Stop Your God Blessings

Religion, like all things, is fine in moderation and when not taken too seriously. When a person over-indulges in their chosen religion and it becomes a dominating part of their life, trouble ensues.

As Pascal said, "Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."

And I am thinking here of the USA led by George W. Bush and his religious moral crusade to kill those opposed to his religiously-derived morals.

On 9/11, two planes hit the World Trade Center towers and they eventually came down, killing around 3,000 people. This was a sad day as those people who died were all value-producers and they were killed by value-destroyers.

In retaliation for this, Dubbya got all high and moral and bombed Afghanistan. Flew a few missiles into some mud huts and hit camels up the bum. Dropped a few bombs on holes in the ground, making them bigger. And did it from a "moral justification" stand point. Which is to say... you killed 3,000 of us and now we have to make you pay.

Getting serious here for a moment and stripping away the rhetoric and propaganda, precisely WHAT role did the Taliban play in 9/11?

9/11 was blamed on Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. How does bombing Afghanistan and overthrowing the Taliban equal going after Bin Laden?

I'm not saying the Taliban were nice people. They did some real shitty things. But what justification is there to overthrow them?

If you say "they were harboring terrorists" then that is a pretty pathetic reason. I mean, really. For then you had better start applying that same dictum to ALL those who turn a blind eye to your enemies and go after all those states. Otherwise you are hypocritical.

Next we have Iraq. So Iraq didn't do as the U.N. told it. SO WHAT? Joining the U.N. is a voluntary thing. So is doing what the U.N. says. What right does any nation of the U.N. have, to invade another nation because said nation isn't doing what the U.N. tells it? How does the invading nation then justify such an action when 17 times before it was quite happy for the said nation to not do what the U.N. said?

Oh. We just say we reckon they are a threat and in we go. We put on a power point presentation befitting Hollywood, and then head on in. And when it is discovered our reason for invading isn't justifiable, we claim it was another reason. And that we are freeing a people. But now we get into more hypocrisy. For if you want to "free" oppressed people, you had better start heading into North Korea, Sudan, Congo, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and so on and so forth. You cannot pick and choose at your whim.

The underlying premise of being a libertarian is this... other people are not your property. And that follows on then that other countries are not your property. And just because they do things you don't like is no reason to FORCE your evolved sensibility-derived morals onto them. If they think they are so hard done by, THEY will overthrow their government. Let them. Even if it takes 70 odd years, as was the case with Communism, eventually it will happen. Who are you to judge otherwise?

George Bush said the US would win this "war on terror" because they have God on their side. And I am reminded once again of Pascal's words... Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

How many Iraqis have been killed as a result of Dubbya's moral war on terror. Ten thousand? Twenty thousand? More? How many people killed is considered enough "payback" for the events of 9/11?

The US took over Iraq in a matter of weeks. The leftists said all the whining of the righties all those years that Clinton was weakening the military were unfounded - because - this same weakened military took Iraq so fast. Why do they fail to acknowledge the desertion of troops? Why fail to mention that when given half a chance the troops ran away and went home, or gave up without fighting?

It will be claimed that after artillery bombardment the troops were demoralized. And that the US had gotten inside of the Iraq decision-making cycle. But when you are forced to fight against your will - as in the case of the drafted and conscripted Iraqi soldiers - you will flee or surrender the first chance you get. And as a fighting force, you will be totally ineffective.

This is the kind of military the US beat. A military which in a previous war had surrendered to television crews. A military who didn't want to fight, and so didn't.

The speed of the US's movement into Iraq had less to do with their superior fighting ability as it did with the reluctance of the Iraq military to fight back. And now the US is experiencing what Germany did in WWII... go in too fast and you are endlessly troubled by the resistance movement. (Of course, when it was us doing the fighting back is was a resistance, when it is them they are terrorists.)

But I digress, I was talking about Iraq being a threat. What evidence is there that Iraq was a threat to anyone? None. So why is it still being called a War on Terror?

