Driving is a Privilege, not a Right, Right?

People going through anything involving the DMV or traffic related court tend to have certain reactions, and you tend to see the same script being played out over and over. It is not unusual for a confused and irritated looking person to be discussing in detail their particular situation and having the clerk calmly (or not so calmly) try to get across to them that they cannot change that persons situation. What I see going on here is an attempt by the citizen to try and figure out why this seemingly absurd thing is happening. The clerk knows fully well that the system is confusing and has a seemingly sinister element to it. Traffic laws are out of control. It would be hard to find a DMV employee who is a hundred percent in support of all traffic laws and fines. I would dare say some have license issues themselves. Either way, it is something you see a lot: people angry at DMV. There is however another reaction. That of quiet acceptance. The acceptance that regardless if I understand why this is happening, I accept that it is. I see it all the time. After my experiences I am starting to adapt a similar reaction to things that in the past would have caused me to sit and have a futile conversation with the clerk. After  one goes through several failed attempts to recover their driving privileges, you start to see those people trying to figure out 'why?' and feel for them. Every time I see that sad exchange, I want to say, "Hey, I feel you buddy." And I want to say hang in there too, but I am not sure if I have much hope to offer. I see there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Eventually the State of California and the State of Ohio, will find me fit to drive again. After all, I have not committed any criminal offense, nor do I have any speeding tickets. I failed to pay some of my fines on time, but I have since rectified the situation. The remainder of what I have to do is still of some mystery to me, but I have an idea of what it involves. I have to pay more penalties. They are still out there somewhere and border on what I consider to be fraud. Actually they are fraud. They are penalties that are affixed to people for not paying their debts. They come in the form of more fines and get as extreme as jail time. It has been in the media lately, and people are becoming aware. I guess that does help me to feel that I am not alone. For those people who can do nothing but pay the interest on their tickets, those people are victims of a crime. But, for the time being there is a long road to haul if the laws are to be changed.
If anyone wants to explore this further, leave me a comment. I want to learn more about it

hello. this is a new post

Something has occurred to me. Not real news. But this is something I think is worth sharing. When we were young, and by "we" i mean gen exers, we liked to stay up late. By high school its was till the sun. Our parents had a similar outlook. They liked to party or whatever too, but they did not see it on tv. That is to say they were rebelling. And of course tv was not a square at the time despite its dimensions. It was already in their heads. So I expect with the latest trends that my daughter will be on some kinda otherworldly schedule. It might even coincide with generations past.

what if...

What if you could somehow decide to alter your very existence at a moment you perceive to be the worst it could be. Not that you are in the actual worse it could be, but can your best perception actually raise you out of squaller? Yes... and maybe. It can... but not by simply changing your mind. It has to happen in conjunction with a strength of body and soul. A 'will to power' you ask? Yes..maybe.

I'm back. Or at least I would like to be back. I am trying to spread my wings now, which reminds me, I keep seeing this male cardinal in the evenings. He has a great singing voice

More Post Cereal

I think what post-modernism is is a way of feeling comforted in the way that people were once comforted by being part of the middle class. In other words it is no longer to misappropriate, but rather it is our duty to re-appropriate life because we are in a unique period of time in which we are able to appreciate such things. I am not sure what is special... maybe it is the blues... roots are in Africa. So, I do not really have a problem with paying homage to a degree that has not been done before. Look forward to "Ship of Fools". It is something I am going to write.
Piece\

Post Modern Poverty

The conflict in Mali, the school shooting in Connecticut and theatre shooting in Boulder, the bombings in Pakistan and Iraq, the Arab Spring, and the crazy people who live on skid row and smoke crack all have one thing in common. They are products of poverty. They are not all impoverished as individuals, but the individuals involved are rising up or acting out or tuning out due to some form of poverty. Mali's current state is a result of a weak government. That means people are not getting things like water, electricity, and plumbing without paying bribes and exorbitant fees. Corruption runs a state into the ground. People suffer and violence becomes a viable if not ultimate option. When it comes to those crazed American gunmen, they suffer a poverty of the mind which projects constant fantasy images of killing and death. Not to say that these kind of fantasies are uncommon, and I bet 99% of the dark dreamers do not act. Still these are not unprovoked acts of senseless violence. On to Pakistan. Thats an obvious one. A poor country if there ever was one. India too. Iraq is the product of counter insurgency that was never really bore fruit. From what I understand about counter insurgency campaigns, there is a pretty statistically low chance of them gaining the kinds of success they promise. Gorilla warfare is a rigged game. Its never won or lost when an outside invader does not intend to occupy the territory indefinitely. The Romans understood that, as seemingly do the Israelis. Iraq has the potential to become stable again, but from todays news alone we know that bombs are going off all the time. And I imagine when you see a lot of dismembered bodies it does something to your soul. The crazy people and the drug addicts who are often one in the same, are simply put self-medicating. I know this. A lot of people do it. It comes from being poor, but more importantly from having a poor sense of self. All of these very different situations are related by poverty. If poverty did not exist then none of this would have ever happened. No 9/11. No Nazi Germany. No Civil War. As Axel Rose said, "Whats so civil about it anyway." Civility is what we get when we give up certain individual rights to live as a society. It is in our interest to act as a community, for the alternative is to be alone in the wilderness. If it was the goal of the modern world to eradicate poverty, then modernization has failed. If it is a success, its hard to see it right now. In fact the failure to eradicate poverty has lead to the real crisis of our Post-Modern world. Global warming. War, poverty, and the destruction of the environment are locked in a symbiotic relationship. They all feed each-other. They are correlative. I saved the Arab Spring scenario for last because it is a little different. Like the Civil Rights struggle and the labor struggles in America and the world, the Arab Spring is a deliberate action geared toward bringing people out of poverty and into the Modern/Po-Mo world. It has been warped and hi-jacked by outside interests including the U.S., but it was and continues to be a genuine act of individual self-expression in a constricting and oppressive environment. People felt liberated. They may have a long way to go, but the spirit was there. I am not trying to preach any particular moral code that is superior to all others, but would suggest that a lack of one leads to poverty. We are living on that hungry planet.

End of the Beginning

I was going to end this blog, but before I do I want to try and go back to how it was originally intended to be. That is more of an online journal. Blogging is definitely a permanent part of our post modern world. But how to filter the good from the ugly is not easy. I wanted this to be a source of information, but with no real area of focus. That is really general, and followers will easily lose interest. I do not really care if people follow it right now, for I mostly use this blog as a way to record my thoughts and practice writing. Still this is published work and I tried as it progressed to apply higher standards to my posts. I tried to write actual articles. I even made a side blog that was focused on realty which I may still continue. But for now I am going back to a more personal journal style. Mostly because I have become a stay at home dad for all intents and purposes, and I need new hobbies.
On that note, I have to say I am ecstatic about having a newborn baby. She is almost three weeks old and the cutest little monkey monster. I wondered how I would bond with the child. I am in my mid thirties now which is considered late in life to have a baby. I used to get annoyed with my friends who would have kids and then stop hanging out. I stuck with the crowd of fun people who didn't have real obligations besides a cat to feed. Well to make a long story short I was instantly in love. The birth experience went from disturbing and unpleasant to magical and natural once her head popped out and the midwife cleaned her and put her in my wife's arms.