub-categories.  Just like without food, air, and water there are no humans to become individuals.  I guess I'm trying to demonstrate how unimportant each individual is to having life exist on this planet.  Each individual is only in control of his/herself.  It's the sharing of these multitudes of sub-categories that may bring humans together.  Individual creativity was important for inventions born from necessity.  But whose necessity? 

Tell me why my car has a computer chip in the key to prevent it from getting stolen.  I don't care if my car is stolen, the insurance company does.  You may care if your car is stolen, and for you...these transponder keys help you keep your car.  Why should I pay $100 to get a new key for my car, when I could just go to Home Depot, and make a copy?  And why is it so important to save the insurance companies' money?  Aren't they one of the richest businesses in America?  Do you think they would buy my new transponder key under my insurance policy since it is their own money they want to protect?  No way, you're foolish if you think so.  So you and I, who probably earn the smallest fraction of the insurance companies' profits, are forced to spend even MORE of our hard-earned dollars to protect an insurance company...No fucking wonder we see so many frivilous lawsuits...people are PISSED OFF at the government, and all it's bullshit...but with the police, military, and the "threat" of terrorism, they are afraid to say anything.  My mother is afraid that the government will find out what I have been saying and put me in jail as a terror threat.  You and I both know that I am examining the government and it's practices.  Not trying to claim holy land, not to push my religious beliefs on you, and not under some mystical power that nobody has ever been able to prove.  Why is it that we can prove just about every facet of life by looking at the facts, but we can't prove the existence of any god?

Ok I'm rambling...keep searching.  If you live blind to what is happening to you, you may never realize how free you were meant to be.   

Please realize these simple truths

As I spit this shit at all the people who ask, I find myself realizing that many many people agree with what I am saying.  Most of them hadn't put a lot of thought into it, but some of them were even afraid to voice their opinions in fear of ridicule from the normal people.  First of all, there is mentally no such thing as a normal person.  A normal person only refers to physical characteristics...A living being that breathes air, drinks water, and eats food to stay alive.  After that, our individuality takes control.      

     Revolution is a scary thing.  It means war on our homeland.  It means the fear of fear itself.  It means that somebody somewhere maybe sacrificed.  If you look at our troops overseas, you will realize that we sacrifice humans anyway.  As the iron fist of the government starts to grip your soul with more laws to take your freedoms away, infinite inflation, more warning signs and labels, the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer...Sure the poor people make more $'s than they used to, but do those dollars buy the same things? 

     The revolution will come someday...unfortunately it may not even correct the problem, but it will get better...the more educated we become, the more history we have to draw on, the faster we will come to our conclusions.

what is time?

They say that money is the root of all evil. Having it lends yourself to the evils of being able to get away with the things that the have-nots get punished for ; the evils of judging and/or snubbing the people who don’t have money. Knowing that you can buy somebody else’s pride, imagination, intellect, and labor can lead you to become idle. Idle hands are the devil’s work is a popular cliché. Not having money lends yourself to the exploitation of the weaknesses of the people that have it. It causes you to lie, cheat, and steal to attain money, and all the luxuries it affords. That evil is usually directed at the people who have money. In reciprocation, the haves will try to oppress the have-nots which will lead to unsatisfactory living conditions. Is it easy to see how much evil is created by money?

Time is money. Notice how you spend time, and spend money? The grammatical interpretation would be that you use the same word, spend, to describe your actions with time and money. Application of that statement, however, runs much deeper. You have to spend time to make money, and spending money can save you time. How much of each usually depends on where you fit in to the social class system. If you use your time to help save another entity (one or many humans) time or money, you can make money for yourself. If you don’t have enough time to help yourself, you can use that money to save time. If I install a light in a room with a switch near the door to enter the room, I am saving time for the owner of that room. They don’t need to find a flashlight and make sure it has batteries to find their way in the room during the dark hours. On a more natural level…they don’t need to find a candle and light that candle to enter the room. They simply need to flip a switch as they walk in the room. For this, they will spend their money to give it to me. If I don’t have enough time to do my laundry for clean clothes, I can spend some of that money to have somebody do it for me. While I spend that money, I could possibly be out making more money while somebody does my laundry. I could also spend the time that I gained by spending money, by doing another task that I need, or even spend the time to do something I enjoy.

