Elusive Sense

CONSIDERING THE SIZE of the united states government, the size of the united states, and the sheer number of people who must've known about the big government surveillance project - you know, the one in which you, i , and all of us are being "monitored" by big brother, online, and on the phone -

considering the size of all this, how on earth could anyone with even a modicum of sanity have thought for an instant that it would be possible to keep the whole affair "secret" from the american people? For how long?

Excuse me? Hello? This young fellow snowden was certainly some speical high ranking big shot in the government whos responsiblity is national security and the defeat of international terrorism -
he was just an ordinary joe.

So how many people, including every single member of congress, president obama, and doubtless many of his top assistants, must have known? Did michelle know? Somehow, i have my suspicions.

I always get a lught when people think that the united states government his hiding alien bodies, and has been for generations, passing the secret key from president to president. When will smith's sone asked obama about the preserved aliens, the president said :"if i told you, i'd have to kill you".

The united states government could keep a crash of alien spacecraft, and several dead bodies secret - for about ten minutes, tops. Trust me.

If we're really trying to protect the country and defeat itnernational terrorism by creating top secret government projects to monitor the american people electronically, and to keep it a secret, then i fear greatly for our republic.

I fear that we are descending into a dictatorial police state, I fear  that our chances of succeeding in protecting the country are remote at best, and,  most frightening of all, i fear that our judgment and common sense are eluding us, at the very moment when we need them most.

Simple Solution

IF ONLY THE REALLY INTELLIGENT, well educated people would run for office, participate in politics, direct their intellects towards the common good. You'll have to agree that the lawyers have had their chance, and that the results leave something to be desired. What we have is a complicated, legalistic, angry, paranoid society, under attorney at law oversight.

The actors, for that matter, have had their chance as well; dramatic displays of emotion to manipulate people do not supply answers to common problems as well as logic, and reason, well applied.

A current example is our refusal, as a society, to enact a carbon tax. IN america, we are using a morass of laws and regulations to accomplish what a simply carbon tax would do immediately;  raise the cost of carbon emissions, reduce the emissions, and stimulate sustainable energy research and development.

The brilliaint part of this plan is that the money raised from carbon taxes could be pumped right back into the economy, by being returned to the people, in the form of tax cuts in other areas, thus stimulating the economy while reducing carbon based global warming energy sources, like oil, coal, and natural gas.

the idea is almost so obvious, too obvious to be taken seriously. Its too simple, and there are too few, if any, drawbacks. So, of course we can't do it. Alas, if only the lawyers would listen to the scientists and economists.

Why not give teh scientists, the academicians, an opportunity to govern america, for once? The problem is, people like that are usually smart enough to not want any involvement in politics. Fracking, drilling for oil, mining coal, are all well and good, given demand. The trick is to reduce demand, and provide incentives to move to sustainable energy sources.

All this could be done with a single line of new tax

Resisting Tyranny

OBAMA IS IN AFRICA, and a sign said "welcome home obama" - did he take a little long to get there? Some things just don't work out, like obama, and long periods of time in africa, his home.

The fact that obama became president of the U.S.A., then got reelected, reflects well on american culture in particular and human potential in general. Potential for positive change, for progress.Potential for working together, and through cooperation, building a better world.

Africa is on the rise, obama says, and that's why he went there. And of  course it is; how could it be otherwise? The people I know from africa are the most computer literate, financially savvy, ambitious folks i have seen in america.

With the amount of internationalism in today's politics and economics, a world wide culture of some sort is bound to emerge. It might be a culture of large scale international corporate entities, answerable to no single nation, headquartered nowhere, but existing all over the world.

Some means must be devised of providing for popular, democratic control of these future corporate mega monsters. Or would you prefer living on a planet entirely under the control of huge corporations which manage everything, including your life to suit themselves?

If someone had managed to kill hitler sometime before 1941 it technically would have been treason against the german government, but it wouls have been a great service to the german people. we currently have a similar situation here in america. Technical treason against the united states governmetn is in fact a great service to the american people.

Snowden has broken the law, but in so doing, has greatly aided his people, us, and don't let the government tell you any different.I am glad that i know about the government surveillance of everything electronic. Now that I know, I can do something about it. Any government against which this is treason should be altered.

