A Clean Break

I intend to use 2015 for a lot of new things. One of those things is quitting Facebook.

What will I miss?

Really, not much. Facebook is the penultimate extension of narcissism-every thing that is posted screams "LOOK AT ME". I was one of those. I used to post music to show how hip I was. I used to post politics and religion to show how intellectual I was.

I was far from the only one.

I don't feel much like seeing what my old friends are up to anymore. Some of them are unwittingly insane, living a contrived life devoid of meaning and purpose. I went insane on Facebook once. It brings out the worst in all of us.

So, I deactivated. I spent too much time gawking at it. I was bored. I had enough of news aggregation sites fatiguing me with the same posts about the same people. Really, who gives a shit about Amanda Bynes? Elon Musk? Skrillex? Who gives a fuck about who played at Coachella? I sure don't. However, this is a larger complaint about the Internet itself. It can be utterly lame at times. But I need the news. I gotta try to keep up. I will still visit those aggregation sites, and hopefully will not be annoyed by what Reza Aslan has to say because I don't goddamned give any flying fucks.

. I just don't care about people or things enough to keep scrolling my life away via Facebook. There are better things to do than checking that fucker every hour to see what I don't care about.

So here I go! Here's to better things to do with time.

Getting Our War On

Folks, it's turning out to be a fait accompli that Barack Obama is going to re-invade Iraq and quite possibly cross the eastern border of Syria in order to clobber ISIL, ISIS, IS, whatever we are calling them this week. For once, we have an adversary whose crimes are evident and obvious, requiring our immediate attention. A coalition is forming as I type this; John Kerry is searching for allies that have common cause to waste the IS. These geeks, these religious scum, are murderers of considerable degree and would very much like to expand their wave of terror by feasting on our oil. That's when the gloves come off, when they touch the oil, you see. I believe it is time to stop the disgusting group's sprawl now for humanitarian reasons. As Obama has noted, IS has no place in the 21st century. Stopping them in their tracks would be easy if we go in with overwhelming force, as per the Powell Doctrine. No one agrees that air power will punish IS enough to keep them from advancing.

I know what it's like to go to a bullshit war. I am a veteran of OIF. I spent a year in Iraq bringing medical supplies to combat hospitals. The work I did there was fulfilling, but the reasons for the war were bankrupt. Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. We rent apart Iraq, and for what? So Dick Cheney and his cabal of oil peddlers could divvy up the country's resources? 'Cause that's all we achieved in Iraq. We tried to rebuild an entire way of life for the newly rudderless state. And now that way of life is disintegrating, as many wonks predicted. The military, the voting, and the currency is worthless. IS has stepped into the void. Now from what I understand, IS is winning hearts and minds by fielding hospitals and providing basic services like other shifty groups like Hamas and Hezbollah do.

President Obama has stated "no ground troops in Syria". I may be wrong on that one. What I am growing increasingly confident in is that we can still send troops to Iraq. We can't sit back and watch these monsters behead and kill indiscriminately. We have the tools necessary to win. But we have to want victory on behalf of the Iraqis. We will probably go in for the oil, but at this point I don't care what pretense we use to return. The Iraqis I knew were industrious, caring, and lots of laughs. I don't want to see IS happen to them.

Fuck A Duck

This Duck Dynasty debacle is breaking my spirit.

When A&E suspended Phil Robertson from their airwaves, they obviously meant well. They were justifiably upset at his homophobic and racist remarks in GQ. Fearing the loss of sponsors and watchers, they made the move.

Two weeks later, he is reinstated. Angry viewers, wishing they could say what Phil Robertson had said, hemmed and hawed until the network got bullied into bringing Phil back. They cried out for free speech. They cried out for tolerance.

It really shows what America is made of, you know? It just shows how far we have to go before we have equal rights in this country. It shows that ignorance is obscenely alive, champing at the bit of decorum, just waiting for a chance to finally display itself without fear of reprisal. Millions of people out there, finally hearing what they were thinking, clamored to give this dumb hick a second life beyond his little show. Now he is an icon. He is an emblem of free speech, they say. He was persecuted for his beliefs, they say.
Now that everyone is all of a sudden interested in civics, we should examine this peculiar thing called free speech. Everyone has it. But you can't go consequence-free because you said something controversial.

Let's take an international example. By now, most of us have at least seen some mention of the phenom band Pussy Riot. They were thrown into the Russian gulags for saying nasty things about Vladimir Putin in song. They had the freedom of speech. But they paid a price for their speech. I love Pussy Riot and all it stands for. But theirs is a classic example of the things that can happen when you open your mouth. Pussy Riot was held accountable and was not afraid to be held accountable. Pussy Riot, unlike Phil Robertson, knew exactly what they were doing. And they didn't bitch and whine about freedom of speech. Even North Koreans are at least allowed to have their own private thoughts, but one word said to the wrong person and you go to a labor camp. These are just a few examples of what can happen when you exercise your right to talk about something.

