Our candidates are scared of the real issues

And there are many. One of them seems to be guns, but the problem is more. Guns are a symptom of some greater issues/problems. Yes the proliferation of guns is a problem, but not the core issue/problem

And you can break this down into two areas of concern.

The first is basically is a byproduct of a post I did awhile back. And that is poverty. Mayor Bloomberg was on the other evening after the movie theater incident and was saying we need gun control and statistics were quoted about how gun violence is up in the cities. And I am sure it is, but guns aren't the issue. It is our avoidance of the real issue of poverty. I talked significantly about poverty creating a huge subculture where we were losing control of large segments of our society. I stand by my previous ideas. The Mayor's comments and the statistics the news show was quoting were just proof of this problem. Everyone is under this hysteria that controlling guns will solve the problem. This frankly is like treating a fever with aspirin. The fever goes away for awhile, but until you fix the infection causing the fever the fever will continue to come back. And the fever can manifest itself in various ways. Until we wake up and realize that we need to do more for our society as a whole such as addressing the issues causing poverty and changing the mindset of people especially the young this is going to get worse and yes violence by guns will continue to be a growing problem.

The second concern falls under what happened in Colorado. And this is a much dangerous and more difficult problem. This involves individuals who seem to disengage from society. What causes a human being to get to a point to where they do something horrendous. And again guns are only a symptom. Right now they are an easy outlet for these types of people, but you cannot blame guns for the act. Look at Timothy McVeigh or the unabomber. They found the tools they needed to unfortunately carry out their deadly acts. There are many people studying the triggers that set people off, but unfortunately we don't have the answers yet. This is an issue to address and work on, however, how to study this and prevent is currently beyond being able to address it as a policy issue. You cannot legislate human behavior or controlling it. If you would like a bad example as to why (great movie with a great message though) is Clockwork Orange. Yes I am stretching to make a point, but if you are familiar with the theme you might be able to piece together my thought here.

Now is gun control a wasted topic? Not really, but the current hysteria about it is not going to solve the real problems facing our society about guns and much energy will be spent on giving society aspirin. Some controls on guns are needed, but they need to be addressed in rational moments when you can really sit down and address where we are failing in the proliferation of guns.

Currently though our group of leaders want to make headlines, not solve problems. And the two issues briefly discussed above will do more to solve guns than banning guns.

And yes there are more reasons we have gun problems. I just think the two above will go far in reducing the amount of gun violence we are fearful of nowadays.

Finally I don't own a gun, but if you start taking away the second amendment I will probably get one. We still need to be fearful of government intrusion in our lives and now some other forms of power groups that are developing and taking away our rights.

Trying to walk the water of Lake Obvious

Came up with that title then remembered I had put a picture of a lake. Strange coincidence and I am keeping the title.
I do not like to talk about religion, but every now and then the insanity of this planet drives you into the deep end.

First of all there are three general religions with offshoots that all believe in the same God. So basically you would think we would be pretty close to being on the same side. We aren't. Then there are people who don't believe in any God, it amazes me to think that people don't believe in some form of creation, do they think we just appeared out of a puff of smoke. Some people don't seem to realize, even agnostic scientists that science is proof that God exists. You can argue all you want about creation vs evolution, but rational thought says there is something all together true about us being created. People don't get there is more to God than meets the eye. Even though Eastern religions don't make the creation theme as much as the monotheists they still hold out ways to achieve a better life or better existence beyond our physical realm. Which is the concept of heaven for the three major religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Anyway back to an attempt at a point. Almost all religions strive to make us better as humans and in some strange way if we followed through we might just be better. The real goal though we miss completely. If you believe in God, you pretty much have been given a very straight forward set of rules, more commonly referred to as the Ten Commandments. And then you can break it down into three basic ideas, put God first, respect who your neighbor is ( don't kill, don't steal, don't covet or desire what your neighbor has) and once you make a commitment stay with it, (no adultery) then basically you can take these three themes to all aspects of life.

