THESE PEOPLE who predict (proclaim) a glorious future in the near future for homo sapiens are flat out interesting. Its not like they're a bunch of crazies; not anymore than the rest of us.
Basically, what they say is, considering all human talents and capabilities, there is no reason, if we would all just work together to solve problems, why we couldn't create a world full of happiness and prosperity for us all. And that, certainly, is true.
Furthermore they say that that is exactly what is going to happen in the very near future, like later this year, and that, actually, it already has started to happen, with changes taking place within the existing power structure.
Exactly how in the hell this is going to happen is utterly beyond me; evidently, with the aid of extraterestrial. either way, it sounds great, and I would argue that we can do it alone, and we can do it with extraterrestrial help; create a paradise on earth for all humans, and all other species of life.
This is not as far fetched as is may sound. Every day earthlike planets are being discovered orbiting around other stars near us, and other stars not near us. It seems logical to assume that many of them, or at least some of them, have lifeforms living on them, like earth.
There is in fact strong evidence that we are being observed by beings from elsewhere, if you believe the testinomy of airline pilots and police officers, all of whom may be lying, but probably aren't.
Every day it looks more and more like the human race is not going to destroy itself, but is going to go through some tough times ahead. Economic and environmental problems, even the ones we have, can be solved, however.
And if we get a little help along the way, so much the better, eh?
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Dire Forecasting
SCIENCE FICTION novels written in the nineteen forties, fifties and sixties often described a future world of nineteen eighty, nineteen ninety, twenty hundred, and twenty twenty; all of those "predictions" turned out to be wrong.
My ninth grade teacher didn't hold out any hope that erlich might be wrong, and that, and the mangled bodies in driver's ed movies, was enough to fill my teen age years with fear and anxitey.
We have made it all the way to the year twenty twelve without a singular nuclear bomb hurled in anger since nineteen forty five, and that's something to be proud of. And it surprised science fiction writers.
In nineteen sixty nine my ninth grade science teacher held up a copy of the book "The Population Bomb" by Paul Erlich, which was quite popular. In it he predicted huge horrible famines in the nineteen nineties, due to population increase.
I saw the future as a mixed bag of space travel, computers, famine, war, and epidemics.
Erlich borrowed from Thomas Malthus, who in the seventeen hundreds pointed out that human populaton increase would be exponential, and agricultural production increases could only be additive. But due to hybrid agriculture, the famines have been somewhat less severe than predicted, thank god.
Now the science fiction writers have moved on, and are at it again. They now foresee the late twenty first century and twenty second centuries filled with spacecraft, space travel, space stations, space colonies, and scientific progress, but once again good ole earth gets the short end.
Earth is overpopulated, crime ridden, environmentally devastated, disorganized, chaotic, decadant, dying. Chances are, in a couple hundred years, our descendants will once again prove 'em wrong.
Even now I can see my great great great grand children laughing in the sun on the surface of a beautiful, happy earth...
My ninth grade teacher didn't hold out any hope that erlich might be wrong, and that, and the mangled bodies in driver's ed movies, was enough to fill my teen age years with fear and anxitey.
We have made it all the way to the year twenty twelve without a singular nuclear bomb hurled in anger since nineteen forty five, and that's something to be proud of. And it surprised science fiction writers.
In nineteen sixty nine my ninth grade science teacher held up a copy of the book "The Population Bomb" by Paul Erlich, which was quite popular. In it he predicted huge horrible famines in the nineteen nineties, due to population increase.
I saw the future as a mixed bag of space travel, computers, famine, war, and epidemics.
Erlich borrowed from Thomas Malthus, who in the seventeen hundreds pointed out that human populaton increase would be exponential, and agricultural production increases could only be additive. But due to hybrid agriculture, the famines have been somewhat less severe than predicted, thank god.
Now the science fiction writers have moved on, and are at it again. They now foresee the late twenty first century and twenty second centuries filled with spacecraft, space travel, space stations, space colonies, and scientific progress, but once again good ole earth gets the short end.
Earth is overpopulated, crime ridden, environmentally devastated, disorganized, chaotic, decadant, dying. Chances are, in a couple hundred years, our descendants will once again prove 'em wrong.
Even now I can see my great great great grand children laughing in the sun on the surface of a beautiful, happy earth...
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
My Brain
IN THIS AMAZING WORLD with all our technology and machinery, we stand poised between heaven and hell, as we fight to negate our self destructive tendencies, and fully exploit our exploding knowledge for the creation of a better world.
And of course often the machinery malfunctions, breaks down. Seems like we spend half our time dealing with broken gadgets of technology or our own health problems.Its almost as if we need healtheir, more physically fit bodies, and fewer machines.
The machine that goes wrong, makes mistakes, breaks down, more than any other machine... is my brain. I can't, other than indirectly, speak about anybody else's brain, other than to say there seem to be many interesting varieties.
But my own disappoints me regularly and often. A loss of memory here, a needless surge of anger within. A bad decision here and there. Particularly my short term memory. Its non existant. I read once that the short termmemory begins to vanish after the age of twenty five, and I believe it.
Soon there will come a time when all cars are driven by, and only by, computers, and this will be a good thing. Mainly because instead of hundreds of thousands of people killed in auto accidents annually world wide, there will be none.
The human species will explore the universe, and encounter intelligent beings from other planets. Disease, hunger, poverty, violence; all our nightmares will be banished from our lives.
And my brain, at least, one among many, will go on making its little mistakes...and this is all good, this is acceptable, because without some failure there can be no success, and after all my many failures are cateloged, there remains the essential success of my human brain.
And of course often the machinery malfunctions, breaks down. Seems like we spend half our time dealing with broken gadgets of technology or our own health problems.Its almost as if we need healtheir, more physically fit bodies, and fewer machines.
The machine that goes wrong, makes mistakes, breaks down, more than any other machine... is my brain. I can't, other than indirectly, speak about anybody else's brain, other than to say there seem to be many interesting varieties.
But my own disappoints me regularly and often. A loss of memory here, a needless surge of anger within. A bad decision here and there. Particularly my short term memory. Its non existant. I read once that the short termmemory begins to vanish after the age of twenty five, and I believe it.
Soon there will come a time when all cars are driven by, and only by, computers, and this will be a good thing. Mainly because instead of hundreds of thousands of people killed in auto accidents annually world wide, there will be none.
The human species will explore the universe, and encounter intelligent beings from other planets. Disease, hunger, poverty, violence; all our nightmares will be banished from our lives.
And my brain, at least, one among many, will go on making its little mistakes...and this is all good, this is acceptable, because without some failure there can be no success, and after all my many failures are cateloged, there remains the essential success of my human brain.
The Blame Game
WHEN PRESIDENT OBAMA took office, and soon thereafter the criticism about his job performance began hitting the fan, he began the habit of reminding the public that the economic situation he inherited from the previous administration was absolutely horrible, and that it would take him, or anybody else, a very long time to fix it.
And so be it. Most of us could understand what he was talking about, an generally agree with it.
But then time went by, and he kept reminding us, over, and over again, And it got to the point where some of us began to wonder how many more times he was going to issue this reminder, and how deep into his time as president the reminder would continue,and, in general, how long can someone become president and continue to blame undesirable conditions on the past.
Would Obama have more respect right now if he had never bothered to play the blame game, but instead had simply gone charging in, doing anything he could to help, never making reference to perceived blunders of his predecessor?
President Truman might have had many faults, and made many mistakes. He was crass, crude, and irascible, somewhat of a war monger, but he had two redeeming qualities which characterized him.
He was absolutely, totally straight and honest, and he took responsibility. "The Buck Stops Here" remains his signature, the sign that sat atop his desk in the white house during his entire term in office.
" No on among us is fortunate enough to escape both praise and blame.", according to the great german writer johann wolfgang von goethe. The U.S. of A.ssignment of praise and blame. In the legalistic cobweb that is american culture, the blame game assume monumental proportions, and we all participate.
I would gladly throw away all the praise I have ever received from others, if I could throw out the blame with it. A Guilt free, pride free, praiseless and blameless society. Such a thing is too good to hope for, but still worth dreaming about.
And so be it. Most of us could understand what he was talking about, an generally agree with it.
But then time went by, and he kept reminding us, over, and over again, And it got to the point where some of us began to wonder how many more times he was going to issue this reminder, and how deep into his time as president the reminder would continue,and, in general, how long can someone become president and continue to blame undesirable conditions on the past.
Would Obama have more respect right now if he had never bothered to play the blame game, but instead had simply gone charging in, doing anything he could to help, never making reference to perceived blunders of his predecessor?
President Truman might have had many faults, and made many mistakes. He was crass, crude, and irascible, somewhat of a war monger, but he had two redeeming qualities which characterized him.
He was absolutely, totally straight and honest, and he took responsibility. "The Buck Stops Here" remains his signature, the sign that sat atop his desk in the white house during his entire term in office.
" No on among us is fortunate enough to escape both praise and blame.", according to the great german writer johann wolfgang von goethe. The U.S. of A.ssignment of praise and blame. In the legalistic cobweb that is american culture, the blame game assume monumental proportions, and we all participate.
I would gladly throw away all the praise I have ever received from others, if I could throw out the blame with it. A Guilt free, pride free, praiseless and blameless society. Such a thing is too good to hope for, but still worth dreaming about.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Encroaching Competition
THERE WAS A TIME, in america, when there were relatively few wealthy people, and relatively few poor people. That time was during the nineteenth century, up until the great corporate expansion and takeover of post eighteen eighty.
Capitalism has always been accepted and respected in america, but there was a time when it was much more closely tied in with morality, philosophy, politics, and religion, than it is now. In other words, the free market capitalistic economic religion, now so adored by conservatives, was once upon a time viewed by the christian american people in context with christian values, which it probably should be now, but most definitely isn't.
The average middle nineteenth century pre civil war american believed that all workers should by paid fairly for their labor, (equal , or nearly equal, to tehe value of it), and not exploited. The average mid nineteenth century american was positively a radical socialist, compared to now.
The egalitarian spirit of the frontier has given way to the hierarchical paradigm of wealth, power, and fame we so cherish today, to our great cost. America was always intended to be a place where everyone had an equal chance, not an equal outcome.
People, and there are many, who overcome horrible childhood conditions to achieve greatness, tend to greatly overestimate the ability of most people to do the same. "If I can do it, anybody can do it", is not always an accurate assessment.
Competition should have its place in human culture, but not a dominant place, as it has now. America is a more angry, aggressive, greedy place than it has ever been before...
Capitalism has always been accepted and respected in america, but there was a time when it was much more closely tied in with morality, philosophy, politics, and religion, than it is now. In other words, the free market capitalistic economic religion, now so adored by conservatives, was once upon a time viewed by the christian american people in context with christian values, which it probably should be now, but most definitely isn't.
The average middle nineteenth century pre civil war american believed that all workers should by paid fairly for their labor, (equal , or nearly equal, to tehe value of it), and not exploited. The average mid nineteenth century american was positively a radical socialist, compared to now.
The egalitarian spirit of the frontier has given way to the hierarchical paradigm of wealth, power, and fame we so cherish today, to our great cost. America was always intended to be a place where everyone had an equal chance, not an equal outcome.
People, and there are many, who overcome horrible childhood conditions to achieve greatness, tend to greatly overestimate the ability of most people to do the same. "If I can do it, anybody can do it", is not always an accurate assessment.
Competition should have its place in human culture, but not a dominant place, as it has now. America is a more angry, aggressive, greedy place than it has ever been before...
Anticipation
THE ECONOMY, and the world in general, might not be in quite as much trouble as many of us often tend to think. Prophets of doom and gloom are omnipresent, most of them currently focusing on december 21 of this year. But the world may survive that, and everything else we can throw at it.
when the great date comes and goes, and nothing changes, why don't we just allow the doom sayers quietly sneak outta town. Wouldn't that be the best way to handle it?
There are people, of course, who are predicting just the opposite - predicting a future of wonderful prosperity and happiness for us all, and they sound sincere, if not entirely convincing. But then again, they sound pretty darned convincing, come to think about it...
There are many websites and many people talking about the human future in dazzlingly positive terms. They point out the apparent dire straits, especially economically, in which our world appears presently to be mired. And they, the prophets of bliss, say that this will soon change, much to the better.
They say that forces of darkness, which have been around for centuries, are now finally being neutralized by the covert actions of enlightened beings from this earth, as well as other planets and dimensions.
We can rest assured of two things; the universe is filled with life forms superior to humans, and a far more pleasant earth than the one we have created now is quite possible. With that in mind, the happy futurists gain credibility.
Even now, the human condition is not nearly as dire as many of us might think. Medicine is eridacitng deisease, people are living longer, healthier lives around the world, and new technologies have the promise of giving us cheaper, cleaner energy, and more abundant food.
So why don't we do it this way: if the world ends soon, or if the future of humanity is doomed failure, so be it, there is evidently nothing we can do about it. But, on the other hand, if said future is glorious and wonderful, all the better, and, who knows, its possible.
Either way, there's nothing to worry about, and everything to look forward to.
when the great date comes and goes, and nothing changes, why don't we just allow the doom sayers quietly sneak outta town. Wouldn't that be the best way to handle it?
There are people, of course, who are predicting just the opposite - predicting a future of wonderful prosperity and happiness for us all, and they sound sincere, if not entirely convincing. But then again, they sound pretty darned convincing, come to think about it...
There are many websites and many people talking about the human future in dazzlingly positive terms. They point out the apparent dire straits, especially economically, in which our world appears presently to be mired. And they, the prophets of bliss, say that this will soon change, much to the better.
They say that forces of darkness, which have been around for centuries, are now finally being neutralized by the covert actions of enlightened beings from this earth, as well as other planets and dimensions.
We can rest assured of two things; the universe is filled with life forms superior to humans, and a far more pleasant earth than the one we have created now is quite possible. With that in mind, the happy futurists gain credibility.