When you cause the masters of money to lose some of their money, you may be taking away some of their time. If they catch you, they will demand that you spend time or money to repay them. A fine or retribution may repay them to their satisfaction. Sometimes you may be allowed to spend your time helping the community to repay them. By helping the community in this way, you save the master’s charity money, which in turn saves them time, or allows them to use the money on other helpful causes. If you can not repay the master in these manners, you must spend, or waste your time in jail or prison. While in prison you lose a lot of time and money, but the masters, and effectually your tax-paying peers also lose money. They use some of your time to save money on the costs of running a house for your criminal peers. The only way to avoid all this is to spend your time being cautious not to waste the master’s money, or to spend your time avoiding this fate by devising plans to avoid being caught, running from the police, or hiding from the police. In the end you spend time or money when you waste the master’s money. How much you lose isn’t completely uncontrollable, but it is inevitable.

Money makes the world go ‘round. The desire of the have-nots or even the have-not-as-muches to become the haves can quite possibly be the reason anything gets accomplished under a system of money. Somebody needs a house, somebody builds it for them for monetary compensation and the result is another place of shelter for humans, and money for another human to spend on his needs. In this way, development and advancement can occur. Under a monetary system it is virtually the only way advancement occurs. Time, in it’s true definition, is a measure of the world going ‘round. Each time the world goes around 360° , we label that measurement “a day.” Shorter and longer amounts of time can be measured by: Is the sun in the sky, or not? (day and night) What angle does the sun’s rays hit the Earth? (seasons) How much of the moon is illuminated? (weeks) Has the moon completed it’s illumination cycle? (months) Is it high tide, or low tide? (Hours)

If time is money, and money makes the world go ’round…isn’t it time that makes the world go ’round? If money is the root of all evil, isn’t time the root of all evil? If money makes the world go ’round, then the root of all evils makes the world go ’round. So should we accept that we live on an evil planet? The ridiculousness of some of these notions will hopefully cause you to reconsider some of the ideas that you have been following. Time is relative,it is not the same for even each of us human beings, let alone the pets that live an entire life in 7-10 years or the housefly that lives it’s entire life within a day or two. Just remember…a stitch in time saves nine…dollars.

Coming soon!!!!

Yeah right, like I'm gonna spoil this beautiful personal forum with advertising.  Get a life.

I pulled this out of an article on the web

I had to shorten this a little bit, but I did not change the intent, or content...or the intent of the content...or something.

The availability of clothing for breastfeeding mothers may also reflect cultural taboos. Sexy lingerie is available in plentiful supply in major department stores and specialty stores alike. But shopping for a nursing bra can be a daunting task. The nursing bras are often behind the counter, if they were available at all.  The unspoken message is that breastfeeding should be kept behind closed doors and is inappropriate for public display, while displaying images of women's bodies to help attract customers is just fine

I swear...haha (refer to music listening thingy)

