I have long been trying to figure out how to overthrow the yoke of oppression that constrains us all. I have only recently realized that I have been trying to play the wrong game. I was trying to beat the rules. This is foolish, this is inefficient to say the least. It is double the work and more importantly it is unnecessary.

I thought that one can beat the system by playing by the rules, bending them to fit your needs and then exploding the system, like a virus, from the inside. Foolish, vain and definitely all ego.

The fact of the matter is, we live in a system that thrives on creating scarcity. The incentive for any business or industry is to control the market by regulating the supply and maximizing its profit through the demand for it. Scarcity can either be natural or created artificially. This is the basis for our economic system which, at its heart, is the way in which we agree to allocate resources.

It is the game we all play, the rules we play by – but not necessary agree to.

This can change. I have heard others theorize about a contribution-based economy of sorts. It would be a departure from the competition based one we currently live in, which thrives on creating scarcity and propping up the imaginary uniqueness of personality. Well, that isn’t necessary something imaginary, but it isn’t something that should be solely awarded.

We can get away from this corrupt and diseased system when we consider management of our resources that starts with mutual recognition that everyone has the right to these resources. We also can start to rebuild our world when we realize that scarcity is a figment of our limited, and controlled, imaginations. We are fed this propoganda to continue the cycle and keep us believing in its validity. We are being controlled by the puppet master, the Matrix or whatever you call it. Plato warned us about this in his Myth of the Cave. We are entertained by the shadows and the flickering of light. We confuse this artificial light for the real thing, when all we have to do is take a walk outside and be blinded by the sun.

I heard once how elephant trainers in India tame elephants. These massive, beautiful and strong beasts could not possibly be easily contained by physical means. They are smart, sensitive and unstoppable. What they do is they take a young elephant and tie it down with a rope around its leg pegged to the ground. It can’t get free, and so after a while it learns to give up. What is even more sad is as these elephants grow up and get bigger and stronger, all the trainers have to do is tie the rope around their legs – unsecured to anything – and they will not attempt to escape. They have been mentally conditioned to give up.

Such as we are. Potential giants of creativity, beauty and wonder but we all have ropes tying us down. Yet, we must realize that those ropes are not bound to anything at all. In fact, we are the ones simply holding the bonds in place.

We accept this current system because it was handed to us. Our masters are only in place because we foolishly let them control us. Yet, the illusion goes two ways – just as we believe we are free, yet cruelly we are controlled, the masters believe that we are actually controlled and forget that we are free. We all believe in the illusion yet it only comes down to a choice – the choice to stop playing this crude game and get real. The universe is waiting for us to wake up. It has been waiting for some time now. We must only have the courage to change and it will be so – and there is nothing that can stop that. Except ourselves.

It lit up the night sky. First responders were scrambled but there was much confusion as to the cause of the event. An investigation was demanded. Some described a massive explosion that erupted in the dark night without warning; the blast felt far away while some claimed to have seen a red fire ball making a fast approach towards the plant. Regardless, at 10:25pm on a Thursday night, August 28th to be exact, a tank at the Bayer Crop Science plant in Institute West Virginia exploded.

“The thing that blew up was the least dangerous of the stuff that’s in there,” Mike Dorsey said – chief of homeland security and emergency response for the state of West Virginia.

What else is in the tank, you may be asking. Frightening stuff, actually. At a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India back in 1984, thousands of people were killed due to the outbreak of a chemical known as methyl isocyanate, or MIC. The plant that exploded in West Virginia produces that same chemical – but luckily, that wasn’t the section of the plant that got destroyed. Instead, a pesticide known as methomyl was being produced in that part of the plant. Methomyl is used in the production of a more potent pesticide, Larvin, an insecticide thiodicarb to be exact. What does Larvin do? Well, it is designed to mess with the induction signals of the nervous systems of insects.

