To Let Hurl, or To Not Let Hurl

ALL AMERICANS are capable of a little war mongering now and then, but we like to pick and choose. Usually you think of the patriotic conservatives as being more hawkish; america's honor, and all that. But this time its Obama and the liberal crowd which wants to pull the trigger, which raises the question; just how much of the liberal crowd is actually with obama on this one? Is eighty percent of america opposed to spanking Syria? If so, Obama'd better think about it. Oh, he'll think about it, all right, then he'll go right ahead and do it, Obama and the French, regardless of american citizen, or world opinion. And, by god, aint nuthin nobody can do about it, neither china nor russia, nor the american electorate, congress, or courts. This, my friends, is true tyranny, and consider this; if there is tyranny in america, which there apparently is, there can and probably will be tyranny anywhere and everywhere. Abraham Lincoln didn't do any better, tyrannisaurus - wise. We live in dark times. Its like obama said; everybody agrees that syrian dictator bashar assad has been using chemical warfare against syrians, and everybody agrees he shouldn't, but nobody wants to stop him - except Obama, and, mark this; he's gonna. Or at least, he's gonna try. A cruise missile or two on top of a diaper factory in Damascus might serve to increase chemical warfre in syria - and in america. Obama just might lure the rest of us into a war with him against bashar assad yet..and it would indeed be a war against a particular regime, not a whole people. Like Waring against Hitler and the Nazis, but not the German people, or germany itself. Why do Russia, China, and Iran all support Assad? Stubbornness and misplaced long term loyalties and alliances? Hatred of america? Stupidity? If the russian, chinese, and iranian people could vote on the matter, which they most assuredly cannot and never will, they would most likely agree with obama, as would the germans if they weren't justifiably gun shy, and the american people, if they weren't self absorbed isolationsits. Dictators and Dictatorships tend to stick together; democracies don't. If the world wishes to remind america that america used chemical warfare, like napalm in viet nam, america can attest that this experience is why america favors complete zero tolerance of it now. Otherwise, we might all one day live in a future world in which we are hurling poisonous gas at each other like popcorn at a wedding reception, or confetti at a party.

Obama to World: How Much More?

IT SEEMS EVERYBODY in the world, inside the united states and out, is warning obama about attacking syria,either warning him to not attack at all, or to only do so under certain specific conditions. All this is laughable, in a way, because of all those sending their dire warnings to the Big O, not one of them, including the united states congress, can back their warning up. Let's see now. So far, both china and russia have categorically warned the united states not to attack syria, without spelling out exactly what might happen in the event thereof. Iran has of course chimed in with its bark without bite. Even the iraqi militia, which is supposedly now on our (america's) side, warned us (the United States). And just exactly what are all of these folks - russia, china, Iran, the U.S. congress - what are they going to do if he does? Nothing, that's what. For a fact russia has moved warships into the mediterranean, as has the united states, and if the american ships unload on syria, and the russian shipo unload on the american ships, the american shps will not be at all too distracted to pay sufficient attention to the russian ships, you can count on it. Those of you in russia who read this blog, and there are some, please get the message to your masculine head of state that he ought not unleash on the american navy. Hint: american navy has more range, accuracy, and firepower than does russian navy, verily. If one didn't know better, one might suspect that vladimir putin is a thuggish despot. But the russian people are great, and smart, and peaceful, and in today's world they have the power to influence their own government like never before. Similarly, the american people, who rarely want war with anyone, are very strongly telling president obomber that they do not want to attack syria, so, take note, world citizens; we are trying to stop this. Maybe we can all work together to stop all of it. But who will stop assad from gassing his own people, if not barrack obomba? The United Nations? The syrian people? Apparently not, and there may come a time, soon, when we all wish that someone had stopped it. Dude has a lot of gas. Let the world pose a question to russia and china, to their governments: how much more poison gas and death do you want assad to dispense?

What's Another War?

WHEN OBAMA drew his red line against syria's president, "bashar", he evidently forgot to ask anyone else whether said red line was a good idea, becasue now that its been drawn and croseed, no one but he seems to give a rat's ass. Thus, obama's bombers will truly be his, and only his, should they bomb. He might be well advised to refrain from bombing, then blame his political opponents for the gas attack carnage in syria. American republicans point out obama's hypocrisy in condeming bush's war aginst saddam, and wanting to bomb syria. American democrats point out republican hypocrisy in supporting bush's war(s) against saddam, and not supporting obama now. And a lot of good all these contentious folks are doing the world...in america, its more important to excoriate the opposing political party than to unite for country. Rather funny, since in america there is really only one political party, usually divided against itself over minor matters...meanwhile, the eleven year old son of bashar assad the syrian dictator taunts america on his website, daring us to attack. Famous american radio entertaining conservative cites this as a personal humiliation of obama, as if millions of eleven year olds all over the world didn't set up websites and blogs, and taunt everything that moves. But it is kind of funny. Assad's kid, whom he perhaps had with that hot wife of his, seems pretty sharp. Maybe he was educated in america! Little bashar needs to remember an eternal truth or two; be careful what you wish for, and, one need not necessarily taunt america to experience american attack. America can attack anything that moves, anytime, anyplace. America may be fat, greedy, self absorbed, and uneducated, but give credit where credit is due; we know how to kill. Hell, what's another war or two..

