Tag Archives: rights

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Government By The People – And Some Weirdoes

In honor of “The Donald” Trump, here’s a list of the folks who rule us – or would like to.

ADHOCRACY – a committee formed ad hoc to deal with a specific issue.
ARISTOCRACY – a government or state ruled by an aristocracy, elite, or privileged upper class.
AUTOCRACY – government in which one person has uncontrolled or unlimited authority over others; the government or power of an absolute monarch.
CHRYSOCRACY/PLUTOCRACY – Rule by the rich
CLEPTOCRACY/KLEPTOCRACY – a government or state in which those in power exploit national resources and steal; rule by a thief or thieves.
COTTONOCRACY – Cottonocracy refers to planters, merchants, and manufacturers who control the cotton trade.
DEMOCRACY – a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges.
DEMONOCRACY – Theology – power of, or rule by, demons.
DESPOTOCRACY – The rule by a despot or despots; the power of despots
DOLLAROCRACY – Dollarocracy refers to a state in which private wealth determines the base of political power. It is synonymous with plutocracy
DOULOCRACY/DULOCRACY – A government where servants and slaves have so much license and privilege that they domineer
ERGATOCRACY – rare government by the workers
GERONTOCRACY – a state or government in which old people rule.
GYNAECOCRACY/GYNECOCRACY/GYNOCRACY/GYNARCHY – government by women.
HAGIOCRACY – government by a body of persons esteemed as holy.
HIEROCRACY – rule or government by priests or ecclesiastics.
ISOCRACY – a government in which all individuals have equal political power.
KAKISTOCRACY – a form of government in which the worst persons are in power
MEDIOCRACY – government or rule by a mediocre person or group.
MERITOCRACY – leadership by able and talented persons.
MILLOCRACY – Rule or government by mill owners
MOBOCRACY/ OCHLOCRACY – the mob as a ruling class
MONOCRACY – government by only one person; autocracy.
NOMOCRACY – government based on the rule of law rather than arbitrary will, terror, etc
PANTISOCRACY – a community, social group, etc, in which all have rule and everyone is equal
PEDANTOCRACY – the supremacy or power of bookish theorists
PHYSIOCRACY – an 18th-century group of French economists who believed that agriculture was the source of all wealth
PLANTOCRACY  – a ruling class of plantation owners
PORNOCRACY – government or domination of government by whores
PTOCHOCRACY – government by the poor
PUNDITOCRACY – influential media pundits, (a learned person, expert, or authority).collectively.
QUANGOCRACY – the control or influence ascribed to quangos
SLAVOCRACY – the rule or domination of slaveholders
SNOBBOCRACY/SNOBOCRACY – social class or group exercising power through snobbish influence or elitist control
SQUATTOCRACY – squatters collectively, regarded as rich and influential
STRATOCRACY – government by the military
TECHNOCRACY – a theory and movement, prominent about 1932, advocating control of industrial resources, reform of financial institutions, and reorganization of the social system, based on the findings of technologists and engineers.
THALASSOCRACY/THALATTOCRACY – dominion over the seas, as in exploration, trade, or colonization
THEOCRACY – a form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, the God’s or deity’s laws being interpreted by the ecclesiastical authorities.
TIMOCRACY – a form of government in which a certain amount of property is requisite as a qualification for office.

Did you see anyone you recognized??

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’25 A To Z Challenge – U

We have all met a few (hopefully) of those pushy, nosy, bullies who work so hard to make any of your business, any of their business – police, co-workers, relatives – in-laws and outlaws.  I have a (very) little, grudging respect for the arrogant, egotistical assholes who just come right out and do it.  At least they have the conviction of their beliefs.

The worst ones – the ones who irritate me the most – are the

UNCTUOUS

Oily, having an oily feel
characterized by excessive piousness or moralistic fervor, especially in an affected manner; excessively smooth, suave, or smug.

ones – the ones who Shakespeare described as, How like a fawning publican he looks.  The ones who hide behind a fake smile – a shit-eating grin, and still want you to give up your information, your rights, your freedom.

I’m your friend.
I don’t really want to give you a ticket.  I am just following orders.
If you just obey me, it will be much easier for you.

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Give ‘Em Liberty Or Give ‘Em Hale

For a country founded on freedom, a disturbing number of Americans are now willing – anxious – to give it up, especially if it is someone else’s.  Far too many police officers don’t want to enforce the law.  They want peace and quiet…. and control.

