[OT] [Long] [Inflammatory] Re: [Coco] Jingo - Jango - Mars

[Gene Heskett]

On Thursday 15 January 2004 14:18, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote:
>At 09:30 AM 1/15/04 -0500, James C. Hrubik, Sr. wrote:
>>There's nothing wrong with looking at the world through clear
>> lenses. I live in a country where I still have far more freedom
>> and "goodies" than I could have anywhere else in the world.
>
>As one who is slowly working on emigrating to the Netherlands, I'll
> say that where the US has advantages for you, it also has some
> disadvantages serious enough for me to leave it.
>
>One disadvantage is its 150-year-long, ongoing movement toward
> unbalanced, aggressive, and zealous capitalist theocracy. This was
> set in motion by the constitution's property guarantees -- neutral
> in themselves -- but advanced beginning with the granting of
> corporate personhood in the 19th century. From there, the country
> has careened ever further away from creating a meaningful and rich
> culture toward feeding a rapacious, consumptive beast that wants a
> worldwide Pax Americana in the guise of Coca-Colonization.
>
>Do we have more freedom in the US? It only depends on how you define
> your freedoms, and how those definitions are implemented. Saying
> the US meets the standards of its own US constitutional freedom
> (even if that's true, which it isn't) just becomes tautological.
>
>Do people want to come to the US to better themselves? Certainly --
> but the whole world is not knocking at our door, however US
> propagandists might like to present that. Developed countries
> worldwide are flooded with immigrants. America is iconic, yet there
> is much disappointment facing those who arrive ... especially as
> the country fills up and the doors are closed.
>
>In any case, as an artist who has watched generations of great
> American artists have to leave this country to survive, I don't
> believe the US has come close to meeting its potential in what is
> the ultimate realm of humanity, i.e., society and culture, and has
> dug an ultimately fatal constitutional hole in this regard. While
> putting forth claims to excellence, we work to encourage mediocrity
> or failure -- the former by decrying differences and meeting
> imagination with anti-American labels, the latter by refusing to
> acknowledge the worth of that which does not operate in the
> commercial realm. Meaning is increasingly measured in terms of
> coin.
>
>Staggering as it may seem to say out loud, I am as free to be a
> successful composer here as I might be in a dictatorship. The
> difference? There my work would be censored by state machinery and
> have to conform to its point of view. Here it is censored by the
> corporate machinery and has to conform to its point of view (and
> I'm happy to present evidence if you really want it, but it would
> clog this list!).

I'm sure it would, which is why folks like Janice Ian are actually 
doing quite well self-publishing.

>It is not possible to meet one's potential as an artist in the US
> because of the nature of art (in which I include the visual arts,
> music, dance, etc. -- all of what makes life worth living) and its
> natural challenge to mass-market measurement. So I will 'escape' to
> a place where corporate censorship is held in check by the state
> and human culture is encouraged alongside what is still one of the
> strongest capitalist traditions in the world. That, to me, is more
> freedom, not less -- and those are the 'clear lenses' through which
> I look at the world.
>
>Dennis

Humm, I've always figured that at some point, the pendulum will swing 
the other way, Dennis.  That things will be restored to a better 
balance.  However, getting me started on the chinese thing wouldn't 
be very entertaining.  Lets just say that our labor force, with the 
government whole-heartedly colluding in the effort, has priced itself 
out of a job in the global market and then leave you to come to the 
only obvious conclusion.

For instance, in the Netherlands, if you find some drug-addled person 
in your bathroom at 3Am, rifleing the medicine cabinet for another 
hit of oxicontin, and (s)he comes at you with a lethal weapon when 
(s)he see's (s)he has been discovered, can you then pull out your 
(optionally concealed carry permitted) 38 and blow them away?

Its a question that should be asked of authoritative people, before 
jumping ship.

Here, in much of this great country, your chances of being prosecuted 
are pretty slim because your home IS YOUR CASTLE and can be defended 
by whatever means is appropriate and available.  However, they seem 
to have a strange definition of appropriate in some localities. :(

However, I'm on less stable ground if I use that 38 to break up the 
proceedings and render under control till the fuzz gets there, the 
perp who was sticking a gun in the face of the local GoMart 
counterperson when I walked in.  But, this being a smaller town, and 
most of them I rather like, so I'd probably do it anyway.  In any 
event, the first cracked cap, which won't be mine, suspends *all* the 
rules.  Then you automaticly do the right thing and sort it out 
later.

The feds may want to take our guns, but each year, another state or 3 
climbs onto the "must issue" bandwagon, where a concealed carry 
permit *must* be issued by the local authorities regardless of their 
personal political beliefs on the subject, if the requester isn't a 
known felon, and can demonstrate a knowledge of the appropriate laws, 
and can handle the gun safely, including shooting an acceptable 
target at the range.  Its not cheap, cost me about $150 total, and 
has to be renewed every 5 years.  But its there, confirming my second 
amendment rights.  The last time I paid any attention, I think there 
were 35 states on that list with Ohio, Missouri and Colorado comeing 
onboard this year.  Not includeing of course the Federal Republic of 
New York, or the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia.  I feel a bit sorry 
for Arnold, he has one heck of a no-win mess on his hands.

Its a known fact that violent crime goes down when people go armed.  
Its doesn't stop it mind you, because theres always somebody willing 
to dispose of the body when a marriage goes in the toilet.  But armed 
robbery stats generally go down to 1/4 of their former levels within 
a short time.  Look at Dade County FL, its almost a civilized place 
to live after 10+ years of their laws on guns took effect.
And look at the Aussies, they took their guns away by edict 3 years 
ago, and violent crime is up something like 600%.

But nobody in Sarah Brady's camp wants to hear those sorts of 
statistics, preferring to call them lies.  Yeah, well its because 
they can't tell the difference between a lie and the truth anyway.  
Its a birth defect I think.

Sorry Dennis, I know this is your list, but I felt the need to vent 
just as you do.  Please don't take it personal, I'm just trying to 
put some balance into the scene in favor of the hometown folks.

-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap,
ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
99.22% setiathome rank, not too shabby for a WV hillbilly
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Copyright 2004 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.