Other than the strange hand in hand time-line of Reality TV's popularity and the loosining of our control and care of our own government is our growing addition to phyc meds and pain killers.  Here in my own city two new pharmacies have been constructed recently, both within one mile of each other. 

Not only are the majority of adults on these medications but they are being handed out just as much to our kids.  Kids today are no more crazy or insane than they have been for thousands of years.  Yet, parents are now treating many of the common and normal characterstics of childhood like diseases of the minds. 
In truth, the parents, just trying to enjoy their own high and dope tranquility, are becoming less patient and accepting of the levels of energy that normal children are supposed to have.  They are becoming as determined to quite their children's existence with perscription drugs as they attempt to achieve the same for themselves.  It makes sense to them that their children should become more quite and dumb.  Cause all these users want now is peace.  Where madness, energy, dancing, and skipping used to represent a healthy and creative child, it is now treated like an exhausting load to deal with.

Within these past nine years I have noticed more and more of my friends and family becoming addicted and dependent upon prescription drugs and in this same time frame, also the time frame of reality tv, mind you, I have noticed the sad, tired, and careless decline in our society and culture.  These and other things, I am confident, are sapping the soul, the energy, the passion, and the life out of a society of a free people.  The reality of our society is becoming as much a farce as Reality TV.
Sorry Brooke, but you and your new room mate are screwing with are a part of a cancer being digested by our country's soul.  Forget American Idol. Lest we loose the American Dream est. 1776.  
How much life, liberty, and pursuits be sacrificed due to our country's dependence on the illusions of television or the foggy realms of prescribed "pain" (passion) killers and "antideppresants" (anti-actions). .

I often complain of the different issues that produce American idiots or cause my countrymen to allow the abuse and injury of their rights.  Many times I wince at our country's almost united stupidity towards its own history or failing to responsibility maintain the rights and traditions needed to guarantee liberty, independence, and security.

This rant is towards America's strange and misguided love affair and understanding of 'reality TV.'  I can't believe that millions of Americans still honestly believe that their votes count on American Idol.  I can't believe that most Americans don't argue on behalf of the likelihood that not only are all the contestants of the talent show pre-chosen based on their characters and their ratings level but that the winners and losers and how they will win and loose are pre-decided by the show's producers.  This truth first came to me when the She bang she bang Chinaman appeared on an aired audition a few years ago.  It seemed hardly conceivable that of the many thousands of Americans who do have a talent for singing, that a guy with so little talent should so happen to appear in front of the three main judges (each judge worth double-digit millions).  His appearance was a curve ball, a ratings work of genius.  Never mind the fact that many of the arguments between the judges appear scripted.

Why would American Idol script these auditions and performances and results so painfully?  It is because the network and the producers have so many millions of dollars invested in it.  How much money it will earn or how popular the show will continue to be hinges completely on the auditions, performances, victories, and defeats featured at the center of the show's theme.  If the public did have as much say in the show's outcome as we are made to believe, then the producers would have no way of providing the best season possible.  The producers, in their pre-decisions know already which contestants would draw the most viewers and which victories or defeats would cause the most drama.  Reserving the season's structure to public votes would cause chances that those who profit the most would rather avoid.

I think that the reason Americans are not raising their eye brows towards these obvious contradictions of what reality TV is simply because...they do not care.  Whether rigged and scripted or not, America still gets its show.  This would explain why wrestling, as obviously fake as it is, continues to grow in popularity.  Watching some wrestling the other day I could not believe in how outrageous it has become while involving detailed quarles between wrestlers and WWE managers, personality feuds and challenges between wrestlers.  Drama, real or not, is awesome.

The other day, I also watched an episode of Brooke Knows Best.  It is one of many "off shoot" reality shows appearing these days.  (Reality series stemming from a previous one like for example I love NY from Flava of Love).  Just as with countless other reality series, Brooke Knows Best (an offshoot of Hogan Knows Best) is presented as a pure and honest day by day life of Brooke Hogan living in Miami.  Yet, it only took a few minutes for me to realize just how scripted her series is.  The first clue is the one that seems to deface every other reality show.  The characters and even the extras constantly go about as if there are no group of producers or cameras present.  I've seen an actual set of a reality show before and there are many shades of lights, sizes of cameras, and types of people with clip boards and mics.  Have you ever wondered just how these characters seem to wake up in the morning with fabulous hair and soft makeup?
If it were a true reality show, the people along the street or at the beach would gawk or wave to the camera.  It is what people do.  People don't just see a scene of Brooke Knows Best or The Osbornes go by them without doing a double take!

