Author: lawdisorder

Lawyer, activist, handgun instructor, recovering addict, former Buddhist monk. I host a videocast which can be seen on my YouTube channel, Ken Goldberg's Law and Disorder and on my website https://law-disorder.com/

Landmine kills 10 girls collecting firewood

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/17/world/asia/afghanistan-girls-landmine/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

William Kennedy has been an activist for years on the issue of banning landmines. I wish compassion could be as easily aroused for Afghani kids as it is for kids in the US. I wish our indignation was global, that our repulsion for oppression as powerful  and our acceptance of starvation non-existent. The gun control issue evokes powerful feelings of anger at guns and compassion for victims. I see animals get more attention and compassion than starving children. Our military is drone killing innocents. Our President, Mr. Compassion, is targeting US citizens.and wants no interference from any court oversight. Bradley Manning will wilt in prison because he exposed the war crimes and criminal political backroom dealings of the US government.

I have been an activist for many years on a variety of subjects. I do not lack for compassion of those suffering. I do not resist gun control because I love guns. I resist it because it is a red herring, a sleight of hand. Guns are not the problem nor is banning them the solution.That is my opinion. That opinion derives from much study and experience  I taught many people how to use a firearm and none has ever been charged with a violent crime.

By the way, I am a democrat and they will shoot themselves in the foot soon.Democrats will push for gun control and likely be swept out of office again by angry gun owners.

William Kennedy should be receiving much needed donations today as our collective anger swells about the needless deaths of children in Afghanistan. And I will be heartened to see Americans showing that we care as much about the other guys team as we show for the home team. I always thought it was funny when hockey fans got fired up about the home team when both teams were all Canadians. Never made a lot of sense to me.

One more reason to be mad at me

Because I am likely a smug, self-righteous ass who practices righteous indignation at every opportunity. My thoughts that I am a generic ass rests on my actions and thoughts of the past 24 hours. Early yesterday I wrote that the tragedy in Conn. would start a fire and fuel the debate about gun control. That didn’t take much intelligence to predict. But 18 hours later the persistent posts about how this event was a gun issue troubles the heck out of me. It defies all empirical data and it shifts the debate from the public health arena where I feel it belongs and makes it a law enforcement debate. The same tactic has been utilized in the abortion and drug debate. There are those who believe the solution to drug abuse is to outlaw drugs. There are those who believe that since they are against abortion, everyone should be legally prohibited from getting an abortion. Gun control advocates believe they can limit crimes of violence by prohibiting the possession of guns. Or they believe in the alternative that their position is justified if the next murderer cannot kill as many people as quickly thus mitigating the carnage. Maybe all the prohibitionists are correct and I am wrong.

If you are what I call a progressive or lefty, then it seems you tend to view the right with derision for their short-sightedness  and their demands that we practice what they preach. But the conservatives arrived at those solutions the same way most of you got to the gun control answer. Ignoring facts, drawing conclusions based on feelings or religious convictions and the belief that a complex problem can be resolved through controls on human behaviour.  My personal belief is you, who believe that, are guilty of the same crime as the right-wingers that offer that if God were allowed in schools then criminals wouldn’t be found there. It just pains me to see people treating their perspective as truth and marching sharply and in unison behind their causes.

I do not know if guns are the answer to anything. I know what my personal experience is. I do not mistake that experience for even the truth of the moment as I experienced it. Example, I used to think I was a responsible drinker and drug abuser. Time has taught me that I was not responsible but I was an idiot. But I do not extrapolate from that insight that everyone who uses or even abuses drugs is having the same problem I had.  I do not presume that abstinence or 12 steps in the sole path to recovery. It is simply my path which I am on today. I take great comfort in the teachings of the Buddhists who emphasize personal responsibility over salvation through religion.

By the way, on a related note, I offer one more reason to hate me. I do not wave the American flag, I stand against religion in government and I do not believe in controlling human behaviour through legislation.

I do believe the suffering of families in the United States ranks right up there with those who lose children in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Gaza, all over Africa and elsewhere. It is fashionable to support our troops. Our president got a Nobel Peace Prize he didn’t deserve. I support keeping our troops out of harms way. I support every attempt at diplomatic solutions before sending a single soldier into the fray. My personal solution is to practice a form of personal responsibility and to practice loving-kindness for all living beings. My greatest contributions to society so far are my daughters who are vegetarian, practice recycling and will save the life of insects that find there way into our home.

Yep, that is what I am doing or not doing about the pointless death of people in Conn. I am trying to do what I can to take personal responsibility about how I behave. And I am trying hard not to self-righteously hold the rest of you in disdain. I am inclined to do that with people who do not agree with me, but with practice I can act my way into better thinking.

It a bonfire now.

It is raging as all can see from surfing the Internet. People are afraid and they want to feel safe. Some of feel safe by thinking we can defend ourselves with bullets. Others defend themselves with faith. And a bunch just want the threat to go away and outlawing guns sounds like the path. Growing up on the south side of Chicago, I was robbed or assaulted more times than I could ever recall. I have been assaulted with fists, knife, guns, and car antennas and yes by Sam D’Orlaque, with a broken golf club. I fear being the victim of a violent assault! I have found great comfort in knowing that my lack of size or agility or aggression could be overcome with a simple small handgun. I have successfully thwarted attacks against me by displaying a gun. I have also been deterred from committing acts of violence against persons who displayed a gun. I do not expect a single anti-gun person to understand how I feel. I am just making an observation which is my truth.

