Nouns: The scourge of civilization

The ongoing battle of Western Civilization against nouns. That's right, nouns.

• War on Poverty
• War on Obesity
• War on Crime
• War on Drugs
• War on Terror
• War on INSERT NOUN HERE

I think it's genesis is this, we have an issue in which the causes of X are ignored. Since the most rationale steps are avoided, we need to declare war on it. Having a Czar helps, we need a leader to wage this war. If the war is lost we'll have somebody to blame for it's failure. We'll keep appointing Czars, they'll keep losing. We have the choice of blaming the foot soldiers or it's leader. If by chance X is won (we only win a few battles in reality) you can bet the foot soldiers efforts dissolve with the sands of time. Declaring a war simply satisfies our need of having something be done about it, however ineffective it is.

Even though Julius Caesar is seen as a brutal tyrant who ended the Roman Republic, why the infatuation with the word "Czar" of which is directly related to Caesar?

Hint: We aren't winning any of them. They aren't meant to be won, but to generate income.

Cui Bono?

The fact we declare war on anything implies a need for it's existence. When you declare war on anything you give it power over you. You acknowledge it and give it meaning.

POVERTY
I heard a piece on NPR where someone was looking into the causes of poverty. Have we as humans not figured this out yet? "We've found the causes are related to a lack of education." No shit. Is this truly a cause of poverty or in fact, a symptom? People need money for an education. Even a free education costs money. How would the wealthy enjoy the pleasures of wealth and class without the poor? The rich need the poor.

Poverty; it's not going anywhere.

CRIME
Cops and attorneys need crime else they are out of work. What would we do in a world without crime? There is a whole system built upon crime and it's continuation. It helps supply cheap labour for corporations. Think Wackenhut. Stupid criminals supply an endless amount of shows for Cops (Whatchagonnado). Of course most people don't want to be victims of crimes. Better you than me.

Why are most people not afraid of crooks in business suits, which seem to do the most harm to a larger number of people?

DRUGS
What is an illegal drug? It's a drug the government doesn't want you to take. They have no problem if it's a prescription drug that will relieve "restless leg syndrome" or prolong your misery. You most likely can't afford it without insurance anyway (you do have insurance don't you). Illegal drugs are a substance that doesn't generate legitimate revenue. Beer and cigarettes are fine as long as you are paying taxes on it. Alabama is one state that doesn't not have a state lottery (Yeah, Alabama is backwards) but at least they have principals. Gambling is illegal, unless it's approved by the state, like some drugs. There is more money to be made having drugs made illegal than legal. It's rumored a few enterprising people in government run illegal drugs to fund covert operations. I can see how this is likely. How did prohibition work out? It didn't. Prohibition empowered organized crime and made a lot of people wealthy.

We are waging a war against illegal drugs which seem to be in the minority of use in comparison to legal drug use (mainly prescription drugs). The "War Against Drugs" is failing against a minority of users? Isn't this a little backwards? The vision of a "Drug Free America" doesn't apply to pharmaceuticals.

Illegal drugs may produce hallucinations, euphoria and change your perspective of life. Prescription drugs may produce diarrhea, constipation and blurred vision. Which sounds more appealing to you? You'd think we prefer the misery of the side effects from legal drugs swiftly approved by the FDA.

Think of the millions of years of evolution that produced marijuna, peyote, poppy and salvia. Now consider modern science and technology, in such a short span, has the audacity to believe it can out perform nature.

TERROR
The "WOT" is an interesting beast. It's actually terrorism but it' use is effectively a verb (terrorize), which is a tactic. How can you win against a tactic? We are fighting a war in Iraq against multiple "enemies" (factions) who use unconventional tactics. We aren't really fighting Iraq, but "terror." We aren't really fighting Muslims but "terror." We fight a nebulous group of people who hate us for our freedoms, operating in "cells" who are isolated from other "cells" with little or no communication with their leaders and mostly work independently of them. Must really be difficult to plan shit in this scenario. Powerpoint must be a tool of terrorism as well. I'd ban it (I hate Powerpoint anyway).

This basically means (to me) that anyone operating outside the interests of the US or Western powers is a terrorist. Ironically the word "terrorist" is being hijacked to be inclusive of anyone with in opposition to Western interests. The real war taking place is a war of ideas and choice. I equate terrorism with cowardice. I also believe if react to it you give it power, which increases it's effectiveness. Terrorism works regardless of which side of the issue you're on. People fear death and will fight against something even if it results in what they fear the most; death. How odd.

"The Oracle is mad, mad I tell you. We fight because they hate our freedoms." What freedoms? Few of us own a house, our car, or aren't tied to debt in some way. Freedom to be financially indentured for the remainder of our lives? If any thing, it's a limited freedom to operate within predefined limits. We aren't free, regardless of what you've been told.

I hear we are winning the war in Iraq. Gone are the days where you actually need to finish anything to declare a victory. You can continue "winning" as the game is being played. If it were a Monopoly game I'm sure you'd lose interest after a while.

OBESITY
People are going to eat to much. People are also not sufficiently physically active enough to work off the calories consumed either. Modern life isn't helping.

Thanks to our Corporate feeders we can get ample supplies of refined sugars, dye #2, saturated fats and an alphabet soup of chemical additives 98% of the population can't pronounce. Maybe genetically altered foods. Shrink-wrapped pre-packaged foodstuff you can throw in a microwave oven with a shelf-life of 10 years.