Big Day For Gay Marriage

BIG DAY FOR THE GAY MARRIAGE CROWD, no doubt about it. In california, the people voted against gay marriage, a federal court ruled their vote unconstitutional, and the supreme court refused to step in. It seems somehow strange, that seven million people could vote for something, then be told its unconstitutional. Just another reminder of our system of checks and balances, keeping power distributed in many different hands.

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was rather strange when it was signed in 1996 by bill clinton; it made you wonder why the federal government felt the need to endorse traditional marriage. To keep the gay marriage participants in gay marriage states from laying claim to federal marriage benefits, that's why.

As of now, in any state in which gay marriage is allowed, all married people have the same federal benefits By creating a separate class of marriage, the federal government created a category of inequality and loss of liberty, so ruled the court.. So, Defense of Marriage goes the way of "don't ask don't tell". Both seemed like great ideas at the time.

Over the past few years, there has been a strong move towards support of gay marriage; apparently far more than fifty percent of the american people now support it, and this is an enormous increase.

The conservatives are shocked, horrified, and outraged by the supreme court's rulings, as you might imagine. Be on the look out for extra harsh conservative vituperation, hate mongering, general spewing of venom.

Eventually they will accept it, then start to act as if they have always accepted it, and wonder why anyone feels the need to go to any speical trouble to protect it, and they did in the race and gender equality struggles.  As long as they catch up, i reckon it don't much matter how or when.

What's The Point?

UNTIL JUST THE OTHER DAY, i had never heard of paula dean, which is not surprising, since there are many people of whom i have never heard. Even famous people, very famous people. I don't have any television, and am not very conversant concerning modern american culture, although i have a lot to say about it.

I'm on the verge of having something to say about the apparent raking over the national coals of TV media celebrity paula dean, southern cook extraordinaire. When i first heard the problem, my first question was "how many times, with what regularity did she use the 'N" word, and how long ago was it?" Those seemed reasonable questions to me.

So, i went about my business, assuming that i would eventually find out, or not, and happy to tend to other matters. Then, i heard; she evidently said the "N" word once, thirty years ago. Say what?    Yo, once, thirty years ago.

And, in any event, what in the world is the big deal, anyway? My heavens,, how long is the statute of limitations for words? Do we choose to elevate people to sensational celebrity status in america, only as a crude trick, to set them up for later scandal and humiliation on a grand scale?

so it would almost seem.

The last time i said the "N" word was in the late seventies, in a poker game, as a curse word, and in the game was a good friend of mine, a very big black guy, former football player, whose eyes, according to another friend, got bigger'n saucers when i made my grand faux pax.

but i have long since forgiven myself for that, and i am quite ready to forgive pauld dean, and get back to the fried chicken and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. my question is; why isn't everybody else? What's the point?

Modernizing Our Laws

IN 1965, THE CIVIL WAR had been over for a hundred years, blacks had supposedly been "free" for over a hundred years, and yet their situation overall in america was absolutely horrendous, charachterized by lives of poverty, low wage jobs, exclusion, struggle.

Lyndon Baines Johnson, like most politiciains, wanted to be popular, like many politicians, wanted to be all things to all people. He gave the military industrial complex its coveted asian war, the liberals got their social walfare programs, and their civil rights crusade. LBJ gave everybody something.

The voter rights act tried to enforce equal voting rights by mandating federal electiont for several states with racist voting records. The Supreme Court, by overturning this law, described it as uneccessarry and  inappropiate now, in a far different world than 1965.

Granted this is true, but since when  did  the supreme court ever make a decision based on what we believe today, what our society is like now?  Aren't they always trying to figure out the founder's intent? 

True, federal oversight is no longer needed anythere in america to prevent racism, and the law should be rewritten. That's a far better, and more logical way of interpreting our constitution; according to our needs today, and not the throughts of the people who wrote the original law. The people who wrote the law in 1965 did not know what kind of country we would have today.

But the same is true of much of the rest of the american constitution. Should we maybe change the part where it says that black people are three fifths of a person? Isn't that part a little outdated? Should we maybe get rid of the prohibition amendment, and the repeal of prohibition amendment?

