I write the odd commentary regarding the current events and politics of the day. What we see in the newspapers and television is for presentation. Those presentations have little to do with problem solving. Right now most US news is spun for the November elections for congress and the senate.
I view blogs, which are not read by millions, thousands, hundreds or even ten. Many of these blogs ask questions I have not thought about before. The site of a thousand whispers has a strange beauty. Another strange event is happening and that is the mainstream media is starting to make statements that have been whispered in blogs for the last couple of years.
Recently MSNBC commentary Keith Olbermann suggested that “that President Bush might be as big a threat as the terrorists.”
Wow!
The only difference I see between Olbermann’s comments and the hundreds of blogs I have read is the word “might”. For the main stream media to make a comment above the whispers is a huge step.
Olbermann should be careful though because the recent suspension of Habeas Corpus by the Bush Administration could earn Olbermann an all expense trip to Gitmo excluding any legal or human rights protection.
And if you think whispering is safe because only a couple of people will ever see a personal blog please note.
“Federal agents questioned a 14-year-old high school freshman in Sacramento, Calif., last week after they found threatening comments posted on her Web page on MySpace.com. The agents visited her school, where she was taken out of class and questioned for about 15 minutes. The incident has upset her parents, who said the agents should have included them when they questioned their daughter. Upset by the war in Iraq, Julia Wilson vented her frustrations with President Bush last spring on her Web page. She posted a picture of the president, scrawled "Kill Bush" across the top and drew a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand. She later replaced her page on the social networking site after learning in her eighth grade history class that such threats are a federal offense. It was too late. Federal authorities had found the page and placed Wilson on their checklist. They finally reached her this week in her molecular biology class. Julia Wilson said the agents threatened her by saying she could be sent to juvenile hall for making the threat.”
Frustration is a funny thing, be careful what you post. I am sure Julia knows she was wrong but the experience has motivated her even more as she plans to post a new MySpace.com page, this one devoted to organizing other students to protest the Iraq war.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/53677.html
Everything is connectected in this net age. Keep whispering and watch as thousands butterflys take flight. Just whisper in a responsible manner, eh?
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22 comments:
I don't know who wrote that. But again, as I have said many times, computer communications scare the hell out of me. Sometimes I think, "What am I doing?" During and after WW2 I hardly dared speak always considering if what I said was safe. I relaxed about that after many years. But is is still the very reason computers scare the hell out of me. All your info going into it is tracable. Even what you delete. The ones striving for world power, if getting half the chance, will get you. Dictatorship, total loss of freedom, concentration camps, elimination of people that are "threats" to the system... they always lure in the background waiting for people to be off guard, sleeping in like Dorothy of the wizard of Oz, among the sweet flowers.
The world the way it is worries me. I wish every nation, every person, would stay home and clean up their own mess. I've seen do gooder parents go out and help with needy youth groups. Always working hard, feeling good about it,never being home to prevent their own children and family from becoming disfunctional...
Fear is not a life saving sentiment. Caution, I think is.
This is not exactly on topic, but Larry Googled Bobby Bacon, just to see what would turn up. The link at the bottom of the first page was a meeting site for Pagans! and revealed that one might meet Bobby Bacon in San Antonio Texas for more Pagan palaver.
Hmmm....is there something we don't know about BB that the FBI should be aware of? Would this make BB the World's Worst Pagan? Does he cut heads off chickens and write "Two in the hand is worth one in the Bush" in fowl blood on his computer screen?
If all goes according to pattern, simply using the words FBI and Bush in this comment should attract some attention. Are you prepared BB? DoveTalers?
Remember how Winston Smith, in 1984, managed to find a small corner of his room where the viewscreen couldn't watch him? Where is there such a place in our tangled webworld?
Prepared?... LOL. I am just having fun watching the pendulum swing. Heck if we get a few more fans from Homeland Security...the more the merrier.
Keep on rocking in the Free world..
smiles
Hey, I like the thousand whispers and the butterfly analogy.
Just a few thoughts. How do you know that Julia knows that what she did was wrong?
Protesting the war, and protesting against Bush is a politically savvy thing to do- good for her for getting involved at such a young age. But then, her friends are only a few years from war, so that gives a time-driven intensity to her thoughts. Her methods of expression though - that's what bothers me about it. I saw the picture on the news taken from her website - someone needs to sit the kid down and say - do you mean this? Not the secret service, but her mother or a counsellor or a teacher.
