Category Archives: Civilization

America Must Face Reality

© 2016 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee     [caption id="attachment_3589" align="aligncenter" width="250"]America must face reality about assault rifles Assault Rifles[/caption]  

Does the Future America offer Peace?

Another Needless Massacre

Once again, the United States of America must face reality. Americans are in shock with the most recent mass shooting occurring in a  gay nightclub in Orlando,  Florida.  Another unnecessary tragedy, a horrific killing of  49 innocent people  by one  unstable, radicalized Muslim;  an extremist  born in the USA  but influenced by ISIS and the challenge of living within a complex, confused North American society .   This tragedy is another event which must, at some point, be taken seriously, like it or not,  as difficult as  only can be imagined, —and  politically-correct or not.  

To ignore the reality of fanatic extremism is to invite more fanatic extremism and ever more deadly events. How sublime it seems, then, when each occurrence is followed by foolishly ineffective discussions, knee-jerk  political responses coupled with bold but meaningless  rhetoric and statements of position, copied,  seemingly verbatim, from previous horrific mass shootings, bombings,  or other horrific events.  America must  face reality regardless how difficult that process may turn out to be.

America must face reality,  look inward and face both the  guilt and results of willfully and inexplicably allowing sales of assault rifles and weapons to deranged racists,  lunatics and fanatics of all kinds on watch lists,  to unstable individuals, radicalized by brutal foreign influence or not.   America must take ownership and  responsibility  for a society so immune to reason that disgruntled opponents, both foreign and native-born Americans themselves , see no other choice but to lash out and kill; turn assault rifles and other weapons against unprotected, soft and innocent civilian targets in their predictable,  hopeless rage.

America Must Face Reality

Yes,  everyone knows politically-correct society insists:  "a mentally-disturbed individual did it."  Regardless of  description,  those who are angry kill,  mentally-deranged individuals kill, radicalized fanatics kill, extremists kill, and religious zealots with sick obsessions, motive and questionable agenda kill.  Equally guilty are political and religious  leaders who kill by failure to lead governments which  kill by failing to govern with reason and common sense,  and  all organizations and religions which kill by failing to teach peace, tolerance and understanding instead of brutal demands for compliance to  narrow-minded theology, barbaric idiocy, revenge, blood-letting and execution.  In the minds of desperate zealots of all stripes, no solution or path is offered but that of hopelessness of  violence or death itself.

Yes,  America must face reality; the hard  truth that fanatic American mandates and 'rights' are  cast in bitter, brittle fundamentalist self-righteousness, right-wing Republicanism, or equally bitter Democrat blather. It may be observed there is little separation in terms of stubbornness, intolerance, or mindset from that of  black-robed, preachy, AK-waving ISIL extremists,  bitter, delusional and fanatic jihadists, or Islamic criminals on watch lists,  global or home grown.

The  common operating  madness is the narrow, bitter interpretation of  ideology,  self-declared 'righteousness'  void of  respect for others or any responsible, reasonable social response. Politics and religion, now equally unappealing globally, are  based upon the unacceptable, deadly,  narrow-minded intolerance of others.   Justified by quoting verses from the Quran, chapters from a Bible, or 'rules of the  self-entitled' from failed, corrupt and out-dated political platforms, the evil  dwelling in the  unstable minds of radicalized, angry lunatics  has but one purpose; a mandate of intimidation, revenge, and fear by mindlessly killing  helpless human beings in crowded venues.

Because of  a long history of  arrogance, greed, endless warfare and exploitation of other nations,  elements in America can be held equally responsible for  poverty, prejudice,  bigotry, injustice, intolerance, and racism  resulting in predictable  radicalization,  terrorism, and fanaticism, all of which are desperate responses of protest and revenge.  Events like the massacres  which have occurred in Orlando,  the Boston massacre, 9/11, and countless other events will continue to happen. When will you get it?

Name them.  You know them all. Make excuses.  Declare war. Recall the blood, the horror, lifeless bodies, the maimed.   Recall broken families,  tears, the dearly beloved,  injured or lost forever. Mass murders are  happening with increasing regularity.  The politically-correct  may say "Yes, but, innocent people are killed daily by accident too."   So sorry, but we must ask; how do YOU not  'get it' ?  

The difference is that these events can be stopped.  Is it that we simply cannot face the necessity of accepting responsibility for creating ideal conditions for the import of evil, and the generation of home-grown terrorism?

You need not worry about the insanity of religious and political ideological struggles half-way round the world  over there, out of sight in the Middle East.  The brain- worms of ideological hate, rot, and violence  have clearly been imported to North America. 

How predictable. Now you, too, can hustle victims from back yard massacres to emergency hospital rooms in the back of  pickup trucks. How long will it be before little black pickup trucks are racing everywhere with machine-guns  mounted upon them too?

Choices

America must make very difficult choices, and soon. Not choices between  gun control or the NRA.  Not playing political games,  refusing to call  horrific events radicalized Islamic terrorism  by  labeling them acts of insanity.  Not by choosing to label perpetrators as 'deranged'  or 'lone wolves' or Islamic or  ISIL -inspired, when they may be all or none of the above.  Building fences and banning immigrants from the USA or not doing so, whether red, yellow, black or blue-blood, and being politically-correctwill not resolve the growing problem.