Imagine that….I lead mindful meditation

As there are in most people’s lives, I have people who come and go. Some recent acquaintances and some long standing. Most old friends have never seen me in my new environment. Even my old, (40 plus years) friends back in Tucson may never have seen me directing meditation for a group. And the Chicago friends, fuggedaboutit.

So what? Well I find I straddle between who I was, who I am and who I am becoming. Not only is it a transition, it is a laborious process. Imagine that I arrived  in Dallas with a letter of introduction from a Buddhist monk in AZ to the Buddhist temple in Dallas. The letter was written in Thai so I will have to guess what it said. I think it went something like this. Ken Goldberg is competent to lead Westerners in meditation!

How had my life come to this? Dozens of hikes up and down the mountains with the monk. Days spent learning meditation on the mountains, in the desert and in the non air-conditioned Buddha Hall. I accompanied the monk to art fairs, grocery shopping, community meetings and finally as a novice monk. My head and eyebrows were shaved, I was assigned a bed in the hall, and typically I was in the Buddha Hall by 5.30 AM chanting and meditating with fellow monks.

This post is not for those who have come to know me in the recent past. What would you care my journey. This is for the old crowd. To them I say, Imagine that….I lead meditation, in a Buddhist temple. With the blessings of the monks. I know darn well, not one of you, not ONE, ever thought this day would come. And with good reason. This day had no business coming. It was not on the itinerary or flight plan. My orbit was not scheduled to come into retrograde Aquarius with a Sagittarius moon or some such. Nope, live fast, die young and have a good looking corpse.

If anyone had told me I could modify my life in this way, I would have scoffed. If someone called me sweet, I would have mocked them. I would be derisive to those that had not learned to fear me.

You are welcome to join me every Wednesday night at 7 PM at the Wat Dallas at 8484 Stults Road for meditation. Ends at 8 PM. Or join me Tuesdays at noon,  Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas community mental health center at 8140 Walnut Hill Lane #200 Dallas, TX 75231‎ for meditation. That is an invitation you never saw coming.

He who aint busy being born is busy dying

Living can be strange when taken in conjunction with dying. I thought the good times were the times worth living. But I am not sure anymore. Clearly the hard times shaped me, chiseled me, It is like the saying about the sculptor just likes chiseling away rock to create the sculpture that previously existed only in the imagination.

I get these moments when I imagine dying. It is hard to do but sometimes it feels so tangible and I have this little mini-freak out. Like I see into the abysss of nothingness and just lose myself in fear for a moment. I have worked with death in my meditation practice. I have prayed about it. I have studied it. I have thought at times I made friends with death.

Why is it so hard to imagine non-existence? Why is it so hard to be at peace with reality. The proof could not be more clear. No one is getting out of this alive. Barring rebirth then, what is my purpose? Is it to enjoy life. Be of service to others. Raise the next generation? Is it a mere biological process like plants. I take in oxygen, expel carbon dioxide, and grow taller and fuller like a tree until my natural life span ends and then tumble to the ground where I return to my carbon form and nurture the earth?

Is karma really going to affect my after-life? Will there be a reckoning of my sins and deeds? I practice acceptance everyday in many ways. I am driven by mortality. But still I get out of bed each day and as they say, I suit and and show up. I can fear economic ruin, poor health, loss of loved ones and more. All the while if I also experience joy I look up and see the Sword of Damocles hanging by a horse hair over my head.

And so I return to my original statement taken from Bob Dylan, she who aint busy being born is busy dying. But perhaps all man’s purposes come to naught in death. Or maybe the joy of constant birth and life transcends this and will carry us to the heavens where we will reside with long lost loved ones in perpetual happiness.

Kill or be killed?

I grew up strange. I despised violence and I reveled in it. I was beaten regularly but not severely by my father. My middle-class neighborhood turned less middle class at some point in my grade school days. Along came bullies meting out violence to the small and defenseless.

Why was I bullied. I was small, for my age and for my grade. I was 12 when I graduated grade school. I was a mouthy kid. I couldn’t fight physically, at all. But I never went down without a verbal barrage. I learned to manipulate the streets to accommodate my desire to live free or die. Others chose to get off the streets when it became unsafe. Go do homework.

Not me. With almost no friends or protection I sauntered to the local playground and watched from outside the fence. The tough kids and the athletes moving freely. I stood apart, locked in fear.

Maturity or something resembling that put my skills to work making pals. On every side of the fences. Gang kids, high school fraternity pals, Jews, Black, Ricans, but not Irish or Italian. The Catholics were bad news for me. Christ killer they said.

I learned to act tough. I learned to adapt. I learned to thrive on violence. I hung with criminals. I became a criminal. A burglar, a thief, a dealer. I threatened people and I was threatened. I was arrested. Repeatedly. And I prepped for prison. Simultaneously, I joined in the love, peace and drugs movement. I dropped LSD and grooved to Jefferson Airplane. I marched against the Vietnam War. I was called up to serve and I dodged the immoral war and refused to kill in the name of peace. The sergeant at the draft board took a look at me and said “we need tough guys like you in Nam”. The cop on the beat said I looked like a felon. Subsequently I was convicted of unlawfully carrying a handgun in Chicago.