Even now, the human condition is not nearly as dire as many of us might think. Medicine is eridacitng deisease, people are living longer, healthier lives around the world, and new technologies have the promise of giving us cheaper, cleaner energy, and more abundant food.
So why don't we do it this way: if the world ends soon, or if the future of humanity is doomed failure, so be it, there is evidently nothing we can do about it. But, on the other hand, if said future is glorious and wonderful, all the better, and, who knows, its possible.
Either way, there's nothing to worry about, and everything to look forward to.
Memes of Meanness
CULTURAL VALUES, the ideas, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that occur often in a group of people, nowadays are studied under the increasingly popular term "memes", a word which has been around awhile, but is only now coming into its own.
With whole nations, throughout the course of world history, sining into attitudinal black holes such as worshipping at the alter of communism, an economic system, or putting people to death for not conforming to this religion or that, memes, or ideas, ideals, are obviously important, in that they influence and control our behavior individually and in large groups, thus determining the very quality of our lives.
Today's memes, in the world of the approaching December 21, 2012 doomsday date, and the nature of today's world attest to the importance of our cultural values upon our contemporaty world. We are stripped searched at all airports nowadays because of a cultural value system, and its impact on the behavior of individuals.
It didn't take most people long to move on from the emotional turmoil of the changing of the millenia, nor should the december 21 2012 crowd have much difficulty moving on before long.
wouldn't it be nice, though, if the relgisious fanaticism would fade away...in africa, evidently, tribes fight against tribe merely because they are different tribes. The nationalistic attidutinal curse crippled france and gernamn for centuries, until they finally decided to so integrate their economies that further conflict would be self destructive for all.
everytime some over zealous patriot idiot screams "this is the greatest country in the world", you might whisper, "at least, we hope it is trying to be"...
With whole nations, throughout the course of world history, sining into attitudinal black holes such as worshipping at the alter of communism, an economic system, or putting people to death for not conforming to this religion or that, memes, or ideas, ideals, are obviously important, in that they influence and control our behavior individually and in large groups, thus determining the very quality of our lives.
Today's memes, in the world of the approaching December 21, 2012 doomsday date, and the nature of today's world attest to the importance of our cultural values upon our contemporaty world. We are stripped searched at all airports nowadays because of a cultural value system, and its impact on the behavior of individuals.
It didn't take most people long to move on from the emotional turmoil of the changing of the millenia, nor should the december 21 2012 crowd have much difficulty moving on before long.
wouldn't it be nice, though, if the relgisious fanaticism would fade away...in africa, evidently, tribes fight against tribe merely because they are different tribes. The nationalistic attidutinal curse crippled france and gernamn for centuries, until they finally decided to so integrate their economies that further conflict would be self destructive for all.
everytime some over zealous patriot idiot screams "this is the greatest country in the world", you might whisper, "at least, we hope it is trying to be"...
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Cultural Values Matter
You can interview many people from a certain city, or part of the country, and find out a lot about what people believe, what their attitudes are, what the "cultural values" are for any group of people.
And this is very important, its important to study this, and for people to understand such things. Here are two good examples why. Back in the nineteen thirties, forties, and early fifties, joseph stalin was the "president" of the Soviet Union, they quaintly called it, though in reality stalin was more of a divine pharoah - god - king who presided over the state religion, which was communism.
Under Lenin and Stalin communism was everything, the only thing, in the russian empire, (quaintly called "The Soviet Union"); the virtues of the communist system were brain washed ceaselessly into the masses, and anyone who did not enthusiastically and wholeheartedly accept this was in for hard times, subject to arrest, incarceration in siberian labor camps,a date with a firing squad, or confinement in mental facilities.
That's right, mental facilities. The truth of communism is so obvious, the argument went, that anyone who does not devoutly embrace communism must, by definition, by mentally ill, crazy, and should be locked up for the good of everyone, including the mentally ill non communists.
In 1692, in salem, massachusetts, over twenty people were executed after being accused of being "witches", and put on trial, in this community of christianity run amok, cultural values, attitudes entirely twisted into insanity.
Large groups of perfectly intelligent can all go off the deep end at the same time, and turn their world into a living hell, simply through the widespread acceptance of insane notions, most commonly insane notions about which type of people are good, and which type are bad.
The better educated any group of people is, the better that group's chances of avoiding disastrous values causing disatsrous behavior. But among humans, reasonable behavior cannot ever be taken for granted, either among individuals or nations.
And this is very important, its important to study this, and for people to understand such things. Here are two good examples why. Back in the nineteen thirties, forties, and early fifties, joseph stalin was the "president" of the Soviet Union, they quaintly called it, though in reality stalin was more of a divine pharoah - god - king who presided over the state religion, which was communism.
Under Lenin and Stalin communism was everything, the only thing, in the russian empire, (quaintly called "The Soviet Union"); the virtues of the communist system were brain washed ceaselessly into the masses, and anyone who did not enthusiastically and wholeheartedly accept this was in for hard times, subject to arrest, incarceration in siberian labor camps,a date with a firing squad, or confinement in mental facilities.
That's right, mental facilities. The truth of communism is so obvious, the argument went, that anyone who does not devoutly embrace communism must, by definition, by mentally ill, crazy, and should be locked up for the good of everyone, including the mentally ill non communists.
In 1692, in salem, massachusetts, over twenty people were executed after being accused of being "witches", and put on trial, in this community of christianity run amok, cultural values, attitudes entirely twisted into insanity.
Large groups of perfectly intelligent can all go off the deep end at the same time, and turn their world into a living hell, simply through the widespread acceptance of insane notions, most commonly insane notions about which type of people are good, and which type are bad.
The better educated any group of people is, the better that group's chances of avoiding disastrous values causing disatsrous behavior. But among humans, reasonable behavior cannot ever be taken for granted, either among individuals or nations.
The Evolution of Values
A GREAT MAN DIES, some wealthy, powerful pillar of the community, or of the entire nation, and the funeral is huge and elaborate, known to all. Across town the pauper is laid to rest in a pauper's grave, and the beat goes on.
At some point someone might briefly, vaguely consider whether the great and powerful person had a positive or negative impact on the condition of human existence, might wonder whether widely accepted definitions of greatness, traditional societal values, themselves, are applicable.
Some very rich and powerful people have what almost all would agree is a negative impact on the world, tending to damage it, rather than contribute. Maybe the unknown trash collector who dies young was a greater man than hitler.
At this point in human history we seem to think of the people who have a direct, immediate, and profound impact on the world as being somehow "greater". We use terms like "great men". Physical strength, intelligence, material wealth, political power, we consider valuable resources.
our whole system of values evolves over time, and even now, we are starting, for example, to place less value on a head full of knowledge, since computers are everywhere, all knowledge stored inside.
It could possibly be time to take a long hard look at many of our modern beliefs and values, which we tend to pace in high esteem, as people always have placed their own beliefs in high esteem.
It might be wise to start by admitting that all that we believe, our philosophies, religions, attitudes about everything, are primitve, crude, and temporary, will be scoffed at and radically changed by our descendants.
While we slowly change our values and beliefs over time, our descendants experience the consequences.
At some point someone might briefly, vaguely consider whether the great and powerful person had a positive or negative impact on the condition of human existence, might wonder whether widely accepted definitions of greatness, traditional societal values, themselves, are applicable.
Some very rich and powerful people have what almost all would agree is a negative impact on the world, tending to damage it, rather than contribute. Maybe the unknown trash collector who dies young was a greater man than hitler.
At this point in human history we seem to think of the people who have a direct, immediate, and profound impact on the world as being somehow "greater". We use terms like "great men". Physical strength, intelligence, material wealth, political power, we consider valuable resources.
our whole system of values evolves over time, and even now, we are starting, for example, to place less value on a head full of knowledge, since computers are everywhere, all knowledge stored inside.
It could possibly be time to take a long hard look at many of our modern beliefs and values, which we tend to pace in high esteem, as people always have placed their own beliefs in high esteem.
It might be wise to start by admitting that all that we believe, our philosophies, religions, attitudes about everything, are primitve, crude, and temporary, will be scoffed at and radically changed by our descendants.
While we slowly change our values and beliefs over time, our descendants experience the consequences.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Never a Dull Mortgage
AND SO, THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT has filed, or is filing suit against the bank of america, for allegedly making a whole lotta bad loans (i.e. loans made by an over zealous lender in which the lendee has no reasonable hope or intent of making good on the loan), and then palming them off to poor unwitting helpless victims like fannie mae and freddie mac.
fannie mae and freddie mac, being those two huge independent mortgage companies that were established by the fed government, given cute names, then turned loose during the great society of LBJ. you would think they would know a bad mortgage when they see one, and would stay away from doing business with the Bank of America. Oh well.
So, first the federal government tries to create a pro business environment in which anyone can easily loan anything to anyone, including houses; big lenders like the BoA et al dive headlong into the less regulated market, loaning hundreds of millions to michael jackson, handing out debit cards to mexicans illegally in the USA, turning the economy into a casino, and creating the Housing bubble".
Then, the bubble bursts, as all bubbles do, the big lenders, (like BoA) go belly up, and get bailed out by, you guessed it, the federal government, and now, several years after the fact, the lawsuits start hitting the fan. The people will suffer, the corporations will recover, and the trial lawyers will prosper, according to the standard scenario.
so what will happen if the justice department army of attorneys wins the lawsuit against Bank of America, Inc., and the compensatory damages force big red into bankruptcy? Will the Treasury department bail B o A out- again?
Now all we need is for mitt romney to check in on all this, and see where, exactly, he stands on all these issues and questions begging to be answered, at least, for the time being. Whatever mitt says today, about anything, he's liable to change tomorrow.
We know that mitt wants a wide open free as a bird business environment, unregulated, we can be sure he does not want corruptions, but does he want lawsuits dispensed by the government. As we say, stay tuned.
One thing you can't deny; there is never a dull moment in american financial and legal circles.
fannie mae and freddie mac, being those two huge independent mortgage companies that were established by the fed government, given cute names, then turned loose during the great society of LBJ. you would think they would know a bad mortgage when they see one, and would stay away from doing business with the Bank of America. Oh well.
So, first the federal government tries to create a pro business environment in which anyone can easily loan anything to anyone, including houses; big lenders like the BoA et al dive headlong into the less regulated market, loaning hundreds of millions to michael jackson, handing out debit cards to mexicans illegally in the USA, turning the economy into a casino, and creating the Housing bubble".
Then, the bubble bursts, as all bubbles do, the big lenders, (like BoA) go belly up, and get bailed out by, you guessed it, the federal government, and now, several years after the fact, the lawsuits start hitting the fan. The people will suffer, the corporations will recover, and the trial lawyers will prosper, according to the standard scenario.
so what will happen if the justice department army of attorneys wins the lawsuit against Bank of America, Inc., and the compensatory damages force big red into bankruptcy? Will the Treasury department bail B o A out- again?
Now all we need is for mitt romney to check in on all this, and see where, exactly, he stands on all these issues and questions begging to be answered, at least, for the time being. Whatever mitt says today, about anything, he's liable to change tomorrow.
We know that mitt wants a wide open free as a bird business environment, unregulated, we can be sure he does not want corruptions, but does he want lawsuits dispensed by the government. As we say, stay tuned.
One thing you can't deny; there is never a dull moment in american financial and legal circles.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Why We Lie
ACCORDING TO SURVEYS, on paper, about half the american people attend church regularly. IN reality, about one fourth, twenty five per cent do. Church atttendance turns out to be the topic about which americans lie the most, but certainly not the only topic about which they lie a great deal.
Dental hygiene, especially the use of dental floss, is high on the list. Then of course there's sex, to no one's surprise. Americans, and perhaps other cultures as well, tend to lie about sex. Americans do lie about church attendance more than europeans, however.
Exercise and money round out the list, in both cases, as in sex, the lies involve exaggeration of quantity. And this is really no big deal, of course. If folks want to lie about these things, then why shouldn't they? Its no one's business, anyway. Don't ask, don't tell.
church attendance throughout the western world seems to be decreasing, but dental floss use is up, as is amount of money. But, unfortunately, not exercise. in america in particular we need more exercise per capita. much more.
And even though we have more money, it isn't worth as much, not nearly as much, as it was even a short time ago, so, increasingly, people ask, "what good does it do?" We feel insecure, uncertain about our personal well being in this turbulent world, so we practice deception to enhance our chances of successful survival.
And this is all, so, totally... human.
Dental hygiene, especially the use of dental floss, is high on the list. Then of course there's sex, to no one's surprise. Americans, and perhaps other cultures as well, tend to lie about sex. Americans do lie about church attendance more than europeans, however.
Exercise and money round out the list, in both cases, as in sex, the lies involve exaggeration of quantity. And this is really no big deal, of course. If folks want to lie about these things, then why shouldn't they? Its no one's business, anyway. Don't ask, don't tell.
church attendance throughout the western world seems to be decreasing, but dental floss use is up, as is amount of money. But, unfortunately, not exercise. in america in particular we need more exercise per capita. much more.
And even though we have more money, it isn't worth as much, not nearly as much, as it was even a short time ago, so, increasingly, people ask, "what good does it do?" We feel insecure, uncertain about our personal well being in this turbulent world, so we practice deception to enhance our chances of successful survival.
And this is all, so, totally... human.
Coming Clean, Nuclearly
SOON TO BE possibly president of the united states mitt romney does not like current president obama's foreign policy in general, if you can believe such a thing, and in particular he does not like obama's approach towards iran.
Of course, the republicans have been blasting obama for "giving iraq back to the iraquis", and preaching tolerance, how dare he. The repubs is loaded fur bear, and ready to shoot.
romney thinks obama has been and is being far too soft on iran, because iran is obviously still working on a nuclear bomb, even obama has been president nearly four years. That will never do. If he, mitt, were president, the iranians would doubtless have repented, apologized, and ceased all bomb making long ago.
