Waiting for the Age of Reason

ACCORDING TO THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE, homosexuality is a sin, and according to Christians, the Bible is the inerrant word of God. Homosexuals are to be put to death, as are children who curse their parents. Three of every four Americans is a christian, yet the percentage is slowly but steadily dwindling, as the world begins to enter the scientific age. In the seventeenth century David Hume, the father of skepticism, declared the seventeenth century to be an age of miracles, the foremost miracle being that so many people still embraced religion in an age in which science disproves it credibility. In the twenty first century along comes a mentally ill person who doesn't know the difference between hezbollah and the Islamic state, murders dozens of people in a gay nightclub, and suddenly it becomes an act of "Islamic terrorism". In truth, it was likely an act of desperate anger by a person unable to comes to terms with his own homosexuality in a world which the broader culture would never accept him. Neither the christian nor Islamic faiths is tolerant of homosexuals; in Islamic countries gay people, if caught, are murdered, in America, they are allowed to exist only because secular law takes priority over religious belief. By law, America is neither an Islamic nor christian nation. In neither religion is God loving and tolerant of deviant sexuality. American Christians tolerate gay people only because by law they must, but anytime they get a chance to marginalize and exclude them, they do. The "Age of reason" arrived in the seventeenth century, and departed in the early nineteenth century as religion reasserted its stranglehold on mainstream culture. In 1797 Congress passed a law reaffirming that the United States is not a "Christian nation", a law which is still in effect, and reinforces the constitution, but which is conveniently ignored today by the Christian community. Although we appear to be reentering the age of reason, we have yet to fully do so. If we are fortunate, we won't have to wait much longer.

Transforming

BREXIT, LIKE DONALD TRUMP, is something of a revolution. Political revolutions are not beneficial if they are not sane, and transformative if they make sense. Neither Brexit nor the Donald is a sane alternative to the status quo, no matter how badly we despise the status quo. For Britain, dumping the European Union is probably a wrong headed move. Trump, in a word, is nuts. There will be no Mexican built wall, and there will be no ban on Islamic immigration. Nor will there be a reversal of free trade policies. The trick is to allow for the free movement of capital and goods, while keeping labor at home, and allowing it to share a fair share of the rewards of its labor. What the doctor ordered is Bernie Sanders, and a redistribution of wealth, for the purpose of enhancing, not limiting, capitalism. That political revolutions are fomenting on both sides of the Atlantic is encouraging, whether they are wrong headed or not. Who knows? Maybe Occupy Wall Street will fire back up, and the Russians will dump Putin. Nothing against Putin, you understand, but a little freedom and democracy never hurt anyone. Not only does the European Union make perfect sense, but a similar arrangement in the Americas would make even more sense. The United states of North America, capitol in Washington D.C., the American dollar becoming the currency of Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean islands. You can almost see the standard of living south of the U.S. border moving up,profits increasing for business, and the working class becoming a new middle class.

Considering the Source

OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE Pacific Ocean floats a huge pile of trash, mostly plastic. In oceans around the world there are several such floating garbage piles, acres across, where the currents congregate. The total amount of garbage in the oceans is now greater in weight than the total amount of fish. Not to worry, however. A teenager in the Netherlands has a solution which you're likely to hear more about soon. It consists of a sort of floating rope which herds the garbage into one small area, and permits its scooping up. This situation, one would think, would be sufficient to alert humanity to the utter bizzareness of its condition. According to some (American conservative climate change deniers) the human species is so puny that it could not possibly impact Earth's environment in any meaningful way, even if it tried. It might depend on how hard we try. One can imagine dumping all garbage into the oceans, setting off all the world's nuclear bombs simultaneously, and opening the spigot on all the world's oil wells, and letting them gush at will. That, one might imagine, would do the trick. When Lake Eerie caught fire in 1970, and when downtown Los Angeles was obscured by smog in the middle of a sunny day in the nineteen seventies, humanity's "puniness" seems to have been belied. the sight of millions of Chinese wearing gas masks in Chinese cities arouses one's suspicions. The people who deny humankind's ability to destroy Earth's ecosystem are the same people who insist that a single volcanic eruption spews more filth into the atmosphere than all human industrial activity combined, that evolution by natural selection is a rumor, that climate change is a liberal hoax, that a great big god up in the sky is responsible for all life on earth,and that a book which claims the world is flat is the inerrant word of that god. As always, one must consider the source.

Watching the Same Old show

ITS BEEN A BAD WEEK for the American right wing. First, the Supreme Court ruled that the great state of Texas is perpetrating a scam by enacting legislation ostensibly intended to protect women having abortions by mandating safer practices and conditions, but in reality intended to restrict access to abortion to greatly that it becomes all but impossible to obtain one. A woman who chooses to have an abortion is, in the eyes of the extreme right, sinning so badly that she hardly deserves any care at all, in reality. And yet, they want abortion to occur, so they say, only in conditions involving extreme expense and inconvenience, due to medical necessity. Even if one considers abortion to be murder, which is easy to do, its legality is such that access to it must not be restricted by needless regulation, says the high court. Its worth mentioning that rarely do abortions result in any sort of damage to a woman's health, and are in fact far safer than most other medical procedures. So says the court. then, there's the Hillary Clinton thing. The republicans have been trying for years to frame her as a criminal, and they aren't likely to stop trying this late in the process. But representative Trey Gowdy, who despises Hillary as much if not more than the rest of the gang, concluded in his report that the Obama administration and its use of the military was negligent failing to protect the unfortunate American ambassador to Libya and three other people who were murdered in 2012, but not criminally liable. So, the crusade to eliminate a woman's right to choose and the crusade to put Hillary Clinton behind bars will go on as usual but now from a position of far less strength. Indeed, it may be that someday Roe vs. Wade is overturned, and Hillary is doing time. Until then, on goes the struggle, and the best we can do might be to merely get a larger popcorn popper, sit back, and watch the show.

Is It Worth It?

