GOP Race

The Republican presidential race pleases me more than ever, because heading into the Iowa Caucuses my two favorite candidates are leading, Mitt and Ron.  My opinion doesn't much matter though, as I am a liberal democrat.

I like Ron because I love his foreign policy idea; liquidate the empire, and defend and rebuild this country. I like Mitt's health care plan in Mass. Put these two men together, and you've got something.

The complaint that Romney flips flops too much certainly has validity, but too much is made of it, nonetheless. A man who changes his mind is not necessarily a politicking opportunist; sometimes, he is open minded and flexible. Obama man that I am, go Mitt - Ron!

Privacy Fences

What better characterizes modern middle class America than the All American privacy fence? Seven foot brown boards, side by side, which eventually warp and turn grey. My problem with these is not that they keep people from seeing in, but that they keep me from seeing out. That's why I don't care how many people have privacy fences, as long as I don't.

They seem rather ugly, especially when everyone on the block has one, and the neighborhood is an endless patchwork of brown boxes.

The interesting part is the sociology behind it. Why are privacy fences so popular? What do they say about the mindset of the people who erect them? The societal values which encourage them? Are privacy fences a rejection of community? That might be the tempting explanation. But maybe the family is out, visiting neighbors. People who have fences often get out, get around, and make friends...

Who knows what privacy fences mean, or whether they mean anything?Since all other human behavior is explanable in psychological terms, why not this? We await word from the experts.

..continued from previous post...

...I nearly fell in love with the first woman who spoke to me online, sight unseen. Her looks, whatever they might be, didn't matter. The mere fact that she had spoken to me was sufficient. The mere fact of typing words into a computer to a person claiming to be female permitted me to imagine her anyway I wanted, and I went with it.

I had already begun to understand the interplay between chat rooming and instant messaging.

The chat room was a singles bar which led to the one on one intimacy of instant messaging.

All it took was one woman, I started instant messaging with one woman, and I was hooked. I was willing to instant message anytime, with anyone, from then on. That's how appealing the medium was. At the time I believe AOL had a monopoly on the instant messaging technology, and it wa a big deal to have AOL, just to have IMs.  Thus, by 200, AOL had 17 million members or so, and that would grow to over 30 million by 2005. Then, they lost the exclusivity of their chat rooming instant messaging software, they underwnt a disastrous marriage and divorce to Warner Cable, and facebook came along, and today, evidently, AOL is but a shadow of its former self.

But in 2000 it was hopping, and so was I.....to be continued...

Reality Internet

The internet has been compared to the wild wild west. Much activity, many seekers, little law, order, or organization. It recently came to my attention that AOL chatrooms, once the very engine of online social life, have all but vanished. The question is: why? I always thought they were fun.

When I signed on to AOL, in 2000, chatrooms were all the rage. They wre innumerable, with room topics from A to Z. The first one I ever entered was called "physical fitness chat", and it was full of people, few of whom were discussing physical fitness. For the most part they seemed to be hitting on each other.

Other topical chatrooms revealed the same basic circumstances; folks discussing anything and everything other than the topic at hand. The place was full of energetic, attention seeking singles, looking.

I don't really know why, but I decided early on that I wasn't going to participate in chasing women, or even makig friends, on AOL. Perhaps it was shyness, or fear of relationships. I decided that I would be an observer, and only an observer, taking notes, collecting material for an article, or even a book.

I made no attempt to keep my intentions secret. I figured it would make no difference to anyone , would have no discernable impact on anyone's behavior, that a self proclaimed "journalist" was among them.

Nevertheless, despite my intentions, I was drawn into the chatroom discussion, and my grand adventure had begun...to be continued...

Labor Unions

There is work to be done, and people need to do it, so, the question is, how is it to be divided up? The work, and the money, that is...

Don't get me wrong. The system as it now stands, the free enterprise system, is the wonder of the world, for it produces great prosperity. The question is,: could we do even better, in fact, much better, than we are now, by using a different system? And the answer, dear reader, is, unequivocally, resoundingly, YES!

Too much poverty, to much concentration of wealth, too much pollution, too much environmental destruction. We all have the same complaints, be we democrat or republican. Don't we all agree that we all need to work? Work for something greater than ourselves, whether we get paid or not? Don't we all agree on this? Sure we do.

I looked a conservative republicanin the eye the other day, and said: "Are you willing to concede that labor unions do not exist exclusively or primarily for the purpose of destroying free enterprise?"..

..and he said..Yes! Oh , how wonderful, and conciliatory, and open minded of him! May the rest of the GOP follow suit, in the pursuit of truth...

Success

...continued from previous post...

..each day Brenda did what I told her to. Some days I told her to call Mike, somedays I told her to email Mike, and some days I told her to do nothing. She kept me posted as to what Mike was doing in response to our plan, as orchestrated by me. At one point in time she got so impatient and frustrated that she quit, and vowed to join a convent. After all the time I had invested in this project, I wasn't about to let it go, just when we were on the verge of victory, and I told her so. I told her that she would quit - over my dead body.

AT another time I lost my patience, and ordered her to totaly ingore Mike. It worked.

He came around, finally, slowly, as I used Brenda to manipulate him more than he will ever know...

They were married that Christmas...

To this day, I have no idea what happened to them, to their marriage. For all I know they may still be happily ever aftering, or long divorced. I guess I'll never know.

The Match

 ...continued from previous page...

...Brenda really wanted to be with the guy in Kentucky. She had developed a great relationship with him, had spent a lot of time with him, and felt she knew him well. But his debilitating depression had seemingly ruined everything. Communication had dropped to near zero.

I suggested to Brenda that she take a few tips from me, and I ended up becoming her full time relationship coach. She felt secure doing that, listening to me, making her daily contact with Mike according to my instructions. For my part, I was confident. I felt strongly that given enough time, and the right approach, I, acting through Brenda, could bring Mike back to her.

Each day early in the morning I talked to Brenda, and we made our plans for the day. It was apparent to me that the whole thing would take some time, probably months. Brashly, I told her she'd be married by Christmas.

It was slow going, but gradually I brought Mike around.Lifted his spirits with the solid support of true friendship, then began dangling the bait. And oh, wht bait it was. Brenda was a real beauty, in all ways...

The days went by, and the weeks, with little or no discernible progress, and oftentimes Brenda and I got frustrated and impatient...but onward we slogged, as Christmas approached....to be continued...

Internet influence

continued from previous page...

The more I talked to Brenda, and the more she told me, the more convinced I became that there was no way in hell Mike had stopped being interested in her, even though she was convinced he had.

The more she told me about Mike, the more I felt I understood him, understood his point of view.

And one thing was obvious to me: Brenda was messing everything up, killing her own chances. Her possessive, dramatic, shrill pursuit and treatment of Mike was just too much for him, in his current weakened state, and I knew it. But he loved her, and wanted her, this I also knew, or thought I did.

I told her this, and explained it to her carefully, how her attitude and behavior were driving Mike away, even though he wanted to be with her, deep down. We talked about it, and I told her that if she would listen to me, take my advice, do what I suggested, she could turn the situation with Mmike around, and return it to the happy state it had previously enjoyed. Cockily, I told her I could, through her, "manuever" Mike into marrying her, if that's what she wanted. That's what she wanted...to be continued....

Brenda's Story

..continued from previous page.....

..her name was Brenda, and as I recall she was in her early forties, divorced, with four smart energetic children, in a large wood frame house. In the year 2000 or so she was a substitute teacher, and, like almost every other singel adult at the time, was a member of America On Line. For those were the days, late 20th early 21st century, of the aol chatroom. American On line dominated the ISP industry, with 20 million members and growing, with what seemed like billions of chatrooms, frequented by seemingly millions of people. I met Brenda in one of these.

