The American Culture of Guns and Fear

  Gun laws work, all you have to do is google Australia to find a shining example (the assault rifle ban worked here for years too with the exception of Columbine), but now the NRA is going to tell us that even though it might have worked 'over there' you'll have to pry my gun out of my cold dead hands to take it from me. I ain't gonna give up my guns. Why in Virginia these days I can even pack heat at the local diner. That's The 2nd Amendment my boy. That's what America is all about. Guns and Fear. Arm the schools. Arm the churches. Arm the parking lots. There will come a time when The Guys in the Black Hats show up with their guns and The Guys in the White Hats better be carrying their pieces too. All very Cowboy and Indian. All very very  Bad Karma.
   There's going to be a lot of Fear and Loathing in the carnival of our political discourse in the coming days and it's going to last more than one or two news cycles. There's a lot of people fed up with guns and the killing, and there's a lot of people paralyzed by that fear and dependent on their guns. Things are going to get real nasty, because we as a nation have more guns than the rest of the world, and we're good at killing each other with them.
   This is going to be just another 'litmous test' of  our American Character. We'll watch the pundits, politicians, and talking heads as we remember the twenty dead 6 year olds.........all this dialogue destined to make the sane sick at heart. And there will be questions........
   Will we expand our mental health programs to the Pre-Gipper Years and beyond? Will the CDC take up gun violence as a health issue like they did car accidents? Will owning guns be regulated like owning cars? Will assault weapons be banned again? Will any of this stop the killing? Not only the fame of mass murder, but the ignominious everyday run of the mill murders we see on the news everyday? Will our sense of community embrace our outcasts so that they would not attack us? Not in the America I know......
   Wars of aggression, torture, drone killings, predatory financial practices, domestic spying: we live in a Kingdom of Corporate Whores, shills for the military-industrial-congressional complex, and we spread death better than the proverbial Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse. All you got to do is watch. It's on your television set everyday, but whomever speaks in favor of guns will do so with a backdrop of 20 dead children's faces.

  
  