SINCE THE BEGINNING of its history, and particularly since the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States has considered the Caribbean to be, essentially, under American jurisdiction. First, the Monroe doctrine. Then, the Spanish-American War. Since the end of World War Two, the U.S. has similarly regarded the pacific ocean. An American diplomat or senior naval officer would be happy to show you pictures of Tokyo, Beijing, and Seoul, South Korea at the end of World War Two, and today, and would probably point out that the magnificent reconstruction and prosperity of those cities is protected by American naval forces. Be that as it may, there is a new kid on the block. China is turning the western portion of the pacific into a Chinese domain, building naval bases on islands, and is now engaged in the building of four new aircraft carriers to add to their current one and only, a refurbished model purchased dirt cheap several years ago from, if memory serves, the Ukraine. President Obama, listening to his military advisers, has begun a "pivot to the pacific", a new plan to place greater emphasis on American military and economic strength to the west, as Asia rises in world military and economic rankings. where will it all end? Or will it ever end? If one considers that half the world's wealth is poured into military concerns, one begins to wonder whether all the competition is worth it.

Doing Things Differently, And Better

EVERY BASKETBALL PLAYER, at every level, grade school through NBA, should shoot free throws underhanded, just like Rick Barry and, for a time Wilt Chamberlain did. The reason? Its more effective. It works better. Trial after trial bears this out. Like Barry said, one's arms hang down, not up. Everyone who shoots free throws underhanded improves the percentage of made shots. Problem is, nobody does it that way, and hardly anyone ever has. In his autobiography, Chamberlain agreed. During the few years when he shot underhanded from the free throw line, his percentage went way up, and yet, he went back to the old over the head method, because, as he said in his book, he felt like a sissy doing it underhanded. Feeling like a sissy probably cost him several thousand points over the course of his career. In football, nobody, no team, should ever punt the football. At every level, grade school to NFL, the offense should go for it on fourth down, every time. By doing so, your team will win an average of one to two more games each season. This has been demonstrated, beyond all doubt. And yet, who knows it, who would believe it? In baseball, there should always be three infielders on the same side of the infield, depending on whether the batter is right or left handed. the evidence for this is overwhelming. Ironically, baseball, the most staid, tradition bound sport of the three, is the one which is realizing this unorthodox truth first. The "shift" is used most of the time at the major league level, but only in the past couple of years, and yes, batting averages are way, way down because of it. The moral of the story is that humans are far more inclined to do what is familiar, what is comfortable, than what is most effective. Putt from the fringe of the green, do not charge the net in tennis, and, by all means, do not marry the person to whom you are most physically attracted, but rather, the one who is the kindest to you. But who'll listen?

Embracing Sanity In America (for once)

SINCE I MYSELF AM an angry American white man, and since it takes one to know one, I know one when I see one, which is all the dammed time. Hell, I see 'em daily, if not momentarily. They always great me by moving their head a quarter of an inch, while maintaining a stolid and emotionless facial expression. To smile would, you see, reveal weakness, to a stranger, and we simply must not have that. We're all afraid of each other, we Americans. And these days, as everyone seems to be noticing, there is a lot of anger among the inhabitants across the fruited plain. Hell, why not? We all compete against each other in every conceivable way, for money and status, mostly. Of particular note, white folks are afraid of black people. If you are offended by this statement, too bad. Open your eyes, and see, and tell, the truth. Crackers are afraid of African-Americans, and tend to avoid them, as much as possible. Welcome to the land of black or white churches, black or white neighborhoods, schools, and gangs. Much of our national anger must surely result from economic circumstances, a situation in which most Americans perceive themselves to be making no progress financially, and even worse, losing ground. It is widely accepted that part of Donald Trump's surprising political success derives from this anger, especially among white men, his basic political base. We become angry, so we turn to a mad man. The move to arm Americans, which has resulted in new lenient gun laws in every state, would seem to indicate anger and fear, more than, say, contentment and happiness. Doesn't the very act of carrying a weapon indicate anger and fear more than contentment and happiness? In America, we are better armed every day. Maybe I share some of all this, because I still like Trump, which strikes me as insane. That said, we must not, under any circumstances, elect Trump, because, quite clearly, he's nuts. A Mexican wall? No Muslims allowed in? Say what? Have we all lost our minds? If not, we're too close for comfort. Its time for we the American people to sit down, take a deep breath, and embrace calm, quiet, sanity.

Achieving Human Unity Through Alien Invasion

I WAS NEVER much of a Ronald Reagan fan, quite the opposite in fact, but Reagan made the most brilliant statement I've have ever heard, ironically. Ironically, because to this day I consider Ronald Wilson Reagan to be among the most mediocre intellects I have ever encountered. Well, sometimes a blind old squirrel finds an acorn, as they say. No offense to you Reagan lovers. Roughly, Der Gipper's comment went something like this. "If the Earth were ever threatened by an alien species from another planet, the human race would unite." A good, solid, science fiction kind of remark. You have to assume the by saying this, Reagan was plaintively wishing for a better world that never was, might never be, and he would never live to see. but he must have believed that somehow, such a world, a world of human unity, was possible, by some means, alien or otherwise. We act for all the world that such a world of peace and prosperity is not possible, some sort of fantasy. In fact, there is nothing preventing it. NO law of nature, no prohibitive set of circumstances, nothing. this is obvious from even the most cursory scrutiny and analysis of the observable universe and humanity's place within. Common sense tells us that there is nothing preventing us from crating not only a better world, but an amazingly better one, - but ourselves. Hell, if nothing else, we could all chip in, and pay somebody to stage an alien invasion, an updated version of the famous H.G wells Orson Welle's radio drama from the nineteen thirties. This time, it would have to be more convincing, with radio, television, and the rest of the electronic media, including Facebook and Twitter, cooperating fully. Maybe Donald Trump could pull it off. A make believe alien invasion to get us humans to all work together, help each other, care about each other, and, heaven forbid, to even love each other.

