Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Mugged

Yes, I was mugged on the way to the bird feeder.

It started out rather normal. I was washing and chopping the strawberries for inclusion into the yogurt later and had the tops on the red cutting board. So I figured I'd just go outside and toss them on the bird feeder. We are semitropical so we have fruit eating birds.
I didn't get three feet out the door when I was attacked by a dragonfly. Yes, a dragonfly which landed on the strawberry tops. A foot later, three butterflies landed on the cutting board with the dragonfly. Who knew they would eat strawberries????
Everyone finally fluttered off and I continued to the bird feeder but noted my progress was observed from above by the butterflies. The dragonfly escorted me back to the front door.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Play Nice!

I hate to say those words and it's always the same people and the same groups for almost 40 freaking years. Play Nice!
We are not exactly a huge majority of the population anywhere. To be fighting among our selves is just plain stupid. To be sabotaging each other is stupider. There are plenty of people out there perfectly willing and able to do all of that for us and to us.
Who cares who is the most authentic and define authentic? For the love of any goddess, don't answer that question! I'll be here all night and day and week and year and....nope, not going to live that long. If it works for you, great; just don't try to impose it on me. Every group and every solitary and every person in every group is going to be practicing and interpreting things a little or a lot differently. This is because we are all unique. We come from differing backgrounds and have had different life experiences. When I say green, everyone thinks something a little different from Kermit to ecology to limes to lime green cars. There is nothing wrong with that! Play Nice. Life is going to be awfully boring if everyone thinks the same way. Put a 50 pound weight down and everyone will try to lift it a little differently. The important thing is someone lifts it.
Freedom of religion gives us the right in the USA, for now, to practice our religion. It also gives everyone else the same right. We may not agree with them. We may not agree with their life style. But as long as they don't try to impose it on us and they don't actually kill people outside of their faith, they have the right to practice it. That is the price you pay for freedom. Other people get to be free.
Now for the sabotaging part of the Play Nice....rushing to schedule an event so it conflicts with another group's event just to make certain "your people" can't attend that event is childish to the nth degree. I am reminded of one of the Democratic candidates in a small city down here lamenting his loss with the following words: people have just gotten tired of voting and getting nothing so they didn't bother to show up to vote. That is exactly what is going to happen to you. No one is going to show up for either event.
We hold, or at least this is the theory, our events so people can come and have a good time, be themselves with like minded people, and express our religion and/or philosophy. Where does the word competition belong in that sentence? I'll let you stew on that one. Are you so insecure in your beliefs that you fear exposure to another groups beliefs? If so, YOU have a problem not your follow pagans.
And lastly, let me address the last statement I made in a group that caused an uproar: No you can not be a Christian and a Wiccan or a Druid or a Pagan. Folks, do you have that short a memory for history? My first question was: why would anyone even ask that? The two faiths are mutually exclusive based on my God or the highway verses multi gods and goddesses. This is exactly how they managed to take over the last time if you remember which obviously you don't. Oh, you can embrace our savior and still a pagan. Here, let us build our churches on your worship site..you can still use them. Oh wow, anyone got some kindling and matches?
Being liberal, being fair minded, and being non-judgemental is NOT being a doormat and surrendering your beliefs so others can be "comfortable". It IS saying, this is what I believe and I am NOT changing. I don't judge the validity of your path, but stay off mine unless you are willing to totally embrace it with your heart, your mind and your soul. If there is any question about that, you don't belong on whatever path you have chosen. For every one's sake, find the door.
And with that, the Old Druid will return to harvesting her virtual Farm.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Sleeping with the Fishies...eerrr...Cats

Where did the tiny little bundles of fur I carried home in one hand after the dog attack go? You do remember; those cute little mewing things I bottle fed every four hours. Where did they go?

I awoke, my neck at an odd angle having moved from crick to cricket to locust singing the Paaaain song in Soprano in the key of G it's sharp. Not only that, but the odd angle of my head had caused me to bite down on the infected tooth which had joined the opera with a baritone rumble suggesting I would not forget its presence for hours to come. It appeared Napoleon had managed to confiscate my ENTIRE king sized microbead pillow and had managed to shove me off of it onto the mattress.