Amid the hubbab it was obvious a lot of men were interested in her, and theat she could have her pick. Nonetheless, she was willing to develop a platon friendship with me, and it was every whit worth it to me, because of her intelligence and great personality. 

Her problem was that thy guy in Kentucky with whom she was in love had vanished on her. Or not exactly vanished; she kinda knew what was going on with him, but was, to say the least, most vexed by it.

It seemed that he, a robust construction man, had a manic depressive condition, had fallen off his medication, was basically doing nothing but staying in bed, and was for the most part refusing contact with Brenda, and had been doing so for several weeks. Brenda was devastated.

I kept asking her questions, and found out that Brenda and Mike had met several months previous, fallen in love, and made several trips to visit and spend time with each other. They were planning to marry. Then, suddenly, this...

But I kpet listening, and the more Brenda told me about the relationship, about MIke, and about the current situation, and more I became convinced that there shouldn't be any problem.

Brenda thought all was lost, and was despondant. But I knew better, I knew there was hope... in fact, I knew there was more than hope, there was a sure fire way to reel in ole Mike...

Cyber Power

One can do wondrous things on the world wide web. One can do wondrous things on the internet.

One can coerce people into getting in shape, merely by using words.

One can create a marriage that works.

I have done both, and I am certainly nothing special.

I met a beautiful lady online, whose looks reminded me of, say, Shania Twain.  I would have had her in a heartbeat.  But, inexplicably, she wanted somebody else.  Some guy in Kentucky.

She lived in Baton Rouge, and poor I, in Arkansas, befriended her, and she befriended me.

But she wanted to be with some guy in Kentucky, and I was determined to help her....to be cont...

Regression?

A few months ago I signed up for the internet, and started this blog. Then, something interesting happened. I received in my email an ad for something called "speed date". Curious, I took a look at it, then moved on and forgot about it. But that wasn't the end of it.

A day or so later a pop up appeared on my screen, featuring a picture of a lady, and an instant message box right next to her. On top of the pop up the message said something like "Mary from Dallas is online now! Say hello to her!"  Curious, I did exactly that. Within a few seconds the box gave me a message from "Mary", and she said hello right back at me! In the lower part of the box was a timer, counting down from five minutes. So Mary and I exchanged casual comments for five minutes, our time ran out, and she was gone. And I thought "so much for that."

But it wasn't over. In fact, it had just begun. Lady after lady popped up on my screen, and some of them initiated the conversation, while most didn't. I gave it another try, and sure enough, had another five minute conversation.

Meanwhile, I kept getting ads from "speed date", offering me unlimited access to online dates for a bargain basement monthly fee. It occured to me that since I was already being sent speed dates while paying nothing, I might as well save my money. I assumed speed date would simply vanish, since I hadn't signed up for it. But it didn't vanish. The ladies just kept coming, and coming, in such great numbers that I was hardly able to keep up with them. Every time the pop up box told me their first name, location, and age. Sometimes it included a picture of them, and a profile. Some of them had only the profile, and no pictures.

I started wondering why it didn't stop, and I also started to wonder why anyone would pay for the service, since it seemed to be available for free. Monthy payments apparantly gave the subscriber more than five minutes per date, but I didn't think I needed more time, since, after all, they were all people who lived a good distance from me, though most of them were within two or three hundred miles.

The dates still keep coming, from all kindsa folks, all ages, all locations. Usually I dont' respond to them, because, a litle bit of speed date goes a long way.

Having noticed that chat rooms are seemingly becoming extinct, I figured that businesses like speed date and facebook have replaced the chats. I remember how volatile and argumentative the old chat rooms were, and I suppose their replacement is a good thing. Maybe people just got tired of all the chat room intrigue, drama, and fighting, and opted out of group gatherings, in favor of one on one contact.

Facebook apparently provides a good balance, giving people access to many other people, but one at a time, instead of all being in the same box at the same time.

I wonder whether the citizenry will eventually tire of this, and return to neighborhood gatherings, at the coffee shop, at the community center, in real time, and real space.

Which Way

There can be no disputing the fact that The United States of America is a beacon of hope within human history, living proof that prosperity and freedom can be achieved and maintained. The nation had the good fortune to achieve its independence at a time when the lofty ideals of inherent human equality and dignity were circulating through enlightenment Europe, and those ideals came to America.

Abundant natural resources, and enlightened thinking from Europe were the two great pillars upon which American success were and are predicated.  Without the English and French America as we know it would not exist. Other than jazz and baseball, American culture is derived, and even baseball is an offshoot of English sport. The strength of America is that the entire world contributed to its construction.

My entire life intellectuals have been forecasting the decline of America. Why not? Every other civilization has either perished entirely or evolved into something unrecognizable.

We must assume that nothing is inevitable, because we must assume that we have the power to construct and improve, rather than perish.

At long last we seem to be at least making a beginning effort to wisely utilize natural resources.

Have we begun too late?

Every generation condemns war, yet every generation unleashes yet more war. The United States and the entire world seem to be precariously poised between annhilation and a thriving future.

Obviously changes must be made. The extent to which we openmindedly accept  positive change and courageously discard traditional but destructive social institutions will determine our future.

The Question

We know that individual people can and do get sick, and die, and we tend to assume the same thing about civilization, although observing it and proving it and seeing it are more difficult when considering whole civilizations. We tend to think that the Roman empire ceased to exist, although actually it evolved into something else. WE say that the Mayan civilization "ceased to exist", though for all we know there are  some  Mayan descendents running around somewhere today. Native American civilization still exists, sorta.

At least we can agree that civilizations, countries,can and do undergo great changes over time, some of which, but not all of which, are beneficial.  Is the "America" of today better or preferrable in any way to the "America" of 500 years ago? That's a matter of opinion. But it is certain that the current U.S.A. came into existence only with the essential destruction of an existing civilization.

What might eventually come to replace the United States of America, and all the other countries of  our current  global civilization?  Too soon to tell.

But one thing is certain; countries and civilizations do not want to die. It may not even be necessary that they die, but in this horrendous world they do, and they sure don't want to. Ask anyone.

Exactly what are the forces at work today in modern America which help strengthen our current civilization, and what forces are tending to destroy it? That, alas, is the question. Let us seek for answers.

Space Aliens

One of my best friends told me he thinks its silly to believe in space aliens. For some reason it kinda shocked me to encounter this attitude; I guess I'm used to living in a world of believers. But I'm sure a lot of people agree with him. I don't. Here's why.

Over and within the past four hundred years most humans  have come to understand the universe as a three dimensional vastnes, with many stars, and eight or nine planets, among which is earth. It has always been assumed that if life existed elsewhere, it would be on other planets. So the huge question always was: are there any extra-solar planets, and how many, and how many earthlike, in the universe?

Over the past fifteen years, from the mid nineties till now, the answer is becoming evident: not only is the universe full of planets, but there are many earthlike planets out there. We are seeing them with our newest and best telescopes; earthlike planets orbiting other stars. It might once have been silly to belive in space aliens. It no longer is. In fact, as each day passes, it becomes sillier and sillier not to.

Violent Culture

At long last the war in Iraq is over. Thank heavens for that. Like most American wars, it is highly questionable whether this one was a good idea. There are many to choose from.

It could even be argued that American culture is violent, and always has been, having been founded in violence. What about the future, America's future? Will the violent tendency continue?

Throughout history there are examples of people living in harmony, violence free, for long periods of time. So we know that it can be done. The question is:how?

If humanity doesn't learn how to eliminate war, then the future is worse than bleak, because the weapons are ever more powerful. Consider for a moment how deeply addicted American culture is to violence. Consider the unlimited violent images in the American media, which are there only for shocking entertainment, never to enlighten. Violence is a primary marketing tool of the corporations, because we the people are first told what we want, then given what we want.

