Living our dreams

I live my own dreams.

It's perhaps just the luck of the draw. Some are destined to dream their dreams and only dream of living them. There are also those who dream real dreams, believe they are but dreams, soften the edges of those dreams, and chase the shadow. Then there are those who live them.

We all dream.

We cannot avoid it, and even if you believe you do not, you're only deceiving yourself. When you wake up from a dream and can't remember it, it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Even if all you remember is closing your eyes and waking up, you dreamt while sleeping. However, when we dream, our conscious mind and subconscious mind synthesize a fantastic world of abject horror and unfathomable jubilation. The real world (or what we would like to believe is real) is a muddling in between those two extremes. But it is with the help of this muddle that we are able to see the extremes. Our dreams are a composition of the glorified muddle.

But it is that composite that gives us hope. Perhaps not a particular subconscious REM romp, but our hopes, dreams, and aspirations. They come from within us and without us. They give us something to strive for. Something that we might become, or attain. And, we must give them life. We cannot allow them to remain mystical mental illusions. We must live them.

It's something that I've done all my life. Of course there have been exceptions, but on the whole, if I have a dream, or aspiration, I put myself to work to attain it. If I want to sing a duet for someone's wedding, I do it. If I want to write a great philosophic work, I do it. If I want to travel the world, I do it. Sitting on my hands was never an option. It allows a meaningless reality to consume me. Our reality does not have to be meaningless, and we can consume it.

Live your dreams.

Getting Back to "The Issues"

I love it when I hear democrats say, "Let's get back to the issues." 

Historically, in elections, when democrats focus on the issues, they lose. That is why Obama has spent so much of his time on a soap box talking about a vague hope, and an unclear, but nonetheless forceful mantra of 'change.' 

And, focusing on the issues does not mean calling McCain Bush and trying to tie him to that administration. That is false campaigning. If they really want to focus on the issues they need to talk about McCain's record, not Bush's. And, if they really want to focus on the issues they need to tell people what an Obama administration would do to 'change' things. If they told America more about Obama's plans, most Americans would disagree. But, people don't vote on issues they don't know about, so instead they vote on character and personality, or, what they perceive as character and personality. So, let's talk about the issues:

Obama wants to cut taxes for the 'middle class' supposedly, and make up the difference by taxing those who make more, making our already unequal tax distribution more top heavy. 

However, his definitions of 'middle class' and 'rich' are not correct. Contrary to popular belief, people who make six figures, aren't necessarily rolling in dough. And, even people who make upwards of $50,000 a year aren't either.  And part of that is because they are taxed like they are rich, when they are not, and then those who make significantly less than them pay nothing. 

Obama wants to make more bureaucracy and government work programs like FDR did, federalizing medical coverage, and creating an 'Obama's Youth' movement. 

Now that might seem all well and good on the surface, except that when the government takes over any large organization or task, it tends to be miserably inefficient. The argument of 'you will pay less for your coverage' may be true on the surface, except if you pay less, you get less, and on top of it, you're not really paying less. To cover everyone's new "free" medical expenses, taxes will go up. And, those taxes don't go to R&D, new techniques, better training and better facilities. No, those taxes go to a new middle man. A technocrat who works for the government and tells you what the government will and won't pay for. The doctors will get paid a flat rate (regardless of their years of schooling and amassed debt from that schooling), and they will be forced to see ALL patients (even illegal aliens). But, so what?! Well, that means that doctors have less incentive to do their jobs well, and reduces the amount of time they can spend on patients, thus causing your "free" coverage to be worth just what you supposedly did not pay - nothing. 

The moral is, don't let politicians trick you into thinking you are getting "free" anything. The truth is, you pay for it. You know how everything in DC is "free"? That's because your federal taxes pay for all those museums and monuments. So, while it might appear to be "free," it's really not.

And, on liberal blogs, and news article forums I read elitist sentiments like this: "The American people are stupid. They are so easily duped by the republican machine. And those people in middle America aren't really Americans, and I sure as hell don't want them to run my country."