Canonizing King, Math, and Spinning

MUCH OF THE WORLD probably heard about the 50th anniversary of the "march on Washington" the other (August 28) day in the united states. This event was about more than merely civil rights in america, and how they have grown, and are growing, but haven't yet grown enough. It was about mathematics, base ten mathematics, in which the number, the quantity fifty, "50", takes on added significance, intellectually, because of its seeming mathematical symmetry. August 28, 1963, to August 28, 2013, fifty years. You know how we humans are, with our abstract intellectual notions. So, all hail the number fifty! Martin Luther King himself was of course a radical liberal, socialistic democrat who himself high tailed it right over to the white house to hang with JFK for an after party. Some famous american conservatives were angered that no conservatives took part in the big ceremony 50 years later, until they found out that said famous american conservatives had indeed been invited to participate, but declined. Both Bushes were invited, but they perhaps did not want to pretend that they had always been down with the sturggle, which they most assuredly have not. And why shouldn't they decline? Hell, they certainly declined to support martin luther king when he was alive, so, why bother now? Famous conservative american radio entertainers were trying to convince us that MLK was himself a conservative, by quoting remarks he made concerning how important it is to work hard. Conservative people in 1963 considered martin luther king to be a trouble making dark traitor...did oprah winfrey get invited because she is black, or because she is famous, liberal, pro obama, or all the above? My mother was born August 28, 1920, just turned 93, and is still very much alive. She was born the same year, and maybe the same day, that women got the right to vote, and celebrated her 43rd birthdy in 1963, the day King announced his dream. She condemned racism before and since, before martin luther king was born, and, to this day. She adopted willie mays as her favorite baseball player because...I guess oprah took her place on the podium.

Obama's War?

YOU WOULD THINK that american conservatives, also known as republicans, would be all in favor of an attack against syria; aren't they the ones who are always willing to pull the trigger? Or do they simply enjoy bloated military budgets...and you would think all liberals would be against an attack on syria, but obama isn't. In fact, he's in favor of it. Of course, it could be argued that obama is not a true liberal, but just another political corporate operative. But it would seem, at least for the moment, that the masses of common people all over europe, as well as in america, are going to shut down any hope for war with syria by voting against it in great numbers. And that might signal a new epoch in human history - when the masses of commoners actuallly rise up and, using the power of direct democracy in the electronic age, take control of their own collective destinies, and become, in effect, their own government, for the first time ever. Maybe. Or, over the next few decades tyranny could reign supreme across the world. It would seem that making war against the dictator in syria and removing him from power makes more sense than removing saddam hussein from power, so of course the conservatives favored the war against saddam, led by a republican president, but oppose the idea of a strike against syria, because the leader is obama. And so be it. So goes politics.

The Cost of Labor

ALL ACROSS AMERICA the working class is making democracy and free enterprise work by choosing not to continue to work at fast food restaurants unless said business establishments raise their pay to fifteen dollars, double from the usual seven thirty five minimum wage fast food wage. These people don't seem to care whether the price of a mcdouble jumps from one dollah to three; they just want to pay the rent, or at least be able to. So everybody plays the game properly; owners trying to get the cheapest possible labor to maximize profit, workers trying to get the best possible pay by dangling before the owner the possibility of finding another job. rush limbaugh says minimum wage is market wage, funny, becuse usually conservative say theat minimum wage is below what the market would pay, and that it therefore hurts, rather than helps workers. The free market is au naturelle, and therefore, sacrosanct, sayeth conservatives. One might wonder why. But just remember, conservatives miraculously turn into liberals when it comes to getting government involved in, say, matters such as abortion and marijuana. Big government liberals with their demands for higher minimun wage,or big government conservatives with their meddlesome interventions in morality, take your pick. If one person ever ends up owning half the national wealth of the united states, maybe the rest of us should step in with a little confiscatory socialism, just for a minute or two. It has been interesting during the "I Have a Dream" commemoration to hear conservatives try to turn martin luther king into a conservative capitalist. King, who said that the way to end poverty is immediately, by redistribution of wealth. King thought that everyone should work hard at whatever job, which is proof of his capitalistic beliefs! An economc system based upon the laws of nature, cutthroat and competitive, is inherently good, and works best for everybody, because it is natural, is the way the twisted logic goes. Its natural, therefore its logical, like a hurricane.Maybe fifteen dollar an hour burger slingers would raise the cost of a burger greatly, or maybe it would turn billioniares into mere multi millionaires. Remember; the cost of labor affects more than the price of the manufactured commodity, it effects the profit margin of ownership. So, everybody is playing the game properly; workers using whatever tools tehy have to increase their bargaining power and income, ownership doing what it can to exploit labor for the enhancement of profit. Everybody is doing their job. Capitalism works.

An Open Letter to the UFO Community

Dear Friends: Recently i heard a couple of our (for i consider myself part of you)leaders on radio exhorting us all to keep pushing forward, to never give up, to not let frustration deter us, and so forth. The only problem is that they never said, to my satisfaction, what exactly we are injunctioned to push onward towards. What are we crusading for? What do we so fervenatly desire? Because, it is obvious, considering the comments by these true believers, that there is some great work ahead to be done, that must be done. They just never said what it is, or maybe they took it for granted that eveyone knows, or maybe i just missed it. Anyhow, since I am among the true believers, I need to know what it is. Are we trying to convince everyone that UFOs are real? That they are occupied by extraterrestrials? Is that our puspose? Or are we attempting to force the government, (which government?) to disclose all that it knows and is keeping secret on the matter? Is that it? Or, perchance, are we missioned to get the aliens themselves to do something, such as show themselves openly, simultaneously, to all? One suspects the first two possibilities are most likely. We the true believers want everyone to believe in the presence of aliens among us, and we want to government, some government, the american fed will do, to "fess up", "come clean". All this raises a few questions, like: what if the aliens are not even here, or don't even exist? What if the american gummit aint got squat, as they say? But wait. We take it as an article of faith, nay, of sacred doctrine that they are indeed among us, doing all sortsa stuff, that the american fed govt knows all about it, but is hiding it, and that only through our efforts, we, of the "UFO community", will the whole mess ever be resolved and rectified. Article of faith indeed, for let's agree on one thing; we don't have squat, in terms of proof, nor even evidence, certainly nothing convincing to the whole world. We believe, but we certainly do not know, even if we sometimes think we do, my fellow U-fers. OK then. I'll just say this: They'd better be here, and the govt better be hiding them, 'cause we're sure gonna all look like a buncha danged fools if it "aint so"...All this is aside from the point that it is almost impossible to imagine the american fed gov hiding anything, being capable of hiding anything, from anyone, for very long, in all its endless bureacracies, intrigues,leaksand the like. But onward we shall go, we UFOlogists, intrepidly, to where no one has gone before, wherever it is... Sincerely, a concerned citizen (of the cosmos)

