Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Purpose of Life

This one's been bugging me for a while now.  What is the purpose of life?  Not the meaning of life.  There is no MEANING of life.  The word meaning is ambiguous.  But what is the purpose or end goal.  And not of your life or my life but of all life everywhere.  I'm convinced there is a single, simple purpose for all life that everything is driving towards or against a goal in either.......

And that's about as far as I got before realizing the answer.  First, the goal isn't an end point.  The universe is cyclical and self-contained.  So the purpose for life has to be life itself.  The goal is life, in all forms.  The purpose of the universe and everything in it is to exist.  Many would say that this isn't a reason, but it is because they're focusing on a human-centered understanding of the universe.  A linear model.  But the universe is cyclical.  It is one giant cycle from matter to energy to matter.  And the answer must also be cyclical.  The answer is the question.  What is the purpose for life?  The purpose for life is life.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

There's a Reason Why There Are No Good Politicians

That is to say there is a reason why there are no politicians with genuine interests at heart. Genuine interests can be defined as points of view on which you are inflexible to opposition. For instance, you are either for human rights or you're not for human rights. You don't have to be AGAINST human rights necessarily to not be for them. Politicians are not political activists. A political activist's interest is the success of a point of view. A politician's is not.

There comes a point where a political activist, which I believe all worthwhile politicians begin as, cease to be an activist for an issue and begin to be a politician whose focus is politicking. There are of course politicians from different lines of work, particularly corporate America, but that plague is best left for discussion at a different time.

The crux of the difference between an activist and a politician is flexibility. Activists are inflexible on their positions. Politicians are born out of a belief that to get something you must give something. Compromise.

Compromise a little on women's rights to gain a little to pass a health care bill. The politician rationalizes that overall more good is done. But in the end, they are deluded. How can one measure the life of one over the life of another? How can one person's civil rights be considered better or more worthwhile in this political climate than another? At what point does the line get drawn? At what point will the politician completely sell out their principles?

In for a little, in for a lot. The first time is always the hardest. At what point does a politician simply cease to function as a purposeful voice for their constituents of all backgrounds?

There's a reason they're called campaign promises, because everyone knows that they'll never be kept. The politicians of the world say keep quiet. Your person won the race. It doesn't even matter who you are or who actually won. They're there. Be unwaveringly supportive. Or else, they might lose.

The political activist says the politician is not doing their job. They hold the politician's feet to the fire. They press for their point of view at all costs. Even if their candidate loses. It doesn't matter; they weren't their candidate anyways. The activist was told it was their candidate by the politicians of the world. But the candidate never supported them anyways.

Politicians favor their jobs more than they favor their constituents. All politicians. They believe, even if they know they're giving in a little to get a little, that they are doing some good that wouldn't have been done otherwise. What they fail to realize is that they are doing some bad too. A health care bill would have been great, had it been the one that didn't slight women. A civil rights Amendment would be great, if it didn't just serve those who the nation already gives civil rights to.

Political compromise does not make the nation a better place for everyone. It doesn't even make the nation a better place for some. It makes everyone unhappy because everyone didn't get what they wanted. Some issues, like civil rights, like health care, do not have shades of gray between the black and white.

Yes a health care bill will help many people. But its going to hurt many others. And as is, the concessions we've made to insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry have set us back decades in exchange for something that exactly no one wanted.

The same runs true with politicians. Make inroads in one area and lose in others. You never really get what you want from your politicians. Few get their first choice for President, Congress, or Governor. And none are satisfied with the concessions given to injustice and greed. But they do try, I'll give them that. They try as hard as they can, spend millions of dollars, to try to convince you that they're doing a good job. That's the reason why there are no good politicians.

If you get stuck on a deserted isle with your choice of a politician or an activist. Pick the activist. At least you'll know they stand for something that isn't themselves.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

So...

As you can see I've seemingly ran out of things to say after five years.  Go figure!  At any rate, I don't plan on closing down this site or simply letting it disappear.  Likely posts will be further and fewer between than regular, but such is life.  In the end, it's actually a good thing that I have less to say.  It means that nothing is bothering me and I have nothing of great importance to dwell on.  Anyways, that's about it.

