I have been known to fly. And all you have to do is go to a pilot store, put on a set of pilot headphones, and turn on your iPhone, or other electronic broadcaster (radio).
My headset is not cheap. It is top of the line.
So, yes, electronics interfere with aviation electronic devices. I don’t know about you; but I think passenger planes should place safety over convenience.
But, my headsets are pretty cool actually:
The price went down a hundred dollars … oh well. But, here is a great review of the headsets.
It is sad we have so many reporters reporting bad information.
Maybe the internet doesn’t help as much as we thought it would.
In the past, America rewarded behavior which was good for most people. And America penalized behavior which was not good for most people.
The only exception to this would be slavery. And no, women’s suffrage was as much a social change as it was a voting right. Even today, most married women vote the same way their husbands do. So, no like then, they were represented through their spouses.
We are no longer rewarding good behavior. Now we are rewarding bad behavior.
Look at strip-clubs and x-rated movie theaters. The whole pornography industry raises violence, and especially violence against women and children. But, they are not paying for the burden of their negative behavior.
We are.
Many service ‘industries’ are like this. Bars. Hollywood. Game makers. And now they make our schools to be part of the problem. They blame ‘guns’ for what their social change has caused. And instead of addressing what causes our problems, they address other rights and blame them.
So, how do we make social change ‘fair.’
How do we reduce the burden I am forced to carry?
I do not want to live a life full of fear, so others can live a life of excess. If someone wants to live that life, shouldn’t they have to take out an insurance policy which protects me?
When they talk on their cell phone and drive? Or choose to drive aggressively and try to get me to drag race them?
Or cuss me out, because I asked their child to behave instead of hit me at the grocery store?
Where has my right of safety (also known as, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”) gone to?
And what about the children?
Don’t they have a right of a school system free from political propaganda and brain washing? Wasn’t fear of brain washing the reason given for removing a moment of silence from our schools?
Yes, that was what they told me in school.
So, why do our children get brain washed into thinking ‘sex, drugs, violent music, and violence’ are a normal part of society?
I have a lot of things on my plate to write about.
And Gay Marriage is just one issue.
But, it is important to remember that when the Defense of Marriage Act was passed, ‘Gay Marriage’ was not considered possible. Less than 20 years later, we are being told that anything less than ‘Gay Marriage’ is discrimination.
Of course it is discrimination, and allowing ‘Gay Marriage’ is also ‘discrimination’ for a small class of people.
The primary reasons for the change are many, but the main ones are: tax benefits (see this 1989 NY Times article); some activists want greater freedom than marriage allows (see here) (and here for favoritism under immigration laws.)
But, the published ‘agenda’ is seldom that large. See GLAAD’s mission statement here. There they claim the agenda as being about understanding, acceptance, and equality.
So, how do we address equality?
If we reduce the taxes upon gay couples, we will have to tax single people, straight couples, and traditional families more.
If the agenda is about equality, then why is there a push for gay couples to gain tax benefits I do not have? I am single.
There is also a push for adoption. I am not certain how strong of a push that really is. On the one side, I do know some have advocated for tax payments to gay couples for adoptions just like for straight couples. And I did blog on that before.
I think.
But, I think I already have enough above for this one blog post.
And here I want to ask, “Since Gay Marriage is against my Religion, how will the tax burden be handled so that I am not paying to support gay marriages against my Religion?”
I cannot blame someone for wanting to pay less in taxes. But, should I pay more, so they can pay less?
OK. This blog is not about the change, but about what was.
I loved Texas, because we stood for something.
Whether called upon by George Patton (and President F.D.R.), or by the Confederacy, the people of Mexico (against Napoleon), or the Nation of Texas, we always fought for what was our duty.
I lost family in the Alamo.
I had family who were Mexican-Texans.
My family is proud of who and what we were.
Years ago, when my Grandmother Ora was researching our family, she called a Mayor of a small Texas city. He told her that he did not have time to talk with her about family.
Well. One thing led to another. And he called my grandmother back and apologized. His mother had told him in no uncertain terms that he would love to talk about family, because he should be proud of his family.
Almost everyone in my home county was my cousin. (I grew up 12 hours away – you gotta love a state that big).
I do.
But, everyone back home was related to me. By blood or marriage.
I am proud of that.
Proud of my ancestors who had been Mexicans. I was proud of those who were Native-Americans.
I won’t brag on the outlaws in the family for this blog, but we had them. And they really were not in the closet.
Proud that we were prosperous.
Proud that we worked hard.
Proud of our families.
Even our schools, even though some teachers had been real hard on me.
I was proud that time I saw my grandfather ask some men “To go out back with me. We need to have a talk with ‘Johnnie.’ I am hearing he is being rough with his wife.”
But, we really need to reduce our hate and anger in America.
First, hate and anger do not solve problems. Even during war-time, hate and anger will only get you killed.
And like George C. Scott so famously said when he played George S. Patton, you are supposed to kill the other guy during war. He begins the soliloquy at about 33 seconds.
I will go back to the H.E.B. tomorrow and talk with the General Manager, yes, I have the receipt with my checkers name on it. Just in case the hateful woman does try to get her fired.
But, as I think back on the event, we need to reduce the anger and hate level in America.
As most of you know, I live part-time in Ukraine, and I wish I was full-time in Ukraine. I can hurt anywhere, but it is a lot easier to live with chronic pain when everyone around you is not going CRAZY with their anger issues.
OK.
Most of you also know, I am traditional in my point of view. And I think part of our problem with anger is we are trying to force new morality upon people. And that results with in a new spectrum of ‘beliefs.’
Some are good, or at least they are not bad.
But, when people are forced to agree with new beliefs they do not believe in, they can feel threatened. When threatened, people often react violently. Other times, they cry, or they laugh. But, sometimes they get violent.
Now, I do not know if that was the woman’s problem Saturday night.
But, I do know increased stress would explain the increased anger issues we are dealing with in America. Would you believe wiki discusses this? Check it out.
I believe we need to slow down on our social change. We need to give people time to catch up with what the ‘new normal‘ is supposed to be. And if you follow the link, you will see even hollywood had to slow down on how fast they pushed their new normal on the rest of us.
If it is not profitable, maybe most people are not ready for it?
I am a realist.
Social change is coming whether I agree with it or not.
We will have abortion, divorce, domestic violence, drugs, sex, porn, and all sorts of the ‘new normal’ in our schools, and eventually in our government.
But, this is not the same as racism.
The difference is simple, our new normal is forcing the majority of people to act and behave in a manner that thousands of years of social development has taught us is not ‘good for us.’
Now. Sometimes we need to change. And sometimes what we believe is true sociology, is not good sociology.
But, social change is stressful. And when accomplished too quickly will result in chaos, often civil strife and war.
Does that sound like most of Africa and the Middle East today?
I am not saying I can stop social change.
And personally, some items such as legalizing marijuana could be done in a better manner than we are currently implementing the haphazard laws in America, today.
Nor, do I want to set myself up as the judge of everyone else.
But, I do not enjoy watching hatred become common place. I do not like witnessing the devastation the social stress is causing my country.
I grew up in South Texas. We did not have the problems with Gays in our communities that I see Anglo culture having today. They were there. Some were funny. Some were a pain in the rear end.
But, they were there. Not everywhere. But, noticeable.
We had drunks.
We had drug users – not so noticeable.
And generally, we did not have the hatred I am seeing come from too much social change too quickly.