One of America’s best First Amendment Auditors invited his friend, a fellow military veteran, to set his cell phone on ‘record,’ and join him for an audit.  They went to a nearby DEA building, parked in the rear “Public” parking lot, climbed out of the car, unlimbered their lenses, and began walking toward the building.

They hadn’t got 50 feet before a large, strong, young, Junior G-Man spilled out of his Jeep, rapidly strode toward them and, without saying a word – without asking a question – without giving a command, he shot his right hand forward, like a punch, grabbed the friend’s cell phone, driving it into his nose and forehead and causing pain and a slight injury, snatched it from his hands and walked away with it.  That is aggravated assault, common battery, and theft of property

Local police were called.  One officer went to get the cop’s story, another came to speak to the injured auditor.  This was not to be a sympathetic victim interview.  It was an arrogant, antagonistic, blame-the-victim, cover the cops’ asses,’ assault.  That was clear from the first question.
Why did you come here this morning to record this building?
Did you say anything to the officer?
Did you stick your camera in his face?
Were you blocking the sidewalk?

In reverse order, the answers were:
We were not blocking any walkway.  A polite ‘Excuse me.’ would have caused us to move out of the way.
The injury clearly shows that it was my face that the camera was in.
His rapid, immediate attack gave no time to say anything.

The answers to the first question were;
Because I can
Because I want to
Because it’s perfectly legal to do so
Because it’s a hobby
Because it’s a source of taxable income
Because it’s educational
It’s none of your damned business and, like the other three answers, is not justification for assault and theft.
Because it’s a constitutionally protected activity – and –
Because, in 2018, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo which all public officials are supposed to read and heed.  It plainly states that, with the exception of clearly-marked security areas, the public is free to record all government property, real estate and equipment, as well as all government officials in the course of their duties.  Simply recording cannot be made into a crime.

The bias in the first question shows in its improper construction.  They did not go there that morning TO RECORD THE DEA BUILDING.  They went there to observe and record and disseminate the actions and reactions of supposedly knowledgeable and trained police personnel, to an uncommon, but unthreatening and legal occurrence.  The results were distressing!

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Religious Horseless Carriage

In order to attempt to justify their beliefs and faith, many Christian debaters make pre-suppositional claims that are the complete opposite of logic and observed reality.

With respect, his entire point on meaning is that Atheists cannot ground *their* sense of meaning in anything and therefore any sense of meaning is illusory. His argument is entirely that meaning must be grounded in something ultimate and, unless it is, it is ultimately meaningless. That strikes me as self-evidentially true and the Atheist must show how whatever subjective meaning they insist to be meaningful is, in fact, ultimately meaningful. There may be answers to that, but it is for Atheists to offer them. One cannot simply sneer one’s way out of answering.

“Meaning” doesn’t prove God. It would take the confirmed existence of a God, to prove meaning. My sense of meaning is grounded in what I think and feel. I can prove that I exist, and have opinions – which is more than the greatest winner of Hide and Seek can do. 

Nobody was arguing that the ability to provide subjective meaning proves God exists though the argument being made was that subjective meaning is not ultimately grounded and so it is ultimately meaningless. It requires something ultimate to ground ultimate meaning otherwise it isn’t ultimate. Everybody recognizes your subjective sense of meaning is grounded in what you think and feel.

This author has no evidence for his claims, and simply insists that meaning in one’s life has to be “objective” to be worth anything.  He has put the cart firmly before the horse, but sadly, I can still see the horse’s ass.  If God cannot be shown to exist then, no matter how much he wants and needs an ‘ultimate’ ground for (his) morality, my/our ‘subjective’ one is the best there is.

Businessman/philosopher Charlie Kirk went to college and university campuses to debate with students.  When he was discussing politics, education, or finance, his thoughts were clear and hard.  When a subject like abortion or transgender led him into his Christian beliefs, an eighth-grade student could embarrass him.

Archeology has never proved the Bible wrong.
In 1000 pages, the Bible says a thousand different things – some good, some bad, many irrelevant.  With the same degree of accuracy and truth, it could be said that Archeology has never proved Harry Potter wrong.  We found this magical castle/campus, but it’s not Hogwarts.  A negative cannot be proven.

I was in a bad place, but I gave myself to Jesus, and I turned my life around, and became a successful businessman.
No He Didn’t!!  He gave himself to the belief in Jesus, and the placebo effect.  He was told that if he did X, Y would occur.  He did X, and Y occurred, but the two were not related.  He was told that he needed a crutch, but never noticed that he accomplished it with his own strength and resolve, and never actually needed the crutch.

