Justice v. Law

Apparently, the Zimmerman verdict has been handed down.  Gonna try and keep this short-

Personally, I feel that the so-called "Stand Your Ground" laws that are in place in several states are, in their current forms, seriously flawed.  Flawed to the point of bein' extremely dangerous.  

Here is one hypothetical scenario that glaringly supports my opinion:

Let's keep it really simple.  

Say that someone, let's make 'em a man for the sake of our scenario today, goes through the appropriate process and obtains a concealed carry permit.

Then, one evenin', our guy (we'll call 'em George) is out alone, in, let's say Florida.  George encounters someone that angers him.  Whether George knows this person or not is irrelevant.  The reason for George's anger is also irrelevant.  George confronts and provokes this individual, and things escalate quickly into a physical altercation.  

Almost immediately, it becomes clear to George that he has, through his own actions and poor judgement, placed himself in a situation where he stands a good chance of gettin' his ass kicked.  George's solution?  Pull his piece and pump some hot lead into the chest of this other individual, killin' 'em on the spot.  

There are no eye witnesses.  (Well, none save for George.)  A trial takes place and, primarily due to the "Stand Your Ground" law on the books in his state, George is acquitted.  The other individual?  Still dead.  (Great line, huh?  "Still dead.")

Okay, that was fairly short.  Short for me, anyway.  But now, let's see if we can describe this exact same scenario, but apply an extreme economy of words.  Make our description of the events as short and concise as we possibly can.

Here goes-

Man picks fight with another man, then shoots and kills the other man when it appears that he is losin'.  No laws were broken.

How's that for short, huh?

So, based on either of the two descriptions of the events, do you feel that Florida is a safer place to live because of their "Stand Your Ground" law, or less safe than it was without it?

 

Here's my take-

With the law currently in place in Florida, it is now extremely easy to shoot and kill someone, anyone, at any time, and have an incredibly good chance of gettin' away with it.  Just make sure you do the deed in private.

Now, let's begin reverse-engineering our scenario, addin' more details.  I'm gonna go first person narrative on this.  More dramatic impact, I'm thinkin'-

I was out walkin', and met my sister's ex husband.  I called 'em a freakin' prick and a fight ensued.  He was a lot bigger than me and landed a couple good ones, so I shot and killed him.

Or,

I was out drivin', and some asshole cut me off on the exit ramp.  At the next stoplight, I gave 'em the finger, called 'em a freakin' prick and a fight ensued.  He was a lot bigger than me and landed a couple good ones, so I shot and killed him.

Or,

I was down at the beer joint, and some bigmouth wouldn't stop talkin' about how much money he made.  I knocked over his drink, stepped on his foot, called 'em a freakin' prick and a fight ensued.  He was a lot bigger than me and landed a couple good ones, so I shot and killed him.

Damn, y'all!  Do we really want this kinda shit goin' on?  Do we want to live in a country where a law is constructed so poorly that it can shield a murderin' bully from prosecution?

A great example of how, at times, the Law can be completely divorced from Justice.

Bullshit.

Fish

TALKIN' to GOD

When we talk to God

For whatever the cause

Does He turn toward the sound

Do our words give Him pause

Does delivery matter

When we feel we should call

A shout, or a whisper

Or no sound at all

When we talk to God

 

To pray from the bed

In a hospital room

And wait for release

From the pain and the gloom

Aware of our plight

Before we can call

Does He secretly listen

Ear pressed to the wall

When we talk to God

 

When the weight of the World

Presses down on our soul

Are our words like spun silver

Or black dirty coal

To cry out for comfort

From the end of our rope

Is it selfish of us

Our want for Hope

When we talk to God

 

The Man on the Brink

The Slight Starvin' Child

The Desperate Mother

The Planet Defiled

A plea, or a wish

Or a humble request

Will He shuffle and sort

Does He always know best

When we talk to God

 

Our witness and faith

And the praises we sing

Do these make us worthy

To ask for a thing

Great nations in Chaos

A dead baby bird

A moment distracted

Might our words go unheard

When we talk to God

 

The wait and the wonder

With nothing to show

Is it too much to ask

Just a yes or a no

Is He simply too busy

Should we brace for a fall

Are His hands to His ears

Is He listenin' at all

When we talk to God

Fish

 

 

 

 

 

 

"BLUE SKY IN A GLASS BOX"

"BLUE SKY IN A GLASS BOX"

"THE BONES OF FLOWERS"

PERSPECTIVE

The following entry began as a comment on a particular Facebook post.  It promptly outgrew that venue, so I did myself, and a buncha other folks, a favor and moved it here.  

Gonna be Upfront- It's a Downer, like Many Important Topics and Most Good Music.  But, I feel compelled to share with you (or subjugate you to) what I got rattlin' 'round in my head this  evenin'.

Bail now, or read it all and suffer the consequences, which may include Feelings of Guilt, Lack of Compassion, Selfishness, Sadness, Frustration.  Shame.

