INTERESTING TIMES

For elitist liberals, the times got so interesting last week that folks are sunk in depression.  The changes that our incoming presidential administration will implement look to be the undoing of generations of work in environmentalism and human rights.  Militant authoritarian nationalism is on the rise world wide.  We have reason to be troubled.

Still, just as before, the world is an amazing place.  It is possible to step back from trying to save it for a few minutes and focus on enjoying it.  We only have this one life, as far as I know, and we can spend it suffering or celebrating.  That is a choice.  To focus on gratitude is to wire your brain to enjoy what you have.  For most of us in this rich nation, we have plenty.  We do not need more.  We are not just making do, we are wasting time playing games or being entertained when we could be doing something productive.

I gain solace from backing away from worrying about my nation, or even my species or my planet.  The Universe is a big place.  Even if this planet experiences nuclear holocaust, something will survive.  Life will persist.  Beauty will rise with each sun.

There is a certain freedom in admitting powerlessness.  I cannot do anything about our new government.  Thus I am free from worrying about it.  I can do something about what happens in my back yard, I have a little more power there.  I will use that power.  If each of us uses our small power to foster love, beauty and joy where we can, we will at least not be miserable.  Life is short and worrying is wasteful.  Act, or don't act.  Or like Yoda says, *There is no try; there is do or do not.*

There is one tool that I'd like to bring back into people's consciousness, and that is NonViolent Communication.  Marshall Rosenberg wrote a book by that title, after studying the Jewish survivors of the Nazi regime.  He discovered that by speaking from a place of our deepest humanity, we can communicate with anyone.  Feelings and needs, we all have them, and we can find consensus when we start from that place.  If you have not read the book I highly recommend it.  If you have read it, I recommend that you refresh your mind on what are Universal feelings and needs, and start using the technique.  At the very least, stop saying "I feel like" when really you are expressing a thought.  It is a misuse of language that leads down a dangerous track.

Last night we watched just a little bit of an old Adam Sandler movie, which was supposed to be funny.  It occurred to me that his style and his movies were a harbinger of what has since come.  His dishonesty, manipulativeness, and ignorance as expressed in his movies are too much like the dominant culture now. It is time to partake in inspiring or educational media or none at all.

Lots more thoughts swirling but I must go.  Be well, and do good work, as Garrison Keillor used to say.

A venturesome minority
will always be eager to set off on their own,
and no obstacles should be placed in their path;
let them take risks, for godsake,
let them get lost, sunburnt, stranded, drowned,
eaten by bears, buried alive under avalanches -
that is the right and privilege of any free American.
--Edward Abbey

You have a right
to experiment
with your life.
You will make mistakes.
And they are right too.
--Anaïs Nin

'Dr. Laura' to end radio show over racial controversy
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/17/AR2010081706418.html?wpisrc=nl_natlalert

Did you know she has a PhD in physiology? And that she called gays "deviants" and "biological errors"?? Deviant = actions or behaviors that violate cultural norms (incl formal rules & social norms). What is not deviant about being gay? We haven't changed our culture enough that it is normal. Yet. It is an interesting question to me: What sort of culture would be totally OK with gayness? What cultures have been? Anybody know the history? It is my impression that homosexual behavior, especially among men, happens more when there is wealth and idle time. But that's just a reflection of some impressions I have about the time of the Romans, and comparison with the last generation of wealth here in America.

But back to Dr Laura and her decision to ditch radio in the face of the public outcry over her "racist" remarks the other day. Suffice it to say that the standard of PCness now required on the radio and most places in the public sphere to some degree limits frank conversation. Everybody offended about something, and we can't talk without people's buttons getting pushed. But that's what America is all about anyway, right? Our right to be hostile and defensive in the face of perceived threats? Our right to get rid of anyone who says something that we don't like?

( text from Washington post article by Paul Farhi )

He has kicked off quite the furor after beating the mainstream Republican in the Kentucky primary. The media is all over him, calling him nuts. The girls at my school were completely positive that he is a Racist. I wonder if they even know why they think he is a racist. The web is calling him racist because he doesn't agree with part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Well I haven't studied the law, but I am positive that if I did I would find something about it that I don't agree with either. Does that make me a racist? We have a new definition of racist!! Are there not more ways to abolish racism than this one law? Is political correctness always so simple minded? I'd love to see a reasonable intellectual discussion of the issues before the witch hunt begins. His position is incomprehensible from the liberal groupthink mindset, hence he must be insane.
( Rant. )

I've been listening to opposite sides on this issue. Ron Paul predictably says that the government is headed down the slippery slope toward socialized medicine, and that we shouldn't do it. He doesn't offer an active alternative; his alternative is no regulation and no government involvement whatsoever. From where we are today, I don't know if the sudden removal of government subsidies from health industry corporations would do the trick. What I do know is that it isn't going to happen. Too far off the beaten course. People can't comprehend it and don't trust in it enough. Most Libertarians are more militant and less diplomatic than Dr. Paul, and so are not gaining a wider audience. That approach is at a standstill.
( thoughts )

This is his story about what happened to him on the night of April 14, 2009.

Bill of No Rights by Lewis W. Napper
Written in 1993 by Lewis Napper, an "amateur philosopher" who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2000 as a Libertarian.
( rights and which ones you don't have,even in America )

As Ron Paul said not that long ago, it's kind of sad that adhering to the Constitution is a revolutionary act in this day, but it is. I've been a member of the ACLU for a long time, and have been impressed with their steady hard work to maintain and regain our freedoms that are supposed to be assured by the Constitution, including but not limited to our right to not be subjected to unreasonable search and seizure, and our right if arrested to be informed of the charges and be given a speedy trial. I don't really believe that "rights" are inherent or "God-given", but I do believe that we can choose a system of government and abide by an agreement to honor certain rights for all people. It is our agreement that matters. Our system of government has been degraded to such an extent by the Bush regime that formerly unpolitical people are becoming political, because we no longer agree with the actions of our own government. We are trying to hold onto the shreds of our dignity as Americans, and to regain governmental adherence to the documents and principles that made this nation unique and great. From the link below you can join the ACLU if you're not a member, and there is an impassioned statement from one Colorado member about why his is giving his Shrub tax rebate to the ACLU instead of buying a new hunting rifle. Enjoy.

https://secure.aclu.org/site/Donation?ACTION=SHOW_DONATION_OPTIONS&CAMPAIGN_ID=4502&s_src=UNW080501RVA&s_subsrc=sub_em&JServSessionIdr007=q9v5cuw8c3.app24a