Modern Man

I listened to him go on for almost an hour. Muslims and Islam were so out of control. How could anyone let there laws be dictated by their religion? Blah Blah Blah.

In the same conversation I was told that this country was headed to hell because we are taking away God. Can’t pray in school or at work. We shouldn’t try to separate ourselves from God.

I wanted to know what the difference was.

Well, we are Christians he said, not terrorists.

People like this make me think that all religion is where humanities problems  begin.

Someone please explain to me, why people are sticking up for, and defending Roman Polanski.

If I have this straight…when he was in his early 40’s, he drugged and had unwanted sex with a 13 year old girl. He was arrested and pled guilty. There was some question to the nature of the plea agreement. He then fled the country to avoid sentencing.

Exactly what part of that is defendable?

Are these people Ok with the fact that he raped a child? Are they Ok with the fact that he drugged her first? Are they Ok with the fact the he fled punishment and has made a mockery of the US Justice system? Is it just that he has gotten away with being a fugitive for so long that we should forgive and forget? Is it just that he’s some hot shot movie director? Because we all know that celebrities don’t have to pay for their crimes. Only regular folk do that.

I don’t understand any of this.

It might have something to do with the girl he raped wanting the charges to be dropped. However, Mr. Polanski was sued and payed her an undisclosed amount. Meaning she got a ton, and is set for life. No wonder she wants it to be over. She has nothing left to gain. Except any real form of justice, but who needs justice when undisclosed amounts of money are involved.

To me, it should not matter that he is allegedly a great film maker. It shouldn’t matter that his victim doesn’t care anymore. It shouldn’t matter that he has been hiding for more than 30 years. It shouldn’t matter that he has not been caught raping other children.

What does matter, is that he was caught drugging and raping a child. It matters that he admitted it and pled guilty. It matters that he thinks he is above the law and ran.

No amount of time, money or distance should matter. He raped a child and he needs to pay for that.

Or did we all decide that forcible statutory rape is alright? At least for celebrities.

 When did we decide that punishment needed to be polite and pain free? When did the rights of the criminal, become more important than the rights of the victims? When did punishment stop being a deterrent to crime?

Ok, that last one is probably another topic but let me just say:  Anyone that still believes the Untied States justice system and our punishment system is a deterrent to crime or rehabilitation, is delusional and out of touch. Our punishment, i.e., jails and prisons, are summer camp compared to what punishment should be.

Three balanced meals a day, cable TV, air conditioning, libraries, Internet, education, exercise time, field trips and conjugal visits, health, dental, vision and prescription drug plans, paying jobs and much much more. All at tax payer expense. Just who is being punished here?

This is NOT punishment. Prisoners in this country live better than half the population of honest hard working tax paying citizens. It’s a slap in our faces.

Yes, I know they can’t leave. They don’t have the freedom of movement, but the majority of them have no place to go to begin with. Try working three jobs just to get by to pay rent and keep food on your table. Now that’s being punished.

Our justice and punishment system in this country is an absolute joke. We have more prisoners than any other country in the world. We spend more on our prisoners than we spend on education. We have more prisoners than we have college graduates.

So, back to my point. When did we become a bunch of bleeding heart pussies? (No offense to pussies, I happen to be a big fan)

Here is the story that has my knickers in a bunch. It’s one of many stories just like it that happen all over this “great” country on a regular basis.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32916157/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

This waste of a human life, RAPED AND MURDERED a 14 year old girl. And now that he got poked with a needle and it hurt his itty bitty sensitive little arm when they couldn’t find a vane, this fucking loser is crying “Cruel and Unusual” punishment. And best of all, people are listening and feeling bad for him.

FUCK HIM!

Poor guy, he “screamed” when they hit a muscle with the needle.

He RAPED AND MURDERED, a 14 year old girl at knife point.

Who stood up for her right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment? Who is standing up for that girls family who has to live with what happened to their baby?

The idea of “Cruel and Unusual” punishment has been around for several hundreds of years now. The following is from Wiki’s page.

