The Gross National Debt

Friday, May 30, 2014

Because God told me too ... : A look at the human side of religions

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/apostasy-woman-in-sudan-sentenced-to-death-forced-to-give-birth-with-her-legs-chained-9451088.html

So this is not real uncommon, despite rational people WISHING it was incredibly rare.

My friends are of two camps on this:

• It is the fault of religion

• It is the fault of humans

MA, a declared atheist and someone I once shared a house with, is of the religion fault side.

“I don't buy it. If there were no such thing as religion, "apostasy" wouldn't exist,” she opined. When I said the word “apostasy” has no meaning outside religion, she came back with “Therefore religion caused this to happen. A 'religion' with no adherents is what most people call a myth. If there was no religion involved, this woman wouldn't be sentenced to death. Not for this particular crime anyway. So I do blame religion.”

Point of order Mr. Chairman. Women (and men) are treated the exact same way for the same thing without religion being involved.

Anyway...

TC, another college-daze bud who was closer than some blood kin, offered this: "When the tenets of a religion dictate certain consequences, the faith itself must bear some measure of responsibility. Of course, all decisions are inevitably a matter of choice, most of the time.”

VF, who once lived next door to me, worked with me and swapped kids every now and then with me, had this to say “To think 'religion' caused this to happen is like saying guns kill people or spoons make you fat.”

My thought? Religion is inert. Religion requires human action in order to become a motive force. Religion, by my definition, is different than God or a god. God is a force and can cause things to happen. Religion is a concept, an idea, a philosophy. It requires an outside force in order to affect anything.

Those like MA and to a lesser degree TC see religion as responsible. If that is the case, then how can you hold religion accountable? Accountability is the other side of the coin that is Responsibility.

I give you this example. I lived in the Rocky Mountains for a year. The roads through mountain passes had huge craters. This is where part of the mountain fell off and crushed the road. The road then had to be repaired.

How can you hold the mountain accountable for the damage? It cannot be done.

MA says religion cannot be separated from its adherents. As I understand this (I asked her and she said I got it right), she said the adherents define the religion and without adherents, the religion cannot exist.

I disagree in part. Adherents do define how a religion is seen; perception is not always reality. The ancient Druid religion exists; we have records of this. We do not know what they did. Ancient Aztec religions involving human sacrifice exist. We don’t know much about those either. Saying “they existed” is a probably more accurate way of putting it. However, existence in the past does not negate its existence. Saying a religion doesn’t exist because it no longer has adherents is to say the Civil War never took place, dinosaurs did not exist and Plato’s Cave doesn’t exist.

I give you this other example; a number of Science Fiction authors have created alien races with their own religions. Harry Turtledove’s Colonization series brings in an alien race with a religion. It’s fiction, but Turtledove also created a religion for the alien race. I’m pretty sure no one is an adherent to this religion.

MA posits: all religion is fiction. Extending this concept, the religion created by Mr. Turtledove for his alien race is just as valid as any human religion.

I say separate the religion from the followers. To some degree, even MA agrees: “A person committed the act. But there are still other causes involved.” She has more to say in the thread, which I link to below.

One thing we do agree on: Religion can be an excuse for atrocities.

Unfortunately, every religion I am aware of has been linked to atrocities of some sort, yet those acts were still committed by a human. No human action = no atrocity committed.

See the whole thread here and toss in your two cents if you like. Two rules: No profanity and do not insult others in the thread. Attack the ideas all you like.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

On meeting a legend

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Sitting down the tour bus with Richard Young, co-founder, vocals and guitarist for The Kentucky Headhunters, I was ready for a long interview and had plenty of questions to ask.

Didn't get to ask them.

Richard is well seasoned at the sit down and talk with reporters thing. Has to be. Having toured across the world, won grammies, earned a place as a Southern Rock Band legend and being the dad of Black Stone Cherry founder John Fred Young, he is no stranger to being interviewed.

