Neutrality
...and when the extraterrestrial being invited all those present to enter his spaceship and join him in his journey, the general stayed behind, asking "What's in it for me?"
The extraterrestrial answered "A brand new world, if you can handle it".
The general then asked "Are you friend or foe?"
The extraterrestrial answered "Neither".

And therein lies the problem with the militant-minded.  The paranoiac xenophobia of ultra-partisanship.
The narratives of "You're either for us or against us", "You're not one of us.  Therefore you're obviously an intruder", "If you're on the side of the righteous then you'll have to be in agreement with our way of thinking and doing".

The idea that anyone who's not like them automatically constitutes a threat of some kind.  And that the threat has to be met with a show of counter-force.

There's no concept of impartiality or disinterestedness---the notion of one independent-minded and living by their own perceptions and analysis of all things around them.
It's always "Our way is the only way" and anything that deviates from it is somehow defective or immoral, as is anyone who does the same.

The classic "Us verses Them", no in-between or middle ground.

Song Analysis: Baker Street

I'm sure this 1978 top ten hit by former Stealers Wheel Gerry Rafferty can be spun a number of ways when it comes to interpreting its lyrics.

My take on it is that it's, essentially, an anthem of the eternal disappointment one experiences when life lets them down, when it doesn't live up to its promises
And also how one disappoints themselves as well when they can't seem to live up to THEIR promises and potential either.

And how distraught one becomes when the obstacles and interferences in life overtake situations and circumstances, and wind up winning over everything else.
How some people finally end up having to resign themselves to a second-rate existence and settling for less.

  Paperback Writer and The Great Airplane Strike
What do these two songs have in common?  Besides being from the year 1966?

Basically, the way they're both performed in such a nonchalant straightforward manner while sporting some of the most absurd and hyperbole lyrics in the history of popular music.

Paul McCartney sings, with a straight face, "It's a thousand pages, give or take a few, I'll be writing more in a week or two".  He's referring to a paperback novel he's working on.

Mark Lindsay sings, with a straight face, about "reserving wing space" on a fly-by-night airline while trying to travel during a major airline strike.  And about taking up temporary residence in an airport restroom.

                                                    Adage For Today
The ideal society is one that's conservative enough to be orderly and disciplined while liberal enough to be flexible and open-minded.

                                            Musing For Today

Why is it

...I can find so many intelligent and insightful writers on the internet?
...yet everyone I come into contact with face-to-face are all such closed-minded half-wits?

These folks are mostly the usual variety of current-day humanity:

*ill-mannered, undisciplined, uneducated "trailer-park" inbreds and inner-city "ratchet kings" and "ratchet queens"

*upper-status snobs and "trophy bitches" who behave condescendingly, routinely violate traffic laws driving pricey cars, and eschew anything resembling natural emotions and feelings

*gestapo style authority figures

*rowdy alpha "party animals"

*timid paranoid scaredy-cats

*officious "stasi"-minded citizens
*eternally rambling "motor-mouths" who can never figure out how and when to STFU

...and numerous other manners of clones, drones, gnomes and gremlins one routinely has to deal with when out in public.

                                                   Hierarchy
When I was growing up I was ruled over by two people---one grown male and one grown female.
They called themselves my "parents".

They knew all things.  They were my whole world.
And they had a duty to "protect me from 'danger', exposure to 'bad influences' and all manners of 'indecency'" ...which, apparently, was shorthand for "whatever we approve of is okay to expose you to, but if we don't like something it's also off-limits to you as well".

Years later, when I was finally ready to tell those two "adios" and strike out on my own, I figured I could finally "live the way I want".

I couldn't have been more wrong.
Instead, I found society had already assigned others to take my parents' place and pick up where they left off:
*The government
*The police
*The bosses
*The professional class
*The business owners
*The aggressive Alpha personalities
*The upper echelon status individuals

Song Analysis: In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence

An interesting and intriguing song by Procol Harum.  Apparently taking place during medieval times, as is indicated by the references to knights, swords, and armor.

On a deeper level, the ever-metaphorical lyrics seem to address the dilemmas of self-doubt and self-esteem issues as well as trying to keep one's head above water and continue on in light of experiencing extreme humiliation---those disenchanting occasions when one's forced to face the fact that one's "not as smart or clever as they think they are", that one's "not as strong and resilient as they thought", that one's "not as confident as they assumed themselves to be".

Also:
"...But 'grief' can't be the reason.
We are men of sturdy stuff.
Though our swords be old and rusty
They're still blunt and sharp enough"

The song seems to address an inner distress connected with aging, or of situations in which one finds themselves in precarious positions.
Having to deal with the notion of no longer being fully in control of your own life, while still trying to convince yourself otherwise.

