First Real Ramble for September

So I'm going to just blop out some thoughts that have been swirling around in my head this past week, and try to limit myself to just a few sentences each.

I firmly believe now that cell phones and texting are leading people to be less and less connected to what is going on around them. There seems to be this fear of silence, of just having time to think.

The media no longer makes people prove or support their claims. For any information put out by groups or individuals, when the media brings these people on they should question the basis for the claims. Anyone who has a valid argument or idea should be able to walk us through the steps that got them there, and clarify what is based on concrete evidence, and what is speculative. Instead all claims are published and given equal validity and not questioned as they should be.

During the past 10 years I feel like I've seen tactics previously used by the Soviet Union adopted in the US. Disinformation, torture, the inability to challenge your own detention, indefinite detention. We denounced these tactics then and they were part of the reason we held the high ground in the Cold War. I firmly believe the ends do not justify the means.

My 70 year old mother's car was defaced because it had an ACLU sticker on it.

Saw for the first time one of the nebulas in Orion with our telescope with my 10 year old son.

I've listened to the history of the 5 great religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism. In all cases if individuals lived by the philosophy if their religions, the world would be a beautiful place. But what became apparent is that the vast majority of adherents of these religions do not do that.

Every US citizen should live outside the US for 2 years to avoid the myopia that develops from growing up in the most amazing and privileged country in the world. I think people have no idea how good they have it here, but also have an unbalanced perspective because they've never lived anywhere else. Everyone would learn a lot by living outside the US for a couple of years.

I get teary-eyed every time I hear the national anthem. I served my country for 6.5 years during the Cold War and feel very strongly about that. And I'm a liberal. Being liberal doesn't exclude being patriotic.

I've come to the conclusion that people who try so hard to force their views down other people's throats, basically feel like it's my way or the highway are fundamentally insecure in their beliefs. They only way they can feel their beliefs are valid is if everyone else believes the same thing. That their belief must be "right" and all others "wrong."

Most people operate with good intent. Even those I disagree with. :)

So those are just a few of the things I've thought about the past week! Couldn't quite limit to a couple sentences with some, and some of these may end up being fodder for longer blog entries later. My hope is that at least they're food for thought for anyone who reads this as well.