The Importance of Gun Control....

                                                       The Importance of Gun Control

                                                                     

                                                                   By Lady Rhiannon

No democratic legislation has ever called for a ban on all guns; rather we call for gun CONTROL. We need tighter gun control in this country and the reasons should be obvious. How many innocent children have to die before the access to deadly weapons becomes more difficult? I hope the recent tragedy in Aurora, Colorado brings to light the importance of gun control reform. Gun control is not a threat to our freedom, and it can save thousands of lives.

More people die from gun shots in the United States than any other country in the world, we also have more gun-related crimes, over all, than any other country in the world. According to the statistics from the FBI, 6,009 people were murdered with handguns in America in 2010, which was 67.5% of all murders in the country that year. There were 8,775 total firearm crimes reported in the U.S. in 2010. The highest rates of gun crimes in the Unites States come primarily from states where gun laws are most lenient. South Carolina and Tennessee dominate the board in their rate of gun crimes per capita.

Our constitutional rights are very much valid and important, but no right is absolute, without exception or consideration for particular circumstances. Even the sacred right to freedom of speech is limited in that you cannot knowingly spread false information (although no one is telling that to Fox News), you cannot call in a fake bomb threat and insight terror, and you cannot threaten someone’s life or purposefully insight violent actions. The second amendment right to gun ownership is equally as relative.

When the Second Amendment was ratified, the founding fathers had very little or no understanding of mental health and stability. Medicine and medical knowledge was still very primitive at the time and psychology was not a known practice or science until late into the 19^th century. So the founding fathers never gave a thought to those who were mentally unstable and should not own guns, nor to young boys with guns who were treated like men from a very early age. Guns at the time were also far less dangerous than they are today, their guns shot one weak bullet at a time and it took a long time to reload. There were no weapons of mass destruction, no bombs, no silencers, and no automatic rifles, and there was no way for the first congress to anticipate the future of weapons technology.

Children who are not even old enough to vote or drive have access to deadly weapons. If a nine year old were allowed behind the wheel of a car, even with an adult, it would be a crime and the parent would be charged for negligence and child endangerment, at least. Yet I have seen and heard of children as young as four and five who are taken to shooting ranges and taught to shoot. This practice, even with older children, desensitizes them of the dangers of guns. Children’s brains are NOT developed enough to handle the dangers and responsibilities of handling a gun. They are not mature enough to comprehend the severity of the potential consequences. The human frontal lobe, which is the home of consequential thinking, rationalizing, and decision making, is not fully developed until the age of about twenty-five. Children are also not physically coordinated enough to safely handle a gun, which is why we also don’t let young children play with sharp things, boiling water, and fire!

I am an advocate for the restriction of guns from everyone under the age of twenty-one. I believe that if you pass a written safety test you should be able to acquire a firearm learner’s license when you’re eighteen.  With the learner’s license you may go to approved shooting ranges, be issued a gun, and practice shooting targets under strict supervision. Once you turn twenty-one you should then be able to have a psychiatric evaluation, a written safety test, and a shooting range test. If you pass the tests, you can get a license to buy and own certain hand guns and rifles for self-defense. We are required to be tested in multiple ways to get a license to drive; it is only logical that it should be at least as difficult to attain a license to own a deadly weapon. Cars are also registered, and no one questions it, and it is far more important that guns be registered so that crimes are easily traced back to the offender. It should also be a law that all firearms must be locked away securely and unloaded when not in use.

 Assault weapons and automatics should be strictly prohibited. I am viciously against hunting, but even if you are pro-hunting there is no reason for anyone to have automatic assault weapons. Automatic weapons are meant to kill people in an attack. They are not used in hunting, are impractical for self-defense, and no civilian has any business with such dangerous weapons. In an ideal world such weapons would not even exist, but as long as they do they must be kept from those unqualified to use them.

