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Category: Politics

Trying to understand the Garbage Path – a metaphor for you

Published by NiteMayr on April 1, 2018

Imagine for a moment a white plastic spoon in the middle of your living room floor, now imagine for every square meter of your home there is one plastic spoon. Now, alone, not so many spoons, one per meter, no big deal. Now imagine that for every spoon you see there is a dust pile made up of that same plastic, just under the carpet or in a corner.

So your house, with it’s spoons and its plastic dust is constantly accepting new spoons and plastic dust at a rate of 1 spoon a day and one pile of dust per day. You can’t stop that , it keeps happening because the people outside of the home only see the one spoon in the middle of the floor or the one little pile of dust in the corner, but they don’t see the one int he landing or the one under your bed, etc

It’s dispersed, it accrues in the animals and on the coasts, there is a VAST dispersed web of plastic and it hangs down into the largest area of our world that spreads over 70% of the surface.

But if it helps, imagine constantly finding dirty plastic spoons in your living room; and you can’t stop them from appearing.

America is the source of its own troubles

Published by NiteMayr on February 22, 2018

It’s far past time that North America looked at itself and said “why have there been more civilian shootings here than in Europe”

If we believe the news out of Europe it’s crawling with insane Jihadists with bombs, knives and guns who are killing with impunity.  The UK is a desolate wasteland full of bullet-holes and France was burned to give glory to Allah.

That’s what we’re being told.  So North Americas gun issues are like nothing compared to the savage times in the Old World.

But that’s not true, is it?

The Guns come from the ‘States and spread out, like a pandemic.  They are everywhere, and always nearby.  Like Spiders or Rats, infesting the Western World, a social disease that gives only the infected any pleasure and makes the rest of the world walk on eggshells, less they get shot by an open carrier of the condition.

Europe is less than 2000 miles from war-zones, but doesn’t find itself dealing with nigh weekly mass shootings.  What excuse does North America have?

No a “Christian Pastor Sentenced To One Year In Prison” isn’t what it looks like

Published by NiteMayr on July 14, 2015

You might think that headlines like “Christian Pastor Sentenced To One Year In Prison” and “To One Year In Prison After Refusing To Marry Gay Couple” are all about the much-prophesied criminalization of being a Christ Fearin’ God-Botherer. However there is a note that appears in the story that explains why in the Case of “Paul Horner” the Crucifxes and pitchforks can be left aside:

The criminal investigation found out that the Christian Proctor Church is registered in the state as a “religious corporation” limited to performing “one-man-one-woman marriages as defined by the Holy Bible.” However, the church is also registered as a for-profit business; therefore, its owners must comply with state and federal laws.

HOWEVER, there was something tacked onto the story at NAIJ.COM a Nigerian website that I thought bore another look:

Not Adam and Steve... yes?
Not Adam and Steve… yes?

The Thing about this is it reminds me of something I saw on John Oliver

“Adam and Eve, Not Adam and Steve”

It’s right there in the image block; and a bit about how America is God’s own Country.

Where. oh where, would a series of Nigerians get that Idea I wonder?

 

Conservatives: The only plan is to cut taxes

Published by NiteMayr on May 21, 2015

Compare this quote:

Federal revenues as a percentage of GDP are near the lowest levels in more than 50 years of records posted by the government. Mr. Oliver was asked if that means federal taxes are now as low as they can go.

“I think we could do more,” Mr. Oliver replied. He noted that Canada’s debt in relation to the economy is low by international standards and will shrink from about a third of GDP to one quarter by the end of the decade. Mr. Oliver did not comment on the potential impact of rising interest rates on federal finances.

H/t “the globe and mail“

To this famous quote:

I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.

Grover Norquist

The only plan that Conservatives ever seem to come up with is “Cut Spending, Reduce Taxes” then let the rest sort itself out.  (I’m talking ‘fiscal‘ conservatives here) I place that in quotes as we can all accept that any number of the self-same people are fine with spending money on War and Spying on their own people.

But right after an expansion of Government and a pledge to go to war: another pledge by a Conservative to cut taxes.  How does this sound familiar?  Oh yes,  the year 2000.  George Bush Jr. took power, cut taxes and then plunged the USA into an economic downturn that was compounded by lax oversight of the economy (because these things will sort themselves out in the market, yes?)

So; Canada stands at the threshold, letting another Conservative government bankrupt the country while sending kids to die in the Middle East.  I don’t think the Liberals could do a worse job.

 

Shock to the System – Billy Idol and the LA riots

Published by NiteMayr on July 8, 2010

It’s a heat wave here in London; the kind of Heat Wave that inspired the Predator to storm LA and take on Danny Glover and Gary Busey in a three knockout bout that took down about half the real estate Arnold Schwarzenegger did in Terminator 2.  It’s hot, humid and there is that Rain Forest, Semi-Tropical moistness in the air that either anesthetizes or inflames any long running grievances.  It’s a beer and a pound or it’s time to throw down, if you will.

It’s been about 2 weeks since the G20 summit kicked off in Toronto and the heat is still on there;  there was damage and some looting and not a small amount of controversy surrounding the behavior of the police flown in to number into the thousands to protect Toronto from violence and protest that got out of hand.

In 1992, LA was simmering, boiling over and it was the subsequent acquittal of the police in the caught on video beating of Rodney King that proved to be to the catalyst to set things off:

Here in London and Toronto; there’s a less imminent; less urgent current of unrest regarding what happened over in Toronto; there is going to be an inquiry…but like those before it (when Quebec Police were forced to admit that they had acted as agents provocateurs during protests in Quebec, I doubt anything will come of it.   We have people herded up and thrown into cages for being out and about where the police didn’t like it; thousands of police on hand who couldn’t prevent wide-scale damage in Toronto.  Something is up there.

So; why am I even thinking about all of this?  Billy Idol.

Billy Idol released  Shock to the System; a single about the Riots.

Some of the music inspired by the Riots is about the violence, some about the police and some about the peace that was needed in the aftermath.  That simmering resentment though, it never appears to have really gone anywhere.  I wonder if it will flare up anywhere else?