Violence can be a big money maker. The fifteen years following victorious world war two were the most economically prosperous in American history. Our corporate masters seduce us with violence, making us insensitive to it. We the people must rebel from this imposed culture of death.

Culture

If contemporary American culture were a horse, it would be shot. In other words, contemporary American culture is not entirely healthy. It may be that our economic prosperity, along with other factors, has produced a high demand for escapism, fantasy culture, and seduction.

The MSN homepage is a perfect example, and perhaps, symptom. At least half the stories have something to do with some celebrity, most often an actor, and scandalous, shocking circumstances.

We are fed these stories presumably because we lap them up. We pay to get more of them.

The prime time TV shows are still becoming more shocking, violent, and fantastic, if that's possible.

Let us remember that large corporations are responsible for almost all of this. They do what makes the most money, and they own the media.

Do we get the constant sex and violence because we want it, or, are we told that we want it, and then inundated in it?

Its time for a popular cultural revolution in America. The American people must tell their corporate owners to either improve the quality of the entertainment they sell us, or will will stop buying.

How Much?

The corporate oligarchy, "our corporate masters" as Gore Vidal calls it, never stops seeking to seduce we the sheeple in order to manipulate and exploit us. All this adrenalin pumping violence, passion, and drama we are fed by the media effectively keeps our minds off our more tangible concerns, such as, what percentage of the world's population will eventually end up in poverty, and what per cent will own and control everything.

We the exploited really don't have to cooperate in our own exploitation as much as we do. For the most part, we are willing accomplices. But as the situation worsens, as the extreme circumstances of inequality increase, the masses begin to stir, and awaken.

No, it isn't the one per cent versus the ninety nine per cent. But this symbolic description depicts a fundamental truth about humans; that we express our desire for survival by competing fiercely for power and resources, and this competition leads to extreme inequalities, which, in a high density population, generates conflict.

Certainly the people who have everything earned and deserve it. And hard work and good decisions can produce great prosperity for anyone. But we must ask; do we want a world with 7 billion mansions, each with a private jet parked in the lavish garage? Just how much material prosperity do we want, how should we distribute it, and how much human wealth can planet earth endure?

Only Enemy

By the year 2050, when I will be 95 years old, there will be 9 billion people on earth. How well will they all get along?

The point is, they'll all have to get along rather famously, if they're to survive. Most of the two billion new people will live in big cities in Africa and Asia, and these cities will need to be functional, which means free from violence and poverty. The question is, as always, how many people can the planet accomodate?

Please remember that cataclysmic disasters are not inevitable. Although conditions now look bleak, particularly with regard to global warming and future climate change, there is no guarantee that the world will end in 2012, or any time thereafter. The human race might thus be burdened with the responsibility of taking care of itself for hundreds, even thousands of years.

The choice of possible catastrophes is impressive, ranging from viral epidemic to asteroid collision to runaway global warming. Shouldn't we, at the very least, prepare now for the possibility that none of these ever occurs?

It'll have to be a highly cooperative world of nine billion, with all forms of competition, including economic, sufficiently regulated to avoid chaotic destructive conflict.

Resources and living space really shouldn't be a problem, contrary to popular opinion. Even water won't be the problem we think it will. Miama Florida currently desalinates millions of gallons a day.

Humanity's only enemy is itself.

Mud Slinging

Here we go again. Here comes the bitter, angry part of the presidential campaign. Governor Perry proclaimed in front of Newt Gingrich that any many who would cheat on his wife would cheat on anybody and anything.  Rick Perry has every right to feel desperate. His political fortunes peaked and declined months ago, and Newt appears headed towards the finish line, well ahead.

American political campaigns have always been ruthless and bloodthirsty. Thomas Jefferson's opponents accused him of being an adulterer, and Andrew Jackson's opponents accused his wife of being a bigomist.

Whether the accusations are correct, and they often are, isn't the point. The point is, must we go there? Must we stoop to such barbarity, such crassness? Yes we must, history suggests.

But suddenly there's a good sign. The attacks against Newt's love legacy seem to be failing. This means either that our cultural standards have plunged, or that we are tired of mud slinging. Of course, both Jefferson and Jackson, in spite of their atackers, were successful.

Maybe the voters will force politicians to discuss policy, and refrain from the personal attacks.

Money

Of all the miraculous inventions of modern man, what one is more impressive than money? Our modern economy is the wonder of the ages, and modern money, paper and electronic, the wonder of all wonders, a simply marvelous tool. Like all tools, there are certain ways to use it, which are productive, and other ways to misuse it, which are destructive. The important thing is to know which is which, and this is no easy task.

If a rich guy takes out a twenty dollar bill and lights a cigar with it, is this monetary abuse?

Money, of course, doesn't really exist. Its purely symbolic, a state of mind. Which is precisely why money is such a wonderful tool. It is whatever we the people say it is. If there are absolutely no rules concerning money then eventually economic chaos will destroy society. Too many rules tend to diminish prosperity. But since money is inherently cooperative, since money means something only because we all agree that it does, surely nobody would disagree that we need some degree of cooperation in maintaining the integrety of money.

The problem with the American dollar is that it doesn't mean as much as it used to, is less valuable now. A certain amount of this is inevitable, but abuse of the American dollar due to lack of regulation has been and is a far greater problem than diminished prosperity through stifling regulation.

Proper economic regulation does little or nothing to hinder growh and prosperity, and sometimes growh needs to be slowed. Growh is not a sacred cow; there is a limit to economic growth on this limited planet.

Values

The newest complaint against Obama, evidently, is that he has never been to Israel. 
Seriously. For real. Obama has never been to Israel, and according to Mitt Romney, this is a very bad thing. A really bad thing, because, according to Romney, Israel is a great ally of America, and for Obama to have not yet visited it is absolutely horrible, disrespectful, mean, whatever....

Good heavens, is there no end to all this sniping, critizing, and attacking? Is there no nook and crannie we Americans won't explore in order to attack and destroy one another? And for what? Victory? Power? Ego?

Hell, no wonder we can't get anything done in this country. No wonder our problems lay festering and simmering like volcanos waiting to erupt, only growing worse, building up pressure while we...argue amongst ourselves. 

Now is the time to put individual egos aside, and work together for a better future, which, at present, we and our descendants do not seem to have.  Personal gain is frivolous. May we all have a steady, secure life. Community service and cooperation is everything. Let us beat the swords of celebrity consumer culture into the plowshares of sharing, giving, and love.

Harmony

A friend of mine kept telling me, over and over again, that the answer to all problems between people is, simply, communication.  And each time my friend said it, I agreed with it. How could I not? How could anybody not? Communication certainly is the key, but communication is not necessarily positive and productive. Often times it is destructive. So, communication is unproductive or even harmful unless the underlying attitude is good hearted, and, above all else, open minded...

It amazes me how narrow minded most people are, at least Americans. I can't find anyone who is willing to agree with me that both conservatism and liberalism are "good" and "true", and that the same is true of capitalism-socialism, Christianity-non Christianity, and so forth, and so on.

A willingness to change one's opinion's and beliefs is crucial to harmonious hunan interaction. When we feel compelled to make such changes we tend to feel a sense of defeat, of loss. Instead we should feel the joy of liberation and progress.  Let my philosophy be better tomorrow than it is today, Dear Lord...

Reform

The American political system is, as everyone knows, entirely messed up, dysfunctional.
we seem to have a veritable bevy of mediocre political candidates, dysfunctional, disputatious leadership, and disastrous policy. Assume that we all are to blame, and leave it at that.