Converting to Pastafarianism

IF YOU KEEP DIGGING long enough, sifting through the garbage, holding your nose and plugging away, you will eventually come upon a jewel or two. That's the internet, and the search for valuable content, amid all the slick celebrity packaging and assorted corporate nonsense. Suddenly, along comes a news item you can't afford not to blog about. News item; about one hundred russians paraded through the streets of moscow the other day, wearing spaghetti strainers on their heads, and spaghetti strands in their mouths, calling themselves "pastafarians", and proclaiming a new religion, a religion opposed to all religious dogma, the international church of the flying spaghetti monster. I kid you not. Well, they got into big trouble. Russia, which was forcibaly atheist during the soviet communist era, is now full of religion, once again, as it was before communisn, and the christians in russia just did not like the pastafarians, so, they implored the government to stop them, which it promptly did, with violence, arrests, and so forth, rather remindful of the treatment of martin luther king in america, or the jews in hitlerian germany.The soviet style police state seems to have returned to russia,unfortunately. Putin is no champion of freedom or democracy. Obviously, russian orthodox christians have no more sense of humor than american fundamentalists and baptists. This is an international movement, or whatever you want to call it, this ostensible revolt from, protest against, and ridicule of organized religions, possibly in particular christianity and or islam, and their mutually antagonistic, tyrannical, aggressive ways. And yes, you surely guessed it, at least if you are an american; it all started in the united states. How could anything so wacky start anywhere else? You somehow smell a gang of twenty year old college intellectuals... Supposedly there are several thousand pastafarians in russia, and in the U.S. and across europe. Perhaps we are witnessing the birth of a brand new compellingly popular faith, like the ohters, which will sweep across the world.Maybe we'll someday see each other at ravioli church, or a sacred spaghetti sacrament. If nothing else, we are witnessing the ability of some people to laugh at ourselves, and a warning against the destructive potential of strict, unopposed religious dogma, and surely there's nothing wrong with that. Maybe we should all convert to the international church of the flying spaghetti monster, at least, in spirit.

Teaching To A Test

MY GRANDFATHER was reported to have said that if you put a gun in a man's hand, the first thing he wants to do is use it. Since I wasn't there, and don't remember my grandfather, regretably, I have no idea whether the quote is accurate, but from what I have heard about my grandfather, he could very well have uttered such. At any rate, it rings true, somehow. And the same goes for power. Particularly for people, such as politicians, who strive ceaselessly to gain power, it is not enough simply to gain and have power; power must be used. Every president of the united states wants to make his mark on history. Every american president wants to be seen as a champion of education, of the poor, of the people, blah blah blah. George Bush has his brilliant "no child left behind" educational legacy, in which the federal government steps in and imposes all kinds of standardized nationwide measuring techniques to determine which schools, teachers, and administrators are worthy, and which are not. A lot of teachers i know hate "no child left behind". They say its nothing more than harmful meddling by the federal givernment which damages teacher morale and unfairly labels students and their schools. Now enter obama, determined to one up bush, as all presidents are determined to make the people forget about their predecessors achievements, if any. His cute catch phrase is "common core", which establishes standardized educational goals, sort of like an extension of one child left behind. One of its strong points is that it encourages analytical reading, for instance. But here again, all this federal stuff has little impact on the local schools, which are, after all, made up of local, not federal people. On the internet there recently appeared a copy of a test given to eigth graders in american in 1912. It is doubtful whether ten percent of today's eigth graders, or ten percent of the general adult population could pass it. And the questions on it are perfectly fair, rewasonable, relevant, and important, things that every educated person at eigth grade level or above should know. When i become president, i will give every american a copy of this test, and tell the country "let's all get to the point where we can pass this test, then, go from there". In order to pass it, one would have to study some math, spelling, reading, geography; just the basic stuff, stuff that we seem to be leaving out in our modern haste to get everyone keyboarding. We'd better hurry, B 4 txt splng takes over. The kids of 1912 had mark twain to read. Today we have lady gaga to listen to, so, again, we'd better hurry, and start teaching to that 1912 eight grade test, lickity split.

The Millenium Project

THE MILLENIUM PROJECT is a fascinating website devoted to assessing the current state of progress and future probabilities in various aspects of human enterprise, such as global poverty levels, wars and violence, economic health, and so forth. The people who do the research, writing, assessing and predicting are highly regarded scholarly experts and geniuses, and so forth, but it may be that the site could benefit from more input from mister and missus ordinary, every day citizen, whose fate it is, after all, that the genius experts are debating. The current prognosis is positive sounding in some areas, not so positive in others. Worldwide levels of violence and warfare are down, evidently, and so is poverty, and educational levels are up, supposedly, but the environment is not significatnly healtheir than it has been. Altogether, the outlook for the future of humanity is fairly optimistic, and this is comforting, considering the people making this assessment are people who have spent their careers studying the matter. But of course this website is nothing more than pure speculation, as all future forecasting is, pseudoscience, in a sense, and all these well educated practitioners must surely realize this. No more scientific, really, than your average UFO website, but interesting nevertheless, and worthy of undertaking, just like all the UFO speculation. After all, we humans are the only animal on this planet capable of engaging in speculative thought about its own future, so, why not do it!