I re-read the script written to me in a previous entry...very well organized writing...He mentioned that religion likes to step in to answer the universal questions about the mystery of life.  For the record, I abhorr religion itself.  I'm more of a "believe what I see guy."  What I see is people giving up their human rights in hopes that somebody else will do the thinking for them.  My real question is, "Why would you want to stop thinking?"  So far I've noticed that humans have been led to believe that other humans such as politicians and religious leaders are in control.  Creativity gets suppressed when a living being is forced to live under circumstances that thier conscienses haven't invented.  Instinct is the only real natural power.  Instinct is what made life prosper on this planet.  When your insides tell you how to handle your life, you have the best chance at surviving.  A big uproar of the extinction of buffalo is going against nature.  Nature provided a beast that had so much food and clothing for man, but it did not give it the ability to save itself.  It was a slow, large and lumbering animal that had no way to defend itself.  Nature admits it's mistakes with extinction.  A cow should not survive in nature for the same reasons, but we have corraled this beast, and used laws to protect its existence.  In the interest of society, this move proves to provide food and clothing for many people.  My worry is that humans believe that we should dominate all nature.  A very frequent theme that we learned in literature classes is Man vs. Nature.  We are winning this war in one way...the human population continues to grow across the land.  But are we sacrificing a future, to live in the here and the now?  If so, nature created us, but had no plans for us to survive eternally.  That doesn't have to be a bad thing...but, I believe that the "powers that be" have robbed your present by convincing you that you needed a future.  If we are truly the greatest nation, all humans would want to be a part of it.  Why don't they?  Instead of ridiculing one nation or another, I propose that we use all of society's beliefs to form one common way of life that extends itself to our individuality while allowing us to help each other with our own ambitions.  Ambitions that came to us instinctively, and not ambitions that others have forced us to recognize.

I command you to follow me!!! Just kidding.

It is better to err on the side of daring than the side of caution.
Alvin Toffler

Alvin Toffler wrote a book called Future Shock back in 1970.  His research into history has led him to believe that the agricultural revolution was the first wave of humans extending themselves to provide for more than just each's own interests.  Before then, humans tended to achieve their own personal needs.  I am sorry to report that I haven't spent a lot of time researching this first wave...so lets move to Toffler's second wave.

The industrial revoulution was a second wave immediate advancement.  It occured and affected human society as we know it in a shorter amount of time than the agricultural revolution.  Factories were introduced, and humans were given a new reason to be alive.  To manufacture machines that would make our lives better.  Don't forget though, that human population steadily increases as time goes on.  In my opinion the time saving machines only kept us as productive as before.  Had the industrial revolution not been successful, we would be nowhere near the status we enjoy now.  Look at third world countries for an example of a social group that could not join that industrial revolution.  But since then, there has been a third wave of advancement.  Coming sooner after the last non-political revolution than the industrial revolution occured after the agricultural revolution.

     The technological revolution has truly exploded upon this earth.  It seems that we advance faster and faster as time goes on.  How long did it take to invent the radio?  How long after that did it take to invent the television?  How about color television?  Now compare how quickly we invented forms of recording these mediums, and how quickly we advanced; first from record vinyl to 8 track to cassette tape to CD, and now MP3's.  How about the advancement from film reels to Beta, VHS, a brief stint of laser discs and finally DVD's? Every day we invent bigger, better, faster, and more ways to enjoy this technology. 

     Although I do not know the exact timing of the agricultural revolution, U.S. history has taught me that the native americans taught colonists how to use the earth to produce food.  So if that was the agricultural revolution, that happened in the 1600's.  The industrial revolution happened in the early 1900's.  The technological revolution happened in the later 1900's.  Alvin Toffler's ideas are that the acceleration of these revolution's timelines is a growing trend.  Things move and change faster and faster as we live as a human society.  We started with walking...then chariots and horse and buggy.  We finally invented the steam engine which spawned faster ways of moving across this land.  Skipping ahead we learned to fly in the air at ridiculous speeds, eventually being able to break away from the earth's gravity into space.  What does this history mean for the future?

     The real question is, "Are we ever going to slow down?"  How often can you realize that time slips away faster and faster?  Things change faster and faster.  Where does it end?  Does it end?  At this rate, we will experience changes that blow our minds day to day.  Turn your attention to culture shock.  It has been said, (I can't accept or portray this to you as fact until I experience it myself) that when a human traverses the earth and lands in another land, completely unlike the one he has grown up on, he will experience culture shock.  He will have no idea why the inhabitants would live the way they live because it completely different than anything he's ever seen.  This is how Toffler makes his point.  There will be a day when technology changes things so quickly that you may find yourself in a state of shock.  On a smaller scale, how many times have you heard of these cliches: "What is this world coming to?"  and, "What will they think of next?"  Usually muttered by older people.  People that grew up in a different speed than the younger people have experienced.  Is there a way to prevent this?