Boys and Girls:

You may not approve of the lifestyle of those that call themselves Gay- married or otherwise.  

You may not like the fact that over 11,000 Americans die from the discharge of firearms every year and, in response, a great number of Your Fellow Citizens are callin' for more comprehensive, common sense gun laws.

You may not care for people that are not Christian.  You might even disagree with some of Your Fellow Christians as to the interpretation of certain details- minutiae- in the Bible.

You may dislike people of a different race/color- perhaps, with the possible exception of those that you deem to be some "of the 'good' ones."  (How Progressive of You...)

But, consider this:

Globally, Undernutrition is a contributing factor in the deaths of approximately 2.6 Million Children every year.

Just short of 2 million Children on this Planet die every year (about 5 thousand a day) due to the lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation.

An estimated 850 million of Your Fellow Humans go to bed hungry each night. 300 million of those are Children.

16 million of those Starvin' Children are right here in our Great Country, these United States of America.

So, I reckon the point I am tryin' to make here would be one of Perspective.

Perspective: A sensible way of judging how good, bad, important, etc. something is in comparison with other things'.  (Source- Macmillan Dictionary)

"...in comparison with other things."

"...in comparison with other things."

"...other 'things'..."

Somethin' has happened to Us.

"What it is ain't exactly clear..."

It would seem (well, at least to me) that We- the Folks of this Great Country of Ours- have managed to develop some new form of, what's the best word... Laziness....?

(Note:  I suppose this, in of itself, would actually be a pretty damn impressive accomplishment.  Not necessarily one to be particularly proud of, but impressive, nonetheless.)  

Sorry.  Driftin'...

I consider myself to be a part of the Great Middle Class.  Most of the Folks in my Small Circle are considered by me, and by themselves, to be a part of that same large, diverse group of People.  But, due to some vague, yet extremely complicated mechanism, we seem to have Lost Our Collective Way. 

Many of Us have devolved into a Mass of "Over-infomed" Idiots.  We now find Ourselves subjected to an Incessant, Overwhelming Barrage of Deceit and Spin.  Every day, We awaken inside a House Afire, the halls thick with the chokin' Fumes of Greed, the Black Vapor that is the Breath of Liars.  Our Capacity for Objective Reasoning, Independent Thought, Original Conclusions based on the Preponderance of Fact- these things are no longer Shared Skills, Evidence of Strength and Solidarity.  Examples of Pride.  They now suffocate, scarcely conscious...

We, the Giant Chunk of Majority from the Middle, both Left and Right, have chosen to abandon the Cultivation of Our Power to Discern Legitimate, Searing Fact from Dogma and Propaganda.  We have traded our Bullshit Filters for Slick, Gaping Bullshit Funnels, and have tilted back our heads and allowed these to be fitted nicely down our Throats.  

No longer do We turn to a thoughtful delivery of the day's Current Events from the likes of Murrow and Cronkite.  Instead, We, through our Lackadaisical Attitudes, are content to be spoon-fed the "News" from sources rangin' from the Weak-Kneed and their Genuine, but Futile Attempts at maintainin' some scrap of Integrity with a "fair and balanced" approach, to the Shameless  Regurgitation of Devicive Sputum, virtually Devoid of Truth, the only goal to Irritate, Agitate, and Inflame.

We continue Our Downward Slide, past Legitimate Disagreement met with Reasonable Discourse, beyond Simple Pigheadedness.  Always toward a Destination that none of us would consciously choose.

An image pushes forward in my head...

A silent, grainy, black-and-white reel:

It's a Nailbiter of a Fistfight between Two Protagonists, perched upon a runaway rail handcar.  At the bottom of the Grade- Dead Man's Curve.  

The Two continue their Brutal Struggle,  appearing to be oblivious to the Far Greater Peril that looms before them.  Their Primary Objective- the Absolute Destruction of their Adversaries.  The Elimination of All Adversaries, with Total Disregard for anyone or anything that may fall under the heading of Collateral Damage.... Including Themselves.

It is so easy to see only Our Own Hurdles and Obstacles.  A weakness mastered by most all Human Children before the age of three.  And, it is every bit as easy to allow Our Own Problems to become the Biggest Thing on the Planet.  But, looked at through the eyes of the Everyman, You scarcely have a complaint.

And, as we continue to view the Problems of the World in Our Narrow-Minded, Blinders On Fashion, it's as if we've lost one eye and no longer have the ability to see things in three dimensions.  We can no longer change where we stand and see things in a new way.  Everything is flat- paper doll cutouts, layin' overlappin', but still flat, two-dimensional.  Illegitimate.  More simple than their actual reality.