Then I became a social worker specializing in street gangs. I buried about 13 kids in 3 years who were homicide victims and perpetrators.  Social worker to the very emotionally disturbed and I preached peace. I denied violence as a credible response to conditions. Then, I worked the next 2 years with kids enmeshed in a race war on the far south side of Chicago. I was attacked by both sides and took some physical licks to the head in the process. And I preached peace and preached against violence as a solution.

I became a drug counselor in Woodlawn. A hard-core inner-city community. I made home visits and prayed I wouldn’t get beaten or killed….again. A community infested with various black street gangs whose reputation for violence was well earned.

Then I became a criminal defense lawyer. Always in the streets with my clients. Always aware of the threat of violence being all around.

Eventually, I became a gun range owner and seller of firearms. I became real good with a gun. I taught the proper and legal use of deadly force. I taught the application of violence to certain conditions. And I preached peace and denied violence as a proper rsponse to conditions.

I am lost. I have violence and aggression permeating my thoughts. I have lived in acceptance of violence for years, even when I preached against it. I defended the users of violence when I was their social worker, lawyer and friend. I made friends with violence even as I chastized its application.

Now I am too old to protect myself physically. I have injuries. I have lost strength and muscle tone. I could not prevail against threats to my well-being. But with a gun, I can dominate situations that a weaker man would lose. I have the mind-set and the skill set to apply deadly force when I think it prudent. All the while unconvinced that it should ever be prudent if I were to mind my manners, stay out of conflicts, avoid making eye contact with aggressors and practice my Buddhist precepts and meditation.

Kill or be killed? I don’t know exactly how I got here nor how this will turn out. I accept that exposure to violence has left me damaged. I recognize I am eager to live by peaceful principles. I know I have to work at it.  I know I am a good teacher and a good pistolero. This battle has not been decided yet.

Phil Ochs said it all already, a long time ago. Listen to me, it’s true

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgAiuHIBlVs

Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans
At the end of the early British war
The young land started growing
The young blood started flowing
But I ain’t marchin’ anymore

For I’ve killed my share of Indians
In a thousand different fights
I was there at the Little Big Horn
I heard many men lying I saw many more dying
But I ain’t marchin’ anymore

chorus)
It’s always the old to lead us to the war
It’s always the young to fall
Now look at all we’ve won with the saber and the gun
Tell me is it worth it all

For I stole California from the Mexican land
Fought in the bloody Civil War
Yes I even killed my brothers
And so many others But I ain’t marchin’ anymore

For I marched to the battles of the German trench
In a war that was bound to end all wars
Oh I must have killed a million men
And now they want me back again
But I ain’t marchin’ anymore

(chorus)

For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky
Set off the mighty mushroom roar
When I saw the cities burning I knew that I was learning
That I ain’t marchin’ anymore

Now the labor leader’s screamin’
when they close the missile plants,
United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore,
Call it “Peace” or call it “Treason,”
Call it “Love” or call it “Reason,”
But I ain’t marchin’ any more,
No I ain’t marchin’ any more

 These are 3 more Ochs songs on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUcnNfjku6U&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFFOUkipI4U&feature=fvwrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u52Oz-54VYw&feature=related

İ cried when they shot Medgar Evers
Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
As though I’d lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming
He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

I go to civil rights rallies
And I put down the old D.A.R.
I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don’t talk about revolution
That’s going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I’m glad the commies were thrown out
of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
as long as they don’t move next door
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

The people of old Mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can’t understand how their minds work
What’s the matter don’t they watch Les Crain?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

I read New republic and Nation
I’ve learned to take every view
You know, I’ve memorized Lerner and Golden
I feel like I’m almost a Jew
But when it comes to times like Korea
There’s no one more red, white and blue
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

I vote for the democratic party
They want the U.N. to be strong
I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts
He sure gets me singing those songs
I’ll send all the money you ask for
But don’t ask me to come on along
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I’ve grown older and wiser
And that’s why I’m turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal

Right Action for me, today, in this moment.

I had a chat with a friend this morning. The subject of truth-telling came up. I advised that since I took Buddhist vows I have not lied. The Buddhist vows or “precepts” are as follows

1. Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami: I observe the precept of abstaining from the taking of life.

2. Adinnadana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami: I observe the precept of abstaining from stealing or taking that which is not freely given.

3. Kamesu micchacara veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami: I observe the precept of abstaining from sexual misconduct.

4. Musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami: I observe the precept of abstaining from lying or gossip.

5. Suramerayamajjapamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami: I observe the precept of abstaining from intoxicants.

Since I declared my intention to practice Buddhism I have tried to adhere to these vows. I fail at times but not for lack of trying. Neither I nor anyone in my immediate family has purposely violated the first precept and so much as killed an insect since we formally took the precepts.

Why would a Jewish-American choose the practice of Buddhism? Why would a man with my history undertake any religious practice?  I heard the Buddhist pronouncement that life was suffering. As Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote “The search for a spiritual path is born out of suffering. It does not start with lights and ecstasy, but with the hard tacks of pain, disappointment, and confusion. However, for suffering to give birth to a genuine spiritual search, it must amount to more than something passively received from without. It has to trigger an inner realization, a perception which pierces through the facile complacency of our usual encounter with the world to glimpse the insecurity perpetually gaping underfoot. When this insight dawns, even if only momentarily, it can precipitate a profound personal crisis. It overturns accustomed goals and values, mocks our routine preoccupations, leaves old enjoyments stubbornly unsatisfying.”