Cheers,
FFF

Friday, June 25, 2010

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Political Action

There is too little action taken in politics currently. Politicians talk, although I suppose they always have, a good game, but nothing gets done. So, Obama is angry at BP for not doing anything... Well then do something about it! I am so sick and tired of pandering. The Democratic Party is worried that if they do anything to upset the status quo that they will lose seats in the next election. In short, they are depending on pandering to the middle instead of encouraging their base to vote by voting like Democrats. This weakness, real or imagined, is going to destroy the Democratic majority in November. This Congress has been a lame duck since it's inception.

You might suggest that it passed health care. But at what cost? The real plan, the one of Truman and Kennedy, was demolished and replaced by a facsimile of ineffective stupidity. Democrats need to take a stand. They need to find an issue that is important to their base and run with it. This in-between, let's not offend anyone, idea is self-defeating. At what point does the cure become worse than the disease? Why sit around and do nothing useful and then get voted out of office because of a lackadaisical base when you could actually get something done and hold a fighting chance of retaining or GAINING seats in the mid-term election? This is utter foolishness.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

It's a Wonder Why Conformity is the Norm...

16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
19 Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;
21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.

(Leviticus 21:16-21)


-------------------------------------------------

And THIS book was the dogma adhered to throughout Europe for over a millennium.  Charming...

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The End of the Year Outlook

So, I guess it wasn't until this evening, as I was sitting in my dorm room after my summer class, that I really started to realize that the semester was over.  In many ways, I'm happy it is over.  I'm tired of classes and I'm tired of work.  I need a break.  But there is no denying that I had some very good times as well.  While some of them didn't end the way I wanted them to, it's not as though I'd rather they hadn't happened at all.  So, overall I guess I'm sad and relieved that the year was over.  It's time for summer sunshine and more time to do many of the things that I had been putting off all winter because of time constraints.

Regardless, it will be sad packing up the rest of my stuff tomorrow and shutting the book on another memory-filled year.  But, life goes on and so will I with it.  I've already got plans for the summer, for once, and I'm very happy with them so far.

Most years I don't like moving out, mostly because it means that I will need to move back in with my parents too.  This year is no different, except that I'm not going to dwell on it.  It is a negative, but so are many things in life.  We cannot let them rule us.  We need to look to the positives and not mope over the negatives.  So, I've had a great time overall this year and I will have a great time this summer.  

How do I know it?  

Outlook.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Well I Have to Write SOMETHING...

I really don't have that much to say.  I lot has been going on, but none of it is worth talking about.  I'm back at home for the summer.  Boredom will ensue.  I wish I had more to say, but I've been preoccupied with moving in and out for the past week, finals before that, and more stuff before that.  So, I've been up to my gills for a while in stuff to do.  Hopefully, everything will settle down soon and I'll actually have something to say.  I just haven't had the time to think lately.  There is something in the works, but it will be a while yet.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Intellectual Abcess

Essentially what I want to say boils down to this:  I have ideas and I have no desire to put them out there.  It's not that I don't want them out there it's that I can't get myself to sit down and actually write at this moment.  Actually, I can't get myself to do much of anything at this particular moment.  Hopefully it passes; we'll see.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Me, Myself, and I to You, Yourself, and You

It's been a while since I've written anything, but I have been busy and little has inspired me to write in the past month or so.  However, I do have a few topics which are bothering me now so I will be beginning with the most pressing currently and in the next few days hopefully adding the rest.

Today's topic is the "GLBTQ community".  That is the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer community (so we don't have to whip out google or anything).  First, I'm not adding more letters, because Queer is a dropbox for the politically correct and all those who need a label.  I hate labels.  But that's of course my opinion.  Likewise, this is of course my blog, so I will hopefully be forgiven for maintaining my beliefs in my own writing.  Of course, as the following will entail, that will likely not be the case.