I also have problems - which I haven't quite worked out - with the movie that presents a fictional account of the assassination of the same president. There's freedom of speech, and then there's freedom of speech. Something bothers me about the movie on an intuitive level - but since I haven't seen it, I should reserve judgement. But I am a writer, and need to protect artistic expression. But there must be parameters? Or should there be?
What is also interesting is how technology has become so interwoven into our normal culture- what is kinda neat is the mother text-messaged the daughter at school to warn her the secret service were coming. I'd be interested in knowing her other actions. Did she get in her car and go to the school herself? Did she call a lawyer? Did she call the police? Did she call the school. Hell, I don't know what I would have done, but I wouldn't have text messaged my daughter, since she was in grade 8 many many MANY years ago... but it is a wonderful side of technology that we can communicate almost instantly... Sometimes it finds sad expressions, such as all those calls made from the tower during 9/11. But if I were in imminent danger, and likely going to die, I'd want to talk to those I loved.
My main problem, I think, is that I don't understand it. I don't understand political strategies. I think there must be people on this Earth that understand it even less than me. So many people. So many people talking about how they understand it. See it. Opinions, opinions. In each barbershop, on every street corner, in living rooms in kitchens, people argue, opinionate...
Talking about they and them.
The talk makes sense for as far as they, we, can see the problem. The happening. Makes sense in the context of how much is grasped.
How much IS grasped? How much do we not know in spite of technology, and maybe even because of technology?
Bush. He stands in place for a whole network of plotting. He's the target.
Sometimes I wonder how much politicians really can be an influence. Do politicians, presidents, prime ministers, premiers, really have the power? Is there a much stronger, powerful organisations of banks and the underworld, who really lead and decide? Thepoliticians being the marionettes, acting how thestrings pull them? And the ones that have ideals and strife for justice are quickly disabled, g.e. assasinated? The ones that do it "right" may stay?
How free is the world? I do not know of a place like Winston Smith's. I lived in the bush in N.B. with the bears and the black flies and didn't find even there true freedom from the system...
What she wrote on her website was Kill Bush. To me, that is wrong.
They say God resides in the details... maybe that's where we need to focus our attention, and our understanding, and our ability to enact change. The particulars of our own life. Spread out from that
14 Years old. How old do you have to be to be tried in adult court? Is 14 still considered juvenile? And if so in Canada, is it different in the States?
14 years old. High school freshman.(freshwoman?) She would only be in grade 9 or 10? Oh I just read only grade 8. Man, is that highschool?
Of course it is wrong to say "Kill Bush. It is wrong to say "Kill anybody."
That's the language young people hear all the time. They are direct and impulsive. I wouldn't say that she didn't know what she was talking about. But I doubt that she was aware of the weight of her statement.
Threat? She wasn't going out personally to physically kill Bush. She sees, like many others, that Bush is a threat to society. She expresses the wish to remove him. Strong language. Little kids shout "I hate you!" It's a call of anger and frustration. They are not aware of what they are really saying.
God resides in details. Sure, that makes sense. The girl should be made aware of the details. How much of getting the details wrong has to do with messed up society not teaching young people from the beginning the right values?
Much younger kids are terrorists? the ones only familiar with violence and hate?
I always have to think of a statement of Albert Schweitzer which I read when I was probably only 14. He said that when a team of horses pulling a wagon got tangled up, the only way to correct the problem would be to undo all the reigns and start over.
There must be a positive side to all the communicating. Growing awarness. Hopefully the awareness that will grow most is knowing that everyone has to learn to investigate and think for themselves. Don't become one of those grey people of science fiction that go through life being lived acting like zombies.
It seems to Larry that the fact that they sent federal agents to interrogate a 14 year old girl indicates an increasing level of paranoia on the part of the US administration. This is extremely worrisome. At what point does the war on terror become the terrorization and subjugation of the population?
On the other hand, developments like "going postal" and high-school shootings suggest a deepening psychosis in society...Larry will now toss about sociological terms like alienation and anomie...the profound frustration and despair that arises from having virtually everything you ever wanted and not knowing how to get happy with it...
