Rural Tompkins Blogs – Page 16 – Rural Tompkins County

“The World According to Doctrine” — Plea Bargaining is “Professional Courtesy”

While the victims of murder have no opportunity or ability to lessen their condition – those who kill them can cut a deal to reduce, or even eliminate the consequences of their actions – and the victim’s family is not a party to the plea bargain and has no standing to prevent it.

Giving the victims “the right to offer written input into whether a plea bargaining agreement is proper,” and “making a reasonable effort to provide them the opportunity to comment on the agreement terms”; is as meaningful an action as putting up your hand to stop a lethal bullet.

Professional courtesy generally refers to the etiquette extended between members of the same profession.

It’s a situation that places career criminals and career law enforcement on an equal footing. And the victims?

You’re a victim: get over it!

“The World According to Doctrine” — The New Normal: Obliviousness

There comes a time when you have to do something – even if you don’t know it. “Due diligence” is more than just a legal satisfaction: it’s the price of survival.

Whether it’s “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” or “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” – people speak of a hard won wisdom: that we need to take care of business – before the business gets out of hand.

Preparing for the future used to part of the responsibility of adulthood; but in our adolescent society – the importance of immediacy is wrapped up in the testing of boundaries; not whether there’s food for tomorrow.

There is a tsunami of problems that will inundate every shore – and no self-righteous obliviousness can ride that wave.

If we are morphing into a society [and a world] that blames everything on the past; and won’t take responsibility for the future – the time we have left is slipping away.

“The World According to Doctrine” — When race determines policy . . .

Truisms have become subordinated to doctrine in our society. It was a truism that repeatedly telling people not to think of “elephants” – would invariably cause them to think of elephants.

But we are now told that “race, gender, and ethnicity” are the touchstone for every policy – and the mantra for every conversation – and by always made being aware of our differences — we will cease to think of them or count them of any importance.

Like the old joke about the businessman who; “lost money on every sale; but made it up in volume” – our social policies graft together these two incompatible thoughts — and create a sideshow barker of salesmanship to appeal to our fears and prejudices.

While the legitimacy of these policies is certainly questionable: The more basic question is: “Was slavery any less wrong when it was made legal?”

Then ask yourself: “When individual human worth is denied; and people are treated as a commodity for use or disposal — is there any difference in the people who perpetrate the injustice: or in the source of their arguments?”

“The World According to Doctrine” — There’s no workaround for human worth

Human worth cannot be set aside, or postponed, or subordinated. Human worth is not a commodity to be packaged and portioned. It is indivisible by race, gender, and ethnicity. It cannot be regulated in a way that does not diminish it. It cannot be fenced by policy, or deconstructed by law.

And those who seek to do so – are the enemies of all that make us human.

“The World According to Doctrine” — More Urbites 2

Agricultural farming practices are the biggest contributor of the Methane emissions that are “turbocharging” our planet’s Climate Change – but when the weather that these modern farming practices help create cuts into agricultural profits — we’re taxed to make up the difference. Agriculture is also the greatest polluter of our water and our waterways; and their use of fossil fuels is actually still increasing. Our government is trying to curb agricultural pollution by “voluntary programs” and “incentives” – decades of voluntary programs that have proved completely ineffective; and the incentives are limited to just pouring more tax dollars into Industrial Agriculture’s pockets.

Could there be anything worse? Yes, there could – for those living in our country’s rural areas: where Industrial Agriculture is steamrollering a carpet of poverty, crime, toxic fumes, and impaired water over their communities – and nobody cares.

It’s Urban Colonialism; bringing a self-serving “modern agriculture” to the backwards rural natives — profiting at any cost.

“The World According to Doctrine” — Society Survival Store 2

Another year to survive. Can you make it to the next Pandemic? Survival begins in your mind – so protect your behind and think ahead. Remember: only the tough will survive to live in a world that nobody wants to live in.

“The World According to Doctrine” — Society Survival: A Piece of the Action

“Justice” is codified by those who make the laws – not those who are the victims — and they’re frequently a community apart. That’s why victims are tossed “closure” – like a barking dog a bone — to shut them up.

Sheep with the teeth of a shark will stop the depredation of wolves better than a shepherd — especially an uncaring one.

“The World According to Doctrine” — New Term: “Ongoing Nowhere”

Government has made great strides – in pretending it’s actually doing something. All of their “On this spot we will build” glowing rhetoric is good for selling; but the results confirm that selling and profiting are the sole concerns of their policy making.

“Transparency,” “participation,” and “ethics” are stickers pasted on the sides of an impenetrable monolith – and our involvement is reduced to reading the proclamations of their “black box” decisions.

While our politicians are “ongoing nowhere” — we’re “going nowhere” — and it’s nowhere we want to go.

“The World According to Doctrine” — “What are Biden’s policy guidelines?”

Since when did our government get so predatory?

Politicians and their conies are swollen with privilege and pillaging – deceptive and manipulative policies reach deep into the life savings of the hard-working poor – proclaiming it’s equitable to give to those who disdain low-paying, dead-end jobs — by taking from those who worked them.

“The World According to Doctrine” — How do Progressives Balance Justice?

Tompkins County government brags about being Progressive – but when you question their decisions – they go silent – and feel no need to answer. They see themselves as rulers; not as representatives.

This excerpt from the county’s Comp Plan is revealing:

“The Tompkins County Comprehensive Plan presents a vision for the future of the community. It is based on a set of principles that reflect the values of the community as expressed by the County Legislature they have elected.”

It’s a fancy-dancing way of say that they will make all the decisions – an interpretation that is supported in every page of their plan for how others should live.

There’s no need to cook the books when you can’t be called to account.

Theirs is the burden of rulership; ours is to carry their sedan chairs.