If you put God first then everything else should fall behind in your priorities, in other words you follow his guidance in your decision making. His guidance being treat others with respect and stick to your commitments. Now this is simplistic as heck, but it works. Yet we don't come close. Millions to billions of us believe in our God, but we don't even begin to follow the precepts. And the great thing about it, especially if you are Christian, God doesn't expect us to be perfect, just try. God gives us forgiveness, not so we can sin, but so we can try to be Man. God wants us to make our way in this world which means we are going to do things, like have businesses, build cities, interact with each other even with others who are different. Follow the rules and everything works out.

So why on this planet do we have the enormous amount of problems that we do. People will blame religion, some will blame other religions, people will be apathetic, or think there is no solution, but it has nothing to do with what we think or say, it always boils down to what we do. Even if you don't believe in God, the concept of basic respect for your fellow mankind should be apparent as a better way to survive. Yet we put everything else first. And I know I am not any different so why do I bother to bring all this up.

It even bothers me to think about it, why should I care more than anyone else? Because at the same time it is glaringly obvious that just an effort by everyone would essentially change much of our problems.

Yes I can list a multitude of problems; poverty, slavery, drugs, greed, power mongering, egos, pornography, violence, and many others, and no they won't be solved overnight if we just started acting better. I am also a realist. Our world came to be because of what we have done over centuries. The goal if any is to start where we can. And no you don't have to go out and become a born again Christian or have some immediate religious epiphany. Be yourself, but follow the basic rules. Am I trying to change anyone's life today, no, but if I sit here day after day reading all the crap that goes on and accept it I have failed. I haven't failed because I am not rich, or won the most championships, or top of my field, honestly I would love to be the best at something, but that success won't make my life a success.

Success is when you walk across the water or move the mountain, not in the miracle sense, but in your life, not accepting what is going on, but making one step towards finding what is right in your world and making that happen. Will it change our world, who knows, will anyone know, probably not, does it matter, well ask yourself that and if you really think about it you will know the answer.

I am not a big fan for coming out about my beliefs, they are very personal to me and I keep them to myself most of the time, but today and just some days a person cannot stand by and watch the insanity of this planet without trying to put some perspective into what could be.

So here is a strange thought to try and get your brain going, the next time someone comes up to you and asks you for something, whether someone on a street corner begging for money, or a friend needing something, or someone at work struggling with a task if you cannot say yes with love in your heart don't do it. And if you don't then go home and look at yourself in the mirror, really look deep into your eyes and ask why.

And here is your kicker, no matter what you do, God still loves you.

So about those basic rules???????




And on a side note, I have always hated the phrase better to ask forgiveness later than permission first, ,,,,,,, just tells me you know you are going to do something wrong and don't care. You don't have to ask permission, just do what is right in the first place.

Bad day in Muddville here folks

First the wife/ better three fourths is ticked at me.

Second American league lost All Star game so if Rangers make it back ..on the road again...

Third cannot get any of my posts to CNN blogs to stick.
And fourth it is sprinkling which is good, but just barely and some real rain is needed.

Thought about going to Fox but don't want to create too many brain aneurysms for their readers. Especially if they saw what I wrote about who to vote for. No one seems to remember we were founded on radical ideas. New political parties are mild in comparison.

being a parent you don't know if its good or bad

You always want the best for your children.

Today, however, I just don't know. My two youngest are always fighting, they bicker all the time. Today riding in the car the argument was what is a prepositional phrase. Yes they were arguing whether one had used it correctly.

So is it good that they are arguing the finer points of our language and proper use of grammer or is it bad that they will argue just about anything.

Still praying for rain and cooler weather in this abnormally hot July for the rest of the nation, pretty normal here in Texas. Just hot

Take care.

Happy Fourth of July

Lets not lose what so many have fought for, have a great day and be safe.