What do you say to friends/family who equate the passage of health care reform with the decline of America? People who say “We the people need to take back the power that has been ripped from us” Especially ones that voted for Bush TWICE! WTF?

Well, part of me thinks THEY’RE the decline of America, so what can you do? I can seriously see some secessions or alterations of our country in the next 100 years. Maybe even a civil war. The trouble is that “they” are very militaristic and have guns, while “we” are pussy liberals who want peace and holding hands and such. All we have behind us is knowledge and science, and I don’t know of anyone who wanted to die for science.

You know, we all get worked up over this liberals vs. conservatives fight, and we think Oh man it’s really bad now, but it’s not. It was the worst in the 1860s, because men, sometimes brothers, fought each other and killed each other. But if you look back in history, this kind of dichotomy of politics has been going on forever. Because it’s easier to think as one of two sides. The truth is, there are a lot of sides, and a lot of answers we don’t even know. But that doesn’t mean a three-party, or five-party, or even ten-party will work.

The problem these days is the GOP looks fucking INSANE, and the Democrats look like pussies because I think they don’t want to look as goddamn insane as the Republicans look. I mean, really, conservatives look insane and ignorant right now. They’ll just latch onto whatever is said on FOX News because that’s how their society works — a faith in rhetoric. Where do they get it? I’ll give you a hint: it’s the greatest piece of rhetoric ever written.

So the GOP looks crazy and the Democrats look like cowards, and Obama is trying to be a badass but it’s hard being a badass when things are going as slow as molasses. Nobody is a badass in the checkout line at 2pm on a Sunday, right behind the old lady who decided to pay for her groceries with pennies she’s been collecting since 1924. Obama wants to be Jason Statham, sliding on the hood of his Mustang with guns akimbo, saying, “Yes we can, motherfucker,” right before he signs a bill into law, (which then explodes, of course).

If you read Obama’s tweets or status updates on Facebook, you could tell his frustration was rising. Of course, those aren’t HIS updates personally, but we all know he’s just thinking, “These fucking white assholes are trying to take healthcare away from everyone! They just want money!”

And now we have this “healthcare reconciliation” bill which is going to take FOREVER to get passed, because Republicans can offer an UNLIMITED number of amendments to it, and I think each amendment gets 20 hours of debate. So it’s basically a filibuster bill, it’ll never get passed because it’ll never be good enough for the GOP.

And I guess 10 states are suing over the constitutionality of the law: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/22/health.care.lawsuit/index.html?hpt=T1

This quote from Bill McCollum is interesting: “There’s no way we can do what’s required in this bill and still provide for education, for foster care.”

Oh yeah? What about all the countries in Europe which do just that?

I don’t hate this country. I love it, and I love the freedoms granted to me by the Constitution. But I do hate fucktards, and that guy is a fucktard.

So what we have is a break between people, which I think should be solved by dissecting the United States into different countries by way of political and religious ideologies. Basically, give the conservatives the south. They wanted it in the first place, just give it to them. (This is not a new idea, of course.) We’re so stuck on worthless numbers, like 50 states. It’s ridiculous. It’s borderline OCD, really. It just shows how materialistic this country is. Yes, everyone deserves a place to live. And in Europe, countries were generally defined by cultures (Germans, French, Spanish, etc). And I think what we’re getting to in the USA is that there are different cultures emerging. We are not a “melting pot,” nor should we be. But there is a culture of sustainability and liberalism here in the pacific northwest (and bleeding ever so slightly into Boise [Boise proper, not Idaho, believe me]), and it’s rubbing up against a culture of consumerism and capitalism and, well, mayhem, in my opinion, and I think if some of us want to enjoy a little bit of socialism and helping out the poor, then we deserve a spot of our own to do it. And ideally the US would be the place to do it, because of our freedoms, but in a funny twist, we would need more state control to make it work (that’s funny because conservatives are traditionally the ones who favor state over federal control, by the way, if you didn’t know).

Okay, so I’ve rambled on for some time now and didn’t actually answer your question. I would tell your friends and family that they’re wrong, and back it up with evidence. You will find that most people you know who spout rhetoric they’ve heard somewhere do not do any skeptical research. Instead they just say what they heard. This is as true for liberals as it is for conservatives. I think this has a lot to do with how our country works, and I mean “works” literally: I mean how *we* work. We work eight hours a day, five days a week, we are encouraged to work as hard as we can and to take as few breaks as possible. A lot of us sit in front of rectangles all day, staring at bright unnatural screens, typing on unnatural plastic keyboards and subjecting our minds to tedium. This is what a LOT of people do. A lot of people never have the chance to exercise their creativity, their passion, their LIFE, because they are chained to a desk typing, clicking their mouse, staring at their screen in a tiny cubicle. Now, as much as I love computers and what they’ve done to the dissemination of education, information, and pictures of rabbits with pancakes on their head, I also know that this is THE MOST UNNATURAL THING. It sucks away our soul. It takes our spirit and degrades it, warps it, turns it off.

Why do you think people liked Transformers? Do you think it’s because people are stupid? I thought so, for a really long time, and then I realized, it’s not because people are stupid, it’s because people are DYING. Their minds are dying, and the cheap spectacle of brightly colored things coupled with hot girls and base humor is enough to make them happy. In a way, they’re infants, excited by the simple because their minds are being destroyed by tedium.