I experienced this and now I confine myself to behaviors and undertakings which increase the likelihood of success without regret. That would be success without the accompanying dissatisfaction at having had to harm anyone financially, psychologically and emotionally. I live with those very type of regrets as relates to my 2 former spouses and anyone else who drew close enough to my flame to get burned.

It is 20 years ago today that I was wed to now ex-wife Laurie. I would have to look far and wide to find someone more deserving of  great kindness and happiness. Despite believing that, I let myself slowly drift from the straight and narrow and into a spiritual abyss which I did not escape from for many years. I can say with certainty that she gave me every opportunity and resource to live a normal rich and rewarding existence. She offered solid ground upon which love could thrive. So here is what I learned. I had demons which lurked, waiting always to undermine good choices. I had unresolved issues which were always waiting to manifest in my behaviors. I had mental-illness ready to unravel any progress I might exercise.

And but for 2 little girls, now my daughters, who needed me less than I needed them, I would have spun out. But God gave me strength of character to protect the weak and needy. While my attributes were inadequate to bring me salvation, my resolve to act honorably was resolute enough to bring me to a place of willingness to take the actions needed to protect them.

Thus is born the seeds of sobriety and Buddhism in my spirit.

Carbon Footprint

I acquired an electric bike today. An E Moto Velocity 2.0. It requires that I pedal but it will provide electrical assist when asked. I have been on a bike almost daily, except for rain. I have lost weight and saved gas. I had to spend money for a new helmet and lights and clothes so I will be seen readily. My first ride starts at 6.45 AM and it is still dark out. I am terrified of cars but I am determined to try becoming a bike commuter. There aren’t many electric bikes in Dallas. Most are sold on the west coast in places like San Francisco and Seattle and Portland. I hope to remain safe and healthy and to improve my carbon footprint. Most of you know that I already drive a Prius. This is just one more step in trying to be environmentally conscious. Hippies ain’t all dead or living in CA. Some of us escaped to the hinterlands.

My children are also vegetarians. there are two reasons for this. One, they abhor the mistreatment of animals for food production. The second is that the carbon-footprint of meat is much larger than vegetables.

In an article in USA Today by Elizabeth Weise, Gail Feenstra, she interviewed a food systems analyst at the University of California-Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute.

Meat is less efficient because we eat the animal that eats the grain instead of eating the grain ourselves. It takes about 15 pounds of feed to make 1 pound of beef, 6 pounds of feed for 1 pound of pork and 5 pounds of feed for 1 pound of chicken, the Department of Agriculture estimates. For catfish, it’s about 2 pounds of feed per pound of fish.

Add to the feed the cost of raising, transporting and producing cattle, and beef is by far the least energy-efficient meat. Nathan Fiala, a doctoral candidate in environmental economics at the University of California-Irvine, estimates it requires about 15 pounds of carbon dioxide to produce 1 pound of beef.

“A family of four that gives up eating beef one day a week has basically traded in their pickup for a Prius,” he says.

My children assert that adults should be implementing environmentally sound and ecologically beneficial practices, such as recycling. They think that we adults should take responsibility for what condition we leave the earth to subsequent generations, like themselves. I find it hard to argue with them. But in the main, most people I know have no environmental conscious practices. Most don’t recycle, or conserve water, or drive cars which consume minimal amounts of gas. Most commercial buildings do not provide recycle bins or auto-shut off lights etc.

So, yea, I bought this bicycle used, although it was never ridden. Just like we buy used clothing and housewares. We take our own bags to the grocery store and try not to buy products that are packaged wastefully. We could do so much more, but we are doing something. And I am proud of my vegetarian, ecologically conscientious daughters.

A militarized border and friendly fire. No surprise here.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/05/world/americas/mexico-arizona-border-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Napolitano says “This tragedy reminds us of the risks our men and women confront, the dangers they willingly undertake, while protecting our nation’s borders,” she said. “Together, we stand in solidarity with their families and friends, and pray for the continued safety of all who serve our country.” Ken says, these are not the kinds of risks and dangers that should be undertaken. “we” stand in “solidarity” because you government folks like having your small army roaming around the country hunting illegal aliens. Some of us non-government people object to the militarization of law enforcement and we object to death by friendly fire and we object to empty platitudes muttered by professional politicians trying to cover their collective asses!

And then it says “Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano traveled to Arizona on Friday to express her condolences to the fallen agent’s family and to meet with local officials.” And hey, while you are here, you can squeeze in a side trip to visit your home and friends. I mean as long as you had to fly here special at my expense, I insist you take some down-time and have some R&R.

Will this society never wake up? Did you know that Buddha means the Awakened One?

The Obama administration continues to pursue a failed drug enforcement policy. Hypocritical garbage. What are the odds of that Obama was the only member of his close advisory staff that smoked marijuana? What are the odds that several don’t still smoke or live with persons who smoke? How many drink liquor in order to adjust their attitude, feelings or sense of well-being?

Any government/administration which continues to prosecute pot users/dealers is undeserving of support. In the interest of full disclosure, I do not smoke pot. I do not drink liquor. I do not use recreational drugs. But I am real clear on this issue. No amount of persecution or prosecution will eliminate or even reduce the amount of substance abuse. Education and treatment have a better record of bringing about positive change in dependency and addiction.

