As the ghostly apparition of Obi Wan tried to explain to young Luke Skywalker, truth is relevant. It all depends on your point of view. We have all heard the old saying “perception is reality” and unfortunately too many people treat that as a truism. While we all tend to treat our experiences and conscience as our guides for believing what is true and what is not, let us all agree that there has to be some objective point where we can say that one thing is true and another is false.

Not so simple you say, and of course you would be correct. So many truths are not so black and white. All too often decisions and beliefs run into the gray area, that dark, nebulous region we know as emotions. We can’t bring ourselves to move outside that area of comfort that makes us so sure of our convictions and perceptions of truth. If there is anything I’ve learned in my time on this earth, people do not want to admit they are ignorant of anything much less that they could possibly be wrong about something. Especially something they think they know something about or something that represents what they perceive to be incorruptible. Like our government for example.

Have you ever heard of NSPD /51 HSPD 20? Take a look at this link and then consider how W and the neocons could use this to to their advantage. What would happen if another 9/11 type event occurred and say W and his boyz blamed it on Iran? My guess, that place would look like Iraq in a short period of time and any of us truthhounds would swiftly be put away in the detention camps for non-patriots and enemy sympathizers.

What NSPD/51 HSPD 20 means is that anytime the President feels like the country has suffered a catastrophic emergency. They didn’t have it place on 9/11 but he is going to make sure that little detail is not overlooked the next time. I call again on you to take action and write to your representatives asking them to explain why they have allowed such a blatant path for W and his neoconvicts to effectively suspend the constitution and take over.

We the People will never believe this because their reality would never allow for a corrupt government. They would rather sit idly by thinking this will never happen to me that reach outside that sphere of their reality to consider that some people are not guided by the same moral fabrics most of us live by.

Now we are told by our fearless speaker Ms Pelosi that impeaching Bush “isn’t worth it”. Excuse me but the welfare of our country is damn well worth it regardless of what she thinks. Another perception problem is that we thought we threw the bums out last November only to find out that the dumbocrats are just as incompetent. We are not going to clear this up until we vote all the bums out or change our system. This great country was formed by revolution and I perceive that its time for another. Take back our country, support the national initiative.

Peace!

The Sage

I’ve been reminded lately that the human body needs rest and relaxation in order to cope with the stresses and pressures of modern living. Back in the old days when Man (gender neutral ladies) had to work every day to survive they still had down times after dark, during rain or bad weather to take a load off, sleep late or have some time with family and friends. Me and the missus have found ourselves more married to the JOB than each other. Working together has its own separate stresses involved, but the main downside is that we get so wrapped up in work, we forget about taking it easy and relieving those stresses. Even our “vacations” turn out to be stressing -  going through airports, driving in strange cities, strange hotel rooms with uncomfortable beds and the whatever that comes with all that.

Even on weekends we always seem to have some project, housekeeping or gardening that keeps us going until suddenly its Monday morning again. Well the missus finally had enough and went out and bought us a tent camper. I have never lost my love of the outdoors, but it always seemed such a hassle to drag out the tent and other camping supplies and then work like a dog to setup all the tent, tarps and kitchen. Now we have this handy tent on wheels that most people refer to as a Pop-up.  Not the same as one of those huge, expensive motor homes or 50 foot campers, but a small trailer that you’re  able to move around by hand (if you’re not on a big hill mind you) and put a bunch of your camping stuff in all the little compartments.

My wife was so excited to go through all the drawers and cabinets since the couple we bought it from left much of their camping stuff inside. Ah the smores maker, a fondue set, popcorn popper, toaster oven and, wait a minute. Fondue set?  That ain’t campin’.  I been campin’ 40 some years and not once did any of the old timers bring out a fondue set. As a matter of fact we didn’t even have s’mores. Back in the day, a big old iron pot, a huge blue coffee pot, 3 or 4 iron skillets, a tarp, some rope and groceries was all we used to take.