Meanwhile, in Germany, there is a pending lawsuit regarding a cover-up of the effects the product Larvin has over its environment. The damage, the suit claims, is wide-ranging and may be responsible for the drastic reduction in bee population in Europe. The company that is being sued? Bayer Crop Science and an arm of the US government that’s sole duty is to protect the US citizen and the environment, the Environmental Protection Agency.

Apparently, Bayer Crop Science conducted their own tests showing their product to have minimal side effects and the EPA rubber stamped its approval. Despite the fact that an incentive is in place for Bayer Crop Science to get the product out to protect its bottom line.

The reason why this is important is because bees are pollinators – their job is not only to supply food for their own colonies, but help spread the seeds of nature and its plant life around its environment. They are the natural stewards of plant life, and this has a drastic effect on our environment and more importantly, our agriculture.

In fact, this is a very strange series of events that could prove to be at best coincidence, and at worst synchronous. While conducting an interview and updating the listeners of Coast to Coast AM about the dwindling honey bee populations, host George Noory broke the news to researcher Linda Moulton Howe about the explosion at the plant – which she had only moments before identified the company involved in the German law suit (Bayer Crop Science).

That law suit was submitted August 13, 2008. The explosion was August 28th, 2008. If there is a pending law suit demanding the data be shown about the true effects of this pesticide – designed to interfere with the nervous system of insects – then the destruction of part of the plant would be an interesting correlation into the situation. Not to mention, the estimate is that the pesticide products for Bayer earn them about $1 billion dollars annually.

Obviously, more investigation is needed here, but this is an interesting story of which the effects truly span the globe.

Further Reading

Honey Bees Not Healthy in US or UK

NRDC Sues EPA for Honey Bee Lab Data

911 Operator Involvement in Blast at Plant

This election was both great for America and bad at the same time.

Great in that we have had one of the highest voter turnouts ever – I am not sure, as of this time, what the polls will report but it is expected to be well over 60%. The fact is that whomever wins this election will have received the most votes of any president elect in history – and that is due to the fact that people are going to the polls.

Great in that we have an American hero, John McCain running for office – a man who served 5 years in a POW camp. A man who literally bled for his country.

Great in that we have Barack Obama, a half-black, half-white candidate who resembles the American dream, coming from a single mother to rise to the White House. No one better, in the eyes of many, to unite America in this dark time.

And then there is the bad: the economy. We find ourselves so desperate for answers – so desperate that we put all the blame on one man and his party. We don’t let the facts get in our way – like the fact that we currently are living with a Democrat-dominated House and Senate running up one of the greatest deficits of all time. But does our Democrat leadership get the blame? The silence is deafening. And to think we will now have at least two more years of a Democratic leadership.

What is intriguing is that there are people who are voting strictly on race. That is fine because in this country, you have the right to express yourself as long as it doesn’t interfere with another’s safety. The question becomes, however, is race really the only factor that should determine the worth of a candidate? If yes be the answer, then no should be the reply you give to another asking you if you are not prejudiced. It is also the same answer that should be supplied for whether or not that is the right criteria for selecting our nation’s leader.

Instead, we should focus on policy – and which candidate should have the honor of representing our sovereignty. How does this individual stand up to our political views?

For example, a black woman I work with today told me she voted for John McCain. She knew that would be a highly controversial decision for her. There are two problems with this: one, why is a black person supposed to vote for Obama? What if they don’t agree with his policies, his views on education or the economy? And two, isn’t that inheritantly racist for that person to vote for Obama because he is black? Is it not just as racist for us to assume she will vote for him because she and he are both black?

You see, even I find myself guilty of this. I was surprised to hear she voted for McCain. Why? She felt very strongly about Roe vs. Wade and McCain was supportive of her views on that issue. I voted for McCain, but does that make me racist? And for me to assume that this colleague of mine was going to vote for Obama because he’s black – does that make me a racist?

This is the main problem that seems to be steering these elections. This only seems to devolve into further seperation – red vs. blue, republican vs. democrat, black vs. white?