Dubbya says the US was attacked because those who did the attacking "hate our freedom". Seeing as Switzerland has not been attacked, does that mean Switzerland is not free? Or New Zealand? Or Norway?

Maybe the US was attacked because those who did the attacking "hate the US policies".

Consider: The US plays Iraq and Iran against each other for years. The people of Saudi Arabia are repressed by a Saudi government backed by the US. And so on. When people are repressed and have no other course of regress, they will fight back as they see fit. Much like our side fought back at Germany all those years in WWII as a "resistance" movement. And just as those movements fight, not everyone in the population does the fighting.

For years the cry from the Middle East was one of objecting to US foreign policy. Now those cries have been silenced and we are constantly told it is because those godless heathens hate our freedom. And we have to force freedom on them and our brand of democracy whether they like it or not. Which is to say, replace their ruling gang with one of our own that we call a democratically elected government. And all done with God's blessings, according to Dubbya.

I am reminded once again of Escape From LA staring Kurt Russell. In that movie the leader of the US was a deeply religious man who was moralising the US. I laugh because this is what I see today. A religious leader who is trying to moralise the country - no matter how many people die in the process.

Of all things, religion is, perhaps, the instigator of the most deaths throughout our entire history. Millions upon millions of people die in the name of religion, or from the blessings of one man's god.

To me the solution is quite simple. Leave other countries alone. Even if you do not like what they are doing to their own people. Their people will overthrow the government if they are pushed too far. Just like the US overthrew the British government all those years ago.

Why can't the US leave other countries alone?

What's Petrol?

It's night time. The car, complete with mom in the passenger seat and small child sleeping in the back, pulls up at a gas station. Dad gets out and shuts the door too hard. He looks back through the window to his wife and mouths the words "sorry." The child wakes up and looks out the window, then leans closer to the window for a better look. She then turns to mom and says "Where are we?" The mom, all beaming in that "happy families" way says, "It's called a petrol station." The child looks back out the window and then back to mom saying, "What's petrol?" Then the music plays and the ad ends.

If you have not seen the ad, about now you are probably wondering what is actually being advertised. Well. It is the car. The idea being, this car is so economical they have been driving around in it for 3 or 4 years and never had to pull into a gas station to tank up while the kid has been in it. That's why the kid doesn't know what a "petrol station" is.

The car maker never actually comes right out and says their car is economical. It is all implied.

Anyway. I find this ad incredibly annoying because it helps perpetuate a myth. The myth of Happy Families. By selling the image that buying this car is something young families do - or - buying this car will turn your disjointed family into a Happy Family.

So what is this Happy Families fantasy? It is just that... a fantasy that millions upon millions of people buy in to. That somehow, having a kid magically transforms the couple into a Happy Family.

I got news for you... it just ain't so. There are no such things as Happy Families, as portrayed in the ads and in the fantasy. So when your family doesn't fit the fantasy, it isn't that there is something wrong with your family and that other families do fit the fantasy, it is, instead, that the fantasy doesn't exist anywhere. And continuing to believe in its existence is self-delusional.

Same goes for the "Prince Charming" fantasy. You know the one... where the woman is super-romanced and courted, then marries this super wonderful prince charming type guy and they live happily ever after - even having a kid and becoming a Happy Family.

HEY! WAKE UP! The Prince Charming fantasy isn't real either. So girls, when you start getting disheartened that your guy doesn't fit this fantasy, STOP thinking it is time to find the "real" guy who fits the fantasy, and DO realize that the fantasy is NOT real.

And guys, when you start getting disheartened that your girl isn't dotting over you like the fantasy hints at, STOP thinking it is time to find the "real" girl who fits the fantasy, and DO realize that the fantasy is NOT real.

Get it?

It is NOT that the person is the wrong person, it IS that the fantasy is not, nor has it ever been, real. The sooner this is realized and accepted, the sooner you can be happy in your relationship.