Then we got us one a them white gas, pump-up coleman stoves AND a lantern! Next was the canvas tent and later nylon varieties. Then when propane became widely available, a propane stove and lantern tree and heater and fish cooker and on and on was what you needed. Let’s face it, even campin’ ain’t campin’ no more. The modern world has invaded a once sacred practice of the old school, ain’t nuthin’ should be easy school.

But wait a minute I came up here to relax. I actually had the camper setup in 15 minutes and that was after a major correction born from unfamiliarity with our newly obtained piece of modern technology. In 15 minutes it was open, beds in place, power and water connected, air conditioner going, awning setup and I was barely sweating. That was easy.

We actually played Scrabble last night, I haven’t played Scrabble in 30 years or more. As I write we sit in the comfort of a reclining lawn chair with my laptop on, connected to the wireless Internet offered by the boat dock across the cove (for a fee of course), hoping my blackberry doesn’t go off , oh wait did I forget that thing? Drat, oh well I guess they can’t call me

Back to the point of relaxation, I actually slept a total of 18 of the last 24 hours. I’m still drinking coffee at 10:20am and don’t have to worry about mowing the yard.  I have only in a few weak moments even thought about work. I feel like a new person after one of these little getaways. So take it from someone that just recently re-discovered how to relax, buy yourself a popup and hit the road. Remember Monday will come anyway so do yourself a favor and take a break. Go AWAY, do not stay home or those pressures will never fully disappear. Camping is a reasonably inexpensive distraction that even with a tent can be easy and relaxing at a nearby State park or private campgrounds. Nice clear campspots, clean bath houses, electricity and water at the campsite affords almost all the comforts of home at a nominal fee. Even if you like the primitive, work-at-it style camping, most parks have that available as well.
One word of caution, make sure your chosen campground isn’t full by calling ahead or making reservations where able. It can be frustrating to get there only to find there is no availability. You can meet new friends or take along some old ones. The food always tastes better on a camping trip and really thats the only thing you even need to worry about.  What and when for the next meal?  And oh yeah, don’t forget to forget the blackberry.
Peace!
The Sage

One of my favorite pet peeves is these morons that we continue to allow to drive on our roads. Since I do lots & lots of miles me and the missus get to see all kinds of meatheads. While Nashville isn’t the most crowded or populous and they generally are better drivers than other places like Atlanta, drivers still fall into the same basic categories.

• Speed demon & lane hoppers – these pukes are the most contemptuous and the most dangerous. With total disregard for speed limits or other people, they drive like total maniacs swerving in and out of lanes only to get two car lengths ahead of you.
• Young and ignorant – inexperienced drivers are more likely to be in the wrong lane or inattentive to what they are doing. They also fall into the distracted category.
• Old and frightened – Ok I know old people need to go get food, go to the doctor, visit friends, etc but do they have to do it during morning rush hour? Not only are they scared to death (and rightly so) but they are also old and obstinate and really don’t give a shit what we think.
• Racers/ NASCAR syndrome – these folks don’t necessarily fall into the speed demon category rather they are the ones that when you are cruising along at 74 mph on cruise control and you catch them and attempt to pass, they speed up. Absolutely irks the crap out of me. They are also the ones that don’t use cruise control at all because a real NASCAR racer doesn’t use cruise control. It also seems that they do it just to piss me off.
• Distracted – another particularly dangerous group that includes cell phone users, people that read while driving, PDA or blackberry typing, and I’ve even seen women who drive with their knee are talking on a cell phone AND putting on mascara. While their coordination is admirable, I resent them riskinh my life along with theirs
• Contemptuous – These assholes do things just to piss you off. They are the ones that pull out in front of you then take their sweat ass time getting up to speed. Or they get into the left lane and purposely speed up, slow down and tap their breaks and force you to come off the cruise control. These narcissistic assholes should be publicly flogged.

Sure we all pull a bonehead move every now and then but most of these jerks are so empowered by their anonymity that they act totally different in a car than who they really are. They figure you will never see them again, you don’t know who they are, you have no power to stop them and they can take out their pitiful inadequacies on you. Also a 2,000 lb vehicle or even worse a big old truck empowers a person with horsepower, freedom and for once a sense of control & independence.