A good, general updating of the constitution, and the entire legal systemight be in order. It hasn't been done in hundreds of years, and is probably very outdated in many areas.

Don't Call It Socialism

LATE JUNE IS, or should be, national fair labor standards month, in honor of the passage, in 1938, of the first minimum wage law. And ever since it was passed, conservatives have been complaining about it, all manner of complaint imaginable.

Its too intrusive into the economy. Too much government power. Let the free market determine wages and salaries. Let the businessman and the working man be free. It isn't high enough. It isn't low enough.

Recently the argument has been that the minimum wage was lower than the free market wage, and so was dragging down the free market wage for low wage people. Well, if that is the case, so be it. Mimimum wage can always be raiwed to keep pace with the supposed "market."

The term "free market" with regard to the value of work must be qualified, because in america, the corporate oligarchy conspires to keep the cost of labor low, low, low, far below what it would be worth in an actual free market.

The mimimum wage itself has always been a joke, because it has always been ridiculously low, as it is now. In the end, everybody got their wish; the legislators who passed the Fair Labor Standards Act got political credit for truly caring about america's working poor, while the wealthy corporate elite who own the politicians got a token law which did nothing to end opportunities for corporate exploitation of workers.

Before the mimimum wager laws, before labor laws in general, conditions for the working class in america were deplorable, and always had been. The free market, in over two hundred years of a grand new experiment in political and economic "freedom" had not yet produced a balanced and reasonable labor situation.

So perhaps free market laissez faire economics does not inherently, ultimately lead to justice. Perhaps, among human beings, in order for there to be justice of any sort, it must be imposed upon us all by cooperative agreement with the power of law.

By having mimimum wage at least we make it a bit more awkward to pay people five dollars an hour for hard labor, and perhaps stirkes a glancing blow against slavery, which still, unbelievably, exists all over the world.  Just don't call it "socialism", and maybe the powers that be will ingore it, and, if nothing else, leave it alone.

Catching Up

THERE SEEMS TO BE A LACK of cultural diversity in contemporary children's literature. Apparently, children's books in general do not look enough like america. Not enough minority characters. This finding is based on normal proceedures, comparing ethnic percentages throughout the general population with pictures and characters in books.

This result surprised me, because over the years, i have spent a little time looking at children's books, and my impression had been that ethnic diversity was increasing, and sufficiently representative. But evidently not. Shows what i know.

Publishers insist that there is only one force which drives the market for books of any sort, children's or other, and that is, public, popular demand. The ethnic make up of recently published books overall is merely a freflection of what sells best. Its hard to argue with that. But to what extent do people independently choose, and to what extent are they told what to buy?

Minorities have been slow coming to the table, slow to be invited to the table, in every aspect of american life, but, through persistance and the force of moral rectitude have generally arrived, at different rates in different fields. Each successive inclusionary change has improved society.

Computers don't seem to be replacing books, so much as augmenting them, helping traditional books on paper retain popularity.  Reading may well be entering a renaissance; it about time, during the latter half of tne twentieth and first portion of the twenty first, literacy rates in america have been steadily declining.  It may be time to reverse that trend, with the help of computers.

Tomorrow's children's books will doubtless look more like america than today's children's books. Some segments of the culture catch up faster than others.

Bring It On

OBAMA SAYS he is tired of waiting for congress to act, so he is going to act alone to try to save the environment, and that, by anyone's standards, is a pretty tall order. Interesting to think that it was  congress which created this opportunity for the president, through the EPA.

The EPA can issue restrictions and guidelines to americans pertaining to the environment, and the president can direct the EPA to do so. You wonder how much he can really do, however, and whether it will be enough.

It is starting to look as though elimination of carbon emissions, cleaning up the environment, and switching to sustainable energy sources are all achievable, but our resolve seems lacking. The united states keeps blocking, ignoring, or refusing to sign any and all international environmental agreement, obviously in deference to american corporate power.

The cap and trade idea, whereby any carbon producing company would be allowe a carbon limit, then assigned a carbon tax, with the power to buy and sell carbon credits, which is quite popular and effective in other countries, died in congress during the first six months of the obama administration, for the usual reason; american corporate power, and greed.