I wish we could all discuss philosophy and policy without engaging in personal attacks, and could learn to understand the opinions of those with whom we disagree, rather than distort and defame them.

We have a motley crew of republicans scrambling to run against a president with a very mixed resume thus far. Maybe what we need is a third major political party incorporating the best ideas from both liberals and conservatives. 

Perhaps we need a political system in which running for president or other high office doesn't require millions of dollars.

disrespect

Something horrible happened to me the other day. I walked into Taco Bell, ordered, got my order, paid, sat down, glanced at my receipt, and noticed that I had been given a ten per cent discount.

I was elated. Then I thought, "but why"?   So I asked. The very young lady behind the counter matter of factly replied "senior discount".

I danged near went ballistic. Senior discount? What? Me? Me, a merely lad of fifty six, and not looking a day over thirty five, I mean, how in the hell could she even tell that I was/am a "senior"? Aren't seniors supposed to be sixty five?

So I calmed down and decided to ask her. Her reply was predictably evasive, something like "its company policy, sir."  OK...sure...

I'm just guessing that nearly everyone either already has or at some future time shall experience something like this, and it was really no harm, and it benefitted me...but still...

Early in life we are offended because we are young, because of the wqy we are treated because we are young. Later in life we experience the same thing, in reverse. Like they say, nobody ever gets out of this alive..

Lottery

Life,it appears, is a complete lottery. You bump into somebody's shopping cart at the store, you end up happily married for fifty years. Or, you swerve to avoid the shopping cart, smile at the lady, and move on, never even meeting her...

Anyone not believing that life is a lottery feel free to ask a St. Louis Cardinal fan.

Then there's the expression "if its meant to happen, it will happen." You hear that one all the time, from nearly everybody. Is it true? Seemingly. Does it contradict the lottery of life? Seemingly.

That which appears contradictory is often complimentary. Facts which appear to be in mutually exclusive contradiction are in fact both true. In essence, Republicans and Democrats are both right.

The true plague of our times is not war, poverty, disease, or natural disasters. The true plague, my friends, is narrow minded thinking, wrong thinking, as a buddhist might say. Our civilization is the way it is because of the way we think.

Mind foreruns all conditions, mind is chief, mind made are they, says the buddhist Dhammapada.

When we think that both liberals and conservatives have good points, we succeed, it says here.

When one thinks or speaks with wicked mind, evil follows one, says the buddhist scripture. And when one thinks or speaks or acts with pure mind, happiness follows one, sayeth the same source.

Here, it says the universe is far larger than all human activity and truth. Here it says we should regard everyone's beliefs and opinions as having value, and we should think  no one's truth to be absolute and ubiquitous. And here, back here on the farm, it says we live in shockingly narrow minded times, and should strive to change that, before we strive to change anything else, such as violence, war, and poverty.

And it says here "amen to that".

Owning UP

I did something really, really stupid the other day. I got caught shoplifting at a local grocery store.
The fact that it was unintentional is irrelevant. Its the result that counts. So now what I need to do is redeem myself, and I hope the court lets me do that. Punishment is to teach a lesson, and I have already learned my lesson, already punished myself, more than anyone else ever can. Restitution is to compensate, the penalty is to payback, and then some, for the damage done, while sincerely apologizing and pledging reform.

I love the community in which I live and work, and harming it in any way is unthinkable to me.

Now what I need to do is to help the community. I plead guilty, with great remourse, and I humbly sugges that my penalty consist of a combination of monetary restitution, and community service, perhaps several hundred hours, doing work that helps everybody, such as garbage collection or cleaning.

May the dear Lord grant me the opportunity to contribute to this lovely community.

Amen

Compromise

The divisive political culture and its attendant political paraylsis prevalent in the U.S. can be seen as a result of widespread narrowmindedness, encouraged by extremism. People take a stand, stake out their territory, and cling to it tenaciously, as if the very thought of ever reconsidering or changing is utterly inconceivable. This, my friends, is the essence of narrowmindedess, blindness, and it permeates our culture to the core.

Ask any American what their favorite movie is, and then ask what they consider to be the best movie of all time. Chances are their two answers will be the same. If you think about it, you realize that this is narrowminded.

Every issue has more than one viewpoint, and all viewpoints contain at least a kernel  of truth, usually more. No matter how stongly we feel our convictions, we are better for it if we simply make the effort to understand the point of view of those who disagree with us. That is the only possible basis for compromise. 

Weaknesses

We are confronted with a fascinating political situation in the United States, or at least, a quite interesting one. President Obama is less populat than ever, as any American president would be under the circumstances.

The "circumstances" are that the United States is a bankrupt empire, which must soon make the same painful decision made by the British after World War Two: to no longer be and maintain an empire, but rather to contract back into a democratic republic content to be contained, for the most part, within its own borders.

The American manufacturing base is gone to countries with cheaper labor markets in the global corporate plutocracy, and the pooring of America abides apace. So, it really isnt' very likely that any president of the USA will be popular very long, no matter what his or her policies.

If you're a womanizer, be careful about running for president. Cain is learning this, and Gingrich might not be far behind in the learning curve. Mitt Romney will be ripped apart because of his history of changing views, and his socialistic statd health care system. The Republicans will have a weak candidate to run against a weak president, the American people will select the lesser of two evils, and the American empire will either withdraw gracefully from the world stage, or it will withdraw the hard waythrough internal collapse and economic chaos. Stay tuned.

Appearances

The big news items today are as follows: Miley Cyrus comes out in favor of the Occupy Wall STreet movement, and GOP presiential hopeful Herman Cain denies thirteen year affair.

The first is important because in our modern world celebrity support is needed to achieve almost anything. Miley has rdeedicated one of her great songs to the protest movement, and incorporated it into a video which is attracting much attention.

One wonders whether Herman Cain is seriously running for the presidency, or attracting attention.

Perhaps he never thought he'd be running. Surely he could not believe that his life would evade scrutiny.

Truth?

How many times have you heard someone say "I don't get mad very often, but when I do, you'd better watch out."  I've heard it many times. In fact, it seems almost everybody says that, and apparently believes it, about themselves.

But the truth is quite different. The truth is, I become mildly annoyed people almost constantly, but I get over it almost instantly. And I strongly suspect the same is true of all humans. At least, that's the impression I've gotten from observing people.

It may be that we all want to think of ourselves as mighty forces held in noble restraint by a mighty soul, it may be that we want others to be aware of our potential power, as well as our generous restraint.

Without a doubt, we seldom like to tell the truth about ourselves, and our motivations.

People in large groups, like nations, are even less fond of the truth.

Examples are innumerable. For example, we are told that the people who man the United States military base in Cuba are standing on a wall, risking their lives guarding our freedom. In truth they are standing there extending the empire of the United States of America.

The Pyramid

Life is a pyramid. Human society is a pyramid. Pyramids can have many shapes, but the top can never be larger than the bottom, lest the pyramid fall and crumble.

All financially successful huge house types say that anyone can do it, all it takes is hard work, and good decisions. The bottom of the pyramid never does enough of this, it seems.

But what if the bottom of the pyramid suddenly started to? - suddenly started to work hard, and make good decisions, that is?

Would we all wind up living in mansions, millionaires? All seven billion of us? Is that what we want?

If I were making a million a year, and living in a 5000 sq ft house, I might still be at the bottom of the pyramid, with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet making a trillion a year and living in one million sq ft houses.Wouldn't THAT be nice?  

Plutocracy in Peril

So we're stuck on the issue of whether we should raise taxes on the wealthy. The wealthy are being taxed at a lower rate now than they have been in over 50 years. Many wealthy people, including Warren Buffet, Bill Clinton, and hundreds others, have stated that their own taxes are too low, and that raising taxes on the wealthy would harm no one, would help everybody, and would make sense.

