Nicely summarized, from my POV too

Post #14,833 by Ashton 10/23/01 6:44:32 PM Reply	Nicely summarized, from my POV too It may even be compared to a sort of 'states rights' VS Feds only: individual rights VS ALL - this re. the question, who is best qualified to know intimately, the wishes of a single human in extremis? ANY authority figure? or - just about anyone else, with unarguable* emotional / family ties to the person involved. This goes across the above issues as well as abortion and the same "ownership of one's own body" OVER all other artificial theoretical codifications. * Nothing is 'unarguable' of course, such as we are: a society with 10x the number of attorneys than engineers (and that's dropping - for Biz-AD courses). So some sort of qualifying thought is evidently required - to claim this status - but 'status' it is, however evasive of a nice slogan to define it. Current laws indeed suck, but I'm not sure we possess the remaining means for countering terabytes of legal precedents - VS what was once deemed 'common sense'. In that last - we are all in trouble, not just the dying, today. Ashton
Post #14,875 by screamer 10/23/01 11:32:13 PM Reply	Now I'm getting depressed 10X the lawyers to engineers... and more lawyers in the wings. Where did you come across that stat. I'd like to use it in many of my own tirades/educational pursuits. And some people wonder why this country is the way it is... Personal aside... The Celina Jones thing can be found in the Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life", section - "Middle Age". Just a few thoughts, Screamer "I'll tip my hat to the new constitution, take a bow for the new revolution, smile and grin at the change all around, pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday..." P. Townshend "Nietzsche has an S in it" Celina Jones
Post #14,901 by Ashton 10/24/01 2:51:14 AM Reply	Datum is a couple years old and it was part of a comparison of US culture and Japanese. The corollary to the lawyer/engineer ratio in US is - in Japan it's the reverse! 10:1 engineers over lawyers. :[ Perhaps our hope is.. a more Japanese America? :-\ufffd I tend to believe in momentum, since physics has worked every time I've tested it. The intertwined groups from lawyers to all manner of Authority figures, combined with general ennui, disinterest in civic matters except by radical groups who exploit the situation - suggests we have the turning radius of the Titanic and.. icebergs are dead ahead. Besides, far ahead of all the disinterested 2-worker-family consumers are - the miniscule group with the funds to perpetuate their hegemony. These certainly buy enough of those surplus lawyers to stay in control. They know where to spend funds for er 'insurance' (RIAA, Disney, SSSCA, HMOs to cut Corp costs, anyone ??) and they already have in their black books: precisely which congressman to fund for which loophole needing tightening or loosening. Overlay the stark fact of net-worth distribution with: ownership of the media - and its increasing mergers into perhaps two giant Corps (?) and the 24/7 invention of new propaganda, TLAs, spin from the various flaks .. We already qualify for inclusion in that Dystopia anthology I've been reading. The inane infotainment keeps 'em barefoot and pregnant (and away from asking questions). Since nobody much has free energy for organizing, opposing this mega-Titanic: My guess is that momentum wins, just as in physics. Until a giant Shock occurs! As only the future can.. surprise. Meanwhile, yes: it IS depressing. The money is on the Ballmers and their adoring acolytes the MBAs (who wannabe just Like the Winners. Natch.) Fuck the loosers - now That's the Murican Way, is it not? Win! or yer dead meat. Oh well - in a hundred years there may be all new people - umm, unless they're just like their parents [!!] Damn, now I'm depressed. Zappa was Right again. A.
Post #14,951 by screamer 10/24/01 11:29:29 AM Reply	And that's why I too will be moving to Montana soon... gonna be a mental toss flycoon.... Yippee Aye Oh Aye Ayeeeeay. :-P Just a few thoughts, Screamer "I'll tip my hat to the new constitution, take a bow for the new revolution, smile and grin at the change all around, pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday..." P. Townshend "Nietzsche has an S in it" Celina Jones
Post #15,198 by Ashton 10/26/01 1:01:37 AM Reply	Dunno if that's far enough away from epicenter (?) But then.. I have no idea how I'd even go about choosing a relocation. (Even though the universe is portable - - all inside head). Inertia. Still quiet enough nearby - and if the terminal weirdness surfaces, there is only one thing to do: get a good ringside seat, bring friend, potables and take it all in. (I don't qualify fer rapturin out, but then.. who'd wanna hang-out with them as do?) A.

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