Obama's unilateral environmental initiatives are likely to be rather tame, probably consisting of little more than a requirement that corporations which cause a great deal of carbon pollution find a way to stop increasing their pollution, and maintain it at current levels, or reduce it. Guess which they'll choose?

Already the conservatives are screaming bloody murder, job killer, and the whole spew. But at least we appear well positioned for good old fashioned political drama, and who doesn't love that?

Not This Time

U.S. Secretary of state john kerry made a funny joke. He said, he wondered why whistleblower edward snowden went to china and then russia in his flight from american justice, was it perhaps because those two countries are such staunch bastians of internet freedom?

Give credit where credit is due. good joke, john. But, is this a good time for american govt officials to be making jokes about government restrictions of freedoms in other countries?  The reason china and russia have no interest in turning over snowden to american justice is that they are enjoying too much using him as proof of american hypocrisy and mistreatment of its own people.

And, if you were them, wouldn't you? The american government, directed by obama, is seemingly going to stick to its guns with regard to its story, that it has been doing nothing wrong to the american people, but that snowden, by telling the truth about what the government has been doing, which is nothing wrong, to the american people, is now the greatest international criminal of all time, and must be returned to the U.S. immediately!

So, the surveillence of the people is not wrong, but reaveling it is?Why at least were we not told that our conversations were subject to monitoring? We were? Oh! OK! Fine...

the longer our political leaders defend the surveillence of america instead of apologizing for it, the more quickly we should turn them out of office. Already the stonewalling has begun, but we won't permit it, not this time.

Down With Tyranny

'THE RULE OF LAW' is the clever phrase obama and the gang are using to describe their point of view in the worldwide hunt for edward snowden. The federal government gang, preaching morality to the world, claiming to stand by the rule of law, while defending an unconstitutional, illegal, domestic spying program. 

The best thing to do might be to pin a medal on snowden, and let him go his merry way. And then, purge the U.S. federal govt of massive dorruption. The people of the world might not fully understand the great disconnect between the american people and their government; usually, it hardly seems as if the government is any kind of reflection of the people at all.

a great service has been rendered to the people of the world by snowden, and particularly the people of the U.S.A. Wherever he is, let's all simply agree to let him be, in defiance of the sealed arrrest warrant issued by the U.S. fed gov. Sealed, secret content. How surprising.

There is no possible further harm snowden can do to the american surveillance state. Hasn't he already done his best? Isn't it too late to shut him up, and how would punishing him help at this point, by discouraging others to follow his example? Hell, we should all follow his example. Power to the people, down with tyranny, right?

At this point, you almost begin to believe that stuff about hidden alien bodies...

At first, the government, obama, denied that anyone is listening to anyone elses phone conversations. Categorical denial. then, the military came forward and said that whatever use the spying had was very limited, and in every instance thwarted a potential act of terrorism.

Now they are just flat out saying that there is nothing wrong with it. And that to oppose it, ar argue against it, in any way, is unpatriotic. You'll be hearing this soon enough, if you aren't already. Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. Patriotism corrupts history.

With each passing day the american people grow angrier about this violation of privacy rights. The american people will insist on a clean restoration or privacy rights, protection from government surveillence.

We want good law enforcenemnt, and a safe, crime free culture, but we do not want a citizenry armed to the teeth, or government surveillence of all aspects, or any aspects, of our lives. A world of intense international competition, with information wars and huge military forces pitted against each other cannot last long.

Self protection and healthy mistrust are necessary; but paranoia and excessive  policing of society are cancerous evils. ultimately, We The People are in charge of all these choices.

American Federal Government Virtue

PRESIDENT OBAMA AND SEC OF STATE KERRY are admonishing the russians to "do the right thing" as they quaintly put it, and apprehend and return edward snowden to the united states, so he can stand trial for treason, and be publicly flogged, as an adoring public once again gives thanks to itw wise and beneficent government for saving the nation.

obama and kerry, twin paragons of american virtue, admonishing the russians to "do the right thing". Well, i aint the russians, but if i were, i know exactly where i'd tell the american government to put its right thing...

the chinese, and hong kong in particular, are now apparently on the american government's shit list for having failed to apprehend, arrrest, and return snowden. The chinese reminded the american guardians of virtue that they were in no way obligated to or responsible for doing anything of the sort to snowden, and that he was perfectly free to leave their country anytime he wished.