Lost in all of this is the fact that Obama himself is bi-racial. He was raised by a white mother in a white household yet he saw differently when he looked into the mirror. With his impending victory tonight, lets all focus on uniting the country – regardless of who are candidate was.

Whomever wins I just hope people felt that they were able to express themselves. It does seem, however, that the Republicans are pulling out of this as quickly as they can and letting the Democrats step in. Whether or not this is wise, in that the Republicans will lose power at just the right time, remains to be seen. The fact of the matter is, people have to stop looking to the government to fix their problems. Instead, people should be commanding the government to stop creating messes and get out of the way.

The government is meant to serve its people. Whomever wins this election better hold dear to that. And it is up to you and I to remind them.

I was a big McCain supporter back in 2000, when he was running for the ticket against George W Bush. In fact, a friend of mine and I nicknamed W “Yeehaw” in regard to his mannerisms and his aww-shucks demeanor. We were shocked to see McCain lose, but in actuality he was probably more of a long shot considering that he was not able to correctly align the base of his party.

And here we are in 2008 deciding between Barrack Obama and John McCain. Or are we? There are other candidates out there, like the usual Ralph Nader ticket but also the Bob Barr ticket – which represents my real party, the Libertarians.

It is a problem in our country that we are faced with a two party monopoly in regards to our presidential election. The problem isn’t that we have candidates from other parties, or even that only two parties exist for surely these are both not true. The problem is that our national media and our mass minded public only seems to acknowledge two parties for their selection.

That said, I think we need to be armed with information. There are several platforms that are being ignored which should be pushed to the fore in regards to any debate – such as the already maddening illegal immigration crisis. It’s a problem that is not going to just go away, but needs to be dealt with sensibly and immediately.

That said, let’s focus on the major candidates a minute. I encourage you to read this long, but informative article by Neal Boortz, To the Undecided Voter. I think it is worth the time to read. Please read and use it to help make up your own mind.

I know, another blog post out here in cyberspace that will discuss (or is it rant…because I am talking to myself out here…) the lack of choice for voters.

Look, I love America. I love the United States and what it symbolizes. I have been to other places in the world – haven’t been all around the world, yet, but been out of this country enough to know to value what we have here. That said, our country continues to spiral downward into the hands of cooperations and special interests, and seeing as they would like to keep their wheels greased, our republic is gradually becoming more and more socialist.

Challenge yourself and look around. The disintegration of civil liberties, which should both shock and shame everyone, has been a steady agenda since 9/11. I remember feeling like we were trapped in some bad movie on that fatal day seven years ago. We were being pushed to rush to fight against an enemy that really lacked definition – until we decided what it was we are fighting against. Perhaps we are nothing more than a nation full of Don Quixotes. Or perhaps we are a nation of Sanchos.

Either way, we are in the thick of a mess we created ourselves. It is fashionable to blame George “Dubya” Bush for all of this mess but the fact of the matter is, regardless of how you feel about the past elections, we voted for him. We elected to have him use our sovreignty. Sure, there will be those who claim they didn’t vote for him and can wash their hands of this mess – yet, look at the rest of the elected officials who represent our interests and are falling in rank and file into this plan.

Face it, this mess is all of ours. Equally. We all have a stake in it and until we admit that, there will not be any real change.

You can rally behind your presidential candidate clutching to your banners, stickers, yard signs and whatever else you can find until you pull that lever – but never forget that it is not the top of this pyramid that dictates how this nation will fix itself. That kind of thinking is the exact kind of thinking the founding fathers fought to prevent – a king. We don’t have one. Until we start to communicate and cut out the special interests and the corrupt politicians, there will not be any real change. We have to get back to basics. We have to get back to the spirit of this nation, which was built on rebellion and that brash attitude that we can always do it better. We can, but we have to get out of our own ways.

We have to start realizing the power of our own abilities. We have to acknowledge our stake in all of this and claim our rightful place at the table. We should not settle for the scraps, but rise to the table and dip our fingers in the pie – it is ours, too.