The second and just as obvious clue is how every little situation, argument, or problem seems to happen and work out as if it were...scripted.  Honestly, peoples' lives, even celebrity's lives are not that interesting day to day.  A true reality show would be boring for the most part.

In this episode of Brooke Knows Best she and her female roommate were having issues with their newest roommate.  This guy was such a slob and he looked the part.  He slept nude in the living room and he woke Brooke up in the middle of the night to ask how to turn on the hot tub for him and his date.  Can you imagine that ANYBODY would sleep nude in Brooke's living room with the knowledge that a reality show was being filmed there?  Even if it was a self-promoting stunt on his part, it was not natural, and he was not as clueless as the scene made appear. Alsot, would somebody as famous as Brooke accept a room mate like this or at least kick him out after the first of these signs?  Can you imagine anybody waking up Brooke Hogan in the middle of the night to figure out how to turn on a hot tub, especially while being filmed?  It was clear that this guy was not only paid but also asked for these performances.  The show demanded his role.

I do not lay awake bothered by the fact that America buys into the phony production of reality tv nor do I suffer more than a little that our whole culture is being turned on by a strange version of the blood sports of Roman times when battles and scenes were staged to look real for the public's entertainment.  Instead of blood, these modern-day Roman entertainment thrives off drama, backstabbing, drug and relationship issues, and other forms of the human illness.

Yet, sometimes I am concerned that all this reality entertainment is having more of a bad influence on America other than just a distortion of reality and sliming of values and dignity.  Since reality TV really started becoming popular with Survivor, Americans have become more seduced, entranced, and obsessed with television than ever.  The evidence is clear in the number of camera flashes that surround Paris Hilton or Linzy Lohan.  (Following the dysfunctional lives of celebrities is becoming a reality TV clique in its own right becoming more and more popular).

Is this recent fetish of reality tv culture damaging?  Can it be one of the causes why we the people have allowed so many of our rights to be axed and have allowed so many of our public leaders to continue to be corrupt, abuse their powers, and tax and spent beyond our consent?  I ask this because I have heard more than a few novel Americans chime that our country does not care what state it is in as long as American Idol is still scheduled.  It also seems that before reality television became the phenomenon that it is now, Americans were much more aggressive with making our leaders accountable for corruption or lies.  Before the age of reality TV we forced the resignation of Nixon because of crimes his staff committed.  Before this time we impeached President Clinton for lying about a sexual experience outside his marriage.
Yet, since this reality tv dynasty began, we have allowed our current president to invade Iraq without congressional support or declaration.  We've not impeached him for using false information to invade and conquer a whole other country that caused thousands of deaths of our troops and hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians.  We've not held Bush accountable for carrying on a war beyond the goal he set of capturing Sadam Hussein.  We've stood by while he continued the war years beyond his public declaration that the mission had already been accomplished.  We've not only allowed but we re-elected him.  And now Americans have ushered two men, McCain and Obama onto our ballot, who show virtually no promise of being the people's representative or becoming an ardent defender of the people and the constitution.  And we did not protest enough against the media when it made its own conscience decision to censure and silence a candidate who had the qualities of liberty and justice in his heart, Ron Paul.
Was revolution, revolt, riots, or tea parties sacrificed by the seduction of Reality TV culture?  The timing of it along with the timing that so much started going to hellsbells seems more than a coincidence.

Nay, it is true that this isn't the first period in our history that we have allowed bad things to happen.  Did American citizens not also allow the Lincoln Adminstration's armed invasion of the Southern states for executing their right of secession?  Did we not also allow our government to conduct an armed take over of every native settlement out west?  The thing is, the only reasons why those things happened was because the citizens just wern't succesfull in preventing it.  The difference between now and then was that then, there were plenty of Americans who aggressivly stood by their principals especially when their government contradicted them.  Defeat was not dishonor, for again, Americans always try.  In one example where many Americans campaigned on behalf of their rights and values was the late 60s, the protests against the War in Vietnam.  Sometimes the people was succesful and sometimes not. 
These days even the public protests have lost their bite.