I would recomnend to the chinese that they not spend too much time worrying about being on america's shit list; after all, these days, who isn't? Most of its own citizens, evidently, and a good many sovereign nations as well.

five'll get you ten snowden will never make it back to america, but instead will simply vanish, with no explanation. when the american government wants you dead bad enough, you end up dead. I've read enough spy novels to know that.

If big brother succeds in bringing snowden home and punishing him, it will only serve to make a martyr out of the young man for his growing legions of admirers to use as an inspiration for civil disobediance. That would never do. He must vanish, and soon, for the sake of our virtuous fed gov.

Civil disobedience is what this country could use a good dose of; or maybe some good old fashioned civil demanding; demanding that the national surveillence state be dismanteld, and the patriot act repealed, and the national security global corporate empire be scaled back to an affordable level to avert national bankruptcy.

While the federal government tries to focus our attention elsewhere, anywhere, other than on itself, the federal government is exactly where our attentions should be focused, must be focused, if we are to avoid descending entirely into a police state dictatorship.

the United Surveillance State of America

I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER snowden's first name, but there'll be time for that later. For now, suffice to say that in my book he is a hero, and basically has been since i first heard about him.

He may be the man who saves america from itself. If nothing else, it should be perfectly obvious to everyone that the america people have totally lost control of the american government, and jefferson's warning has come true: "if the people become inattentive to the affairs of government, then the legaslators and magistrates will divide society into two classes, wolves, and sheep."

Boy, howdy. Two things about the NSA's behavior alarm me. That they would do the surveillance thing at atll, and that they would keep it secret. This is much to remindful of east germany, soviet russia, north korea, red china....you get the point.

even more frightening is the fact that the nations leaders, from both parties, are acting like snowden is a traitor, and they vow to catch him and string him up. The gang of thugs which governs our once great nation, including, obama, reid, pelosi, lyndsey graham, Senator McConnell, democrats and republicans alike, are all reassuring us that absolutely nothing is wrong with the NSAs spying on the american people, everything is as it should be, no harm is being done, until this traitor snowden came along and spilled the beans.

snowden will probably conveniently disappear soon, somewhere like moscow. some of our american goons will get him, and snowden will join jimmy hoffa in eternal mystery. We the american people should insist that he be invited back to america, and offered the presidency. we need more people like him.

most americans are outraged about all this already, and those who aren't soon will be, we hope, when they suddenly wake up and realize what's going on. A lady called the rush limbaugh show asking why dodn't any member of congress tell the american people about this,why did it have to be somebody like snowden?

I had to laugh. I wanted to say "ma'am, i hate to tell you this, but they, the members of congress, they are the bad people, they are the ones who did this to us, and decided to keep it secret. they are the LAST people from whom you might expect truth".

So now we need everyone aout in the streets, protesting against government sping on us, unconstitutionally, protesting against the ownership and tyrannical control of the united states by the elite corporate industrial financial complex, the "one percent".

Gotta go get a few things toagther. See you there later.....long live free democratic america!

It Aint a Pretty Sight

A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO in egypt, a few people were disenchanted with the combination of sour economy and authoritarian government, so they got on their cell phones and computers, and started talking to some of their friends about it, and the next thing you know, thousands of people are out in the streets, protesting, and eventually bringing down the egyptian government and replacing it with another, which, so far, has not proven to be any better than the previous. Oh well, at least they tried.

Soon, most arab countries were having some sort of uprising or other, and the most recent, and extreme, is the syrian civil war. The "arab spring" is a testament to the power of the internet, and cell phones.

About the same time, the "occupy wall street" movement happened in the unites states, with thousands of people not merely protesting in the streets, but camping in the streets for weeks, making the protest continuous. Laptops and cell phones were in the streets, along with the tents and sleeping bags. Unike the egyptian and syrian revolts, the occupy wall street movement did not have enough support to succeed, to bring about real political change - this time.

Anyone who thinks that a war between the rich and the poor is impossible in america should reconsider. Gore Vidal figured this out as a seven year old, riding in the back of his granfather senator gore's limo through the streets of washington, while bonus marchers pelted it with rocks and tomatoes.

