Enough is Enough!

Last night I didn't get off work until one in the morning. Why is this important? Because I was able to listen to my favorite radio talk show and hear about perhaps one of the most disturbing things to come out of big government in recent memory. For those of you who may not know what I'm talking about yet, here's the gist of it:

It seems New York's Mayor Bloomberg has decided the city needs to ban the sale of any sugary beverage over 16 ounces in order to combat obesity.

Yes, I'm a fan of soda in most of it's forms. It isn't the fact that there will be a reduced availability of soda for me to consume should I ever find a reason to visit New York that bothers me however. It's the fact that the government has decided they have the right to determine what and how and how much you and I can eat. It's one thing for them to waste money on studies to tell us what we should eat to be healthy. It's something else entirely for them to actually step in and tell us we can only eat or drink what they approve. The sad part is that so many people think this is okay.

I will admit, I can see where they're coming from on some points. When we as citizens are forced to foot the bill for someone else's medical issues resulting from obesity, that sucks. But shouldn't we find a way to fix the health care system instead, so that those people are held responsible for their decisions, rather than force everyone to give up their freedom to choose how we live our lives? That, to me, makes much more sense.

Honestly folks, I only see this getting worse. As people fail to stand up to intrusive, authoritarian legislation like this, the establishment will begin regulating us right down to the clothes we wear, our precise diet, and perhaps even the time we spend with our families.

A good example of one way this could go is the movie Demolition Man. Any of you who have seen it will know what I'm talking about. To paraphrase a line spoken by the character Lanina Huxley, anything that is bad for you is illegal. A better way to put it though would be that anything the government thinks is bad for you, is illegal. Do we really want this? Do we really want someone else stepping in to tell us that everything we do is wrong, and if we don't stop, we'll be fined, arrested, etc.?

If someone, not the government but a private entity, wants to spend its money to help determine ways to lead a healthy life, I have no problem with that. A private entity can't force me to change my life if I don't want to. But the government has no right to intrude in the lives of its citizens this way. 

People need to see that this is only the first step on the path to giving up every freedom we have. Unless we stand firm and tell the government enough is enough, it won't be long until, through our silence, we grant them the power to force their will on us. We will no longer be free men and women, but slaves to a system we tacitly allowed to come into being because we couldn't be bothered to say "enough".

Tech Talk

For those of you who can't live without my little rants (you may want to seek professional help for that) I apologize. The last couple of weeks I have been preoccupied with Mass Effect 3. But now that I have a moment, I thought I'd get away from politics and religion to discuss some interesting upcoming technologies.

As a geek, and before my laptop took a dive, I would check out Sci-Fi's (I refuse to call it SyFy) Dvice blog. While most of the time the stories were essentially "ain't this shit cool" yet entirely useless, on occasion I would find stories on things that might actually be useful as well as cool. Here are two such items that are both potentially useful, and would compliment each other perfectly

http://dvice.com/archives/2011/03/shock-wave-engi.php

http://dvice.com/archives/2011/04/protean-electri.php

The first is an article about a shock wave driven turbine engine that can run on any combustible, and is about 3.5 times more efficient than current internal combustion engines. While the design isn't all that good for variable speed work, it would make the perfect prime mover for a generator.

The second is about a new concept in electric drive motors for vehicles... mounting them directly to the wheel. The assembly would include brakes, transmission, drive line, etc, all in one tidy little package mounted to each wheel hub. This would open up massive amounts of space in the engine compartment for battery storage as well as, perhaps, the shock-wave generator to keep it charged.

While I don't know if these two groups have ever discussed the idea, I think their projects compliment each other so perfectly it would be insane not to combine them. Especially in light of the fact that current generation hybrids just don't seem to be doing the trick.

In my opinion, the biggest problem auto manufacturers have with making truly effective hybrids and electrics is that they're too busy trying to build them as they would an I.C.E. engine, with the central drive engine or motor (or both) being linked to the wheels by an expansive and highly inefficient series of linkages and gears. If they would simply look at the problem from a different perspective, they might come up with something that is a true quantum leap forward in alternative power plants for vehicles. In this case, a hybrid in which all the gas powered engine does is keep the battery, which is much larger thanks to the drive motors being relocated to the wheels, charged.

Does this make sense to anyone else? Or am I just being a dreamer here?

A Slippery Slope Indeed

Each day, on my way to work, I'll listen to one of two things. I'll either listen to what I've got on the jump drive, or I'll tune in to talk radio to hear what's going on in the political world. Usually I end up listening to Rush as he comes on at that time. And I do agree with much of what he says... until he reminds me why I'm so worried about the direction this country is headed in. Yesterday, that reminder came in the form of him practically crowing over the vote in North Carolina. I'm sure most of you who will read this are familiar with what happened, so I won't go into detail. Suffice it to say, I was not happy when I heard about this.

