Mood: Summertime favorites of the Doobie Bros.
Peaceful Contemplation
Saturday night last was a very nice change from the madness of the last few weeks, personally and universally. A storefront moved in and at around 10pm I turned out the lights in the front room, opened the blinds and watched the lightning light up the sky in brilliant flash. Several seconds later that sweet sound of rolling thunder followed. I was pleasantly surprised to see glow, or lightning bugs as I called them in my youth living in the Chicagoland area, move languidly in my view. It was the most at a peaceful contentment I had been in recent memory.
In my last blog I mentioned the need for my mother to have a hospital stay. She went in on Friday and was finally released on Sunday afternoon. With great fortune, all of the issues they found have gone. That weekend was not an easy one, obviously. My father has short term memory issues and it was up to me to keep him in good standing with the pain medication he takes for his knee; his sort term memory is so bad that he could easily OD on them at the worst, or be cut off from abusing them should he go through his prescription too quickly. He also had trouble remembering why Mom was in the hospital, which would also be an understandable agitation as they have been married for 63 years and known one another for 65.
There was, of course, the National unrest with the overturning of Roe v. Wade as a Federal law and put into the power of the states to determine.
Much on a fellow’s mind and some heavy turmoil to marinade in.
So, that Saturday night was a Godsend with some peaceful time to cogitate. That time has led to the decision to share this attempt to make sense of this Bizzaro world.
Is There Sense In Senslessness?
“Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as the final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.
The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist,'" says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."
"But," says Man, "The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."
"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.
"Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.”
~Douglas Adams “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
I may have stated before that I am one who votes my conscience. I do my best to weigh the pros and cons of the candidates and I have to say the last three elections had me running very far from either of the two main Parties. Especially Trump and then, as it has turned out, even worse, Biden. I could go on and on and thereby easily piss off everyone, but that is not my intention; I only state what I see clearly, and there may not be actual answers coming, but I hope what are my true observations.
Trump was (is) a consummate exaggerator and liar and every single lie, big, small and insignificant were paraded before the country by all media that have allegiance to the Democrats, which are admittedly a greater percentage of the totality. I can see his infamous ‘grab them by the pussy’ remark all as an insight to his character, the truth for some ‘gold-digging’ women and an outrageous boast to sound as if he’s a sexual dynamo. Still, Stormy Daniels story would seen to suggest that some was true and that he was obviously boasting, if she is to be believed. I leave it to individuals to determine, but I know what I’ve read, if
that is to be believed.
In an environment when ‘past tweets’ and quotes are considered reasons for a person or business to be ‘cancelled’, Biden has been telling mistruths, lies and misinformation for his whole life, but these seem to be ignored for the most part. Up until very recently, he was pretty much against abortion and did not think it was for the Federal government to rule upon. That has been ignored. He has stated with conviction that three black people were murdered by Rittenhouse, that several people were killed during the ‘insurrection’ (in quotes because not a soul has been charged or convicted of it to date-I try to keep to provable facts) and again, these are ignored. There are too damn many to go on about, but it seems as long as The Narrative of Your Side is what you want to hear as ‘truth’, it’s all good.
(As an aside, I love George Carlin, because even as a comedian he hits both Parties with their idiocies; the above quote doesn’t just speak to one or the other Party, it speakers to both. When I find I do not agree or even take a little offense at a quote or part of a show, I know I need to re-evaluate something with a more critical mindset.)
As the verdict is still out on whether or not there was an insurrection on January 6th, I can only say the following: on the day, I was at and happened to be sitting in front of one of the massive flatscreens we have mounted on the wall at work. It usually showed the weather but when the news came of protests taking place at the Capital, it was switched to CNN. I haven’t been able to find it anywhere since, but the on-site reporter was broadcasting in dramatic fashion, his cameraman jigging the camera around as if being pushed and such, but there were no people rushing by, no one close behind them and at least seemed disingenuous. As well, how damned incompetent can the Democrat prosecutors be to have so much verifiably false ‘proof’ in both committees to date? From false Blue Checkmarks to ‘evidence’ by hearsay that has Trump becoming Mr. Fantastic and agents who were actually present denying any of it. It would seem a tough sell, but it isn’t, somehow. Truth? Belief? Is is as President Biden verifiably said:
?
Believe me, if this was two to 6 years ago, I’d be unloading on Trump with equal fervor. Both Parties really seem to be demented.
Since the 2020 election, it seems we have found the two of the major things, one that did affect it and one that could have, were respectively shown to be false and true. These were the so-called Steele Dossier and Hunter Biden’s laptop. Very, very interesting at the very least. It is only to be considered as circumstantial, but several people I know who voted for the present President would not have had these things (and the present economy) been known.
The Big Confusion
Right at the start of this portion I will unequivocally state that I am pro-choice, even as I am personally against abortion, baring health circumstances, with the full knowledge and understanding that it is a deeply personal choice and there can be many reasons for that decision to be made.
The media coverage of this has been frankly horrifying, in my opinion. There was a great deal of misrepresentation, and I think this is seen in states that still allow abortion, sometimes right up to 9 months, having protests about the repeal of RvW. I think the issue may be that it was not a Right codified specifically in the Constitution. However, now that the right has been turned over to the states to determine, it seems we would need people in those state to put forth to their politics a bill to get abortion rights codified in the Constitution, to be voted on by the People and go all the way to Congress.
That is where my confusion on this issue lay: Knowing enough to be ‘dangerous’ about how the legal system works, the overturning of RvW was done according to the law of the land. As the determination of laws regarding abortion has been turned over to the states, and therefore the People to decide, does that not give us more freedom away from Federal control? I think that is so, but at the same time there are thirteen states that now have restrictive laws on a volatile subject…
Independence Day
I have love of this country, as flawed as it remains. However, it is so much less flawed than it was at it’s genesis. It may always be flawed, and this and the last President may be proof of that. However, seeing the strides in all kinds of equality that has been made remains inspirational to me, and gives me hope that we continue those strides, along with the knowledge that they always take time.
This year, the way I celebrate the day is different, only in that the inspirational films I usually watch, along with reliving fond memories of my brother Doug, and reading more of the Declaration of Independence and just how unlikely a thing it was to come into existence in that time. It may not be ‘main stream’ to think such in a time where there is much hate from citizens of this country for their country, but that fighting spirit to make better was is worse has always been a part of this country’s spirit, and I will keep my hope that, with the help of We, the People, we will steer it to do just that.
As I finish this blog, very likely the last I may write on such touchy subjects (as I understand there will very likely be some very pointed arguments with possibly colorful language and ad hominem attacks), I think back on that Saturday night, watching the lightning play across the heavens and the juxtaposition of being so small compared to the forces of Nature and the strange peacefulness I felt. In the short and long run, my words have little to do with anything and very likely never will. But that I get to do for me what works best for me and have the freedom to write out my thoughts to help me get my brain around issues is a reflection in very small of the fight that it took to give birth to this country. I am grateful for it and I am grateful for anyone who has taken the time to read this far, agreeing with my points of view or not.
