31 August 2013

Libertarian Lowdown

I agree with about a third of what libertarians espouse. In particular, I agree with opposing laws that limit personal freedoms and I agree with the need for laws that protect personal privacy. It's the silly self-made-man mythology and the anti-people, Ayn Rand bullshit I can't abide.

Further, I prefer my standard bearers to have a rational grasp of public policy and the sniveling Rand Paul and the hate-filled Michele Bachmann strike me as a couple of politically-driven ignoramuses.

Congressional Approval? Sure.

Constitutionally lawful & brilliant political calculus by President Obama to first seek Congressional approval before ordering an utterly senseless and unpopular military action in Syria.

Let the conservative nincompoops and spineless Democrats in Congress fall all over themselves to bloody their hands entangling the US in yet another ill-conceived quagmire.

We'd be better off ridding ourselves of the entire Republican Party ― who demonstrably hate 99% of us ― and then shit-can all the spineless Democrats who vote for a punitive bombing of Syria to prove their war-mongering chops.

17 August 2013

Trail Signs

A backpacker walks into a bar. Barkeep asks,
"What'll it be?" 
The backpacker hands him a nearly empty 16 oz. container of creek water and says,
"Boil this, add some rocks and top it off with with your finest scotch." 
Barkeep says,
"No problem. Should I start a pine cone tab for you?"
I like trail signs. The rugged elegance of the typography routed from wood and each impression filled with white paint is pleasing for its simplicity and utility.

That trail signs also might give us poetically name destinations, navigational guidance and distances is a civilized marker of humanity frequently encountered during contemplative solitude.

What if trail signs posed more challenging choices? What if a trail sign gave us the choice between opposing world views?

What if one arrow directed us to Strive for Reality while the opposing arrow directed us to Persist in Delusion?

How many backpackers would continue to do one as they chose the direction designated by the other?