Category: haiku

Five, Seven, Five Power Capsules

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law enforcement, epitome of nobility

There is an interesting cultural disconnect in that law enforcement officers (i.e., police) are lauded as heroes, while politicians are reviled as villains, when in fact they are two sides of the same coin.

Pop culture sells the idea that police exist to protect the people and serve justice, always trying to catch violent thugs and protect the innocent. I’m sure that many, perhaps most, police officers do some of that – I’m sure that’s what attracts so many well-meaning police cadets.  But in fact, police officers are meant to to enforce laws, which are crafted by politicians in service of a great many interests, not always those of the “people”.

Government is, and has always been unbalanced, favoring the vested interests of the elite and powerful.  In ancient times, the elite were those with personal or genetic connections to the rulers – now, they are usually those with the most money and prestige, and sometimes special interests who control large voting blocks.

The “justice” system (including police, lawyers, politicians and judges) does work to protect people, especially rich, mainstream people, but it also persecutes people when enforcing kyriarchist and oppressive laws or more neutral laws but with kyrarchist interpretations. Continue reading “law enforcement, epitome of nobility”

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How Anti-Abortion Fervor Unexpectedly Protects Girls

While it might seem that Anti-Abortion extremists disrespect women, since they are trying to control what women do with their their bodies, prioritizing procreative function, their anti-abortion fervor actually protects and promotes girls, in a weird way.

Imagine a society with a strong preference for men, a preference for baby boys, for “sons” – then imagine that same society without the stigma against abortion, where abortion is considered a free choice that anyone (woman or family) can make, for any reason.

You would have a culture where many of these son-preferring folks would exercise their freedom to choose, by selectively aborting female fetuses in favor of bringing male fetuses to term.

You would have India

“…The shortfall in the number of girls under six compared to boys has risen sharply from 4.2 million in 1991 to six million in 2001 and 7.1 million this year.”

You would have China

“In 2005 , they found, births of boys in China exceeded births of girls by more than 1.1 million. There were 120 boys born for every 100 girls. Continue reading “How Anti-Abortion Fervor Unexpectedly Protects Girls”

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God is Hate (according to some)

As an athiest, I don’t like to bash religion, which I think is mostly benign, but it does sometimes seem like the believers in a benevolent omnipotent god are promoting hate in roundabout ways.

Some weeks back, I overheard a news story about the earthquake in Turkey. They were talking about how a small family (mother, baby and grandmother) had survived the collapse of their building (their couches had provided space for them to lay) and were found alive after a day or two.  They were interviewing a man who was some kind of cousin or something and he said it was a “miracle” – that God had specifically saved them.  I was shocked – over 300 people died in that Earthquake and this man was saying it was a “miracle”?  I’m glad those 3 survived, but that’s a small relief, nothing close to an act of god – unless, of course, God is (mostly) hate and destroyed hundreds of people.  Calling a tragedy a miracle simply because it was less than 100% deadly is promoting hate.

The other recent thing that struck me was that I found that the Salvation Army believes that homosexuality is not a choice, but that it is a sin and homosexuals must not act on it. I already knew they opposed homosexuality, but what surprised me was that they realized it is not a choice and still opposed it. So, basically, God chose to torture some people with a sexual attraction that is sinful and must be avoided at all cost, while others may freely enjoy heterosexual sex (within context of marriage) as they desire.  So, again, God chooses to hurt some and please/save some.  That’s not benevolence; that is hate. Continue reading “God is Hate (according to some)”

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Would you like some embryonic fluid with that?

I don’t understand why adult human beings consider it normal/healthy to eat fluids intended for infants or fetuses of other species.

egg imageEggs are embryonic fluid (albumin + yolk) intended for a microscopic organism to grow thousands of times in size into a baby reptile, bird, amphibian or fish.

Cow with uddersMilk is infant formula. Human breast milk is meant to help babies develop into semi-autonomous children.  Likewise for cow udder milk – intended for mostly helpless newborn calves.

How the unwilling donor animals are treated is sad, but regardless of the treatment, how can these fetus/infant fluids be deemed healthy for daily consumption by adults?

Eggs & animal milk are both over-full of protein, fat and cholesterol – far more than any adult needs.  Did you know that excess protein is converted into fat?  And that overconsumption of protein can cause kidney stones and leech calcium from bones?  And  that overconsumption of fat and cholesterol can lead to heart disease?  Did you know that USA is #1 in heart disease (primarily due to overconsumption of fatty animal products like milk and eggs)?

{Their} Mother Knows Best

take other species’
reproductive secretions
how can you eat them?

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The Elephants in our Politics

The current political debates, around the debt ceiling, budget deficits and Obama’s leadership are laden with vitriol and zealotry, but are especially frustrating because of the two elephants in the room which never get addressed.

 

elephant

Pretense of colorblindness as concerns our president. Obama is our first non-white president in a country which had widespread race-based slavery less than 200 years ago and widespread legalized racial discrimination until about 50 years ago and which still enjoys a widespread, if subtle, institutionalized racism which exhorts “whiteness” as the norm and regularly punishes those who do not adopt white styles of dress, speech and culture.  Non-whites make up a ridiculously high percentage of the prison population, people living in poverty and people affected by the latest recession.

