Space Oddity

Chris Hadfield just completed something that only a handful of men and women have ever done. He spent five months in space on the International Space Station (ISS). Hadfield did more than just take his work to edge of our world for a few months. He packed his guitar along for the ride and while on the space station gave an amazing rendition of David Bowie’s "Space Oddity".

• :: Here am I
• :: sitting in a tin can
• :: far above the world.
• :: Planet earth is blue
• :: and there’s nothing I can do*

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All Politics Is Local

Tip O’Neill, former Speaker Of The House, coined the phrase “all politics is local.” O’Neill rightly understood that no matter how large the issues of the day are people will always focus on – and vote for – the issues that affect their daily lives. It is built into our species, genetically encoded through thousands and thousands of years fighting for survival while dragging ourselves out of the muck. Homo Sapiens – and every other species – evolved to survive in a local environment. Big pictures in the fight for life are relegated to the back burner, especially on an individual basis.

This evolutionary trait of all living things poses a difficult and very real threat to humanity. Our species is quickly transcending our evolutionary roots. We are ascending to heights where our evolutionary past may hamper or even destroy our ability to exist in the world, at least in our current form. We no longer effect the world on local levels. Today, everything we do has global ramifications. No species has ever had to consider such things.

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A Man Of Culture - Iain M. Banks

I just learned that one of my favorite writers is dying, cancer and apparently late-stage. Iain Banks – or Iain M. Banks for fans of his science fiction novels – has had an unusual and sparkling career. Mr. Banks has produced some wonderful mainstream fiction (whatever the hell ‘mainstream’ means) but is probably best known for his Culture novels, a science fiction universe filled with high-tech gadgetry, love and, most importantly, humor.

I discovered Banks by accident. I hadn’t read a science fiction novel in decades when one day walking through Barnes and Noble I spied the cover to his most recent work – ‘Matter’ – on the bottom shelf of the newest science fiction releases.

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The Magic Of Common Sense

It is an eerie feeling. Before putting the key in the ignition I can hear the song playing on the radio and I start to sing it. It isn’t a singular occurrence. It has happened many times over the years and several times recently. I would like to attribute it to some sort of Kreskin-like ability. Perhaps one of the many knocks on the head I suffered as a youth unleashed this prescient grey matter, causing me to slip into a world beyond the edge of normalcy. Or perhaps not.

There are reasons scientific that explain this superfluous skill, I’m sure. But like most I prefer to explain it (and dismiss it) in a simple manner: magic and fantasy. I am full of them. We all are. We live in a world that extends beyond the physics the universe has supplied.

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E Pluribus Unum

To quell our fears and erase our doubts they fabricate the truth. They invite us into their subverted reality and most, without flinching, acquiesce. It’s easier this way, safer. For example, they tell us that this - the United States of America - is a Christian nation¹. Most believe them without hesitation, regardless of how bent or twisted their logic is. Most even believe their outright lies when attempting to support their position.

As proof that we are a Christian nation, they tell us that our pledge of allegiance very clearly states “one nation, under God”, or that the constitution claims these united states as Christian. They even reassure us that “In God We Trust” adorns our money because our nation’s founders believed in proclaiming our true heritage and our belief in the Creator. Most do, in fact, believe this. And they warn us all, with their condescending manner, to beware those few elitist-commie-bastards who claim to have actually read the constitution and the Federalist Papers, or any of our nation’s colorful history. They will, these elitist-commie-bastards, try to convince us otherwise. As the Christian-centric among us have attempted to convince us, the educated - the elite - hate this country and want to turn it into something it isn’t.

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