Learning to fire a man's gun is no job for a liberal.

__________________
Delivering tasty bite-sized Clues to liberals since 1965.

You're a deep cat, Truth. I like you. I feel your burden, believe me. It pains me to no end, to have to suffer through this world.

A week or so ago, my girlfriend's brother tried to slice me up. I have a nice little scar on my arm, to show for it.

Fortunately for both of us, I turned him away with a Beretta.

You may not exactly relate to what I'm saying, I"m not sure, but believe me, it was very real.

This world, is not exactly what I'd like it to be. There are problems that go way beyond my ken.

But, that's the nature of reality. It is what it is. There are certain "boundaries" - certain "pickets" perhaps - that I find it necessary to put up, from time to time.

On any ordinary day, I'd be out there playing music and making people happy.

But once in a while, reality intrudes into that equation. And at that point, I'm merciless. No one is going to destroy my family, trust me.

This world just won't leave me alone sometimes - it's hard to describe, but I think you know what I'm saying.

Tonight, we have the trick-or-treaters coming over to the house, and they're darling, there's a bunch of little kids dressed up in "Scream" masks and all that stuff - and that's golden.

I wish the world could be that way "most of the time" - but it's not. There's some very real stuff out there, that we need to deal with.

Well, that's my dose of reality for the day. Sorry to tweak your beak. Anyone who lives like I do, has seen this, and knows it's real.

I try to make my positive contribution to society, I really do. It's hard sometimes, amidst all the BS that's going on in this world.

Tonight, is good. We've got a bunch of little kids coming over , that don't know anything about this stuff.

And God Bless Them, and I hope they never have to find out about it.

That's all I have. 'Later.

I'm shocked. The individual who wrote it is a Libertarian, not a Neocon Republican. You guys have done little else except destroy freedom in the name of saving it. You're clueless. You can't even tell me what the original intent of the Constitution was - why we're a Republic instead of a Democracy - and why our government was formed in an attempt to protect inalienable individual rights under Natural Law.

And that's the reason we're in so much trouble, because you guys just keep growing the government. You're just like the liberals - the only difference is that, usually, you grow it slower than the Democrats. But here comes Bush and BAM! We've got super growth! THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS NO CREDIBILITY ANYMORE AS THE PARTY OF SMALL GOVERNMENT. To even pretend that is their goal is laughable.

I hope it will too - but not in name only - which is what we're headed for. What good is the survival of America if we become a fascist/socialist state in the process???? What I want to see is an America that returns to her roots - back to the original intent of the Constitution.

We will have another Depression. The business cycles are inevitable, and government involvement makes them much more severe. The long wave cycles were running at 60 years. They've used central banking and fiat currency - which is now used worldwide - to create the illusion of more prosperity(there's a difference between money and real wealth), but, eventually, there will be a reckoning:

http://www.ruwart.com/Healing/chap9.html

__________________
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

I know exactly what you're saying. There's just more of a burden for the people who "get it". Sometimes I do get depressed. Look, the way our foreign policy is going, World War 3 is virtually inevitable. And a WW3 with WMD's will leave this world devastated.

I see the Muslims making big troubles in Europe, which will then create more fear in the sheep over here, which will lead to more Republicans eventually being elected, who will then use what they've created as an excuse to say "We need more forceful action." ...which will kill more innocent people in the Middle East and incite more of the territorial jihadists to hate us and focus on us. It's a never ending cycle.

Here's what the President should have done after 9/11, and the option is still open:

http://www.webcom.com/beacon/bulletin-020105.html

__________________
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

Interesting. Very interesting article. In response to the last question though ("what's to lose") - the short answer is, Oil.

As far as I can tell, that's the only reason we're in bed with those folks in the first place. If it weren't for the oil, well..... hmm....

I like the idea of "neutrality" though - that's something that deserves careful consideration, even outside the context of the article. So far, the US has been anything "but" neutral, however the world has changed, and it might be a good time to revisit that concept.

No one likes an imperialistic giant to take control. We're seeing the results of that kind of attitude now - all over the world - in places as diverse as Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

I don't know if you're following that thing down in Mexico - it seems to be centered in Oaxaca right now - the conservative press is citing "anarchists and students", but when I look at the sea of faces, I don't see too many of those - I see a bunch of ordinary middle-age moms, distributing leaflets and so on.

It seems to me, that "someone" needs to get a heads-up on the way this thing is going, world-wide. Given another ten years of "stay the course", we'll be the devil in everyone's eyes. We're even in danger of pissing off our allies over in Europe, and that would be truly devastating.

It seems to me, that it might be a good time for the US to get off its high horse for a while. Just kick back, be subtle, and restructure our national interests. "Walk softly, and carry a big stick" - it's just that we're not doing too well on the "walk softly" part lately.

The "big stick", we have. I don't think that's a problem. We'll wake up, should anything occur. However, there are those who believe in using "a bunch of little sticks, all the time" - and that, annoys people. That, if allowed to go on, will eventually reflect upon our entire national interest.

I'm about to trip over to Europe, probably in a month or so, and I'll definitely be checking out the pulse over there. Based on e-mails and so on, it seems like "not much" has changed, however there is a strange undercurrent in the sentiment, that I can't quite grasp yet, and I'm hoping first-hand interaction will help me get a clue.

If Europe goes the way of much of the rest of the world, we're going to be in big, BIG trouble. I'm talkin' 40 years down the road maybe - probably nothing significant will happen in my lifetime - but longer term, I suspect the Europeans may discover that they have interests that are somewhat different from ours. And in that case, the US will be left in "insular" mode - with perhaps a Northern neighbor who's more or less on our side, but a Southern neighbor who's laughing in our face and "could" align with the likes of Hugo Chavez.

Yep, these are "interesting" times all right.

Well, anyway, it's not worth getting depressed over. My son is the only thing that really matters to me. I want to teach him how to hunt and fish, and the rest is up to him, and his generation.

I can't do "everything". I wish I could. If I were in charge, boy, this would be a different world.

But I'm not. I'm content to spend time with my seven-month-old son. Every moment is precious, in that regard. My mom doesn't even understand that (strangely enough) - she's 83 years old and still going strong, walks a couple of miles every day, that kind of thing.

Somehow, my "exercise" lately has been, in trying to find a voice. I don't have the knowledge to deal with many things "directly", but I do have a lot of ideas that I've been trying to communicate to the people who can make a difference. Today, that's a piece of cake (with e-mail and all that) - yesterday, it might have been a little more difficult (via snail-mail or whatever).

This is a rapidly changing world. And frankly, I feel the need to keep up. I just got a Sprint Broadband thing, that allows me to e-mail and browse from anywhere in the world, in real-time. That kind of thing, is golden. That's a real powerful tool. The cell phones help, but when they go down there's a backup - that kind of thing. Text messages sometimes work when voice doesn't, and if you get close to any Starbuck's (of which there are thousands), you've got an instant T-Mobile hot link.

Later on today, I might try my new toy from the neighborhood Starbuck's, just to make sure it works. So, at least, I can keep in touch with y'all.

Cheers!