Musing For Today
                            Liberties ..... Rights ...... Self-government

                     Can there be more honorable concepts than those?

   But ...do they pan out in real life, when put to the test in the real world itself?

Someone falls asleep in bed while smoking and sets the apartment building on fire
...eventually rental properties start adapting "No Smoking" policies

Drivers run red lights, drive drunk or high, text while driving, commit numerous hit-and-runs
...and the industry starts experimenting with self-driving vehicles.  And public transportation, walking, and bicycling starts getting heavily promoted

Gun owners shoot others out of anger, jealousy, outrage or revenge instead of in self-defense
...and legislators start talking "Gun Control" laws

If you agree Western societies are, more and more, displaying strong tinges of totalitarianism don't just blame the ones in charge for this dismaying and destructive state of affairs

....you should also show equal contempt for the chronically irresponsible for the way they, when given the chance at personal freedom and the right and entitlement to "have nice things", seem to only know how to trash and destroy everything around them, to not know how to take proper care of themselves and whatever they own or are allowed access to.

Just take a look at how much trash and shit there is on public streets, how little regard there is for common courtesy---groups of people blocking doorways or aisles, or crowding sidewalks;  people putting their feet up on chairs in restaurants or the seats on buses and subways;  shameless littering and spitting on the sidewalks

....or the way people are always hustling each other and all-around "fucking with" one another
....and all sorts of financial irresponsibility
....and don't forget all the various modes of social and domestic dysfunctionality.

You have to figure those in charge, upon observing a lot of these behaviors, are going to regard us "average" types as generally being incapable of self-discipline, as being on the level of a toddler or small child, "in need of constant supervision and oversight" as "otherwise we keep getting ourselves in trouble".

Hence, the "Nanny State".
But ....just WHO is going to be assigned the role of "overseer" and "overlord" over us?  And what credentials are these individuals going to possess that will make them "worthy" of such a role?




                            Another site to check out: www.barney-quick.blogspot.com
                                                                     …and another: www.dahnbatchelorsopinions.blogspot.com

                       More on "Climate Change" ....
I don't, myself, doubt that there is a phenomenon the experts refer to as "climate change"----being old enough to remember what used to be "normal winters" in the Great Lakes region, wherein it would stay cold for weeks on end, and when it snowed we'd routinely get three to four feet when it was all over
...and the snow would stick around for at least a good two weeks or so before finally melting off to thin patches here and there.

My main problem with the "climate change" cultists is the way they keep asserting "greenhouse gases" are the main cause----that it's a purely man-made problem, without engaging in any sort of further in-depth studies and investigations into the matter.

The extreme hubris surrounding this subject, the way so many are so SURE of themselves when making such anecdotal conjectures.   No thought given to other potential causes, be they cosmic or terrestrial (sun spot activity;  underground volcanic activity;  once-every-6,000-year-cycle, and the like).

And then there are also the "climate change deniers"----those who believe such is not even occurring, in spite of the bizarre changes in weather patterns over the past 37 years or so.
So we are only allowed two choices:  "There is no such thing as 'climate change' or 'global warming'", or "We'll just have to give up all our modern-day amenities as our use of them is destroying our planet" (as if the earth, itself being a cosmic entity, is somehow incapable of self-regeneration).

They've recently painted a huge mural of teenage activist Greta Thunberg on the side of one of the tall buildings in San Francisco

I can just see it now:
One of the city's destitute residents takes a dump on the sidewalk.  And, pulling up their pants, they turn around
...and, right above them, is a giant-size "Greta head" glaring down at them ever-so-sternly, as if to say
"I saw what you did just now!  That was pretty nasty, you know!"

This Tuesday, the 5th, is yet ANOTHER election day (keeping in mind that it's NEXT year we're presented with the federal presidential election)

I could go on forever about how much I abhor and detest politics, how I view politics as being little more than disruptive to the systemic ecosystem---the way certain businesses and agencies shut down for the day, the way the media obsesses over the polls (as if suddenly "nothing else exists"), the way one is shamed if they don't partake in the charade of actually "caring about" issues one could never relate to anyway.

Seriously, though, those in charge will never really solve anything if they can help it.
The idea is to leave enough major problems unsolved so as to give the average person certain "issues" that "need addressing", and then present these "issues" in the form of campaign promises---all to nurture the "voting environment" and its accompanying mindset, that being the illusion the average person has of "having personal control over their own destiny".

This type of begriming and beguiling of the average first world social climate serves to keep the average Joe and Jane mollified by instilling in them the notion that they're "willing participants" in a system actually governed, ruled over, and controlled by the most valued overlords, and that the limited selection of "issues" are the ones of greatest concern, and (worst of all) that any kind of partaking on their part could ever alter or make that big a difference in any final/ultimate decisions made about what goes down next in their community/city/town/state/province/nation.

Search (In Vain) Engines

What's with all these internet search engines lately?

I type in "is public transportation in the u.s. degenerating?" and I get a list of websites about the local bus system along with medical sites about degenerative diseases.

...or I type in "are civil laws and penalties in the u.s. getting too strict?" and it displays a list of law firms, lawyers, or the web sites of law schools and different universities.

I always contended the algorithms and automation systems are only worth the character and knowledge levels of whoever programs them.
The more myopic and prejudice the programmers, the more limited your choices or options when using their programs.

More Song Analysis

Charlie's Shoes
Billy Walker
Protagonist begrudges his buddy's good fortune in finding the "perfect" beautiful girl
...but when his buddy breaks up with her and our protagonist moves in and "takes over" as her lover (finally getting his wish) he ends up suffering the backlash of a kind of "poetic justice" as he learns (the hard way) why his buddy could no longer stand her or continue supporting a woman of her stature.


Lookin' Back
Bob Seger
Strong anti-Vietnam War sentiments abound in this song, but Seger's lyrics also tear into the perils of social class as well


Good News Week
Hedgehoppers Anonymous
Most "progress" is primarily bullshit.  More about how to "make us look younger than our age" or about how to "make television screens look more realistic".  And the media's just as full-of-shit with their announcements of technological and medical "breakthroughs"
...all grandiose fanfare, but never coming up with anything that actually improves or enhances our quality-of-life