To start with I thought the way he launched into the history of the KHH was part of a rote speech he'd given many times over. He pretty much covered everything I wanted to ask and spoke on some things I did not know to ask. I still think it was part rote, but I also have a different impression of it. His passion in telling story has not diminished over time. He may have told this story more times that he could count, but later on when my notebook closed and we shifted to other topics not for the interview and quite personal, his demeanor didn't change. The energy and passion remained.

We spoke to antiques, buying farms and guns. He showed the same interest in each topic, which he started. He talked of meeting rock legends and the friendships he's maintained through the years. He talked of the start of the band in 1968 and the shakeups it has gone through over the years. He talked of being a 15-year overnight success and playing with Hank Junior and rock and roll legend Johnny Johnson.

While the few minutes we took in the back of the tour bus will quickly be forgotten by Richard, I'm not going to forget. I hope Susan, my daughter, remembers this for years to come. Opportunities like that on Sunday night at the Cypress Grill at Lake Blackshear don't come around very often. Opportunities to see the great bands are also fast vanishing. So glad she and I got to share this experience.

Friday, May 23, 2014

The war you NEVER knew existed

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This not a war fought with firearms, knives, clubs or such. It is a war fought with words, vicious, cutting words and actions that can, have and will ruin people and careers. And no, you don't know about it.

You don't know, despite this war being played out in front of you daily. You have seen it, yet not recognized it. You have heard of it, yet not comprehended. You have read it, yet not understood.

This FB page can give you some idea of this war. More specifically a thread - Anyone wanna write “Things Print Journalists Will Never Understand about TV News?” - can really let you look into this one.

Among the more articulate comments is this from
Stephanie Lynn Sirois.

She offers:

Speaking as someone who has a range of experience in print, radio, tv journalism, I made up this list.  Print journalists will never understand; 1) how hard it is to adapt a story to tv 2) the struggle of finding articulate interviews willing to go in front of a camera 3) the struggle of finding a good set of shots for a story that will keep the viewer interested 4) getting shots in winter 5) the tight deadlines for each story 6) how heavy all that camera equipment is that you have to lug everywhere 7) discovering fact errors after deadline and your story is about to air 8) the amount of attitude it takes to do an on camera intro 9) the constant fight with your video editors 10) when something amazing happens that is perfect for the story but you didn't get it recorded.

 Allow me to reply in this forum. Should Ms. Sirios wish a reply here, I will open this space to a guest rebuttal, not just a comment at the end.

1) Could be true. The late Joe Courson neatly explained this to me when I tried to get him to do a piece on the Jail Museum. "I can't interview a building," he said.

2) This is, to my thinking, because articulate people do not trust broadcast journalism. This is better explained in Ms. Sirois's comments later in her comments, especially No. 7. I certainly do not trust most broadcast journalists and I don't trust a lot of print journalists either. I will only appear, under duress at that, on one TV station only if it is a live broadcast. I've been interviewed probably more than 100 times for various broadcast outlets. With the exception of live shows, less than 20 percent of the aired stories were all factually correct and accurate.


3) Welcome to the world of photography. Photos make the story. Good print journalists absolutely understand this.

4) Pass. I don't get this. Living in S. Georgia, I don't experience 15-foot high piles of snow and iced over roads. I do experience 115 degree temperatures more than 1 day a year.

5) Oh, bullshit. Tight deadlines for journalists are universal.

6) Used to be the case. Not so now. Broadcast video gear now weighs less than what a good photographer will carry.

7) Pull. The. Story. No excuses. None. Pull. The. Damned. Story. If your newsroom doesn't have enough evergreen material to fill last minute holes, something is wrong with your newsroom. Pull. The. Story. No. Excuses. Pull. The. Story. Broadcast has no excuses, no valid reason for this.

8) The only place the reporter IS the story on a regular and continuing basis is in broadcast media and Hunter S. Thompson's gonzo journalism work. Spend less time standing in front of the camera explaining and more time letting the newsmakers talk. This is the problem. The "attitude" Ms. Sirios mentions is also part of the problem. Too many broadcasters have it. Plenty of print folks do too, but it is endemic in broadcast. Get. Over. Yourself.