Cruel and unusual punishment is a statement implying that governments shall not inflict suffering or humiliation on the condemned as punishment for crimes, regardless of their degree of severity. It was founded in the English Bill of Rights, which was signed in 1689 by King William III and Queen Mary II who were then the joint rulers of England, Scotland, and Ireland following the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688.
These exact words later appeared in the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1787). The British Slavery Amelioration Act of 1798 also used the term, forbidding slave owners from using “cruel and unusual punishment” on slaves in the British Caribbean colonies.
Very similar words (’No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’) appear in Article Five of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/217, December 10, 1948). The right, under a different formulation (’No one shall be subjected to […] inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.’) is found in Article Three of the European Convention on Human Rights (1950). The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) also contains this fundamental right in section 12 and it is to be found again in Article Four (quoting the European Convention verbatim) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2000). It is also found in Article 16 of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

My problem with this, is that the term is subjective. What may seem to be cruel and unusual to one person may be totally reasonable to someone else.

Being poked in the arm with a needle and missing a vein is indeed painful. In this context however, I think it is no where near sufficient punishment for a low life that RAPED AND MURDERED a 14 year old girl.

I have given blood for many years, and have had several nurses miss the vein. Yes, it hurt, but give me a fucking break.

What happened to “paying for the consequences” of our actions?

No punishment is going to bring back this family’s beloved child, but knowing that the bastard that RAPED AND MURDERED her is going to suffer and die in a manner worse than she did, will help a bit.

If this RAPIST AND MURDERER of children is redeemable, let God talk to him. The sooner, the better.

 The following article says volumes about the state of mind in the United States. Even when faced with scientific proof, we refuse to open our minds. Status quo, is the way to go!

What will it take to enlighten the minds of America? What will it take for us to realize, that we don’t know all the answers?

I think this is another example of why the rest of humanity should fear the U.S..

US snubs film on theory of evolution
ANITA SINGH
September 13, 2009
A BRITISH film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer.

I’m beginning to wonder about the future. Specifically the future United States. Or rather the lack of future for the United States.

It feels more like the Un-United States. In my four decades I have never seen such childishness from our elected officials, not to mention the public in general. Everyone needing to be right, so badly that each is willing to lie, cheat and steal to get there way, no matter what the consequences.

When did being right, become more important than doing the right thing?

The problem with evolution is that it takes too long. Humans have a very short life span in the realm of things. I think that is why we have a hard time looking beyond and considering our impact on future generations.

Or it’s just that humans are inherently selfish and greedy and could care less what kind of planet we leave for our children. Why should we care, we’ll be dead. Right? Screw the future, I want mine now!

When did the President talking to school kids become a bad thing? What happened to “support the President no matter what”? Seems that’s all we heard eight years ago. Even if you disagree with him you have to support him because he’s the President. Or you’re a terrorist.

Now those same groups are wishing our President to fail. Isn’t that wishing the United States to fail?

Sounds like it to me.

When did asking our children to be responsible for their own actions become Socialism? I’m begging to wonder if these people even know what Socialism is?

When did entertainment become more important than truth and facts? And no, those things are not subjective.

For thousands of years, Rome was the center of civilization. The greatest place on earth. For the last couple hundred years or so, the United States has claimed to be the greatest country in the world. If you have read your history, the similarities are frightening.

It was always my opinion that Rome wasn’t really conquered. In reality, they destroyed themselves from the inside out. Their greed and egos tore them apart. By the time the invaders came over the hills they were incapable of defending themselves. Their egos wouldn’t let them believe that they could be defeated or that any one would even dare to stand up to them for that matter.

Again, familiar.

We are distracted by the shinny lights and allure of fame and fortune to remember or realize, that it’s all an illusion. Johnny still can’t read, but he knows everything there is to know about “American Idol” and no, he is not “Smarter than a fifth grader”.

When our time comes, it will be very different than that of Rome. For our invaders are already here. One day we will realize that it’s all gone. We were too busy fighting with one another that we didn’t notice that there is no more United States.

It will be all “Wall Street” and “Wall Mart”. Wall Street will have all of the money, Wall Mart won’t speak english.

Is it just me or are Republicans afraid of Europe?

The mere  thought of the United States doing anything that the Europeans have done is out of the question. As if a social service is the next stop on the road to hell.

Who pays for our police departments? Who pays for the fire departments? Who pays for public schools? Who pays for libraries, parks and recreation departments?

Well, anyone with a paying job, that’s who. It all comes out of our taxes. And do you know what those programs are called?

SOCIAL!

Seems somewhat European to me.

What is it about a national health plan that really is scaring everyone? Do they all have insurance that is so good that they will never loose their coverage? What if they did loose their coverage? What then? What if they loose their job and with it their insurance? What if they have a - wait for it - pre-existing condition? What are the odds that they would ever get insurance again? What about your families and friends? What kind of coverage do they all have?

