Everyone has those constant irritants that make our day worse.  Here are some of them:

1. Slow drivers. Those people who apparently love to spend time in traffic…

2. Products that need scissors to open

3. Products with instructions in very fine print (the population is aging!)

4. Screaming talk show audiences screaming: they drive me nuts

5. Ads that are much louder than the show you are watching

6) Auto-correct on the iPhone when you are typing in another language

7. People that write to you in caps

8. People who send you chain emails with cheesy slides

9. People talking loudly in a foreign language in a public space (I have been guilty of this once or twice..)

10. Medical bills sent sometimes 6 months + after an appointment

11. Drivers who don’t signal

12. Needing reading glasses for everything, and no laser surgery for that yet

13. Parents who take all their young kids-and strollers-to the mall on a busy day

More to come..patience is not my strongest virtue

On July 2nd, 1776, a resolution of independence was voted for by the 2nd Continental Congress.  The  Congress then turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence and finally approved it on July 4th, 1776.  Thomas Jefferson was its principal author.  The Declaration laid out the colonists’ grievances against the King of England and then made declaration as to what they  planned to do about it.

Everyone should read the Declaration of Independence.  My usual way of celebrating this holiday is to spend time reading and pondering this document of history.  This year it has even more meaning to me.  In my prior post, I excerpted some of the Declaration to make a point about the colonists’ decision and where we are today.  Here, I  will list the grievances against the King.  Perhaps some of them will capture our feeling of the times we live in today. I have a suspicion that this particular 4th of July is going to mean a whole lot more to citizens of our great country.

“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.”–Declaration of Independence

And the colonists then declared their intent to “divorce” the king.

As for me, this year, I probably won’t get much time to read.  I plan to attend a farmer’s market in the a.m. to “practice the art of  capitalism” while I still have the privilege; then I plan to attend a tea party.

I wish every patriot of this great nation a most memorable and safe Independence Day 2009.  Let us pause and give God thanks for the truly great system of government that He inspired men to create, one that has been the inspiration and hope of millions of people  for over 200 years. Then let us determine to preserve and protect this way of life that we and others have come to love by being better and more enlightened citizens.

Most of us are aware that forgiving others is a compassionate thing to do, but we don’t want to do it because we’ve been hurt and we want to hurt back. We want those who hurt us to suffer for what they did.

By withholding forgiveness we think we are punishing them, we think we are keeping them stuck in a prison of guilt and shame. But the fact is we’re just punishing ourselves in the process.

We’re prolonging our own suffering. We’re withholding from ourselves our own peace of mind. We’re keeping ourselves emotionally tormented. We’re keeping the albatross around our own neck. We are fanning the flame of our own discontentment and emotional suffering.

We’re, essentially, keeping ourselves locked in an emotional prison cell that is now of our own making. We are now victimizing ourselves long after having been victimized by our offenders.

When we forgive others we free ourselves of our anger, our judgments, our grievances, our resentments, and our bitterness, all of which interfere with our present moment joy and inner peace.

When we refuse to forgive others, we relegate ourselves to living in the past and never being in the present moment, in the Eternal Now, where all the good things in life happen.

Consequently, it is always in our own best interests to forgive.

Everyone.  No exceptions.

Forgiveness decreases our anger, our depression, our stress and our anxiety. We sleep better. We relate to others better. Our general attitude is more positive, optimistic, and joyful.

All of this contributes to our physical as well as emotional well-being, and maximizes our potential to attract people, places and circumstances into our lives which will propel us towards our dreams and our goals.

I woke up remembering remnants of my dream. The fogging downstairs had caused me a rude awakening because I had to get up to close the window.

As I crawled back into my blanket to bid my bed goodbye, the scene floated back into my mind, in which I was on a moving bus looking out on to the road where some workers were painting parts of the long stretch of pavement dark green. It is as if this was the highlight of my noisy dream and my mind has bookmarked it for review upon waking up.

I heard my mum telling me to pray to the green pavements. Weird I know, but I think what she said after that gave some sense to her prompting.

“Nah, pray to the road la. So that you can find your way.”

I did pray. Two palms against each other nodding towards the green cement.

If dreams were to be interpreted, I’d say I believe I’m really wishing for some solutions to the handful of glitches I’m encumbered with now. It goes to show how much I feel pinned down by the recent circumstances.

My eyes have watered twice in repression. There’s a part of me wanting to let it out and move on. Another part of me wanting to overcome it without such display of emotions. A good friend has reminded me of how not all odds are against me. A good part of me wants to tell her that no one knows how much odds are against me. While, yeah, I should be lucky to have what I have, sometimes I feel that the stress overrides the gratitude.