Deciding Which Is Which

EVEN WITH ALL OUR modern science, technology, and education,superstition and fantasy remain popular throughout most cultures. Defining superstition and fantasy as anything we believe but can't prove leaves room for a great deal of both. Think how much literature, talk, attention is devoted to UFO's, and yet, after all the stories, all the photographs, all the eyewitness accounts, we still don't know a damned thing about UFO's, at least, officially. That is, we do not know anything that is widely agreed upon, widely accepted as definite fact, by everybody. And since we don't have that, what do we have really? In other words, what is knowledge, among a large group of people, other than facts which are agreed upon by everyone? This is what science consists of, what biology, chemistry, physics classes are all about; all the material presented by the teacher, professor, textbook, is agreed on by everyone; and if anyone doesn't agree with part of it, he or she is free to speak his or her piece, and to try to prove his or her point. By when it comes to UFO's, everyone has a different set of facts, a different opinion, and, well, really, one is about as good as another. What is amazing is that many if not most of us seem far more interested in our personal opinions about the world than in universally agreed upon facts about it. I dare say UFOs are more popular around the world than physics or chemistry. Perhaps this is because people innately prefer lingering in realms of thought which allow for their own individual interpretation of reality. This is all well and good, as long as we can scrape up enough interest in what appears to be reality to, shall we say, deal with it. For instance, can't we at least all agree that if you pump millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere every day, its going to impact the climate, sometime, somehow? Surely. And can we all agree that current economic and political systems are inadequate, and need evolving? And so forth. The fact that we all agree on some things, and all have different beliefs about other things might not matter as much as deciding which is which.

Culturally Rebelling; ignoring jannifer garner's kids

SOMEBODY NAMED JENNIFER GARNER appeared before the california state legislature recently, or maybe some committee therein, pleading for enactment of a law prohibiting magazine photographers, aka "paparazzi", from capturing children digitally, aka photographically. She became quite impassioned, and cried, which ought to do the trick. It may be that, as nasty incidents proliferate, laws regulating paparazzi spring up all over america, that bastian of freedom. Legally, so far, anybody has the right to take a picture of anything or anybody they want, anytime, anywhere, within reason, such as, in public. So far. That may all change, in the land of the paranoically propietary. After all, we own ousrselves, we all onw what we look like, so...shouldn't we have the right to veto anyone wishing to "capture" our image?.....yeah, right. Nobody ever took a picture of the great sious warrior crazy horse, bvecause he wouldn't sit still long enough for an exposure to be made, because he was a native american who believed that cameras were soul stealers. They are, of course, but in today's world cameras are so quick and powerful they can steal souls at the speed of light, from a great distance, completely hidde from detection. Do, judst try to limit the paparzzi, or anyone else, photographically. Good luck. Its like traying to stamp out steroids, which only become smaller, harder to detect, year after year...Jennifer Garner is famous, right? She's an actor, right? Is she by chance the daughter of James Garner, the actor? These questions are honest, and are indicative of one person's ignorance of american celebrity culture, which might be a well recommend state of being for any good american; ignorance of ambiant culture. The only reason why its worthwhile for some rag like national inquirer to harass jennifer garner's children in order to print a picture of them is the the, guess who, yes, we the american people want them to. We want the photos of jennifer garner's kids, for chrissak We, the seduced, sedated, bored, vaguely discontented voyeurs.We the american sheeple, lapping up the banality our corporate masters deign to bestow upon us. Jennifer Garner maight not fully realize the extent to which she is a puppet, a tool, of her corporate overlords, those same overlords which make her fame possible, fame which she seemingly sought, or at least to which she benignly acquiesced...most of us don't realize this, so why should jennifer garner.....let us, the american people, rebel from the corporate masters, and ignore people like jennifer garner, so nobody will care about pictures of her children, and there will be no celebrities, or paparazzi, and american culture shall be purified of the banal, and shall manifest only intellectually and artistically superior creations henceforth! Yeah, right...

Keeping Lists

Among all these crazy "top ten" lists, intriguing was the annual ten best colleges in america, which you see all the time. This time they had stanford as number one, and harvard at number eight. Unusual, because over the past few years, and probably for most of american history, harvard has held the top spot, or at least been in the top three. Princeton and Yale are of course there, as usual, and a couple of surprises, like pamona college, in california, wherever that is. This list is about as useful as the rest of them, including the top ten sexiest celebrities. Somebody's opinion as to which are the best colleges. OK. Fine. Just an opinion. Simultaneously, there is some shred of truth to all these lists; some, but not enough to make most of them worthwhile... at Harvard, nobody is allowed to take more than twelve hours a semester. More focus on each class, no fluff. You can't just walk into harvard and take only those classes which directly interest you. No computer geeks spending all their time with computers. At Harvard, one must learn some of everything, one is required to pursue a broad based education. They have more athletic programs at harvard than at any other college in the united states, and everyone is encouraged to participate. The object is not only to win, but to grow. No athletic scholarships. Average class size; seventeen. And for that matter, no academic scholarships either. Scholarships to harvard are awarded on one basis; need. Financial help is given to those who need it. Anyone who is accepted to harvard is academically solid, but some are wealthy, and some are not. Either way, you can go to harvard, and lack of money need not keep you out.Ted Kennedy played football for harvard, but never had a scholarship. He paid full tuition price, and quite likely the Kennedys have given much to harvard over the years. But a poor black kid from a ghetto, if academically qualified and accepted to harvard, will be given a scholarship. And that's just about the coolest thing, of all the cool things about Harvard, which make it a fantastic university. Any other school which dos all that may be harvard's equal. But any that doesn't, isn't. But as long as we can keep track of the ten best dressed and most beautiful celebrities, and can keep track of the number one top most shallow culture in the world, we're good to go (to harvard)