It is utterly absurd to pretend that race has nothing to do with the difficulties faced by our country and by Obama as leader of this white-normative nation.  If I could ask for one bold change to Obama’s rhetoric, it would be for him to start openly and honestly addressing the race issue.  White racists like Glenn Beck have been calling him “racist” and other epithets for (despite what artificial reasons they cite) taking what is “supposed to be” a white man’s job.  Pundits and press frequently claim that Obama is an “elite liberal” which certainly does not reflect on his political record (filled with centrist and compromise positions), but does reflect his existence – as a black president. Continue reading “The Elephants in our Politics”

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you get what you don’t pay for

Ladies who expect male dates to pay for everything up front (1st date and beyond) should expect that those men will in turn be expecting things. Perhaps sex, perhaps housewifey things, but certainly some level of sublimation.  After all, who would pay for something (that is not charity) and not expect to gain something from their purchases?

If women are serious about gaining equality, it means everything. All the boons of being a “helpless” woman fall away, including the financial ones and all of life, including romantic life, must be balanced.  Those who expect to get things without paying, get what you’d expect – debt.  Have fun cooking, cleaning and primping for your gentle-man, entitled ladies.

Chivalry Seesaw

privilege prickles
benefits mask detriments
pay in other ways

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Murder

Murder is a peculiar and elusive category of killing.  It doesn’t simply refer to intentional (non-accidental) killing nor to offensive (non-self-defense) killing.  In fact, it really has no objective meaning at all – it’s entirely circumstantial, more of an exception than a category, much like the term “cruelty”.

If killing occurs for a reason or by individual(s) that a specific other person or persons doesn’t approve of, then it’s murder?!  If the killing is sanctioned by a government (its law enforcement, military, contracted mercenaries or approved rebel forces), then it’s “war” or “collateral damage”!? If done by a non-sanctioned entity (like by non-approved “insurgents”), then it’s “murder”?!

On the other hand, someone dying of natural causes can be considered murder – such as one’s son dying of cancer (when chemotherapy, a toxic treatment was not applied), but when one’s health insurance withholds potentially life-saving treatments, it’s totally fine!  Murder is totally contextual.

Authorized Life-taking

meat isn’t murder
neither is execution
nor kills by soldier

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Republican vs. Republican

Seems to me there are two main types of Republicans which are fundamentally at odds.

There is the fake fiscal conservative type who claims to want to keep government small and lean, but really wants the government to minimize involvement with people (no social entitlements) while maintaining corporate welfare (subsidies/tax-incentives and special legal benefits or allowances) and an oversize military budget (much of that tied into corporate welfare, a la weapons manufacturers and “contractor” mercenaries).  There is also a much smaller genuine fiscal conservative group (libertarian-leaning) who legitimately want to stop corporate welfare as well as minimizing social welfare.   Both of these groups rally around the idea of keeping government out of our lives.

Then there are is the social conservative type, who wants more government involvement with certain Christian sects (e.g. prayer in schools, teaching alternatives to evolution) and they want their religious values to translate into legal restrictions (e.g., preventing all of the following: gay marriage/relationships, abortions, contraceptions, sex education and premarital sex).  What these social conservatives really want is more government involvement in people’s lives.

One group wants the government to do the bare minimum for citizens (and supposedly minimize spending), while the other group wants government to babysit people (with more spending in regulation and law-enforcement).  And yet, somehow, the Republican party is a blend of these two ideologies.  I don’t really get it.

G.O.P.  S.O.P.

corporate pleasure
legislate against sinners
find your own treasure

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Technological Advantage (why suicide bombers are obsolete)

Suicide Bombers are scary.  Terrifying even.

But why?

It’s because they are humans that have been turned into weapons.  They can’t be reasoned with; there’s no chance to defeat them.  They might be stopped by destroying the mechanics (their body), but there’s no other way, mere injury or impossible odds won’t stop them. And they’re willing to kill regular people (non-soldiers) to achieve their goal.

That sounds great, but let’s do one better – how about we use robots instead? Continue reading “Technological Advantage (why suicide bombers are obsolete)”

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the faux-moral corporation

There seems to be a newish trend among big corporations (new in the last decade) – the moral value product.  The problem is that these large companies are playing both ends of the field.  Toyota brags endlessly about their high-efficiency hybrid cars (and lately other car companies have joined in) while still hocking plenty of gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs.  Morningstar Farms specializes in vegetarian foods, but is owned by Dean Foods, who is one of the largest meat-producing companies.  Dairy-free soy milks and soy yogurts are now produced by dairy farms.

Diversification is the word of the day and this time, it’s not a good thing.  What kind of a world is it, when using moral values to determine which product to purchase ends up putting money into the pockets of companies which are doing precisely the opposite of your desired moral purpose (with many/most of their other product lines)?  Which is not to say that we shouldn’t still purchase morally (on the contrary, I think we should always and only buy products whose manufacture and purpose we can stand behind), but it’s troubling that these two-faced companies really would do anything to make a buck.

The truth is, no matter how pretty they talk, if they don’t walk the walk with their whole company and all product lines, then they’re just slick-talking  salesmen with divergent marketing.  Toyota doesn’t care about helping the environment – their Land Cruiser gets 13 miles per gallon (city), but they’d really like some money from those environmental zealots too.  Dean Foods (Morningstar) doesn’t care about slaughtering animals for food.  Stonyfield Farms doesn’t care about your lactose-intolerance or veganism.   They’re just doing what it takes to maximize profit.  And maybe it’s time for those of us who really care to start making more of our own things (starting small companies if need be)…

peddling progress
amoral snakeoil salesmen
whilst dealing distress