Larry has a third hand. It says he is a figment of someone's imagination...an altered ego...empty.
wt, what you ask about politicians is relevant. In order to get to be president, you have to be a bit of a snake oil salesman. You have to be. You have to be able to sell yourself. To the people. And to the people with money. Cuz it takes a lot of money. Inevitably you end up in the pockets of a lot of people with money. And they have their own agendas which will inevitably conflict in some way with yours.
Larry listened to an interview on Mothercorp this morning in which a journalism intern found himself in Iraq hawking propaganda for the US military...paying Iraqi newspapers to run articles written by the US Army!
There is increasing communication around the world...that's the whispers and butterfly wings...this is the positive part, thinks Larry. But we should not let ourselves be lulled to sleep...or boiled like the frog...
Vigilance! sez Larry. Think! sez Larry. (Or, as the bumper sticker from the 70s sez: Thimk). Question authority! Don't let the bustids get to you!
Rant until the feds show up! Or let Larry rant anyway...
How often has Larry heard the argument which goes something like: Why should you object to the RCMP reading your mail if you have nothing to hide? This is a fallacious bit of tripe. Some people like tripe. They put it in a pie and bake it. Call it supper. In other words, there are those who would feed us garbage and call it nectar. We must not let them get away with it, even if only in our own minds.
Has Larry said enough?
Yes, Larry. Enough.
After this, don't get him started...
Never mind federal agents bring in the SWAT TEAM.
Sorry I just had a grade 8 flash back.
Grade eight girls were pretty scarey back then. I knew my place. Just keep my head down, don't make any sudden moves and walk the gaunlet.
I am sure Julie is a lovely girl who got carried by a frustration felt world wide. A war that was started when there was no clear and present danger.
But don't get me going...
Ummm I don't know why but just don't.
Two Worlds
For us there are Two worlds of Being.
The First World is the outer world we live in,
A shell that encases the body, an attitude
That stifles the mind and pretends
That money is the measure of worth.
The First World is harsh, though comfortable,
Alluring, though vain. It is the popular world,
Where everyone longs to be, yet once they arrive,
They dream of a new direction. In this world,
Everything costs something and what is free costs more.
The First World is one of wheels and destinations,
Membership dues and limitations. It is sanctuary
For those who desire conformity in all things.
Here duplicate people wear duplicate clothes
Speak a language without meaning, and think thoughts
Without substance to their form.
The First World is where everyone lives, yet
No one actually survives. It is an acceptable address
Where you forfeit all that you are for what
You will never become and what you are not
Is what you want those around you to remember.
The First World has power, but no strength.
It is one of mirrors, but no reflection.
In this world, there is success, but no mystery.
Goals, but no journey. In this world
Boundaries keep ideas from colliding.
The Second World is the inner world of harmony,
Where you can go anytime your spirit aches for company.
Here you can listen to the songs of rocks and leaves and
Embrace the wisdom of rivers and essential things contained in
Raindrops or a flower’s belly or the earth’s warm breath of spring.
In this world, beauty is companion to mystery.
The Second World is one of joy and curiosity,
A connecting thread to birds and oceans, plants and animals.
The Second world is one of children’s laughter, women’s songs,
Men’s stories, the essence that remains long after the experience
Has passed on. In this world, all circles return.
The Second world is where you can travel
On the wings of dreams or the tails of newborn stars.
This world is revealed through a rainbow’s coloured eyes,
Or in a spider’s silver road between two leaves,
Or even in silence, the kind that follows ecstasy.
The Second World is able to survive without the First,
But the First World cannot last long without the Second.
The Second world offers meaning to existence
While the first world offers existence only.
Between these to Worlds
Lies reason, the seam that connects one World to another.
The Second World is yours for no money.
The First world is yours for no effort.
Which one will you choose?
The Old Man Born of Dreams
You must not be afraid to travel
where there are no roads.
You must not give in to the darkness
when there is no sign of light.
You must not be afraid to grow wings
when you are tired of the ground.
You must not be afraid to swim
when you are nothing but s stone.
If experience is the child born of risk, then
acceptance is the old man born of dreams.