A society which allows liquor for recreational use and bans pot is a society which has chosen to ignore all evidence of the cost/benefit analysis of substance use. How can we continue to criminalize our own children, friends and colleagues for succumbing to the desire to alter their mood? Where did the hippies disappear to? Why are we so rarely heard from? People are being sent to prison for this! We were right to rise up angry in the 60s. And we should be outraged now.

California governor signs bill giving juvenile prisoners a second chance

This is a story so near and dear to my heart for a few reasons. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/30/california-governor-signs-bill-giving-juvenile-prisoners-second-chance/?test=latestnews

 

I worked in the juvenile and criminal justice systems in Chicago, as a social worker and a lawyer. I represented kids who killed. I represented some who were killed also but that isn’t what this is about. When I got to know my clients through my representation, I discovered that almost all of them were just kids, in bad situations with bad influences and lack of impulse control without a genuine recognition of the depths of the consequences which accompany criminal acts.

The scientific evidence is undisputed, http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familylife/tech_assistance/etraining/adolescent_brain/Development/prefrontal_cortex/

“With an immature prefrontal cortex, even if teens understand that something is dangerous, they may still go ahead and engage in the risky behavior”

Bottom line, kids are not adults. It is folly to treat them “as if” they are. Juvenile killers are not culpable in the same way that the criminal justice system anticipates and identifies criminal behavior.  Known to some by the legal Latin term, “mens rea” and more commonly as culpability, criminal behavior required not only the act but the evil heart. When juvenile gang members started committing more homicides in the 70s, a group of sociologists in Chicago predicted the coming of juvenile super-criminals in the 1980s. A young, teen-age criminal was being birthed into society who would act violently without conscience or reservation. It turns out that super-criminal never materialized but the criminal statutes were already in place in anticipation.

It is against the law to impose the death penalty on someone who does not understand the nature of the punishment. Thus we do not execute the insane, the retarded and the kids. But we are locking them up and throwing away the key. People change as they age. A kid will jump out the second story bedroom window to see how it feels. A young man will jump out of an airplane to see how it feels. A man in his thirties will ride his Harley fast in violation of the law and safety. A man in his forties generally thinks that jumping out of second floor windows is crazy. A fifty year old man does not see the point of paying to risk his life jumping out of airplanes. Hell no, no way. With age comes judgement.

South Side pastor leads march against violence

How about marching to change the drug laws?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-chicago-pastor-to-lead-march-against-violence-20120930,0,371873.story

How about we get at some causes of violence? Why don’t these pastors draw a line in the sand and confront the government about the effects of the war on drugs creating a criminal sub-culture that has more money, more influence and more role models that the church can does?

What is the point of it all. Inner-cities are ravaged by violence. Communities are left to the survivors who are not in prison or dead. The inner-city is no longer a participant of the American Dream. The time when  residents in poverty felt upwardly mobile and a marginalized part of white society is gone. There is the culture of the ghetto and there is middle America. They may never meet again anywhere except on the battlefield.

The religious leaders should be leading the march on government against the laws and policies which have created the most powerful narco-terrorist organizations in Mexico, Columbia and the US. Take away the black market for drugs, diminish the incentive that leads to a thriving underclass of  smugglers, dealers and manufacturers of illegal drugs. Put the cash left over into creating quality schools and jobs in the inner-city. Return the fathers and grandfathers who rot in prisons for non-violent drug crimes. That is a march I can get with. I will wear the t-shirt, chant the slogans and stand in the cold outside of the government halls with you.

I ran across this arrgogant twit today

This is the kind of crap that makes it easier for non-religious people to feel good about themselves.  This opinion piece is filled with suppositions, errors and arrogance. So why republish it? Because I am struck by its tone, its use of language and the effort intended to degrade another’s beliefs. In the name of organized religious. Ironic that the defense uses the very tools that cause the rejection of religion.
 Examples follow and the bold italics are mine.
“I’m spiritual, but not religious,” represents some of the most retrogressive aspects of contemporary society“
Those in the spiritual-but-not-religious camp are peddling the notion that by being independent – by choosing an “individual relationship” to some concept of “higher power”, energy, oneness or something-or-other – they are in a deeper, more profound relationship than one that is coerced via a large institution like a church.
The trouble is that “spiritual but not religious” offers no positive exposition or understanding or explanation of a body of belief or set of principles of any kind.
I wanted to reply to Mr. Miller but I didn’t see anywhere to do so on the CNN page. I have a religious practice and I understand issues related to the “pick and choose” notion of spirituality often referred to as New Age.  But I guess it is opinions like this that make me rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.
Yes, a citation to Billy Joel followed by more BJ
“You might have heard I run with a dangerous crowd.
We ain’t too pretty, we ain’t too proud.
We might be laughing a bit too loud,
aw, but that never hurt no one”
I do not know Alan Miller. Probably a nice twit but twit he do seem to be.

Breaking news, Cook County Prosecutor on leave after accused of biting man at adult store

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-prosecutor-on-leave-after-accused-of-biting-adult-store-worker-20120925,0,7705102.story

I love this kind of stuff. Partly because I have watched government try to control, regulate and restrict adult entertainment. So I am amused when a lawman or prosecutor gets caught in  flagrante delicto, ( in the very act of committing a misdeed : in the midst of sexual activity.)