Greetings, From Below

Greetings, NSA, CIA, and/or FBI monitors, and here's wishing you all the best luck in sniffing out potential terrorists from among american citizenry. Terrorism, othr than sloth, greed, procrastination, stupidity, and anger, is the single greatest threst to america today, and the only good terrorist is an apprehended and talkative terrorist, with the aid of water torture, if necessary. The seductivecorporate sulture which entices us, distracts us, and sedates us away from awareness and concern about encroaching tyranny, pervasive poverty, deteriorating environment is making its presence felt ever more on the internet. Companies like AOL, MSN, and others bombard us with mindless drivel, disguised as meaningful content. The Top Ten Cities for Health and Happiness. Twelve mistakes You must Never make on a date. Top Salaried celebrities of the year. And on, and on, and on, ad nauseum. And sadly, frighteningly, this crap has enough populatiry to motivate its purveyors to keep bringing it. Otherwise we would be rid of it. Corporate marketing is a very accurate science. They know what americans want, because they go to the trouble to find out. Then too, of course, "they", our corporate masters, certainly should know what we want, because they tell us what we want,and what to want. The standard formula usually has something to do with sex, and violence, the old standbys. Somebody needs to get hold of the marketing division, and inform them that the lowly masses would be flattered to have their preferences, on important issues, examined. The masses do not mind being spoon fed received wisdom, to a point. In fact, they seem to rather enjoy it. So why should the giant corporations do anything wyich might provoke thought? At the risk of becoming the next edward snowden, one feels obliged to point out that the american political, economic, and social systems of america are owned and controlled, from to to bottom, by the ultra wealthy elite. Ultra wealthy elite businesses, ultra elite wealthy individuals. The party of property. No party representing the people at large has ever survived in the united states without being hijacked by the interests of the, you guessed it, wealthy, elite, powerful few. How ironic it would be if we the people, the lowely, teeming masses, lured deeper into the internet by our corporate bosses, end up discovering the true potential of the internet, and utilized this potential instrument of oppression and tyranny to resist the ruling plutocracy, and establish true democracy and equality among the teeming masses of everyday common folk. But in the meantime, greetings to the CIA, the FBI, the NSA...

Both Ends Advocating

FINALLY, the shock seems to have worn off, and we americans are getting back to normal, now accepting meekly that our government spies on us. No big deal. Moving right along...The attention span of the average american citizen is, what....twenty seconds?When the uproar died down, as it did quickly, president obama came up out of his underground safe and surveillance bunker for a quick word of reassurance to the american people, aka "the masses" Your government is not spying on you, he crooned soothingly at us,lacking only the grandfatherly presence of a,say, ronald reagan. And even when we do spy on you, we can and by god will install "safeguards" adequate to the task of keeping the surveillence down to a dull roar, if even that....so comforting. so reassuring. I'm sure you feel better already, I know i do....snowden the snitch is no patriot, explains the president. ( he is to the people, but not the government, which are two entirely different things)....the people at large appear to have returned to their usual condition of blissful ignorance, uncconcerned that the government, through popular inattentiveness, is decling toward tyranny. Someone needs to find a sutiable way to point out to them (the masses) that there is no possible reason related to terrorism why the federal government wishes to monitor the masses closely other than to gain greater power and control over them, for purposes of comvenience and compliance, most likely. They'd be doing this even if everyone were walking around with a colt forty five strapped on. So much for the second amendment guaranteeing freedom. The first amendment does little good either, considering that most of us use it to discuss video games and reality TV shows. Even though we probably do not deserve what little freedom we have left, its worth advocating for. We might wish to consider getting back out into the streets, like the occupy wall streeters, only this time include the tea party conservatives, separated by an unpretentious but clrearly delineated line from the unwashed liberal hippie types. Both ends of the plitical spectrum demanding freedom, together!Conservatives want less government, right? So how can theny NOT be strongely opposed to the NSA? Freedon from Big Brother, which, after all, is as valauble a kind of freedom as any other.

Fear of Dear

THE TRAIL curved a bit, and i looked up and saw a big deer standing next to the trail, nibbling on a tree. In august, it had no rack of antlers, so it must have been a female, right? It was big, though. Full grown, taller than I.... ...there was a time when i wasn't afraid of deer. But the illusion of Bambi vanished with childhood. Deer can be dangerous, by standing on their hind legs and boxing with their front feet, in case you've never seen a video of a deer catchng up with a hunter...... i recall the time i saw the same two babies, yearlings, every day, while running on a farm. One day the mother saw me watching her children, and lost patience with me. First, she started pawing the ground with her front leg, which i thought was cute, because i totally failed to see the warning she was giving me. Then she suddenly charged at me, i was too shocked to know what to do. My initial reaction was anger, but that rapdidly gave way to fear, then outright panic, and i ran away, hoping she wouldn't run my down and kill me. Thank the Lord she didn't. She stopped about twenty feet behind me, and watched me keep running... in my neck of the woods there weem to be plenty of deer, and here i was again, but this time i had to get past the deer nibbling leaves in order to get back to my car....i decided to badk track a wit, to give her a chance to leave. But upon my return she hadn't left; she was still nibbling leaves. I swear i jogged up to within about twenty feet of her, and she showed no sign of leaving. wasn't willing to get any closer. Images of bing strong brave hunters on the ground , in a fetal position, behing attacked by deer hooves flooded my mind. I must have extended my run by thirty minutes waiting for her to finish grazing, and leave the trail, which she finally did. I thought to myslef what great shape I am in to run all that extra time, and how noble I am to graciously allow a noble animal to finish dining without interruption.What a guy!