It’s not even that they choose to be ignorant, or choose to ignore science and medicine and sociology. It’s that it’s too much for them. It places a pressure on them that will make them crack. This is why those “man on the street” interviews, where a clever liberal person will debate one-on-one with a conservative about, say, healthcare reform, are so depressing — because what you are witnessing is a person who has built a bathysphere around their heart because it has been weakened through a lack of, in my opinion, art, culture, science, medicine, good food, good wine, good books, friends who love you even when you’re broken, fantastic, sometimes kinky sex, standing on the top of a mountain and enjoying the view rather than being proud that you climbed a fucking mountain, fucking in a bathroom stall, smoking pot, laughing at a clever joke, not a stupid joke, life, love, LOVE and ART. Being together, not apart.

Our country has become one where everyone stays inside and talks to each other through computers, rather than going outside and talking face to face.

Not here in Portland so much. Portland I think is destined to become the first fully sustainable city, living and working on its own, without outside influence. Just you watch. We’re already pretty damn close.

Oh, christ, I could go on about this forever, so I’m going to stop. Please remember that if you ever meet me in real life, I probably won’t ask you about the fabric of your skirt, or who’s playing in the big ball game tonight, or how cold it is today. But I will ask you what it means to love.

Anyway, is there really any difference between imagination and reality? How do you know?

This is a really fun question to think about. I have a couple theories. There’s this idea in quantum physics that there are an infinite number of parallel universes that mirror our own. If that’s the case, then there is no difference between imagination and reality, because infinity implies everything; that is, if it can be imagined, then there is a universe in which it exists (think rule 34 but for the universe). So there is a universe where unicorns exist, a universe where Rush Limbaugh is a decent fellow, and a universe where you are the opposite gender that you are currently.

Moreso, my belief is that if you can imagine these things, then you are not really imagining, but tapping into those alternate realities. So when you imagine a unicorn, you’re actually linked with a parallel universe in which unicorns exist.

Of course, this really nerfs the idea of imagination, but I don’t mind. I like the concept of all things existing at all times, but us being only fixed into one thing at one time, probably because that’s all our consciousness will allow. I suppose when we die we ascend to a new level of consciousness where we can perceive all realities at once. This also relates to the theory of our “soul” being energy, and our energy transferring into all things when we die. It’s just that we transcend the third dimension at that point — we become space AND time, and perhaps much more.

So, in theory, death could be the merging of ALL consciousness, of those who died at least. As much as I enjoy having my own identity, the idea of being a part of Everything seems incredibly cool, too.

This also relates to the idea of “Heaven/Hell,” or reward or punishment for our earthly deeds — that is, when we are alive, we are striving for this higher consciousness that potentially awaits us in death. HOW we strive to achieve that is what religion becomes: a system of dogma and guidelines for preparing your soul for the afterlife, for the acceptance of higher consciousness. If we do not prepare our souls, then we do not achieve this higher consciousness (Heaven) and we become … nothing? (Purgatory) or something worse (Hell).

Ahhhh, I fuckin love this stuff!

Also if you want to ask questions, do not hesitate!  I answer every single one of them.  http://www.formspring.me/zornog

Oh yeah I have that little widget to the left too I forgot about that.  Anyway!

how do you deal with loss?

I tend to get very stoic. This is a trait, I think, that I inherited from my mother. I’ve been very lucky in that not very many people close to me have died, save for my grandpa and grandma. My grandpa Jack had a very unexpected stroke when I was young. Jack was a busy guy, he owned horses and a small ranch, and was always working. He had served in WWII as an engineer in Australia, building bridges. He severed the tip of one of his fingers and I remember he had what looked to me to be a bit of bone that stuck out of his finger. I always thought that was awesome.

One day he had the stroke and fell off a ladder he was on at the time. We went to the hospital and learned that his entire left side (I think it was left, I’m not too sure) was paralyzed. It devastated him, a man who would get up early to feed the horses, to be bedridden, and I remember the days soon after were spent with his surliness and anger. It scared the shit out of me, the whole thing: to be struck down, to be bedridden. I couldn’t understand when he spoke, and that frustrated him even more. I wouldn’t say I was particularly close to my grandpa, but we were still family, and it was hard to deal with it. So I think I entered Defense Mode and just shut those emotions off for a while.

After a year or so Jack’s viewpoint changed, he mellowed out and did physical therapy and regained a bit of his left side and became relatively happy again. He was still mostly bedridden, though he did sometimes walk with a walker. He seemed to find a new happiness in this different world, and we were happy for him.

A few years later, he died, and we had a memorial, and I remember being very stoic about the whole thing, probably because I was too young.

And then some odd years later (ten? twelve?) my grandma died, after a lot of complications with diabetes which eventually took both her legs. The truth is that she likes candy and sugary things and kept eating them even after everyone said You Must Stop, You Have Diabetes. I can’t say I blame her — she was old and did what she damn well pleased. You get that luxury when you’re old.

Anyway she died and I was stoic then too. Went to the funeral and was sad but kept it down.

Then a few days later, maybe a week, maybe a month, we had a big party at my house in Boise. I had a girlfriend at the time (the same one who gave me the Loser Cat), and it was a fun shindig, and I drank a lot and made an ass out of myself, as I usually do.

As it got later my GF and I opted to go to bed (bed bed, not sex bed). And as we laid in my bed at around two in the morning, a very strange, very unexpected thing happened.

I bawled my eyes out. I laid there, drunk and sloppy, while my teenaged girlfriend probably thought I was a big old loser, and I bawled and bawled and said in hiccuping sobs how much I missed my grandmother. I must’ve done this for at least a half an hour. God bless you, teenaged girlfriend (at the time), for putting up with me.

When I woke up the next day, I felt like a weight had been lifted from me. It wasn’t closure, but it was close.

… That’s not really an answer. Everyone handles loss differently. But there must be catharsis. There must be release. Anger, sadness, whatever. Time of course heals all wounds, but not if you keep picking at the scab.

Anyway, I hope that was … something. Sorry for being so long-winded!