The American people, by a wide margin, favor doing so. And yet, it hasn't happened, and it appears that it won't happen anytime soon. This is yet another proof of the corporate ownership of the United States, rule by the wealthy, plutocratic oligarchy.

There are millions of Americans who support the Occupy movement, but are unable to hit the streets and camp out. These are middle class Americans with jobs, showers, and mortgages, like myself.

If we start hitting the streets in large numbers the plutocracy will be in peril.

Change

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is the latest conservative to articulate the attitude of disdain for the Occupy Wall Street protesters. They should all get cleaned up, and get jobs. Newt evidently doesn't pay enough attention to people to understand that they have already done this. They take showers, and they have jobs. Is there no end to the stupidity of people who believe that all is well with the world, and that no change is needed?

Conservatism is the philosophy that the world does not need to be changed. Liberalism is the phhilosophy that the world in its current state is dreadful, and needs change. The more change, the more liberal. People who are personally well off seldom see mcuh need for change, which is why the folks who demand change are often of lower status, and do most of the complaining.

Challenge yourself. Ask yourself if you really believe that little or no change in the global economic system is needed. Remember that in the UNited States, the world's wealthiest country, nearly a quarter of the population lives in poverty, and that worldwide, the percentage is even higher.

Are all these impoverished people stupid and lazy? Or are they trapped in a political and economic system which offers them nothing? The more people who see the need for change, the more likely it is to occur.

Complaining

A couple of young well dressed stock broker one per cent types were on TV being interviewed next to the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York. Their attitude about the Occupiers could not have been more disdainful; "get a job, stop complaining, clean up and work within the system to become successful", that sort of thing.

Of course, its not really one per cent versus ninetly nine per cent. A lot of people who are not in the one per cent are doing personally very well within the corporate system, and well fed servants tend less to complain.

And complaining is exactly what the mobs are doing, and the worst off are most likely to complain.

Chances are, most of the protesters already have jobs, or have before, and will again soon.
What the disdainful fail to realize is that even if everyone got a job and quit complaining, the situation would still be the same, our society would still be enslaved by the same evils and ills, but nobody would be complaining about it. And no matter who you are, you understand that our society needs improving. Its only a matter of who to blame, and what changesto make.

Openmindedness

The purpose of this website is to promote the message that all points of view have merit, all contain at least a basis of truth, Christian, non Christian, liberal, conservative; all seven billion religions on this planet and all seven billion political ideologies..have value.

Human nature finds the individual establishing a set of beliefs, clinging to them tenaciously, and fighting all others. Far different to accept in advance the correctness of any belief which differs from one's own.

"The world advances only because of those who oppose it."  (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

I dare any Christian to approach a Moslem, and declare "your religiosity is as true as mine, albeit different."

I dare any liberal to approach any conservative with the same conciliatory political  message.

Even if we could create an eclectic assimilation of human thought, would we be any closer to any ultimate truth? May we all at least have enough humility to understand that our greatest, deepest thoughts are, ultimately, inadequate.

Protest Motivation

I keep wondering what I would do if I were camped out near Wall Street for several weeks with several hundred other people, how I would spend my time. Its rather hard to imagine myself not getting into some kind of trouble. I'm sure I would spend a lot of time meeting new people, talking, and expousing the necessity and glory of revolution in our corrupt and decadent culture.

But that would only go so far. I would need other diversions. I might have some good books with me, to keep in my tent. Maybe a radio. Then too, why not a laptop and a smart phone? Hell, throw in a few pots and pans, and I might as well be home.

I think I might get to feeling a bit claustrophobic. I can imagine myself wanting to take breaks from Zuccotti Park, and walk around lower Manhattan, possibly over to Battery Park. Are the protesters showering often enough? That would concern me.

To be an Occupy Wall Street protester full time, I would have to be mighty motivated. I salute the people who are, and I remind them, and everyone else; sustained protests usually work in this country. The Viet Nam war protests, the women's rights protests, the racial equality demonstrations - all worked, all achieved, for the most part, their purpose. The gay rights movement is next in line, and the political and economic equality movement has just begun.

Flourishing Protest

The Truthless Reconciler might need to eat some crow. Yesterday I predicted that the Occupy Wall STreet movement was fizzling out - which is the same prediction I made when the movement started - and again, I appear to have been wrong. These various cities were probably hoping  and thinking that the protests would fizzle, but after two months they appeared to be doing the opposite, so the cities began to feel panicky, and started using the police to break it up. But everywhere they broke it up, it came back, stronger than ever.

In order to be effective, this protest will have to endure and flourish for years, and it certainly hasn't proven yet that it can do that. The women's rights protest movement, the racial equality movement, and the anti-Viet Nam war movement all were effective, because they persisted for years, and because they steadily gained new members. That's what the current movement must do.

The women's movement succeeded when it gained support from men, the black equality movement became successful when it gained the support of non blacks, and the Viet Nam protests became effective when they expanded to include more than just college students.

Right now, Occupy Wall Street is indeed mainly college students, but it alrready has more support elsewhere, in a large percentage of the population, if not 99%. Millions of Americans are sympathetic to the cause, but are at home comfortably watching on TV.

What exactly is the cause? Greater, much greater, social, political, and economic equality.
Power to the people.

The PEE Party

The Occupy Wall Street movement seems to be fizzling out, at least the camped out in the park phase thereof. I predicted that this would happen, but sooner. After all, what else can happen to a protest movement?

The best thing for the Occupy movement to do would be to take to the internet, and stay there, organizing, planning, and growing....and then to come out once a year for a one week  worldwide festival of protest in the big cities.

Perhaps a global political party can form therefrom. Call it the "Political and Economic Equality Party"... "PEE", or "PEEP".

Plenty of Blame

I'm trying to imagine what I would have done had I been the coach who caught Sandusky raping a child. I know exactly what my first impulse would have been. I would have been tempted to run out of the building, and keep running. Such would have been my shock, horror, and fear. (the key word is "fear", of which we are all full). The assistant coach who was forced into this situation is about six eight, two seventy, which makes a difference.

The honest to goodness truth is that I think I would have done the same thing the graduate assistant coach did, the same thing Paterno did, and the same things the Athletic Director and the University President did. All because of fear. Then, later, I would have wished I had done more. I would prefer to think I would have intervened heroically. Or at least, honorably.

We all agree on two things. One, Sandusky is a monster. Two,There are still more people at fault, more people to blame, for this horrible situation. The question is: how many? Who?

For one, Joe Paterno. That's been decided. Also, the A.D., and the Penn State president. Still hanging in the balance is the graduate assistant coach.  So the blame spreads. But how much further?

Highly educated "experts" on television are starting to blame the Penn State athletic department, and now, the entire culture of intercollegiate athletics. Like a fire blame spreads.

But why stop? Why not let the blame spread naturally, until it burns itself out?

I decree that we are all to blame. American culture is to blame. After all, there's plenty of blame to go around.

Divisive Negativity

The extremely divided nature of the United States has been observable to many for the last couple of decades. Obviously, in one way or another, the United States of America has always been divided, whether between loyalists and revolutionaries, north and south, or over the Viet Nam war.

WE remember when Tip O'Neil and Ronald Reagan worked out their differences through deliberate compromise, without anger, rancor, or slander.

What is noticable about the current situation is that you hear people spending more time and effort attacking those with whom they disagree, rather than expousing the virtues of their own positions.

And that, fellow citizens, might be the essential feature of our modern discourse which makes it so divisive. Its been going on a long time. The Adams people, the Federalists, called Thomas Jefferosn an adulterer, which he may have been, but they didn't dwell on it endlessly. If you read the Lincoln Douglas debates, they both spend considerably more verbiage extolling their own ideals than deprecating the opponent's.