To Really Fly

...my momma didn't raise me to do this. Oh my goodness, I'm ten thousand feet in the air! The thoughts whirled in my mind, as I got one foot out the door of the airplane. By the time we were all out of the airplane, my sense of absolute, complete changed to total jubilation within about three seconds of free fall. During the entire experience.didn't care whether my parachute opened, I was so happy, content, overjoyed with free fall. Oh, I haved slipped the surly bonds of earth, and danced the skies on laughter silvered wings, said the poet, in the first line of the beautifully evocative "High Flight". Is the world nothing more than brain chemistry? What would it be like to feel that way all the time? might be too much to handle. It may be that our emotions are tempered for good reason. Its easier now to imagine what it might be like to be so terribly depressed that there is no way out except death. All Iknow is, I want to fly again, really fly.................. NOTE: the preceding paraphrased excerpt was taken from a radio commercial advertising a fundraising event for charity. The excert, the descrtpion of this incident, merits retelling.

Our Tangled Webs

ONE OF AMERICA'S iconic institutions and leading lenders, the Bank of America, is in deep doo doo, again, so it is rumored. Something about the feds spotting a bit of corruption within the corporate investment activities, if you can imagine such a thing. This certainly isn't the first time something like this has happened; the B o A has paid hefty fines to the goverfnment before, and lived to tell about it.It has a rap sheet longer than al capone. Also, of course you might remember that bailing out of the bankrupt BoA by you, the government of the united states, a few short years ago. Since then they have been wildly profitabe, particularly just recently with the stock market surge and such. The government after the big banks would seemingly contgradict the notion of a corporate controlled america; such is the complicated nature of our incestuous corporate political complex. For eight years I've had a home mortgage with the Bank, have paid ahead of schedule, but still they won't refinance me. Believe it or not, the Bank of America used to send me offers in the mail to refinance, then, when i showed up in person at the bank to explore the option, was turned down! The Bank of America used to hand out debit cards to illegal mexicans, and once loaned michael jackson two hundred million dollars. What more need be said about their corporate judgment? Can you even imagine what corporations like this might try to get away with without government regulation, with a completely free market, like conservative republicans so deeply desire? Chsos, followed by tyranny of the super wealthy elite, or something like that, is what we'd probably end up with. For the time being, I'll continue to do business with the bank of america, and praying that someday my almighty masters will deign to lower my interest rates just a smidge, but not holding my breath. Meanwhile, I'm glad somebody keeps an eye on them.

Slimming, and Sharing

BUT THE GOOD news is that the most recent generation of american children isn't quite as obese as the previous. This is especially good news, since over the past few decades it has become increasingly difficult to fit americans into phone booths, alone or in groups. Maybe the price of food is just too damned low in america. A great number of us seem to have easy access to unnecessarily large amounts of it. On the other hand, when you consider that at least one out of every five children in the united states does not get enough to eat, at least some of the time, and that this is related to poverty, food suddenly seem all that inexpensive. It has been readily observable that in america low income people, often people using some form of public assistance, are in fa(c)t obese. And, there are times, when supporting oneself seems so achievable in america that it is difficult to imagine anyone who really wants to, unable to. But it seems ironic that in a country in which one of every three adults is morbidly obese, aka very fat, that one out of five children go hungry, at times. Is that a wild way to highlight the decline of the american middle class, and the gap between the rich and the poor, or what? Among these millions of part time hungry american children, surely...none of them is overweight. NO matter how much food is grown in america, america might as well grow more - just because she can. Let america be a river of food unto all the world! The problem with america agriculture is that, throughout most of the twentieth century it has produced such an astounding supply of food that the growers were unable to get a fair price for it, ironically. Even while millions of americans have always been hard pressed to pay for food, american farmers have grown too much food to get fair crop prices, and, for middle class americans, on up, food has always seemed cheap. What is that, the free market working smoothly, naturally, and freely? Remember, this is the situation in american BEFORE the government steps in. the government stepped in beginning in the NEW DEAL. with crop price support ans farm subsidies. More failed socialism, or effective help for america's farmers? Ask the farmers. One of the causes cited for the newly discovered reduction in young american fatness is greater parental awareness of the dangers, spearheaded by public service ad campaigns addressing the problem. So maybe, sometimes, when the government warns us about something, there is some truth to it, and it does some good. Amazing

The Corporate-vet Complex

THE MORE I THINK about it, the more troubled i am by the remark my veterinarian made to me, that flea collars do now work, and she simply does not recommend them. The really set me to thiking, because, looking back on it, of all the pets i have had, and all the flea collars i have used, it strikes me that i have never really seen convincing evidence that they were working, but a good deal of evidence that they were not. And, if you think about it; if they work , exactly how? For one thing, they make very little contact with the cat or dog, because you always make sure that the animal is not confined by the collar, that the collar isn't tight. Does it work through osmosis, or radiation? That leaves topical ointments or pills to rid or pet of rleas, and it turns out you can get these at either wal mar,t for five dollars, or from your vet, for fifty dollars. And guess what? The wal mart stuff doesn't work, and the stuff you get from the vet does. At least,that's what my vet told me, and i found it to be true. All of which i find very, very disturbing. Disturbing for many reasons. First, that we the american people have been duped for decades by flea collars and phoy flea treatments. Secondly, that the treatments shich wor, can only be gotten from a vet, and at a very high price. What is this then, corporate veterinary conspiracy? Another version of the american medical association and pharmaceutical industry conspiracy? Ph great, that's all we need. In a country in which nearly half of the people are dirt poor, yet happen to love animals, real flea prevention is available from corporate america and its priestly spokespeople, the vets - but only at a very dear price. How lovely. For those of you who don't believe in socialized medicine, capitalistic medicine would be wonderful, if that's what we really had in america, true free market competition, rather than this incestuous, corporate controlled health and medicine industry. Millions of elderly, millions of poor americans try to enrich their lives by forging connections with dogs or cats, and millions of dogs and cats need homes. Isn't there any way to help pets and needy people be together without sucking them dry for the purpose of further enriching the already well to do?