Of course, all their cities, and most of their civilians, might be burned to a crisp, but, but golly, they would not be on their way to a bomb.
This entire reality TV show controversy about whether they are working on building a nuclear bomb in iran is surrealistic. Chances are they are. Why not? Everyone else is! Any graduate student in physics knows how to build one, and the necessary raw materials are not nearly as hard to come by as one might think.
The current economic embargo against iran will either bring their whole nation to starvation, and starve them off their bomb project, or both. Only the north koreans are fanatical enough to build bombs while simultaneously starving, right?
One simply cannot approve of anything obama does, and be an effective candidate for president, or a good republican, or a good conservative. Goodness no. If obama were to bomb iran off the map tomorrow, mitt would call him a butcher, and he would be right.
Maybe it is possible for one country, or a group of countries , to prevent another country from building bombs. It seems dubious at best, though. And when iran has been declared verifiably clean of nukes, how do we get the rest of us to come clean?
Of course, the republicans have been blasting obama for "giving iraq back to the iraquis", and preaching tolerance, how dare he. The repubs is loaded fur bear, and ready to shoot.
romney thinks obama has been and is being far too soft on iran, because iran is obviously still working on a nuclear bomb, even obama has been president nearly four years. That will never do. If he, mitt, were president, the iranians would doubtless have repented, apologized, and ceased all bomb making long ago.
Of course, all their cities, and most of their civilians, might be burned to a crisp, but, but golly, they would not be on their way to a bomb.
This entire reality TV show controversy about whether they are working on building a nuclear bomb in iran is surrealistic. Chances are they are. Why not? Everyone else is! Any graduate student in physics knows how to build one, and the necessary raw materials are not nearly as hard to come by as one might think.
The current economic embargo against iran will either bring their whole nation to starvation, and starve them off their bomb project, or both. Only the north koreans are fanatical enough to build bombs while simultaneously starving, right?
One simply cannot approve of anything obama does, and be an effective candidate for president, or a good republican, or a good conservative. Goodness no. If obama were to bomb iran off the map tomorrow, mitt would call him a butcher, and he would be right.
Maybe it is possible for one country, or a group of countries , to prevent another country from building bombs. It seems dubious at best, though. And when iran has been declared verifiably clean of nukes, how do we get the rest of us to come clean?
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Telling The Truth
I'M A VERY GOOD teacher. Well trained, well educated, experienced. The problem is, i just can't teach in american public schools. and that's a damned shame. because america needs teachers like me.
I can't teach in america, because, even though I am a good loyal, patriotic american, I insist on telling the truth about my country, its history, and you simply can't do that in this country and keep your public school teaching job.
And that's a shame, because if there is any focus group in this world which would benefit from a good dose of the truth, its american children. Well, of course, we all could.
Here are just three examples. we still teach , in american history classes, that the japanese attack on pearl harbor was unprovoked, dastardly, sneaky. we now know, now we've had more time to research and figure it out, that the united states, i.e franklin delano roosevelt, encouraged and provoked the japs into the attack, because....
..he felt desperate. desperate because hitler had been conquering europe for two years, and the american people cid not care. and FDR knew that in order to stop hitler, america would be needed, for more than just money and weapons and supplies. americans would be needed to fight, and shed blood, to beat hitler. a japanese atack would motivate the american people to fight, roosevelt knew.
so, he cut off all economic intercourse with japan, moved the navy from san diego to hawaii, disrespected all japanese diplomatic overtures, stirred up trouble between the two nations.
...we are told in america that dropping two atomic bombs on japan was necessary, because the only other choice was to invade japan, which would cost a million american lives.
that's rubbish...By the time the bombs were dropped, japan had no military ability at all, all the united states had to do was nothing, and accept their surrender, which they had been offering all summer long, in 1945, according to president truman's diary. the atom bomb was a paltry display of power, and nothing else.
we are taught that the post world war two "cold war" with the soviet unnion was started by the evil russian communists, and america was forced to arm itself mightily against the coming, imminent, soviet military threat.
that's rubbish too. at the end of world war two, the soviet union was devasteted, having lost twenty million people and all their cities. they had nothing, and all they wanted from the united states was peace, and help.
we had fifty years of "cold war", spent trillions of dollars, kept america brimming with military power, enriched the corporations at the expense of the workers, all for the purpose of enriching the military - industrial complex, the corporate complex, the corporate oligarcy, our corporate masters.
but just try teaching this in an america public school, and see how long you keep your job.
I can't teach in america, because, even though I am a good loyal, patriotic american, I insist on telling the truth about my country, its history, and you simply can't do that in this country and keep your public school teaching job.
And that's a shame, because if there is any focus group in this world which would benefit from a good dose of the truth, its american children. Well, of course, we all could.
Here are just three examples. we still teach , in american history classes, that the japanese attack on pearl harbor was unprovoked, dastardly, sneaky. we now know, now we've had more time to research and figure it out, that the united states, i.e franklin delano roosevelt, encouraged and provoked the japs into the attack, because....
..he felt desperate. desperate because hitler had been conquering europe for two years, and the american people cid not care. and FDR knew that in order to stop hitler, america would be needed, for more than just money and weapons and supplies. americans would be needed to fight, and shed blood, to beat hitler. a japanese atack would motivate the american people to fight, roosevelt knew.
so, he cut off all economic intercourse with japan, moved the navy from san diego to hawaii, disrespected all japanese diplomatic overtures, stirred up trouble between the two nations.
...we are told in america that dropping two atomic bombs on japan was necessary, because the only other choice was to invade japan, which would cost a million american lives.
that's rubbish...By the time the bombs were dropped, japan had no military ability at all, all the united states had to do was nothing, and accept their surrender, which they had been offering all summer long, in 1945, according to president truman's diary. the atom bomb was a paltry display of power, and nothing else.
we are taught that the post world war two "cold war" with the soviet unnion was started by the evil russian communists, and america was forced to arm itself mightily against the coming, imminent, soviet military threat.
that's rubbish too. at the end of world war two, the soviet union was devasteted, having lost twenty million people and all their cities. they had nothing, and all they wanted from the united states was peace, and help.
we had fifty years of "cold war", spent trillions of dollars, kept america brimming with military power, enriched the corporations at the expense of the workers, all for the purpose of enriching the military - industrial complex, the corporate complex, the corporate oligarcy, our corporate masters.
but just try teaching this in an america public school, and see how long you keep your job.
National Anger Management
THIS WEEKEND IS gonna be a powder keg. So, for that matter, is this coming fortnight, and the foreseeable future. My mother and sister are visiting this weekend, and I'm loaded for bear. Primed and ready to enunciate my sacred opinions about all manner of phenomena, primed to spew forth my spleen.
Similarly, the united states is a sitting powder keg, ready to go off at any moment, looking for war, spoiling for a fight, angry and frustrated.. With most of the people declining economically, the land is awash with anger, which the military-industrial complex craftily exploits and turns into foreign aggression.
We'll go after Iran, and the masses of impoverished americans will kick the cat, without knowing why or which cat. A bit of national anger management might well be what the doctor orders. All these electronic devices, with their electromagnetic radiation, brain damage, and bad news. We the peoiple are stressed, and angry.
Colin Powell sits back, takes a deep breath, and endorses obama. maybe colin powell should have become a democrat, back years ago when both parties (which are really different branches of the same party) were avidly courting him.
Four star general powell praises obama for ending two wars and starting none, at least not yet. Generals, military men, seldom want war. Except for george patton and george custer. Its always the politicians, thinking the people will embrace them as conquering heros, who clamor for war.
So maybe its time to elect some military people to political office. And obviously, business people too. Anything but lawyers.
Plus, a little National Anger Management (NAM) might be in order.
Similarly, the united states is a sitting powder keg, ready to go off at any moment, looking for war, spoiling for a fight, angry and frustrated.. With most of the people declining economically, the land is awash with anger, which the military-industrial complex craftily exploits and turns into foreign aggression.
We'll go after Iran, and the masses of impoverished americans will kick the cat, without knowing why or which cat. A bit of national anger management might well be what the doctor orders. All these electronic devices, with their electromagnetic radiation, brain damage, and bad news. We the peoiple are stressed, and angry.
Colin Powell sits back, takes a deep breath, and endorses obama. maybe colin powell should have become a democrat, back years ago when both parties (which are really different branches of the same party) were avidly courting him.
Four star general powell praises obama for ending two wars and starting none, at least not yet. Generals, military men, seldom want war. Except for george patton and george custer. Its always the politicians, thinking the people will embrace them as conquering heros, who clamor for war.
So maybe its time to elect some military people to political office. And obviously, business people too. Anything but lawyers.
Plus, a little National Anger Management (NAM) might be in order.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Ridding Oneself of One's Empire (gracefully)
ITS TIME TO WRITE ABOUT the russians again, as it is from time to time, when they, seeing nothing about russia in THE TRUTHLESS RECONCILER, stop logging on. Otherwise, they (the russians) seem to get a kick out of all the criticsm of the united states herein.
Back in the nineteen eighties and nineteen seventies futuristic science fiction writers wrote about the soviet union in the twenty first and twenty second centuries, and the animosity and warfare between the communist soviet union, and the capitalistic democratic united states.
well, how could they possibly have known...let's face it, most predictions about the future, literary and otherwise, suck.
alttogether, ths russians ridded themselves of their empire rather gracefully, as did the english a century before. OH, soviet ruler yeltsin was held hostage in his office by military renegades for a few hours, but, other than that, it was a pretty smooth transition.
the british deftly handed the baton to the united states, beginning at the end of world war one, and culminating with the end of world war two.
now, its america's turn. america's turn to gracefully rid itself of its empire, due to bankruptcy and inability to afford same. yes, russia and great britain were a tad sluggish, reluctant, prideful about withdrawing from conquered territories. but, by god, when push came to shove, and it had to be done, they got 'er done, relatively gracefully at that.
and even now, the united states is showing the same tendency; the tendency to pretend that there is no empire, but, that if there is, there is certainly no reason to eliminate it. think again.
Back in the nineteen eighties and nineteen seventies futuristic science fiction writers wrote about the soviet union in the twenty first and twenty second centuries, and the animosity and warfare between the communist soviet union, and the capitalistic democratic united states.
well, how could they possibly have known...let's face it, most predictions about the future, literary and otherwise, suck.
alttogether, ths russians ridded themselves of their empire rather gracefully, as did the english a century before. OH, soviet ruler yeltsin was held hostage in his office by military renegades for a few hours, but, other than that, it was a pretty smooth transition.
the british deftly handed the baton to the united states, beginning at the end of world war one, and culminating with the end of world war two.
now, its america's turn. america's turn to gracefully rid itself of its empire, due to bankruptcy and inability to afford same. yes, russia and great britain were a tad sluggish, reluctant, prideful about withdrawing from conquered territories. but, by god, when push came to shove, and it had to be done, they got 'er done, relatively gracefully at that.
and even now, the united states is showing the same tendency; the tendency to pretend that there is no empire, but, that if there is, there is certainly no reason to eliminate it. think again.
Final Warning
IF YOU WERE PRESIDENT OF THE united states, and could give one speech before leaving office, what would you say? In my case, I'd probably do something like president eisenhower did; I'd tell the truth. And, like eisenhower, the truth would sound like a dire warning, because it would be.
eisenhower, as you may recall, warned the american people about the domination of the nation's political and economic life by the "military-industrial complex", as he called it. Then he retired.
I hope I would tell the truth throughout my time as president, every time I spoke; (I probably wouldn't, though) but in the last speech of all, yes, I would REALLY TELL THE TRUTH, as I saw it.
...my fellow americans: the nation is bankrupt, even though it, (we), refuses to admit it. There need be no national declaration of bankruptcy, for the time being, but, eventually, inevitably, there will be, there will have to be.
The american currency system, the almighty dollar, has, has been abused, by us all, really, for so long that the accumulated damage has caused it to break down and collapse, like any machine suffering from long misuse.
we see this collapse in the steady decline in teh per capita standard of living, the staggering personal debt as well as public debt, the bankruptcy of towns, cities, and states all over the country, and even with the staggering amount of maetrial wealth in this country; the millions of cars, cell phones, flat screen televisions, computers, and so on, we have become poor, much poorer than before.
this is because we have been unable to resist the tampation to print an enormous quantity of circulating money, without producing the material wealth to back it up, and we have distributed much of that money into the hands of a very few people, and very little money into the hands of a vast majority of the people, and insufficient money into public treasuries, insufficient to pay for all the many public services the public tends to want and demand.
Then too, about half of the sixteen trillion dollar cumulative national debt comes from military spending since world war two, and military procurement creates very little that actually enriches us; very little food, clothing, shelter, and luxuries. It only creates that which we deem is needed to protect all our OTHER material wealth, which is less than it could be, far less, because of the time and human labor invested in military manufacturing, weapons manufactiring.
Weapons tend to just sit there, frightening us and making us feel secure; but they do not pay the bills or enhance our living standard.
the economic collapse is probably inevitable and beyond immediate prepair, and widespread suffering is inevitable. OUR only hope is to jump headlong into the painful taks of reconstructing our economic system, from the ground up, because its already too late.
(applause, fade to black)
eisenhower, as you may recall, warned the american people about the domination of the nation's political and economic life by the "military-industrial complex", as he called it. Then he retired.
I hope I would tell the truth throughout my time as president, every time I spoke; (I probably wouldn't, though) but in the last speech of all, yes, I would REALLY TELL THE TRUTH, as I saw it.
...my fellow americans: the nation is bankrupt, even though it, (we), refuses to admit it. There need be no national declaration of bankruptcy, for the time being, but, eventually, inevitably, there will be, there will have to be.
