Chillin' with the Catholics

I haven't written anything in awhile, I guess. This last weekend I went snowboarding and rock climbing with the Catholics. Rock climbing was really fun, despite the fact that I might be just a little bit terrible. On the bright side, I didn't drop anyone while I was belaying them. While I was belaying BR; however, I did end up flying off the ground and hanging just about equal with him. That was...safe. Tomorrow is the Mock Trial competition. I hope we don't get schooled. I start paging on March 5.

I'm really not very exciting, so read this poem by e.e. cummings. I think I might love it.

number 29

the greedy the people
(as if as can yes)
they steal and they buy
and they die for because
though the bell in the steeple
says Why

the chary the wary
(as all as can each)
they don't and they do
and they turn to a which
though the moon in her glory
says Who

the busy the millions
(as you're as can i'm)
they flock and they flee
through a thunder of seem
though the stars in their silence
say Be

the cunning the craven
(as think as can feel)
they when and they how
and they live for until
though the sun in his heaven
says Now

the timid the tender
(as doubt as can trust)
they work and they pray
and they bow to a must
though the earth in her splendor
say May

Ashley

Jack Johnson

"It wasn't me," says the boy with the gun. "Sure, I pulled the trigger, but it needed to be done, because life's been killing me ever since it begun. You can’t blame me, because I'm too young"

"You can’t blame me. Sure, the killer was my son, but I didn't teach him to pull the trigger of the gun. It's the killing on his TV screen. You can’t blame me; it’s those images he sees."

"Well, you can’t blame me," says the media man. "I wasn't the one who came up with the plan. I just point my camera at what the people want to see. Man, it's a two way mirror, and you can’t blame me."

"You can’t blame me," says the singer of the song or the maker of the movie, which he based his life on. "It's only entertainment, as anyone can see. The smoke machines and makeup…hey, you can’t fool me."

It was you, it was me, it was every man. We've all got the blood on our hands. We only receive what we demand, and if we want hell, then hell is what we’ll have.

Willa Cather

The sound of an approaching train woke him and he started to his feet, remembering only his resolution, and afraid lest he should be too late. He stood watching the approaching locomotive, his teeth chattering, his lips drawn away from them in a frightened smile; once or twice he glanced nervously sidewise, as though he were being watched. When the right moment came, he jumped. As he fell, the folly of his haste occurred to him with merciless clearness, the vastness of what he had left undone. There flashed through his brain, clearer than ever before, the blue of Adriatic water, the yellow of Algerian sands.

He felt something strike his chest – his body being thrown swiftly through the air, on and on, immeasurably far and fast, while his limbs gently relaxed. Then, because the picture making mechanism was crushed, the disturbing visions flashed into black, and Paul dropped back into the immense design of things.

It's all broken.

I’m really disillusioned and I know that few people would have even an infinitesimal desire to talk with me about it, so I’m going to talk with myself. This is only the beginning. You can play if you want.

“We love our freedom and we will fight to keep it.” – G.W. Bush's State of the Union address

Now, yes, I like freedom. I also think fighting to keep it enslaves us. I don’t believe that freedom is something you can go out and die for, because it only forges more restraints. For instance, in order to fight this terrorism that we are all so frightened of we apparently have to give up our rights to privacy.

Being the good Americans that we all are, we think it abhorrent to give up our right to privacy, but they have found a way to successfully take it from us. They’ve found that fear is the greatest motivator, and if they can keep us scared long enough, we will give them what they want. They even made up a cool multi-color “Homeland Security Advisory System,” which indicates how scared we ought to be.

You realize that it will never go to the blue or green level. It’s all just a ridiculous ploy. We are pawns in a game that people don’t even know is being played.

Now that we have that out of the way, this new government wiretapping business has me a bit suspicious. I guess this argument can go a couple of ways, depending on what you believe.

First of all, it violates federal laws, The Federal Wiretap Act of 1968 and The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. G.W. is running under the idea that, “If the president does it, then it’s not illegal.” I think it goes without saying that this sentiment is ridiculous.

Now, I understand that it may be necessary to electronically eavesdrop to protect the safety of the American public, but I absolutely disagree with the way that it is being carried out. Obviously this argument has two steps to it, which makes it automatically difficult to understand, and even harder to pitch to anyone. Let me try to shorten it:
Want to get a court order?
Great!
Want to do whatever you want without being held liable?
Sorry, no.

Not only that, but I am automatically suspicious when the government says that it “knows" anything, and you should be too. I am convinced that the government will say anything to achieve its goals. It’s no secret that the institution’s only responsibility is to sustain itself. Its responsibility is not to tell the truth, not to make moral decisions, just to survive.

Which is why, even though they are supposed to “know” that these people are terrorists, it shouldn’t change the fact that there should be some sort of check on the power of the executive to eavesdrop. I simply don’t believe that they “know” anything.

The less we force government officials to tell us, the less accountable they are kept. As accountability decreases, corruption increases. It all becomes a total erosion of everything the American people have ever believed about civil liberties. To give up liberty for some sort of feigned security is an unreasonable notion. It will end up as a slippery slope. The government takes away these few rights this time, and a few rights the next time, and on and on until we’re left with nothing. We never really notice that they’re being taken away because they slip quietly. But really, it becomes a complete, slow destruction.

Next, this generation of idiots…

We are idiots. We do not think. We do not ask questions. We do not read. We are subservient. We are acquiescent. We are obedient. Why? I agree that it’s nearly impossible to speak truth to power, but why not try?

For one thing, we are raised in a society that is contingent upon complacency, especially our formal education. Every time I opened my mouth in this “education system” to discount or disagree with an opinion of my teacher, I was effectually thrown out of class. Once or twice, I was literally, physically thrown out.

The system is broken, or maybe it’s doing just what they want. It doesn’t teach kids or anyone, for that matter, to think. It teaches them to follow, unquestioningly, every rule. It certainly produces a bunch of illiterate, subservient, acquiescent, obedient people who will bend to will of whatever authority figure happens to be there to direct them at the moment. There is no standing out, up, or really, any standing at all.

I might be…I am an idealist. A great deal of my idealism, however, gets frustrated. Frustrated because of the way things are, because of the sense that the political establishment is so fixed in its ways that no one can change anything. So I know I can’t change the world, even though I very much want to. I don’t believe, however, in throwing up your hands and saying, “to hell with it.” My political views, opinions, and overt opposition toward authority probably won’t stand out in anyone’s mind, but I have to stand. I can’t do much, but maybe if I make enough noise, someone, someday will hear me. So if I can’t stand out, I’ll stand anyway.

Ashley

As he died to make men holy,
Let us live to make men free.