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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Finally! I get it!




The price to own one of these is very expensive indeed, and I don't mean only in dollar terms.


I finally get the argument of the American gun "patriot", the gun zealot, and the National Rifle Association in their determination to own guns. These same people seem to believe that the way to keep people safe is by having everybody armed. The thinking is that even a crazy man is likely to think twice before opening fire in a crowd that is armed. Well, maybe, but what if they are wrong?

At the heart of the thinking is that it is necessary that the population be well armed to keep the United States free forever from becoming a dictatorship, as has happened in so many other countries. Could it happen in the United States? Certainly! The president is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, so in that capacity a man who is a megalomaniac could twist and turn members of his Cabinet and the top officers of the various military departmens to fall into line and do things that they might think are not especially proper.

The war on Iraq has been called a pre-emptive action that was taken against something that noone can prove  was even being contemplated. Before that the president at the time ordered an action against Grenada in the Carribbean because he didn't like the duly elected Socialist leader. Some have called these actions an abuse of office but they took place, and if a president could use his power to effect such actions it is not beyond belief that he could go over the top.

There are more than 300 million guns in America in the hands of civilians, thereby constituting a second army that is not under the control of the C-I-C. Therefore, the people have a way of imposing their will if they feel the need to fight back. Naturally no-one wants to see the coming of the day when this has to happen, but it is possible.

The extremists win this argument, in my opinion, BUT, there is a price to pay, and America has been paying that price every day, and there are atrocities coming that will make people faint due to the severity. For instance, should a group of madmen decide to enter a stadium of 100,000 people, where they know everybody has a gun, to start a massacre, then that is what they will do through confusion.There are many more horrific events that will occur over the coming years because there is so much anger in America, and far too many guns to express that anger.

It is unlikely that anything significant will occur within America to bring about real change afftecting gun control. In fact, gun ownership will continue to rise, and if I lived there I'm sure I would feel the pressure as well to buy at least one gun.

So, there you have it! America is caught within a Catch-22 and is unable to help itself on this issue. It has all manner of economic problems and does not need this problem. Those of us who live outside it borders can only watch from afar and shake our heads in sorrow.

Copyright (c) 2013  Eugene Carmichael 

Sunday, January 13, 2013

What are Clouds?






You may never see clouds in the same way ever again!


This post may very well rattle believers in religious faith. I am proposing a new form of belief for those who see sense in what I am about to suggest, but before I get to that let me state categorically that I believe that there is some form of Deity, a Controller if you like because if you stand back and objectively review the chaos within which we live, you will probably see that the organisation of it is too perfect to be an accident.

The question that many believers in religious faith find themselves asking, is why does God allow such horrible things to happen to, and by people. Surely He can control the actions of mankind and stay the hands of those who take such distasteful  action against their fellow man, and against the environment and animals.

The answer is that life is all about balance. For all things and actions that are beautiful there are ugly actions. For love, there is hate as a balance. For peace there is violence and war as a counterpoint, etc, etc. The more you think about what I'm saying, the more sense you will find. You may not like it, but that is the world order. You may not like the fact that men are made to be stimulated by the sight of a woman, but that is how we are wired. I may not like the fact that women react to the sight and intelligence of a man by thinking they would like to have his baby, but that is how the world procreates and survives.

I don't take issue with any of that. It's the business of what happens once the act that we call death occurs. We are all taught that our souls go to Heaven or Hell, and we are painted a picture of what happens in those places. To begin with, religious painters depict all the people sitting in Heaven as being white people. No Blacks, Asians, Chinese, Indians, Buddhists, etc, just a bunch of white people sitting around singing Kum- by -Yah.  I don't think so.

My theory goes like this:  When our bodies wear out and we discard them in the act of death, our spirit rises into the sky and joins with all those spirits that have gone on before. Ultimately we get sorted into the right grouping by family ancestry and we float overhead in the form of clouds keeping watch over those below. White clouds are former white people, black clouds are former black people, and shades in between are everybody else.

The interesting thing is that we have a job waiting for us after death. That is to say that we become Guardian Angels for our family members that we leave behind. Sometimes, when we are in mortal danger all of our fore bearers, together with other volunteer spirits spring into action to hold us safe from harm. There are countless examples of how that works. A prime example is when fire threatens and runs rampant over a wide area, as it did recently where we live.  A wall of fire ran over and around our home, yet when we returned the walls of our house had not even been scorched. That, I'm convinced was our Guardian Angels united in surrounding our house, keeping the fire at bay from burning our house to the ground.

The same was the case with our neighbours, although with varying success, a matter of diligence and efficiency of their Guardian Angels. When we are dying, according to those who temporarily died, they are beckoned by someone who has gone on before. The reason they returned from the dead is because it was decided on the other side that it was not your time.

I like the thought that I have a job waiting for me, and that I will be able to watch from afar what this crazy world of ours becomes. Sometimes our ancestors are collectively appalled by some of the things that are taking place on Earth, and they weep for us. We call that rain.

If this theory is reasonable and acceptable, then by all means you may wish to subscribe to it. There is not really a conflict with established religion as we are all better off if we live our lives in a exemplary fashion.

Copyright (c) 2013  Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, January 6, 2013

The World's Second Oldest Profession





The Professional Pickpockets would like to turn you upside down to shake you loose from your money. Beware!

Welcome to 2013!

As we start a new year full of the usual hope and optimisim, National Geographic has presented a subject to give us all a "heads up," because in these very difficult economic times one of the oldest professions has taken on a new life. I'm talking about the ancient skill of picking your pocket or bag as a means of making a living.

Not surprisingly these thefts are practised wherever there are large concentrations of people, especially tourists, who by their very definition will be people who are carrying sums of money and other valuables that probably are worth more than many people's annual income.

Rome and Barcelona are at the top of a pickpocket's nirvana as the place to be, so National Geographic chose Barcelona to study what happens there and how it is done. Pickpockets live by the motto that, " a fool and his money are soon parted!"  Consequently, the choice of who is to be robbed, sometimes in broad daylight largely depends on the victim themselves.

We must keep in mind that everybody has expenses associated with daily living and if there are no jobs, people will make their own work. In many cases entire families work together. They arise in the morning, have breakfast and go off to work actively looking for people who show signs that say "come and get it."

I have been robbed four times, and in each case I had no idea. However, I hope I have learned some lessons along the way, but the thief is well practised and it takes a lot of street smarts to recognise when you are targeted, and to know what to do to get out of the grip of the gang. The first thing you can do is go online and Google "pickpockets." You will learn that there are schools that teach the art of the trade, and that people of all ages, from very young children to elderly grandparents are professionals.

Number one on the list of people to rob are silly men who carry their wallets in their back pockets. It seems that the only way to save such people from themselves is not to sell them trousers with back pockets. A wallet in a back pocket comes with an invisible sign that says, "Help Yourself!" Oh sure, most men will say that they will feel the movement as the wallet is lifted, but it is usually done with such speed and handed off to several people that simply knowing that you have been robbed is very cold comfort indeed.

This is a very important and complicated subject and I could go on and on with hints and stats, etc. The point of this is simply to take the Natonal Geographic effort a little further by passing on the warning. How bad is the situation in Barcelona?  It is estimated that at peak times on the Metro, perhaps as many as 600 of the passengers on any one line are pickpockets.

That I take very seriously indeed, and I extend that to all of Spain, England, New York, etc, etc, etc.

These are desperate times, and desperate times produce desperate people!

Happy New Year!

Copyright (c) 2013  Eugene Carmichael