Persuading Conservatives To Join (our new religion)

LET'S FACE IT; its crazy to deny global warming. Ask any high school chemistry or biology teacher. Hell, ask anybody! Conservatives deny global warming because to accept it would disprove their beliefs. Global warming, man made climate change, is a conservative problem, having arisen out of mainstream, traditional, conservative, capitalistic society. The solution to global warming is change, a lot of change, fundamental change, particularly change to prevailing, traditional economic, social, and political systems and institutions, which means..liberalism. Conservatism embraces tradition, liberalism embraces change. Changing to green, sustainable energy sources, changing the way we live, is the only way to avoid further climate change, before its too late. Conservatives do not like change, or anything which appears to cause or encourage it, such as climate change, which, for the benefit of conservatives, we here stipulate is the same thing as global warming. You can see it now, the following scenario: Enough of the world accepts the reality of global warming that a trillion new trees are planted, solar energy sweeps the world and saves the planet, and American conservatives say: "see, we told you there was never any problem in the first place!" Either that, or they will claim that they never doubted global warming in the first place.. Or maybe this: global warming, man made climate change, gets worse and worse over the next few years, say, because we don't do anything to fix it, as humanity is locked in an endless cycle of doubt and denial. The weather gets so crazy that it becomes impossible to continue denying that the climate has changed. One can just imagine our beloved American conservatives then proclaiming: "yes, its real, but its all natural, and we had nothing to do with it!" So long as there are those who are not on board with our new man made climate change religion, which is different from all preceding religions in that our new one is based on provable fact, we just can't win for losing in the great battle to persuade American conservatives to join our new church.

Naming Radical Religious Violence, by Whatever Name

JUST FOR THE RECORD, Muslims, overwhelmingly, do not like the term "radical Islamic terrorism". Are you surprised? Do you care? If you doubt this, just ask around - in the Muslim community, of course. Its not as hard as you may think, they do not live on some other planet. What you'll find is, if you take the trouble to find out, of the world's approximately one point two billion Muslims, approximately one point two billion of them will tell you that, yes, they hate the term "radical Islamic terrorism", because it conveys the impression of terrorism being associated with the entire Islamic religion, when in fact it is only a tiny minority of people who distort and subvert the religion for their violent purposes, and thus are not true Muslims any longer, if they ever were, which is doubtful. Islam condemns terrorism, just as much as any other faith, including Christianity. Obama does not want to anger the entire Islamic religion, by associating it with terrorism, Obama wants Muslims on our side, its that simple. What's so hard to understand about this? The conservatives who complain about Obama not using the expression "radical Islamic terrorism" hate Obama so much that they will complain about anything they can think of. When is the last time you heard a conservative American Christian refer to the Ku Klux Klan as a "radical Christian terrorist" organization? Ever? Not. And make no mistake, radical Christian terrorism is exactly what the Klan is, and is tacitly supported by all who do not call it what it is. One would at least expect to hear the mainstream conservative Christian community expel the Klan from the christian faith, and to remind us that Klan members are not true Christians, but you don't. They seem content to permit Klan folk to retain their Christian veneer. Overall, the world's Muslims have done a much better job of condemning the terrorism associated with their faith, and of expelling terrorists from the faith who use the faith to support violence.

Saving Stray Cats, and Stopping Mass Murders

WHEN I FIRST REALIZED that I was far more upset over the disappearance of a neighborhood stray cat than fifty mass murder victims, I was filled with self doubt and loathing, but only for a little while. I got over it fast. In this world, it really pays to have that ability. This is an era for successful, thick skinned people. Only the emotionally hardened survive. The stray cat, a pretty male with a friendly disposition, was part of my life, in my own back yard. He would show up every few days, apparently seeking a home. Cats, in my experience, have an uncanny way of sensing where they might find a home. And yes, I think they want a home, I don't think they prefer to stay stray, there is something hopeful they sense about humans, even though they can get by for long periods of time on their own. Amazing, beautiful creatures. I wish I shared their willingness to trust and the hope they have for humans. The mass murder, on the other hand, was just another mass murder in another part of the country, just routine these days, par for the course, our American societal norm. When I saw an animal control truck cruising through my neighborhood I was filled with dread, but a couple days later I thought I spotted my pretty friendly stray male from a distance, so I had renewed hope. I continue to cling to that hope. Maybe he'll show up again, and maybe I'll take in stray number five. The other four are doing quite well, living with me. Without me, they'd most likely be dead by now, and without them, I'd still be lonely. Instead, we are one big happy family. What sense of hope are we to derive from the mass murder in Orlando? We can't hope that the dead, like some stray cat, will come back to us, but can we do anything, other than have more of our eternal, boringly repetitive moments of public silence? You'd almost think that we could diagnose our "civilization's" illness, whatever it is, horrendous that it obviously is, and start to heal it. But alas, such a course seems to elude us. If nothing else, at least we could take in more stray cats, and do more for those who remain stray, and on their own. Would it really harm us or cost us to show a little humanity, towards someone, if only stray cats?

Getting Away With Murder In the American South, Again

HAPPY FIFTY SECOND ANNIVERSARY of the murder of three civil rights workers one black, two white in Mississippi, at the hands of an extreme and still extant radical Christian terrorist organization, aka "the Klan", most of whose members got away with murder because the local and regional culture was generally amicable to their racist point of view, which is why the civil rights workers were there in the first place. The bodies were found, but nobody was convicted of murder, until decades later, one poor good ole boy was, belatedly. Trying to change the world, them damned Yankees, trying to make trouble. During freedom summer, 1964, thousands of do good northern liberal Yankees, Harvard types, hippies, radical reformers, and such, swarmed into the American south, thinking, with incredible temerity, that by so doing they could help "improve" American southern culture, by helping to discourage and end racism and discrimination in the land of unchanging shackled tradition. Just the other day, or maybe it was today, officials in the great but not too progressive state of Mississippi announced that they are dropping the investigation; too many years have passed, too many witnesses or potential testifiers have died, too much evidence has been lost or destroyed. Mississippi burning, no more. The guilty white culture finally succeeded in running out the clock. Now we the American people have moved on to more subtle, less detectable forms of racism, as we continue our long tradition of white rage over lost and valuable property at the hands of meddlers. The current strategy seems to be to lock up as many black men as possible on whatever chargers are convenient. A black man is arrested, hand and foot cuffed, and loaded into a van, and at the end of his ride to jail he is dead, while, what, six police officers are present? How much you wanna bet that nobody is found guilty of doing anything wrong? The perp must have found a way to commit suicide while in police custody. Just like the end of the Civil War and slavery, when millions of former slaves failed to take full advantage, over the next century, of the many marvelous opportunities for personal advancement and cultural assimilation offered by the prevailing progressive uber culture. Some things never change.

