Sunday, July 31, 2011

The Mighty Aquarian Presents: Coming Attractions

(What can I say? I love the movies. And just making a movie reference in the title was something I just COULD NOT resist.)

As of the beginning of the month I am now working a second job. This is great news, as I can now start keeping up with my living expenses and started paying off some of my bills. But this does not leave a lot of time to do other things. Despite my goal of trying to make at least one post a day, there may be times when posts my be a more sporadic.

This does not mean I have nothing in the works. Quite the contrary. I have a number of posts that I am working on. One thing in particular will be something I am working on over on my Squidoo & Hubpages entitled "10 Reasons Sarah Palin Scares Me" The post is VERY long, and is taking me longer to write & research than I thought, and my new lack of free time not helping matters. As I write a section, I will be posting it here.

Not everything will be all serious. There will also be more of my poetry, and maybe a short story or two in the coming months as well.

So, to all, hang in there. TTFN. Be well. Live long and prosper. Till we meet again. Namaste.

Friday, July 29, 2011

A Moment of Wisdom: Quotes from Gandhi

With all the craziness going on in the world, and as it seems her in the good ol' USA especially, I felt a need for reason and sanity. I have always admired Mahatma Gandhi, for his non-violent approach, his reason, and his wisdom. And lord knows we are in desperate need of that now. Here are some of my favorite and, I feel, very time-appropriate quotes.

Action expresses priorities.

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.

Be the change that you want to see in the world.

Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

The Non-Dreamer's Poem

False alarms and
Good luck charms
Don’t mean that much
To me
In this world of make believe
The real is what you see

Thursday, July 07, 2011

The New Face of the Teaparty

On July 5, Mail Online posted an article about David Duke contemplating a run for the Republican nomination for President. Like most of the contenders in that race, he is truly delusional that he even has a chance. Hell, he can't even run. Did he forget that he was convicted of tax charges and mail fraud in 2005? Or is he conveniently leaving that fact out when courting the Tea Party voters who may not even remember or know about his inability to run.

In 1990 David Duke came to speak at our university. He was invited by the school's Young Republicans. When there was a major outcry over his appearance, they just couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. And even though an overwhelming majority of the student body demanded they find another speaker, (this was Louisiana, there was no shortage of Republicans to choose from), they stood by there decision.

The students government put together their own event to take place at the same time as Duke's speech, a tolerance rally. There were a number speakers that represented diversity in gender, ethnicity, religion, and even sexual orientation., and the speeches were about overcoming prejudices. It was standing room only for those who were lucky enough to get in.

The next day in the paper there spoke about Duke's speech. He referred to out rally as a protest, which I found amusing since he was barely mentioned at all. The other interesting point they made was that the audience that attended were all older members of the community.

I noticed at the time that his handlers always tried to play down his past. But everyone knew his time in the KKK and that he is a holocaust denier. We knew that then, and we haven't forgotten now.

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Emotions, Justice, and a Little Girl

Today on FaceBook I was invited to "attend" A day of silence/support for Caylee Anthony on her birthday. I accepted and will do so not just for Caylee, but for all the other children that have been victims as well.

I have read many people today say that justice was not served today, that our judicial system is broken. These are emotional statements, and I completely understand the emotion behind them. I understand how it fuels them. I understand and feel as well the outrage of the violent loss of a life barely begun. But there is a time and place for emotional response, and the justice system is NOT that place.

I will be the first person to tell you that our justice system is not perfect. Nor can it be. It was created by imperfect beings. (I think even atheist would agree that as a species, we are far from perfect.) NO SYSTEM OF JUSTICE CREATED BY MAN WILL BE 100%! Our founding fathers knew this to be true, and in knowing this set out to not make a perfect system, but the best one that could exist. They created a system that put the emphasis on protecting the innocent over punishing the guilty. The whole basis of the system is, "innocent until proven guilty." The burden of that proof lies with the prosecution, not the defense, and must be done beyond the shadow of a doubt. Everyone has a right to legal representation, and to be tried before a jury of your peers.

I do not envy the prosecution team in this trial. From the last sighting of Caylee to the police being called to investigate, there was a 30 day gap. One month is a long time when attempting to secure indisputable evidence. It's even less help when her remains were not found for 6 months, and then after whether & animals had taken their toll. Yet with what they had to go on, the DA's Office put together a better case than anyone could have hoped for, and for that I admire them greatly. It was to the point, concise, logical and compelling. What they could not make it was iron clad, which is what it needed to be.

I do not envy the jury that served on this trial. The rules of deciding a verdict are set in stone. They must look at all the evidence from both sides, then ask themselves one question, "does it prove beyond a shadow of a doubt they did it?" It is a question that is based on facts and the facts only. There is no place for emotions & gut feelings. It would seem simple enough, but those jurors are mere morals. Though it may not have been the popular decision, it was the one they needed to make according to the laws of the land.

As a people, we desire fairness in life.
A 2 year old girl is no longer with us, and the person responsible must be appropriately punished. But the world doesn't always work the way we want. Finding Casey guilty today would serve more to feed our sense of an eye for an eye.