"Having a healthy heart means consuming less sodium." The majority of the foods you buy contain more than 50% of the recommended daily requirement. Corporations are not going to reduce the levels of sodium because it would harm the industry. "We'll police ourselves." They place the burden on the consumer. "We are only responding to market demand" (and consumer ignorance) it's ultimately your fault for being a fat-ass, fat-ass.

IN CONCLUSION

Rather than prevention we treat the symptoms because that's where the money is dear reader.

These wars will go on forever and new wars will be added to the list. We'll functionally be at war with everything to some degree. You'll have few actual allies facing a multitude of enemies and competing factions. Divisions within your own camp may be debilitating. The battles exist on all fronts. Full scale asymmetrical warfare against you as an individual. Will our minds be so fragmented we will not be able to form a consistent train of thought to better fend of the invaders of our mind?

I believe the foundation of Western civilization depends upon the continuance of vices. No vices, no profit and the wheels of industry collapse without it. No more wars.

When are ever going to address the real scourge; Verbs?

GOOD LUCK.

To keep it holy: Obey!

Century Village unit criticized for spending $11,000 to alter elevator for Sabbath

Of course you are already in disbelief that old Jewish people are living in Florida and fighting over money. I was. Back in the day, it was simply Canadians for the winter and your common run-o-the-mill rednecks. I'm sure the Catskills can get old (and cold) after awhile.

The issue is that pushing the elevator button would complete a circuit, thus breaking the Sabbath. In order to get around this issue, it's suggested they pay to have the elevator stop on every floor on the Sabbath without having to push the button. I'd suggest taking the stairs but I'm sure this is a violation too (I guess walking in general, isn't this creating energy). A couple of Jewish people, to their credit, did not want to pay for the service.

I've heard that the Amish buy electric sewing machines, rip off the motor and hook a belt to a treadle just to get the "Zig-Zag" (not the rolling papers) feature on modern machines. Apparently the Amish don't have problems with elevator buttons on the Sabbath. By their logic they should just pull the engine from a car and have it drawn by horses.

I guess the quote, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27) from Jeshua Bar Josef (AKA Jesus) really pissed them off. Sabbath 1, Jesus 0. Sabbath Wins! He solved this problem 2,000 years ago and they still deny him? I guess it was much easier when we didn't have toilets, TVs and elevators. The spirit of the law replaced by the letter of the law.

"You experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them."
--Luke 11:46

It seems (although I could be wrong) that the Pharisees and Sadducees did not get along with Jeshua.

I've read there are well over 600 laws that Orthodox Jews live by. Incredible. You still have to give anybody credit for following them. There is also every conceivable arguments to bypass these laws which makes one wonder why follow them in the first place. Apparently they're stories of Rabbis arguing with their god and winning.

There is also the issue of Moses having written the Torah and also a oral version passed down to Rabbis eventually written down and becoming the Talmud. Seems thing are rapidly spinning out of control here because teachers (Rabbi) are charged with interpreting this law in the context of modern life. I've never seen a Jewish person actually do physical labor so I'd imagine it would be easy (I have seen them on TV but they weren't doing physical labor there either). Then again, I don't get out much or do physical labor myself.

Warning the following paragraph may or may not be related if you aren't familiar with PKD.

In Rome prior to the "Twelve Tables." The Pontifices (sound familiar?) kept the laws secret and could try people for crimes without them knowing the charge. Rome was comprised of Patricians (the elite) and Plebians (lower class). Plebians often bared the brunt of breaking unknown laws. One Plebe, Terentilius suggested actually writing them down so they would actually know the law. Of course the Roman Patricians fought this one for some time. Even writing them down yielded to speculation and required Lawyers and Priests (Pontiffs) to interpret them. Religion was married to the Roman State and I'd guess the Vatican is still the shell of the Roman Empire and holds it's power.

The empire never ended.

Religion (INSERT ANY RELIGION HERE) and the State have gone awry. To the letter of the law, based on faulty interpretation of books rewritten many times and read fanatics. Is there a grudge match between religion and politics? Secular law is trying hard to become a religion within itself. Myriad laws seem only to protect the wealthy. The capitalists Golden Rule is "Them that have the gold make the rules." It's easier to punish a man for stealing bread than a CEO who swindles people out of their pensions by cooking the books. We are shocked to hear the story of a murderer on TV and think nothing of the deaths of thousands. Killing under the pretense of honor is still murder. The weak and poor are made examples of for a specific reason: Subjugation. There are more of them and they need to believe and fear.

I wouldn't want a state or religious empire.

Interpretation: Because the simple becomes complicated and we need to find ways around them.

"...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself."
--Luke 10:27

Much easier than the 10 Commandments, but conveniently forgotten as we bomb the shit out of other people. I often make swipes at the stereotypical "Conservative Christian Fundamentalists" who are being mislead (willingly or not) because they seem to condone the killing innocent people in the name of god. These people are scary because they are preoccupied with death and Armageddon.

I guess the simple ethical treatment of other humans is not as appealing as religious dogma that seems to devolve the human mind to a state where people fight over pushing a damn button and who pays what.

Yes, there apparently is a Sabbath Elevator Service. Unfortunately the Sabbath can also kill you. I understand Judaism doesn't believe in a hell (In the Christian sense, if at all). I suspect hell is prepping for the Sabbath on Friday and the cleanup on Sunday. Maybe hell is the guilt of not marrying a nice Jewish girl like mom wanted.

Sometimes rules are made to be broken or not taken so seriously it's difficult to live.