A war in america between rich and poor is not only possible, it is increasingly likely as the gap in income and wealth continues to grow, to an unprecedented extent. It would prabaly begin with protest-like violence, and escalate from there, into widespread violence which might not immediately be called "war between rich and poor", but would be. (historians would figure this out later, at history conventions.)

The "ninety nine precent" theme of the occupy wall street movement was mildly clever, and not altogether unsubstantiated by facts. If only one percent of the people are evil, they must really be evil, and since they are only one percent, they are beatable. Chances are they would have more than one percent on their side, though.

But it wouldn't be a pretty sight. Hell, society aint a pretty sight now, if you really look at it.

All True, All Good

"Is not life short enough? Should we not join hands with those who go our way?"  -- Goethe

THERE ARE MANY FINE WAYS to spend a weekend. I might recommend a forty year high school class reunion, and a memorial service for a good freind who died recently, suddenly. Call it an emotional whirlwind tour, in order to see, as quickly as possible, all that is important in life.

A beautiful blonde came walkig up to me, and asked "do you know who i am?" The most terrifying question of all, but, unavoidable, under the circumstances. I did, and I didn't, and as i way trying to convey this confuisng message, she was absorbing me in a hug, in which i gladly participated .

When she told me who she is, i had one of those "oh my god YES!  eureka moments, convinced that i woulda figured it out soon on my own. she never gave me the chance. it had been forty years since i had seen her. She was beautiful then, and beautiful now.


"I didn't think I would ever see you again", i cood to her while holding her hand. "I was shy back then", she said, "but I'm not shy anymore." Oh, my heavens.

 A good reunion is, like good history, one damned thing after another.

I heard a voice from behind me "gentlemen, are you ball players!"  That line belonged to me, back in the summer of seventy three, when i tried and failed miserably to make dignified, courteous contact with a pair of presumed big leaguers.

I turned around, and a friend i had not seen in forty years is standing there, now a grey haird semi retired doctor, back then one of my high school wild haired running mates.

It all made me wonder what would have happened had i awakened on may 25, 1973, and been able to log on to facebook, and keep constant contact with my entire high school class for forty years. For one thing, last night never would have happened.

the funeral for a friend part of the weekend i could do without, but it certainly does reinforce that true cliche about  any given moment.

its all true, and its all good

Giving Up Something

THERE ARE MANY WAYS to measure wealth, and compare nations, one of them being mean per capita income; what is the income of the person above whom half of his coutnrymen live, and below which the other half live?

The mean income in the united states, it turns, out, is number twenty seven in the world; there are twenty six countries in which the mean income, expressed in U.S. dollars, is higher than in america.
But, remember, there are many ways to measure wealth.

IN terms of total national wealth, gross domestic product, the united states remains in first place, with china at number two, japan at number three, and germany number four. But the chinese are gaining, rapidly, and there is no way to stop them, short of nuclear annihilation. They will pass us.

Countries ahead of the united states in mean income include the usual wealthy suspects, the united arab emerates, monte carlo, etc, and the big industrial socialistic european countries. But there are some surprises on the list; spain and portugal, countries which we thought to be poorer than we.

IN terms of paer capita standard of living, which might seem a better measure of national wealth than mean income, the united states has never fared very well, barely eeking into the top twenty. There are just too many very poor people in america, the sheer number brings the average income down.

America's extremely wealthy do indeed have humongous incomes, but there simply aren't enough of them to compensate for the tens of millions of dirt poor people in america. Half of all stocks and bonds in america and twenty percent of all household wealth is owned by the top one percent.

The concentration of wealth has never been greater, anywhere, and is growing, rapidly, in america.
Deregulation in business and industry, stagnating wages for the workers for several decades, and the ripping up of the social safety net  together have made powerty a national epidemic.

Programs like head start, aid to dependant mothers, disability insurance, unemployment insurance have not created poverty, contrary to an often heard conservative fable. In america the masses of fully employed impoverished continue to grow, and it is inevtable that as this new class grows, it will become restless and, to some extent, organized.

For the poor to gang up on the wealthy and try to squeeze a little wealth out of them seems, on the surface, the most natural thing in the world. It would certainly be more in keeping with human nature and normal human behavior than failing to do so. Confiscation of resources by brute force is the usual mode of operation for homo sapiens, let's face it.