Another reason that causes such behavior is the pressure of everyday life. People are late, they are in a hurry and have a hundred other things on their mind. At least thats what they tell themselves. Thats all bullshit, instead of thinking and planning out their days, they blame everyone else for their problems. They take their stupidity out on the rest of us.

I have an idea to solve this insane driver problem although it will never be accepted but you after you read this I think you might agree in principle. You know those paint ball guns that are popular for practicing killing each other for real instead of on video? Well if every time some asshole pulls a bonehead move, those around them tag their car with a paint ball. That way if they are a real asshole they will have plenty of paint splats on their car and the cops can write em up for being asshole drivers.

I know, I know, this requires honest evaluation of someone’s driving skills and there are those that would abuse the idea and blast innocent drivers. Then there are those that would probably use the real thing but you got to admit the satisfaction of blasting someone with paint balls after they cut you off in traffic would be close to sexual.

No real point to this story other than to bitch and moan. We all need to be more considerate of others on the road. Also, use your cruise control. Just think about it. If we all did exactly 70 or 75 and kept the cruise on, you would never catch up, pass or be cut off again. Of course this assumes that most people could be logical and consider such a concept. But as we all know, 75 to 80% of people in this world are just plain STUPID! So I guess you and I are doomed to put up with lunatic drivers.

Peace !!
The Sage

If you haven’t figured it out yet, We the People have been and are being deceived by the very people we  have entrusted to run our country. It is so unbelievable the magnitude of the lies and deception that we can’t force ourselves to even believe it. Carl Sagan said “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. The bamboozle has captured us. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

The administration and powers that be have used their power to manipulate mass media and convinced us all that we are under attack when they may very well be the ones who orchestrated the attacks that spawned this war in the first place. There is strong evidence to suggest our government was, if not involved, at least complacent in the events of September 11, 2001. Because of the power of these despots wield, We The People have not seen all the evidence and those dissenting voices are being ridiculed or otherwise coerced to silence.

Another famous person said: “Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” This person should know, the man that said this was Hermann Goering

The Bushovites and neocons are at least smart enough to learn from the masters of propaganda on how to drag a country down some insane path. So instead of Goering and Hitler we have Rove and Bush, wonderful. They have bamboozled us into thinking we were attacked by some shadowy terrorist organization that has resulted in our great country being bogged down in the sand covered Vietnam that is Iraq and Afghanistan. They have greatly miscalculated the response of the Iraqi and Afghan people, lamely believing that they would line up behind us because we are the righteous Americans. What unadulterated arrogance and stupidity.

The lesson they are apparently chose to ignore is that other nations will not long tolerate such lunacy and will unite to stop the madness. Do they not realize that many people in Europe and Asia are already drawing these comparisons. The Nazis found out what a determined group of allies can accomplish. How can we forget these basic lessons of history. The imbeciles running the show in Washington are too drunk with power to care. Don’t be deceived by the Dumocrats and Congress, they are just a culpable and liable as the Rebumblicans and the President.

I believe the only way to stop this madness is to take back our Government, after all it does belong to We The People. We the People should not idly stand by and watch the very fabric of our country disappear in this insane empirical dream of a few megalomaniacs. Take action, write or vote out your representatives, join the fight, our country is at stake.  PEACE!

The Sage

Let us assume for a moment that we actually did go to Iraq to take the battle to the terrorists, eliminate the WMD threat, and to free the Iraqi people from a brutal dictatorship. I know its a hard sell but bear with me for a minute. The question would still be a resounding WHY!?!?!?!?!