Changing Once a Week

I REMEMBER deciding, at the age of nine, that i was not, under any conditions, going to be a christian. I liked the doctrine, i just wanted to be different. I realize that now, because i still like the doctrine, basically, but still i want to be different. now, how weird is that? Right off the bat i knew my choice of religion was a matter of choice, pure and simple, and i refused to see some or any as better than any others. None of this waiting for divinely inspired truth, or following the herd for me, nosiree. Man is a social animal, and following the herd is much more in keeping with human nature than contrary defiance, isn't it? What can happen is that a person can get caught up in a habit of agreeing or disagreeing with opinions and ideas merely on account of their origin, rather than on reasonable merit. When my veterinarian told me that all flea eradication products sold a wal mart are worthless, I was at first taken aback, a bit shocked, then reality began to set in. Today she shocked me again by telling me that flea collars don't work, period. Just a another free market scam, evidently. Amazing that so many are sold, that so many people seem to believe in them. Of course, for several decades, most people believed that cigarette smoking was good for health. Such gullible creatures. And, considering that we americans live in a culture of lies, of illusions, of fantasy, no wonder confusion sets in. Amazing that so many people are either staunch liberals, or staunch conservatives, staunch this, or staunch that, entirely unwilling or unable to realize and accept that anyone else could be any different, and be intelligent. We would probably be better off if we all would change our religious and political beliefs at least once a week. By so doing we could at least dispel the misconception that we all seem to share about our religious and political beliefs; that ours are perfect.

Flea Medication, and Viet Nam

I walked into my veterinarian's office and told her that even ough my cats haven't been outside in three months, they have fleas, and what might her suggestion be? She suggested a topical ointment, and a pill. I told her I like the pill idea, because all three of my cats like to eat, and that i had alreday ried a topical ointment. She asked me whether i got the ointment from a vet, or from wal mart. Wal Art, I admitted, somewhat sheepishly, nervously. Then its worthless, she said, no better than water. I told her that somehow, i felt as though i could believe her. And, in point of fact, the walmart ointment didn't seem to help at all, and the very expensive pills hse sold me seemed to work very well. All this se me to thinking: all medicine for dogs and cats sold by walmart is no good? How can this be? How can they get away with it? The ointment i bought was a big name brand, hartz, or something like that. Big company, i thought. How can they, and wal mart, get awawy with selling snake oil? Lax government regulation, must be the only answer. Surely its against the law to manufacture, market and sell flea medicine which doesn't work! But it must be in the language, the legalize, by which a company can claim the productr's intent to be effective, and effectiveness, in most cases. While i was spending sixty dollars on flea medication, a very old man sitting near me saw my red white and blue T shirt an inquired whether i were in the military, or ever had been. I replied that i never had been, that when i was eighteen i would have gone to canada rather then to viet nam, but that i would join the military now, now that I'm too old. He didn'tlike what i said, about viet nam. Waving his cane at me, he screamed that he was a veteran of the canadian military! Instead of replying that no foreign service member was going to judge my american patriotism, i merely smiled, took my sixty dollars worth of pills for my cats, and left the building, much to my credit. Is there a possibility that corporate ownership and control of america can explain both american involvement in viet nam, and bad flea medicine in our stores? Is there a connection there, somewhere?

The Freedom to be Stupid

ALEX RODRIGUIZ said the other day that we can all agree that performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) are bad, and that we must get rid of them. This, from a person who seems to have a habit of using them quite regularly. Maybe he's changed his mind just recently... Alex further said that he has done no wrong, and that eventually his side of the story would be told. The thought crosses one's mind that right now might be as good a time as any to tell the tale, especially if it vindicates him, as he says it does. The billionaire owners of professional baseball, who for decades were perfectly willing to ingore steroid use while players turned into super human machines who performed great feats on the field and only started opposing steroid use when it became obvious the true consequences of it, now righteously pursue and prosecute offenders. One former major league player, a bit of a charactger, suggested recently that baseball was much more esciting during the steroid era, by which he means the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties, and he has some evidence to back it up. Everybody seems to have forgotten one small fact; the fact, in the face of all the steroid hatred, that america is supposedly tha land of freedom. You can make the same argument about steroid use as you can about abortion; adults should have the freedom to choose what to do with their own bodies, for good or ill. Freedom includes the freedom to be stupid.

Alert! Alert!

SUNDAY, AUGUST 4th is not only president barrack obama's fifty second birthday, it is also, resumably coincidentally, a day of american middle eastern embassy shutdown due to fear of possible terrorist attack. No, we're not making all this up. All over the world, the american military is on alert, and american embassies arond the world are taking added precautions, due to highly reliable intelligence gathering which indicates a greatly increased risk of terrorist attack, according to the united states federal government, whatever that is. It could be the CIA, congresspeople, obama - who knows whose idea this terrorist alert/drill really is. If nothing else, its a good opportunity for the federal government of the united states to strut its stuff, to prove that all the wiretapping, eavesdropping, spying are worthwhile, that the american people really are in danger, and that the massive military security police state that has metastisized in america is not only worthwhile, but essential for our very survival. You almaost wonder why they are having us hide beneath our desks at school, or in our bombshelters at home. Americans currently traveling abroad are encouraged to keep their eyse open, to look out for themselves, to be safe, which must really be soothing to those americans currently traveling abroad, but as far as americans actually living in foreign countries, no mention about them. We really ought to have one of these every few months, only do it up right, with the kids beneath the desks, just like it was in the nineteen sixties during the cold war atomic bomb scare, and the rest of us either descending into, or digging new bomb shelters. If you're lucky, you might even live in a house with an old one hidden in the backyard, overgrown with weeds. Recent wurveys indicate that, for the first time, the american people think that the american government has gone too far in creating an intelligence gathering spy apparatus. The revelation that the feds spy on us all may have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Go figure. Still, though, at least forty percent of the american people do not have a problem with it. INcredibly, they just don't seem to care. Many among the masses seem to be sheep, placidly submitting to tyranny. Is up to the rest of us to care enough about our own freedom to fight for it, it seems.