Capitalizing Christ

GO THY WAY, and sell whatsoever thous hast, and give unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, - - - and the poor shall have money, and shall become consumers, and shall thus expand the consumer base, and increase demand, which will stimulate production, aka supply, and the economy and prosperity will grow for all. You hard core Christian conservatives, and you know who you are, really don't need to go to all that trouble that y'all go to trying to twist and force the teachings of Jesus into a free market capitalistic ideology. The two just don't mix. So quit trying. Quit living a contradiction, a lie. Don't force, expand! You have to actually add something pro capitalistic to the words of Jesus, extrapolating that if you follow his teachings, and redistribute wealth, you create a demand side trickle up economy, with rising prosperity starting at the bottom of society, and working its way up. This, you might notice, is the exact opposite of traditional neo-liberal supply side trickle down Reaganomics to which Americans conservatives, even Christians, are so devoted. But what else is new? American conservative Christiandom generally has everything else backwards, or just plain old wrong, so why shouldn't miss their chance at extrapolating the teachings of Jesus, and keeping His socialism, instead of denying the communistic Christ, living their double life, as Christians, and cut throat get rich profit seeking capitalists. Don't deny that Jesus was a socialist, not a capitalist. Instead, surmise that he might have approved of capitalistic activity, so long as it benefited all, rather than a small elite super wealthy few.

Keeping Muslims Out, By whatever Means

IF I'M A MUSLIM, and I want to enter a United States of America to which entry is forbidden me by order of President Donald J. Trump, I am very definitely going to place my check mark in the "non-Muslim" box. If necessary, I am going to proclaim myself a devout Christian, saved, a person who has given his life to Christ. Or maybe just a plain old atheist. that ought to do the trick. Why not? As they say: "whatever works". Then, upon entry, I can go right back to the true faith, my faith, Islam. We all practice the "true faith", do we not? So, precisely how, in the real world, does one go about identifying Muslims? Please bear in mind that religiosity is a state of mind, and that it is not a style of dress, or a particular mode of personal appearance or attire. The question is: why does nobody point this out other than some nobody on some nondescript website, like this one? We are at war with radical Islam! We must defend our country against potentially terroristic immigrants! To preclude immigration on the basis of religion is unconstitutional, and un-American, so go the arguments, pro and con, droning on...and on...whether to exclude, or to include, that is the question..but, other than here, you won't see or hear any American genius asking: "precisely how do you identify Muslims as they seek entry?" Quite simply, you don't, because you can't. What, you're gonna consult a data bank listing all one point five billion Muslims? You're going to identify them by the way they "look"? Like they're gonna come clean, right off the bat? None of the above. What you're going to do is conduct interviews, and what you're gonna get is a pack of lies, depending on just how badly any particular votary of the Islamic faith wishes admission. The rule of thumb is, most likely: the greater the intent to do harm to America, the more willing to disguise or hide religious affiliation. News flash: you can't tell a Muslim from a non Muslim according to what the person looks like or what a person tells you! Muslims, like Christians, Jews, or atheists, come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. They might be wearing dockers and khakis. They might have light or dark complexions. Beards? maybe, not not. Head scarves? I think I'd be willing to take mine off for a few minutes, and maybe even toss it in the trash, knowing that they are for sale on every street corner in America. And yes, perfectly intelligent, ostensibly, people have indeed suggested that you merely give people the once over, and eureka! You pick out the infidels, and turn them away! Has Mr. Trump offered any suggestions? Of course not. Whether excluding Muslims from America is a good idea is not the problem. The problem is, you can't, because there isn't any way to do it. But don't look to Donald J. Trump for an answer. Its hard to insult people merely by making constructive suggestions.

Not Wanting Gun Control: Guns don't Kill People...

GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, people kill people. Isn't that the way it goes? Exhaustive research has failed to reveal who deserves credit for originating this bit of wisdom; our best bet is to chalk it up to popular culture, and give credit not only to the National rifle Association, but to the conservative Christian American community as well. You know, the Jesus, guns, and money folks. They like their Bibles and firearms. Cars don't kill people, people kill people. Recreational drugs don't kill people, people kill people. Vertical slopes don't kill mountain climbers, mountain climbers kill mountain climbers. Oppressive heat and humidity don't make people cranky, people make people cranky. Isn't this fun? Who would've ever thought that personal responsibility could be so comprehensive? We all commit suicide! My grandfather, (1888-1956) is reputed to have said: "put a gun in a man's hand, and the first thing he wants to do is use it." Grandfather was a lawyer, so he had some degree of understanding of culpability. but apparently he wasn't much on personal responsibility. I hope he was a defender, not a prosecutor. Don't people tend to drive just a little bit faster when behind the wheel of a shiny new Corvette, and a little bit slower when driving a hearse? Wouldn't a human being be a wee bit more inclined to fire a firearm if he or she happens to be holding or carrying one, and a bit less so inclined if it became necessary to undergo reams of paperwork and background checking to get hands on gun?? When we pretend that we are entirely uninfluenced by the inanimate objects in or environment, are we possibly missing the point, just a wee bit? Yes, it is true that we, by using our intelligence and reason, can be unaffected by that with which we are surrounded. We can will ourselves into a state of absolute independence from anything external to our minds. But the fact is, we don't. We don't, because that aint the way we operate. We are part of our environment, and our environment is part of us. We walk faster on forty second and Broadway than in a sleepy village. we just do. Pictures of juicy cheeseburgers make us hungry. We are influenced by everything we see, hear, smell, touch, or taste. That's why advertising works. That's why our guns are not the innocent bystanders they so piously claim to be. The best argument against gun control is not that guns are harmless, or that anything other than a gun can become a weapon. The best argument is that the cow is out of the barn, guns are already ubiquitous, and can never be rounded up and thrown away. The best argument against gun control is that, being what we are, we simply do not want gun control, because we love guns. At least let's be honest about it.

Representing Us, Not Them

BERNIE SANDERS should probably throw in the towel and start working for Hillary, but he has a message, and he wants to make sure that it is heard at the Democrat convention, and perhaps even makes it way into the party platform. He says that the political and economic system is rigged by the one percent, for the one percent, and to the exclusion of the ninety nine percent. You would think that ninety nine percent of the American people would agree, and elect him president. There is a mountain of evidence substantiating what Senator Sanders says, and yet, no other presidential candidate is even talking about it, which is why Bernie feels that he must. Sanders says that what the United States needs is nothing less than a political revolution. Thomas Jefferson would doubtless agree, and so, you would think, should most living Americans. Most living Americans, it seems, are having a hard time trying to figure out what to do; voting for Hillary or Trump either one being unthinkable. One option is to write in the name of Bernie Sanders, and elect him president with a massive nationwide write in campaign. (The Ted Cruz people probably feel the same way.) If something isn't done, and fast, then we the American people will be stuck between a rock and a hard place, Clinton or trump, corruption or craziness, take your pick. Our political revolution must consist in the removal of money from politics, and greatly enhanced oversight by we the people of our huge financial services industry, outsourcing through necessity the task to our employees, the U.S. government. The sooner somebody besides Sanders starts talking about our long overdue political and economic revolution, the sooner we'll have someone to vote for who really does represent us, the ninety nine percent people, and not them, the elite one percent.