The american currency system, the almighty dollar, has, has been abused, by us all, really, for so long that the accumulated damage has caused it to break down and collapse, like any machine suffering from long misuse.
we see this collapse in the steady decline in teh per capita standard of living, the staggering personal debt as well as public debt, the bankruptcy of towns, cities, and states all over the country, and even with the staggering amount of maetrial wealth in this country; the millions of cars, cell phones, flat screen televisions, computers, and so on, we have become poor, much poorer than before.
this is because we have been unable to resist the tampation to print an enormous quantity of circulating money, without producing the material wealth to back it up, and we have distributed much of that money into the hands of a very few people, and very little money into the hands of a vast majority of the people, and insufficient money into public treasuries, insufficient to pay for all the many public services the public tends to want and demand.
Then too, about half of the sixteen trillion dollar cumulative national debt comes from military spending since world war two, and military procurement creates very little that actually enriches us; very little food, clothing, shelter, and luxuries. It only creates that which we deem is needed to protect all our OTHER material wealth, which is less than it could be, far less, because of the time and human labor invested in military manufacturing, weapons manufactiring.
Weapons tend to just sit there, frightening us and making us feel secure; but they do not pay the bills or enhance our living standard.
the economic collapse is probably inevitable and beyond immediate prepair, and widespread suffering is inevitable. OUR only hope is to jump headlong into the painful taks of reconstructing our economic system, from the ground up, because its already too late.
(applause, fade to black)
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Value
IF YOU ARE MURDERED, and your survivors file a civil law suit against the murderer, seeking damages, the court, if damages are awarded, will determine how much you were worth, and therefore how much your surviving family should be paid.
Your worth will be determined by extrapolating how much money you probably would have made over the course of the rest of your life, based on your income at the time of your death, and your prpbably natural life span.
If you worked at mickey dees all your life, your family won't get much. President obama is worth, in potential future earnings, far more now than a mere five years ago.
When someome, anyone asks, "how much is he worth", the answer, with respect to anyone, probably ought to be, "he is priceless, because he is a human being." But of course the answer will be an estimate of how much money he has.
All value of all great paintings by all the great masters is determined, particularly if they are stolen, and most often this value is in the millions of dollars.
The dollar value of the planet earth has been determined, based upon the market value of all its land and mineral resources. The oceans and fresh water sources are included. it is unclear whether this figure includes the value of the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere. Hopefully not, considering the current condition of the air quality.
If the planet is destroyed, say, by an asteroid impact or extraterrestrial treachery, it is not known who would file the insurance claim, who would pay it, and who would receive it. Galactic claims court would have a busy docket, in a courtroom filled with galactic lawyers.
The monetary value of the enitre universe could probably be calculated, and rumor has it that soon a software app will be on the market able to do just that. Microsoft and apple will lead the way, and the stock price will rise for whichever corporation is first to the market place.
For the moment let us hope and assume that the financial worth of God is beyond measure, but don't be too sure.
Your worth will be determined by extrapolating how much money you probably would have made over the course of the rest of your life, based on your income at the time of your death, and your prpbably natural life span.
If you worked at mickey dees all your life, your family won't get much. President obama is worth, in potential future earnings, far more now than a mere five years ago.
When someome, anyone asks, "how much is he worth", the answer, with respect to anyone, probably ought to be, "he is priceless, because he is a human being." But of course the answer will be an estimate of how much money he has.
All value of all great paintings by all the great masters is determined, particularly if they are stolen, and most often this value is in the millions of dollars.
The dollar value of the planet earth has been determined, based upon the market value of all its land and mineral resources. The oceans and fresh water sources are included. it is unclear whether this figure includes the value of the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere. Hopefully not, considering the current condition of the air quality.
If the planet is destroyed, say, by an asteroid impact or extraterrestrial treachery, it is not known who would file the insurance claim, who would pay it, and who would receive it. Galactic claims court would have a busy docket, in a courtroom filled with galactic lawyers.
The monetary value of the enitre universe could probably be calculated, and rumor has it that soon a software app will be on the market able to do just that. Microsoft and apple will lead the way, and the stock price will rise for whichever corporation is first to the market place.
For the moment let us hope and assume that the financial worth of God is beyond measure, but don't be too sure.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Better Times
BACK IN 1959, when I was, oh, what... um....four years old, I ran around the neighborhood at will. Nice, quiet, middle to lower middle class hood, and off we went, the other kids and I, my sister, three years older, and two or three neighbor kids, all second grade or younger, just hanging out, running around, hide and seek, tag, play doctor, play nurse, this front porch, that front porch, warm summer evenings, after dark.
There is no way mom and dad could possibly have known exactly where we were, and they were not in the least worried about it. Nobody was. All the neighbors knew each other, a police car was a rare sight, and nothing bad ever happened. When mom stepped onto the porch, cupped her hands and called, sometime after sun set, we scampered home, and that was that.
I remember we would play doctor , nurse, and dog, a sort of post - toddler role playing soap opera. I, the youngest, got to be the dog, and I loved it.
Around the age of ten, dad gave sis and me BB guns; we each got our own rifle, and about that time all the other kids got guns too. We ran around the hood shooting the place up. Birds and squirrels were not safe, and neither were horse apples, those big green things hanging from beau d'arc trees, whose wood is the hardest in the world. You shot one, and it dripped, and dripped, beautifully.
Neither were we safe. It was neither cowboys and indians, nor krauts and yanks, but just us, two teams, firing away at each other from what we thought was a fairly safe distance. It wasn't. I took one in the lower left leg, and it hurt like hell, and made a little bloody circle, even through thick starched blue jeans. I was proud of it, but never showed mom. thus I kept my BB rifle. I almost wish I had one now.
One of the bottle rocket fights cost me a scar right over my right eye. Lucky kid, huh?
You try that stuff now and you're in jail. And no middle class neighborhood is gonna have four and five year olds running around unsupervised.
Its a different america now. Is it better, or worse? I guess it depends on whether you're a kid. Somehow I just don't see myself at ten, punching the remote control, playing games on my Ipod...
There is no way mom and dad could possibly have known exactly where we were, and they were not in the least worried about it. Nobody was. All the neighbors knew each other, a police car was a rare sight, and nothing bad ever happened. When mom stepped onto the porch, cupped her hands and called, sometime after sun set, we scampered home, and that was that.
I remember we would play doctor , nurse, and dog, a sort of post - toddler role playing soap opera. I, the youngest, got to be the dog, and I loved it.
Around the age of ten, dad gave sis and me BB guns; we each got our own rifle, and about that time all the other kids got guns too. We ran around the hood shooting the place up. Birds and squirrels were not safe, and neither were horse apples, those big green things hanging from beau d'arc trees, whose wood is the hardest in the world. You shot one, and it dripped, and dripped, beautifully.
Neither were we safe. It was neither cowboys and indians, nor krauts and yanks, but just us, two teams, firing away at each other from what we thought was a fairly safe distance. It wasn't. I took one in the lower left leg, and it hurt like hell, and made a little bloody circle, even through thick starched blue jeans. I was proud of it, but never showed mom. thus I kept my BB rifle. I almost wish I had one now.
One of the bottle rocket fights cost me a scar right over my right eye. Lucky kid, huh?
You try that stuff now and you're in jail. And no middle class neighborhood is gonna have four and five year olds running around unsupervised.
Its a different america now. Is it better, or worse? I guess it depends on whether you're a kid. Somehow I just don't see myself at ten, punching the remote control, playing games on my Ipod...
Look at ME!
PAUL RYAN, running for vice president of the united states as a republican, recently visited a "soup kitchen" (a place where hungry poor people can go to get a meal) and spent fifteen or twenty minutes washing pots and pans in a kitchen which was already quite clean.
The cameras were turned on, of course. Let the political attention seeking games begin. But they began months agao, come to think of it. In fact they never seem to end.
What is it about humans that impels them to seek attention? Aristotle had the answer, at least the foundation of the answer, "man is a social animal".
Self esteem is a rather fundamental need of humans. We get that by receiving validation, vindication, reinforcement from...anyone...few of us are immune from the entrancing allure of the camera.
..and when we are involved in an attempt to obtain political power, the gloves come off, and life becomes a constant desperate ceaseless attempt at attention getting.
We comfort ourselves by remembering that in only two weeks the current cycle of desperate attention seeking will come to an end, and we can all relax, rest, and....begin another..
The cameras were turned on, of course. Let the political attention seeking games begin. But they began months agao, come to think of it. In fact they never seem to end.
What is it about humans that impels them to seek attention? Aristotle had the answer, at least the foundation of the answer, "man is a social animal".
Self esteem is a rather fundamental need of humans. We get that by receiving validation, vindication, reinforcement from...anyone...few of us are immune from the entrancing allure of the camera.
..and when we are involved in an attempt to obtain political power, the gloves come off, and life becomes a constant desperate ceaseless attempt at attention getting.
We comfort ourselves by remembering that in only two weeks the current cycle of desperate attention seeking will come to an end, and we can all relax, rest, and....begin another..
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Dissention in the Right Lane (breaking right wing ranks)
SOMETHING HORRIBLE happened on the FOX news network recently, something from which the network, bulwark of the american mainstream conservative media, might never recover. To wit, one of its staunch steadfast trusted conservative commentators, ben stein, suggested that, in light of the current near bankruptification of the united states, perhaps the wealthiest americans should be taxed a bit.
That tore it. famous blonde beautiful bombshell host gretchen carlson, and nice dad upright conservative mister doocy bolted upright, sat statue like, hard, cold, chins in hand, doubtless pondering what insanity had suddenly overtaken the erstwhile reliable line toting mr stein. had he lost it? They were, uncharacteristically, at a loss for words.
The conversation didn't last long. They soon broke for commercial messages. Stein was whisked away, the subject was changed to something, anything more palatable, and anyone who ever sees stein again should probably inquire as to his health and well being.
These conservatives have long memories, like the mafia, and they do not like rank breakers.
Next thing you know, ann coulter will be singing the praises of bill gates and warren buffett, two dudes who should be conservative keep your own hard earned wealth your on your owners, but are not, instead being seemingly bleeding heart share it if you got it libbies.
Next thing you know, the christian coalition will be telling us all to sell whatsoever thou hast, and give unto the poor...
That tore it. famous blonde beautiful bombshell host gretchen carlson, and nice dad upright conservative mister doocy bolted upright, sat statue like, hard, cold, chins in hand, doubtless pondering what insanity had suddenly overtaken the erstwhile reliable line toting mr stein. had he lost it? They were, uncharacteristically, at a loss for words.
The conversation didn't last long. They soon broke for commercial messages. Stein was whisked away, the subject was changed to something, anything more palatable, and anyone who ever sees stein again should probably inquire as to his health and well being.
These conservatives have long memories, like the mafia, and they do not like rank breakers.
Next thing you know, ann coulter will be singing the praises of bill gates and warren buffett, two dudes who should be conservative keep your own hard earned wealth your on your owners, but are not, instead being seemingly bleeding heart share it if you got it libbies.
Next thing you know, the christian coalition will be telling us all to sell whatsoever thou hast, and give unto the poor...
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Purity and Pruriance: Sex, Capitalism, and Christianity
..in AMERICA.....
The most prudish, sexually suppressed society in the world, is also the most sexually obsessed, and guess which one it is. Oh, sure, the arab countries, and, say, russia, are way hung up and stifled about sex, prudish, if you will.
the united states, with its so called "american culture", has two religions; capitalism and christianity. americans used to call russian communism a religion, but it isn't, because nobody really believed in it. If somebody had, it might've worked.
in america, we really, truly believe in our religions, and we MAKE them work...
victorian, ankle - hiding chiristian culture, combined with the exploitation of resources for the profit motive, makes for a dynamic, vitriolic, volatile conflicted combo. we in america bathe ourselves in exploitatin of resources, in advertising, investment, material wealth, in the profit motive, in porn, aka mainstream american culture,...(television, music, books, etc)...sex, sex, sex..
then we tuck it under the bed sundays mornings and wednesday evenings..till we get out the porn again on sunny monday morn..
its literally the same people. the same people who love the christianity love the capitalism. they're called "conservatives". conservatdives in church don't hide their material wealth, they merely tone it down a bit. the two seem to go together well. drive the lexus over to hear the words of jesus..
is anybody working on a pill for ideological schizophrenia?
The most prudish, sexually suppressed society in the world, is also the most sexually obsessed, and guess which one it is. Oh, sure, the arab countries, and, say, russia, are way hung up and stifled about sex, prudish, if you will.
the united states, with its so called "american culture", has two religions; capitalism and christianity. americans used to call russian communism a religion, but it isn't, because nobody really believed in it. If somebody had, it might've worked.
in america, we really, truly believe in our religions, and we MAKE them work...
victorian, ankle - hiding chiristian culture, combined with the exploitation of resources for the profit motive, makes for a dynamic, vitriolic, volatile conflicted combo. we in america bathe ourselves in exploitatin of resources, in advertising, investment, material wealth, in the profit motive, in porn, aka mainstream american culture,...(television, music, books, etc)...sex, sex, sex..
then we tuck it under the bed sundays mornings and wednesday evenings..till we get out the porn again on sunny monday morn..
its literally the same people. the same people who love the christianity love the capitalism. they're called "conservatives". conservatdives in church don't hide their material wealth, they merely tone it down a bit. the two seem to go together well. drive the lexus over to hear the words of jesus..
is anybody working on a pill for ideological schizophrenia?
Friday, October 19, 2012
Competition
A DEBATE can be a heated argument, or a highly organized, sometimes boring exchange of differing opinion, for the purpose of being scored by judges, systematically, to determine a winner.
Either way, determining the winner of a debate is somewhat subjective at best, impossible at worst. Determining the winner of a presidential debate is entirely subjective. Many people vote, the vote is usually closely split, and the debate commences over who won the debate.
Often the better looking dude, the smoother dude, is perceived to be the winner. When I was in seventh grade, I was in a social studies debate against a popular, smart kid, and when we were finished, the class voted. I won. Just to make sure, the teacher had the class vote again, and I lost.