Voting for billionaire Donald Trump and his fence-like brash, careless, racist rhetoric,  or  alternatively, voting for Hillary Clinton's  suspect, pseudo-hawkish,  "I can be as tough as Donald Trump"  corrupt and  meaningless blather about gender-driven 'historical occasions' will make no difference.  It is not about choosing  male,  female or transgender  washrooms or same-sex marriage.   It is certainly not about choosing Republican or Democrat, with equally ridiculous, equally greedy and equally narrow-minded partisan ideologies —and equally presumptive intent.

It IS a choice between  awaking to choose  common sense and unity,   or choosing apathy, enabling this social disease further,  only to watch the shattered American Dream crumble and fail completely .

America must face reality.  Reason and common sense have always been  stronger foundations to build upon than  bitter, mindless, delusional ideology cast in greed, and arrogance. Now is not the time for stupidity.

 Simply observe —and think.

 That's how we see it.  Difficult choices or not,  the right choices must now be made for humanity instead of waiting for the inevitable chaos.  For the record, peace and hope are that simple.

 

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Is that Incoming I hear?

Posted in Civilization, Events, Life, Major Issues, Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Fort McMurray Wildfire: Not a Campfire

©2016 by Raymond Alexander Kukkee  

(*photos unavailable at this time due to technical difficulties)

 

We like Camping Better

Think back...have you ever sat beside a lake at a camp site,  toasting marshmallows, watching a natural, crackling fire consume firewood, glowing red-hot, yellow flames,  wisps of smoke and  sparks magically drifting off into the night sky?  Maybe it's not a campfire; many  modern camping enthusiasts  content ourselves with a camp stove, usually not a campfire, the open type, at least —or  we carefully use  the same safe, good old-fashioned fire pit. Enjoying the company of good friends and making fond memories out camping may be accessorized with a favourite book or fishing rod, or both, and  R&R is completed with sunshine,  snoozing, canoe, kids,  water-play, tent, food and fun. Fire danger presently in the mind or not, we like camping better than  life back at the suburbs, and that's how the great outdoors should be, but...

But let us try again...have you ever  wind gust and shift almost instantaneously at your campsite,  blowing hot, suffocating, ash, smoke and sparks from your fire into your face, making those  comfy seats around the campfire a hazard,  not a place to sit and dream?  Perhaps too much fuel is indiscriminately added;  the fire becomes too big,   flames reach to the sky, threatening  nearby trees.  It has become dangerous; it is not a simple campfire any longer as wind fans flames.  Heat, acrid smoke,  dangerous sparks fly,  flames spread into nearby tinder-dry grass or the forest itself. There is a  sudden realization of fear...good times are forgotten and panic ensues. With unpredictable winds in some conditions  it is even possible to become surrounded by a deadly  wildfire.

The Fort McMurray Wildfire

To date it is unknown if the current fire event at Fort McMurray, Alberta, was started by lightning or accidentally,  by human activity.  Here at IncomingBytes we  respect, treasure and enjoy the great outdoors, and certainly hope the cause was not a campfire neglected by individuals who were enjoying the finest Mother Nature has to offer. It is too early to speculate.

We can only offer for certain that, like all forest fires, the Fort Mac monster started out small, accidentally or otherwise.  Fires have been caused by lightning, a vehicle,  a single spark, the careless tossing of a cigarette butt, or  in the worst case scenario, vandalism.  Not arson, please;  there could never be adequate punishment meted out for a crime of that magnitude.   And hopefully, it was not an innocent campfire run amok;  we repeat, please, —not an innocent campfire.  That would imply that someone's love for the wonderful outdoors burned  and scarred Mother Nature;  carelessness... neglect,  and unfettered guilt...You get the idea.

The Perfect Firestorm

Regardless of how the 'Fort Mac ' fire started, it grew unbelievably fast and totally out of control.  Within a very short period of time, the fire became an insatiable monster of the highest magnitude. Why?  Fire officials suggest this event was differenta perfect storm, with kindling-dry forests,  an endless and huge supply of fuel, bone-dry wood,  logs, dead trees, green conifers, extremely  low humidity, hot temperatures,  no rain, —all coupled with  gusting, driving winds capable of switching direction  unpredictably within moments.  Perfect conditions existed province-wide for the incredibly fast expansion of even the tiniest  fire.  Heat, dry fuel, oxygen... all are necessary for fire, and contributed greatly to this unbelievable, perfect firestorm.  All it took was one spark,  a campfire, a cigarette butt,  perhaps a discarded glass bottle and sunlight, or a lightning strike.  With the fire still in progress, officials can only guess at the cause as Canadians have switched into survival and firefighting mode.

The Fort Mac fire took off, becoming large enough to create its own weather system and be seen from space;  it soon consumed thousands of buildings, homes, commercial buildings, infrastructure, destroying  vehicles, personal property and livelihoods indiscriminately in an incredibly savage attack. More than 80,000 people were forced to evacuate to safer areas initially both north and south.  Unbelievably, some people  were even forced to evacuate more than once, to flee  endangered oil facilities and evacuation centers.

 

Not a Campfire?

This fire remains a vicious, unpredictable predator many days later, after destroying large neighbourhoods of Fort McMurray, and unbelievably, far more than 200,000 hectares, hundreds of square kilometers of forest —a monster wildfire which ultimately may only be controlled eventually by cooler conditions,  rainfall, and Mother Nature herself.

This is an ongoing story;  a  horrific forest fire event unparalleled  in Canadian history. A wildfire to which all North Americans should be paying attention. We continue to hope it was not a camp fire.

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Is that Incoming I hear?

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