As the fog blew out across my sea of consciousness, I realized I was squished into one corner of the bed, teetering precariously on the edge of a broken hip on the cold, very hard tile of a floor. I gradually pushed toward the other side of the bed through the sea of fur bodies like a lumbering ice breaker and found myself wondering where those tiny little kittens I saved from certain death had gotten to as they sure weren't the gigantic fur plague that now threatened to take over my entire bed. It was then I uttered the vow of all cat lovers: "I must get a bigger bed!"

I oozed, parting the heaving mass of fur, from the bed and stumbled into the kitchen where I employed the secret weapon of all cat owners to reclaim my bed without the use of nuclear weapons. I popped the top on a forbidden can of junk cat food. Instantly, the kitchen, which resembles an undersized postage stamp, was seething with screeching felines soothed only by the reassuring plop of a wet can of something hitting their clean plate. I dove for the door to the bedroom and reclaimed my rightful spot as queen of the bed but alas, Morpheus had left without even a kiss and retreated to a realm without cats to favor another with his sweet embrace....and so I write...and so they slurp....I really do think they are working together but I can't prove it, yet.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Things you don't want to hear....

I mean it. You will be better off if you stop reading right this moment, because you do not want to hear this.

How did we in the land of the free where everyone is supposed to have a chance at a decent life begin debating class warfare? Where did classes come from in a country formed by people trying to escape the rigorous hereditary class system of Europe and Britain? How did we get here?

It's simple. No one was paying attention. No one was thinking. No one checked behind the curtain.

The latest elite are the police, security personnel and politicians.

Huh?

Let me explain. It started years ago when a few police officers were killed and someone, a really brilliant someone if you are into a police state, decided that we needed a law that made the penalty for killing a police office greater than that for killing anyone else. HUH?

In most states, murder gets you the death penalty. That includes Florida where this ridiculous law was passed. How much more of a penalty can you get than the death penalty? Do they kill you a second time? Do they prevent your reincarnation? To ask these questions is tantamount to treason even today.

Let's start with a simple question. Is a police officer's job more dangerous than any other? Your knee jerk answer was yes. Think again. More people are killed in construction accidents than police every year. Think about driving a tanker full of flammable gas down the interstate some day. Do they really have a more dangerous job than a convenience store clerk who for minimum wage risks their life every time they come to work? These men are armed to the teeth and we all hope, trained to survive in dangerous situations. Fred at the 7/11 isn't and people want the money in that register way more than anything a cop has.

And lastly on this logic thread, why is a police officer's life more valuable than anyone else's? People risk their lives every day to bring you gas to your favorite station, build your roads and houses, keep your beer fix handy at 2 AM, or just get to work during rush hour and you never know when some nutter is going to go ballistic and develop a case of road rage with a gun in hand because he thinks you cut him off in the parking lot. Heck, it's dangerous for little old ladies to walk across the parking lot with a purse but hey, their lives aren't worth that much, are they?

Yet, if a police officer is killed, you can expect every cop on the force will be on the case. If you are killed, you will be lucky if one overworked cop with 15 open cases looks into it.

And thus we created the first of the elite. Then even after Kennedy, who it pains me to say was 10x's the president Reagan was, was assassinated, no laws bringing heavier penalties for shooting politicians were enacted. However, once Reagan was winged, we needed more laws!

However, we don't need gun control. We do need to allow people to carry guns to open meetings and public places and lastly, we need to let them kill anyone they think is threatening them, unless the person threatening them is a politician or a policeman or a security guard whose lives are worth so very much more than let's say a doctor or a minister or your grandmother.

Am I the only one who sees something is really wrong with this? This is like closing the barn door after the cow is gone. The cow is lost! The barn is empty! Wake up!