The funny thing is, when communist ideals proclaim ‘workers of the world unite’ they are propounding democratic ideals. Of course, when the actions are over and the battles are won, they would like to tell you what you deserve to have and keep everything for themselves. Well, this country was built on workers uniting, it was built on neighbors uniting. It was an idea of men coming together to build a better collective future.

Where is Cincinnatus now? Where is the spirit that guided our founding fathers? Like the north star, it should be there to guide us. Instead, we turn our eyes away and willingly put on blinds that our leaders tell us that we should wear.

End the darkness. Awaken from your slumber, sleeper. Open your eyes. Yes, this is an important election, but do not for a second believe real change will come from a Senator from Illinois nor will a self-proclaimed maverick from Arizona accomplish real change. Not unless we all come to the table and tell them who there boss is and demand things change – and stick to it.

It all starts locally. Then it builds up to the national level. If anyone disagrees and believes it should start nationally, then they do not properly understand the constitution. Tell them to read it again.

Just reading a book right now that is explaining why a classical education is crucial and why the classical tradition is still relevant. It inspired me to come up with this quote (take that for what you will!):

Those who seek to liberate you will have you study the past; those who seek to control you will remove it.

I can’t help but think of when the Nazis were burning books. The bonfire of the vanities, if you will. Look at the action, and look at the intention. The Inquisition. Any time in history that we have seen massive social change followed by a period of darkness, it has begun, ironically, with a burning up of the past. To remove the past from our grasp is to give us no guide for the future but also no foundation for it as well.

And if we agree upon such a concept, then what would the removal of those past languages be akin to? It seems to be a more subtle way of burning books because to burn up the languages, we burn up the connections to those thoughts that are so influential yet so universal. How can we truly understand what is meant by Homer in his great works if we cannot read them? How can we understand Marcus Aurelius’ meditations if indeed we don’t know the words he is speaking? Virgil? Euripides? Plato? Aristotle? Ovid?

The past becomes mute. Just like during those dark epochs of history I mentioned earlier. The climate of those times usually is great arrogance – after all, what more than hubris could give birth to an idea that we no longer need the past? We do indeed live in arrogant times. Cavere, mi amice.

This is something that needs to be studied very closely in this day and age, and something which I am going to be thinking about and discussing here on the site.

It is about the future and the present, and the state of the United States at this time. Our country, as I do very much consider myself an American, is changing. Now, this is not necessarily good or bad, as such a perspective can only be reserved for those who have all the facts – and that falls into two parties, the dead or those reading this from a point in the future. The fact is, our world is quickly changing and the ideas we were given before to navigate our world are almost as quickly becoming outdated.

What is interesting to note is how these changes are taking shape in our economy. There is a lot to be concerned about – rising gas costs, rising food costs as a result, the percentage of your pay that is taken by the government and the very little return on your investment you get with your tax money. The devaluing of the dollar – or is it simply a market correction? You would be made to believe that the U.S. is a third world country, without any worthy exports and industry of any kind. That the American people are lazy and do nothing productive.

I would argue that is our current government, as it has become bloated with all the tax dollars that are a guaranteed yield. But not the people which are being governed. Strangely, everyone is too busy to notice what is going on.

Yet, I can’t help but wonder. Today, there was a power outage in south Florida that resulted in a loss of power for many residents here across the southern tip of Florida – some 4.4 million FPL consumers. I say consumer as if we have a choice, which we obviously don’t. This got me thinking, how prepared am I and my loved ones to deal with a crisis like that? What would we do next in a political, economic or ecological meltdown to survive?

Then there is something else. Are we being conditioned? Are we being bombarded with psychological stimuli that are meant to put us in a near constant state of anxiety to shape us into a more docile and needy public? Set up to be easily controlled? If such a task were being employed, it would have to be a multi-generational plan. Starting to sound like a conspiracy? Well, let’s not quite go that far. Take a look at this, however – just found it interesting.