Skin

Hey.

Sorry to be neglecting you, my Lobolians, but as you all know, the press of life runs and chatters on indefinately, with little time to stop and allow gentle reflections in front of a computer screen. I know I have given that excuse before, but that is because it is a primary reason, not an excuse.

What should I discuss with you this fine afternoon? Just this morning many thoughts flittered through my head, asking to be blogged, and now I must decide on a topic to entertain my guests of the web.

Skin. Now there's a thing that we give so much power to, and as with all power, it needs to be disected and scrutinized regularly. (Just a side note-I came up with this topic after reading Kurt Vonnegut's novel thing Breakfast of Champions. A fascinating read, I recommend a bit of Vonnegut regularly for all. They are terrific reads.)

What the heck is it about skin color that makes people so darned obsessive? I have white skin, you have black skin, they have copper skin, he has red skin, she has yellow skin, why do martians have green skin mommy? Once you remove the skin, people are the SAME. We all have muscle. We all have bone. We all bleed when our skin gets ripped off of us. So why do we have to pay so much attention to the separator?

Part of the problem, no doubt, is the strange need some people have to become an individual first and foremost by declaring what it is they are not. I am not black skinned, I am not a Catholic, I am not an Irishman. Just for the record, I am none of those things either, but I do not define myself by them. There is just too much that I am not. I am not from Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, 51 Pegasi, Saturn, Gandymede, Titan, Pluto, Charon, Neputne, Tritan, or any of the astroids in the solar system, or Sirius' solar system, or any other solar system.
How hard is all that to say, and there are still lots and lots of places I am not from. Why not simply say I am from Earth? That narrows down many things, with one simple four word phrase. Much much simpler.

Why can't we all just say we are from Earth? Earth is, after all, a lovely little blue gem of a planet, filled with water, land, clouds, sea lions, and people. It is inhabited by a species demonstrating extraordinary abilities to discover things, both inside of ourselves and out. To find new sciences, love God or gods, make medicines capable of healing our ills, pain, sorrow. Why can't this species, these beings who declare themselves wise man, homo sapien, learn to understand what lies beneath? How many have to suffer under the cruelest of our creations, gas chambers, guns, lies, hate, before we learn our lesson. This month is intended to honor a race of humans subjected to tyranny of hatred, and a day of our solar year is going to be set aside to remember a man who defied his skin, while still loving it. Love yours, love the skin of whoever is sitting next to you, love the skin of humanity.

Roman Wolf

(Well worth waiting for, eh?)

The Post Cyber Age

Hello Lobolians

I sincerely unleash my regrets that I haven't spoken with you for so long, but life beckons to one such as I with a pull as hard as any the cyber world can unfurl.

Do you ever wonder what would happen to our world as we know it if a nuclear bomb did go off and all the electronic things we know and rely upon for a second home, a portal to worlds unseen by our unscreened eyes, were to vanish? I was thinking about that this morning. Almost an entire year of sitting down at a computer, typing about what was happening, what might come to our world, all that would be gone. And this is just a small site, but I love it. Imagine a world where google was dead and nothing but a very large number again. Imagine if there was no such place as youtube, or myspace, and all the things we were ever to see were those that we could reach and view in the outside world.

What would this era be called then? All signs of the electronic age would be gone. Would we become the latter dark ages, and the curiosity of future anthropologists? They would wonder about us, what we thought, what we did. They would know, no doubt, why it had happened. Would that spur people to have hard copies of their data for ten, twenty years, or a century? Then no doubt, knowing humanity's short attention span, the idea of storing everything onto a computer would fall again into fashion and maybe this time they will invent computers that could work without crashing and an internet faster than dial up for all. After all, if the world must spin on for all eternity of this multiverse, we may as well hope it spins upward and for the better. Otherwise we face nothing but our own repetitive doom, again and again.

