Smoking in the Matrix

Hi y'all.

I feel bad for letting so much time go by between postings. But my life has taken an odd turn.

It all started when I quit smoking.

At first I thought it was the process of quitting that created all the psychological turmoil and drama...but I think I've come to the conclusion that it was not so much that as the fact that somehow the natural psychological effects of quitting somehow lowered my normal defenses so that things I've been stuffing and holding at arm's length....got in.

In Lyin' Eyes the Eagles say "every form of refuge has its price".

And I'm realizing that mine does too. But for a long time, my natural hard-ass attitude kept intimate awareness of that reality away. The craziness of quitting smoking upset that fine balance and undermined that foundation...and suddenly all the emotions I did not deign to acknowledge managed to get over the wall and into the chinks in my armor.

They included stuff I'm not comfortable acknowledging to myself, let alone admitting to anyone else. Stuff that makes you feel out of control, weak, vulnerable. Not feelings I normally permit myself or ones I'm happy dealing with. But once your defenses are down, and they find their way in...well, there you are.

Maybe the process is healthy. Maybe the result is increased strength and maturity.

What I do know for sure is that it seriously sucks.

And there was no way I was going to "share" those feelings on a blog!

So for a while here....I haven't had a lot to write about, because all that shit was pretty much at the center of my attention...stuff I'm not going to "SHARE" like a whining Liberal....okay?

I can tell you this: One of my ways of dealing with it was listening to Guns & Roses, Def Leppard,  Blue Oyster Cult,  Muse, Screaming Trees, The Scorpions, AC/DC, Aerosmith, etc...VERY LOUD...and driving TOO FAST.

(Oh, and Tito and Tarantula...a disc called "Tarantism". YOU. MUST. BUY. IT.)

I can also tell you this: All my priorities have changed. I'm having trouble giving a shit about the day to day outrages of government...the kind that I used to chronicle here with —I like to think—such verve (heh heh).

But every day it's the same story. Government commits another crime to limit our freedom. Government  bureaucrats & apparatchiks are filthy, contemptible and corrupt.

Wow. Big Whoop. Alert the fucking media.

Oh wait, the fucking media is filthy, contemptible and corrupt too. Joy.

There are a million blogs that detail all the crimes and misdemeanors of "public servants", "journalists" and others that presume to know better than us...

Honestly, I just don't have anything more to say about it.

They are all corrupt pigs. They want to enslave you and me for their own wealth and/or status and/or power. The timeless & universal evil troika: Money, Status & Power.


You can pretty much trace every ignoble deed to one of them.  They never lose their attraction to a certain number of people...and many will do whatever it takes to gain them...including enslave entire nations of fellow human beings.

What more can be said about them? How many more keystrokes should be wasted deploring them.

Dude...we get it.

So I find myself silent. Bored even by the parade of wickedness on shameless display all over our country. It never ends these days. It never pauses...it's numbing.

And it's designed to make us feel overwhelmed. And if we keep tallies and note each outrage, and if we counter each idiocy, each insult, each crime, each scandal...we will not do anything else—we won't have time. We will be drawn into the trenches with our faces in the mud, and miss the bigger picture.

And not only is that insufferably, mind-numbingly tedious...it's counter productive.

It's time to change tactics. Think strategically. Long term.

The Progressives have been working on the victory they are enjoying today for a hundred years. And the damage they are doing will continue to cause harm to our nation for 100 years if we don't change the way we deal with this evil.

And it can't be worrying about the next election exclusively. Important as that is, we have to understand that changing the hearts and minds of America is required to guarantee that she remains the Land of the Free.

Convincing people to pull a lever, for one moment in time, because of a temporary situation that favors OUR party....is not a good or long term way to insure freedom.

We have to make them see that what they most believe in, what they most cherish, what they would DIE for....is precisely what we offer....

And that is what I see as my mission from now on.

More to come...

The Gunslinger
(Zombie killer)