I oppose most regulations over individuals. I would like my governments to monitor, regulate and restrict stuff like pollution, transportation, garbage, and services or products which pose a danger to the quality of our societal well-being. Thus, if you are sending a stream of toxins in the air, and I may have to breathe it, you should be monitored, regulated or restricted.

On the other hand if you wish to quietly participate in activities to entertain, refrain from activities meant to entertain, or quietly self-destruct, I am your advocate. If the act has no victim, there should be no penalty imposed by government. Seems so obvious to me. Yet, prostitution is illegal as is drug use. This criminalization of activities has the effect of pushing them underground and creating entrepreneurial criminals to fill the void. Besides the obvious lack of victims there is a lack of quality, security and taxation. And in this way do we send otherwise good people into the waiting hands of black-markets with their attendant gangs, pimps and cartels.

Victims of drug rip-offs will not report their loss. Prostitutes and their customers will not report  related crimes. It is an environment designed for the amoral to thrive.

There was a time when societies would rely upon distorted, anecdotal evidence to create laws which were well-intentioned but simply ineffective or unresponsive to a real problem. In todays’ world, there is access to global information, empirical studies, and historical evidence which should be the foundation of regulation and legislation. So why do we pursue actions which are demonstrably ineffective? What is the impetus to penalize and incarcerate persons “guilty” of victimless crimes? I have heard the arguments about the impact of availability of drugs or porn on the fabric of society. NONE of which holds up to the evidence. Morality and self-interests are the controlling motivations behind these laws. Pay-offs to protect an economic interest or pandering to psuedo-religious  constituencies is the only motivation that makes sense.

So the only way to prevent that is to remove religion and corporations from influencing legislation. It is not enough to get government out of religion, religion must get out of government. And as my bumper sticker says on my van, I will believe corporation are people when Texas executes one. We do not permit non-citizens to vote or to legally effect elections and we shouldn’t let corporations either.

NYC Subway Ads Call for Defeat of Jihad ‘Savages’

http://news.yahoo.com/nyc-subway-ads-call-defeat-jihad-savages-161817278–abc-news-topstories.html

“The American Freedom Defense Initiative is principally a venture made up of Gellar and author Robert Spencer, who runs the website Jihad Watch. The organization is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Gellar noted they have more than 30,000 Facebook followers, donors, and participants in their events.”

I totally get where this lady is coming from. It is intoxicating to be outrageous and have a following. Russ Martin the Dallas radio talk show host, sold t-shirts back at the beginning of the Iraq war that said Give War a Chance. Myself, I saw no reason to give war a chance. Didn’t seem to make any sense at all. The only value I could see in it was the publicity cache.

This lady is getting attention, far out of proportion to what is warranted. The message certainly is ugly. But, the ad doesn’t say Hate Islam. It says Defeat Jihad, which is one aspect of Islam which has come to connote and seem savage.

She is stirring the pot. Her prior acts have persuaded the Klan Watch that her organization is a hate group. The Klan Watch of the Southern Poverty Law Center doesn’t usually list you without reasons. But she is expressing what many like her believe. And I have to support that.  While I despise hate groups and what they stand for I respect the right to hate. I can hate the message but it serves me ill to hate the messenger. Of course those that know me know that if the acts of violence come to me I will meet them with resistance.

I wonder if she joined her brethren in Tennessee last week for the White Supremacist convention. (White supremacists to gather in Tenn. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012/09/14/white-supremacists-to-gather-in-tenn/57779764/1 ) Can you imagine such a gathering. Some saying sig heils and some saying “niggers did this”, and “wetbacks did that”, and “those sand nigger and their burqua wearing bitches are all terrorists”. I mean who wouldn’t call that a good time after a case of beer and some salty nuts?

We must allow this message of hate to be broadcast. But we should never stop being vigilant against the acts of violence they incite. It is a price to be paid in a society that values free speech. Yes, yes, I know that calling this a free society can be an exaggeration at times.

I honestly do not understand this Christian right feeling so put upon or so frightened by other cultures. What a terrible spiritual prison to be incarcerated in. I have hated with the best of them. I reveled in it. It felt right. Just like a lot of bad things I have done, which also felt right when I was doing them. As I look back I marvel at the lack of awareness I suffered in my arrogance and in self-will. What religious person looks forward to walking in the sunshine of the spirit with hate in their heart.

Through all my angry and hateful times I could still recognize the power and rightness of Martin Luther King and his message. If the Muslims who encounter the message of hate and they retaliate, then they would be part of the self-fulfilling prophesy that Jihad equals Islam.

I hope like the Nazi march in Skokie IL, the number of actual Nazi sympathizers is so negligible as to embarrass those of us waiting to disrupt them. You speak and travel freely. I will do likewise and when I run into this paid for message of hate, I hope I give it no more than a nominal amount of attention and then move on to better things.

Second in my 2 part series on gun control which first aired on my show years ago.

What follows was directed at the liberals in my audience. I have excerpted tiny parts in past blogs. This is the wellspring from which it sprung, wordy but I hope worthy.