Another fact that causes me to wonder about Reality TV's role in the direction of our country was in an earlier part of this discussion.  For hundreds of years, Rome was a republic and its course was decided by its tradition of democracy and elections.  However, about the same time that the Roman empire's territory was at its greatest expanse, during the period when Rome was the greatest world power, just as America is today, it also started to decline.  Now the arrogance of being so powerful and victorious played only a part of its demise.  What really vaporized the empire from the earth forever was when its citizens forfeited their responsibilities and power to a few just as we have forfeited many of our rights and responsibilities to our government.  Those few that included Nero and other corrupt and faulty emperors could not help but allow the empire to fail.  That is what happens when something is trusted to such incompetence.  Why did the Roman citizens allow all their rights to bleed away and for the security and future of their empire to be given to so few, so unqualified?  Around the same period when Rome changed from a republic to an empire and then to nothing, Roman citizens were engrossed and blinded by gratifications and excess.  The most notorious of these distractions were the public and private orgies and the great gladiator shows performed for VIPs and the simple people alike.  The people became so involved in their own self interests and what made them feel good that they lost all control over their empire.  This may have been the plan all along for those then who sought such power.
I wonder today, if the same isn't happening in our society.  The average American appears to care more about the next episode of John and Kate plus Eight than they do about the disturbing direction our country is going in at the hands of incompetent leaders.  In fact not even global warming is taken as seriously as the most high and mighty liberals think it should.  All in all, most Americans do not go any further than blogging about an issue rather than working to fix it.  I stand accused.

Several weeks ago I watched an episode of the TV series, Thirty Days.  I am not sure what network it was on but it really doesn't matter.  I wanted to make some comments on it then but had long since been busy with other things.  But I never forgot.
This particular episode included an anti-gun advocate that was invited to spend thirty days with meat and potatoes gun-loving Americans.  The young woman reportedly knew some victims of violence.

One of the first things I noticed was when she rebuked a family's desire to defend themselves with guns by saying that the family was too paranoid.  Yet, throughout the first part of the show, the young woman appeared very fearful and expressed anxiety (and paranoia) about being under a roof with gun owners.  It is a very wry double standard when you start think about it. 
Why couldn't this young woman see that maybe the family experienced a similar paranoia as her that was caused by living in a world where criminals own guns regardless of the laws?  Maybe that is why this family chose to get guns? 
The young woman was paranoid about being in a house with guns.  Maybe this family was paranoid about being in a world with guns.  Why couldn't the young woman not understand why this family chose to address this fear by owning guns instead of trusting unarmed school staffs, workplaces, and other unarmed places in public to protect them?  Why would it be so hard to understand why it seems more logical to trust guns in your own home to protect you rather than emergency systems that may or may not arrive on time?
In a world where the fear of violence is real, the family featured in this show addressed that fear using their brains.  For there is no better way to address the fear of becoming a victim than by gaining the most logical means to protect yourself from becoming one.

I just can't believe that young woman or any other person in this country can actually believe anti-gun laws in this country actually protect anybody.  The fact is criminals will have guns always.  Gun laws would only limit the number of law abiding gun owners.  Was making street drugs and prostitution or domestic violence illegal as successful as we would like? No!  Making things unlawful has never completely curved the actions of a society.  Yet, unlike many things that are now illegal, the right to bear arms is not only the best and most logical means of protecting ones self and family but it is also one of the most specific rights guaranteed by the constitution.  By limiting our right to bear arms, our government is not only decreasing our chances to live through an act of violence but it is also stripping us of one of our country's proudest virtues and sacred of rights!

Near the end of the episode, the young woman took the family's son, Zack on a field trip to visit a major college nearby.  Her goal was to attempt to alter his affection towards guns and gear him toward more acceptable interests.  If I was Zack or his family, I would have personally been offended at her disrespect towards Zac's choice to honor a sacred family tradition and right as a citizen.  By attempting to distract Zack's love for rifles and taking him to view a college, the young woman was basically urging him to become interesting in something else.  She was attempting to distract him from an interest that made him safe and close to his family as if that interest were towards drugs or porn. 
Lastly, when the two were visiting the college campus I couldn't help but thinking of Virginia Tech.  How many dozens of lives could have been saved if any of the students or professors caught in the cross fire of that terrible tragedy actually had guns on their person?  That the young woman visiting this college campus looked so safe and comfortable spoke legions of her ignorance.  It was evident during those scenes that she had no clue just how vulnerable and unprotected she and Zack were visiting that campus where no armed good guys were around.  While visiting that college, how could she be so confident and sure that they would not witness random acts of violence that are becoming more common at universities today?

Because we can not ban every single bad guy and loose screw from owning a fire arm and because we cannot have a portable policeman living with every person 24/7, Americans need to take the safety of themselves and their families more seriously. Everyone needs to reconsider the gross irresponsibility towards our safety we are allowing when anti-gun laws are passed. 

