Hits and Misses...

As you may or may not know, last Saturday was the Republican and Democratic Caucus’ held in Nevada. The week that led up to it was marred a bit by some court controversy between Clinton and Obama. The Nevada caucus’ took the place of the Primary elections for this election season. Because I feel it is a necessity to vote, I made sure to attend my precinct’s caucus. But before I get into that, let me bring you up to speed on my political leanings... I am an Anarchist of the Emma Goldman variety. Deep down I believe that if we can achieve a strong sense of personal responsibility, we do not need to be governed (Read the Tao Te Ching for another insight to this but of course, like Karl Marx’s dream, this seems impractical on a widespread scale). I also believe in the Republican ideal as it pertains to a German business model that creates a corporation that works for the community, not individual share holders thereby reducing the need for big government (although this practice is in place in India, it remains to be seen how it will work on a large scale). While it can be argued that these (like religions) are in fact similar in overall goals and practices to socialism, it is the details in which so many people disagree. Therefore, I am a registered Democrat. I know, seems like some goofy joke. Anyway, I attended my precincts’s caucus with a little background as to how it went and a few arguments ready to convince non-viable groups to join my group. I went in with as open a mind as I could. Every group was viable except the lone Kucinich supporter and he decided to leave once everything started instead of joining another group so I never got to argue anything. Turnout to the caucus was much greater than expected. The few older people running things were simply overwhelmed with the amount of people and didn’t have enough supplies to keep up. I have two feelings on this, 1.) Wow, it was great to see such passion for this election, and 2.) Like Karl, I felt these fucking moobs won’t give a shit in four or eight years and are only passionate because they hate (or resent voting for) Bush and/or either hate the idea of a woman running, a black man running or both. Despite this I secretly harbor hopes that maybe more people (because of this current knee jerk voter/candidate empathy) will continue to vote after this and continue to get more involved. A few observations about the process... Clinton supporters in my precinct are bullies and tried to bulldog the older people running the show. Thankfully there also were a few of us willing to speak up and keep these ex-Bush supporters in check. Edwards, Obama supporters and the lone Kucinich supporter, on the whole seemed very open to discuss, talk, debate, listen, keep a clear head and remain positive during the hour or so leading up to the proceedings. Clinton supporters stayed quite, did not want to engage in anything and seemed more comfortable casting dirty looks. A few were open but not most of them. For this reason it further cements my belief that Clinton is part of the original "Reaganomics" conspiracy and her propaganda is fomenting fear in most people making them unwilling to actually think. Like my friend Karl Bakla, I hate the media and how they portray candidates, it focus’ on the money race and only gives the highest earners any real coverage. Even my beloved NPR was terribly deficient in this way. After attending the caucus I can say I’m not sold on the idea and still lean towards regular Primary elections. I am a reserve Delegate and may get to cast my final vote in March but at least I am vested in seeing this process through even though I don’t really like it as any delegate can really vote anyway they please regardless of which group they supported during the caucus. At least with the Primary election, one vote is one vote. On State of Nevada the other day one caller complained that now neighbors won’t talk to each other because of the caucus and their individual leanings, and she said it as a negative. I myself thought of it as an incredible positive, because they obviously weren’t talking about this stuff before so maybe they’ll get over their hurt feelings and actually begin a dialog about the issues and such. Another caller made the statement that despite the issues, organization is easier to fix than voter apathy. I really hope she’s right.

Interesting Image of the Day: Adolescence

Since I've been doing some serious writing lately my blog has been a bit neglected. Oh well, enjoy this weird pic, I thought it summed up being a teen-ager (and hell, even how I've mostly felt as an adult) quite nicely. Stay tuned for my take on attending the Nevada Caucus...

Love on higher...