    

~~~The Fate of Global Capitalism~~~

Kinfonet Quote of the Day: The present civilization is based on greed and individual competition; it cannot last forever, because it has no intrinsic value.

21st Century American Class Warfare

   The Gipper was an anti-FDR of sorts~~~a traitor to his own class~~~and when he dissolved the Air Traffic Controller's Union and fired them all~~~Michael Moore may be right~~~that was the beginning of this class warfare we see these days~~~and~~~the pilots and baggage handlers and all the co-workers and colleagues of the terminated employees~~~should have seen what's coming and gone on strike~~~right then and there. That didn't happen~~~but~~~let's face it~~~corporations have no values regarding social responsibilities~~~and~~~their disregard for the impact that their actions have~~~as to the destruction of the environment~~~reveals how little they really care about anything~~~other than~~~extracting more of whatever they want out of what is and into their pockets. The Corporate Mantra~~~is only one word~~~MORE. And now the modern day christian pharisees have Reinvented Jesus into some kind of political animal and mixed him up with a bunch of psychopathic businessmen and politicians~~~all in a power grab to take back~~~what~~~The New Deal~~~established. Damn~~~the rich are~~~never satisfied~~~they seem to want it all~~~and not one of them did any jailtime for fincially trashing the american economy.

   So what's to do? I say that The Representative Democracy that this country is~~~take back the power it once gave to corporations. YEAH~~~take it back and neuter those son of a bitches~~~like cutting the balls off  an aggressive and violent animal. Oh~~~they'll cry~~~we're leaving The United States of America~~~for friendlier foreign shores. Let them go~~~see how they like it~~~and~~~we as a democracy can fill the vacuum that they leave with private enterprise that is socially conscious~~~and green~~~that~~~provides jobs to support the life within our communities~~~and~~~values all that is~~~what we all share~~~and~~~is a part of~~~this life we live together.

   Corporate America screwed with the middle class's largest investment~~~their homes~~~and made money playing with people's investments and retirements and lives~~~damn if they don't even play the fuel price futures game on us time and time again~~~I guess they think it's fun. Corporate America values~~~itself~~~more highly when it drops many of it's workers from it's bottom line~~~they really don't care about all the people that they touch~~~when they're not needed they're just excess capicity~~~deadwood~~~and only the people that are a part of their lifeblood~~~their cash flow~~~THEIR MONEY~~~count in their equations~~~of and on~~~life. Corporate America doesn't give a shit about our communities~~~about Mother Nature~~~and~~~the environment~~~in which we all live and move and have our being~~~they only care about their own.

 And so it began in Wisconsin~~~and what Spiro Agnew called The Silent Majority~~~are silent no more~~~but~~~where will it all end? With~~~Plato's Society~~~wise and financially divested men~~~required to be a substantial representative part~~~of every~~~Board of Directors? I don't think these Rabid Dogs of Capitalism will so easily be muzzled~~~and it's gonna take an army of lawyers~~~to cut their balls off~~~in the courts. America is gonna have to sue these bastards into submission~~~environmental damage will bankrupt them all. So~~~let them put their tails between their legs~~~and take their personally degrading system of values~~~and head on off to somewhere in~~~The 3rd World~~~because their toxic value systems~~~won't hold up~~~anywhere. Societies that have~~~no intrinsic values~~~are only impermanent castles~~~built within and made of ~~~the sands of time. They have no foundation in reality upon which to stand. 

   The Corporate Oligarchy~~~will try to dumb us down~~~and~~~rally their minions~~~and~~~lay the big guilt trip~~~on all of us. Hey Corporate America~~~lighten up~~~your ball sack will heal~~~and you'll be better off for it~~~dontchaknow?~~~the division of power and transparency of all actions~~~are both~~~The American Way! 

    So let's turn THE LAWYERS loose on them~~~for their articles of incorporation~~~as they now stand~~~are~~~untenable~~~and~~~we simply can not afford to live~~~like this. Real Estate~~~overvalued and overbuilt. Financial Mismanagement~~~wtf derivatives and crazy assed futures. Union busting. Media control. Commercial propaganda. Dumbing down the host society~~~and all manner of manipulation.

   Wake Up America~~~there are so many more of us~~than~~~them. The Gipper sold you on~~~It's Morning In America~~~but~~~Dylan says~~~it's getting dark~~~almost too dark~~to see. 

   Let's Sue The Bastards.  

  

it's hard~~~To Be A Cartoon Character and Make A Living~~~at the same time

Only the great political minds are capable of such a daunting task.

Today's American Values and Our Common Welfare Together

The Gipper painted a picture of~~~It's Morning In America~~~all over the American Psyche~~~when he began his presidency~~~way back when. But is the sun coming up~~~or~~~is it going down? Or may be it's just fixed up there in the sky? Morning In America is just an image you know. Nothing real. A way of spinning things that the glass is half full~~~and there is the hope~~~of new beginnings. JFK and Obama used the same tool. Nothing new here. Images don't change a thing. The sun is fixed in the sky. American Political Imagery? Empty words meant to control us. Our authority figures excel in expelling hot air~~~that creates the shifting mirages that arise above~~~the spiritually arid floor~~~of The Great American Spiritual Desert.
Perception changes everything. Seeing things as they actually are~~~or~~~as a web of illusion. If you look at America as a family~~~and all societies are extended families~~~how would you appraise her character? What if you were an American Indian living in the 1700's? Or an American Muslim these days? Or pick your own example. Families take care of their own~~~the sick ones, the old ones, the young ones, the crazy ones~~~those that need the help of others to get through this life. Dysfunctional families breed violence~~~and leave those that can't carry their own weight by the side of the road. Two ongoing wars, inner city gangster gun play, over ten thousand shooting deaths a year, and two million locked up in our prisons~~~and why is it that America is so violent? To others? And to it's self?
Life is impermanent. There is no security. All human beings have more in common~~~than differences. Our deepest experiences in this life are the common things that we all experience. Birth. Consciousness. Love. Sorrow. Suffering. Death. What we share in common are the deepest experiences~~~of all~~~our lives. So why do we leave our brother by the side of the road~~~when one day we will be in the same place?
Our Republic here in America is a beautiful thing for it sees the nature of power and divides it up~~~and democracy recognizes that we all are equal for no matter who you are~~~or think you are~~~it's one person~~~one vote. But Our American Empire? The last thing Eisenhower warned us about? The Military-Congressional-Industrial Complex? When I was young we dropped our napalm on Vietnam and now when I'm old we dropped our smart bombs on Iraq~~~and send out our drones remotely piloted over foreign lands by guys in Las Vegas. Our American Empire? What kind of family acts like this? The immortal hillbilly wars of The Hatfield's and The McCoys were probably a little more civil. Our American Empire~~~like all such power trips throughout history~~~is pure insanity. We're broke~~~and we still pay for all this military crap.
Our society is so far from any vestige of~~~Complete Acceptance and Unconditional Love of Life~~~that to be thrown into the American Marketplace~~~be it dealing in the commodities of manufactured things, personal services, esoteric thought, spirituality, or money itself~~~no matter what you accumulate or how much of it you gather~~~or~~~what you think you then become~~~it's death that lies at the end of everything. Impermanence is the way things are here on Earth. Security? We destroy That Which Is~~~the ecological balance of our planet~~~and our fellow man~~~for something that does not exist. This Life of Illusions can be a very twisted thing.
What kind of family are we Americans? What are our intrinsic values? Will our reverence for individual competition and our greedy accumulations destroy us? You know you have to give up part of your life to help another in need. So~~~having destroyed The Native American Indian Cultures and planted our flag on their shores~~~do you think our family ways can change? We Americans have immigrated here from all over this planet. We are from everywhere on the globe. Can't we identify with it all? Or are we prisoners of a false identity~~~Us Against Them? Or just Individual Egos living in a Pop Porn Cult of Personality~~~and a Culture of Fear?
The Gipper called tomato sauce a vegetable while little kids in America's Ghettos cried for they had nothing to eat. W turned the Military Industrial Complex lose on Iraq for no reason at all and killed kids standing in their front yard. The Republican Party cares not if the same kid gets health care~~~and tried to scare us with the 'pulling the plug on grandma' fiction. The American Corporate Oligarchy just gorged itself on The American Middle Class~~~laying waste to it's investments and shedding the jobs it hasn't sent overseas yet~~~leaving many families by the side of the road. No jobs. Corporate America was just getting rid of the dead wood on their balance sheets~~~improving their bottom line~~~after the latest economic fiasco. Just doing what they do~~~loving money more than people. What a family we are! It's a Culture of Fear created to control us~~~but don't be afraid~~~we're all going to die anyway. That's a fact. And what is it that saves a family? Even one so dysfunctional as ours? While we are alive? It is~~~That~~~Which Is Unconditional~~~and you won't find it in any marketplace.
Look at your own family. What is it that holds you together?