Making Enemies

THE REPUBLICANS in the united states house of representatives voted, for what was at least the fortieth time, to repeal obamacare. Its purely symbolic, of course. they know there is only a vanishingly small chance of the rest of the federal government agreeing to repeal it. they are trying to make a point, make a statement, which, it seems we must all, absolutely, do.

Sometimes you wonder whether in fact it might be better if most of us merely remained silent.

Soon enough we will once again enjoy the now annual drama of whether the federal debt limit will be raised, or whether the country will default, which, we are told would reult in all manner of biblically proportioned cataclysm. 

Also, there is the mater of the ederal appellate court in washington D.C., which the republicans refuse to allow obama to fully stock, claiming that six appellate justices are plenty, nine are not needed. Since the added three would doubtless be liberals, of course they aren't needed.

If you're of a certain age in america, you fondly remember the days of howard baker, tip o'neill, and compromise. harry reid, ted crtuz, marcorubio and the current crop seem like buffoons by comparison.

Perhapsit is inevitable, that as the gap between the rich and the poor becomes ever greater in america, that the gap between liberal and conservative becomes proportionately greater, the political discourse proportionately more rancorous and hateful, and the level of vitriole in the media and public discourse proportionately higher.  

We are currently living in an ear of opposing any idea whcih emanates from your opponent, whether its a good idea or not. Politics by ideology, rather than by reason and compromise.

We probably wouldn't all get along all the time even if there were one big middle class, and very small wealthy and poor classes, and economic equality reigned throughout the land. But we would probably get along better, much better, than we do now.

Snowden's Asylum

We all understand human nature, understand ourselves well enough, fortunately, to understand why vladimir putin decided to give the great american traitor or hero a one year reprieve in russia, where he won't have to face, at least yet, the inexorable heavy hand of american "justice."

Mr snowden's life might well still be in great peril, depending on how determined the regime, aka american government, is to apprehend him. This might turn into something really exciting yet. Motion picture producers are already lining up.

the russians absolutely, just absolutely had to remind teh united states and the world who's in charge; that no one is going to give orders to Russia. Righteously, the russians made snowden promise to stop hurting the united states, thus demonstrating their superior ability to do what the U.S. could not do for itself; protect its own intelligence gathering michinary.

assuming the soviet union (at times like this, they deserve to be called that) truly wishes to protect american interests, one would think that mr snowden would simply be handed over to U.S. officials, but no, it simply cannot be that simple. We must complicate matters, mustn't we.

as to whether snowden is a traitor or a hero, take your pick. Here's a thought; perhaps he is both, both traitor and hero. Traitor to the american gernment, hero to the american people. If this seems to imply a difference, a separation between government and people, it was intended to.

American government and american people seem, at this point, to have differing interests. People seem to want personal economic survival; roof over head, money with which to pay bills, buy food, and so forth.

Government seems to want to enhance and cement itw own power, around the world, and among its own people, above and beyond any other purpose. Emphasis on the word "seems". Who knows, maybe our government really does have our best interests in mind; doubtful, but maybe.

Science and the Cat's Meow

THE GODS HAVE spoken. Word has come down from on high that there is no way for a human being to understand what a cat is saying when it meows. So declareth the scientific comumity, after a study which has to be accurate, because it was done properly, without bias.

Recordings were made of different cats meowing in different situations; when scared, surprised, happy, and so forth. People were brought in and invited to interpret or translate what the various cats said, and nobody could do it, not even once. Therefore, it can't be done. Nobody ever really knows what his or her cat is saying, even if owner and cat have been together decades, not even if the owners try to tell you they they can, and then demonstrate.

The scientific consenses within the scientific community has been formed. There's only one problem.

Its pure rubbish, and anybody who has a cat knows it. I have three cats, and i know exactly what they are telling me, each and every time they speak, which is often..

The only way to know what your cat is saying is to be there, to be involved in teh situation, to understand the context, what is happening when the animal speaks. Then, its easy.

And again, there are tens of millions of cat owners in america alone who know this. doubtless millions more, all around teh world know it too. so, the scientific community is gonna take a lot of flack on this, as well it should.

just one more indication that, indeed, science is not perfect. far from it. but at least its self correcting, so, beyond doubt, there will come a time when mainstream science figures it out, figures out what we cat owners already know.

Addiction

SOMEHOW, it seems amazing that a member of congress would be exposed as an internet pornographer, sending pictures of his sex organ to people online, be forced to resign from congress, promptly resume the pornographic hobby, then run for mayor of the nation's largest and most publicized city, be exposed again, plummet in the polls, and refuse to resign the mayoral race.

That. my friends, is addiction to political power, or addiction to public attention or controversy, or pornography - whatever it is, its addiction to something!

Or how about the mayor of san diego, who apparently gropes and fondles unwilling women by the bushel, is exposed and widely publicized, but refuses to resign?

Syrian president Assad, amazingly, is still in power, despite the fact that half the country is fighting the other half in a bloody civil war to determine whether he stays or goes. And to think, only forty short years ago we all thought president nixon clung to power a bit too tenaciously. In retrospect, by comparison, nixon left office compliantly.

Queen Elizabeth II shows no indication to turn the crown over toCharles and retire. And you know damned good and well that Obama would just love to be presidtn for life. You can see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice, deduce it from his body language.

In american politics the same people keep seeking office over and over again. Addiction to power. Or fame. Anything that feels good can be addictive.