I’m only human. It’s harder when you are alone as a human.

As I bear the boulders on my shoulders, I wonder if I brought this all to myself. Should I just relinquish everything. Live the life of a surfer dude with no ambitions whatsoever? Could I even do that? Looking at myself in entirety, I can’t. I won’t even. There are others to live up to too.

I learned in class yesterday that a student fainted from exhaustion. Doing last minute work, skipping meals and lacking sleep. I don’t skip meals but I’m a procrastinator who ends up staying up till 2am and waking up again at 4am to finish our copies of reports. But I’m not the only one. Chain reactions happen too that lead to this habit we youngsters seem to put up with. I want to change that cos I think I might get heart attack.

It is said that the fainted student brought it upon herself. Good question: if I were to have a heart attack, would I have brought it upon myself? Fretting over the class, committee, group, home and self because I signed up for them?

Where do I set the limit before I self-destruct?

How charitable should I continue to be? Or should my get on realistically now that it’s the climax?

Have you ever felt that you’ve given yourself enough you just want it to stop and let yourself be the person in charge of your life already?

To friends who have understood, thank you. To those who continue to take me for granted, your karma be with you.

I am choosing to write about something controversial just because I want to.

In Melbourne over the last few weeks, there have been an inordinate number of media stories, complaints, opinions, articles, arguments and international discussions about the attacks on people of Indian appearance in the inner suburbs of Old Melbourne Town. Although, based on the wet-pants reaction that the media and government have had, I shouldn’t be using the word people. I am not intending to be derogatory when I say this, just hear me out.

The knee-jerk response to these crimes has been a lot of talk about introducing new laws that measure the severity of a crime by taking into account the prejudice against the victim when the crime occured. Bascially, we are looking at talks about hate crime laws. Nowm the reason I shouldn’t be using the word people. Apparently, and according to the government and the Indian population, these victims are different to anyone esle that has been brutally bashed in Melbourne. Again, I want to point out that my position is not at all in support of bashing anyone, I am simply perplexed at the excitement that this has caused.

First, we have an idea that Indian people being beaten up is something that has never happened before. It looks like it’s only a recent trend that is picking up. Secondly, no one else in Melbourne gets beaten up other than Indian people. We are looking at a media that is telling us how horrible it is that these people have been bashed by ‘hate-filled’ criminals, while they overlook the hundreds upon hundreds of people, including Indians, that have been beaten up in the past. Before I continue, I will acknowledge that there are horrible poeple out there that have beaten up others purely because they despise Indian people. However, I need to point out that there are also Vietnamese people who get beaten up becuase they are Vietnamese, Chinese who get beaten up because they are Chinese and Australian people who get beaten up because they are Australian. The street violence in Melbourne has become worse over the last few years, but it has become worse for everyone, not any single race in particular. Only now, apparently, it is being recognised only in part. The sad truth is, that this level of coverage about the issue of Australians being a racist people, and the extensive reporting on these seemingly-more-important-than-crimes-of-the-same-nature bashings of Indian people, have done nothing but exacerbate the situation. I promise you that there are sick bastards out their, who have never had the idea that they hate Indian people before, have now had it planted in their minds by the mass coverage that our media has thoughtfully provided us with. Let’s face it, the culprits of these crimes are more than likely a highly encourageable and easily influenced type of person, not to mention the flamable nature they no doubt would carry. So instead of letting the police force do their job, and catch the people who are bashing people, we decide that a huge middle finger to any potential, yet not active, threat to this sort of thing being blown out of control. Smooth moves there, media.

The biggest greivance I have with this entire issue is the one of the ‘Racist people of Australia’. Let me get this straight. You think I am racist, and so demand to have laws written into our country’s constution that apply only to a particular race of people, placing them in a different category to all other races within that country. Ah, I see now.  It’s less racist to perpetuate the idea that all Australians are racist than it is for a very, very, very small minority of Australian people not liking your skin colour. Not only are you saying that all Australians are racist, but you are also saying that all future Australians are racist. I’m sorry hate crimes advocate, but you simply do not make sense to me.