Setting Records For Death, Leaving the Rest of Us, We Hope, Out of It

IT SOMEHOW SEEMS MORBIDLY APPROPRIATE, in a country consumed with competition, being the best, the biggest, the most, that a new national record was established in the great American sport of mass murder. Henceforth, all future mass murderers will have something to shoot for, so to speak, with the knowledge that from now on, setting new records for meting out death will come with a high price, and a lot of ammunition. Its hard to imagine anyone ever again doing much damage with anything but a full fledged assault weapon; in our fast paced future, even a semi-automatic firearm might not fill the bill. The new magic number is now forty nine, or fifty, if you want to count the perpetrator. And why not? Anyone who goes to so much trouble then dies in the process surely deserves enough credit to be officially counted among the dead. So let's call the new record fifty, and leave it at that. A quick warning to will be spree killers: if you target members of the LesbianGayBisexualTransgender community, you will arouse less anger and response from American conservatives than you would by walking into a church and opening fire. Just the way things are. Ironically, loyal Islamic Statists and American Christian conservatives have something fundamental in common: they both hate the lsebiangaybisexualtransgender community, as well as each other's religion. Oh well. they'll find a way to work out their religious differences, in their own way. Let's just hope that they can find a way to leave the rest of us out of it, no matter what our sexual orientation. If American conservative Christians install their agenda, which includes arming all the good people in America, we may soon have an opportunity to keep score on a daily basis.

Hoping For Better Ways, Signing Up

I SIGNED THREE PETITIONS TODAY, a personal record. Petitions are one of the greatest inventions of the human kind, a real backbone for democracy. Anytime anyone has the opportunity to sign a petition, go for it, no matter what the thing is all about. Signing any petition at all is a way to express your citizenship, to ensure that your voice, at least on paper, is heard. The lady sat at a table in front of the public library, with three petitions, and I was glad to sign them all. One would allow two or three casinos to commence operating in my heretofore casino free state, probably under highly regulated circumstances. Another would legalize marijuana for medical purposes in my small conservative state, and the third petition would limit attorneys fees in tort cases. Quite a trio for one day. All important issues, involving fundamental American values, such as freedom. Reprehensible and destructive an activity as gambling may be, enforcing prohibitions against it are of highly limited effectiveness and enforce-ability, and limit a person's freedom to use money. Most states have lotteries: it seems unreasonable to prohibit other forms of gambling. Finally, at long last, we are beginning to understand and explain the positive medical benefits of marijuana, and there are many. Eventually this wonder drug will be perfectly legal with reasonable regulations all across the fruited plain of freedom's land. As Abraham Lincoln said: "prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason, in that it attempts to control a man's appetites through legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. Prohibition strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our nation was founded." Well spoken, Lincoln. Couldn't've said it better myself. The tort reform thing is a bit tricky, because there you're limiting a person's capacity to make a living, a slippery slope, but, hell, lawyers are after all lawyers, so who cares? A little financial sanity never hurt anyone. Maybe the day will arrive in America when we pay teachers millions of dollars, and entertainers make about fifty grand a year, however good they are at entertaining us. But don't hold your breath. Although the free market is demonstrably unreasonable, at times even insane, we Americans cling to it like an outdated religion, which, in a sense it is. Intelligent, logical economics, politics and religiosity remains an unfulfilled dream for the time being, a hope for mankind's future, but, we hope not too distant future.

Changing, and Staying Alive

WITH ALL THESE PLANETS being discovered every day, it begins to seem much more likely that the universe is full of life, including very advanced lifeforms, and that there is at least one, and probably more than one civilization out among the stars which is sufficiently technologically advanced to be carefully examining at least one galaxy, maybe many more. Who is watching us? Look at it from their point of view. they want to observe us without our knowing that we're being observed, which would change our behavior. They are reluctant to contact us directly, because they believe we would freak out, and they know how violent we are. They regret our violence, and would hope that it will not destroys us, or anyone else. Perhaps they have hopes that we humans we not destroy ourselves, and it would be nice to think that if we start going extinct, they might step in and save us. The rate of change on Earth among humans is accelerating rapidly, and it has been speculated than a couple or three hundred years from now, everything we now believe will have been discarded. It might not even be a bad idea to go ahead and discard it all right now, and save our descendants the trouble. All of our religions will go down the drain first, the hundreds and thousands of them that we still have around the world, relics fro a more primitive time. it will be as if we are starting all over again, and it will be a very good feeling.

Seeking Truth...Or Not

RUSH LIMBAUGH resents journalists who insist that he prove what he says. He made that plain on his radio program. Journalists who demand proof of what Rush says, no matter how questionable his comments seem, anger him because by doing so, they are actually calling him a liar, doubting his word, and he resents it. He would much rather the mainstream media simply take everything he says at face value, and accept it all unconditionally as true. Well, Rush, the bad news is, that aint gonna happen. Welcome to the big leagues, big boy. Hang around for awhile, and hang in there kid, because at some point you'll get used to being held accountable, and it won't hurt so much. Sorry you feel so hurt, and had false ideas about human nature, and hope you recover from your previously naive attitude. That damned troublesome media, always poking around, looking to find the truth. Then also, in yet another exciting matter of the media, we have the good folks who are pissed off at this wild web site "gawker", or whatever the hell its called, the one which videotaped Hulk Hogan having sex with his best friend's wife. Oh, whatever! Do we want the media telling the truth, or not? The billionaire who owns the gawker site outed the billionaire CEO of some tech company as, oh horror, being gay, and now there's a war of billionaires hapnin'. Too....damned....funny. One thing we could all start doing is ignoring that kind of media. Duh. Another thing would be to simply assume that everyone is a liar, and that everyone, especially celebrities, is a hypocrite and sex addict, and leave it at that, so that when Rush Limbaugh or anyone else makes questionable comments, we automatically assume them to be bullshit, thus relieving the media of any need to actually prove it one way or another. And besides, who cares?