The Thousands Year War continues in the Middle East with much of the the same theological conflict, assassinations, and power struggles that have been going on since the beginning of time. Anyone not aware of this would be professing ignorance of the greatest historical documents ever assembled. I am of course talking about the Holy Bible. So our President who says he is a “devout Christian” has obviously not been paying attention, again. From Genesis to Revelations, the books are filled with violence, oppression, political aspirations, intrigue, you name it its in there. Not that I rely totally on the Bible as a historic fact, but I’m using something the neocons can’t dispute without blowing their cover.

Why would anyone think we can export our Western values and morals and harbor expectations that we could quickly pacify everyone with a Walmart in every ghetto? What kind of stooge would think that we could remove the only vestige of discipline (that would be Saddam) that the Iraqis have ever known and expect them all to line up for conversion to good old USA philosophy? Well obviously someone sold We the People on the concept and we bought it hook, line and sinker. Let it be known that I have never been nor will I ever be supportive of our country’s involvement in Iraq. Even Afghanistan though equally full of good intentions and ideals will result in the same quagmire. We are nothing short of occupiers and that will continue to fester and breed contempt. Since W was playing hooky from the Guard and obviously didn’t hang with any military types, the lessons of Vietnam are lost on him and his boyz.

The argument that we stay and win is lunacy. If you expect “Victory” to be when they all line up in the new downtown Walmart, forget it, it ain’t gonna happen. Not in our lifetimes anyway. Let’s face it, the various factions of Islam are going to continue to be at war with each other just like they have been for all of recorded history. Only the various dynasties and dictatorships of Egypt, Rome and the Ottomans have been able to brutally force a brittle and fragile truce. Even now the demographics of a country provide majority populations as with Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Shia). I will leave it to you to compare the methodology that either of these countries now employ to keep the peace. Throw their mutual admiration for the Israelis into the equation and you have a real mess.

Back to point in Iraq – Shia and Sunni are both Muslim people yet they fight over the most ridiculous reasons. Do you realize why they brutally kill, torture and abuse each other? It is akin to Baptist and Methodists killing each other because the differ over a few basic religious philosophies. Time Magazine has a really good summary piece I highly recommend for the uninformed. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1592849,00.html

The divisions in all major hotspots of that volatile area defy logic, cases in point include: Hamas vs Fatah in the Palestinian crisis and Lebanon’s situation with Hezbulah is no different. They can’t even decide amongst themselves so just like the well intentioned playground referee, we step in to help them settle it. You remember the playground referee don’t you? The guy who always interjected themselves into every conflict and everyone’s business. Don’t you remember, you didn’t like them did you? Well neither do the people of the middle east.

The moral of this story is simple. Just like the proverbial horse and water, we can’t force our beliefs, culture, and logic on people who have no conception of what we are even trying to give them. Even though we are lucky enough to live in a country where Walmarts aren’t always revered it just demonstrates the opulence and decadence we come to expect as “Americans”. In a place where you need to dodge gun battles to go get bread for your table, how can we expect them to even vaguely understand the rewards of our society. They don’t have the wealth of information, multimedia and propaganda that tell us how great we have it. Even if they did, it would probably be revolting to their version of morality.

We have to begin phased pullouts of Iraq immediately, to delay only means countless more precious young Americans will be sacrificed to the continued lunacy of this war. We have more important things to worry with at home to have delusions of nation building. What a bunch of arrogant clods We the People have elected to run our country. Take back our country, fire all the Liars!!

PEACE NOW!!

The Sage

Today I want to let you know about my favorite words. You will see them repeatedly in my posts and manuscripts so I just want you to get a feel for there contextual usage. All these definitions are in no particular order except the first and are my definitions except the bullet points which are pure unadulterated plagiarism and blatant paraphrasing of a Google define:xxxxx search.

1)WHY?!? – a rather difficult word to define but basically the term is a question that requires a response as to the rational or reason behind the stated concept or situation that sparked the question in the first place. The people I work with often make fun of me when we get into meetings and someone proposes some off the wall plan or idea. Its more the way its said than anything but imagine is a very sarcastic and emphatic whyyyyy? In other words, ‘what kind of a lame brained idea/topic/argument is that?’