Why is it that in a country where so many of my friends would zealously guard my right of free speech, so few want to preserve my other rights? If the pen is mightier than the sword, then speech is more dangerous than a gun, and worse in the hands of amateurs. One man with a gun can do only so much damage. Then he is apprehended or terminated. Tim McVeigh, the century’s greatest American criminal didn’t even have a gun, but he killed over a hundred people and injured hundreds of others. He paid the ultimate price for his acts. But the people that preached the hate that the McVeighs hear and take to heart, can’t be executed. In fact many of us who would prosecute McVeigh would protect the Nazi criminals that inflamed him, because their weapon is speech. While you despise what they stand for you respect the right of these militant maladjusted mutants to poison the well that these weak minded McVeighs drink from, while paradoxically spurning my right to protect myself from these 3rd Reich rapping rejects.

It has been argued that I can trust my government to protect me when it can’t protect itself. It is argued that our democracy can’t be thwarted by narrow minded bigots intent on the overthrow of a principled democracy. Yet you stammer in protest at the election of right wing, moral majority politicians who would lay waste to Roe VS Wade. While you stand tall for your recently discovered right to abortion, you have no heart to defend my long established right to bear arms.

You need not embrace my rights for yourself. In fact, you are free to not exercise any of your fundamental rights. But I respectfully request that you refrain from actively attempting to usurp my rights. I know you are driven by fear. It is a valid fear of violent assault against your home and family. I am afraid of the same thing! I fear the violence that visits when bad or good people lose their mental or moral compass and strike violently whether intentionally or negligently into my life. It is not only bad people who do bad things, good people under the influence of mental illness, drugs, alcohol, or passion do very bad things too. I know you want to keep the zombies and demons of darkness from descending on your home and family. We share the fear. You would feel better disarming us of firearms, but I would slip into the chaos of paranoia because I think dangerous people are more prevalent than guns.

Bad things have been happening for far longer than guns have been around. Evil has been with us before we even knew how to craft a weapon. You would ask me to trust you that no harm will come to me if I let you take my guns? Then ask yourself if you can protect me. Can you silence the crescendo of hate that has been directed at Jews, Blacks & other minorities? Can free speech prevent the rise of another Hitler? Hitler rose to power via politics. He took over Germany not by force, but by ballot boxes filled with the votes of people who were drawn to a leader who made them feel better about themselves at the cost of their humanity.

Are we Americans so superior spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, intellectually and morally to Germans? They build better cars and guns and electronics than we do. They are better educated. They have survived many more years of alterations to their economy, agriculture and infrastructure. Our 200 years of management are infantile and poor compared to the richness and maturity of the European culture. We aren’t smarter or more sound of mind, body and spirit than they, our language no more articulate or our heritage richer. What we have that all of Europe lacks is a constitution, and its accompanying inalienable rights. All these rights are dependent upon each other. Like the nutritional chart which requires contributions from all the food groups to have a healthy body, it takes a foundation of rights to have a healthy democracy. Many European cities have a richness of dialogue through numerous daily newspapers that is not present anymore in most American cities.  England doesn’t trust its citizens despite the intellectual lip service that flows bohemian like from its media. The media can incite fear which may result in suppression of freedom, or exhortations to violence. So you say, a gun in my hand is a danger. I say hate speech is far more dangerous and explosive. The ability to inflame others through speech is a far greater threat to my well being than a crazed criminal with a gun. I am not a caricature or a cartoon. I am a Jew. and we have been run out of every country we ever resided in, and the bigots followed us here, ready and willing to scapegoat us once again for their miseries. Or just as bad, they are ready to convert us in the name of Jesus Christ, invoking powers greater than Hitler or any human hubris. They would strip me of all I have stood for now, 5,772 years, convinced that you can save me by destroying my culture which is rich in intellect and character and a wealth of spirit.

This will be achieved while you work up a good moral superiority. Sorry, I can’t give up my guns. I won’t give up my guns. I won’t be marched to ovens whether they kill with gas or with religious kindness. I respect your rights to proselytize your religion or your hate. I respect your right to believe differently from me and your right to persuade others to your point of view, whether I agree with it or not. But, I ain’t gonna trust you not to misuse your rights, and you are welcome not to trust me to misuse my gun. I will defend to the death your right to speak freely and in exchange, for you to preserve my right to protect my family and home from the criminals and crazies, dope fiends and zealots.I want you to defend my right to defend my life and liberty.
 

I have gotten feedback on my blog

Much of it favorable and encouraging. One that was critical but encouraging. Lots of MIAs. I am going to continue musing, pondering and pontificating until further notice. I still have some stuff stashed and I find I am given a wealth of new material in the daily news. That was exactly how the radio show rolled. The comment section of the blog gives all the readers an opportunity to vent also. Why not? I used to handle hostile phone calls on the air.

I posted a crude examination of gum control today. I gotta figure some people were unhappy with my position but only one private message rebutted. My friends can do better than that.

Time to revisit some thoughts on gun control

Do I believe in any form of gun control? Nothing is simple, much less people. So how do I simplify an issue like gun control. The very purpose of writing this blog is because my viewpoint is not represented in any media. Those who would be advocates for my gun rights say that the problem isn’t guns but it is that federal prosecutors don’t prosecute enough gun cases, it is criminals, it is liberals. My detractors of gun rights argue it is the lack of government regulations, registration and prohibitions which is the problem.