This is how we created an elite class of armed people with all the resources to oppress, kill, maim, threaten, terrorize and totally circumvent the laws that have protected us, as a citizenry, since the formation of this country. We were hoodwinked.

When I was young, you knew your local policeman. You knew his kids. You knew where he lived. If you were stopped for a traffic violation, you knew you were probably getting a ticket but you also knew he was going to be fair about it. It was going to put a little pinch in your budget but you would just bring lunch and survive nicely. He/she wasn't going to cuss you out, drag you out of the car and throw you on the ground. Be honest. Last time you were stopped, did the thought that you might be face down on the ground with a boot on your back not cross your mind? Did you have any doubt you were about to be fined way more than you could afford even if you were in the right?

If a cop stops you, are you afraid? Be honest now. Would you flag a police office down and ask for directions. help or anything? Be honest.

You see, I know the answers. I have lived in a police state, actually more than one. I knew that if I was stopped I would either have to bribe the cop or kill him. Those were the choices. In Argentina, if stopped, he hands you a clip board to fill out your name and address. You place whatever this week's bribe amount is under the clip and hand it back. If the amount is right, you part company. If it's wrong, you may never see the light of day again unless you are well connected and your family can pay huge fines to get you out of jail. One thing you are certain of is you will never see your car because ten minutes after you are hauled off it will be a miracle if the frame is left in the road.

I have lived in countries where a knock on the door from the police meant at least one person was about to die. I'm not certain I don't live there now.

When people are afraid of the police, they will kill the police. Fear makes you irrational. You don't think about a jail sentence. You think you are either about to lose your life or your life is not going to be worth living. A jail sentence to a minority right now, guarantees they will never get job ever again. Jim Crow is alive and well, he just applies his talents to felons of any color. You are minority father of three kids at home with a wife and parent you are supporting, a good job on a dark road with a gun you carry for protection and cop car pulls you over for what you have no idea. Guess what is going to be an option running through your mind?

If you are angry enough at me, simmer down and listen to these two stories because I was directly involved in both of them. An ex friend's daughter had several arrests for possession of mj in her teenage years. She straightened out, got a good job as a book keeper for a firm that sells alcohol. She made the mistake of having one too many fruity drinks at a bar with a friend after work. When you are 87 pounds dripping wet, it doesn't take as much alcohol as it does for 180 pound person to get you a little drunk. She was arrested one block from the bar. Her friend, who happens to have a well connected family, wasn't although both were driving. The bartender got a kickback from the cops to id which car which person was in and sic them on her. She got her license suspended for DUI as they counted all the previous arrests that were over 7 years old, she lost her job because she couldn't be around alcohol under the terms of release in Florida and her car was booted even though her boyfriend needed it to go to work and back. They shared a car.

Now let's flash back to a meeting of the South Florida Legislative Delegation (you can look it up in the Miami Herald). I was there. The head of the delegation is so drunk he can't stand up without the assist of a wall. He staggers past 4 cops to his car, gets in and takes off out of the parking lot burning rubber where he is then followed by 2 cop cars to make certain he gets home, as he stood a good chance of not knowing where home was, and to be there if he gets in an accident. I'm sure their job was to make certain he didn't get a test for alcohol levels or a ticket. This happened every meeting that was held in Plantation. There were only 2 members of the delegation that were sober. I had to take two steps back because I couldn't stand the smell of alcohol on them when talking to 4 of them in the hallway. There is no doubt they were all 4 legally drunk. They all 4 drove themselves home and walked past at least 4 cops that were on duty. They did NOTHING. They were under orders to do nothing.

However, my friend and I were stopped and harassed on the way home by a cop because she had forgotten to put her license plate sticker on the tag. The odds he could see that sticker from 50 yards on a dark road are nil, but the odds he knew which car we were in and that we had spoken against the actions of the delegation were 100%.

Welcome to the elite. You are not a member. Your life is not worth their time or effort. You will be punished. They will not be punished for anything they do and if they are, it will be on paper only. Have a nice day.