2)Dangerous -
involving or causing danger or risk; liable to hurt or harm; “a dangerous criminal”; “a dangerous bridge”; “unemployment reached dangerous proportions”
causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm; “a dangerous operation”; “a grave situation”; “a grave illness”; “grievous bodily harm”; “a serious wound”; “a serious turn of events”; “a severe case of pneumonia”; “a life-threatening disease”
adj. . Involving or filled with danger; perilous.
. Being able or likely to do harm.
I often attribute dangerous to people that have power and the ability to inflict their will on us. These can range from street punks up to the President. A problem that exists today in a great deal of unexpected areas. Any child able to lift, point and pull the trigger can take your life in a heartbeat for no good reason. I am more worried about this happening than some “terrorist” event. However the loss of our freedom through the unscrupulous abuse of power that exists in Washington DC today is also a very real and apparent danger.

3)Intelligence or Smart – the opposite of Stupid. Having a brain that does something besides keep your ears apart. The ability to apply cognitive reasoning with mental acuity, accuracy and speed. Someone that can disagree in an articulate manner worthy of consideration. I don’t necessarily have to agree with someone that disagrees with me it is just difficult for me not to think that they lack information or have flawed logic

4)Stupid – Lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity. I would like to take some time on this one since stupid or a variation such as moron (pronounced moe-ron), imbecile (pronounced em-bi-sile), dickweed, idiot, jerkoff, egghead, clod, dumkof (ok I know its not spelled right but my ancestry is German not my vocabulary), dink, spud, or punk. I’m not to sympathetic to politically correctness, but I will try to refrain from using terms that could be associated with ethnic or racial groups. But that’s not a promise

Stupid can also be transitory or temporary since I will be the last to claim that I have not had my stupid moments. Everyone freezes or goofs in a given moment or circumstance that could portray a lack of mental acuity. However it is those individuals that consistently exhibit a total lack of intelligence, compassion, kindness or grace become by my definition, STUPID!! Other definitions:
dazed: in a state of mental numbness especially as resulting from shock; “he had a dazed expression on his face”; “lay semiconscious, stunned (or stupefied) by the blow”; “was stupid from fatigue”
a person who is not very bright; just your plain old can’t fix stupid, stupid; unintelligent: lacking intelligence
Stupidity is the quality or condition of being stupid, or lacking intelligence. The determination of who is stupid is difficult, despite attempts to measure intelligence (and thus stupidity) such as IQ tests. Mostly its just anyone I think is stupid since my intelligence is not in question

5)Ignorance – Lacking knowledge; without factual information; the condition of being uninformed or uneducated. Not to be confused with Stupid. Ignorance does not reflect ones intellectual faculties but simply states you don’t know. This is especially irritating when the person in question usually doesn’t know that they don’t know. Herein is where the overlap with stupid is conceived since I tend to get frustrated with someone who simply can’t admit that they don’t know. I also refer to this as the Engineers syndrome since engineers are notorious for not admitting they don’t have knowledge about EVERYTHING.

6)Knowledge – “ Having factual information; being cognizant of relevant happenings either through personally witnessing an event or assuming certain things to be true based on another’s account. This is a very Dangerous word as information assumed to be factual is not always true. This dilemma is at the crux of our problems today. Many of us assume that certain sources of news and information such as our National media and rely on them to present facts. However as we see all too often these days they are not all that trustworthy. Knowledge should not to be confused with Wisdom.

7)Wisdom – the skillful use of appropriate knowledge; knowing the difference between fact and fiction; a subjective mind set that is always debatable. Another nebulous term that I use to suggest a good idea; the ability to separate fact from fiction; and what my Dad always called ‘common sense’. Wisdom has a very relative scale. A homeless person is wise regarding how to make do on the street but has little wisdom towards maintaining employment or finances. So wisdom is very relevant to the subject of discussion.