9) Oh cry me a river. Editors (and I am one) are all the same everywhere. I've had editors butcher my stories and, I am ashamed to say, I've done the same to a few writers.

10) Oh please. The same thing happens to us in print, especially where our photography work is concerned. I covered a City of Carrabelle City Council meeting years ago. After the meeting, as I was packing my camera gear (all purpose print journalist I am), the mayor Pro Tempore and a local businessman got into a heated argument, an extension of the argument that started months ago, continued through the Council meeting and afterward. I grabbed my camera and snapped a not badly blurred image of Carlton Wathen (mayor) taking a swing and landing it on Tommy (forgot his last name). We ran the pix Page 2. I have missed thousands of Kodak moments.

Ms. Sirios, the floor is yours.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Epic

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When it comes to drinks of an alcoholic nature, I am known to imbibe from time to time.  And then, and then, and then, there's the one I got ahold of very recently.

Read on.

First, a disclaimer. Jesus didn't turn the water into Tang.

I have also read with massive amusement the serious wine drinkers who can be fooled by the appearance of the bottle. Apparently, the appearance of the packaging matters more than the actual contents where wine is concerned. Well, mosta the time anyway. If you serve a vibrant blue wine, expect to get a bad review from the serious connoisseur. Watch the vid. The last one is hilarious.

Me? Never touch the stuff. Someone told me wine was made from rotten grapes and that was all I needed to know.

I do drink a beer from time to time and there are a few I will not drink, including the US' most popular brand. I prefer lagers and stouts with Guiness being my favorite.

I also like distilled spirits with bourbon and sour mash being my favorites. To this point my favorite has been Maker's Mark followed closely by Jim Beam. I have also developed a sense of appreciation for Jack Daniels of recent years.

And then.

And then.

And then.





You read right. Aged 26 years. This is the recent offering from Orphan Barrel, along with Barterhouse. Orphan's mission is to find old barrels of distilled spirits which were probably forgotten and bring them to market. Both are very limited edition.

As you see, it comes in a square bottle. What you don't see is that's a natural cork stopper inserted into a real wood cap. No plastics except for the seal around the cap.

Yeah.

I sipped.

How to explain this one ...

Asa Baber, the longtime Men's Page columnist for Playboy magazine is a recovering alcoholic. He's sober now. But he described his descent a while back. He said the first time he had an alcoholic drink, he lit up. Not as in drunk lit, but as in a switch inside him flipped and it energized him somehow.

So, yeah. I sipped.

It was as if enlightenment had suddenly been showered down on me. Maker's Mark suddenly jumped from first place to so far back in the pack, it could not be seen. Old Blowhard took first place through, oooo, say 35th. Crown Royal you say? Phhhbbbtttttt.

I know how Asa felt.

Yeah.

I caught a taste of chocolate and dark cherries. I caught a wonderful burn, the kind that makes you appreciate winter days. I caught smooth. I caught a massive 10 point slipping along side a pond bank with a 15 pound largemouth eying the old buck from the shallows.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what distilled spirits are meant to be. This is a true sipping whisky. I now understand why Scotch drinkers can rave about aged single malts. Except this is better. It has to be.

You think epic? Try again

This is a whisky that can cause grown men to fight, without being drunk. Grown men could weep after trying this and still be counted manly.

Helen of Troy's beauty may have launched a thousand ships, but they'd have turned around for a bottle of this.

I understand one reviewer said all he got was a "soap" taste. Either the man is a blithering idiot who should be vigorously rubbed with sandpaper before being tossed into a shark tank or he got a truly bad bottle. I do not know which. I do know if he had sampled from the same bottle I tried and complained, I'd have shot him on the spot and gotten off for justifiable homicide.

If you buy a bottle of this, please invite me over for a shot when you open it. Please.