So what I want to talk about today is promiscuity.  Note that I haven't said that it is universally bad or good.  It is up to the individual to decide what is best for them based on what they feel at the time.  That means that people are free to choose between any level of promiscuity or non-promiscuity they wish  GLBTQ or heterosexual.  No one has the right to judge another for this choice, because it is made based on internally held feelings which do well to validate the external actions of all people regardless of orientation and exclusive of only sex.

Promiscuity is a GLBTQ stereotype.  Not everyone sleeps around and not everyone doesn't.  We are just like in the straight community in this matter (and most actually if we really look- love is love).  Instead of trying to change ourselves into fitting into one category or the other -- either to prove the falsehood of the stereotype or to swamp it, we need to focus on the fact that it is a stereotype.  The negative feelings and positive feelings towards the action within our community isn't want needs to be addressed.  It is the negative feelings towards us through the subject of promiscuity from those of the heterosexual community who take issue with us which must be conquered.  We must point out the double standard.  This same double standard, of the negativity of promiscuity, exists in other spheres than just heterosexual bigots to the GLBTQ community it also exists between misogynists and women, where men can be promiscuous and women need to remain "pure".  We have allies we have yet to tap here.  We need to get on this immediately instead of debating whether promiscuity is a positive or a negative.  It is a personal decision and does not inherently equate to either good or bad.

Also, I want to argue against the use of the word community as I've just used it.  For the sake of simplicity I did use it, but actually I fully disagree with it.  This is not a battle between the heterosexual world and the GLBTQ world.  We all live in the same world and its about time that we start realizing that.  We cannot run from our issues with one another, GLTBQ or heterosexual, any more than Black and White, male and female or other, religious or atheist, etc.  We must invest in the whole world together, GLBTQ and heterosexual, because only by doing so do we have a vested interest in full equality together.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

When in the Course of Human Events...

So I was editing Wikipedia articles today and of course after a few corrections it begins asking you for proof that you're not spamming the server by inputing selected words, similar to youtube... I'm sure you know what I mean.

The first one I got I figured should be preserved for posterity.  But you be the judge...

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Unwilling-Dystopia 2010

I have decided to move things around again and try out some new formats and so on. Internet technology is constantly on the move and I intend to keep things interesting. The former format was very unappealing and really had only been a stopgap format that I used in lieu of format that I actually liked. I was very busy and unable for quite some time to fix this site's formatting adequately, therefore I deemed it prudent to have something online in a format I didn't care for versus having nothing online in a format that did not work.

Point of note: The "Rantings of a Mad Man" and "Highlighted Topics" sidebars will be making a return in the near future.


Cheers!
FlyFreeForever

Something's Wrong With Our World

Something is wrong in our world when the interests of the few outweigh the interests of the many.  Not unlike feudal Europe with lords and peasants, today is ever increasingly divided by wealth.  Corporatism has overtaken this nation and indeed this world in the past thirty years or so.  Corporations, granted the rights of people, with the wealth and influence that no one person could wield, have broken down wall after wall of protections set up to limit their influence on the political sphere, the economic market, and labor.

What can we say of a nation which decides it is legal for businesses, whose wealth is not in question, to play any role in setting the rules which restrict them?  In what just world is it ok for those who are looking out for themselves to decide how this game we call society will be undertaken.  In the end corporations are our lords and we are their peasants.  They own us.  From the clothes we wear to the food we eat.  Lead paint, cheap unhealthy foods, restrictions on welfare, the non-guarantee of Social Security, the forcing of Americans who cannot afford to heat their own homes to pay for health care they can't use  -- examples of corporations run amok.

Peasants depended on their lords for protection, for food, and housing.  They provided labor for the lord in exchange for meager living.  Poor homes, long hours, the force fleecing of the labor-force, and the fighting of the lord's wars against other groups.  We have poor homes, we work long hours or no hours if the jobs go elsewhere because it's cheaper, we train our replacements, we work for a pension that disappears and contribute to Social Security which is not promised to provide for us one day, and we fight wars which make companies like Haliburton rich on the backs of America's new peasant class.