So died my belief in subjectively measured forms of competition.
In high school our marching band entered a competition involving many high school bands, and winners and losers were announced. I thought "what's the point"? Give me a good football game, with a scoreboard and objective rules.
Felix Mendelsohn, a world class piano player, disdained piano playing competition. He said "competition is for racehorses."
We line up six year old girls or twenty year old girls on a stage, let them sing, speak, wear swimsuits and evening gowns, and announce which of them has won the contest.
Tell me that the americans are not going to elect a president based on the "results" of debates.
Either way, determining the winner of a debate is somewhat subjective at best, impossible at worst. Determining the winner of a presidential debate is entirely subjective. Many people vote, the vote is usually closely split, and the debate commences over who won the debate.
Often the better looking dude, the smoother dude, is perceived to be the winner. When I was in seventh grade, I was in a social studies debate against a popular, smart kid, and when we were finished, the class voted. I won. Just to make sure, the teacher had the class vote again, and I lost.
So died my belief in subjectively measured forms of competition.
In high school our marching band entered a competition involving many high school bands, and winners and losers were announced. I thought "what's the point"? Give me a good football game, with a scoreboard and objective rules.
Felix Mendelsohn, a world class piano player, disdained piano playing competition. He said "competition is for racehorses."
We line up six year old girls or twenty year old girls on a stage, let them sing, speak, wear swimsuits and evening gowns, and announce which of them has won the contest.
Tell me that the americans are not going to elect a president based on the "results" of debates.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
The Death of Dogma
MY RELIGIOSITY, said einstein, consists in humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit which reveals itself in what little we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality.
I cannot conceive of a personal god who would sit in judgment of creatures of his own creation. Morality is of the highest importance for mankind, but not for god.
It is beyond me, said goethe, how anyone can believe that god speaks to us in books and stories. If the world does not directly reveal itself to us, if our hearts do not tell us what we owe ourselves and others, we will most assuredlly not learn it from books, which, at best, are designed only to give names to our errors.
We resist the truth, said goethe, only because we fear we might perish if we accepted it.
Of the eleven thousand religions, roughly, which adhere on earth, it seems unlikely that any one of them is the truth, to the exclusion of all the others. Maybe they are all true, maybe none of them.
We fear to discuss religion and politics, or we eagerly await discussing them, perhaps because we fear that someone might demonstrate error in our long held cherished beliefs. We fear nothing so much as the disproving, destruction of what we dearly believe.
Anyone who enters into debate willing to accept what others believe is immediately lost.
To be truly open minded in this world of dogma is to be an outcast.
And, of course, its far easier to cling to our beliefs than to put them into practice.
I cannot conceive of a personal god who would sit in judgment of creatures of his own creation. Morality is of the highest importance for mankind, but not for god.
It is beyond me, said goethe, how anyone can believe that god speaks to us in books and stories. If the world does not directly reveal itself to us, if our hearts do not tell us what we owe ourselves and others, we will most assuredlly not learn it from books, which, at best, are designed only to give names to our errors.
We resist the truth, said goethe, only because we fear we might perish if we accepted it.
Of the eleven thousand religions, roughly, which adhere on earth, it seems unlikely that any one of them is the truth, to the exclusion of all the others. Maybe they are all true, maybe none of them.
We fear to discuss religion and politics, or we eagerly await discussing them, perhaps because we fear that someone might demonstrate error in our long held cherished beliefs. We fear nothing so much as the disproving, destruction of what we dearly believe.
Anyone who enters into debate willing to accept what others believe is immediately lost.
To be truly open minded in this world of dogma is to be an outcast.
And, of course, its far easier to cling to our beliefs than to put them into practice.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Too Many Pigs
ONE OF THE great miracles of our modern civilization is our currency system, in which one can hand a piece of paper of plastic to a stranger and receive in return a bountiful batch of material wealth. We accomplish this because we all agree to participate in it. If enough of us refused to accept the currency system, it would collapse.
We'll have to save the currency system by cooperating. Too many pigs at the hog trough, according to abraham lincoln. Too much currency in circulation, and not enough material wealth, not enough goods and services for the currency to symbolize.
The united states decided to manufacture its wealth in other countries, using less expensive labor, and to import it, an arrangement which might cut costs for the corporations and retail prices, but vastly reduces the purchasing power of the workers in amerca to acquire this wealth.
Now we must all sacrifice. we must all accept less currency in our pockets, and more effort to produce the material wealth we all so covet. Those who suggest large cuts to the american military are correct. Those who suggest reduction in entitlement payments are also correct.
Until 1970 the average tariff on imported goods in america was thirty one percent. Due to free trade agreements, it is now something around seven per cent, or even less. And this, according to economist ravi batra, in his book "The Pooring of America", is the source of the decline in the american standard of living.
In order to possess weath, one must manufacture wealth.
We'll have to save the currency system by cooperating. Too many pigs at the hog trough, according to abraham lincoln. Too much currency in circulation, and not enough material wealth, not enough goods and services for the currency to symbolize.
The united states decided to manufacture its wealth in other countries, using less expensive labor, and to import it, an arrangement which might cut costs for the corporations and retail prices, but vastly reduces the purchasing power of the workers in amerca to acquire this wealth.
Now we must all sacrifice. we must all accept less currency in our pockets, and more effort to produce the material wealth we all so covet. Those who suggest large cuts to the american military are correct. Those who suggest reduction in entitlement payments are also correct.
Until 1970 the average tariff on imported goods in america was thirty one percent. Due to free trade agreements, it is now something around seven per cent, or even less. And this, according to economist ravi batra, in his book "The Pooring of America", is the source of the decline in the american standard of living.
In order to possess weath, one must manufacture wealth.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Interests and Values
HILLARY CLINTON, american sec of state, insists that she, not the president, is responsible for the safety and security of all Unites States state department personnel around the world, which consists of approximately sixty thousand people stationed in close to three hundred locations.
She must know, as must we all, that she can do nothing to ensure said safety, nor can anyone else. We know that anybody can kill anybdoy, if the murderer is willing to die while so doing. The secretary of state can issue whatever directives she wants from behind a mahogany desk at the state department, but she can do nothing tangible.
The political squabble concerns whether the attack in lybia which killed the U.S. ambassador to libya was a spontaneous response to a video on youtube, or a preplanned terrorist atack. obama initially said the former, then changed to the latter. romney jumped on it.
Alarmingly, hillary insists that the united states shall never tremble or withdraw from its involvements around the world, and shall remain fully engaged wherever american "interests and values" are involved.
And just exactly where and what is this? Exactly where are american interests and values involved? Perhaps everywhere? Perhaps in all nations of the earth, and even beyond this planet and solar system?
Exactly what are american interests and values? Making the world safe and available for american corporate capitalism? Democracy? Plutocracy? Christianity?
Why, exactly should the interests and values of any nation, including the united states, extend beyond its own borders? If the state department considers american interests interests and values vital, does anyone else?
Patriotism corrupts history, correctly stated goethe. What does imperialism do to history?
She must know, as must we all, that she can do nothing to ensure said safety, nor can anyone else. We know that anybody can kill anybdoy, if the murderer is willing to die while so doing. The secretary of state can issue whatever directives she wants from behind a mahogany desk at the state department, but she can do nothing tangible.
The political squabble concerns whether the attack in lybia which killed the U.S. ambassador to libya was a spontaneous response to a video on youtube, or a preplanned terrorist atack. obama initially said the former, then changed to the latter. romney jumped on it.
Alarmingly, hillary insists that the united states shall never tremble or withdraw from its involvements around the world, and shall remain fully engaged wherever american "interests and values" are involved.
And just exactly where and what is this? Exactly where are american interests and values involved? Perhaps everywhere? Perhaps in all nations of the earth, and even beyond this planet and solar system?
Exactly what are american interests and values? Making the world safe and available for american corporate capitalism? Democracy? Plutocracy? Christianity?
Why, exactly should the interests and values of any nation, including the united states, extend beyond its own borders? If the state department considers american interests interests and values vital, does anyone else?
Patriotism corrupts history, correctly stated goethe. What does imperialism do to history?
Monday, October 15, 2012
The Last Resort
THE TALIBAN, that bastian of religious virtue and purity, has struck again. You might, or might not, recall that when this religious/political organization came to power if afghanistan some years ago it destroyed all the good art in the country which didn't glorify allah, including, tracically, a group of huge, beautiful, and ancient buddhist statues.
This time they put a bullet in the head of a fourteen year old girl whose crime was advocating for the opportunity for girls to receive an education. It wasn't enough to warn her to shut up, or ground her, or put her in time out; no, the taliban saw fit to put a bullet in her head.
Miraculously, she survived, and after surgery in pakistan, was taken to england, where whe will get good care, and will live.
The taliban will not live. It will consume itself in violence.
There is no more heinous force in the world than religious fanaticism. Violence is the last resort of the incompetent, and often the first resort of those whose lives are determined by fanaticism and hatred.
Violent religious fanaticism is not limited to the islamic faith. It is a disease that has plagued the human race for millenia, manifesting in barbarities ranging from the execution of christians in first century rome, the christian crusades of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the salem witch hunts of the seventeenth century, and so forth.
In 1692, for eight months, in the massachusetts colony, twenty four people were murdered in the name of christ, ink an orgy of fear and hatred, which is fear. Let it be duly noted that the murders stopped, the colonists came to their senses, albeit belatedly.
The savagery of the taliban will not cease until the saner adherents to islam, which includes the vast majority of moslems, refuse to allow it. And there will come a time when they refuse. The little girl who stood for what's right will outlive the crimanl animals who tormented her.
This time they put a bullet in the head of a fourteen year old girl whose crime was advocating for the opportunity for girls to receive an education. It wasn't enough to warn her to shut up, or ground her, or put her in time out; no, the taliban saw fit to put a bullet in her head.
Miraculously, she survived, and after surgery in pakistan, was taken to england, where whe will get good care, and will live.
The taliban will not live. It will consume itself in violence.
There is no more heinous force in the world than religious fanaticism. Violence is the last resort of the incompetent, and often the first resort of those whose lives are determined by fanaticism and hatred.
Violent religious fanaticism is not limited to the islamic faith. It is a disease that has plagued the human race for millenia, manifesting in barbarities ranging from the execution of christians in first century rome, the christian crusades of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the salem witch hunts of the seventeenth century, and so forth.
In 1692, for eight months, in the massachusetts colony, twenty four people were murdered in the name of christ, ink an orgy of fear and hatred, which is fear. Let it be duly noted that the murders stopped, the colonists came to their senses, albeit belatedly.
The savagery of the taliban will not cease until the saner adherents to islam, which includes the vast majority of moslems, refuse to allow it. And there will come a time when they refuse. The little girl who stood for what's right will outlive the crimanl animals who tormented her.
Carcasses and Vultures
OF ALL THE ATTORNEYS AT LAW in the world, one third, roughly, are american. The most prosperous nation in the history of the world is also the most litigious. Go figure.
Anybody can sue anybody, antime, anywhere, for anything. Aint it grand? Grand, that is, for the trial lawyers and tort litigators. "Torts", of course, being the clever shorthand term which refers to medical legal liability lawsuits.
Anyone who has ever read a john Grisham novel is aware that tort lawyers, the good ones, tend to make a great deal of money, tend to fly private jets, own multiple homes, yachts, beamers, and trophy girlfriends. Most tort lawyers are men, surprisingly. One would think that natural female instincts would lead them into this field of law. But be patient. Its still early.
Legal fees, which often run from one third to one half of the settlement, often total in the millions, and the top tort lawyers typically have annual incomes of tens of millions of dollars, simply by hovering like vultures around people who have been harmed by harmful conusmer products and services.
There is a reason why the legal profession, particularly those fields having to do with property and medical liability, thrives best in the most property minded and most expensive medical nation on earth. (doctors do well to, as well as insurance companies.)
Everyone has seen TV ads wherein a somber sounding voice proclaims that anyone who has taken such and such a drug may have been harmed by it, may be due compensatory damages, and really should consider calling the toll free hotline at the bottom of the screen.
These ads are all paid for by class action mass tort legal firms, and they run in the millions of dollars per national ad. Most often, the lawyers get their money back, and then much more, as people living in run down apartments and trailor homes all across america bolt upright as the thought of cashing in by merely making a phone call.
There is no "corporate oligarchy", or "plutocracy", or rich versus poor conspiracy in america. What there is is a mad, desperate, cutthroat scramble for money and property, lawyer against lawyer, corporation against corporation, lawyer against corporation. It never ends. It never will, not until we all file for bankruptcy, as the nation at large probably ought to do immediatley, if not sooner.
Most law school graduates, wet behind the ears and still idealistic, claim to be entering the legal profession for the express purpose of saving the world, or at least improving it. Not terribly long thereafter the money starts to trickle in, then roll in, as idealism withers, and becomes a different set of priorities.
Money, power, reputation. The thrill of the attack, the kill, the huge settlement. Its irresistably alluring, and nobody can resist it. The all powerful mammon. Calls for tort reform, limiting the size of settlements, is a constant tease and temptation. WE never seem to get around to it. Trial lawyers, who rarely these days see the inside of a courtroom, lobby powerfully.
In a culutre with carcasses everywhere, the vultures are ever circling, waiting...
Anybody can sue anybody, antime, anywhere, for anything. Aint it grand? Grand, that is, for the trial lawyers and tort litigators. "Torts", of course, being the clever shorthand term which refers to medical legal liability lawsuits.
Anyone who has ever read a john Grisham novel is aware that tort lawyers, the good ones, tend to make a great deal of money, tend to fly private jets, own multiple homes, yachts, beamers, and trophy girlfriends. Most tort lawyers are men, surprisingly. One would think that natural female instincts would lead them into this field of law. But be patient. Its still early.