    Let's go back to the quote from Toffler that preceded all that I've typed in this entry...

It is better to err on the side of daring than the side of caution.
Alvin Toffler

     All great things have come from somebody taking chances.  Ben Franklin, the Wright brothers, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have all risked their lives to seek advancement.  Not one advancement has come from caution.  If this teaches you nothing else, let it teach you to dispel the notion, "better safe, than sorry."  Hopefully as time advances at blistering speed, we humans can learn to deal with the changes by staying in the moment, and always being aware of what, who, when, where and why things happen.  Otherwise, you will lose control of your own life, happiness, and well-being.

1.  The playing field: RMV or DMV
2.  Objective: obtain replacement drivers license
3.  Number of players 3
     you, customer service representative, clerk
4.  Game play
     Enter the playing field, advance to the customer service representative.  If you have a clear idea of what it takes to move past the rep, you will only need to inform the rep which form you need to fill out.  If you do not know how to obtain your goal, you must ask the rep what you need.  Your first hope is to clearly identify your situation to the rep.  Your last hope is that the rep is in a good mood.   
     Once you obtain the proper paperwork, fill it out, and go back to the rep.  If they accept your paperwork, you will be given a number.  This is the occasion when you will be allowed to enter the main body of the playing field amongst other players.  Keep in mind, these players are NOT participating in your game.  They are playing their own game. 
     Watch the number screen to monitor your status in the game, or wait until you hear your number to avoid anxiety.  When your number is called, that is when you will be allowed to advance to the final stage of the playing field. 
     Advance to the clerk's window.  Present your paperwork.  If there is a problem with your paperwork, you may be asked to go back to the rep.  This is a serious setback.  If your paperwork has been filled out properly, the clerk will check the computer, for for reasons to dismiss you from the game.  If the clerk presents information regarding unpaid government fees, suspended license status, or warrants for arrest, you will be thrown out of the game, unless you can present "money" to settle those situations.  If everything checks out, you will be asked to use your "money" to pay the fee required to obtain your replacement license.  If you can accomplish this, you will be issued your license.  This is in effect the end of the game, even before you exit the playing field.
5.  Deciding the winner.
     You win as long as you exit the playing field with your replacement license.  Or you can determine your success by having the fewest minutes spent on the playing field, or leaving the playing field with the largest percentage of the the "money" you brought to the playing field.

the games of life

Time to realize that life is just a game...I hope you will play this little game with me Here's an example (copy this and then add your own game):

1.  The playing field:

2.  Objective

3.  Number of players

4.  Game play

5.  Deciding the winner.  

1.  The playing field:     The supermarket

2.  Objective         To get the products you need and to get out of the playing field

3.  Number of players         Variable number of players decided by time of day, size of playing field, popularity of store, among many other minute details.

4.  Game play        

     Enter the playing field.         

If you have a list, look for the signs indicating where your products are.  If not, start at one side of the field and work your way to the other side.  You do not have to follow this rule in order to play the game

         Find your products on the shelves and attempt to retrieve them.  If another player is in your way, you may try asking politely for them to move.  Don't forget, other players may not want to make your game play easier.  In this case you have two options.  1.  Wait for them to move along the playing field, or 2.  Push them out of the way with verbal or physical abuse.  Also remember that finding the products with the lower money designations may benefit your resources, but may not be the quality of the higher designations.

         As you get your products you can either carry them in your hands, or use a shopping cart to hold them all.  Remember, a shopping cart can hold more items, but will slow you down as you make your way through the playing field.  Of course there is the option of using your pockets, but if caught you could be penalized, and taken out of the game.