The reason I don't like this isn't simply that I'm for gay marriage (I am). The reason I don't like this is because it points to a disturbing trend in the way this nation is being governed. From where I stand, it looks very much as though the conservatives of this nation, whose influence is most definitely in ascendancy, would very much like to see the United States become a theocracy. All you have to do is look at some pf the policies they support to see this isn't far off the mark.

Two of the biggest conservative policies I can think of at this point are the pro-life and anti-gay marriage policies. These policies very obviously strip American citizens of specific rights that, in the case of marriage, is a right all other citizens enjoy. If there were some empirical evidence to prove that allowing these things was detrimental to our society, I may be inclined to agree. But there is none. One would think that in today's society that would be enough to stop these agendas in their tracks. But because they are based in the faith of so many people, that just isn't the case. And that's what makes me wary.

You see, in the case of gay marriage and abortion, these people are using the bible to justify passing legislation to strip specific groups of their liberties. Now, while I personally will never ask a woman to have an abortion, I will also never force a woman to relinquish control of her life or body by making it illegal to even seek out or provide the treatment. As for gay marriage, every other man and woman in this country is allowed to be "married" why not those who share a love with someone of the same gender? There is no legitimate reason. Only a handful of lines in an ancient text seems to make it unacceptable to so many.

What I'm trying to get at is that this nation was founded on a basis of escaping persecution and the ability to live life according to one's own plans. The church was deliberately left out of our governing document specifically to prevent religious interference. The Constitution specifically makes no mention of any god or religious edifice, except to say that no one shall be required to go through a test of faith to hold office. And yet we see examples of religious interference on a daily basis. States passing laws making same sex marriages impossible. Statues of the ten commandments sitting outside courthouses. Public schools painting christian themed murals on their walls.

I will be the first to say that what you do on your own time and in your own home is your business, and I have no say in it. But the government and all its arms must remain impartial to guarantee that all citizens receive the same rights. To allow a single religious philosophy to so dominate the functions of government is to create a tyranny of religious oppression that cannot be allowed. I realize that it is nearly impossible to separate a person from their faith. But when that person is responsible for helping guide the direction of this nation, that person must be able to take a step back, distance themselves from their own beliefs, and remember that this is not a nation of one faith, one belief. It is a melting pot of thousands, if not millions of individual faiths and beliefs, many of them different from, or even at odds with, each other. To govern by the values of a single faith is to persecute all others who do not share that faith.

We are a nation of all peoples, and all faiths. We were created based on freedom and individual responsibility for all citizens. If we continue down the path we are currently following, we will end up in a society where the only free individuals are those who follow the tenets of a single faith. We will become the new Catholic Spain. We will be the seat of a new inquisition, a new holy crusade. May whatever gods you pray to help us should that ever come to pass.

Stand Up!

There are a couple of things that tie into this subject, so please bear with me. Ostensibly, this is a political post about who the two major ruling (yes, I said ruling, not governing) parties seek to control who we vote for. But this is also a post about the power of choice, and about how terribly important it is to not allow others to make your choices for you.

As you were growing up, your parents most likely did the vast majority of the decision making for you. But as adults we take on the responsibility of making our own decisions. At least, most of us do. The problem is that, in certain situations, there will be those who will attempt to get you to let them make your decisions for you. Oh, they won't simply come out and tell you that's what they're doing. They'll be tricky about it. They'll present you with an argument or statement that makes it seem only to easy to go along with them, without getting all the facts for yourself. This is what the politicians have been doing for generations.

Politicians only tell you what they want you to know, and they do it in such a way as to minimize your desire to question them. To seek out information and confirmation on your own is anathema to their plans. They want you to blindly accept what they give you so that they can maintain the status quo. And believe when I tell you that, so long as the Democrats and Republicans hold power, it will always be status quo.

"So what?" you say. "It isn't like we have any other choices". That, my friend is where you are wrong. In most schools, they teach about the political party system at least briefly. They may have even taught you that there are more than the two major parties. Many more. But this is where those two major parties start to be tricky. You see, they don't want you to pay any attention to those other parties. So the first thing they do is pretend they don't exist. They never mention them no matter what they may do or how much they may grow. And then they do something I consider to be reprehensible... they convince the public that to vote for anyone but them is a waste of a vote, or worse, is the same as voting for whoever the bad guy is at the time.

This last is what angers me the most, because it isn't just the politicians that do it. I have had family tell me specifically that to vote for the libertarian candidate, as I am going to, will be a waste of a vote, and that my first concern should be to vote for a person who can defeat Obama in November. I have a couple of points for that person and anyone else who would try this tactic on me.

First, how dare you try to force me into making a choice I don't believe in like that. I will make my own, informed decision, and it will based on who I firmly believe is the best choice for this nation, not on the threat that any choice but yours is a waste, or a vote for the opposition. You make your choice, I make mine. It's that simple.