And it will come to that, if things get bad enough for enough people, and it doesn't seem so impossible nowadays. We can avoid self destruction only by cooperation, never by competition. Cooperation means some people, most people, have to give up something in compromise, and that won't be easy for americans in particular. The future is frightening.

Our Legacy

I HAVEN'T HAD cable tv in a year and a half, and i still don't miss it. As i had hoped and planned, the internet is taking the place of television in my life quite nicely, keeping me reasonably educated about current events, and providing more than adequate visual and verbal escape entertainment.

The headlines on the aol and the msn homepages almost always have something to titillate one's interest, the main formula consisting of some hot headline about some celebrity, click for more info.

I never clink on celebrity teasers. I don't really need to know whether miley is dating someone, or who it might be, or the top ten celibrity tippers, or the top ten cities for spotting the top ten hottest celebrities in public, or...whatever....I'll leave that to the rest o' y'all. 

Sometimes the headlines themselves are sufficient to provoke thought, and further clicking and reading becomes needless, because the headline sums it all up, and the text is nothing other than repitition and amplification.

"Five Companies That Owe Their Employees a Raise" caught my attention, as did the one right undereath it  "U.S.A. a nation of salespeople and Food Preparers.", and then the one immediately below: "Five Companies That Can't Grow Anymore". 

Where do you start?  Clicking and reading just led me to more advertiesments, and more clicking and reading, a never ending descending spiral deeper, and deeper into cyber space. Scary.
All three of these headlines point out a fundamental problem with the american economy, although they all tried to pass it off as a sensational, noteworthy, celebraty studded....fluke.... mickey dees and wal mart may've been two of the five, but you get the point.

In america, we pay the top peple, in every area of economic endeavor, outlandishly, and the bottom of the very broad based pyramid get peanuts, crumbs. thus, the enormous gap between rich and poor, and thus, the economic stagnation that naturally comes with lack of economcy activity. If everyone either already has everything, or can afford nothing, where can economic health and growth come from?

We have evolved in america froma wealth producing economy, to a service selling economy; everybody is either a salesperson or a server or a money manager or a lawyer, or an entertainer, or a teaher, or a caregiver, a body trainer, a dietician......but nobody is a farmer, a factory worker, a carpenter, or a construction worker...in america, we might wish to consider returning to an economy of manufacturing wealth, rather than manipulating it.

It seems sensible to assume that businesses, like people and civilizations are born, lived lives, and die. The healthy extension of life, and the construction of foundations for future life is the highest purpose to which we can aspire.

When a business or person cannot grow further, so be it, let them stop growing. And let all that we are today lay a firm foundation for all that will come in the future, when we have all gone elsewhere, to pursue other aims, and enjoy our legacy. 

In the Name of Love of Country

OBAMA AND PUTIN had their get together in ireland, and obama got his sound byte on the east side of the berlin wall, so, all is as it should be. The two leaders agreed that a negotiated settlement would be preferrable in syria, but unlikely, since they are on opposite sides of the conflict. Duh...

Obviously the syrian dictator is not going to go peacefully, especially with the russians in his corner, and his position evidently much improved on the battlefield. The russians would probably be willing to gently ease away from their support if and when the rebels get the upper hand, with american support.

Because of this situation, and others, relations between the united states and russia are not particularly good right now; russia is also an ally of the iranians, which doesn't help. However, the newly elected iranian president sounds like a reasonable person with whom it might be possible to talk, and who has already expressed a willingness to negotiate with the united states.

There are almost as many russians reading this blog as there are americans, which has always seemed a bit surprising. Also noticeable is the fact that the more critical a given article is about the united states, the more russians who read it. Maybe they like to see an american taking a jab at his own country; the russians themselves are good at it; criticizing the united states, and criticizing their own country.

Both countries, russia, and america, ar governed by an elite class of pro military empire builders, in countries in which there is a great gap between rich and poor, and there are many, many poor at the bottom of the pyramid.