Too many of Us no longer have Causes.  Now, we have something more akin to Grievances.  Our Fear of not Belonging, not being on the Winning Team, drives us to select from a Short List of Faux Injustices that have been gathered or fabricated to inflict Maximum Stress and Fear, while supplin' very little in way of Truth and Comfort.  The worst part of this is that we have been intentionally steered toward these things.   Harangued and badgered by the Talking Heads through every media outlet possible until, due to confusion or exhaustion, we give in.  We cave and accept our lot: step up, choose a side, then begin fulfillin' Our Social Obligation to parrot the Lies, Innuendo, and Fabrications that we have been so lovingly fed.

We choose to assist only if it comes with Praise, Adulation.  Why toil in the shadows if Our endeavors are to go unrecognized.  Unappreciated.  Wasted time?  When we set aside Our precious time, are we not, by default, deservin' of grand praise for our sacrifices?

All the while, the Children of Man are starving and dying.  By the tens of thousands.

Through no fault of their own.

It may well be time.  Time to consider the Dead and the Dyin'.  Each time, before we open our mouths to speak.

Perspective: The ability to perceive things in their actual interrelations or comparative importance.  (Source- Macmillan Dictionary)

Fish

FINITY?

Nearly midnight.  Dad turned in a couple hours ago, and I'm standin' on a pile of gravel in the drive.  The lightnin' bugs have all but completed their upward migration from Grass into Black.  

Stars.  

The air is cool, damp, sweet.  Tree frogs send their high-pitched trills ringin' into the Void.  I am engulfed by the Sound and the Darkness.  Both seem to press right up against me from all directions.  It's nearly overwhelmin'.  

Been drinkin'.  I reckon I'd put myself just a fraction short of drunk.  I expect others would consider my estimate to be flawed.

Nice.  Close to perfect...

I catch myself wonderin' "What if...?"  At least a thousand things wash over me all at once.  A True Flood.  

Right this second, no one knows exactly where I am, what I'm doin', or what I'm thinkin'.

I am fast comin' to accept the fact that my time here is finite.  And I was never one of those people.  

At least, I never thought I was.

~Fish

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE...?

This mornin', I came across somethin' on the Facebook that sparked me to think.  It was very simple- just an image of a sign on a metal T-post.  A sign bearin' only twelve words.  None of 'em cuss words.  No swearin', though the fourth word of the twelve was "God".  Just a simple sign, bound to a post, pounded into the ground- presumably along a property line or at the end of a rural lane leadin' up to somebody's place.

Glanced at it:  Twelve words- an instant read.  At first, I just dismissed it.  

The development of the Internet and the myriad of tools that have placed access to a world of near-limitless Facts and Information at our fingertips today is nothin' short of incredible.  However, the potential of these same tools in the hands of those who would use them to disseminate somethin' else is just as incredible.  And troublin'.  Fabrications, Distortions, Crassness, Lies- all flourish on this New Frontier.  And we become party to these kinds of things when we fail to exercise due diligence.

It has become too easy to "share" Falsehood, Provocation, Intolerance, Bigotry.  Hate.

Short attention spans, coupled with intellectual laziness and our appetite for simple, bite-size morsels of "news" and "information" (cultivated subtly, secretly, by our Manipulators) are a big part of what's goin' on.  Headlines, Soundbites, Talkin' Points, Commentary- these have dropped into the "time slot" that once was reserved for Thoughtfulness, Introspection, Study.

We have been cordially invited to actively participate in the Charade.  Menials, yes, but still Fellow Consructors in the creation of this, the grandest of all, this Ball of Confusion.  Co-conspirators in our own Brain-Washin'.  Signatories to our own Enslavement. 

Our eyes have been plucked from our Skulls, the Empty Sockets used to allow the pumpin' of Callousness and Ignorance directly into our Way of Thinkin', bringin' about the Suffocation, often the Complete Obliteration, of our Natural Intelligence, our Common Sense, our Shared Empathy.  We are bein' told that our Social Conscience is a Product of Weakness, Disease.  Disregard and Insensitivity are now viewed as Bold, Clever.  Even Comedic.

The cross-breedin' of Opposin' Philosophies in order to create a Nonsensical Hybrid that supports our Selfishness, while simultaneously strugglin' to rationalize, excuse, and disguise the very parsin' and crashin' together of details and indulgences that make up the Creature, is so Devoid of Logic that it scarcely resembles its Sires.

Devoutness is in the middle of a Bitter Divorce with Morality, and the Earth's Children are the ones sufferin' the most.  And we are all Children of Earth.

So, the twelve words on that sign?

"I believe in God and Guns...

Trespass and You will meet both."

If you love guns and are willing (eager?) to use one to take the life of a Fellow Human Being over anything, particularly something as trivial as trespassing, and you think that God, or Jesus, or Allah, or Vishnu, or whatever Deity you choose to acknowledge, is okay with that, then you may well be sufferin' from some sort of Mental Disorder.  You definitely fit the definitions of Paranoid, Anti-social, and Fanatical- in relation to both Religion and Firearms.

And, you have a really fucked up sense of humor...  

Fish