For those that would argue that they fear of a massive military uprising against the American people, you are exactly the type of paranoid nut that I do not want handling guns. The fact is that most of the people in our military would not turn on the American people (their own people) even if they were ordered to. Also, if the far-fetched, unlikely scenario occurred wherein the government and military utterly, blatantly, and violently turned on us and made this country a military state at gunpoint, we are not going to be saved by a crowd of civilians with a few assault weapons. The fact is that the American people have already been taken over, but it has been done in subtler ways, through economic disparities and corporate control of our government.

The reason that our weak gun control laws go utterly unchallenged is that the NRA, weapons manufacturers, and rich Christian institutions have strict monetary ties with the political “right”. The NRA supplies the right-wing with a mountain of campaign contributions and, in return, the politicians vote for and pass legislation that “protects the second amendment”, and keeps gun restrictions weak. The NRA and the GOP also fool the general public by asserting that the Democrats and liberals want to “take away your guns”, and ban guns entirely. They also feed into baseless conspiracy theories about “socialist” military take overs. The second amendment is a Republican talking point used to distract the masses and gain followers who don’t understand that the right-wing’s true agenda is to take over the people by sucking our way of life dry and turning us into ignorant, desperate subjects and sheep.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/10/gun-crime-us-

Aries....

Oh Aries so very brave and strong,

First to blaze a path to glory,

Through the gathering gloom of darkness,

Let thy fire burn with all your fury,

For there is no more sorrowful a sight,

Than your soul a dwindling flame,

So broken by the bond of despair,

Never ye bear such a mournful cry,

As that of an eagle with no wings to fly

  ~The Lady Rhiannon

What Do I Believe?

First Let Us Ask Ourselves.....

What Is Belief?

be•lief

Noun:

An acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.

Something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion or conviction.

I have been asking myself this recently. What do I believe, what is just hope, what is opinion, and what do I disbelieve? People are so quick to apply belief and faith to their opinions and ideas about what might be. Somehow they assume that if they think it, than it must be true. Suddenly, “I think gays are icky” becomes, “God hates gay people and god speaks through my thoughts.” There are many things that cannot be proven conclusively, but that have a lot of logical merit and could be reasonably possible. Unfortunately, there are also many things people claim to believe that have absolutely no logical merit, ethical boundaries, or basis in possible reality. Belief is a trust that something is true, with or without evidence of truth. Faith is belief without proof. So what do I believe with no evidence… in faith?

Before I answer that pertaining to metaphysics, I am going to say that I truly have faith with all my heart that somebody, somewhere in the town I am living in right now is, at this very moment, drinking a beer…….

Why do I believe that? It is logical…and I bet they are within 200 feet of me too.

I also believe that, without looking outside, the sky is still blue.

My point is, not all beliefs without proof are ludicrous and moronic…..so I try to remain un-jaded by all the insane, immoral, illogical, and multilevel impossibilities of what most people believe.

Okay, what do I believe in faith about metaphysics? Not much….

I believe in my sustainable consciousness….I believe that I will always have a consciousness on some level, somehow, somewhere…call it a soul. I believe in a pantheistic energy system and that energy can be manipulated. I also believe that the mind is capable of far more than we yet understand. I also believe in Extra Sensory Perception and I think psychology will do a lot to back me up in the next decade or so. I believe that everything is relevant and that everything affects everything else. However even these "beliefs" are more like hopes and strong opinions, since I do not claim to know without a shadow of uncertainty. I have a very strong opinion that I have a soul, but when does one cross the line into belief? Can one only say they believe when they refuse to accept the possibility of any other truth? If so, the belief in anything seems arrogant.

Those are the closest things I can come to beliefs.....

Anything else I may have lazily expressed as a belief is really just hope. I hope a lot of things. I hope that karma is on some level real, I hope that there is a pleasant afterlife, I hope I will never be permanently separated from my children, I hope that fairies are real... Why not? Maybe they are on another planet. I have many theories and ideas as well. I theorize that reincarnation is true on some level, I theorize that the soul evolves as any physical being does.