Roman Wolf

Democracy, the Good

Just feel like I ought to shake things up a tad tonight. Not like it really matters, unless somebody dares to drop in on the Rant. For those that do, this is what I have to say. Do some people delight in torment? Can it be fun to be cruel and callous, or must evil always be evil? Personally, I doubt if there even is such a thing as good, or as evil. There are terrible things, and wonderful things, but why should they be inherently good, or inherently evil? In political terms, can a politician do evil, even if it benefits a nation, or a region? Somehow, during the Cold War, much of the West felt that there were cruel and nearly evil things out there that could be used for our own benefit, and as long as it did so, somehow, it wasn't so evil anymore. The major definition of good was Non-Communist, and yet, what evil was done in the name of that good? Did not America and others take the name of good in vain, by supporting dictators like Pinochet, who "only" killed about three thousand people? And tortured thousands and thousands more? Just because they were opposed to the evils of communism? Stranger yet, when faced with the Villany of Hitler, we were bedfellows with the mother of that evil, the Soviet Union. How does that translate into a moral message for the generations after? What have the people of the younger generation, who listen back to stories in history books of men and nations the USA supported but did such terrible things? Many were non democracies, which toppled our beloved democracies, because democracy bred communism when the poor longed for a voice. Now we are being told that democracy is the ultimate good, and must endure because it is good and great and just. But what of the democracies democracy killed? Were they not just, Communism and All? Lobolius

More Campfire Tales

Well, everyone, it seems the Wolf has fallen into an exile of sorts on the web. My local library has been closed until it reopens somewhere else in March, so I have been cast out in search of an alternative library source. I found one, and am happily blogging away as ever.
What to talk about? Nothing political is coming to mind that I have any strong desires to rant about, so how about I resume the story about the young boy by the campfire. If you recall, awhile back I told this tale of a young boy whose mother was telling him campfire stories about the ghost of Bin Laden. I left off with him being told that all was well, and we should hush up our critisicm.
"But mother, I thought we could have free speech. Isn't that what the terrorists hated about us? But we beat them, didn't we mother?"
"We will one day defeat evil my son. Until that day we must all trust to the Lord God above and hope for a brighter day when the nonbelievers are doomed."
"But my teacher told me on Friday that all of us have the same God, and worship him in differant ways, like people climbing a mountain that has many paths but only one summit. If we all have the same God, aren't we all believers? So this war, it is only between people fighting how to climb this mountain, not about which mountain of God is better."
"Wise words son. It is on those wise words that peace may come."
"So why are we fighting people, mother, if we all believe alike?"
The boy's mother hung her head, gazing into the fire. Its flames cackled warmly, invitingly. "I don't know son. Maybe us humans just can't get God's signals right, and keep thinking we know what He said, and are arguing over what the words are, but there is no difference between what is said to us and what is said to them."
The boy thought about it, studying the sparks that snapped above his head. "Then you know what I want to do when I grow up Mommy? I want to tell everyone that we all have the same belief in the same God, and should all learn to listen to what he really says. Doesn't that sound like a good idea mommy?"
"Yes my son. It is a wonderful idea."

Words to bear in mind, all of you out there and about who happen to drop in on me.

Roman Wolf

Ellison

You know what? Why the heck is it that the conservatives are howling with rage at the idea of Keith Ellison, a Muslim Representative from Minnesota, is going to be allowed to swear in on the Koran? I thought conservatives were supposed to be the ones who believed in a strict interpretation of the Constitution. When reading the Constitution of the United States of America, just where does it say that those who are being sworn in MUST USE THE BIBLE? Hmm, Hmmm? I have however, read in the First Amendment that Congress shall make no law establishing religion. Saying Representatives of all faiths must use the Bible sounds an AWFUL lot like establishing religion.
I have watched interviews of Keith Ellison on TV. He believes very strongly that his Muslim faith encourages him to treat all people as brothers and sisters, and that nobody in this nation or the world should be abandoned in favor of big money and the power that comes with it. Anyone who doesn't believe that is actually a teaching of Islam should look beyond the terrorists who dominate our nightly news and study what Muhammad really wrote. Treating all people equally and with love is in there, just like the Bible, and I'd be very surprised if anything to the contrary was written in the Tora, or any other religious book. "Religion is love." Anna Stewart wrote in Black Beauty, and if any religious person who believes that wants to go to Congress and act on that belief, I don't really care if they are sworn in on a batch of mom's delicious brownies. Just get them in there. This country needs a few good men and women.

Roman Wolf

Negotiations

Greetings. How do you all do?