         When you have all the products you need, make your way towards the exits.  You will have to choose a register to purchase your items.  You must carefully weigh your options by noting how many players are in line in front of each register, How many products each of those players are attempting to purchase,  how fast the register operator moves, and even the registers proximity to the exits.  Again, you can choose to bypass the register and head straight for the exits, but again, if you get caught you will be penalized, and taken out of the game.

          If you get to a register, you must put your products on the sorting conveyor belt.  Your products will be tallied, and you will be asked to "pay" for the items.  You may use cash, or if available, credit/debit cards or checks.

         Once you have done that, you will receive a paper token (receipt) signifying that you have paid for your items.

         The game is over when you have maneuvered yourself, your products, and your cart (if applicable)  out of the exit doors.

5.  Deciding the winner

         This game can be played once, or you can keep score.  If you are on a budget, getting out of the store quickly may not be as important as using minimal resources (money) to get your items outside of the store.  If you're on a schedule, getting out of the store quickly without upsetting your schedule, can declare you the winner.  If you have enough items to satisfy your needs until your next game, you win. 

another letter from a friend...

I tried to respond to the "essence," but it requires a logging in and the attempt to create an account bugged me so I'll respond this way.    I think every American, in some way, passes these or similar thoughts through their heads and I'm inclined to believe that probably all humans, regardless of country, probably deal with these same issues.    Unless I'm totally wrong, what I hear is you dealing with the universal mystery of humankind. What, how and why are we here.  Religion is born of these questions. All the major religions offer a believe system that takes the questions you're asking and gives answers.  Example: Who made the world?  God made the world. Oh. Since God always was and always will be, and God made the world, we can stop asking how the world started. Religion calls that "faith."    If religion doesn't have it right, maybe the philosophers, writers, quantum physicists have a better answer. (BTW - a new film called What the Bleep do we know is appearing at the Avon theater in Providence and the Loew theater in Boston - you'd love this flick. Try and see it before it leaves town. http://www.whatthebleep.com/showdates/#MA)    Stage theorists, such as Jean PIaget and Gail Sheehey (sp?), offer us a series of stages that we would pass through on our journey through life. And, as you point out, there is a group of older people (by which you mean older than you) who have passed through the other stages and there is a group of people at your stage.  Each of those groups and all the other groups (or stages) live together on the planet and bounce off of one another like molecules.  Example: There was a time when I liked my music loud and thought that everyone should. Now other people's music annoys me, especially when it comes from a car passing my house.  Does that make me wrong/bad/old? I think not. It simply means I have finished with the loud music stage and rather enjoy the quiet sounds of nature stage.    Somehow I find us to be a collection of upright bipeds divided by geography, thence by customs, religion and language.  The geography piece is beginning to be less relevant because we can get around it so much quicker, but the customs and language part still divides us clearly.  In addition to these divisions are the economic and power divisions. That's where the real fun begins. Religion was the first to figure out that power led quickly to riches and religious power can trump political power. It did, and it does.    All rich people are not bad. They are, however, wealthy and their wealth allows them to purchase products you & I can't afford. People is a product they can purchase. A maid, a gardener, a private pilot, boat captain, or soldier.  They can also purchase workers such as factory workers who, in turn, produce more wealth.    America has it's constitution and proudly declares that all men are created equal. However, it does not address equality of wealth. That is where the disparity begins. The wealthy, and those born into wealth, enjoy perks from their beginnings - even pre-natal with access to specialized care, pampering, preparation.  The rich profit handsomely from the poor. The rich need the poor.  The war in Iraq is not about Saddam, it's about money and the rich need the poor (soldiers and undereducated Iraqies) to accomplish the larger objective - Money.    We walk a journey through our years. We dream, we wish, we produce, ... we live. Others impact our living, as does nature. We are not, and can not, be completely "in control" because we share the planet and the universe with others. You and I can't control the impact of an asteroid, the path of a hurricane or the path of an oncoming car. Mostly those things miss, but every day someone is whacked by a car. Even Princess Diane. Who do we blame?    OK, this has been fun. Enjoy your next decade. I'm going to enjoy mine.