Second, I realize that the odds of my chosen candidate winning are not high. But they are even lower if I do not have the courage of my convictions and vote for them regardless of what public opinion says. The more people realize this and begin voting their principles and not simply for the candidate they feel has the best chance of winning, the more likely someone who is truly worth a damn will end up in charge.

And before you start calling me things like unpatriotic or even traitor for "throwing my vote away" or "dooming the nation" by "allowing" the tyrants to remain in power, I want you to consider something. Did the founding fathers create this nation so that people could simply vote for the guy most likely to win, and in the end maintain a broken system? Or did they create a system which they felt allowed the people, by making their own, informed decisions, to keep the government in check, and even change it completely should those currently in power lose sight of what makes this nation great? You have only to look at the Declaration of Independence to find the answer.

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

How can we possibly say that we agree with those words unless we truly stand firm, and have the courage of our convictions. Don't simply make the choice for who governs based on who is "most likely to win" or whoever is the lesser of two evils. Educate yourself. Rely on yourself to find the choice that you can say you truly believe in. And if there's non-one you believe in, do something about it. We are not a great nation because we allow others to make our decisions. We are great because we take action where others would sit idly by and allow the tyrants to take our freedoms and destroy our liberties.

Stand Up!

What I Believe

Over the weekend, I participated in an event that got me thinking about who and what I am. For those of you who read on a regular basis, you know my policy on revealing specifics, so lets just say that those who were there will know what I'm talking about. As for the thinking, it was essentially about my spirituality.

I normally don't discuss my beliefs openly as I'm rather fiercely protective of my faith. I don't like drawing unwanted attention from those who might see my faith as an affront to their own, and  might decide they want to harass me or those close to me because of it. On the other side of this however, I'm starting to realize that by hiding myself from the world, I've also prevented myself from expressing myself in the manner I should be. Granted, this does not mean I'm going to go up to any random Tom, Dick, or Harry on the street and tell proceed to explain my faith to them. I have slightly better sense than that. But since the majority of you who read my blog are those who are family, or who I come close to considering family, I feel safe in sharing my beliefs here. So, in an effort to shed some light on myself, here are my beliefs.

Deities:
I personally believe that there are a whole host of gods and goddesses out there. Not simply those of the old pantheons, but native gods, as well as those of the Christians, Jews, and Muslims. That isn't to say that they coexist peacefully of course. After all, when you have one god telling his people that no others exist, it's bound to create tension. I know and am friends with people who follow a wide variety of these deities, and have no problem with it whatsoever.

My deities, however, seem to be none of the above. When I speak to them, they always appear the same way. I will be kneeling on a stone floor in what appears to be an ancient stone hall. On a raised dais, and arranged in a semi-circle before me stand the gods and goddesses whom I serve. They have no faces, and don't speak, but I know they hear me. I don't know their names, so don't ask. I only know that they are my gods, and that they have set my purpose.

Purpose:
I don't know my purpose specifically. Then again, who does? What I do know is that my gods created me with a purpose, and I believe it to be one of guidance and protection. For whom? The gods don't tell me. They only guide me to where I need to be and trust that the gifts they've given me will help me to fulfill my purpose.

Afterlife:
My spirit, my purpose is eternal. When I die, my gods will either pass my spirit on to another form to continue with the tasks they have given me, or they will keep me with them because I am not specifically needed just then. I know that, eventually the time will come when I will no longer be needed in this world, and they will allow me an eternal rest. Only they know when this will be. Until then, I am ever their servant.

Balance:
This is something that is of particular importance to me. Perhaps this was instilled in me by my gods to help me perform my duties. Perhaps it was this trait which caused them to choose me for this purpose. Either way, balance is important to me. When I hear someone speaking out against sometjing, or someone else, I can't simply rush to judgement. I have to hear the other side first. Even when I make a decision for myself, I have to look at all sides. It can be infuriating sometimes because, in some cases both sides are valid, and so choosing one is not as simple as having a good choice and a bad choice. But that is on a small scale.

On the larger scale, I believe that the model of balance shown by two cups hanging evenly is far too simple to the point of being invalid. When I think of balance on the larger scale (no pun intended) I see a scale with uncounted arms radiating out froma central point, each with uncounted arms of their own. The arms are of varying length and size, as are the cups of varying size and depth. If something happens to one of those cups, it affects all others to varying degrees.

Spirits, etc.: I do believe in spirits, the fae, elements, and all the other innumerable beings out there. As the bumper sticker on my truck used to read, just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there.

There you have it. My beliefs in a nutshell. Hopefully it will help thse of you who care to understand me a bit better. Should you have questions, you know how to reach me. Comments are welcome. Closed minded flames will be deleted.