Showing posts with label GPS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GPS. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

ANARCHY 2012

The U.S. Constitution has been a model for other countries since its inception more than two centuries ago. Our Bill of Rights is considered one of humanity’s finest achievements. People from many nations have sought refuge here  to enjoy those freedoms. Yet, our current government has suspended important protections in the name of terrorism. A dangerous precedent via the Rave Act, the Patriot Act and the National Defense Authorization Act. With those and U.S. drug policies we are the most controlled and monitored society on earth.  There are cameras watching our every move on practically every street corner, every store, every mall. From the satellite above, every vehicle can be tracked by GPS  devices; there is one in every cell phone. Big Brother Is Definitely Watching. And, we’ve allowed it to happen.
Legislators are toying with interfering with our Judicial branch of government, by making laws against the court’s  unpopular decisions. Whether we like them or not we must not give up our checks and balances because they are currently unpopular. Let them stand the test of time.
We must give thought to what is happening in our country and become involved. It has swung out of control, prosperity evades us, and anarchy approaches, carried in a flag with a cross. Thomas Jefferson was famous for the Virginia Statute as much as for writing  the Declaration of Independence. He organized a Virginia  colony that separated Church and State, the very choking environment the colonists left behind in England,  the new colonies wanted to reinstate in “their” particular view of God. Thanks to the Virginia Statute we didn’t have to fight that  same nightmare all over again. And now, religionists are pushing strongly for laws that inject their morality into our laws on same-sex marriage, abortion, doctors rights to counsel, planned parenthood, and other bills slipped by us by both Democrats and Republicans.
With idyllic frenzy we’ve made laws that affect our country negatively. Two million Americans are incarcerated in the U.S., most of them for non-violent drug crimes.  Billions of dollars have been spent building prisons to house all of the Americans convicted of drug crimes. For carrying a half ounce of marijuana, a man who works and supports his children can go to prison for life in California and Texas.  Now Oklahoma is considering a similar law.
We are living in a police state not only from the surveillance, and the drug wars, but an increase in Police over-reaction. Nevada police have skipped free after killing an American Woman who came to the aid of her husband whom they had just killed when they asked him for identification and he reached into his jacket for his wallet. Such things should not happen in America. Protestors tasered, more police attacks on unarmed citizens.  America  imprisons more citizens  than any other nation. The government cannot afford to pay lifetime care for people who could and should be working and paying taxes. It is  insanely expensive and yet, they are willing to pay an informant, even a convicted felon, up to $250,000 to testify against someone charged with a drug crime. Of course, what convicted felon would lie to receive that kind of cash?
America’s prohibitionist policies have eliminated freedom all over the globe and the high money paid for drugs crossing our borders has helped fuel the terrorists instead of our tax purse. It is draconian.
Now, I read where the Occupy Wall Street protests are bothering the government enough to instigate a huge anti-public relations move and that the FBI will penetrate large OWS  groups to sabotage their effectiveness, make petty arrests and harass them.
Beware!  We don’t lose our freedoms, we give them away.

Friday, November 11, 2011

SHOPPING ARTISTICALLY


We all have to shop. I’m one of those who hates shopping, for anything. But, when I’m with my grandkids, I love shopping because I can spoil them rotten. They never ask, but I prompt them, wouldn’t you like some ice cream? Maybe we should rent a movie?  I let Owen be my GPS and guide me to their favorite market, The Nugget. If you must shop, and if the place is artistic, all the better in my opinion.

Very few grocery stores have statues along the roof line carrying bowls of fruit on their heads. Gorgeous. Costly.

Instead of ugly plastic bins for recycling, an artist was commissioned to provide a cover-up, highly attractive and valuable as a work of art. I loved it. I should have thought to take pictures inside the store as well. People were relaxing, drinking a coffee at an in-store Starbucks and enjoying a pastry. I could easily see myself moving in with my easy chair and a book and staying for  the day watching people  and snacking periodically. Oh, yea!  If you must shop, do it at The Nugget style. They had stuff I had never heard of.

We tarried outside to listen to the street musicians. Owen knows the ropes. “Do you have some change Grandma?”  He put the money in the hat.
Then, I got GPSed all the way home. “Straight ahead. Slow for next intersection. Signal now…” Such a deal. Owen learning to drive by sight.

After dinner, Theo continued teaching his mother how to play Yugio, a complicated game of cards that  she struggles to learn. This was  her third lesson and she is slowly getting it,  a game the boys play swiftly with their friends all the time. I was glad it was her and not me. I remember when I realized my kids were smarter than me. Payback time is at hand.
My trip involved an appointment with  orthopedic surgeon Meehan,  in Sacramento. Good news, no surgery needed, but about six months for my hip to heal so I can go back to hiking, walking and biking. Right now, I’m limping but slowly getting better. Life is good.