Legal fees, which often run from one third to one half of the settlement, often total in the millions, and the top tort lawyers typically have annual incomes of tens of millions of dollars, simply by hovering like vultures around people who have been harmed by harmful conusmer products and services.
There is a reason why the legal profession, particularly those fields having to do with property and medical liability, thrives best in the most property minded and most expensive medical nation on earth. (doctors do well to, as well as insurance companies.)
Everyone has seen TV ads wherein a somber sounding voice proclaims that anyone who has taken such and such a drug may have been harmed by it, may be due compensatory damages, and really should consider calling the toll free hotline at the bottom of the screen.
These ads are all paid for by class action mass tort legal firms, and they run in the millions of dollars per national ad. Most often, the lawyers get their money back, and then much more, as people living in run down apartments and trailor homes all across america bolt upright as the thought of cashing in by merely making a phone call.
There is no "corporate oligarchy", or "plutocracy", or rich versus poor conspiracy in america. What there is is a mad, desperate, cutthroat scramble for money and property, lawyer against lawyer, corporation against corporation, lawyer against corporation. It never ends. It never will, not until we all file for bankruptcy, as the nation at large probably ought to do immediatley, if not sooner.
Most law school graduates, wet behind the ears and still idealistic, claim to be entering the legal profession for the express purpose of saving the world, or at least improving it. Not terribly long thereafter the money starts to trickle in, then roll in, as idealism withers, and becomes a different set of priorities.
Money, power, reputation. The thrill of the attack, the kill, the huge settlement. Its irresistably alluring, and nobody can resist it. The all powerful mammon. Calls for tort reform, limiting the size of settlements, is a constant tease and temptation. WE never seem to get around to it. Trial lawyers, who rarely these days see the inside of a courtroom, lobby powerfully.
In a culutre with carcasses everywhere, the vultures are ever circling, waiting...
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Workers of the World...
LABOR UNIONS were never intended to bestow evil upon the world. They were, and are, never formed for the purpose of disrupting the economy, damaging the free enterprise system, or exploiting the workers themselves, contrary to what wealthy capitalists often claim.
People who work hard all day for low wages are not inherently inclined to gather together after work for the purpsoe of bettering their lot in work life. They are far more inclined to go home, hide from the world, and rest in preparation for more labor on the morrow.
But when large groups of people are convinced that they are collectively being abused, they tend, as a last resort, to organize. Its rather remindful of jefferson's declaration of independence, in which he reminds us that people are far more prone to accept tyranny than rebel against it, and only rise up when circumstances become unbearable, and tyranny unacceptable.
For fifty years our beloved american corporate icon wal mart, inc. has effectively, miraculously, prevented its employees, "associates" from unionizing, but that may not last much longer. During the past two weeks worker strikes have spread to wal mart stores across the country, and the corporate masters seem to understand that the jig may be up.
Traditionally, wal mart's executive masters have thwarted unionization by keeping the employee turnover rate high, disallowing union organizers on site, labeling them troublemakers, and threatening to replace workers who listen to them. Essentially, anti union propaganda.
But with wal mart worker complaints piling up at the national labor relations board, the masters are taking a softer approach. Internal documents are being deliberately leaked by the masters which convey the impression that the behemoth business wishes to behave tolerantly towards all worker activity, which we understand a priori is a publicity stunt.
The strikes are being called publicity stunts by the masters, when in truth the publicity stunts consist in the response to the strikes. If the plight of the hourly wage workers continues downward as it has for decades, not only are wal mart workers likely to finally achieve organized status, but the national trend to destroy labor unions in general is likely to be reversed.
Workers of the world....
People who work hard all day for low wages are not inherently inclined to gather together after work for the purpsoe of bettering their lot in work life. They are far more inclined to go home, hide from the world, and rest in preparation for more labor on the morrow.
But when large groups of people are convinced that they are collectively being abused, they tend, as a last resort, to organize. Its rather remindful of jefferson's declaration of independence, in which he reminds us that people are far more prone to accept tyranny than rebel against it, and only rise up when circumstances become unbearable, and tyranny unacceptable.
For fifty years our beloved american corporate icon wal mart, inc. has effectively, miraculously, prevented its employees, "associates" from unionizing, but that may not last much longer. During the past two weeks worker strikes have spread to wal mart stores across the country, and the corporate masters seem to understand that the jig may be up.
Traditionally, wal mart's executive masters have thwarted unionization by keeping the employee turnover rate high, disallowing union organizers on site, labeling them troublemakers, and threatening to replace workers who listen to them. Essentially, anti union propaganda.
But with wal mart worker complaints piling up at the national labor relations board, the masters are taking a softer approach. Internal documents are being deliberately leaked by the masters which convey the impression that the behemoth business wishes to behave tolerantly towards all worker activity, which we understand a priori is a publicity stunt.
The strikes are being called publicity stunts by the masters, when in truth the publicity stunts consist in the response to the strikes. If the plight of the hourly wage workers continues downward as it has for decades, not only are wal mart workers likely to finally achieve organized status, but the national trend to destroy labor unions in general is likely to be reversed.
Workers of the world....
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Planting Trees, Removing Carbon
THE BIG QUESTION, the one that simply will not go away, much as we might want it to, is: are we experiencing climate change, and, if so, is it "natural", cyclical, temporary, or is it permanent, and caused by human activity?
There is a widespread misconception that this is still a wide open question, because there is more than one point of view on the matter. But it really isn't all that open. The weather and climate HAVE changed, by whatever cause.
According to the crusading al gore, the discussion is over, and global warming is real, and indisputably caused by human industrial activity. That isn't quite true, but its close.
A survey of all who hold doctorates in chemistry, physics, orany of the biological sciences reveals that the verdict is virtually unamimous. Humans are the culprit. A little digging soon reveals that scientists who dispute this are either on the payrolls of corporations, or possessed of false credentials.
It is easy to measure the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and to compare this with the amount present in previous decades. It is also easy to estimate rather accurately how much carbon industrial activity, including cars and factories, inject into the atmosphere annually.
Further, it is possible to demonstrate the impact, both in theory, and in practice, that this added carbon has in enhancing the heat retention tendency of the atmosphere.
And the numbers all add up. We the people add such and such amount of carbon each year, carbon which would otherwise not be there, it has such and such an impact, in theory, and the same in practice.
Not only is the handwriting on the wall, it is nearly engraved in stone.
Anyone over the age of forty can easily see that the weather and overall climate have changed. Its time to start planting trees, billions of 'em.
There is a widespread misconception that this is still a wide open question, because there is more than one point of view on the matter. But it really isn't all that open. The weather and climate HAVE changed, by whatever cause.
According to the crusading al gore, the discussion is over, and global warming is real, and indisputably caused by human industrial activity. That isn't quite true, but its close.
A survey of all who hold doctorates in chemistry, physics, orany of the biological sciences reveals that the verdict is virtually unamimous. Humans are the culprit. A little digging soon reveals that scientists who dispute this are either on the payrolls of corporations, or possessed of false credentials.
It is easy to measure the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and to compare this with the amount present in previous decades. It is also easy to estimate rather accurately how much carbon industrial activity, including cars and factories, inject into the atmosphere annually.
Further, it is possible to demonstrate the impact, both in theory, and in practice, that this added carbon has in enhancing the heat retention tendency of the atmosphere.
And the numbers all add up. We the people add such and such amount of carbon each year, carbon which would otherwise not be there, it has such and such an impact, in theory, and the same in practice.
Not only is the handwriting on the wall, it is nearly engraved in stone.
Anyone over the age of forty can easily see that the weather and overall climate have changed. Its time to start planting trees, billions of 'em.
Friday, October 12, 2012
To Go Where..
A SPACE SHUTTLE rolled down the highway near los angeles at two miles per hour, taking a route where hundreds of trees had been cut down next to the temporarily steel reinforced highway, to allow passage on its way to retirement in a science park, where millions will be able to behold and appreciate it.
During their thirty years life, did the four shuttles accomplish anything worthwhile? They worked well, with only two catastrophies in hundreds of flights. And, the shuttle demonstrated that a reusable machine can be used to supply orbiting space stations, and, therefore, a potential base on the moon or mars.
We now have a space station, but few people seem to be interested in it; you don't hear much about it in the media, at any given time nobody knows how many people are in residence, or what they are doing.
There may come a time when human colonies on other planets are so common that they are also ingored by the media; or, there may not.
If humanity does not continue to reach for the stars, or reaches for them tentatively, as now, the shuttle will have been in vain. What other purpose could it be said to serve?
I was a wide eyed school boy in the nineteen sixties, eagerly following every apollo flight, enraptured by the moon landing. As a fourteen year old in nineteen sixty nine, I predicted that by the twenty first century there would be a permanent colony on the moon, one on mars, with preparations for manned travel outside the solar system.
We somehow got sidetracked, by the expense of the viet nam war, massive debt, massive military expenditures. presdent obama has deep sixed the mars and moon plans, which were already highly tentative. It may be that the chinese pioneer the moon and mars.
And it may be that homno sapiens must either grow, or die.
But it really doesn't matter who does it, as long as humanity does it. We may as well all do it together.
During their thirty years life, did the four shuttles accomplish anything worthwhile? They worked well, with only two catastrophies in hundreds of flights. And, the shuttle demonstrated that a reusable machine can be used to supply orbiting space stations, and, therefore, a potential base on the moon or mars.
We now have a space station, but few people seem to be interested in it; you don't hear much about it in the media, at any given time nobody knows how many people are in residence, or what they are doing.
There may come a time when human colonies on other planets are so common that they are also ingored by the media; or, there may not.
If humanity does not continue to reach for the stars, or reaches for them tentatively, as now, the shuttle will have been in vain. What other purpose could it be said to serve?
I was a wide eyed school boy in the nineteen sixties, eagerly following every apollo flight, enraptured by the moon landing. As a fourteen year old in nineteen sixty nine, I predicted that by the twenty first century there would be a permanent colony on the moon, one on mars, with preparations for manned travel outside the solar system.
We somehow got sidetracked, by the expense of the viet nam war, massive debt, massive military expenditures. presdent obama has deep sixed the mars and moon plans, which were already highly tentative. It may be that the chinese pioneer the moon and mars.
And it may be that homno sapiens must either grow, or die.
But it really doesn't matter who does it, as long as humanity does it. We may as well all do it together.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Shallow Politics, Shallow Electorate
SO MITT ROMNEY "won" the first debate with obama, according to two thirds of the country, and according to obama himself, who has even allowed himself to make fun of his own performance. Romney won because he did a better job of looking straight into the camera, spent less time looking down at his notes, looked fit, tan, and fresh, and sounded more energetic.
And because of this, he apparantly moved up in the polls hugely, and will perhaps be elected president of the united states - because of his alleged superior performance in the first debate, which it is claimed, makes a greater impression on likely voters than subsequent debates.
While in truth, both candidates did exactly what politicians always do, they uttered bland, rhetorical platitudes, really saying very little, merely trying to sound good, positive, optimistic.
In 1960, the first time a presidential debate was on national television, kennedy was believed to have defeated nixon because kennedy wore make up, nixon did not, and nixon developed, during the debate, a thin line of perspiration above his upper lip under the glaring heat and light of studio lights.
those who listened to the kennedy - nixon debate on radio were almost all convinced that nixon had won the debate, had won because he had better points and arguments to make. But kennedy won the election, barely, possibly because dead democrats miraculously voted in chicago, possbily because the nation saw perspiration on nixon's upper lip, and no make up.
Kennedy was our first president to be elected on account of being handsome. Since mitt and obama are both quite handsome, its a knock down drag out to the very end.
Is the united states of america really a nation in which people are elcted president because they purchase more advertising than the opponent, and because they look better on camera. So it seems.
In today's world thomas jefferson and abraham lincoln would never have a chance, never even get off the starting block. And until we eliminate money from politics, and abandon our cultural obsession with pretty people, people like jefferson and lincoln will never be elected again.
And because of this, he apparantly moved up in the polls hugely, and will perhaps be elected president of the united states - because of his alleged superior performance in the first debate, which it is claimed, makes a greater impression on likely voters than subsequent debates.
While in truth, both candidates did exactly what politicians always do, they uttered bland, rhetorical platitudes, really saying very little, merely trying to sound good, positive, optimistic.
In 1960, the first time a presidential debate was on national television, kennedy was believed to have defeated nixon because kennedy wore make up, nixon did not, and nixon developed, during the debate, a thin line of perspiration above his upper lip under the glaring heat and light of studio lights.
those who listened to the kennedy - nixon debate on radio were almost all convinced that nixon had won the debate, had won because he had better points and arguments to make. But kennedy won the election, barely, possibly because dead democrats miraculously voted in chicago, possbily because the nation saw perspiration on nixon's upper lip, and no make up.
Kennedy was our first president to be elected on account of being handsome. Since mitt and obama are both quite handsome, its a knock down drag out to the very end.
Is the united states of america really a nation in which people are elcted president because they purchase more advertising than the opponent, and because they look better on camera. So it seems.
In today's world thomas jefferson and abraham lincoln would never have a chance, never even get off the starting block. And until we eliminate money from politics, and abandon our cultural obsession with pretty people, people like jefferson and lincoln will never be elected again.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Public Expenditures
THE TRUTHLESS RECONCILER has been recently admonished to write about big bird, and so write about big bird the truthless reconciler shall. Big bird, of course, appears on semame street, on the public television system, which the amero fed gov has either already eliminated from its funding, or soon shall.
there is a movement afoot, evidently, to find a way to keep big bird, while ditching the rest of pbs.
and so be it. may PBS proceed and thrive, big bird and all. but let it happen with donations from proviate citizens, as it basically already does. with a government sixteen trillion in debt, it is time to start finding ways to cut the budget, revitalize the currency, increase government revenues, and spend them wisely.