Wow. These comments come from people who live in big population centers on both coasts, who have no idea that most of what that they eat, and the electricity that runs their homes comes from those "people in middle America who aren't really  Americans." I love how people who live in big cities claim this moral, intellectual, and social superiority over those who live outside the city. It's a bunch of crock. Guess what? The kids who have an hour bus ride to their school from a podunk farm in rural Montana are often better educated than most inner-city kids. But, people who make these kinds of comments, that despise others who think differently than they (and call them stupid for not agreeing with them) are not inner-city products. Most of them have been fed from silver spoons, receiving their education at private institutions. Oh the irony!  

People vs. Animals

I love animals.  Let me just start with that.  I love them.  They have no malice towards anyone. I know that at least dogs are as close as it comes to complete, unconditional love.  However, I find a problem with people who put animals above humans.  I am aware that some of us consider ourselves just another animal, but to me being human is quite different.  Yes we need similar things that our pets do, like food, shelter, sleep, and sex, but we are inherently different.

As humans we have the capacity to reason.  We have the capacity to emote at a level that no other known creature has yet proven to be able.  We can choose.  We can create and save life better and more thoroughly than any other known being.  Yet, people still often put animals above humans. Many wealthy millionaires have put their prized fish, canary, or cat ahead of their own offspring on their last wills and testaments.  And the reason why is actually not too hard to see.  While we as humans are indeed capable of extremely intricate creative processes and reasoning, and although we can emote more effectively than any other creature, we often do not use our blessed prowess in the best of ways.  We quite often can become far worse than any of our greatest accomplishments or abilities.  We can destroy, kill, and manipulate far better than any other creature.  And that makes us a dangerous potential.  

But, it is the ability to choose that gives hope.  It allows us to see why we are better than animals.  We can choose an almost infinite good, or an infinite evil.  Animals cannot.  While I appreciate a pet's loving devotion and would never want to see any living creature suffer needlessly, given the choice I will always choose human life.  A human life, because its potential for good and evil is unsurpassed, is always more valuable.  

I see protests and demonstrations by PETA, and by other private citizens and organizations for the better treatment of animals.  And, sometimes they are justified.  But if they ever equate animals with people, putting them on the same level, I turn my back.  We are not animals.  We never will be.  Our capacity for evil and good is too great.  While I hope more choose the good, no one can control another's soul.  We make our choices, and we must respect people's right to choose their own.  Animals are not at that level.  They never will be.

I Love Big Hair

One of the joys of life that is simple and yet wonderful, but often overlooked for "more important things" is BIG hair. I know you're probably all thinking Afro puffs and dreadlocks or even Goldilocks. Well, I'm being more general. More basic. More obvious. I love big hair.



I know many of you women have discovered, after cutting all your hair off, that you are no longer referred to as "hot" or "beautiful" but rather as "cute." And in my mind...rightly so. The only ladies that can pull off the no-to little hair look are cancer patients and Halle Berry. For the rest of you, keep your beautiful cascading locks of loveliness. If it's too much for you to handle, and you wish you had been born a boy, so you wouldn't have to be the object of ridicule or the Goddess of Pantene Pro-V or Herbal Essence shampoo, tough luck.



Flowing locks though, do not have to be just for women however. Remember Duncan McLeod? The Scottish Highlanders are famous for their big hair. And guess, what?! I am one. So I am allowed, and should even be encouraged to grow my coiffeur even longer. That being said, let us remember Fabio. I can't believe it's not butter, and I can't believe you still haven't cut your hair after all of these years. Remember how he was riding a roller coaster at an amusement park and got hit in the face by a goose? That was a great story. But his hair saved him. It always did. It took the attention away from his squashed face and put it on his gorgeously conditioned golden locks.



You might ask yourself, what brought this post on? Well, yesterday I was transfixed when I saw a big haired Goddess walking down the street. I felt it only right to pay tribute.

Insomniac with Michael Powers

Ah sleep I wish I knew thee! I remember those bygone days of deep REM stages and comfy pillows and horribly saggy mattress cushions. It was just you and me. I could talk to a monkey, fight with the transformers and visit friends in Florida all in one night. But now, unfortunately my nights are filled with awakedness. And although it rhymes with nakedness, it is nowhere near as good. Working the graveyard shift is bad enough, but working extra-long graveyard shifts is death to my once dear friend sleep. I hope to find him again...but you never know.