I really want to ensure that readers will receive this article as it is intended. The issue is not that crimes against Indian people don’t matter, the issue is that if we keep up this sudden burst of importance over an issue that has clearly been present for many years, we are only encouraging the ugly idea that Indian people are different to Australians. I’m sorry, but I simply won’t accept that fact. I will not seek to re-write my moral code to assume every Indian person I meet is un-Australian. These people that have been bashed are people. They should be treated like people. If you think about it, the more we embrace these people as our own, the less problems we will have with crimes of this nature. By singling Indian people out, you are perpuating and inflaming a situation that hasn’t even fully eventuated yet.

The law concerning these sorts of crimes notes them as “Crimes Aganst the Person”, for the law wishes despreately to assume that all people are equal. Why would you seek to change that?

Dear science, I recently read that ancient Americans as early as 2500 years ago had the dental technology to plant diamonds, rubies, and other precious gems into the teeth of their warriors.

While anyone can now purchase a full set of platinum Grillz on a NYC streetcorner, it seems a couple areas of dental technology still lag behind the advances we’ve made in mouth jewelry.

Dear science, why? Why have wisdom teeth, braces, and a tonsillectomy at the age of 22 been three of the four horseman of my physical apocalypse? Day 5 is coming in the morning and I’m moving back to chicken broth. Not food yet. Broth. In three weeks I might be able to try softened pears, if I’m lucky. Ironic that I’ve made — and hope to make — a living out of my ability to talk to people, yet the biggest block to that happens to be my own mouth. The upside, when this is all over, is that health-wise I should be pretty smooth sailing again, at least until my jaw just decides to fall off or something.

All I know is that Nestle Quik commercial with the screaming kid in his bedroom and all the chocolate milk he wants set me up with unreasonable expectations for this surgery — and that kid and his cartoon rabbit friend are deceitful bastards.

On a lighter note, I’ve regained my love for Twitter after a couple surprising conversations with some important people. Stagnating in your room all day will do that for you, but it really reminds me how powerful, unique, and incredible of a tool social networking can be. More on that later… my broth is getting cold.

Whenever I am watching television beyond a certain time, I am reminded of one struggle that man has continuously battled throughout all time. I am talking of course, about erectile disfunction. Yes this is the biggest problem we are facing today, with carefully worded ads on radio to avoid disallowance due to censorship laws, and time-slotted comercials with my friends the bedroom police reminding us all that our focus remains solely on pleasuring our partner. Surely there are bigger problems out there. Maybe not even bigger, but more important issues that we should be facing.

If you were paying attention over the last few years, this problem has apparently been getting worse and worse, with the reminders of this terrible condition becoming more boorish and blunt with every new billboard. Ten years ago, there would have been community uproar over a giant sign hovering over the highway with: “Want longer lasting SEX?” in five foot lettering. It apparently has become acceptable now that some time has passed. It continues to confuse me how time translates to tolerance of more depraved and previously unnacceptable behaviour. Granted there are necessary attitude changes that must take place, but those that are necessary often take a long time to change. Today’s changes are happening rapidly and are always of a morally implicating nature.

So who is to blame for this unblelievably pressing need for harder-for-longer penises? Marketers? Advertisers? Artists? Possibly the sex industry, televison or movies? The answer is much more simple. When does any industry grow the most? When there is a need. Simple supply and demand. Yes it is all our fault, us rotten people, for our growing need for more and more self centered and material things is driving the worst kind of progress for our country. Now, I suppose we aren’t completely at fault. Someone had to get the ball rolling, the first marketer, perhaps. You cannot, however, blame the shooting death of a gangster in New York on the gun-runner who supplied the weapon. It is the person who pulled the trigger that faces a life sentence. As this is true, so is the fact that we must accept responsibility for the materially dependent people we have become.

What bothers me most is that so many people are comfortable with how things are going. I think sometimes I am actually a physical anomaly, some sort of mutant who has the useless power of being uncomfortable with a society wallowing in the disgusting shite of deviance, self pleasure and pure material gain. I want to stress, however, that I am not exempt from these problems, and I am just as much to blame as the next person. This is my only medium of broadcast, and I know my audience is small, so I need to do the best I can with what I have got:

Look around!! What have we become? Why is our focus not on things like cancer research, solving homelessness, or building any infrastructure in third world countries?

I will leave you with this thought: If you took all the money made from sex, any kind, be it blatantly or with descreet subtlety, how many lives could you change? How many lives, could you sustain?

Pretty embarassing huh?

The Josephine County chapter of Americans for Prosperity sponsored a Tax Day Tea Party in Grants Pass on April 15. There were 12 speakers, three singers, and over 1200 attendees who turned out to protest excessive taxing, spending, borrowing, bailouts, and overregulation of individuals and industry. This 3-part video shows highlights from the Tea Party.