I keep waiting for Rush Limbaugh to sing the praises of conservatism, and to back it up with facts, rather than constantly attacking liberals. I've been waiting since 1994, and my wait may not soon be over.

Moral Illness

The big question behind someone like Jerry Sandusky, (and their are evidently plenty of sexual child abusers running around), is, is there a mental illness problem, or a moral defect, a lack of morality?

My inclination is to look hard at the morality factor. Morality is of course concerned with good behavior, perfect morality being, in theory, perfectly good behavior, which of course nobody except Jesus Christ ever possessed. This means that we all, if we want or need something badly enough, and are sufficiently constrained from it, will resort to immoral behavior to obtain it.

This seems to be what Sandusky did. What he wanted was a life which included the joys and attributes of a sex life. Who doesn't? His big problem was being gay. As a high profile football coach in a small, close knit community, Sandusky possibly considered an above board, age appropiate homosexual relationship out of the question, because it might threaten his career. A secret relationship would have been impossible.

All old people are attracted to young people. Let's get that straight right now. We are all "pedophiles", mentally. "Pedophiles of the heart", former president Jimmy Carter might say.

What makes people moral is their behavior, not their biological inclinations. Its OK for a middle aged person to be attracted to a young person, but its not OK to act on it. Is it mental  illness to be attracted to people who haven't even reached puberty? Probably. And possibly, just possibly, the pain and rejection brought about by the threat of loss of status can trigger mental illness.

Brain Freeze

My mother looked out her kitchen window, and noticed that all her neighbors had their garbage cans out by the curb, ready for pick up, even though it was a holiday, with no trash service. She said to me "those dumb asses."  Tactfully, meekly, I asked whether she might be responding a bit harshly. After all, people do forget things.

So what's with this national piling on of poor presidential candidate Rick Perry? The guy makes one mistake, has a mental block, and the media, and apparently a large part of the audience, is asking whether he is fit to be president! For heaven's sake, call off the attack dogs!

As a socialistic liberal democrat, I won't be voting for Perry, or any other conservative, in all probability. But this reaction to his brain freeze is entirely ridiculous. Let's all relax, and give the guy a break. If mental blocks disqualified a person from political office, we'd have no government.

Blame Game

The Joe Paterno thing is surrealistic. It makes you wonder, "when will I wake up and realize that this is a bad dream.?"  The bad news, we aren't dreaming, and we won't wake up. There is no good news.

What's fascinating is watching the American people, and the American media, play the blame game.

WE're all over the charts. Jerry Sandusky? Absolutely. But then, who, or what, else?

Obviously Paterno and the University president were deemed culpible, at least to some degree, although nobody can elucidate exactly to what degree.

Students at Penn State are blaming the media. Hell, why not? Yesterday, I pitched in and blamed the corporate owners of the media. Again, why not?

I'll take it one step further, the one step nobody seems willing to take. I'll blame all of us, I'll blame American society. 

Jerry Sundusky wanted a career as a football coach, and Jerry Sandusky was gay. Where would his coaching career have gone had he dated other adult men, openly, and properly? We all know the answer to that. Thanks to the barbarity of American culture, nowhere. So he chose to pursue a strategy which would gratify his sex drive and be secret.

Maybe, just maybe, American culture forced him, or at least encouraged him, to a desperate strategy.

Peterno Protest

The kids at Penn State are raising hell about the firing of Paterno, bless their hearts, more power to them. But, like most Americans who raise hell, they are barking up the wrong tree.

They just weren't sure who, or what, to be angry at. They started out with anger against the pedophile, moved on to the Board of Directors, then started lashing out, in song and chant, against, you guessed it, the media. Who among us doesn't lash out against the media? After all, the media is our  national scapegoat.

Anger at pedophilia is justified. So is anger against an arrogant bureaucratic Board of Directors.

But anger at the media? Oh come on! Again the American urge to shoot the messenger.

No doubt the media frenzy frightened the bureaucratically self protective Board into firing Jo Pa.

The mdia tries to make as much money for its owners as it can, by entertaining the American people as well as it can, in order to attract as much attention from we, the unswashed masses, as it can, in order to sell as much advertising as it can, to lure we the great unwashed to spend as much of our money as we can, to increase profits for the owners.....this is dizzying, but you get the point. Sound familiar?

The Penn State Paterno protesters should join the Occupy Wall Street movement, just like the tea party should join the Occupy Wall Street movement. Two Words: CORPORATE OLIGARCHY

Thinking anew

"All the great thoughts have long since been thought. What remains for us is to think them anew."

                                                                                                               --  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

That may be true, but we don't intend to give up, at least not here. Here we intend to seek new thinking, without bothering to even consider whether there is anything new to be thought.

Let's take, for example, two of America's most popular writers, Ann Coulter, and Chris Hedges.

Ann is popular on the politcal right, and Hedges attracts agreement among liberals. Many people have read one or the other, but I rather doubt that very many people have read both of them.

I would recommend reading both. Neither one of them really has anything new to say, but, if you put them together in a strange mixture of ideology, and shake the mixture up just a bit,  you might have something really new. It is perhaps a sign of openmindedness to add to your reading list the works of people with whom you know in advance you are likely to disagree.

If you are a left wing socialistic radical liberal, I recommend Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. Rush don't write much, but he sho do talk a lot.

If you are a hard nosed conservative, try some Gore Vidal, Chris Hedges, Sam Harris, Howard Zinn, or Noam Chomsky.

Maybe new thoughts are created by recombining the thoughts of others.

Openmindedness

The purpose here is to encourage openmindedness in thought, discourse, and deed, based on the belief that society will be healthier if the citizenry makes choices and decisions by giving honest thoughtful consideration to all points of view.

You don't see much of that in current American culture. The people who are the most extreme, the viewpoints which show the greatest anger and opposition, are the most widely covered by the corporate media and embraced by the American people.

Political moderation is seen as weak, boring, noncommittal, undesirable. And heaven help anyone who is openminded enough to reconsider and change opinion; that person is regarded as an insincere "flip-flopper" by the narrow minded culture.

A good case in point is Ann Coulter. It doesn't hurt that she's beautiful and blonde, but she succeeds mainly by spewing hatred and venom, and by being extremely narrow minded. Perhaps some people view her narrowmindedness as strong, decisive, admirable.

In her view, all liberalism is bad, all the time.  Islam should be abolished, as should liberalism, and all religions except the true one, which, it so happens, is her religion, Christianity.

No matter how devoted we all become to our political viewpoint and our religion, may we never become so horribly hate filled and narrow minded that we fail to acknowledge and grasp at least some scrap of benefit from differing opinions, which is what religion and politics are: opinions.

Animals All

Years ago I met a girl online named Michelle, and we fell in love, which really isn't all that new or exciting. She lived in New Jersey, and told me she was divorced, with three kids. Her pictures looked nice, but I never really knew for sure whether it was she.

She told me she was Jewish, had been born in Israel, and had lived there until she was eight. In New Jersey she had grown up to become a prostitute, and married a member of the Russian mob, which, after the break up of the Soviet Union, indeed  exploded into international existence.

At the time I met her, she was 28 years old, and was working in a good secretarial job, her days of being a whore in the Russian mafia behind her. She and I talked about a lot of things, on the internet and the phone, including the situation in the middle east between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

To her the Palestinains were animals, pure and simple, no point in discussing it. I decided not to mention the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, and instead made the following observation:

Granted, the Palestinians are animals. And you are an Israeli-American and I  am an American of German ancestry. Are we not also "animals?" If not, why not, and how not? Then I quoted my favorite line of poetry, from Bertolt Brecht, in a poem titled "Concerning Poor B.B."