Senior Citizens, Voting For Trump Without Holding Their Noses

BACK OVER AT THE SENIOR CENTER, a mecca of culture in the small town American south, a seventy five year old fella from Boston, who is illiterate and looks so scruffy and shaggy in his faded jean jacket and torn bluejeans that he's really cool, holds forth with hugs and handshakes. Friendly fella. He's never read the Bible, because he can't read, but he believes every word of it, and is eager to share his extreme faith with anyone. He recently retired from dragging a large white cross all over area towns, proclaiming the sacrifice of Christ. It takes all kinds. A guy like that is a good potential socialist revolutionary, but probably couldn't care less about anything having to do with the real world. He lives in a realm of fire and brimstone. It would be nice if he would at least bring a little eastern liberalism to the table here in the land of the eternally provincial, but hell no, its all about the Lord. Thus he contributes nothing to diversity, nothing to the necessity of preventing an entire community from being dominated by right wing Christians, and although he's from back east and has a Boston accent, he fits right in with very small town conservative Christian America. Why and how the Christian faith and modern American conservatism conspire to inhabit the same souls is one of the many wonders of American society. These people at the senior center, the seventy and eighty and ninety year old set, most of them trouble me because I just know, that during the turbulent nineteen sixties, they were condemning Martin Luther King as a trouble maker, and Muhammad Ali as an uppity you know what. Of course, American conservatives to this very day have to hold their noses at the very thought of Martin Luther King, or forcing society to accept racial equality and justice. Donald Trump is the new George Wallace, and somehow I can just imagine these senior center citizens voting for him in November, without even needing to hold their noses.

Surviving Long Enough To Find Aliens

ALL IS NOT LOST, although it may at times seems so. True, we in the U.S.A. are going to either have a President Trump or a President Clinton, which is enough to make us somehow feel that all is lost, but bear in mind, we've survived worse circumstances, and we'll find a way to get through this, somehow... And there really is good news. Hands down, the best thing going on right now is the fact that our astronomical community is discovering new planets in the galaxy by the bushelful, and it now begins to look very strongly as though every star in the heavens, four hundred billion in our galaxy alone, is encircled by a planets. Nothing could be more exciting. For centuries we've wondered whether there are planets throughout the universe, and now, we know, there are. Now we have a real reason to go to the stars! There are probably many lifeforms nearby, in cosmic terms. As our telescopes keep getting better, we'll be able to look straight down onto the surfaces of far away planets orbiting other stars, and into the living rooms of houses, to see what the aliens look like. We won't have to wait for them to come to us for us to know about them; and it won't even be necessary for us to travel to them and find them, although we will want to do that as well; we can just keep looking, closer and closer...until we find them, the aliens. Our telescopes are getting better, fast. Bigger, more powerful. If we can just find a way to keep from wiping out the Earth's climate and the Earth's climate from wiping us out, if we can cut down enough on our violence and wars and other forms of self destruction to survive a little longer; we can find out what's gong on with life on other planets. And even better; can you imagine how utterly thrilled intelligent beings on other planets will be to encounter humanity? We humans are such wonderful creatures, who in their right mind would be put off by us, and avoid us?

Building A Better Wall, Or Better Yet, Not At All

"MAYBE WE COULD USE a little crazy in the White House - nothing else works". Which might be just exactly what we get. Who knows what crazy policies and ideas we'll soon get? We the people might have to strong arm President Donald J. Trump into giving up the great Mexican wall. That idea is just a little bit tooo crazy, even by American standards. In the first place, it'll never work. Isn't there already a wall or fence between Mexico and America, hundreds of miles long, mostly twelve foot chain link topped with barbed wire? How well does that work? How would a new wall be any different? You climb over, go through, or dig under walls, right? Besides, Trump wants the Mexicans to build the wall and pay for it, and if they do that, then it will be full of secret passages, holes, tunnels, and who knows what else? You want Americans to supervise the building of the wall? Or maybe just build it themselves, so Americans will get the construction jobs? Then why not use the money to rebuild America's highways, bridges, and infrastructure, and screw the dad blasted wall? A wall won't work, unless it is constantly monitored by the military, and if you have to use the military anyway, why not forget the wall, just put the military on the border, and let it (the military) do what it was in theory intended to do by the original framers of the sacred American constitution: guard, protect, and defend the country. What a novel idea! A wall can't keep its eyes open, watch for and stop invaders when the try to cross the border into the U.S... but the American military can, right? Cut costs by closing down American military bases around the world, and use the personnel to defend America itself, instead of using the military to try to control other countries!

Voting For Trump With Nose Held

WE'VE ALL GONE TO WEDDINGS knowing, just knowing that the bride and groom were making a terrible mistake, that it would never last. Usually, we were right. We've all met people and realized from the moment we met that we would never be friends. At first, nobody but nobody thought Donald Trump would hang around. Everyone assumed that he would shoot himself in the foot with his mouth. And he still might. Its still early. Right now we're all trying to recover from the shock that he has actually become the republican candidate, that he has gotten to where he now is. And somehow, as we continue to watch this bizarre, unlikely, volatile marriage between the Donald and the Republican party, we have the foreboding sense that something's going to happen, that it will never work out, that it will all come crashing down, somehow. Already there are signs. Even the leaders of the party are losing patience with Trump's irrational behavior, his anger, insulting comments, his racism. They are starting to tell him to cease and desist, to suddenly become more "presidential", and as we all know, the Donald doesn't take criticism well; it usually inspires him to only increase, or 'double down" as we like to say, his bad behavior. Trump is not the candidate most republicans want, but he is the one they've got, and they're stuck with him, for better or worse, which makes their situation terribly awkward at best. And its likely to get worse before it gets better. The real question is: exactly how much do the republicans hate Hillary? Enough to support a loose cannon? Enough to hold their noses and support a candidate who responds to his own bad behavior by increasing it? Are they really willing to go to this extreme to elect a president who appear more closely aligned with their conservative agenda? You almost feel sorry for their dilemma. Almost, but not quite. In a way, its rather funny.