It is corporatism plain and simple and we must fight it.  The rich do not deserve to get richer off our labor.  We are worth proper and equitable health care, food, education, and living conditions the same as the CEO's of any major company.  If not for us, there would be no them.  We must stand up.  We must challenge the system of corruption which has installed the puppets of corporatism into our nation's capital before it is too late.  We have been sent reeling these last few years, blows flurrying from every direction and no were to turn, no where to hide, nowhere left to breathe.  We must fight.  We must reject corporatism.  Stop buying from profiteering companies.  We have the skills to fend for ourselves.  They must realize that it isn't us that are dispensable.  It is them.

IT IS THEM!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

State of Affairs

There are two clear groups forming in this nation currently and while political, they are not divided between Democrats and Republicans.  Rather, on the surface they are played as radicals and centrists.  That is radical Republicans and radical Democrats.  Anyone who does not adhere to the status quo is a radical.  Granted that is the definition of radical for some, granted in political circles, traditionally it isn't.  In politics, "radical" used to be fringe.  Indeed that is how radical is being painted today by those who support the status quo-- the centrists.  However, these are labels by the status quo and are useful for several reasons, however primarily because in labeling their opposition "radicals" through the political model currently in practice, we have radical Democrats and radical Republicans.  Therefore, radicals are divided amongst themselves as well as divided against the status quo.

In actuality the goals of both groups of radicals is the changing of the status quo.  While the centrists will argue that the differences between these radicals are irreconcilable, because they come from different directions and want different things, this is patently untrue.  In fact it is an outright falsehood.  All radicals of which I speak want the same thing.  They want the promises of their childhoods, of this nation, of justice to be fulfilled.  They want to have a good job, to be secure in their person, to be healthy, and to feel good about themselves -- to be prideful of their ability and their successes.  The only difference between these radicals lies in how this may be done.  The roadblock is the status quo.

There are groups in this nation that want things to remain how they are.  While the status quo in itself is not a bad thing, in instances such as this where the status quo harms a majority of this nation's people, it is downright evil.  The top 5% of the people of this nation by wealth control now 98% of this nation's assets.  This must change.  Period.  So long as tyranny of the majority by a few wealthy business owners continues, this nation's people will not be happy.

The radicals of both sides must join together to fight this, "socialists" and teabaggers, because when we fight each other, we will always lose.  Centrists depend on us fighting each other because there are far more of us than them.  If we fight them we'd easily win together, but if we focus on each other then they win.  The status quo remains because of inaction.  Fighting will not work.  Stalling legislation will not help.  And compromise will not help.  We must do both.  For health care there must be both a public option and a private option.  It also must be cheap for all people.  For education there must remain competetive public and private options.  For gun-laws there must be a reasoned approach.  In places where gun violence is high -- urban areas -- gun laws must restrict ownership and possession.  In rural areas where gun violence is lower, gun laws must be more lax.  Likewise, children must be taught to respect firearms for their protective and potential destructive power.  They must be a tool of protection not oppression.  There must be incentives for small business to bring jobs back to our cities, towns, and ruralities.  And a balance must be struck which not only removes the trade deficit but does so intelligently.  For each industrial product imported another of equal value must be exported.  For each crop imported another must be exported.  For each service imported, another must be exported.  Attention to the restrictions of our natural materials must be taken into account instead of market trends and profit.

All of these ideas accomplish BOTH the goals of the radical Republicans and radical Democrats, who in actuality are a majority of Americans.  The only way to accomplish these goals is to stand up and fight for them.  Non-violence is key; violence turns off the public and radicalizes you.  If we do nothing to stand up for ourselves, we will continue to be de facto supporters of the status quo which detriments 95% of Americans.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Winter Break

What a boring winter break!  I'm almost glad, scratch that, I'm very glad that it's almost over.  I don't have that much to say though, so I'm not going to try to force something.  I'll get back to my blog when I'm more stimulated to say something.  Hopefully everyone else has had a good break and I hope 2010 is less busy than 2009.

Peace,

FlyFreeForever