Until every American appeals and demands its full and unrestricted rights to own firearms, I do not see us taking the safety of our families that seriously.
What a sick distortion; since 9/11 we have allowed our government to snap due process for arrests and charges in two, dismantle our privacies, and bury our freedoms in the name of the Patriot Act, Shock and Awe, and Operation Iraqi Freedom to name a few from a few dozen.  That any of these measures have made us any safer or have produced anything other than attacks upon on our rights is a farce to the honest person. 
And now, as our government produces more anti-gun laws, we are becoming much less safe and secure from an enemy much more common than terrorism, domestic violence, school shootings, kidnappings, and home invasions. And again, as with post 9/11 national security measures, anti-gun laws are further breaking new world liberty to pieces.

Our liberties and rights protected by the law are being killed.  And why not?  We the people and our states were charged with the responsibility of protecting the laws that protect our rights.  For several decades, average Americans have avoided the responsibility of maintaining our rights and protecting them from injury by anyone including the government.  The problem is not about what is happening but about what we are letting happen.

Before I come upon the point I originally logged on to share, I would first like to share my thoughts regarding the pro-McCain and anti-Obama propaganda being advertised here.  If Townhall is attempting to produce a conservative vibe here by showing this support for McCain and opposition towards Obama, I must say that you've lost me terribly.
The conservative message, as I understand it is a principal dictated by old values that not only made our country a success story once upon a time but was also the same spirit that helped found this nation of sovereign states.  The true conservative's role is to not become blindly loyal to a man just because he belongs to a certain party.  Rather the conservative role is to preserve the most precious and endangered right that the Federal government should have no control or influence over the sovereignty of the states and the people of those states.
Being a conservative is about not stumping or standing for rights protected by the constitution such as the right to bear arms, privacy, and countless other freedoms but actually living them.
Enough of McCain's history in the senate and plans if elected to the white house stray as far from conservative roots as Obama!  In fact, picking a woman for his choice of VP says clear enough that he is attempting to rally Hillary's camp to his side.  A conservative candidate should be concentrated on rallying conservatives to his side by declaring conservative ideas.  Again, instead, he is more concerned with attracting Hillary's liberal numbers only because they are large numbers.  He is more concerned about gaining the coolest job in the world than performing the responsibilities of a Republican platform.  His decision to prolong the Iraq war for another hundred years if need be is so distant from the values of conservatives.  True conservatives believe that the true wars are being waged at home and that the money they are being taxed by the billions should be spent for the home of the taxed rather than overseas.  The true conservative's values and ideas are dictated by those that developed our country from the secession from England.
A. Lincoln was the first Republican president.  During that period in history, the Republican party stood for big government, central powers, high tariffs, and limited rights.  It does seem that the party is coming that way again or at least merging with the Democrats.  Lincoln insisted a war upon the Southern Confederacy without the consent or approval of the states in the Union that did not secede.  When even the first draft in history, the first income tax, sales tax, and property tax failed to produce for Lincoln the necessary number of combat soldiers and materials, his government then started recruiting Irish and German immigrants by the hundreds of thousands to fight for the South.
Lincoln motivated thousands of new immigrants to our country to use them towards his goal of empire and to conquer the Southern States.
McCain in turn wanted to offer amnesty and other pro-illegal immigration laws for immigrants from Mexico so that big business he is invested in would be able to have local, unregulated, and cheap labor and manufactures.
The spirit of true conservatives today, war should not be declared without the consent of the people and their congress or the consent of the states.  Our country should not be involved in oversees affairs no matter what the reasons.  Lastly, all taxing and spending including that for national defense should be limited to the consent and governing of those who are taxed.
A conservative does not want a president who wants to continue a war without the approval or consent of the people.

Ron Paul was a true conservative candidate.  Yet because most Republicans as well as Democrats choose to protect private and personal interests rather than principals, McCain is the safest choice.  The conservative American who shows the heart of 1776 America, 1836 Texas and 1861 Dixie, the conservative American that sees no hope in a presidential candidate but rather the people and their constitution is perhaps the most surprised minority in our country.  His message and his ideas are censured from all parts of our great society.  For if the voice of the conservative was declared loud enough and brought into being, politicians would be held accountable for acting beyond the authority of the people and constitution, corrupt ties between Washington and international business would be exposed and demolished, and the media and government giants of our country would have less power and force than the people.
In short, anyone that profits from the demolition of our rights does surely shiver when in the presence of an American Conservative.

Townhall, are you Republican or are you a Conservative?  Are you for war or are you for the people's fight?
Lastly, how can you knock the Democrats for their pro abortion stands when the deaths of hundreds of thousands of middle east citizens and American soldiers is heroic?