Everything else should either by frozen, or cut, including entiltements and the military. Everything. That'll bring down the national debt, eh? Stop all social security increases, and put a limit on medicaid and medicare, or perhaps even combine them into one, aimed at poor people. If you are old, rich, or just plain well off, what need have you of medicare?
Means testing for social security would reduce payments to the wealthy, even though they deserve higher social security payments, since they paid in more. yes, this is redistribution of wealth, pure socialism. but what of it? we already have socialism in america, and it works well.
we can have our cake , and eat it too, but we must first bake a cake that works.
there is a movement afoot, evidently, to find a way to keep big bird, while ditching the rest of pbs.
and so be it. may PBS proceed and thrive, big bird and all. but let it happen with donations from proviate citizens, as it basically already does. with a government sixteen trillion in debt, it is time to start finding ways to cut the budget, revitalize the currency, increase government revenues, and spend them wisely.
Everything else should either by frozen, or cut, including entiltements and the military. Everything. That'll bring down the national debt, eh? Stop all social security increases, and put a limit on medicaid and medicare, or perhaps even combine them into one, aimed at poor people. If you are old, rich, or just plain well off, what need have you of medicare?
Means testing for social security would reduce payments to the wealthy, even though they deserve higher social security payments, since they paid in more. yes, this is redistribution of wealth, pure socialism. but what of it? we already have socialism in america, and it works well.
we can have our cake , and eat it too, but we must first bake a cake that works.
Somewhere in the Middle
A FRIEND, over beer and pizza, asked me if i knew anything about the panic of 1907, and when i admitted that at the moment, indeed i did not, he proceeded to fill me in. Seems that the stock market dropped fifty percent, in the midst of a recession, and huge banks and other financial institutions suffered from a "liquidity crisis", in other words, they ran out of money.
The whole thing was triggered, it seems, by an attempt by a few high rollers to corner the market in copper stocks, in an era when the entire country was on the verge of being hooked up with electricity, and copper was sure to increase in value.
The crises finally came to and end when several high rollers, including j p morgan, who might have been part of the copper monopoly group, promised to use their own money to prop up the system. Because of this debacle, a commission, headed by a mamber of the rockefeller family, recommended establishing a national bank system, to regulate and stabilize the currency supply, and hence, the economy.
This resulted in the creation in 1913 of the infamous federal reserve system, those twelve big banks scattered around the country which draw such ire from new age anti establishment hippies and ultra conservatives. Also, further anti trust laws, to beef up the sherman antitrust act of 1892, were passed. combinations in restraint of trade, and so forth.
kinda sounds familiar, don't it.. fast forward a hundred years, and there you go again. recession, rampant financial speculation by billionaires, corporate bankruptcy, and massive economic collapse. only this time, in 2009, it was the american federal government which came riding to the rescue, saving corporate capitalism to ravage the world another day.
Those who favor the elimination of the federal reserve should think twice. Too much government control is tyranny, too little government regulation is darwinistic chaos. often times big time wealthy investors and financial hot shots will have you believe that even the slightest whiff o government regulation spells tyranny, but don't let 'em fool you. Together, may we find the happy mean.
The whole thing was triggered, it seems, by an attempt by a few high rollers to corner the market in copper stocks, in an era when the entire country was on the verge of being hooked up with electricity, and copper was sure to increase in value.
The crises finally came to and end when several high rollers, including j p morgan, who might have been part of the copper monopoly group, promised to use their own money to prop up the system. Because of this debacle, a commission, headed by a mamber of the rockefeller family, recommended establishing a national bank system, to regulate and stabilize the currency supply, and hence, the economy.
This resulted in the creation in 1913 of the infamous federal reserve system, those twelve big banks scattered around the country which draw such ire from new age anti establishment hippies and ultra conservatives. Also, further anti trust laws, to beef up the sherman antitrust act of 1892, were passed. combinations in restraint of trade, and so forth.
kinda sounds familiar, don't it.. fast forward a hundred years, and there you go again. recession, rampant financial speculation by billionaires, corporate bankruptcy, and massive economic collapse. only this time, in 2009, it was the american federal government which came riding to the rescue, saving corporate capitalism to ravage the world another day.
Those who favor the elimination of the federal reserve should think twice. Too much government control is tyranny, too little government regulation is darwinistic chaos. often times big time wealthy investors and financial hot shots will have you believe that even the slightest whiff o government regulation spells tyranny, but don't let 'em fool you. Together, may we find the happy mean.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Maybe Mitt's Right!
OBAMA AND ROMNEY, like most prominent politicians, avoid talking about the most important topics and spend their time safely stating the obvious, like, we need more jobs, and we need less poverty, and we need more economic prosperity.
The fact that not only is the united states bankrupt, but simultaneously trying to control the world economically, politically, and militarily, while the human population grows to possibly undesirable levels, and the planetary ecosystem deteriorates, is not mentioned.
And it could be that all these facts are related. It could be that we need more people on earth, not less, that the sixteen trillion dollar american national debt doesn't matter, and it could be that there is no global warming and impending catastrophic climate change.
Its a matter of where we place our bets. Also, its a matter of figuring all this stuff out.
Maybe mitt is right, and maybe more american military strength and bolder foreign policy would be helpful to us all. Maybe that idea merely seems insane, on the surface.
What is needed is critical, intelligent thinking. Anyone can take part in that. There is no shortage of intelligent people, but who can argue that better education, for us all, might be helpful?
Ah, dispassionate, intellectual analysis, to the exclusion of emotion and personal bias, that's the answer!
The fact that not only is the united states bankrupt, but simultaneously trying to control the world economically, politically, and militarily, while the human population grows to possibly undesirable levels, and the planetary ecosystem deteriorates, is not mentioned.
And it could be that all these facts are related. It could be that we need more people on earth, not less, that the sixteen trillion dollar american national debt doesn't matter, and it could be that there is no global warming and impending catastrophic climate change.
Its a matter of where we place our bets. Also, its a matter of figuring all this stuff out.
Maybe mitt is right, and maybe more american military strength and bolder foreign policy would be helpful to us all. Maybe that idea merely seems insane, on the surface.
What is needed is critical, intelligent thinking. Anyone can take part in that. There is no shortage of intelligent people, but who can argue that better education, for us all, might be helpful?
Ah, dispassionate, intellectual analysis, to the exclusion of emotion and personal bias, that's the answer!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Columbus Day
IT IS OF COURSE QUESTIONABLE whether we should have a holiday called "Columbus Day", being as how christopher columbus was a murdering butcher, and most certainly was not the first person to do anything important, spectacular, or amazing.
He wanted to get to india and china by water going west, rather than by land going east, and he lived his entire remaining life, which wasn't very long, thinking he had done exactly that, which he most certainly had not.
The most popular misconception about columbus is that he and his crew were fearful that the earth might indeed be flat, and that they might fall off the edge, and that they intended to prove it was round.
Of course all educated europeans knew the world is round during columbus's lifetime, and all arabs had known it for a thousand years.
It may be that we should have a "human exploration day", rather than a colubus day, but at least christopher colulmbus symbolizes, if nothing else, the human spirit of discovery and exploration.
Bb
He wanted to get to india and china by water going west, rather than by land going east, and he lived his entire remaining life, which wasn't very long, thinking he had done exactly that, which he most certainly had not.
The most popular misconception about columbus is that he and his crew were fearful that the earth might indeed be flat, and that they might fall off the edge, and that they intended to prove it was round.
Of course all educated europeans knew the world is round during columbus's lifetime, and all arabs had known it for a thousand years.
It may be that we should have a "human exploration day", rather than a colubus day, but at least christopher colulmbus symbolizes, if nothing else, the human spirit of discovery and exploration.
Bb
American Blood on Foreign Soil
THERE IS A FAVORITE story among american conservatives, to the effect that in the early nineteen sixties french president charles de gaulle told american sec of state dean rusk that all american military personel in france must be removed, immediately. Rusk supposedly asked "does this include the ones buried here"?
This supposedly calls to mind the great american sacrifices made in liberating france in world war two, and that later asking all american military to leave france seemed a rude way of responding.
The nicest thing any country can do to the united states is request removal of all american military, and all american aid. this will save the U.S. a great deal of money, and useless, wasted effort.
The united sates was not all that concerend aboust saving france in world war two; at least the american people weren't. All they wanted was peace, and prosperity. Let the europeans solve their own problems.
The only problem is that this attitude might result in hitler taking over all of europe, permanently. Roosevelt knew that this would be a disaster, and quite possible without american participation in the war effort. That's why he arranged the japanese attack on pearl harbor, by cutting off all economic aid and trade with japan, and moving the american navy from san diego to hawaii.
The american government is usually willing to spill american blood on foreign soil, and american conservatives are usually willing to brag about the noble american sacrifice , if it results in american corporations having free reign in a global american empire.
Bb
This supposedly calls to mind the great american sacrifices made in liberating france in world war two, and that later asking all american military to leave france seemed a rude way of responding.
The nicest thing any country can do to the united states is request removal of all american military, and all american aid. this will save the U.S. a great deal of money, and useless, wasted effort.
The united sates was not all that concerend aboust saving france in world war two; at least the american people weren't. All they wanted was peace, and prosperity. Let the europeans solve their own problems.
The only problem is that this attitude might result in hitler taking over all of europe, permanently. Roosevelt knew that this would be a disaster, and quite possible without american participation in the war effort. That's why he arranged the japanese attack on pearl harbor, by cutting off all economic aid and trade with japan, and moving the american navy from san diego to hawaii.
The american government is usually willing to spill american blood on foreign soil, and american conservatives are usually willing to brag about the noble american sacrifice , if it results in american corporations having free reign in a global american empire.
Bb
Balanced Approaches
AT ALL COST, above all else, what we do not want in america is a "trickle down government", which stifles freedom and personal dreams. This, according to mitt romeny and, generally, the ultra conservative wing of the american conservative party.
(in america there is one party; the conservative party, aka the party of property, with a conservative wing, "democrats", and an ultra conservative wing, "republicans").
So, the choice is, according to the ultras, either an economy entirely dominated by the government which dispenses to the masses from on high, or, freedom. The choice sounds stark, and clear cut.
Meanwhile, in front of our very eyes, we see two economies generally working well together, the capitalist, and the socialist, which do not in fact get in each other's or anybody's way nearly as much as the ultras would have us believe.
The trickle down is really a trickle up, in which most americans contribute to the government treasury, and said government redistributes said revenues. Our arguments all concern who should and who does contribute what, and who should and who does receive what.
according to the ultras the wealthy few are being raped by the government for the benefit of the indolent impoverished masses. The slightly less conservative democrats often complain about the privileges accorded the wealthy, to the detriment and the plight of the poor.
In america the government does a great deal less to control the economy than in many other places, and excessive government control creates corruption, but still less corruption than would prevail with a complete absence of government oversight.
The poor will always be among us, unless we allow people to strive freely, and provide a few basic guarantees of fair play, such as minimum wages and small doses of redistribution. A large healthy middle class is a part naturally occuring, part deliberate planning.
Bb
(in america there is one party; the conservative party, aka the party of property, with a conservative wing, "democrats", and an ultra conservative wing, "republicans").
So, the choice is, according to the ultras, either an economy entirely dominated by the government which dispenses to the masses from on high, or, freedom. The choice sounds stark, and clear cut.
Meanwhile, in front of our very eyes, we see two economies generally working well together, the capitalist, and the socialist, which do not in fact get in each other's or anybody's way nearly as much as the ultras would have us believe.
The trickle down is really a trickle up, in which most americans contribute to the government treasury, and said government redistributes said revenues. Our arguments all concern who should and who does contribute what, and who should and who does receive what.
according to the ultras the wealthy few are being raped by the government for the benefit of the indolent impoverished masses. The slightly less conservative democrats often complain about the privileges accorded the wealthy, to the detriment and the plight of the poor.
In america the government does a great deal less to control the economy than in many other places, and excessive government control creates corruption, but still less corruption than would prevail with a complete absence of government oversight.
The poor will always be among us, unless we allow people to strive freely, and provide a few basic guarantees of fair play, such as minimum wages and small doses of redistribution. A large healthy middle class is a part naturally occuring, part deliberate planning.
Bb
Sunday, October 7, 2012
White Elephant
IN THE GREAT POLITICAL drama that is the upcoming election, amid all the sound and fury, there is a white elephanet in the room, that nobody is talking about, no candidate, and apparently nobody else.
The united states began as an expansionist country, expanding european culture across the atlantic to north and south america. That was not the stated intent, but it was the result.
Once established in the new world, european civilization kept expanding across the continent, replacing native civilization, finally expanding throughout the entire western world, and much of the rest of the world, including australia, asia, and africa.
Which brings us to the white elephant.
The united states in particular kept expanding, even after it reached the pacific, aquiring alaska, hawaii, the phillipines, and gradually dominating latin america starting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,, and maintaing a global empire after the second world war.
And the point is, the united states can no longer afford to expand, or to even keep what it already has. It is going to have to contract, retract. With a sixteen trillion dollar debt, and growing, a falling standard of living and currency, the united states is looking more like a third world country every day.
The united states will not be able to unitarily police the world much longer. The american people, by all appearances, do not, and never have wanted, to own and control the world. The avarage american citizen simply wants to be left alone to live and flourish.
but, oh that oligarchial plutocratic corporate military industrial complex that ruleth over the cosmetic, and impotent, american federal government. America's true masters are corporate masters, who seek expansion, and profit.
When america starts manufacturing food, clothing, and shelter, and other forms of material wealth, instead of weapons, and returns to being a democratic republic by giving up its empire gracefully, and brings sanity to its currency policy, its time of troubles and decline will, we hope, end.
Bb
The united states began as an expansionist country, expanding european culture across the atlantic to north and south america. That was not the stated intent, but it was the result.
Once established in the new world, european civilization kept expanding across the continent, replacing native civilization, finally expanding throughout the entire western world, and much of the rest of the world, including australia, asia, and africa.