We’ve all heard it, talked about it or seen it on TV. John loves Mary but Mary loves Ken. Ken, on the other hand, is secretly gay and loves Phil. Phil is desperately in love with his wife Agnus. Agnus really only loves herself and semi-regularly sleeps with John, a guy named Larry and her neighbor around the corner Phyllis. John suffers from low self esteem for this reason and Larry doesn’t really care where he throws it around but secretly has a long time crush on Susie. Susie doesn’t really know any of these people except for Larry and Agnus. Susie and Agnus experimented with lesbianism in high school with each other but to Susie, it was like another life. Agnus, although incredibly self absorbed, secretly longs for the feelings she felt with Susie. This misplaced understanding makes Agnus feel as if she loves Susie. Also, Agnus’ child is really John’s. Susie is seeing a new guy Jack, who seems like one in a million catch, but has difficulty getting close to anyone because he has been hurt so many times. Remember Phyllis? She actually is incredibly embittered and insular, her only outlet is the casual relationship with Agnus. Jack (the one in a million catch) is lying to himself about Susie and has settled into a "good enough for now" mentality. Remember John and Mary? They had a brief passionate relationship years ago and... Well, I think you get my point. I could go on and on but no matter how outrageous this story gets, I’m willing to bet that; A.) Someone has a stranger twist and B.) You have all been a part of this kind of tangled web whether you knew it or not. What the hell is the matter with us? Can’t we just make it right? I’ve been thinking about all of this lately (or at least how it pertains to me) and I saw a commercial for a CD regarding songs of Worship. Yep, that’s right, Christian mother fucking rock! Hell ya!!! Anyway, we all know how derivative it can be but today I listened to the lyrics and...POW!!! I began to understand why so many people my age turn to Jesus and commit their undying love. It really has nothing to do with spirituality (or lack thereof). It has to do with passion. No, I’m not talking about the Holy Spirit or any crap like that. I’m talking about human to human passion. We move around these circles and whether through sabotage from others or ourselves, we find them ultimately frustrating and painful. The longer we go around the harder it is to feel close to anyone. If we commit our love to a perfect idea of what love is, we no longer have to be hurt (or as hurt) as our idea could never hurt us because it’s as real (or unreal) as we want it. Yeah, ok, it’s lacking on the "sex" side, but hey, emotionally it’s solid, if imaginary. Ok, don’t worry, I’ve haven’t found Jesus and I didn’t buy that CD (ok I did get a copy off of Limewire). I just wanted to make this hypothesis based off of my observations and musings so let me know what you think. I also think that the reason so many religious people are close minded and intolerant proves that they obviously aren’t religious for the right reasons even if my above hypothesis isn’t exactly correct.

Clarity

Every once in a while, whether by introspection, luck or divine process we are granted clarity. Ok, ok that’s bullshit. We have the ability to see clearly all of the time. When we are not distracted by the bullshit we surround our selves with, that is. Sometimes though, it’s hard to see things as they are. At least for me, at first, I have trouble seeing things for what they are. I get overcome with details that I can’t initially see the whole picture. Ok, no biggie and no surprise, right? Hey, sometimes I just gotta relax and see with open eyes. I get it, it’s a personal quirk. And people close to me wonder why I don’t initially comment on something I’ve seen for the first time. Is it because I’m stupid? Slow? Oh hell, I don’t know and I’m really not the point of this blog. What is the point is that ALL of us sometimes don’t initially understand what we see. Sometimes it’s the lack of details, sometimes too many details and sometimes it’s the structured promotion of specific details designed to confuse us. This last one, by the way, is called propaganda. As our first example, let’s use immigration... Right now in this country immigration is what they call a hot button issue. It get’s people’s blood pumping. We have been repeatedly told that these foreigners are taking our jobs. These immigrant laborer’s are driving down salaries because companies don’t have to pay them as much. The details that are left out or generally glossed over is that immigration is the very system that has created this country and is responsible for our diverse culture over the entire 231 years (and 200+ years before that, even longer if you count the ice bridge over the Bering Strait). Also in all of that time, immigrants are never the sole or primary reason why wages go down. How about one more little detail to throw in the mix. The Nazi’s (masters of propaganda) used a concerted propaganda campaign to foment historic and cultural intolerance of Jews as scapegoats to many of their own social problems and to distract the public as a whole. Sound familiar? Research it, I’m not making this shit up. Second example... Abortion. Talk about a hot button issue! First things first. I am personally a very pro-life individual. I believe that people should own up to their responsibilities. I would never want anyone I am with to willfully abort a pregnancy (except for extenuating circumstances). Politically I am Pro-Choice. Why? Because many religious people would have you believe (and spend money in various propaganda campaigns) that human life is sacred and begins at the moment of conception. The funny thing is that these same religious people are very quick to lean on the bible to prove many of their points. The bible, however, says nothing about abortion. Science has determined that a fetus begins to develop brain wave patterns in the beginning of the second trimester. This is why abortions beyond the first trimester are illegal except in extenuating circumstances. History has also proven that women seek out abortions whether legal or not, often (when illegal) resulting in death for the woman due to infection. But most of what you hear is how human life is so important. Yet (as mentioned in a previous blog) sperm and eggs are a form of human life. Let’s, of course, not forget the millions of people that are murdered around the globe for various political, social, economic reasons. Think Sudan, Iraq, Afganistan, The diamond trade, and on and on and on. Righteousness is not clarity, it’s the other way around. That’s about all I have to say as I don’t want to end this blog with some silly arrogant wrap-up because I’m sure I’ll fuck up and not see the big picture and make bold comments about it in the future. Just do me a favor and call me on it. After all, the only thing I really want is clarity.