203 pages

Carl and I are having a contest to see who can read the most this summer. I'm not updating the corner count until I finish books, though. It gets too confusing otherwise.

Yesterday I read an article for work, on Moses and leadership. If I were super obnoxious, I could try suing for the lack of separation of church and state, but whatever. It was a great article. It really shed some light on some important questions I've heard asked over and over again about the book of Exodus.

No, really.

Like, why the Israelites had to be in the wilderness for 40 years. This guy approaches it all from a leadership view and talks about how it's a story that applies to everyone who wants to lead.

Okay, so anyway. I've also been reading a book called "Founding Mothers," about the women behind the men of our revolution. It's amazing. I feel such a kinship with some of them. It's really making me think about what role I want to have in the upcoming events of our turbulent world.

There are a number of quotations in the book about what made the war possible, and the article on Moses also clarified that point. Moses could have prevented the plagues. He could have stood up and stopped the Pharaoh's cruelty to the Israelites, but he didn't. He made the risky move of letting them suffer. But why?

The writer of the essay avers that it was all to make sure the Israelites knew the truth about their situation. It had to get dark before dawn, or else they wouldn't appreciate it. This sentiment is echoed many times in my revolution book.

And overall, I'm trying to figure out stuff. I sit here and look at our world, and it's all so connected to me. All of the issues share their roots, and at every turn it is obvious that we are entangled in an awful situation. And so I fight to change that.

But I've realized that the average American idiot just doesn't get it. And until they get it, we're screwed.

Working at the EPA has shown me how deeply rooted in fascism the agency is. Contrary to popular belief, it's hurting the environment more than helping. And the average American can do something about it. Did you know that the Atomic Energy Commission was dissolved as a direct result of civilian outrage? If we pulled another set of shenanigans like that, we wouldn't have to deal with fascist ecomaniacs sticking their faces into every project anyone wants to do. While it's true that the AEC was shortly replaced by the NRC, if people had stood up to that also, it wouldn't have happened. Probably.

But the problem is that people now forget their amazing ability to control this world. We're willing to let things like the EPA and the NRC exist, completely unconstitutionally, because, hey: if the government doesn't regulate nuclear energy, who will?

But let's look at something else: the fire code.

There is no national fire code.

The two main fire codes adhered to by every municipal fire department in the nation come from the International Code Council and the National Fire Prevention Association. They are commercially sold. There is no national regulation on this. Fire chiefs can basically do what they want.

And you know what? They all have fire codes. And I doubt you would buy a house if you knew it fell within the jurisdiction of a fire department with no functional code.

During the War for American Independence, our women changed the course of history with their by becoming selective buyers--through their boycotts of English products. And it worked. The idiotic need Americans perceive for government comes from a lack of understanding of their own power. The consumer controls the world.

But on the other hand, I believe there is a strong case that Americans will never again understand their situation, because Americans are no longer voracious readers, as they were in revolutionary times, nor are they particularly skilled in the art of thinking, as shown by the mindless worship of B. Hussein Obama.

Basically... we're doomed