We like to think America is different. Absolutely, it is. Somewhere in our founding documents is a mention of "freedom of speech". This must mean we can say what we want whenever we want to whomever we want, no? Not according to the letter of the law. Go look at it. It says that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. That's it. Your government is not allowed to make laws governing your speech. Pussy Riot would love it here. Sort of. That's right; we can say any jacked up shit that we want to about our government. We use it to effect change. It's undeniably American. It is a Good Thing. Your speech, in and of itself, is NOT guaranteed. Oh, sure, say whatever you like, but expect a response. This Phil Robertson thing has nothing to do with the First Amendment. Phil got yanked because he's a lazy hillbilly, forgetting to check his stupid mouth at the door for that interview. A&E was thinking about their bottom line when they suspended him. Then something strange happened. The fans flipped their wig. They demanded that their beloved duck call guy be reinstated. A&E, sensing the sea change, put him back to work.The fans wanted Phil to speak because really, unknowingly, he is speaking for them. Phil now stands for the right to condemn homosexuals and to spin tales of happy darkies before civil rights. It's a right wing wet dream. It might be your in-laws wet dream, given how pervasive homophobia and racism is. One of their own wins the epic battle over the forces of the politically correct.

At the heart of their plaints is "tolerance". Somehow, we are supposed to be tolerant of their shitty thoughts because the Constitution says we are. Uh-uh. Not so fast. It's the 21st motherfucking century. We don't have to be tolerant of a view that in itself is intolerant. It is too damn bad if you think homosexuality is a sin; you don't get to condemn gay folk and expect to get away with it without comment. Your religion is not your shield. You don't get to get away easily from making ignorant whitebread remarks about today's African-American. Your experiences don't make you an expert.

But Phil, you did get away with it, didn't you? Because that's how much America sucks today. Enough people got mad at your network that they looked at their bottom line, and realized you are an even bigger moneymaker for them now that you have said what a million bigots have been thinking.

We are the laughingstock of the free world because we celeb-ritize the dregs of society. We lionize the worst examples we can find. And we cover for our bad thoughts by claiming the bedrock right to speak them. I can choose to ignore this spectacle if I want to. But it says too much about the society we live in. Sadly, we will probably never be free of Phil and those who think like him. I just thought we had more to us than this. Our collective response to this is nothing short of embarrassing.

Food For Thought

So President Obama has made a trip to Africa-a trip that has not been made since 2009. Africa is by far the most contentious, frustrating continent on the planet. Its sheer size dwarfs the sectarian conflicts and pauperism of the Middle East. Some of it is happening in the developed nations like Egypt and Libya. Yet, there is hope-Obama has increased federal aid to the embattled continent according to USAID. Now if you go and click that link, you will note that the comments section is full of nothing but right-wing assholes venting their spleens. Here's a few of the gems:

"Africa's population will grow exponentially if the world continues to feed them. They need to start taking some kind of responsibility for themselves. There is no excuse."

 "Starvation is population control.
Maybe Mother Nature knows best."

 "natural selection ..."

 "The ONLY thing feeding Africa will accomplish is producing more Africans. The more they are given, the more they will reproduce. Pretty soon, we will be providing twice as much because it will be expected."

 And much, much more in that vein. There is safety in numbers and it is obvious that they feel comfortable being sickos who would like nothing more than for the continent to perish. There is such a nasty string of Social Darwinists/Randroids on that thread, it ain't even funny. What they don't realize, is that their ugly bigotry is stupid. What is the number one export from the United States?

...?

Agriculture. We are bolstering farming and equipment makers when we send help to a place like Africa. That's right, we are helping our own economy by giving to Africa. 100% of it comes from the heartland of the good 'ol US of A. Sure, it's federal money, but it is a stimulus for American products.

So, my bigoted friends on the right-go shit in your hat. You don't know where your bread and butter comes from. It won't come out of your pockets, so shut your vile pieholes.

Learning To Power Down

Hi. I am a forty-ish, perpetual student. School is out, and I am a news junkie and an ex-conservative. I have taken to Facebook to repost the news that I think is funny or compelling. This leads to five to six posts, and some of them come back to back.

My wife sees this as a problem.

I get what she his saying; nothing says desperate than constantly posting on Facebook. However, I don't see anyone tuning me out or turning me off. No one has called me out yet, but perhaps the wife is just saying what everyone else is thinking. But my Facebook feed is tethered to some really nutty stories and I thought, hey, might as well share with my friends. I know for a fact some people enjoy reading my news posts; I have become a tiny news aggregator for many of my friends.

But, perhaps Facebook is the wrong platform to air all of my 'bullshit' out. Maybe people are just being polite and feel a little sorry for me because I am such an incessant poster with an oft-time indulgence in being an asshole. I am an atheist; I share funny pictures, you know, photos with sayings on them. I have found more than a few atheist sites who send me delightfully rebellious photos which I share on 'ol Facebook. This has irked my family(who is rabidly, bizarrely into Jesus, lucky me) and has irked a few of my friends. What's a poor proud atheist to do? Once again, Facebook may not be the best place to be out and proud.

So here I am. I used to blog like a crazy person back in the day; I have had blogs on Wordpress and Blog City. I guess it's now time to try fleshing out this blog, which has been empty for years. I will post news here and attempt expansive commentary. I will wear my badge of atheism proudly and share photos with you(as soon as I learn how, heh). I will quietly read Facebook and bring things that show up in the feed. Facebook has trumped the Huffington Post for grabbing headlines, which is part of why I enjoy it so much. But I will do some silent running at Facebook and bring my rants here.

So I'm back. I don't know how this is going to work out, but I will silence myself on Facebook. If you want my opinion, you will find it here. I will occasionally post stories on Facebook if I feel I have done a good job making it entertaining and informative. I am a right-wing refugee. An atheist. A news junkie.

Perfect fodder for a blog. Here goes nothing.