CeleBirthdates

John Fogerty
Turned 72 on May 28th
Paul McCartney
Turns 75 on June 18th 
Carly Simon
Turns 72 on June 25th
Brian Wilson
Turns 75 on June 20th

Song Analysis: A Little You

Not exactly one of the biggest hits for Freddie and the Dreamers---this one didn't even make the top-40 of the national U.S. charts.

It's from late 1965, and by this time leader (and lead singer) Fred Garrity had long since quit "doing the Freddie" and started taking his group in a more conventional direction.

                                      "There's a little 'true' in all the lies you tell.
                                       A little 'good' in all the bad you do ...
                                      Instead of running away, listen to what I say,
                                      All I want is just a little you ..."

People are always so worried about how the other person will judge them should that other person ever find out about some "dark side" or character flaw they may have.  So afraid of rejection, they put up false fronts.

The main character in the song is telling his lover it's okay to simply be her true self, that he's okay with whatever quirks she may have, no matter how profound.  That he's ready to accept her the way she really is.
This is a song about someone making a desperate attempt to reassure another it's safe to just go ahead and "loosen up", that they're open-minded enough to not be taken aback by any idiosyncratic character glitches.

                Who's REALLY "In Charge"? (revisited)
The police, the authorities, and the government can seem very intimidating to a lot of people.
However, let it be known that they're but underlings themselves.
More specifically, the hatchet men for and spokespersons of the favored and privileged of society.

They "protect and serve" the normal "well-adjusted" of their communities---the ones who actually live the "collective narrative" of the race, gender, and social class stereotypes. The ones who think the "right way", whose very existence is one of "commitment to community" and of all manners of obsessive socializing---where it's essential to "have friends and a lover".
The ones who wear the "right style" of clothes, drive the same cars, who buy into the collective consensus regarding beliefs, dogmas, social prejudices, paranoia, and lifestyles.

To the favored of society the police and authorities are their "heroes", their courageous "first responders", always ready and "at their disposal".

And the police and authorities are, themselves, just as sycophantic towards these favored as these favored are towards them.
In fact, the police in particular make it a high priority to always "stay in good with" the favored.  Which makes sense as the best way to ensure continued support and acceptance from one's society is to side with whoever the winners of society are.
Those-in-charge would hardly have anything to gain by gravitating toward the reclusive loners, or the oddballs and freaks, or the outcasts.   Those are the losers of society, its eternal rejects.  Society's "no counts".  The ones who "don't matter".  The ones who exist to incur society's wrath, the ones accused and mistrusted, "in the way", unwanted and offensive.

In fact, one of the main functions of the police and the courts is to keep such misfits "in their place"---to prevent them from attempting to assimilate themselves into the society or community, to never allow such types to be a part of anything.  To keep them eternally "removed".

The "Climate Change"/"Global Warming" dilemma

As is usually the case with most subjects, there, likewise, seems to be only two antithetical viewpoints allowed when it comes to the controversy surrounding "climate change".  In this case, either one believes it is real and is caused by man-made pollution and the toxic byproducts of such---or one thinks it is a propaganda hoax, and that the concerns are blown out of proportion, and that the earth is simply "going through another one of its 'natural cycles'".

As with most subject matters there seems to be no room for a third view, or for any others beyond.
Frankly, my personal view is that, taking the concept of "cause and effect" into consideration, it's most likely a combination of those factors, and probably even more.

What if, let's say, the main cause of global warming might be something happening within the earth itself?  Maybe a massive build-up of magma within the deep core of the planet itself, eventually bubbling up to the point of producing a humongous global eruption?

However, assembling a group of nonpartisan open-minded scientists who would be willing to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter without being hampered by politics, special interests, and "obligation to" cater to popular dogmas first and foremost, seems quite improbable at present.
Not altogether impossible----just highly unlikely.

            Reasons why The Law Is An Ass (revisited)
I've said it before and I'll say it again ....
The reason "the law is an ass" is simply because, once written and enacted, the law becomes "set in stone".  It becomes a separate entity in its own right, with "a mind of its own".

And, with "a mind of its own", the law only exists to serve itself.  It's stipulations and clinical definitions are its only concerns, its only reason for existing.   That's why laws are so inflexible, unable to accommodate individual circumstances and unusual situations.
Laws only exist for their own sake once enacted and "set in stone".

                  The "Siberian Express" Strikes Again
It's that time of year again.  When the warm weather is once again upon us to stay for awhile.  Even getting hot here and there to boot.

Which also means it's "air conditioning" season as well.
And, as we all well know, the air conditioning units in most commercial and public establishments have only two settings:  OFF and BARROW ALASKA IN MID-JANUARY.

You would think that, being the 21st century, they would have developed better units by now, capable of having more versatile temperature settings, but apparently industries are more focused on advancing digital high-tech gadgets than they are further developing the more ordinary day-to-day basic amenities.