Which brings us to the white elephant.
The united states in particular kept expanding, even after it reached the pacific, aquiring alaska, hawaii, the phillipines, and gradually dominating latin america starting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,, and maintaing a global empire after the second world war.
And the point is, the united states can no longer afford to expand, or to even keep what it already has. It is going to have to contract, retract. With a sixteen trillion dollar debt, and growing, a falling standard of living and currency, the united states is looking more like a third world country every day.
The united states will not be able to unitarily police the world much longer. The american people, by all appearances, do not, and never have wanted, to own and control the world. The avarage american citizen simply wants to be left alone to live and flourish.
but, oh that oligarchial plutocratic corporate military industrial complex that ruleth over the cosmetic, and impotent, american federal government. America's true masters are corporate masters, who seek expansion, and profit.
When america starts manufacturing food, clothing, and shelter, and other forms of material wealth, instead of weapons, and returns to being a democratic republic by giving up its empire gracefully, and brings sanity to its currency policy, its time of troubles and decline will, we hope, end.
Bb
Saturday, October 6, 2012
"Just Completely Wrong"
AND SO NOW, belatedely, mitt steps forth, and announces to the world, or at least forty seven per cent of america, that his earlier remarks were "just completely wrong". And good for mitt. His advisors must've finally gotten to him.
Or maybe the american maintstream media, which we are told by conservatives is exclusively liberal and owned by the dark liberal forces of barack hussein obama, got to mitt. Not much drama, no big tearful mia culpa, just a good solid admission of wrong speaking. It'll do. We actually would probably prefer the tearful drama, but we'll take what we can get.
Mitt's remarks to the effect that the forty seven percent of americans who don't pay income taxes all regard themselves as victims who deserve massive entitlements from the government and would therefore automatically vote for obama, remarks he made to a select few jet setting high rolling elite successful well dressed wealthy americans, and a spy, were made in may, five months ago.
the outing of these remarks by left wing magazine mother jones occured three weeks ago, strategically timed for maximum political fall out, and mitt, after spending seventeen days defending, then denying, then claiming misunderstanding, finally was prevailed upon by circumstances to admit wrong speaking.
Did he by chance have any idea that his remarks were condescendingly elitist, and dishonest, a few moments after he made them in may, or did he simply dwell in the land of elite superior wealth for five months, then become enlightened?
Maybe mitt now has come to the conslusion that a viet nam war veteran with no legs who has spent the last forty years in a wheel chair is not trying to make a victim out of himself to get more money from the government.
If he becomes president, it is to be hoped that mitt gains even greater understanding.
Bb
Or maybe the american maintstream media, which we are told by conservatives is exclusively liberal and owned by the dark liberal forces of barack hussein obama, got to mitt. Not much drama, no big tearful mia culpa, just a good solid admission of wrong speaking. It'll do. We actually would probably prefer the tearful drama, but we'll take what we can get.
Mitt's remarks to the effect that the forty seven percent of americans who don't pay income taxes all regard themselves as victims who deserve massive entitlements from the government and would therefore automatically vote for obama, remarks he made to a select few jet setting high rolling elite successful well dressed wealthy americans, and a spy, were made in may, five months ago.
the outing of these remarks by left wing magazine mother jones occured three weeks ago, strategically timed for maximum political fall out, and mitt, after spending seventeen days defending, then denying, then claiming misunderstanding, finally was prevailed upon by circumstances to admit wrong speaking.
Did he by chance have any idea that his remarks were condescendingly elitist, and dishonest, a few moments after he made them in may, or did he simply dwell in the land of elite superior wealth for five months, then become enlightened?
Maybe mitt now has come to the conslusion that a viet nam war veteran with no legs who has spent the last forty years in a wheel chair is not trying to make a victim out of himself to get more money from the government.
If he becomes president, it is to be hoped that mitt gains even greater understanding.
Bb
Friday, October 5, 2012
Best of Both Worlds
WHAT MITT BELIEVES, or says he believes, is that government should stay out of the nation's economic life, should leave people alone to make it on their own. We do not want a trickle down government, says the mittdter, wit masses of citizens craning necks upward, mouths agape, awaiting manna freom uncle sam. That stiflers freedom to pursue personal dreams, sayeth the mitt.
In other words, a great big american family, where we all contribute what we can, and are given what we need, is unacceptable. we should all make it on our own, because its more fair, and, for those who succeed, more fulfilling.
if obama were smart, which he may not be, he would stop arguing with all this, and instead agree with it. At least, agree with the hard working independent self made citizen part. Then the president might want to point out that there is really nothing in america, including socialism, which stifles freedom and personal dreams.
perhpas the city sewer system stifles one's opportunity to build and sell one's own sewer system. Oh well. Providing government (of the people) health insurance for people who can't afforf it does not, most certsainly does not, stifle freedom and the pursuit of personal dreams.
Or would anyone care to explain how it does? obamacare niehter imperils the insurance companies, the practice of medicine, or the opportunity to earn a living in any existing medical related field.
We all want ro give everyone the freedom to succeed without government interference. In america, that's exactly what we do, always have done, and lord willing always will do. But we also like to use government as a way to help people who need it, in whatever way is effective. That's what makes america a christian country, regardless of religion.
In other words, a great big american family, where we all contribute what we can, and are given what we need, is unacceptable. we should all make it on our own, because its more fair, and, for those who succeed, more fulfilling.
if obama were smart, which he may not be, he would stop arguing with all this, and instead agree with it. At least, agree with the hard working independent self made citizen part. Then the president might want to point out that there is really nothing in america, including socialism, which stifles freedom and personal dreams.
perhpas the city sewer system stifles one's opportunity to build and sell one's own sewer system. Oh well. Providing government (of the people) health insurance for people who can't afforf it does not, most certsainly does not, stifle freedom and the pursuit of personal dreams.
Or would anyone care to explain how it does? obamacare niehter imperils the insurance companies, the practice of medicine, or the opportunity to earn a living in any existing medical related field.
We all want ro give everyone the freedom to succeed without government interference. In america, that's exactly what we do, always have done, and lord willing always will do. But we also like to use government as a way to help people who need it, in whatever way is effective. That's what makes america a christian country, regardless of religion.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Debate
ROMNEY WON the first debate, it seems, by consensus. He won it because he was more animated, lively, aggressive, and because he appeared to enjoy being there more than the president. Exactly how all that qualifies as a victory is a bit murky, but, good enough.
We want our entertainers to be positive and happy, and politicians are entertainers, so obama might want to remember that he got where he is by being more upbeat than he was in the debate.
Attempts are always made to evaluate each debators's performance according to exacting scientific factual standards, evenusing computer analysis, but that doesn't seem to reveal much either.
Romney plans tax cuts which would cost the country five trillion dollars, according to obama, which we can't afford, and romney responds that all his tax cuts will be paid for by closing loopholes, but fails to articulate exactly what those loopholes might be.
Most politicians are skilled at answering a different question than the one being asked. Its a time honored tactic. To guard against this, we the people should perhaps subject presidential candidates to examinations, including some multiple choice questions, to determine knowledge level.
On the other hand, the results might embarrass us all.
We want our entertainers to be positive and happy, and politicians are entertainers, so obama might want to remember that he got where he is by being more upbeat than he was in the debate.
Attempts are always made to evaluate each debators's performance according to exacting scientific factual standards, evenusing computer analysis, but that doesn't seem to reveal much either.
Romney plans tax cuts which would cost the country five trillion dollars, according to obama, which we can't afford, and romney responds that all his tax cuts will be paid for by closing loopholes, but fails to articulate exactly what those loopholes might be.
Most politicians are skilled at answering a different question than the one being asked. Its a time honored tactic. To guard against this, we the people should perhaps subject presidential candidates to examinations, including some multiple choice questions, to determine knowledge level.
On the other hand, the results might embarrass us all.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
When Words Mean Things
WE ALL TALK TOO MUCH, SOMETIMES, don't we...get caught with our foot in our mouth. This happened to mitt romney, whcn he accused half the american people of embracing victim status in order to get government handouts. That went over like a lead balloon.
So, hoping to retaliate, the romney people are, in the last days of the campaign, trying to paint obama as a racist, by digging up a speech he made about five years ago, to blacks, about the rescue efforts during hurricane katrina.
The diffrenence is, romney's remarks are blatantly untrue, and a clear indication of his bias against poor people. Blatantly untrue, even though romney sticks by them to this day. Do we want a president with this attitude?
Obama's comments were right on the mark, whether we wish to admit it or not. If those people clinging to rooftops in new orleans after katrina had been wealthy, white, famous, donald trump, mitt romney, rush limbaugh, justin beiber, the rescue would have been immediate.
but they were poor black riff raff. Not as important. Expendable. At least, that's the way they were treated. Yes, we all know that racism, and sexsim, and "wealthism" has not been eliminated in this country, only reduced. But the racism is not coming from obama, who was, and stillis, merely telling the truth; that the katrina victims were neglected because they were black and poor.
for conservatives to accuse obama of racism now is utterly ridiculous, being as how conservatives had to be dragged into the civil rights movement fifty years ago, kicking and screaming, all the way. Now that they regard racial equality as inevitable, suddenly they are its staunch supporters. They are "post racism". Oh, blather.
If anybody is racist, its the people accusing obama of it, not obama. the reaaon he is going to get reelected is that he is perceived as fighting for everybody, not just the producers.
By considering it harmful to help other people (by using government), american conservatives hurt themselves.
Bb
So, hoping to retaliate, the romney people are, in the last days of the campaign, trying to paint obama as a racist, by digging up a speech he made about five years ago, to blacks, about the rescue efforts during hurricane katrina.
The diffrenence is, romney's remarks are blatantly untrue, and a clear indication of his bias against poor people. Blatantly untrue, even though romney sticks by them to this day. Do we want a president with this attitude?
Obama's comments were right on the mark, whether we wish to admit it or not. If those people clinging to rooftops in new orleans after katrina had been wealthy, white, famous, donald trump, mitt romney, rush limbaugh, justin beiber, the rescue would have been immediate.
but they were poor black riff raff. Not as important. Expendable. At least, that's the way they were treated. Yes, we all know that racism, and sexsim, and "wealthism" has not been eliminated in this country, only reduced. But the racism is not coming from obama, who was, and stillis, merely telling the truth; that the katrina victims were neglected because they were black and poor.
for conservatives to accuse obama of racism now is utterly ridiculous, being as how conservatives had to be dragged into the civil rights movement fifty years ago, kicking and screaming, all the way. Now that they regard racial equality as inevitable, suddenly they are its staunch supporters. They are "post racism". Oh, blather.
If anybody is racist, its the people accusing obama of it, not obama. the reaaon he is going to get reelected is that he is perceived as fighting for everybody, not just the producers.
By considering it harmful to help other people (by using government), american conservatives hurt themselves.
Bb
Desperate Last Minute Tactic
ITS ABOUT TIME for president obama to bring in his closer, and wrap up this election. A "closer" of course, is either a salesperson who finalizes a sale, or a pitcher who finishes baseball games. Either way, its that time for the prez. He's up, the deal's in the bag, all he needs to do is cross the i's, dot the t's, seal the deal.
That's why the republicans are raising holy hell about now. Trying to barge in at the last moment to steal the customer, upset the deal, sending up pinch hitters to try to get people on base, and turn the game around late.
After romney got caught denigrating and insulting half the american people, something had to be found to make obama look bad, real bad. And how surprising, they did just that. In a speech obama gave in 2007, at mostly african-american hampton college, in virginia, shortly after hurricane katrina devastated new orleans.
For days afer the city flooded, people, all black, were sitting on top of houses, thousands of them surrounded by deep turbulent water, waiting for help which came way too late in the generally chaotic and disastrous relief effort by the federal government (FEMA, Federal Emergency Management Agency).
At the time of this disaster, watching these poor black people every day on television, we started to wonder, you had to wonder, if the situation would have been the same if the stranded victims were white. You had to at least wonder about that. I did, we all did. Even in passing.
At that point obama, then a rising political star, asked the question we were all asking, justifiably. And he did it in front of a crowd of african-americans. So, now, five years later, the republicans think they might have a last desperate chance to make obama look bad enough to lose the election.
it won't work. It is perfectly obvious that rich man romney looks down on at least half the american people. And its also obvious, to anyone who remembers hurricane katrina, that asking slow rescue efforts of black people made perfect sense at the time, and it makes perfect sense now.
Mitt needs to think of something better. Its his campaign to win or lose.
Bb
That's why the republicans are raising holy hell about now. Trying to barge in at the last moment to steal the customer, upset the deal, sending up pinch hitters to try to get people on base, and turn the game around late.
After romney got caught denigrating and insulting half the american people, something had to be found to make obama look bad, real bad. And how surprising, they did just that. In a speech obama gave in 2007, at mostly african-american hampton college, in virginia, shortly after hurricane katrina devastated new orleans.
For days afer the city flooded, people, all black, were sitting on top of houses, thousands of them surrounded by deep turbulent water, waiting for help which came way too late in the generally chaotic and disastrous relief effort by the federal government (FEMA, Federal Emergency Management Agency).
At the time of this disaster, watching these poor black people every day on television, we started to wonder, you had to wonder, if the situation would have been the same if the stranded victims were white. You had to at least wonder about that. I did, we all did. Even in passing.
At that point obama, then a rising political star, asked the question we were all asking, justifiably. And he did it in front of a crowd of african-americans. So, now, five years later, the republicans think they might have a last desperate chance to make obama look bad enough to lose the election.
it won't work. It is perfectly obvious that rich man romney looks down on at least half the american people. And its also obvious, to anyone who remembers hurricane katrina, that asking slow rescue efforts of black people made perfect sense at the time, and it makes perfect sense now.
Mitt needs to think of something better. Its his campaign to win or lose.
Bb
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