Thursday, March 03, 2016

Thursday Thirteen

1. Too many people get their knickers twisted over absolutely nothing.  But then again, too many people are uninvolved and doing things from an emotional and not a rational thinking process.

2. Case in point: Donald Trump. Here's an interesting blog post about someone who went to see Mr. Trump in Radford, VA on Monday. After seeing him up close and personal, she no longer supports him. She wrote, "the hatred, anger, racism, arrogance, sexist man that I witnessed made me feel like I had front row seats to Jerry Springer!!" This person used her noggin.

3. When I went to the vote in the Super Tuesday primary, I did not like that I had to go to one side or the other and pick out whether I was a Republican or a Democrat. Why couldn't all the names be on one sheet of paper so you simply went and voted for whomever you want? As it was, I ended up standing beside a distant and very Republican cousin while I stood in the short line for Democrat votes. I don't mind saying I'm a Democrat - it's no secret - but really, is it anybody's business but my own, unless I choose to share? (I live in a Republican area. About 30 percent of my county's residents vote Democrat in presidential elections.)

4. I believe in privacy even though I write a blog and am on Facebook. This is information I choose to share. Does the U.S. Constitution guarantee a right to privacy? Not really, but the courts since the early 20th century have construed it as such. So what would a different court think as we march toward a Fascist (and third-world) America? Would Apple have no reason to deny the government access to its codes? Would they be able to spy on your phone? Put little doohickeys on your head to read your thoughts? Will 1984 prove even more prophetic than it already has?

5. Virginia now wants to censor school books. The Senate this week agreed to allow schools to ban books if parents object. I thought parents always had that right, anyway. The kid was just assigned another book. This  bill "would make Virginia the first state in the nation to require K-to-12 teachers to notify parents of classroom materials with “sexually explicit content." Of course, "sexually explicit" isn't defined. So would a woman breast-feeding be a problem? A girl or a boy undressing to go to bed? Where does this end? Next they'll be banning Harry Potter because it encourages make believe.

6. In 2007, 2,000 Hong Kong residents tried to ban the Bible when "they called on a Chinese decency commission to restrict the Bible to adults only because it contains passages that seem to give the okay to incest, rape, adultery and a father offering his daughters to strangers for sexual gratification." How 'bout them apples, eh?

7. Locally, citizens lost their fight to keep two historic structures from being moved from where they'd stood for almost 200 years to a "historic structure designation area." The structures were slave quarters and an old kitchen. The manor house of this plantation, which belonged to a Revolutionary War hero and Virginia leader at one time, burned in the 1950s. History lost. (The structures were moved so a hill could be leveled and a shell building - a 100,000 metal structure with no tenant or purchaser yet - could be built.) Citizen outcry against moving the structures as well as building this monstrosity was huge, but money beats all, I guess.

8. I have been sick now since February 1. I have an upper respiratory thing. I have had laryngitis since February 10. I've had two rounds of antibiotics and I am still not well. Today my plan is to go back to bed after I write this and see if that helps.

9. Last night I went to sleep thinking about what I should be thinking about. I like to try to have some guidance for my dreams, but my cold medicine knocked me out before I found my thoughts. I slept fairly well, though.

10. We never really forget out pasts, do we? Even animals remember things, otherwise we'd have to retrain our dogs every day. But then the great historic context of the pasts of governments seem to flow over the mind like water over a dam. How can we forget what happened to bad governments in the past? Perhaps because we are not taught the realities of the rise and fall, and only see it from the perspective of those who manage to live through it. The dead don't write history.

11. Actually, I don't think most people comprehend what is going on around them now. They have no idea of the vastness of government or what it actually does or can do. All they see is the line on their paycheck that says "taxes" and react emotionally to hot-button issues. But governments can do great things. Build roads, offer police and fire protection, control pollution so that we aren't all drinking one another's pee. Hey, I like that last one, for sure. 

12. I include myself in that "most people." I have no idea of the vastness of government - I just know it is and that it is more than I care to think about. The military industrial complex in particular is not something I care to dwell on, being a pacifist. I recognize the need for a militia, though, because people are generally only as good as their base nature, and that nature tends to be one that fights and feuds.

13. If you support Donald Trump and have reasons other than "he's going to change the world," and "make America great again," and care to share, I'm happy to read them. I always want to understand what people are thinking. But so far no one has been able to give me a good reason to support him.

By the way, I don't think America needs to be made great again. I think America already is great. She's just a little winded from having been knocked around by some kind of ferocious internal virus for the last 30 years. Kind of like I feel today after having one for a month.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 437th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

7 comments:

  1. When I voted I felt like I was at a high school popularity contest. I was asked right away what party I was voting with for the whole room to hear. #6 is a good twist. I have found beta-glucan and massive C (tapering off) to be effective in fighting off infections. I don't go anywhere without them.

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  2. How can anyone NOT see all that in Trump? I knew that long before he threw his hat into the ring.

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  3. I am stumped about Trump followers too. I feel like I am living in a past life in Nazi Germany. Yes, there, I said it. Great post and I do hope you feel better soon! (I agree with what Colleen suggested to help fight the bug off too!) ~Lori~

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  4. I agree that it's nobody's business but your own how you vote, and you shouldn't be forced to announce it publicly by going to one side of the polling place or another. Number five makes me see red, and an interesting fact in number six. Sorry to hear you've been ill for the past month. As for number 11, it would help if schools brought back mandatory civics classes. It's scary how many people in this country can't even identify the vice president, or their governor or state senators.

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  5. I was told this past week by someone that I am close to that they plan to vote for Trump. I was stunned since they are quite educated. They told me that their take on his popularity is due to the fact that Trump does not support diversity and that many people are sick to death of diversity being shoved down their throats. That's all I am going to say about that issue... I do not support Trump because from what I have seen of him on the internet over the past months he is a pig when it comes to his attitude about women and completely unaccepting or even remotely able to listen to anyone else's point of view. He is a blustering fool with no concrete knowledge on any subject that would make him capable of running our country. Get well soon, Anita!

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  6. I never get into political talks, but I agree we shouldn't have to pick Republican or Democrat. What if I'm neither? What if I'm split on my candidates, some are one party and some are the other. I shouldn't not be able to vote for them because they didn't pick the same party I did (if that makes sense). I hope you are feeling better. I had a sinus infection for all of January and the first part of February. It was miserable! Get well soon!! :)

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  7. Enjoyable read :)
    I don't live in US but this trump thingy even reach my country...hope he won't president tho.

    Hope you get well soon

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