My biggest category seems to be disbelief. Technically, by definition, I am an atheist. I have a solid DIS-belief in “higher” beings, deities, and god. I believe that god is not real; it is an imagined concept of utter fiction. However, I also DIS-believe in nothingness after death, and some picky atheists I know might argue that a belief in the soul is a theistic belief. However, that would make us all gods, so the whole idea loses its meaning since all would be equal….but I suppose I could look at it that way. We are on our own though, there is no great over-seer. I don’t care if anyone else believes what I believe, and most do not; I sometimes fall in the center of things it seems. It does not matter either way. In the end it is what it is. In truth, we know nothing about what will happen, and probably will never know in life....but the answer is not in a work of fiction, or a religion. Actually, I am not trying to find the answer. I will just live for as long as I am capable and see what happens when it happens.

I seek the betterment of myself in this life, at this moment; my spiritual and physical well-being. Living now is the only sensible answer; not trying to prepare for, or answer for, what somebody thinks might be true. Those who claim a religion rarely actually believe…they just say they do. They have taken hope and fear, and turned it into the illusion of belief…as a means of coping with the fear and comforting themselves. That alone seems harmless enough; we all have means of comforting ourselves. 

Unfortunately, the social doctrine and the blind, cult-like adherence to oppressive and often immoral conformist standards creates a viral epidemic of blind, ignorant, and personally repressed individuals with pre-programmed hatreds, prejudices, misinformation, and irrational fears. So much death, hate, destruction, and chaos caused by disagreements about what everyone thinks might happen....that is not how they see it, but that is what it is. That is what happens when fearful sheep turn to a shepherd to lead them off into Lala land and off a cliff, where they teach their children that there are no possibilities other than their “truths”….but they don’t actually believe, it’s indoctrination. 

For my part, you can call me a pantheist, an atheist, and an agnostic, and you would be right.

~The Lady Rhiannon

            

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‬

 

This video portrays true belief....

http://youtu.be/dMaK6k4oZ20

  Fairytale Proposal

I summon thee to the forest with me,
 
lest we dance til the ash of the fire fizzles away, 
 
and we shall roll in the clover,
 
and sip the morning dew,
 
We will make love my the river,

and dance in the sky,
 
Then away we shall ride,
 
For all the world may wait,
 
but no one will find us.

                 ~The Lady Rhiannon

  The Angel’s Wisdom
 

 And behold, I see thee stretched upon a great alter,

Helpless from the madness that takes you,

Consumed by the screams all around you, 

Merciless to your piercing cries,

So I spread forth my wings,

And I shout for all the heedless masses to hear….

“Retched and Damned be the souls who use violence and hatred, 

To fuel the distemper of their ignorance,

Forsaking all that is true and free,

For the sake of an empty promise,

And the fear of what may be,

Worship and sacrifice none,

And let thy true freedom be known.”

                 
                            ~ The Lady Rhiannon

Racism in America

Racism in America

By The Lady Rhiannon 

 

Race is still an important factor in people's minds in this country, even though we have obviously made headway against racism. It is the same with misogyny, the feminist movement and the civil rights movement has made great strides, but there is a long, long way to go. It was not too long ago that we had segregation in this country….and slavery is not a part of ancient history either. The inherent disparity and inequalities within our system remains very strong. I am reminded that racism and irrational fear and ignorance every day and I am sickened when I hear such stories as those of John Derbyshire and Robert Weissberg, who were both writers from the National Review that were fired because of their racist rants.

Derbyshire asserted that whites are smarter than black people, black people are dangerous and whites should avoid them, but to keep a couple black friends around so that no one can accuse you of being a racist. Weissberg similarly asserted that black are simply more barbaric and stupid, and that white should segregate themselves by creating what he described as "whitetopias. These racists are not alone; there is an array of racist rants on YouTube and white supremacist websites ranging in extremity. Ohio is leading the Midwest in the number of racist organizations (73 that are known about). I don't see the end of prejudice and bigotry coming anytime soon.

Young Obama with his mother.