8)Expert – The old joke goes that an ex is a has been and spurt is a drip under pressure. Most “experts” are con artists and oblivious to the facts that there are seldom any clean cut ideals or answers that are 100% correct. Most everything is relevant to an individual perspective. Not to say there aren’t people that know what they are talking about (like me for instance , I just think that anyone with advanced college degrees that have never done anything except teach aren’t always an expert. Don’t believe everyone’s claim to be or all those presented as Experts.

Well that wraps up Part One of my favorite words. There are several others that no doubt appear from time to time and I will make sure to define them as they occur
PEACE!
The Sage

I believe that we are at a crossroads of the American dream and that We The People are in danger of losing our freedoms. The democracy that our fore fathers dreamed of during the American revolution is grave danger of failing. We The People don’t run the country anymore, instead it is ruled by an elite class of politicians and bureaucrats that have through privilege and power created a closed world unattainable by We the People. A few individuals with iron will, dogged determination and resources $$$$ can achieve this status but only by selling their soul to the gods of power.

Lord Acton said “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Those men and women in power now are no exception. The temptations of privilege, the intoxication from power coupled with the pressures, hoop jumping and politics of our sadly deteriorated bureaucracy leaves little room for the needs of We The People.

I believe we need to get back to what our fore fathers intended which was the citizen politician, someone who had a real job and only went to Washington when needed. Which is why I ask: do they have to go to Washington anymore?

The advantages of technology today provides a logical alternative for routine business through telecommunications and computer links. This would result in a tremendous savings in travel expenses, and keeps our homegrown heroes away from the cesspool of corruption that is Washington DC. Our leadership should be here with us representing our needs instead of being pampered and privileged by lobbyists and special interests with fat wallets.

How do we get back our government? Do we expect that those privileged individuals running the US Government to change themselves. Why would we think they would volunteer to give up that good life of power and privilege? If you believe that then do I have a deal for you I believe the only solution requires We the People to raise the alarm and spread the word. We must raise awareness, educate voters and apply pressure to the elected representatives of We The People. I believe this is going to be more difficult than anyone imagined but if we are to take back our freedoms and ensure them for future generations then we must succeed.

I believe dark times may be upon us if the NeoCons succeed in creating their version of “Utopia”. I believe that we have been fed the biggest lie in recent history with the public account of 9/11. The are many reliable sources of FACTS that go ignored by big media. If you have not had exposure to the NeoCon threat and an absolutely excellent reference sight is WWW.WHATREALLYHAPPENED.COM. Michael Rivero’s sight is a gold mine of information that you don’t see on the network news.

I Believe if we don’t exercise or constitutional rights then We the People will loose those special freedoms that have already begun to slowly disappear. Take action, write your congressman, start a blog, vote for anyone other than the incumbent; push your representative for mandatory term limits; investigate the National Initiative for Democracy (www.nationalinitiative.us); but in the final analysis We The People must become more personally involved. I could go on and I will in future posts but for now lets keep it short and I hope interesting. As always, responsible comments and critiques are welcome.

Keep the Faith & PEACE
The Sage

After some time invested in brainstorming and researching, I make my tentative first step into the on-line world at large. While this blog doesn’t focus on a singular topic, it is generally intended to point out some of the more ridiculous lines of reasoning used by people who should know better.

As you might deduce from that statement, many of my initial posts will be centered on the outright lunacy going on in Washington D.C. these days. Other areas for exploration include information technology, security, stupid people, crazy drivers and even religion. You can assume that I am not politically correct but will try not to be too insensitive.

One of the first things I want to do is to start a little contest that will feed into one of my future stories. The first person that can correctly identify me will receive a free MP3 player. Of course those that have helped me with this are exempt. I know some of you techno nerds may take this as a challenge but it is not intended to be an insult to your abilities, just a little fun.

I invite any reasonable comments, suggestions or requests on the site and content, but reserve the right to ignore whoever I choose for whatever reason.

A few initial hints on my identity are fairly obvious: I live in the southern United States and I am a Mac user forced to live in a Windows world. Anyway, just wanted to get something out there for testing and first steps. Hope to here from you soon.

The Sage