Chances are that you know someone that is going with out insurance. 1 in 6 Americans doesn’t have coverage.

Why is it we need all of the other “social” services but when it comes to health care it’s every man woman and child for them selves?  Why are there so many Americans that are eagerly willing to let others go with out adequate heath services? They would die for my right to carry a weapon, but wouldn’t lift a finger to get me decent health care?

Seriously?  Is it just because Europeans have national health programs, or is there something else? If there is something else, I would love to hear it.

All I hear is:  ”I worked my ass off for 45 years to pay for my own insurance. That’s the way this country has always done it so we better keep doing it that way. Why should I have to pay for lazy slackers and illegals? The government would pull the plug on grammy.”

Do you really believe that the insurance and drug companies along with hospitals are deciding who lives and who dies? They are in business to make a profit. I hate to break it to you, but there is no profit in sick people.We would rather keep a system so broken and corrupt that almost 50 million Americans  can’t get coverage, but we would rather keep it that way instead of try and fix it.

The Untied States does not have the best health care system in the world. We do not have the healthiest citizens. We don’t live the longest. We pay more for health care than any other nation in the world.

Are we so blind and unwilling to change that we wont at least look at what these other countries are doing? Why can’t we take the top three or four systems and tweak them to fit Americans?

Oh ya…that would be Socialist.

What happened to the Christian ethic that America was founded on? Love thy neighbor. Do on to others. Charity…

I guess those are only good on Sunday.

Do you know who would have been in favor of a national health plan?

Jesus.

ethics |ˈeθiks| |ˈɛθɪks| |ˈɛθɪks|

plural noun1 [usu. treated as pl. ] 

moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior : Judeo-Christian ethics.• the moral correctness of specified conduct : the ethics of euthanasia.

2 [usu. treated as sing. ] the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.

To me there was always much more to “ethics” than this definition. I always lump honesty in there.

I have looked at many definitions and none of them mention honesty with ethics.

A persons ethical behavior depends on where and how that person was raised. There for ethic are not standard.

When I was taking the courses, studying Appraisal of Personal Property, much of the course focused on ethics. Appraisers are very big on, what is and what is not ethical.

Then, in the same course, they tell you that it is alright to give a high appraisal for insurance and a low appraisal for the IRS, even when they are talking about the exact same item being appraised.

So it’s alright to screw over your insurance company or the IRS, depending on who your appraising for?

How can you “ethically” justify two different values for the same item? How is that “ethical”?

No matter how many times it was explained to me, it still sounds like you fudge the numbers depending on who your talking to.

Isn’t that what the banks, wall street,  mortgage companies and people like Maddoff were doing(probably still doing) that has led to a huge financial problem that has spanned the globe?

You fudge your numbers to make the investors happy. You fudge the numbers to the IRS so you don’t pay taxes, then you fudge the numbers to your insurance company so you’re covered in the case of loss.

Is it any wonder so many people have a problem with Morals and Ethics?

Last week an old employee of the gallery came back to work full time. He recently graduated from college.Being twice his age, I have been unable to stop my self in drawing comparisons. Not so much between he and I, but more along the lines of where my life was when I was that age.The one huge difference is that this young man, and his friends, always seem to be in a hurry, about everything. I was very seldom in a hurry after I graduated from college. I had little idea of where I even wanted to go, let alone being in a rush to get there. There was much to see and explore. I didn’t want to miss anything by rushing past.The flood of technologies adds to the furor of or fast past lives today. Our lives are lived at cyber speed. Personally I find that a bit scary. Many times in life, I have found that taking a few minutes to think about a note your writing, or what you’re about to say or do, makes all the difference.With things like email, blogs, twitter, and Facebook, we can get things out to the universe in nano seconds. No time for thought. No taking it back after you hit send.I would love to see a five minute delay between the time I hit enter and the time things get published or sent. Just in case.I told you that story to tell you this story.When I’m on my way, almost anywhere, I have become a bit of a doddler. (One who doddles) I like to take a bit more time, slow down and smell a few roses or pretty girls. Laguna is full of pretty people and sites.  If you rush past, you miss them.The young man that just started was telling me he drives as fast as he can through Laguna, to get out of the congestion and  get where he’s going. Even when he’s not going anywhere.He seems way to young to be in such a hurry that he’s missing all of the roses and pretty girls. To each, his own.Anywho…next time you’re driving through Laguna and you get behind some guy going slow and admiring the scenery, try to cut them some slack. It’ could be me, breathing deeply.

