The State of the Union

The State of the Union sucks!
Enough said.
Can't be bothered with listening to Bush tell the world how wonderful it is to be King George.

Democracy vs. Freedom

I read an Op Ed piece in the NY Times today from a Spanish man who was complaining about Spain's efforts to control smoking. Basically, he said the effort was un-democratic and paternalistic.
I agree and feel the same way about efforts to stop Americans from smoking.
People, we are being sold a bill of goods when we are told democracy and freedom are the same thing. In theory, we could be under a dictatorship and have more freedoms than we now have under our current democratic government.
You want proof? It is easy to give if you believe in God. I would tell you the Creator of the Universe, God, is far more powerful than any government. And yet, under God, we are given absolute freedom to choose. True, there are the Ten Commandments. But get real! There are only ten of them and we are allowed to break them any time we want. And no where in the Ten Commandments are there any "Thou shalt nots" about smoking or any other of the millions of laws we labor under in this country.
And when it comes to the Ten Commandments and you end up breaking one or more or all of them, all you have to do to make it right with God is to say you are sorry and do your best not to break the commandment again.
I say, "Thnak God God is God and not the United States Government!"

Is it murder?

With all the endless questions asked of nominees to the Supreme Court, two questions are never, ever asked. Do you believe murder should be a crime?
This simple question, I would think it is a simple question, should get a simple response of yes.
The follow-up question shoud be, "Do you believe abortion is murder?"
This is the question, the only question, is it not in the never ending debate over abortion?
If you believe abortion is murder, you really don't have a choice but to say it should be illegal. Not only should you want abortion to be illegal, you should want those performing abortions and those asking for an abortion to be tried and convicted of murder, and be sentenced to life in prison or face execution, depending upon the laws in the state where the crime took place.
Anything less than this would be a sham.
But if you don't believe abortion is murder, then why would anyone want to restrict it at any point before birth? Then it should be completly legal for any woman chosing and any doctor performing it.
Period!
My opinion?
I don't believe a human being exisits until after the birth and the first breath of life is taken in.

I See Where

I see where our senators have begun questioning the next Supreme Court judge. I have only one observation. It seems to me these nominees to the Supreme Court would all be guilty of contempt of court if they were in a court room instead of a hearing. With their constant refusal to answer questions, one should wonder where they get off throwing people in prison for not answering their questions.
I see where a guy on the winter Olympics team is being barred from competition because he used a hair restoration drug. The goody-two-shoes who head the Olympic Federation say the hair restoration drug has the potential to mask illegal drugs. What I want to know is what is the brand name of this hair restoration drug so I can use it if I ever decide to use illegal drugs.
Which brings me to New York State thinking of adding an additonal $1 to the price of cigarettes in the state's goody-two-shoe effort to help smokes stop smoking - so they argue.
Is it possible, dare I suggest, the campaign to get people to stop smoking is based upon top secret information that there is a chemical in cigarettes that counteracts against a drug the government has put in food and drinking water, the purpose of which is to drug people into being good little consumers who don't question the motives or actions of the federal government and large corporations?
Who knows where evil lurks in government and big business?

Where is Alexander?

Where is Alexander the Great when you need him?
Last Sunday, I saw the movie, Alexander, on HBO and couldn't help but think how todays rulers/leaders could certain learn from him.
Two differences I noted between Alexander and, say Bush for example, was how Alexander actually went into battle with his troops and was often wounded, sometimes seriously.
While it is true Alexander sometimes had sex with other men, it is also clearly obvious he was more of a man than those we have now-a-days who are heavily guarded and sneak in and out of countries without prior notice.
Give me a leader who likes sex with other guys but has the guts to be a real man any day.
The second point I noticed was how Alexander did not try converting the conquered to live under the Greek model. Though never having bothered with Rome, Alexander believed, "When in Babylon, do as the Babylonians do."
Could modern leaders learn from Alexander I for one would certainly enjoy having a President more like Alexander than like Bush.

Time to build the guillotines?

One of my strongest held beliefs is that our minds are attuned to what might be called a universal mind or, the way I prefer to view it, our minds float within a stew of ideas that includes the ideas of others.

This idea floated to the surface today when I read an editorial in the NY Times. I forget the exact title of the editorial, but the title included the name of Marie Antoinette. You remember her of French Revolution fame, the queen who is reported to have responded when she heard the peasants didn't even have bread eat, "Let them eat cake." And we know what happened to her!

Could it happen here?

It seems to be happening, at least the lead up, with how the poor and middle class are falling behind the rich.

To quote just one sentence from the Times article, "If the minimum wage had advanced at the same rate as chief executive compensation since 1990, America's bottom-of-the-barrel working poor would be enjoying salad days, with legal wages at $23.03 an hour instead of $5.15."

Are the rich in this country wise? Will a word to the wise be sufficient?

One would hope so. But probably not because part of the problem is how people always think the rich are people who are making more money than they are. Undoubtedly, there are people in the entertainment media, including those in professional sports, who are making millions but who choose to believe they belong to the middle class.

Who knows? Only time will tell. But the days of a French styled revolution could be in the cards for the top ten percent in this country.

Anyone interested in mass producing guillotines for the pending occasion? You could become rich, especially if you contract to build them cheaply in China.