So, if the recommendations go into failure, what is left in Iraq will be a power vacuum. Power vacuums are filled by the most powerful force, which right now is looking like either Iran/Syria. So it will go to them, which is the last thing that Bush and the American Government want. So what do we gain/lose by talking with those two? Hard to say.
Now, the pe0ple in those countries would hardly benefit from a mass influx of immigrants, and no country likes to have a lot of really upset people on the loose. So they need to see Iraq stablize one way or another. If America can't they will. That's the mutual interest in Iraq, and when it comes to negotiations, that is a first step.
Secondly, what harm could talking bring? Bush has made it perfectly clear that he is capable of hearing without listening like a parrot, so I doubt he'll just nod and obey what Syria and Iran say.
So I support the negotiations. If all else fails, we can just argue about the size of the table for a year and stall them out.

Roman Wolf

So I can use Courier now, what a pleasure. Like I mentioned yesterday after upgrading, this is neat stuff. So, shall I get down to business?

There is a challenge at the Supreme Court about the federal government's right to control enviromental issues, specifically those of the air. If this challenge goes through, and the Court aims towards state's rights, what then?
Firstly, what happens if say-Wyoming-has less strict laws than. . . South Dakota. The air from Wyoming would blow into South Dakota, and South Dakota will have to deal with Wyoming's air problems. So then in Washington DC we will have the issue of dueling senators and representatives all over again. That's what happened the last time States rights had a major victory. People had their heads smashed with canes, and a bunch of states decided they had the RIGHT to secede from the Union. Now, I have no wish to pick old scabs, but there is logic behind federal enviromental legislation. No one state is in it all alone, we are UNITED states of America, not a bunch of bickering Colonies. That was left behind with the Articles of Confederation.

Roman Wolf

My New Site

What do you Lobolians think? I kinda like the dark blue, but it may not stay that way for long. I enjoy shaking things up a bit, so I may have to change colors every so often after this. Man, this new gig is sweet. I don't have much time anymore, so I'd better clear out.

Roman Wolf

Still the Rant

Hey.

This is my 60th posting here at Blogger.com. Pretty sweet aniversary, by the time I hit 100 who knows where I will be.

Apparently about 60some percent of people don't believe the Democrats know what they will do in Iraq. All they probably knew on Election day was that they were not Republicans and counted on that to be enough. Astonishingly enough, the American voters agreed, and gave them the victory. Well, I doubt this means I have to change the name of my blog. Even without Rummy or a majority of Repubs, there will always be something to critique on Captitol Hill, the Dems won't fail to annoy. You see, I may be liberal, but I am no Democrat. If anything, I'd back the Libertarians, but currently give loyalty to no particular party. Even the Libs. So I guess that makes me the ignorant, undecided, easily swayed, always courted, swing voter. NOT!

I'd best start hoofing it elsewhere. The sun's setting out west somewhere on this great and nurturing Earth.

Lobolius, the Roman Wolf

Brief Stop.

Hello Lobolians
Can't stay long to chat. I have other buisiness to attend to, but I want to make sure that my new server will publish my posts.

Ta Ta for Now


Roman Wolf

Some Bruno Lines and Hope

It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.
Giordano Bruno

It may be you fear more to deliver judgment upon me than I fear judgment.
Giordano Bruno

Time is the father of truth, its mother is our mind.

Those are some quotes from Giordani Bruno, one of my all time heroes for his boldness in stricking out against church docrine preaching the earth was flat. He was put to death for hearsay. Now, I sure hope this is going through, because I have been kept away from you Lobolians for far too long.


Roman Wolf

Korea

You know, the blame game over nukes has always been a farce. Last time it was China, and the Rosenthals were taken down as commies and executed promptly. This time North Korea has laid hold of nukes, and instead of one united front attacking one monolithic enemy, we have a polarized country where the enemy not only is the terrorists abroad, it is also the politicians at the other end of the aisle. In the midst of this wrangling, one conspicuous enemy has been overlooked: every other president since and including Truman. I mean, why couldn't those presidents do something (and suceed-the Republicans are stringent on this point) before the showdown reached nuclear proportions? Before the Korean war, South Korea was excluded from US defense lines against Communists so North Korea and Russia were emboldened to strike there-and did so. The Acheson Declaration that established that perimeter, the president then-Truman-didn't keep the military at maximum, and so when the Korean War began, the US was underprepared at first. Then McArthur was recalled when he wished to escalate the war because Truman was afraid it would go nuclear. Well, North Korea was allowed to exist, and now its nuclear too. So blame Truman. Or who knows, perhaps we should just blame North Korea for getting its nukes because if you think about it, the US is only imagining it can police an entire world at once.

