Wednesday, May 28, 2008
$3,000,000,000,000
What does three trillion dollars really mean? It can't make matters worse to consider the cost of things even if the numbers are abstract in your mind.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Watching the 555
I have been watching the progress of a group of bikers called the 555 who set out from Knoxville Tennessee on old school bikes with the goal of hitting Portland Oregon. They must have bikes made before 1975 worth after restoration less than $500 and less than 500 cubic centimeters displacement. They started on May 16th and it is fun to watch their adventures in the Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.
It can't make matters worse to watch others have adventures I can only dream of.
Monday, May 05, 2008
The Seed of Oppression By Clifford Clark
Remember the thoughts I had about that red light camera shooting? I have developed a friendship (internet pen pal actually) with the man accused of doing it. He has a web page that I have been reading as his story has progressed. It seems to me from my limited viewpoint/window on the world that the local law has a very shaky case of circumstantial evidence and are doing everything possible to evoke a poor reaction from him under extreme stress. Now in an effort to not make matters worse I want to break this latest observation from a free thinking man.
The Seed of Oppression
Some 60 years later, our own country slides into totalitarianism. Repetitious taxation insures that the state owns every piece of land, every home, every auto, and virtually everything superficially considered to be your own. The equity accumulated from your labor belongs either to the state or agencies of the state. If you doubt this bold statement, forgo a tax payment to reassure yourself of the consequence.
Access to your home is granted to the state without reservation. My own door was kicked in and my home searched without permission or warrant. My legal property was seized, all within the dictates of the state.
The words that come from your mouth and words from your pen are evaluated for acceptance and approval. Thoughts incongruent with state’s dictates render a consequence to the speaker or to the writer. Employers are used to police everyone for compliance. Employers may prosecute largely without regard to civil rights. Employers may engage in double jeopardy without restriction. However, you are indeed free to be unemployed.
An assembly of laws so complex, ambiguous, yet all inclusive insures that nearly everyone can be prosecuted on whim. Yet, rarely is any law ever enacted with permission of the majority. The technology exists to provide access to government for everyone. Various brokerages transact with the stock market and process millions of orders routinely. Yet, you’ll not find line item laws presented to the public via the internet so that all can cast their approval or disapproval.
There are opiates to relieve a collective angst. You are free to masturbate. Persons of any age can view virtually any sex act via the internet. We are pacified by the declaration of ‘free speech’. I have yet to discern any ‘speech’ within the context of this masturbator theater. Ironically, you’ll be placed in jail if you pay for sex. Another opiate is indebtedness. The compulsion that one more material possession might bring happiness propels us into debt and subsequent indenture. Our attics and closets overflow with failures like an alley littered with needles from heroine addicts.
Various opiates and punishments were employed in the conversion of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Both seduction and oppression are mechanisms of conquest. Safe guard your liberties by refusing to be seduced or oppressed. While we may correctly identify government and private industry for stripping us of our freedom, the genesis of oppression lies within ourselves. The seed of oppression is fear. When we succumb to fear, we indenture ourselves and our fellow countrymen.
A single person can indeed stop the erosion of freedom. That one person is YOU. Control your fear, or your fear will control you. Spread the words of love, peace and freedom with your every breath.
Clifford Clark