Wanting Capitalism, Kinda

IF YOU WANT CAPITALISM, as most of us say we do, you must have a free market, and people must behave rationally, meaning, in their own best interests. Under those conditions, the invisible hand of Adam Smith operates, bringing supply and demand into a perfect, natural balance, as everyone makes choices concerning where to work, what to buy, what to sell, and it all evens out, with everything, including money and power, naturally and automatically ending up where it belongs. Supposedly. The problem is, neither condition can ever exist, in the real world. Like a perfect vacuum, or a perpetual motion machine, or infinite velocity, perfect capitalism has never and can never exist. For one thing, it can hardly be claimed by anyone that human beings always, or even usually, behave in their own "best interest". We are demonstrably self destructive little creatures, irrational, consistently making decisions, such as to drink and to eat to excess, and to drive recklessly, not in our best interests. Then too, in a free market, businesses compete, some win, some lose, and monopolies naturally form, which distort the free market, making it free no longer, which must be remedied and regulated by government. If you want to get all government out of the market right now, for instance, including the removal of all tariff barriers and completely unregulated international commerce and trade, feel free. But bear in mind that all those jobs we all say we want to come back home to America, where they once were, will, under complete global free market capitalism, never, ever come back home to America. To do that, its gonna take government, Trump or no Trump. Otherwise, the international new world order free market will invisibly but surely keep handing jobs to the cheapest labor markets, which are most definitely not in the United States of America. Any billionaire business person seeking the office of the president surely knows this, and must, at some point in time, gently explain to conservative America that, sorry, but the government has a big role to play in our American economic future. Big government is here, to stay, folks. Unless, of course, you want all services such as police and fire protection privatized, along with roads and highways, schools, and the military. You don't really want that, do you, dear pro private sector citizens? You don't want that any more than you want a complete monopoly of the economy by a single person, which is what perfect free market capitalism would inevitably create, if we didn't, by the good graces of government, prevent it.

Coming Out of the Nonconformist Pro Ali Closet

IN 1964, I was nine years old, and already beginning to become a nonconformist. I wanted to be different, maybe to get attention, maybe to avoid it. Already I was suspicious of religion, and was a budding reverse racist. A black celebrity, especially a great athlete, and I was good to go, an automatic fan. Because they were members of the less popular race, because my white friends and family tended towards bigotry, and because I wanted to separate myself from my milieu, I befanned myself towards black stars. Starting then, and to this very day my favorite football player is Gale Sayers, my favorite basketball player is Wilt Chamberlain, my favorite trumpet player is Louis Armstrong, because and not in spite of their blackness. I still don't like religion, and yes, my favorite boxer is Muhammad Ali. As a twelve year old in 1967, I thought Ali was getting the shaft by the boxing establishment for his stand against the Viet Nam War. I still think he got it. Obviously, in retrospect, Ali and the rest of the war protesters were right, and the establishment was wrong. Even at that age, I thought racism was the fault of my white colleagues, and I still do. At that age, I think I was smart enough to know when to keep my opinions to myself; Viet Nam opponents were considered unpatriotic by the white establishment. But now, things have changed. It is no longer considered unpatriotic to assert that the Viet Nam War was a mistake, its a little more acceptable to dislike religion, and middle class white people don't have to hide their love of black music, or black athletes. When I was a kid, I thought I had to keep quiet about my fanship of Ali, within my middle class white circles; I'm glad that is no longer the case. It turns out that Muhammed ali and the rest of the viet Nam war protesters were right on, and tens of millions of good, God fearing patriotic conservative Christian Americans were dead wrong about Viet Nam. We (the United States) lost the war, and it never should have been fought.

Teeming Masses For Trump!

DEAR MR TRUMP; Weird as the prospect of your becoming president seems, and your presidency would seem, you just never know. You might lead us down the road to national destruction, after the fashion of Hitler in Germany, or, you could in fact eventuate as a great source of human progress. If elected, could you please order the human race to plant a trillion trees, and to restore larger populations of tigers, elephants, and many other threatened plants and animals? Then too, there is that annoying climate change thingie. By the time you enter your second term, if indeed you ever enter it, the fact that climate change, man made, is quite real will doubtless have dawned on even the most ardent political and religious conservative nutcases, of which you, it is obvious, are not one. You, through power and charisma, could doubtless persuade the corporate community to invest in renewable energy. A simple executive order from the likes of you should be sufficient, for whatever needs to be accomplished We the people tend, I think to view you as a man long accustomed to top authority, willing to act strongly in favor of whatever project you embrace. Whereas Obama has been much maligned for allegedly using presidential executive orders to reach way beyond his rightful authority, a President Trump would appear, at first glance, to be very much more inclined than Obama to exercise, shall we way, questionable levels of authority for good causes. Redistribute the wealth, stimulate the economy, tax the uber wealthy! Few people realize how very willing a President Trump would be to verily speak and act like that, populistically tyrannical, like a, say, Hitler, for the sake of mass adulation. You, Mr. Trump, hardly need the favor of the uber rich, thou art one. But those teeming, unwashed, poor masses, now, there's your potential adulators.

Keeping Jesus and the Babe

WHEN OUR ACTIONS MAKE NO SENSE, the world makes no sense. Our actions make no sense when our thoughts and beliefs make no sense. Consider, for example, religion. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ makes no more sense than, say, the selling of Babe Ruth, maybe even less. Jesus was totally innocent, and was arrested, charged, tried, convicted, and murdered under false justice, by people behaving like idiots, all too humanly. Babe Ruth was sold by the Red Sox to the Yankees in 1920 for one hundred thousand dollars to finance a Broadway play, and the Red Sox didn't even get any players in the deal. The Babe led the Yankees to glory, which lasts even unto this very day, while the Red Sox suffered much frustration for the selling of the Babe. Christians often believe that Jesus died for our sins, and they seem to find this arrangement wonderful. But do you, deep down, really want somebody else to take the blame for and to suffer punishment for what you do? Normally you wouldn't. Normally, we are all taught personal responsibility, and to be accountable for our actions, willing to accept the consequences. As wonderful as Jesus was, can you imagine how much more he could have given us had he lived another, say, fifty years? For him to die so unnecessarily, and so prematurely was and remains one of the great tragedies of human history. When Babe Ruth was with the Red Sox, he was young, healthy, the best pitcher in baseball, and he could hit a baseball a country mile, and, during his time with the team, the Red Sox had already won the World Series, and seemed to have the promise to do so many more times. Then, they sold the Babe, and the Babe did the same for the Yankees, bringing them glory and success, while the Red Sox sank into long term frustration and mediocrity. The moral of the story? If you are fortunate enough to have a Jesus or a Babe Ruth on your team....keep him.