                        
                                  I make friends with people, and I wear
                                  A derby on my head as others do. I say
                                 "They are strangely stinking animals".
                                  And I say: "no matter, I am too."
                                

Information Theory

Republican presidential candidate Hermann Cain has made it perfectly clear: he has no intention of answering any more questions or discussing any further the "several" sexual harassment allegations against him. Of course as of yet, he has neither answered any questions about the topic nor participated in any discussion of it - and he evidently doesn't intend to start.

He is finished with this topic, but the problem is, other people do not seem to be finished with it.

It almost seems as if Cain has forgotten, or simply doesn't understand, a simple truth: he can't control what other people talk about. He can only control what he himself talks about. His best strategy might be to talk about it so much that everyone else gets tired of talking about it.

Sometimes people get weird ideas about information. AS if they can give information to other people, then control what the recipients do with it. How many times have you been asked "can you keep a secret?"  My reply is always the same "since you can't why should I?"

I have a simple rule: give me information at your own risk, because once you give it to me, its mine, it belongs to me, and I am free to do with it whatever I wish. I am not constrained by your opinion of what what I SHOULD do with it, unless I so agree.

Hermann Cain has an information attitude crisis within, and needs to make an information attitude adjustment. If he refuses to listen to others, others might refuse to listen to him. Like so many other people, he has trouble understanding and accepting the limits of his control over other people.

Corporate Smiles

Most people would probably agree that corporate capitalism is neither inherently nor entirely evil. In fact, corporate capitalism always tries to make us happy; with good reason; we are its lifeblood. The corporations who own the media keep us blissfully entertained,  distracted from the actual state of the world.

We are fed a steady diet of sexual sublimation, beautiful faces everywhere, young gorgeous toothy blondes reading the celebrity gossip that passes for "news", along with a good dose of adrenalin pumping shocking violence and emotional drama.

The gorgeous blonde anchor people are ovbiously trained to constantly smile, at all costs, no matter what. Its what we want, it makes us feel good.

CNN gorgoues brunette anchor person Fredricka Whitfield read about Justin Bieber, who at 17 is being slapped with a paternity suit. During this entire , tragic story Fredricka maintained the smile, without interruption. Did she think it was funny? Did she think at all?

AS long as we the viewing public doesn't think too much, the smiles are doing their job.

Globalization

Its probably a good idea to be open minded enough to see both sides, or as many sides as there are, of an issue. Big business is not inherently evil. Corporations are not all bad, all the time. Liberals would do well to remember that. Back in the early nineties I supported NAFTA, notwithstanding Ross Perot's "giant sucking sound" warning.

Nowadays I have mixed emotions about it. I still remember my  original argument, that the jobs which AMerica loses to developing countries will be replaced by new and better jobs in the growing high tech economy at home.

With seven billion people now on the planet, we need to stabilize global population, more equally distribute the wealth, and provide opportunities for everyone. And of course, we need to protect and preserve the environment. That does not it first glance seem as difficult or complicated as it evidently is in reality.

Globalization is not inherently evil. But all economic activity must be forced, by regulation if need be, to be beneficial to all, and harmful to no one.

2011: A Bank Odyssey V

In what may be the final installment of 2011: A Bank Odyssey (after all, how many sequels can one make?) we briefly explore another amazing bank adventure.

During my much ballyhooed and convuluted refinancing adventure with the Bank of America, I encountered a young lady via telephone and email named Tamara, who was processing my application from St. Louis.

I got to know her a little bit, we talked about and joked about the enormous amount of info she was gathering from me, the documents, the long ID numbers, and we started talking about the housing finance situation all over the United States. We agreed that the foreclosure, bankruptcy, and unemployment situations are horrible.

Then she told me about herself. She told me that her job is very difficult emotionally, because part of her job is to inform applicants that their loans have been denied. She told me about repeatedly sitting on the phone and crying with people whose dreams had been suddenly destroyed. Then she dropped a real shocker on me. She said that she and her family had a mortgage with her employer, the Bank of America, but that she too had been foreclosed, and had lost her home.

Everything was going to be alright, she assured me, she and her family are tough, and determined to make it. But I simply couldn't believe it. Foreclosed, by the very company for which you work? I had never even thought about something like that before.

I knew, before I ever applied for a fmortgage refinance, that I would be denied. I knew it because I knew my house would not be appraised at a high enough value. My question is, why didn't somebody at the bank know it, and save us all the trouble of  doggedly urging me to apply?
Somehow, I suspect I am not alone in my great "bank odyssey". How many more, I wonder, are there out there, waiting to be heard...

2011: A Bank Odyssey: IV

So, I'm upset with the Bank of America because it spent years nagging me to apply for a refinance loan, and when I did, turned me down. All they had to do was realize that they would turn me down beforehand, and not bother to nag me.

Now, I do not hate large corporations simply because they are large corporations. And I really don't think the Occupy Wall Street movement is 99% of the people against one percent. For one thing, some one percenters, like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, are sympathetic to the Occupy movement, and many of its concerns.  For another, a fairly large part of the population goes along with the 1%ers, for whatever reason. Poeople who enjoy success are more likely to support the system, and more than 1% are economically successful.

But Americans in general are fed up being owned and controlled by the corporate oligarchy, by, as Gore Vidal says, "our corporate masters".

Should I withdraw all my modest assets from the Bank of America, and transfer them to a small local bank or a credit union?Vote NOW! 

2011:A Bank Odyssey III

The refinancing process was stressful and complicated. To some folks that may sound familiar. The paperwork, and the amount of information I was required to submit to the bank was outrageous. After being led through a vast bureaucratic jungle the bank decided to deny my application because my house did not appraise at a high enough value. The bank decided who appraised the house, how much it was worth, and what was required for refinancing it. So....

WHAT WAS THE POINT?

My current plan is go continue faithfully making morrtgage payments on a house I bought for $110,000, which is now appraised at $80,000, over a period of 30 years, at an interest rate (5.5% to 8%), which will net the bank around $200,000, and which the bank could choose to lower at any time. Need we wonder why the Occupy Wall Street movement is growing?

2011: A Bank Odyssey Part II

Eventually the Bank of America controlled my entire financial life. I had a savings account, a checking account, a debit card, and a credit card. I, who had always sworn allegiance to cash...

Since they already owned me the Bank of America decided to go for the jugular. They sent me an offer in the mail to apply for a home mortgage loan. They said it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and the advantages for me were uncountable, that they were eager to "help me, and so on, and so fotrh. Over and over and over again they sent the ads in the mail, until finally my resistance broke down, and I went in and applied.

The loan officer wanted to know if I had a job, and whether I intended to make a down payment. I replied that I had a job, albeit not a very well paying one, and that I had no intention of making a down payment...nor did I offer collateral. He promplty approved my loan, at a slightly higher than usual interest rate, but still a great bargain, he assured me.

At about the same time, the Bank of American loaned 200 million dollars to Michael Jackson, and was handing out debit cards to illegal Mexicans.

For several years my mortgage went along fine. I loved my new house, and had no trouble meeting my financial obligations. Then, perhaps because of this, the B o A began offering me  an opportunity to refinance, and began offering it to me over, and over again, until.....you guessed it, my resistance eventually broke, and I decided to apply for a refi... and.that's when things got even crazier...


                           ...to be continued

2011: A Bank Odyssey

Thirty years ago I opened a bank account at an institution called the "First National Bank", in  Fayetteville, Arkansas. Contrary to its name, this bank was a one branch operation conveniently located in a small college town. A few years later, it was purchased by the Worthen Corporation, and became "big blue."

