Sunday Rant - 2415

PN:

“Let each have freedom to do all that he wills provided that he infringes not the equal freedom of any other.” – Herbert Spencer

This Sunday rant is short and sweet. Very busy week. For the record, I can’t work as hard or as long as younger days, and Joe even less. No time for boating; barely time for beering.
A summary of progress follows –

Life So Far
Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Stage 3:

Stage 3a (reflection):

Stage 4:
Return to Stage 1, repeat endlessly……

Joe Mekanic Carpenters Again!
Hi ho Joe! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxIuIxqo2So
Work continues on the Vernon yurt named 617 Decosmos. Pictures and prose to follow when Joe manages to speak again.
The construction of this “house” has him cursing at the skies, screaming “why me?” at the top of his lungs.
Additional distractions this week – septic tank dilemma (no flow out of tank and consequent back-up – three “experts” visited, no solution as of today), failure of the dishwasher, renovation wall removal of old shower reveals ridiculous framing (2 X 4 studs mounted SIDEWAYS!!!), 1/3 yard of mesh and wire reinforced concrete to chisel out, starting to tape and fill the new drywall, work on an antique Yamaha IT125H trails bike for Donald, revival of Toro 450-D five reel greens mower (thanks Clay!), neighbours needing a tool, a hand, some advice, some research.
A very busy week with not much accomplished but many projects started and advanced.
No comment from Joe makes this update short. The picture gallery of absolutely ludicrous building methods grows and will be posted for all to see in a future rant.

That ‘Ole Black Magic
A frank discussion about race. That’s what echoes in the halls of consciousness media, a call for a “frank discussion about race”.
What precisely would a frank discussion about race look like?

Growing up as a young person in Calgary Alberta, there wasn’t much in the way of race. We had Indians (Native Americans? Indigenous Peoples? The Original Humans?), and we had Asians (Chinese). I don’t remember any instances of “racial violence” or discrimination or bigotry or prejudice in our world. Safe we were in our cocoon of “white privilege”, Joe and I, busy with our interests and pursuits. We didn’t have Indian friends because there were none in our class or neighbourhood. One Chinese friend in class, but didn’t live in our neighbourhood. There was one black family in our community, but we (Joe and I) never met them. The child (children?) didn’t attend the same school, weren’t our age, didn’t play the same sports or attend the same social / cultural activities, whatever.
Had Joe and I grown up in the same time period as a Japanese, or Chinese, or Nigerian in their respective homelands, we’re inclined to believe the cultural experience would have been similar, i.e. safe in our cocoon of “Japanese privilege” if we were Japanese, et cetera.
Bill Cosby and Robert Culp were the people who taught Joe and I “racial harmony”. What a dynamic duo, working hard for the cause of freedom! Then there was Star Trek, Mr. Spock, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, all working together in relative harmony to do the Federation’s business, demonstrating how inter-species harmony AND racial harmony would co-exist, On the side of good, right, honor, duty – all those noble ideals.
As demonstrated above, a cloistered and uni-“race” upbringing. Joe and I are theoreticians about race with very limited experience, knowledge, or wisdom.
On the ethnicity front, a much different experience. So, too, was the class or advantage or “work group” or peer or clique experience. The sexual orientation / awareness / expression / knowledge arena was an exciting, frightening, yearning experience, fraught with lessons, in joy and anguish. We could go on, but defer. The idea is stated.
What did Joe and I take away as a general theorem about these experiences?
Mostly folks hang with their self identified peer group.
The peer group has many forms and sets, some unique, some overlapping, some obvious some obscure.
It is often difficult to determine peer membership by appearance, and foolish to do so for that very reason.
That’s about it, except a mob is an unpredictable force.
Back in “the day” right was easy to identify, as was good. Black and white to use an inept adage.
Into the future 50 + years to 2015.
Riots in Baltimore and Ferguson purportedly about “police brutality” or “police oppression”, aka good ol’ racism, yet the statistics about black-on-black crime, black demographic data, blackness in general do not make the MSM legend a clear cut conclusion. It is more like a mantra to encourage unrest and division.
What to think? More precisely, where are Joe and I on the subject?
Without a “dog in the fight” (yet), we are gathering data and forming our peculiar personal prejudices about “race” in general, and “blacks” as rioters and looters in specific.
For now, we (and the Queen we presume) are not amused, at least not yet.
For today’s rant, some observations from ” ‘Ol Ramus” on the Liberty’s Torch website titled “Frankly My Dear” about the situation.
A few quotes from the article:
“With all the recent troubles we’re again being invited to an honest and open conversation about race, or said differently, the browbeatings will be resumed. Try this for honest and open: many of us, probably most of us, are tired of your whining, your so-called grievances, your violence and crime, your insults and threats, your witless blather and pornographic demeanor—all of it. You’re not quite 13% of the population yet everything has to be about you, all day, every day. With you, facts aren’t facts, everything’s a kozmik krisis, and abusive confrontations are your go-to.
Here’s the thing: some of us despise you, although fewer than you believe, but most of us plain don’t care about you or your doings. There was a time when we did care, but you betrayed our good will and played us for fools. We laugh about it now, but we actually believed you wanted equal opportunity and mutual respect and to live in harmony—all that stuff. Ain’t it a hoot? Imagine our embarrassment.”
………..”You tell us the schools have “failed to meet their needs.” And what are their needs, pray tell? Higher standards and tougher tests? Stricter rules and a dress code? Or some alternate universe where credit is earned for putting teachers in the ER, or for a string of abortions before the tenth grade? If you’d tell us what their needs are we’d at least know what needs we’re failing to meet. Until then we’ll mark it down for what it is, another lame excuse. They’re supposed to be schools, not day care or orphanages or theme parks.”
………..”So here’s the deal. If you want to know what we really think of you, the answer is we don’t, unless you’re making yourself unavoidable or we’re cleaning up your latest mess. We can safely rely on you to make astonishingly irresponsible choices and blame us for the consequences. And you’ll demand we make good on them for you. We won’t take a chance on your sincerity ever again. Take it somewhere else, you have no credibility left with us. You’re a net liability, predictable to the point of surety. So we attend to our own lives and our own problems. It’s as it should be. We recommend it. As for you, frankly my dear, we don’t give a damn.”
Joe and I are inclined to listen. Call us curious…..
Colin Flaherty wrote two books about the subject of “racial unrest”, focused on the black community in America. The first, “White Girl Bleed a Lot” was published in 2012. It documents over 500 recent occurrences of black gang violence, especially against whites / Asians / minority groups (gay, senior, smart, etc.). The second book released this year is “Don’t Make the Black Kids Angry”, dealing with much the same subject, reporting hundreds of incidents that have occurred since the release of his first book. Joe and I have been watching the main stream media reporting of the larger riots blamed on police “racism” with great interest. The following video of Colin Flaherty commenting on the situation in Baltimore is more informational than ALL the MSM reporting to date:

Lots more info on the Internet and YouTube if you have the stomach for peripeteia.
Joe says correct that statement…..
Lots more info on the Internet and YouTube if you have the honesty for peripeteia.
I stand corrected.