Description for the baby name Carlton, the origins of the name and its meaning…

Here’s a quote I’ve taped to my bathroom mirror and look at everyday.

Crazy Wisdom is, of course, the opposite of conventional wisdom. It is wisdom that deliberately swims against the current in order to being swept along in the numbing wake of bourgeois compromise, wisdom that flouts taboos in order to undermine their power; wisdom that evolves when one, while refusing to avert one’s gaze from the sorrows and injustices of the world, insists on joy in spite of everything; wisdom that embraces risk and eschews security, wisdom that turns the tables on neurosis by lampooning it, the wisdom of those who neither seek authority nor willingly submit to it.

“In Defiance of Gravity”, Tom Robbins

Dude, You Rock!

I am not an American, I am Belgian, but I really feel alike.

In response to a recent discussion with friends on the democratic situation in the US and Europe, I rewrote the Miranda Warning, and I guess it pretty much applies to what you have written.

MIRANDA WARNING BIS

You have the right to remain
silent.

Anything you say or won’t say
can and will be used against you
in a court of law.

You have the right to speak to anyone
and everything

and to have an attorney present
during any questioning.

If you cannot
afford an answer

one will be provided for you
at government expense.

Somehow people have to be reassured that they CAN make a difference, that this thing we call democracy or this thing we call society (or capitalism, or communism, or anti-globalism, or…) is simply “us doing what we do”. These are not just abstract nouns referring to some abstract and totally unhuman systems.

Using these terms has turned into a lame excuse to convince ourselves that we can’t really make a difference.

Has it really come that far that we pay the government to provide us all the answers to all our questions in our lives? Do we really feel there has to be an attorney present at our questioning aka during the challenges we meet in life?

Hell no. We’re damn smart people. And it’s not because some sports giant has taken some kind of copyright on these words that we shouldn’t adopt the following line as our personal motto.

JUST DO IT.

Keep up the Big Damn Good writing.

2. Years ago Devo observed:

“Freedom of choice
Is what you got
Freedom from choice
Is what you want”

The ancient Egyptians were around for thousands of years… but eventually came tumbling down. So have the rest. We’ve been around for 200 and think we’re invincible. We’ve come into a lot of power while we’re still young and dumb. Which means people like Georgie Porgie Bush come into a lot of power and they’re stupidity can be devastating.

I agree this is a 1984 society, but I doubt it’s the end of the world. Things will probably keep going down this tunnel for decades. At some point there may be a revolt. Maybe will blow ourselves up and a 1000 years from now they’ll try to figure out what happened.

In summary: Don’t get too uppity

Aside from that, the only real solution is the same one as for Wal-Mart. If you don’t like it, don’t shop there. Don’t ask government to fix it. It can’t. Voting isn’t going to change anything. Both parties have made a practice of expanding government with no end in sight. It seems like the only solution is to stop shopping at Uncle Sam’s. Don’t work for him, don’t give him money you don’t owe him, avoid him as much as possible. If enough people stop depending on him and start stigmatizing him, he won’t be able to keep expanding. It’s when people keep asking government to solve all their problems that government has an opportunity to expand.

It took me getting shocked into actually listening, I guess. You mean the government doesn’t always have my best interest in mind? We’re dealing with attacks on several fronts:

The surveilance actions getting passed off as being for “Homeland Security.”

The “Nanny-State” laws being proposed, passed, and only later contested that circumvent the first amendment by making free expression only PARTIALLY illegal. Because the government is here to PROTECT you from yourself, you see.

The attacks on the neutrality and fairness of what may be the greatest form of free, unfettered expression and distribution of free expression in human history, the Internet.

Yet people quietly sit it all out and quietly accept the claims of what these bills are SUPPOSED to do, without thinking through the ultimate consequences of these constant restrictions on our freedom and rights. With few exceptions, these things pass without even being mentioned by the media. Even those “in the know” get blindsided by these little erosions of our basic liberties.

I hope I won’t end up retiring in a world turned pablum, watched by Big Brother as I nurse my Cassandra complex.

I did end up getting a viewpoint article published in the local paper, and I was surprised to find people read it. So maybe not all is lost. And I’ve been throwing my effort (time, attention, and money) to those running for office who claim to oppose this type of legislation.

So maybe there’s some hope. Maybe not of the citizenship of the United States shaking themselves out of comfortable complacency (I know I’ve still got a comfortable complacency in several other areas of my life, and I don’t know how to summon the energy to fight on so many fronts). But at least we can get one little victory at a time and do our best to publicize that it is a victory of common sense.

I just finished conducting a 2 and 1/2 day Continuing Ed. Seminar, something I do on a monthly basis.
Attendance ranges from 40 to 100 people per session. All students are fairly well educated adults,most with college degrees.
***
At least once each session, I ask the group if they are concerned in any way about the future, not to mention the present, of information gathering done by the Feds, i.e., plans for DNA Registry, individual’s medical records contained on a microchip, phone tapping, etc.
To my surprise and dismay, the vast majority-nearly 95%,I’d say-show NO CONCERN whatsoever.
***
Then I ask “Do you trust the government to keep your information private, away from prying eyes, hidden from public view in a lock box owned by Al Gore?(okay, I never mention Al Gore).
Nearly 100% say they do NOT trust the government to safeguard this info.
***
Okay.
I let them chew (and stew) about that for a few minutes.
***
Later I ask if any have read the USA Partriot Act and if so, do they consider it unconstituional in any way, shape or form.
Most of course have not read it and show little, if any concern about the erosion of our rights contained in this act.
***
The overiding theme of audience reaction to my queries:
1) I have nothing to worry about because I’ve done nothing wrong ( as mentioned in your Rant )
AND
2) The info is out there anyway and anyone can get to it, so what’s the big deal?
AND, sadly…
3) Complete and utter apathy.

The exception to the rule: Senior Citizens.
When they see where I’m going with my questions, they nod their heads.
They read.
They are aware.
They “get it”.
Maybe they’ll be our saving grace.

Lastly, I say to the audience, paraphrasing a wise politico from the past, ” The people should NEVER fear their government. The government should fear the people.”

I hope some of it gets through.
In the meantime…
Thank God for the “old folks” who “get it”.

Kevin Allen
Tulsa, OK

Government is finally stripping away privacy rights from the general public that were taken away from licensed professionals years ago. Want to practice law or sell securities? Fingerprints and an extremely intrusive background check are required.

How about practicing medicine or being a dentist? Your timely payments of alimony and child support via the nanny state are more important to maintaining your license than professional skills.

The power of the government to grant and withhold licenses has obliterated privacy rights. Fitness to be a professional is determined by a government bureaucrat based on criteria that has absolutely nothing to do with skills.

With respect to the general public, the government is starting to do the same for driver’s, fishing, and hunting licenses. Forgot to mail that alimony check? Better do it if you want the ‘privilege’ of driving.

However, the decline of privacy rights in the private sector is even scarier. Big-box retailers, such as Wal-Mart, are now testing facial recognition software. Not only does Wal-Mart know if you buy condoms and a carton of cigarettes every Thursday between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. with your credit card, it will be able to identify you when you pay cash and present no identification during the purchase.

Yet the masses don’t care. Most would surrender all privacy rights in a heartbeat just for 15 minutes of fame on a ‘reality’ TV show or a sob session with Oprah.

-Mike

Stirring letter.

I am one week into your Gary Halbert Copywriters program, so I moving ahead.

I have already written out 4 of your letters by hand, and and adapting your Nickle Letter for my home security, fire alarm and security camera business.

But… I really appreciate your e-mail blogs for the rest of the story of politics.

Thanks…

Mark Keeney