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Recycling Fibbing Friday

Pensitivity101 was recycling Teresa’s questions from May 31st 2019.  Enjoy these and hopefully she’ll be back to normal soon, even if I won’t.

1. What did the fan say?

Stee-rike three!  Yer out!  That’s from American baseball, which can be long and boring enough – but British cricket can be a retirement plan.

2. What really kicks off summer?

American TV used to speak of sport-season overlap.  Hockey was still being aired when the baseball season began.  Baseball was in full swing (see what I did there?) when basketball arrived.  Basketball was still courting viewers when football took the field, and football skated well into hockey season.  The others are not quite as bad, but football season now overlaps itself.  The final bowl game is played on May 24th, and the new season begins on June 1.  😮

3. Who rules the world?

Metric does.  America revolted against England, (And can still be quite revolting) but kept the Imperial System.  An arrogant American (Is there any other kind?) online, claimed that non-metric USA put a man on the moon.  He had some of the excess pressure released from his ego by a Canadian, who pointed out that NASA operates in metric.

4. What is the best thing to do to someone who snores?

Separate beds.  Separate bedrooms.  Separate marriages??

5. Who/what was your last unexpected house guest?

Perhaps I shouldn’t label them “unexpected,” merely unwanted.  It’s springtime in Canada, and the tiny, little black ants are oozing into my kitchen.  At first, I thought they were just ‘floaters,’ those little black dots inside my eyeballs – until one of them tried to arm-wrestle me for my sandwich.  Off to the store I go, to purchase new ant-traps.

6. How does a blanket keep warm?

It throws itself under my dog on the couch.

7. Why shouldn’t you snoop?

Those who listen at keyholes, never hear anything good about them.  Besides, if you’re caught loitering around, you may be asked to provide a loan, or run an errand.

8. What is the worst thing that could happen to you?

That I have a near-death experience, and someone else’s life flashes before my eyes.

9. What did the gopher and mole do when they met?

They went head to head for the mineral rights under my lawn.

10. What lurks in your backyard?

More holes than a cheap Swiss cheese.  This is how golf was invented.

Bonus question

11. What is the best way to torture someone?

The masochist says, “Beat me, beat me.”

The sadist says, “Noooo.”

 

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Smitty’s Loose Religious Change

Actually, there’s not much change left.  The God-botherers want it all dropped in the collection plate.

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” – Epicurus circa 300 BCE

The God of the Old Testament is a vindictive, bloodthirsty, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capricious, malevolent bully.

  1. If God exists, God is perfectly loving.
  2. If God is perfectly loving, then God is always open to personal relationship with finite persons.
  3. If God is always open to personal relationship with finite persons, then if any person fails to believe in God, it must be because they are resisting God.
  4. Therefore, if God exists, there are no nonresistant nonbelievers.
  5. There are nonresistant nonbelievers.
    Conclusion:
  6. Therefore, God does not exist.

The Roman Catholic Church is losing followers faster than Donald Trump.  In mid-July 2022, Pope Frank came to western Canada to make nice to the Indigenous natives, apologize for the Church’s past actions, and hopefully get more paying people in the pews.

I saw a televised interview with the Bishop of Regina, talking about Papal Bulls.  At first, I thought he meant that His High and Mightiness was doing some trick-riding at the Calgary Stampede, using techniques he’d learned in Brazil.

He started babbling about how the Pope was going to issue a Papal Bull, officially rescinding previous Papal Bulls on the Discovery Doctrine, and colonization, like this first one, below, to build bridges, and bring the relationship between the Church, and the Canadian Indigenous, more in line with current social conditions.

AD 1493; Pope Alexander VI issues a papal bull or decree, “Inter Caetera,” in which he authorizes Spain and Portugal to colonize the Americas and its Native peoples as subjects. The decree asserts the rights of Spain and Portugal to colonize, convert, and enslave. It also justifies the enslavement of Africans.

The interviewer asked if this document was in process right now.
Well, no.  Not yet.
When could we expect it?
Well, he didn’t exactly know.
Turn around and face the other way, Bishop.  It’s hard to understand you when you’re just talkin’ outta yer ass!
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Overheard on the Interwebz

Human beings eat meat and vegetable matter.  Vegans don’t eat meat, just vegetation.  If the Big Bang created humans, it wouldn’t have known what we would eat, so it couldn’t have created anything for us to eat – therefore, God created us, because only He would know what we would eat.