From that point everything became a blur. Worthen was purchased by Boatman's bank, which was later conquered by Regions bank, and then I think maybe Nations took over for awhile, then, eventually, the Bank of  America entered my life. I went along with all the corporate changes, and in what seemed like a heartbeat I rocketed from ma and pa corner business to immense corporation.

So now I have been "with" the B o A for...I forget how long...maybe close to twenty years...

If that aint a rapid fire roller coaster white water adventure, I don't know what is.

And the adventure, at that point, was just beginning....

Uninhibited

The internet is a strange thing. It Almost seems to bring out the worst in people. It certainly lowers inhibitions, and invites aggressive behavior. Seems like its just easier to fight online than anywhere else. This might play into the hands of the Occupy Wall Street movement; thousands of people all over the United States and the world, communicating instantaneously, sharing plans, sharing the anger of protest, emboldening each other.

I rarely argue with anyone fact to face, but as soon as I start to communicate with people online, the arguments commence. Chat rooms are apparently losing popularity, and the constant fighting which characterized them might be part of the cause. The Truthless Reconciler is intended to become a forum for all manner of different perspectives, not just one. Everybody is invited to submit creative writing. The Truthless Reconciler reserves the right to edit, and to require open identity for all writers.

Original creative writing should be new and unusual, controversial.

Occupy Grows

If I were a member of the 1%, I'd be a bit nervous about now. I certainly wouldn't be hanging banners out of Wall Street windows saying "we're the 1%", and I might even consider laying even lower.

The Occupy Wall Street movement not only appears not to be going away, it appears to be growing, and its message seems to be clarifying. The protest is against economic inequality, corporate greed, and corporate political power, which determines policy at all levels in America.

America is a plutocracy, government of the wealthy, for the wealthy, and by the wealthy, and the non wealthy, finally, are getting fed up with it.

The fact that 99% includes about everyone, and about everyone has a mobile electronic communications device, greatly expidites the movement. There must be millions of people sitting at home, such as myself, who support the protest.

How long will it take the rebublicans to realize that most of the country wants to raise taxes on the wealthy, wants to save social security medicare and medicaid, wants to regulate big business, and wants to take political power away from the 1%, and give it to the 99%? 

The Occupy Wall Street movement might very well force them to realize it.

A Tad Confused, or, Oh Crockett

Deep in the heart of Texas there liveth a man named Crockett Keller, or it may be "Kellar"...and he sells guns and sells lessons on how to use them. Crockett is evidently a hardline conservative.

He tells the world something to the effect: "If you are a liberal , socialist, Obama supporter, or a Moslem, don't even bother trying to do business with me."  He does not mention African Americans or Jews, or Catholics, and I don't think he mentions gays or bi's. (He might just as well, however.)

I think what Crockett has in mind is what he might call "true Americans." I somehow sense that extreme patriotism is at the heart of the matter....somehow(?)...or other...


Dear Crockett:

I am a left wing socialistic card carrying Obama democrat.  I'm a non Christian. However, I am a good American. I absolutely adore the United States of America, and am willing to die for it.

I also love God and Jesus.

I want to purchase a couple of guns from you, and pay you to teach me how to use them. Why wouldn't you take me? We're American brothers, and we are brothers in God.

Sincerely,
              A Tad Confused

Go B o A

Three cheers for the Bank of America!!!

Hip Hip Hoo Ray!! Hip Hip Hoo Ray! Hip Hip Mon AAAAA!!!!!

I'm a left wing socialistic Occupy Wall Streeter, but give credit where credit is due. The dropping of the plan to charge debit card users $5/month is laudable. Nobody on my side of the fence needs to be gloating or claiming victory. We need to be grateful.

Now that the B o A has decided to turn over a new leaf, to stop being a predatory greedy corporation, why stop there? Why not, O  B o A, let the magnanimity roll on!

Why not, for instance, refrain from the further purchase and ownership of politicians?

Cultural Illness

In American presidential campaigns the candidates raise as much corporate money for advertising as they can, and use it to purchase the advertising, which purchases the presidency for one "lucky" lottery winner. The candidates attack each other, both inside and outside their respective parties. The attacks often concern the personal behavior of opposing candidates.

Rick Perry and Hermann Cain are the latest "victims" of this strategy. May we have the good grace and sense to refrain from this behavior, and instead to focus on substantive issues.

Perry showed up for a speech in New Hampshire apparently either slightly drunk, under the influence of some other drug, or extremely tired. This illustrates his unfitness for high political office.

Women seldom accuse men of sexual harassment without some kind of basis. Men of power often feel entitled to behave as they please, which is often inappropiately. Cain therefore lacks the integrity to hold high office. The very need to reconcile these seemingly contradictory but apparent facts constitutes yet another indication of the underlying fact: American culture in its current state is an illness.

Does Wealth Matter?

Does it really matter if the wealthy are wealthy, as long as the rest of us have a job, enough to eat, and a roof over our heads? One might think not. After all, money is paper, and can be manufactured and circulated endlessly, so long as it retains its value, at least to some degree. And besides, money isnt even paper, now its electronic signals. Money, in the abstract, is not a zero sum game.

But money won't, it can't, retain its value, if it is manufactured and circulated endlessly, and that's the point.This results in drastic inflation.

By economic definition, the amount of money in circulation is equal to the amount of goods and services extant.

It matters whether individuals own huge amounts of land, because there is only a limited amount of land.

It matters whether individuals own huge amounts of material wealth, because the resources required to produce matrerial wealth are finite, and utilization of said resources produces negative environmental impact,at least to some extent, if only in that said resources involve land use and human labor, both of which are limited.

Since material resources are inherently limited, so must the money supply be limited, in order to avoid drastic inflation. Money thus becomes a zero sum game, in that there can never be artifically large amounts of it circulated. It matters whether individuals are incredibly wealthy, because it places resources off limits to the rest of us, and it cheapens the money supply.

Socrates and Buddha

Socrates sat in his jail cell, condemned to die. He overheard the prisoner next door reciting a poem. Socrates, impressed with the beauty of the recitation, asked the other prisoner to teach it to him.
"You only have a few hours to live, replied the man. Why do you wish to learn a new poem?"

"Before I die, replied Socrates, I want to learn one more thing."
-----------------

Siddhartha Gautama was seeking enlightenment. The quest seemed never ending. His followers lost patience, and abandoned him. Shortly thereafter, seated beneath a Bodi tree, enlightenment came to the newly enlightened one, the Buddha. 

He realized that his former followers deserved to know of his success. He found them, and said "you left one day too soon."

He began to speak, and taught them what had been revealed to him. They were amazed at what he said.

A follower asked: "Are you a God?" To which he replied "no".

"Then are you an angel?"  Again he replied, "no, I am neither a god nor an angel."

The follower persisted. "Then what are you?'

To which the newly enlightened one replied "I am awake".

Think Again

Now we hear that the United States intends to increase its military presence in the Persian Gulf after the American military, for the most part, leaves Iraq by the end of this year. How utterly surprising.

The new arrangement is being called a "bilateral milatary relationship" with the gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, the Arab Emirates, and four other nations. What this means is that the American imperial forces of occupation are simply being moved from land to sea, and from one defeated country to other American dominated countries. The term "bilateral" means that the United States imposes its will on the region, and the region is incapable of offering opposition to the American empire.

The term "new security architecture" is in vogue, which means a slight adjustment to the forces of empire.

Thus, Obama fulfills his campaign promise of ending the war in Iraq,  but since he never mentioned anything about ending American addiction to oil, or American determination to control world politics, he can present himself as the president who made good on his campaign promises.

Anyone who thought that Obama would be any different from Bush, or Clinton, or any other corporate spokesperson, think again.