How many of you know much about world history? Or even US history?

I ask because, I’m trying to figure out just when and where the people of the United States decided to just sit back and accept being raped, plundered and pillaged.

No matter where you get your news, and you can get it almost every where now, I keep seeing the same things over and over. Some greedy bastard has raped the public for millions, if not billions, for their own personal gain.

The government steps in and gives them a slap on the wrist. Then they make some kind of superficial change to the law or rules of business. Usually not making any significant change to help anyone other than the rapists. And we all sit back and take it.

This morning for example, I read about all of the new ways that JP Morgan Chase, ie. Chase Bank, are screwing over their customers. Good customers. Most have done nothing wrong. They pay on time, don’t go over their limits, pay extra every month. But that wasn’t enough for Chase, so they tripled the interest, doubled or tripled the monthly payments…

And when asked why, the customers were told that they really didn’t care if this was making life hard or forcing people into bankruptcy. They had planned for this.Chase was one of the companies that were, “Too big to fail”. They just got billions of dollars in government bail outs.

Why did they need bailed out you ask?

Because they were poorly managed, made bad decisions and were greedy beyond imagination.

The reward for their poor choices was that the government then took our hard earned tax dollars, dollars that should have gone to things like education and infrastructure, and gave it to Chase instead.

One way or another Chase gets our money and we get screwed.AIG, another company that got a huge government bailout after running their company into the toilet with huge management salaries, bonuses and lavish, mind blowing parties that would make a Greek God blush, is once again trying to figure out how to hand out more bonuses.

Exsqueeze me? What the hell? Isn’t that a big part of what ran them into the toilet to begin with? What exactly have any of them done to deserve more bonuses?

With all of the problems that are plaguing this county right now, and there are a load of them, we do nothing but blame and point fingers.

One group blames the Republicans. Another group blames the Democrats. Some blame current or past Presidents, religions, the war, the greed, the fat, the ignorant, you name it and someone else is responsible.

We would rather ruin the future of our country and our children, and put off a real fix, instead of admitting that we ALL have been responsible. Life is pretty simple when you’re blameless.Instead of taking responsibility and banding together to fix things, we sit back and point fingers. It’s not my fault, it’s your fault. So why should I have to do anything to fix things?

Well, in my opinion, we should all be marching up the steps of Capital Hill with torches and pitch forks.

It wasn’t the Republicans that did it. It wasn’t the Democrats that did it. It was all of them. All of us. Together. Neither party is ever going to fix things. Religion or the lack there of is going to fix things. No one has all of the answers and they all do nothing but try and distract us by playing the blame game.

I would rather see them all go. No more them and us. No more parties of right and left. I want to see the AMERICAN PARTY. A group that is dedicated to saving this country by addressing our real problems.

A party that wants to take care of its citizens rather than rape them for everything they can.

My ass is sore and I have had enough. The era of greed, big business, religious righteousness, war, and politics as usual need to come to an end.

It’s time for an era of community, education, peace, culture, and tolerance to begin.

Is there such a thing as luck? Is it karma? Are they they same? Does either exist?

What’s the difference between someone that’s lucky and someone that’s not? Born under a bad star perhaps? Or on a Friday the thirteenth? A family curse? A hex?

What’s the difference between bad luck and shit happens? Can you make yourself lucky or unlucky? If you’re unlucky, can you change your luck to good?

Maybe it’s all just superstitious nonsense. But if you believe that it’s even slightly possible, doesn’t that make it real? Can I believe I’m lucky and make it true?

Does luck, good or bad, stick to a person? Like an odor.  Can that person spread it to other people?

Of good luck or bad, which is the stronger? Or are they equal, like the poles of a magnet? Does luck travel through the air, like the wind? Gently affecting all those that come in contact with it before it drifts away to the next person or place?

Maybe it’s geographical. Certain places are good luck or bad. A House, street, neighborhood, county, state…Do certain personalities attract luck, good or bad?

Can a person have no luck either way? Can you be devoid of it?

Do lucky coins, buttons, horse shoes or charms do any good?

Maybe it all comes down to faith. In yourself, in God, in luck?

Can you make your own luck? Maybe there is no rhyme nor reason for any of it.

No matter what it is, or how it works, and I’m sure I’m not alone here, but, I could really use some good luck.