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I think you are DEAD ON

Throughout history, religion has been a major dividing force. I don't think getting older alone make us wiser, it does give many of us the time needed to mature and become more sensitive to our surrounding.   Humans are among the slowest creatures to mature, often considered the slowest-growing mammal, with a childhood and adolescence lasting about twice as long as chimpanzees. Some never reach a stage of enlightenment making them worth while contributing members of a HUMANE society.

I thought I would give a little update to what has occured since my last post. The last contact I had with the guy involved was just before new years eve, he was asking if I was going to be in on new years eve as drop my stuff around ( rolls eyes ) so I replied I was not going anywhere, so guess what he did not turn up ( i'm so shocked ). I know he was checking if the house was going to be empty on that night ( I wish I had said it was going to be empty as I had a load of my freinds around that night ). Since then there has been no contact at all, I have gone a little over the top on securing the house and garage ( bars across the inside of the windows on the garage and multiple locking bolts on the garage doors ) as he asked my dad if the garage doors still opened and expressed that he liked my tool collection, and as he kept expressing an intrest in the mustang I have fitted a heavy duty ground anchor and chained the mustang down to it as well as immobilising it in other ways. Funny thing is the last time he contacted me a freind of mine who happens to work for the police ( office staff not a plod ) was around and I had a chat with him on his opinion about what I should do ( contact the police etc ), he said as I did not have proof that I gave the other guy any money it would be my word against the other guy's, and being that the police would not be intrested because there is no proof that a crime has been commited, at most I would be told it is a civil matter and I would not be given a crime number ( you must remember this is only his opinion as he is not a police officer ). The only good thing that has come out of this is that it has given me a kick up the backside to get rid of the stuff I have got hanging around ( car parts, computer stuff, stuff what I have draged out of the loft ) as my dad and myself are looking to downsize to a smaller property later this year. Anyway I hope this is the end of this saga and if anything changes I will post about it. Karl P.S. I will try to update about the spit as it has been finished and is back on the road.

The rise of Christian Nationalism in the US and Canada, removed whatever religious genes I once possessed. I want no part of something that can be twisted the way they did. It was bad enough that religion was once used to control the government and the people. Now the roll has reversed - particularly in the US - and the Government is using religion as a 'sidekick' to control the people.  "One Country. One God. One Religion". Jefferson would be rolling over in his grave.  https://www.monticello.org/encyclopedia/thomas-jefferson-and-religious-freedom MAGA's quote a lot of things Jefferson said or wrote.  But they never quote this. Jefferson believed in a complete separation of Church and State. So did Benjamin Franklin. 

Just in case anyone can't see similarities between Hitler's rise to power, and someone more recent.... I personally think Trump is playing a long game where he's attacking "the left" to the point that he might push them to "take up arms against a tyrannical government". (The true intent and purpose of the 2nd Amendment.) Then he can invoke the Insurrection act, and cancel the November election, and possibly the 2028 election. And stay in power.  Of course I could be way off base. 

The world needs more Carneys.  Good, sensible, old-fashioned statesmen (and women) are in very short supply. Political systems that dictate (more or less) that only two parties can really gain traction (US and UK being notable examples, shamefully don’t know enough about Canada) are always going to tend to cause polarisation. But getting those prospering from the system to change it to their disadvantage is never going to happen!

Not completely analogous, but sometime towards the end of first agent-orange affliction I read Atwoods “A Handmaidens Tale” I didn’t like it. I don’t usually mind a bit of dystopian fiction. But this was too close for comfort, even then. I have the sequel but no urge to read it! Religion can be a force for the good. Seems to me that more often it is the opposite though. I don’t have the religion gene.

Confessions and regrets. I was a card carrying member of the Reform Party of Canada back in 1993 when they almost won enough seats to form the official opposition. At the time, I also fell for the Christian Nationalist agenda. They were closely tied together. Just as the MAGA's are in the US.  In 1997, they won enough votes to form the official opposition. They really hammered the Progressive Conservative Party. After that there were attempts made to "consolidate the Conservatives". First the "Conservative Alliance" and then "The Conservative Party of Canada. The problem is that rather than merging what we called "small C Conservatives" and "large C conservatives" and ending up with a centrist Conservative party, the party leadership has been constantly Ex-Reform Party adherents. And they've constantly picked leaders - like Pierre Poilievre - who pretended to be centrists but were still pushing far right ideology.  The result is similar to the US. The CPC is now run by far right conservatives and I believe only around 35% of Conservative voters support that. That's why the Liberals won with Mark Carney. A lot of centrist conservatives want no part of the "Maple MAGA" crap Pierre is pushing. We've seen what it did to the US. I lean Conservative but I'm truly glad Carney won after seeing him in action.  I truly hope the UK Reform Party doesn't do the same to the UK. I'll hazard a guess though that UK Reform might well split the Conservative vote, and imploded or not, Labour may win again.  It's sad to see such rifts developing between the left and right, in the US, then in Canada, and potentially in the UK in the future. Heavily divided politics is a curse IMO. Nothing gets done for the people, while politicians on both sides spend all their time blaming their opponents for the current problems. Rather than fixing them. Maybe getting older has made me wiser as I regret past affiliations with far right politics and Christianity 30 years ago.  Or I've gotten to the point I just don't give a damn anymore. 🙄  

I’d say that the occasional smoke signals indicate the pump may have had a tweak. Nothing excessive though.