What a lot of people do is this: The relationship isn't fitting the Prince Charming fantasy so they have a kid. Maybe they will then be the Happy Family. But that doesn't work either. And so they either split up - now arguing over custody of the kid. And both go on their way looking for the real person who will fit this mythical fantasy. Or they begin playing up on each other behind each other's back. Hoping that maybe the person they are having an affair with is "the" person this time.

But the affair excitement is a short-lived thing. Sure to dwindle and reveal there is no fantasy relationship here either. And so a new person is then looked for. One who does fit the fantasy. And this too ends in frustration.

Listen. Let me say it once again. It isn't that the person is the wrong one, it is, instead, that the fantasy is not real. And believing it is and searching for the mythical person who does fit the fantasy, will see you in a vicious circle of relationships beginning and ending.

Drop the fantasy. Accept reality. And you are more than half way there. You still have a ways to go - such as stop trying to control your companion - but dropping the fantasy is a big head-start.

Just Because You're Paranoid Doesn't Mean Everyone Really Isn't Out To Get You

Ignorance is bliss. It literally is.

Consider the "informed" person. They know the technology the govt has in place to spy on its citizens, they know the agencies the govt has for gathering information on its citizens, they know the tricks and methodologies the govt uses against its citizens, and so on. And perhaps worst of all, they know that they - or at least people like them - are the kinds of people govt doesn't like or trust. And if the govt could, they would come in the dead of night and cart them off - never to be seen again.

And it is rather ironic. The very people the govt fears, don't care about the govt at all. They just want to be left alone. But because the govt wants to stick its nose into those people's business, it makes itself an enemy of those people.

Think about it. If you are minding your own business and suddenly someone starts "having a go at you", do you placidly let them have their way - or - do you find the antagonistic actions annoying and feel the urge to fight back?

If you are honest, and not answering so it sounds good to someone, you feel the urge to fight back. Which means, this "bully" has made an enemy of you when no such enemy existed. And when/if you fight back, your actions become their "proof" they were wise to "have a go at you" in the first place.

And this is how the govt works. It decides a certain group of people are a threat. It is all completely imagined by the govt, of course. Because freedom loving people - sovereign people - don't care about the govt and just want to go about their business unhindered. But because the govt wants to control everyone, it feels threatened by someone whom it cannot control. So those true freedom seekers are deemed as some kind of enemy that must be watched over, controlled with ever more laws and regulations and, ideally, subjugated until they have no will left. Made an example of, if you will.

Recently, there was a small indiscretion made. As far as a crime goes it was victimless. But it did break some obscure law. Well, instead of a fine and on your way, the govt decided to "make an example" of this person and prosecute to the full extent of the law. That the punishment was over the top didn't matter. What mattered was to "show others" what would happen to them if they did the same thing.

And this is how govt operates.

People who are paranoid of the govt have every right to be. The information they know which leads to their paranoia, also makes them a target of govt controllers. And their paranoia becomes justified. Catch 22.

Neighbors too, become people to be wary of. They might not come right out and ask you, but they are very curious about you. What you do. How you make money. Etc. And more so if you haven't told them you're a "blank" (whatever it is you do). So if you make money without a job or business you go to in a 9-5 fashion, and if you look like a person of means (nice car, for instance), then your best thing to tell them is you telecommute - as a data-entry person, or writer of technical manuals, or similar. Of course, easier to drive an old car and let them think you're on the welfare HA!

But leading a private life isn't easy when the govt encourages neighbors to spy on each other. Specially in a post 9/11 world. Everyone - every govt - it seems, has terrorist fever. Looking for terrorists behind every tree and every innocent action. Running ads encouraging neighbors to report anything at all. Because it might be something to do with terrorism.

Add to that the fact people don't like others to be different. Their jealousy drives them to sabotage you. Specially if they cannot do what you do, be what you are, or have what you have. So your solution is to don't do anything that makes you stand out from your neighbors - or - move into an area where your neighbors are more like you already.

Yes. In this day and age, just because you are paranoid doesn't mean everyone really isn't out to get you. They probably are.