Roman Wolf

The Phone

Hello there.

I am reporting in from the beloved public library, because I needed some books on Greeks. Have you ever wondered what the heck we are all bothering with every day? What would happen if a person were to suddenly do something stupid? Not violent, don't take me that way, but just totally random and kinda stupid. Like walk up to another person on the street, ask them how they were doing, and then ask if they would be willing to give you a ride home? Most would probably take that person as either an idiot or a murder looking for the next victim. Why? Why can't people be united together for friendly chats at random intervals, with random people? Is it a lack of trust? Has the world grown so distant, and permitted us to link up with people further and further way, until we have reached the point where neighbors are irrelevent because there are other people we can talk to at will than the ones within walking distance? Then there is the whole bane of phones. This afternoon I was sitting down, relaxing, enjoying a brief moment of peace when the phone rang. I had no choice but to get up and answer that phone, because somehow the idea of not answering my phone would be socially unexcusable? It was not laziness that made me not want to answer it, I certainly am not lazy, but simply an unwillingness to be at the beck and call of a piece of metal and plastic and whatever the heck else makes up a phoneline. What would have been the point of responding? The world will not suddenly collapse because I didn't pick it up, but my mom would have been unable to talk to me.
Has anyone noticed yet how ironic it is that I'd bring something like this up on my blog?
I have to go now. TTFN, Ta Ta for Now!!=)))))))??


Roman Wolf

War and Peace (A splendid book too, I recomend it)

How are things going out there?

There was a very interesting report that downplays everything the Republican Regime has been explaining to Americans lately. Apparently Iraq has made the world more dangerous, not less. Hmm. And Bush is meeting with Afghan president Harmid Karzai today, to discuss the situation in that country, which is also fighting off a resurgence of violence. Clearly the military, which had to endure all those horrible years without any war, and face off critics who said it took up too much American tax dollars has overexerted itself. And the world shall suffer for it for years to come. How tragic.

In happier news, I would like to mention something that I covered for the newpaper. Over the weekend of September 16th about 3000 youth from all around the world gathered in Denver to discuss a Global Call to Action. It was for an organization called Peace Jam, led by none other than the top Nobel Peace Prize Laureates from all around. It covered such critical topics as Women's Rights, the Enviroment, and the growing disparity between rich and poor. Not the rich and poor of America, both of whom live better off than the poor of many other countries. Even a ghetto is better than a slum. So at least there are some people dedicated to peace and doing something to reach it.

Roman Wolf

Laughter

Greetings from afar, my Lobolians!

Well, not that afar, since I really don't know how far away the noncommentors are. To let me know, give me a comment, any comment. I don't feel up to any sort of hard knock analysis today, so I will just tell another story, like the one I gave about the little boy and his mother.
The young women stepped off the private jet, glad the trip was over. She had come a long way for this trip, all the way from heaven in fact. "Why did we have to come all the way to Earth when we're all dead Albert?"
"Vell," Said Albert. "I don't really know. But I rather like Earth, it has so many trees. Every time I come here I am glad they have not been blown to bits by a nuclear bomb. No thanks to those warmongers who run everything after all. But perhaps now peace will haff a chance Rosa."
"What makes you say that Al? I'm just a simple recently dead seamstress after all, and I remember thinking that forty years ago. Peace still hasn't come to the world."
Albert paused, thinking over just how long it had been since he'd been alive to think about peace. It seemed to have slipped his mind. "Vell, I know I'm considered to be the smartest human of the last century, but actually it was something this one president has been saying lately. He was talking about all the corners we have been turning lately, and something about light at the end of the tunnel. Now, since Americans elect their leaders, obviously they would elect a smart, intelligent man, and this one did go to Yale."
Rosa shook her head. "Al, he got d's in all his classes, and failed a bunch of them."
Albert laughed. "No matter Rosa, so did I."
"Yeah, you really weren't an Einstein!" Rosa joked, and the two got on the plane laughing and laughing.
That's the way peace really will have a chance. Laugh some today.

Roman Wolf

the Man w/o a Plumber

Hello.