Many thought that Barack Obama’s election into office was the sign that racism was no longer a significant factor in our culture. From what I have seen, the opposite has proven true. I believe that many racists have been quietly dormant for a while, but the election of Obama as president has driven racists and bigots of all shapes and sizes to slither out from under their rocks and show their ugly faces once again. In many ways, the denial of racism in our culture can be seen as a new form of racism, spurred by the apathetic oblivion in which many people reside.   

Education is the key to our release from this irrational delusion of racial superiority. We are all different, we are meant to be, and genetic variation is essential to our survival and to our continuing evolutionary development. Racists discriminate against difference in skin pigmentation which is a result of evolution adapting the human skin to live in a hot sunny place like Africa. Blond, pale skinned Arians came from the far north where there was very little sun, which is why they burn easily. Our differences make perfect sense; the hatred of those differences makes no sense at all. Unfortunately, in a world where many do not believe in evolution, there are those who resist truth and choose ignorance over fact, and hatred over understanding.   

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/06/national-review-writer-race_n_1409413.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v366kCQhcrY

http://enquirer.com/editions/2001/11/12/loc_study_ohio_has_most.html

The Value of Learning

The Value of Learning

 By Lady Rhiannon

                One of my most treasured values is my love of learning. Learning is something that impacts nearly every facet of my existence every day. I am constantly learning new things, or expounding on existing knowledge. Even when I am not learning, I am applying skills or knowledge, even if it is just a logic problem in a puzzle book, in order to exercise my mind. Without my drive and desire to learn I would have never started gardening, writing, painting, drawing, making my own jewelry, crafts, baking, or any of my other hobbies and art forms. Learning new information, such as history and social science is vital to our evolution as a civilization. We must learn from our past, our societal flaws, and our behavior in order to become a better functioning society. The individuals that ignore or resist learning opportunities become mentally atrophied.

Those who cannot or will not stop to examine, study, and analyze the world around them seem to have little to no ability to apply any form of analysis upon themselves, thus cannot achieve a level of self-actualization.  Those without any motivation to learn seem to lead a semi-conscious existence. They appreciate things less, are more socially awkward, are less likely to pick up on details, and are more likely to be fearful or prejudicial against things they do not understand. As a result they are less emotionally fulfilled, but they cannot understand why. It is common to say that ignorance is bliss, but from what I have seen that is only an illusion, because those who are ignorant lack the self-reflection necessary to understand how un-blissful they truly are. It is true that knowing hard truths can make people depressed, angry, frustrated, or even terrified, but not knowing keeps you in just a vulnerable or dangerous position without the benefit of knowing what to expect or how to prepare. Learning and understanding truths has always been a fulfilling and ultimately beneficial experience for me, even when the new information is unpleasant.

                The most important things in my life have been a result of endless and eager learning. I have learned how to be an artist, a gardener, a cook, and a caretaker to every type and number of helpless little creature. I taught myself how to be a good mother, which is by far the most valuable role I can possibly play in this world. Unfortunately, many refuse to learn; even to be a good mother to their children.

                My mother taught me the importance of learning from an early age. She has two Associate’s degrees and a Bachelor’s degree herself, and was a teacher for some time. I too am hoping to become a teacher, probably in history. I would love to teach high school American History because I think that a thorough, honest understanding of our history, especially slavery, women’s history, our wars, and the intricate workings of our economy and government is so very vital to the betterment of our country’s future. I would also love to spread information through a larger demographic, becoming a teacher of a different fashion through journalism, public activism, and political commentary.

We seem to have a short attention span in this country when it comes to history, and learning is not high enough on the priority list. I don’t think those that have a true value for learning are in the majority. I have watched congressmen and alleged professionals on national television misquote, misdate, and misinterpret chapters in history over and over again, and quite recently. So I think it is imperative that we teach our children the absolute truth so that they are never in a position to be seen as ignorant, nor in a position to hear untruths coming from someone else and be so naïve as to believe that they are true.

 Learning is beneficial emotionally, financially, physically and socially. An educated public improves society as a whole. The greatest power of all lies inside the mind, and with everything that we learn we strengthen the mind, thus strengthening our personal power.

“Knowledge is Power” - Sir Francis Bacon

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