Both poems from Spirit Walker by Nancy Wood
Thanks for the poems Wild Thing. Writers and artists are lucky enough to be able to live in the Second World, to perceive existence in that way.
And as for Bobby Bacon and Larry, half the fun is getting you guys going!
And Larry, what's this stuff about your being a figment of the imagination?????
Figment of the imagination is good. That's what made me think of the First and Second World. He who shall remain nameless producing Larry Keiler. Two worlds. It takes major imagination to launch oneself from the First into the Second. The Second World was always with him, remaining nameless. Now the Second world took priority, leaving the First behind but taking the benefits of it into the Second. The Second world can survive without the First. The First without the Second is empty.
Or something like that. It's difficult to say. that's why I let the poems speak.
Celebrate your imagination, Larry. Be a proud figment.
Ah, Bobby Bacon, all those grade 8 girls swattin at you. They must've liked you!!! What suffering! LOL.
I hate to be the one to break the news to you, WT, but Larry is real.
Anybody who thinks otherwise is living in a FANTASY world.
I don't know how I gave the impression that I think that Larry is not real. He is by no means empty. Imagination is image forming. The hidden one imagined another image, the alter ego.
Fantasy is of a very different nature, isn't it? It is dreaming up what is not, but may be?
No, I mean Larry is real. Flesh and bones.
I saw him yesterday at the plaza. He didn't recognize me, too busy in his own little dream world, but I SAW him.
Oooooohhhhh. I see. You saw him. He is real. He didn't see you. Are you real? LOL
Wanna come for a Timmy? Let me see if you are real? Like now? I'm looking for excuses not to deal with reality, as of yet. After the dogwalk I have a hard time doing chores.
Maybe not. Started those chores beginning outdoors, taking care of the fountain. The alluring sun disappeared. It's bloody cold out there. Too brrrr for biking. Reluctantly I will be a good girl.
I met with Larry the other day in Lunch Bucket Ontario. We shared a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We talked about relativity of fantasy and the reality and the possibility of alternate dimensions. When I asked about Lunch Bucket’s position within the space-time continuum. He stated “don’t get me going”.
Actually I had suggested he run for the mayor of Lunch Bucket a few months earlier. But alas he shoved my suggestion aside with a comment that “Politics is for Punks.”
Good Book title: "The Mayor of Lunch Bucket." Who will write the book? Team efford maybe?
Q: What was Larry doing in the plaza? Larry hates plazas! Piazzas, sure! Pizzas definitely. But not plazas. He must have been thinking: This place is a figment of the imagination, therefore, Larry is not here, nor X nor Y nor BB nor wt. And if they are here they can't see him anyway. He was probably attempting to buy fictional cotton swabs. Gave up because the cashier was ignoring him. And why? That's obvious. Because he was figmenting at the time.
Larry has not yet read wt's pome, but he will get to it.
If The Mayor of Lunchbucket does get written, the author should be named Thomas Hardyharhar.
Too Brrr For Biking
Now there's a title for creative non-fiction, if Larry's ever heard one. No time for that now, however. Larry's currently cogitating on a kiddie's song with the refrain Wide-eye go kaboom! Kaboom!? Wide-eye go kaboom!?
Speaking of Punks. HWSRN used to have two buttons. One was black with white printing and said White Punks on Dope. The other was white with black printing and said White Dopes on Punk. HWSRN never did figure out which one to wear.
They are good pomes Larry. But all the credit W.T. can take for them is that she likes them. They were among some of Hans' favourite pomes. She read them to him a lot. Spirit Walker is an awsome book full of the native kind of pomes and breathtaking illustrations. "Two worlds" was read at Hans' Funeral service.
Wild Thing had to stop. Suddenly the bar to move text of comment up and down is missing. Wild thing does not know how to retrieve it.
As of (Doubting) Thomas Hardyharhar?
Maybe Larry has a double seen sometimes at plazas while Larry is eating pizza somehere else. Methinks it is a plot. Darker forces are taking over Larry's life. A deamon transforms hisself into Larry and goes out to do mischief like alianating Larry's friends. Friends all over the place call: "Where is Larry?"
Ha, my bar came back!!! Bar must like deamons. The mysterious ways of my computer. Must go. Wide-eyed go Kaboom go for dogwalk now without dog. Wild eh?
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