I don’t need government to fix the problem of too much government. Gun control measures will not be thwarted nor assisted by more reliance on government. Nor do I  believe there is an unassailable right to keep and bear arms. I don’t believe that the drafters of the constitution would counsel against reasonable restraints on firearms in the midst of our present crisis.
I am not talking about giving up my right to have guns. I am talking about my rights being saddled with responsibility. I believe in accountability. Citizenship is not an insular event. By definition it is participation in a larger community. But every time the issue of responsibility comes along everyone hides behind the skirts of the 2nd amendment. This ain’t your momma. this is adulthood. We got a right to work, and pray. but you can’t hold a church service in the middle of the street with traffic. You can’t work where you weren’t hired. Every action has a reaction. Every gift has a cost, every blessing has its burden. To accommodate legitimate concerns about the transfer of weapons, I don’t need to give up a single bullet or gun.

A study of rats conducted years ago showed that as the available room for their movement was limited and their community enlarged, the rats became increasingly aggressive and anti-social. So too are our pressing urban environments (big cities) causing anti-social behavior in humans. The frontier days are gone.

I suggest that liberals and gun control advocates are not crazy or mean or delusional. They are scared and sincere in their desire to stem the tide of violence. If gun owners want to reduce the polarization with our fellow unarmed Americans we can opt for personal accountability. We can quit patronizing gun bazaars called “gun shows” and then refusing to acknowledge that we create an inviting arena for bad people to circumvent any controls on their access to guns. This isn’t about the casual exchange of firearms in our little town square. This is about the overnight creation of a super gun store in the middle of a big city, that folds up its tent at the end of the day and dissolves into the mist.
I don’t have a problem with knowing who I sell a gun to. I don’t demand an absolute right to sell or give my gun away to whomever I wish. As long as there is a legitimate market for my weapons.  You can argue for unfettered constitutional rights, but you can’t yell fire in a theatre. No right is absolute when it conflicts with the rights of others. What right is served by an unregulated stream of firearm sales? What harm would come of some regulation of the secondary market place? Forget the anxiety that the “gun control” people want to take away the guns and that this is a movement towards the center where the liberal lurks in darkness waiting to take our guns.

We aren’t giving the guns up. So despite our fear of national registration and confiscation of our guns it isn’t going to happen. Not because there are not those who will seek it, but because we will not give it. It is way past the point where they can recall our guns.
There are compromises which may be appropriate and there may be concessions which are legitimate. There is a crisis of violence in our country. We are having a real bad time of it. And a responsible and accountable gun community doesn’t have to barricade the doors against the rest of the country. We can do our share to preserve our freedoms and rights. We can retain the actual right to own and possess while giving up the unnecessary ability to sell our guns any damn time, to any damn body we please.

Now you can come after me and revile me. But I am not the enemy. I am just a simple-minded guy who doesn’t understand why I am living in a foxhole all the time with my head up our collective ass spouting sound bites about the assault of the 2nd amendment and blaming our predicament on liberals. My issue is the preservation of self-defense, hunting rights and sporting rights. So if I can make changes in the law and behaviors and still keep my real rights then I am ready to take my medicine. In the meantime, I own a gun safe. I do not leave any gun unattended in my car or home. Just a little something we all could be doing to prevent guns falling into the wrong hands.

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Know what I mean?

From whence comes this compulsion of religious or philosophical mandates on how all others shall live? I know my friend Gary Coursey would know the answer but I don’t. It boggles my mind that so many religions dictate what is not just good, but what is empirically good for all persons in all situations. See, I do not encourage abortion. But I never had an inclination to tell anyone else how to treat their body in reference to this. I mean with or without reference to religious dogma, I never thought for a second it was my place to impose rules on how you treat your body. Now I get that right to lifers believe it isn’t about your body but about the unborn, but who is really already born because they believe it.

I do not tell others what to smoke, drink, sex or otherwise conduct themselves in private. I do believe there should be rules for public behavior but I have little use for rules governing your private affairs. I have some suggestions. Don’t drink, don’t drug, don’t smoke, don’t overeat, recycle, etc. But that is a far cry from mandating legislation to impose my value system. If everyone could have their way and establish laws which comported to their beliefs, we couldn’t do shit!

The gun folks want their guns, someone else wants to ban them. Druggies wanna get high, others want to prohibit it. And the list goes on ad nauseam. There is no unassailable position. There is no high-ground which can be staked out so as to prevent disagreement.

I was taught by Mrs Levenson in the 7th grade that the right to pursue happiness meant to do what you want as long as you did not harm others. I didn’t like Mrs Levenson, she was mean. But I paid attention in class, perhaps out of fear, I am not sure.

I once was arrested for the possession of $10 worth of marijuana. I was charged with felony possession and went to court. The judge told me that I was facing 6-15 years in prison. I was 17 years old. I realized then and there that Mrs Levenson was wrong. I believed her but she was wrong, and that fact has been driven home over and over through the years.

I owned a nightclub in Texas. A man got drunk and passed out in my place. In my ignorance,  I told the manager to let him rest until he got sober. NOPE! That is against the law. You cannot have a drunk in your bar. It is illegal. You have to wake them up and throw them out.

It is against the law for consenting adults to have sex for money. Mrs Levenson did not teach me these things. She left me a bright-eyed though sleepy youth, who thought that the constitution of the US would allow me the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as long as I did not infringe on the rights of others.

In honor of my Monty Python day I will end as follows.

“If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding! How can you have any  pudding if you don’t eat yer meat?