In Part 1, Lorrie Ahrens opens with the national anthem, and Pastor Tony Russo gives the invocation. Richard Burke, of AFP Oregon, talks about why we’re attending this event, and Jean Sweat talks about our Republic. Jack Swift discusses the economy and the message we want to send to our legislators, and then reads a letter from state Representatives Ron Maurer and Dennis Richardson.

In Part 2, Gary Spangler discusses the Constitution, Gil Gillingham talks about the government spending our money, and Paul Walter tells a parable about how we’re losing our country. Margaret Goodwin lists our grievances and issues a call to action, and Jim Frick talks about how the government needs to allow us to use our natural resources.

In Part 3, Jack Swift decries the effects of too much government regulation, Bill Davis explains how to replace a Congressman, Damon Mancuso talks about working together for freedom, and Shaun Curry talks about the DHS warning of “right wing radicals” on the eve of the Tea Parties. Jack Swift closes the event with a summary of what the Tea Parties are about.

Click here to view an extended, one-hour version of this video. The complete speeches can also be viewed, either individually or sequentially, at www.youtube.com/afpjocoteaparty.

(CFD.net.au – Contract for Difference, Share, Forex, ETFs, Commodities Traders) – The New South Wales Opposition says Premier Nathan Rees is losing control of his backbench, after 14 MPs publicly criticised the Government in the past fortnight.

Premier Nathan Rees has been accused of “weak leadership” by Nationals leader Andrew Stoner. (ABC)

The latest Labor backbencher to break ranks with the Government is Macquarie Fields MP Andrew McDonald, who yesterday called for the plan to sell surplus land at Hurlstone Agricultural High School to be abandoned.

It comes a week after sacked minister Tony Stewart began Supreme Court action against his dumping from cabinet.

Earlier this month a dozen Labor MPs attended an anti-prison privatisation rally outside State Parliament.

Nationals leader Andrew Stoner says it is clear there is a lack of discipline in the Labor caucus.

“The Rees Labor Government has become a rabble because of weak leadership,” he said.

He says the Government has lost direction and the Premier has lost control.

“The reason Labor MPs are breaking ranks – and there’s 14 in recent months – is because Nathan Rees is a poor leader who makes bad decisions on the run without consultation,” he said.

He says MPs with grievances should cross the floor of Parliament to register their disapproval

Source: Rees Govt 'descends into rabble'

Watching and listening to some of those attending Tea Parties, you could easily get the impression that before the current administration took office, that no taxes had been paid before.  It did not seem to matter that many of these Tea Parties where not funded by grass-roots organizations, but instead by large benefactors, who would only be too happy to keep taxes for the wealthiest extremely low.  The tax rate at it’s highest level would go from 36% to 39%, and then somehow, somewhere in that 3% increase, we would become a socialist nation.  And the fun part is that the tax rate used to actually be 39%, which of course means we had formerly been  socialist, but no one had noticed.

Now I would never expect people to be happy about paying more taxes, but since the increase would affect couples with incomes of $250,000 or more, and since extremely few of those attending the Tea Parties would fit into this, you have to wonder just what they were so angry at.  Well, other than losing the election.

See if the following might be used to help describe why Tea Parties came about:

First, it was the inability to address the grievances of the people. There’s always upset people in any society and if they have grievances, they act as a tool for the (some*) who come and organize communities around discontent.

_______________________________________________________

Of course the only problem with linking the above statement to Tea Parties is that this statement was given by Khalid Aziz, talking to CHUP about why the Taliban was able to gain power and support in Pakistan. *(”some” in parenthesis took the place of  the word “militants,” though I suppose in some cases here in the U.S. that difference would matter less than most would care to admit)

CHUP evidently has actual reporters it can send out, so for a better look than I could hope to provide about Pakistan, take a look at their site.  Not that I agree with everything they say, but it is important to hear more than just those that agree with what you already think.

I do remember just a few years ago how anyone that would have dared to say that they were withhold paying taxes as a form of protest against the Iraq war were labeled as traitors, thank heavens the wars are all over, and people can protest taxes without fear of being called unpatriotic,  otherwise they might look like hypocrites.

Just remember, the difference between free society and socialism is only 3% in taxes, and luckily, the fact that Bush increased the national debt from $5 to $10 trillion would have had no affect on our future debt obligations.  Why?  Because Faux News tells me so.  But we all have a right to free speech, so let me just say,  f*ck you to all the idiots bitching about government spending NOW.  Where were you for the previous 8 years?