Old Blowhard, like all the Orphan Barrel offerings, is limited. I do not know the price and do not want to know the price. But it was worth it.

It will die by my hand

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They are not as visible as they once were, but I have two scars on my head from where I was attacked by a dog. The dog lived about another 90 seconds after the attack. The owner killed it immediately. A 12 gauge brought an abrupt end to the dog.

One of my own dogs was killed for attacking a child. I told Dad to do it as I couldn't. That took a .22 to the brain.

I still regret not killing a a dog that jumped my daughter. At the owner's request, I didn't kill it. When the dog later attacked one of his children, it was killed. I was packing a .38 snubbie that night so dispatching the dog really wasn't a problem.

A few moments ago I watched a video of a dog attack a child and a cat drive the dog away. The child's parents say they are not mad at their neighbors.

I am not mad at the owner of the dog who attacked me. I'm not mad at the owner of the dog who attacked my daughter. These people are still among my closest friends.

The dog is a different matter. Had that been my child who was attacked, the dog would be dead. I'd kill it to death and then some. Pistol, knife, club and if necessary, my bare hands choking or beating it to death.

Where I come from, dogs that attack children unprovoked die. If I see a dog attack a child today, I will kill it. No questions, no quarter. It dies as soon as I can manage it.

Dunno about you, but I happen to believe a child is worth far more than a dog.

If you have a problem with that, keep your dog away from children when I'm around.

While I'm on the subject, lemme reference Athena, a cocker spaniel who once resided with us. Athena joined us before my children came along, but once they got here, they were her children too.

Athena bit an adult, the same person on two different occasions, because that adult got between her and the kids. Now that is a dog I can support. As long as Athena was between the new-to-her adult and the kids, everything was fine.

A dog that protects children is entirely acceptable where I come from. For that matter, a cat who protects children is also acceptable.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Packin' heat

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Dad walked around the farm on Fridays with as much as $10,000 in cash in his pocket. In the late 70s and early 80s, that was a lot more money than it is today.

He kept the cash for payroll. Yeah. he paid in cash.

He also carried a snub nose .38 revolver in his pocket. Concealed carry. I do not know if he had a government-issued permit to do this.

Periodically he pulled the pistol out and shot something - a watermelon, the rare poisonous snake, fence pole, etc.

I asked him why he did that.

"So they know I have a gun," he replied. That's paraphrased as I cannot recall his exact words.

"They" were the people he employed. Not the most savory types. Some, not all, had criminal records and one was a convicted murderer. There was some question if one or two others had also murdered someone and gotten away with it.

I bring this up in light of the recent idiot at a little league baseball game who walked around with a piece on his hip telling people he was carrying and that they couldn't do a thing about it. Lemme state here, that was bloody stupid. They could see the gun. Nuf said.

In Dad's case, no one could see the gun, but he made sure the farm employees knew he carried, knew he could shoot it and knew he would shoot.

Some people will lump Dad into the same category as the idiot at the ball game. Some people are also idiots equivalent to the idiot at the ball game.

Dad packed and demonstrated not to impress anyone, but to make it very well and clearly known that he had a gun and would shoot if need be. It's called deterrence.

Dad did not want to shoot anyone. He much preferred to put people on advance notice that he would if pushed. Aside from one instance in S. Florida where he ran a contract loading crew, I do not know of any instance where he was actually threatened. In Florida, the hired hand backed down and had to find his own way home when Dad demonstrated he was ready to waltz.

As Robert Heinlein said, "An armed society is a polite society."

Deterrence works. Unfortunately there is no way to categorize and study how effective deterrence is. If a situation never escalates to the point a firearm is needed, how do you quantify that? You can't. How do you quantify situations that never started at all because of the presence of a visible firearm? Cannot be done, short of finding someone capable of reading the minds of other people.

You can google to see the number of times a firearm is used in defense without shots being fired and the number of times a firearm is used in defense with shots being fired. You cannot search and find how many crimes never got started because someone had a gun handy.