I don’t know how anyone could be this dumb, and not be on life-support.  The Big Bang was an occurrence, it isn’t/wasn’t A Thing, and it didn’t create human beings – or anything else.  It was the unfolding of a singularity, into the Universe we now inhabit.  Abiogenesis created the first primitive life forms, and evolution through thousands of intermediate forms, finally produced human beings.  At every step along the way, each form ate meat of some other form and/or vegetable matter.  It was what was available – no planning ahead (or God) needed.

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I live up here in Washington State.  Some of the teenagers do stuff like get their nose pierced, or dye their hair blue.  There aren’t any real Atheists, just people desperate for attention, who claim they are.

Are you related to the fool above??!  There might be the faintest of possibilities for that, if Atheism were visible or obvious.  Unlike having blue hair, or gauged earlobes, Atheists don’t run around with signs, declaring their (lack of) belief, or shouting it in your face.

You won’t know whether I, or anyone else, is an Atheist until you ask, or make some stupid, unsupported claim and get argued with.  My Atheism is not like a trendy jacket that I just put on when I want to impress someone.  It is as much a basic part of me as my name, or my Scottish heritage, and I am far past the teenage – or Christian – need for attention and peer support.

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Where America Went Wrong

I’m pretty sure it happened somewhere between Plymouth harbor, and Plymouth Rock.

Great leaders have great ideas, and make great plans…. and then their selfish and moronic followers mutate them into something against their own best interests – and everyone else’s.

The Pilgrim Fathers (because they listened to the Pilgrim Mothers about as much as Arabs listen to Muslim mothers) sailed their flocks across the Atlantic to obtain freedom from religious harassment.

The Pilgrim rank and file, many of whom were quite rank, and abrasive, found a wide-open land with no controlling central government – a place where might was right, and inter-racial policy was established at the point of a flintlock.

These greedy idiots set a pattern of confusing freedom with rebellion.  Their descendants mistake liberty with licence.  They seize all their ‘rights,’ but refuse to accept responsibility.  They have turned independence into anarchy.

They care only about themselves, and not the country, or their fellow-citizens.  I ain’t getting’ no dang COVID shot, an’ I ain’t wearin’ no faggy mask.  40,000 folks was killed by firearms last year.  I got no gun trainin’, and I stick my loaded Glock under my pillow, where the kids can find it, but you can take my gun away from me when you can pry it outta my cold, dead hand.

There are several thousand middle-school graduate, ego receptacles, who call themselves Sovereign Citizens.   They claim that they are not part of the country, and are not subject to the rule of government.  They hold jobs in ‘the country,’ and accept payment in coin (bills) of the realm, but refuse to buy the land that they occupy, or pay taxes to fund the roads and infrastructure that they get to use.

Politics and religion are the two arenas where this problem is most noticeable.  #MeToo has become me only.  Red States vs. Blue States….  😯  Co-operation and compromise have become four-letter words. Freedom has become something that is not applicable to the whole, but rather, something that has been appropriated by the most vocal fraction.  ‘Woke’ is no longer a joke.  It is a tsunami of ego-trips that is washing away all care and consideration for others.  If only these arrogant assholes could be taught some good manners.

The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read.  The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think.  The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is.  He confuses it with feeling.  Once upon a time, schools used to teach students how to think.  More recently, they’ve been teaching students what to think.  Many of them have finally reached the point of teaching students not to think.

Is there a solution to this situation??  I fear not.  Perhaps it is just best to stand well back from the imminent, inevitable explosion.  Make friends with a ‘prepper,’ hope for the best, and ride it out.

If we’re all still here, I’ll see you again in a couple of days.  Keep your powder dry.   😳

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WOW #38

Dictionary

The obscure English Word Of the first Week of November is

 Turbary.

This word means the legal right to cut turf or peat from ground belonging to somebody else. It was important, upon a time, because peat was a specific and limited resource in certain regions; but who’d have ever imagined that the rights to cut it actually had its own specific term?

Only in English, the language of a million plus words and a history of mugging other languages for their vocabulary and then chasing them down a dark alley and riffling their pockets for even more.

I don’t think that anyone would want to come to my place and cut sod, but I wouldn’t mind if some nice person cut my lawn.

Poor antiquated ‘Turbary.’  A few people must still cut peat to use as fuel, but electricity and gas being piped to almost every home in Britain, has relegated it to the back of the top shelf of the Dictionary’s closet.  It is not alone there.  The writer of a recent post that I read was amazed by the existence of the word ‘defenestration,’ which means throwing something, or someone, out of a window.

