Shut Down On This
Shall we play a game?
Before we can play, we need to know a few things. Like, what is a game? My attempt at a definition would be something like this:
Game – A competitive activity with participants, rules and objectives, and outcomes which are determined by strength, skill, or luck. A game is an activity severely perverted by the presence of humans.
Certain outcomes are deemed to be of value, others are not. The outcomes we like are known as winning. The ones we don’t are losing.
Too much emphasis on winning and losing can make the game unpleasant or even harmful, usually to the detriment of the “loser” but also, in many cases, to both sides.
I postulate that a game without rules is meaningless. If we sit down to a nice game of chess and you declare your opening move, “My pawn jetpacks above the board, whips out dual blasters and lazer-beams all your bitches” before sweeping my pieces to the floor, you have not won the game. At least not in terms of the defined rules.
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Sophie Scholl
Sophie Scholl as depicted on a German postage stamp. Credit: Wikipedia.
Sophie Scholl was hero who opposed the Nazi Third Reich during the Second World War.
Sophie was born May 9, 1921, in Forchtenberg, Germany. Her older brother Hans was a member of an organization known as White Rose, which consisted of students from the University of Munich and advocated peaceful and intellectual resistance to Nazi oppression and tyranny.
On February 18, 1943, Sophie was arrested along with her brother Hans at the University of Munich. The Scholls had come to the university with a suitcase containing White Rose leaflets. (The leaflet was sixth in a series written and distributed by the group. The full text of the translated leaflet is at the bottom of this post.)
While students attended classes, Sophie and her brother dropped stacks of the leaflets in hallways for students to find as they exited lecture rooms.
On their way out of the university, they noticed there were still some leaflets remaining in the suitcase. They decided to hurry back and distribute them. They proceeded up the stairs to the top floor near the atrium, where Sophie dramatically flung the leaflets into the air. Continue reading →
I voted for Obama
I’m not afraid to admit it. I voted for Barack Obama.
Am I especially proud of it? Naw. It was just a vote. I don’t want to be contrary to the greater wisdom being spun by the Bitchers. (Hey look, shiny new lingo.) They are frothing at the mouth to paint my vote as so much more. It was just a vote. And guess what? I’d even do it again.
Have I lost faith with Obama? No. I’d still vote for him again. Most likely I’ll vote for him in 2012. Do I agree with everything he’s done? No. But more than any mistakes or weaknesses in Obama, I cry foul of the extra loud devicive voices. Yes, for people who used to label critics “traitors” and say that questioning the president was “treason,” all of the sudden those same people feel that dissent is the new cool.
The evolving face of dissent
I’m going to give you the hook for this post right off the bat:
Under Bush: A message on a t-shirt would get you arrested.
Under Obama: Guns at presidential appearances are okay.
Yes, this is the same Obama who we’re told – under the auspices of the politics of fear – wants to take our guns.
Bush wouldn’t even allow a message on a t-shirt. Obama allows guns.
Shouts from the Abyss 
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