I am back at school now, so hopefully the postings will be a little less erratic. So look out all you regular bloggers out there, the wolf is again at your door.

Armitage has just admitted and apologized for leaking Valerie Plame's name to a columnist for the NYT. Shame it took him so long to mention it, it might have saved a lot of less involved people the trouble and bad publicity. Not like I can really feel sorry for Karl Rove, a Vulture like that doesn't deserve much pity, but nobody deserves to be falsely accused. Armitage resigned from his post as Deputy Secretary of State, a postition where he was a top advisor to COLIN POWell. A name that no doubt will be whispered because he was one of the few unsullied names throughout the Bush Regime, nobody will want to dishonor his prestigous memory by the fact that one of his deputies was a leaker. Shame Nixon is dead. He always knew how to find a good plumber. Maybe Bush should learn from his legacy. Oh wait, he has, hasn't he? And improved. No more bothering around with rubber stamp judges, just cast the entire judiciary branch out the oval office window. And the legistative while he's at it. After all, as Bush said, a dictatorship isn't so bad, as long as you are the dictator.

Roman Wolf

Post 51

Aww man, I forgot to mention last night that it was my 50th post. Geez, how these blogs grow up. Didn't I say I'd be back soon? Haven't returned this fast since school let up. 51. Area 51. burned area. Burned log. Hee Hee, ever watch chain reaction? I haven't.
Can't think of anything else to talk about. Blog to ya later.

By the way, will anyone at least try to explain the shifting emoticon?

Roman Wolf

Ahhh. . .The idle days of summer are drawing shut before my blissful eyes. In a matter of weeks I will be slaving furiously over the books, studying till my wearied heart collapses of fatigue, and hanging out with good friends I haven't seen enough of during these last few months. All in all, a fair trade I'd say. Still, I will miss watching Trek 2.0, even though they are changing the time to earlier, I won't have control of the tv at that time slot like I do at 10:00 pm. Anyone who doesn't know that I am a Trekkie obviously hasn't had a good enough look at my profile. I am probably one of the few declared Vulcans on Blogspot. Obviously I really am human, but under the anonomity of the web, I can be any species I want.
That ambiguity of self is the heart and soul of this machine we call the internet. All information can be sought, some might put you on a terror watch list, but it is there. (Especially if you use Yahoo, based off my experiances!!) For those cunning enough to take advantage of that feature, no matter what is out there, they can be safe. After all, predators don't have to ever find out if they are talking to a fifteen year old. That kid could claim to be a twenty year old newbie cop, and the predator would never know the differance and the kid definately won't be in much danger. Places like MySpace really aren't all that dangerous when you look at it in that light. Everyone is safe there, the hunters and the hunted. All it takes is the skill to hide in this new monoworld jungle of ours. Viva la Future!!:))
Whenever I try to make that on my labtop word program, it turns the emoticon into a wall mart smiley face. Anyone who can explain why is welcome to leave a comment.

Lobolius

The Bitter Sisters Meet

Greetings from the Library yet again

Well, I now have my hands on Gone With the Wind. In case you are wondering, the main reason why I'm reading a 1037 page book is because I can. Other than that, I don't really have much to talk about today. I simply am here at the library, at a computer, and found myself willing to contact the greater part of this world.

That has absolutely nothing to do with the title of my blog today, though that could possibly have a tie in somewhere within all those pages. The sisters I refer to are the United States and France meeting an agreement on a resolution to end the fighting over in the mideast. Think back, if you would, about three years ago or so. The word French was a swear word, protected from the delicate ears and young minds by such sweet euphomisms as Freedom. Remember? Freedom Fries, Freedom everything. Pardon my freedom, but. . . No french to be heard. Now the old love hate pendelum has swung back not quite to love, but out of hate. That's the place it should be. The United States and France are the two oldest surviving democracies in the world. French writers inspired our founding fathers, French money bought our ticket to freedom. The king who sent soldiers to the Americas against the Brits was destined to die under a guillotine by revolutionaries fighting for democracy. Yet afterwards, relations soured when the young America refused to come to Napolean's aid in Europe because we lacked money, armies and the gusto. (& Conservatives have never liked the French much, they've always perfered the English Speaking Parent Country) So just a little history lesson to consider.

Bye Now

Lobolius