~~~~~~~~Dear America~~~~~~~~ Can You Look In The Mirror~~~and Be Honest About What You See?

The Mayan Calendar ends on December 21st 2012~~~supposed to be The End of Days or something like that~~and they say there's One Wet & Wild Woman way up 'thar in Frozen Alaska who contracted a fatal case of Potomac Fever from some ex-soldier when she visited Arizona a few years ago~~~and Now? She wants to be The First Soap Opera Prez (and could be The First Porno-Pop Prez~~~if she 'jus let it all Hang Out:)~~~and~~~Oh My! Is it already The End Times? Really? So that's why My Billy Graham Book of Revelations Alarm Clock keeps going off? Ding Dong. Ding-a-Ling. Ding Dong. Rap. Rapa. Rapture:) Hey no way The Whore of Babylon comes from Frozen Tundra~~~right? Poor America has sold herself off to the thugs of The Corporate Oligarchy~~~they who exploit The 3rd World, dumb down 'merican citizens with their control of the news, and last but not least, believe in The Absolute Commercialization of Everything~~~and all them Corporate Boys just got a little bit fatter after consuming most of The American Middle Class~~~oh the gluttons that they are~~~but~~~Yummy! Oh how they love their $$$:) Dear America before you drink the Lukewarm Tea offered up by this Wicked Witch From The North~~~remember~~~her kind told us We Defeated Communism forever and now All Them Damn Commies own us lock, stock, and barrel. Damn Doublespeak~~~I guess they get The Berlin Wall and Great Wall mixed up or something like that? Look closely into the mirror and you might see what we really live in is~~~The Great American Spiritual Desert~~~where even W (how many people did he kill?) and Sister Sarah (how shallow can her flippant thought be?) can pretend to be real people~~~so maybe~~~The Mayans were on to something? Who knows? One thing I do know about Ted Bundy pictured up above~~~he was raised here in America~~~he was part of us~~~and not some separate evil being that popped in here on a vacation from hell. Ted Bundy was an American~~~and so were all the sociopaths and psychos~~~Unabomber, Dahlmer, McVeigh~~~you know the list 'cause it 'jus goes on & on~~~all the way to Tuscon~~~and I'm afraid that the road doesn't end there. The Killers were Americans too~~~raised here~~~part of us. Personality Disorders abound and multiply in~~~A Spiritual Wasteland~~~and as we have seen~~~this moral dementia has spread and even reflected back upon us~~~by our elected leadership (a mirror of sorts). Can a society only based on Greed, Accumulation, and Individual Competition have any Intrinsic Value? Is such a society doomed? You can tell a tree by it's fruit~~~ so why is our society condemned to produce such shallow and destructive people~~~such Bitter Fruit? Corporate America never did a Cost-Benefit Analysis on how creating a Culture of $$$ would so create so many Destructive Personality Disorders~~~that precipitate so many costs. It should be a part of their Bottom Line~~~along with environmental renting and destruction~~~the stunted personal growth in character in all the people they touch~~~international relations~~~etc, etc, etc. So? Maybe the Mayans~~~knew something~~~that we do not. Not many values left here in the Old American Gas Tank~~~we're Running On Empty~~~but the fumes should get us to December 21st 2012:) Sarah Palin and The End of The World? That would be too entertaining to be true:) End Times has to be he biggest cop out in human character~~~Ever! Look in The Mirror. Look at All of Us. America? What do you see?