Choosing Between Two Extremes

MY TWO FAVORITE forms of government are: secular democracy, and benevolent dictatorship. None of this "representative democracy", aka "republican" either. Straight up, direct democracy, with freedom from and of religion, aka mob rule. Bring it. Chaos, yes, but at least better than having a few billionaires control everything in the United States, and calling it "freedom". We, the mob, could vote for EVERYTHING instead of farming it all out to politicians and their corporate owners and masters. Gay marriage? A national online referendum! Legalized pot? Vote across America, on laptops, desk tops, and cell phones! Power to the people! Every single vote that comes before Congress, instead of being voted on in Congress, could be decided by a vigilant and pro active electorate. The electronic revolution has give enormous potential power to the unwashed masses, if only they realize it, and actualize it, which seems very unlikely at this point. We spend too much of our time posting on Facebook about our flower garden and our significant others to allow for sustained involvement with the affairs of the nation. With regard to the benevolent dictatorship concept, who among us would not want Jesus Christ to return to Earth now, and establish his complete rule? Oh, maybe a few anarchist holdouts, but, other than that, you gotta believe most of us would welcome a dictatorship of the savior, eh? What sort of dictatorship would Jesus institute? One where there is a rigid social and financial pecking order, or one in which everyone is equal, socially, economically? The communist dictatorship of Jesus Christ, perhaps? If one really thinks about it, one soon realizes that a completely enlightened and benevolent dictatorship, such as the type we would doubtless receive from Jesus, is the most desirable for of government. But we humans are an adventuresome lot of wee beasties, and we would probably wish to govern ourselves. But when do we propose to start, if ever, and how?

Risking All For Money

ANY BIOLOGICAL SCIENTIST, high school science teacher, or whomever, can tell you certain things, such as: man made climate change is real, evolution is a law of nature, and the upcoming Olympics in Brazil should be postponed, due to the mosquito virus thing. In fact, a petition, urging that the Brazil Olympics be either cancelled or postponed, containing the names of hundreds of such people, eminent biological scientists including epidemiologists and micro biologists, has been circulated and presented to the International Olympic Committee and the World Health Organization, both of which esteemed and influential organizations promptly rejected, ignored, or maybe even tossed the document into the trash can without so much as looking at it. Gee, how surprising. The very organization which has the final say on whether to proceed on schedule with the summer Olympics, is owned, controlled, and beholden to the billionaire interests funding the whole affair, and who have the most to gain by holding the event and the most to lose by cancelling it, choosing not to cancel, "the show must go on!" Is the World health Organization controlled by health and medical professionals, or by politicians? Take a wild guess. People from all over the world congregating in Brazil by the hundreds of thousands, among the mosquitoes carrying a deadly virus, only to return home later, with or without the virus. All because of money, and the fact that the decisions are made by the people with the most money, the most money to gain or lose. The scientists, who are objective and independent, and are overwhelmingly recommending a safer but less financially lucrative course of action, are ignored. How surprising. How intelligent, and how utterly human. Let us fervently hope that over the next few years there is no widespread outbreak of very serious cranial malformation among the world's newborn.

Discovering

FLOWERS, WE NOW KNOW, are surrounded by an electromagnetic field, presumably of their own manufacture, to which insects are sensitive. Bumble Bees toss their hair when they approach a flower's electronic field. This is an utterly amazing discovery. Who knows what else flowers can do? Likewise, thousands of new planets are being discovered almost daily orbiting stars far from the sun. It turns out that just about every star in the sky has planets orbiting it, many of them very much like the Earth. That should be enough to get the UFO people really, really excited, because it seems more reasonable than ever to suppose that the universe might be filled with millions of lifeforms. Science, rather than superstition or religion, might eventually be our salvation. All you new age type people - you know who you are - the ones who believe in parallel universes and other dimensions and all manner of pseudo science and extraterrestrials disguised as humans among us; that sort; its time for you to strut your stuff! "We don't know one millionth of one percent of anything", said Einstein; but it looks as if we are starting to learn a great deal. And what we are learning would seem to indicate that the universe is far more amazing than any science fiction writers in their wildest imaginings had ever thought. All the more reason to "get it together", and save the planet, for future generations of humans. Can you imagine how far our descendants could take human knowledge and civilization? We (through our descendants) could become civilized! its a race to the finish! Will we the human conquers of the planet Earth find a way to salvage the Earth, and ourselves, and transmit a civilized version of our species into the future, and the cosmos? Stay tuned.

Voting For Freedom In America

SPEAKING OF ACCEPTING CRAZY AS NORMAL, I still like Donald Trump, that fact still freaks me out, but he's starting to wear thin, and I suspect many other Americans feel the same way. How much craziness can even the United States tolerate? (Let's face it; a whole lot.) Trump is bad news, America's answer to Hitler, full of bombast and promises of national glory regained, full of unreasonable hatreds, entirely unsuited by temperament for the job of president. Republicans as well as democrats realize this. That so many people support Trump only because of their hatred of Hillary is a true testament to American's capacity for hatred, and lack of reason. Even "crooked Hillary" is, at best, much more experienced than Trump in government, and at the very least, is sane, comparatively. Pissed off republicans - and there are many of them - might wish to consider the libertarian party, which has a couple of former republican governors on its ticket, and looks very attractive and moderate. We must, however, at all costs never revert to economic libertarianism, otherwise known as "neo-liberalism" or "trickle down economics", or "supply side economics", or "Reaganomics". The minimum wage law is good for America. So are the anti-trust acts, and some reasonable regulation of the financial services industry. But let's deep six Trump's crazy great wall of mexico idea, and his anti-Islamic phobia. And if you really want to get rid of "big government", why not start by getting rid of big wars overseas, and getting rid of several hundred unnecessary American military bases all over the world, in places like Europe and Japan and the Island of Diego Garcia, places where the locals should be defending themselves. Long live American freedom!