“Was there really a lot of that going on, back in the Middle Ages, that they needed to create a word to describe it?”  Watch/rewatch the movie Braveheart, where Longshanks, the King, casually tosses the ‘friend’ of the gay prince out of the tower window.  “Clean that mess up!”

Would you like a real challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word.  I had trouble enough just composing this short little post.  I can issue a challenge with the word ‘turbary,’ I try to keep this a G-rated blog site.  I couldn’t challenge you with a word like dongle.  I know you lot.  😆

 

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What a Bunch Of Boobs

Aghast

It’s been a summer of bare breasts in Canada – and outrage, and complaints, and moral entitlement.

It started a couple of weeks ago, in Guelph, ON. An 8-year-old girl at the splash pad of a municipal pool was told by a teenage male attendant, that she had to put a top on. The pool’s rules insisted on it for any female over 4. Her mother was aghast, and angry, that she had been discriminated and sexualized.

The next day, with a lawyer’s aid, and serious discussion with various local bureaucrats, it was admitted that a public pool had no legal right to enact such a rule. In a spin-doctor defense of the life-guard, the Recreational Department claimed that he was probably just trying to prevent any complaints.

This is the city where, in 1991, three 19-year-old males, returning from the park, stripped off their shirts on a hot muggy day. The 19-year-old female with them did the same, and was stopped and charged with ‘committing a lewd act.’

Angered more by the double standard than the possibility of a $170 fine, she went to court with a prepared lawyer, and what was expected to be a five minute, Pay-The-Damn-Fine hearing, turned into a two-day, he-said-she-said trial, where the language of the law was shown to be sexist, moralistic, and so sufficiently vague as to be unenforceable. It was reported that the law was in place to prevent complaints.

Suddenly, a precedent had been set, that women in Canada could legally bare their breasts in public, as long as it was not for commercial gain.

Somewhat more recently, three local sisters, in their early 20s, set out for a bicycle ride around town. On their way home at dusk, on a warm, muggy evening, they also decided to remove their shirts to get cool. Wouldn’t you know it; not one of them was wearing a bra.

They were stopped by a female police officer, who maintained eye contact, and warned them to be careful riding through some road-construction areas. Several blocks further on, they were stopped by a male police officer, who ordered them to put their shirts back on, insisting that there was a bylaw, and that police had received complaints.

When one of them denied that they were breaking any law, and another pulled out a cell-phone and started recording the proceedings, suddenly it became all about whether they had lights and bells on their bikes. They did!

The next day brought an hour-long phone-call to the Police Department, where they were put on hold three times, till someone actually found out that there is no such bylaw. They have lodged an official complaint. Why am I not surprised to find that the oldest is a Grammy-nominated singer/performer, with a career to support? Local TV, radio and newspapers were soon notified.

BC Mountie

Two young mothers in British Columbia, left the kids with the dads, and headed to the beach for an afternoon of sun, sand and freedom. They found a secluded dune, spread their towels and dropped their bikini tops. Fifteen minutes later, a young RCMP officer marched a quarter-mile across the Sahara beach in his shiny shoes, to order them to cover up, because there had been complaints.

They also are bringing an official complaint for embarrassment and harassment, because there is no bylaw prohibiting topless sunbathing.

You have to be very careful how you speak to a police officer, because they take themselves very seriously. Most don’t care about obedience to legislation; they care about social peace and quiet. It disturbs and angers me that so much time and effort is spent ‘assuaging complaints’ instead of enforcing laws. I am supremely disappointed that police officers either don’t know the laws they claim they’re enforcing, or that they intentionally lie to civilians to get their way.

Were I one of the beach ladies, I’d have been very tempted to reply that I was already obeying the law, and was not the Complaints Department. If my daughter decides that she requires an abortion, we don’t care if you and your Fundamentalist Church complain; we will obey the law that says she can have one. If the wife and I decide that divorce is a better solution to our problems than murder, we don’t care if you and the guy with the funny hat in Rome complain; we will render unto Caesar, and get one.

I know that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but I don’t want it to be at the expense of my legal rights. There is nothing intrinsically evil or psychologically damaging about naked female breasts in public. “But what about the children??! 😯 ” Perhaps if children learned to view them as natural, and not as lures into sin, we would have less sex crime and psychiatric counselling. I know I’d be happy.  😀

#491