IN world war one lenin encouraged the working class masses in all warring nations to stop fighting the working masses of other countries, and redirect the violence in an uprising against their own wealhty elite pro military government.

but old habits are hard to break, and the workers uprising  only happened in russia, though there were mutinies and desertions throughout the american, english, and french militaries. The poorest people in russia doubtless have much more in common with the poorest people in america than they do with their own rulers, and the same is doubtless true of american poor.

So maybe an international poor people's political party isn't such a bad, or impossible idea after all. But, at least for the moment, we still cling to our old corrupt forms of patriotism, in which the rich rule the poor, in the name of love of country.

Promoting Intellectual Freedom

TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMS ARE FAILING miserably in america,according to all indications. Not surprisingly, the united states federal government monitors and ranks all public american schools, including education departments at colleges and universities, including their emails and phone calls (just joking). And not surprisingly, the almighty fed gov does not like what it sees.

Classroom management, content knowledge and conveyance; in all areas of endeavor, american teachers are failing, because they are poorly trained. I was poorly tained by a teacher training program twenty five years ago, so it certainly doesn't surprise me that today's trainees are also.

The best, and only way to train anybody to teach is put them in a classroom, and let them teach. Throw them to the wolves, in other words. Like swimming. All these classes on how to teach are mere supplements.

One would assume that there are many teachers, schools, and students in america who do not particularly enjoy or appreciate being so closely supervised and monitored and rated by the highy and mighty federal government in washington D.C.; if you can  imagine such a thing as desiring participation in a local, democratic process, rather than a far distant, all powerful tyrannical one.

The fact that the kids are raised in and sent home daily to a violent, angry poverty ridden culture, and the  teacher's hands tied with endless testing, no creativity or flexibility, teaching hagiographic propaganda instead of real american history, rote memorization rather than mathematics, word lists rather than reading, writing, and thinking, does little to lessen the breakdown of education and our widespread  disenchantment with learning.

We must encourage naturally good teachers to come forth, identify themselves, then jump into the teaching profession, with as few ceremonial hoops through which to jump as can be reasonably arranged. Help guide this new crop of talent into the public schools in as painless and rewarding a manner as possible, efficiently, smoothly, without all the rigamarole.

Successful teaching is not so much a matter of training, as allowing; allowing the inner teacher to emerge, and to produce results, that being, namely, a well educated studentry.

What we need in america is flexibility and creativity, not rigid, standardized top heavy tyranny.
Our schools will work well only when we do what is necessary to make them so do, and that means we must  stop hindering each other with senseless systems of control and coercion, and, at long last, promote intellectual freedom.

The Power of Abstract Prayer

I WAS NEXT IN LINE at the grocery store, right behind a man talking to the cashier about a little girl in the hospital, with a serious illness. I was in  no particular hurry, and i inadvertently heard part of the conversation, while day dreaming.

the man asked the little girls name, and wrote it down, then paid for his groceries and left. I unloaded my groceries and the cashier said "how's it going?" "Just fine", i said, and maybe i should have left it at that, but i heard myself say "and i won't have to write down kyleigh's name!"

the young lady behind the cash register replied "thank you sir". Emboldened, i said "I'll keep kyleigh in my prayers too!"  "Thank you sir", said the young lady. From what i heard of the conversation, the little girl was going to recover, and be alright.

Feeling ebullient, I proclaimed "and when she comes walking out of that hospital, all well, please remember me" "Thank you sir".  Being called "sir", i am finding out, can get a bit annoying to someone with a bit of grey hair, implying the appearance and awareness of age.

Altogether I do not regret my or any part of this conversation, mypart in it, even though it seems i was a bit over eager, in my optimistic desire to express a positive attitude. I am praying for the little girl, from an interesting and unusual position of not knowing her.

So its an abstract prayer, directed to my abstract god. Good enough, it'll do. I believe in it, and i believe i will see the grocery store associate again, and she will tell me that the little girl is home and doing just fine, and i will smile, and, i hope, say nothing.

i've said enough already, and when i get my perceived, hoped for moment of glory, i ought to have enough modesty and class to simply smile, and not say, "I told you so." But i guarantee you, that's what i will be thinking. that, and giving thanks, to my powerful abstract god.

Asking for a Fork

LIVE AND LEARN. What choice do we have, other than to die, or to live and not learn? I was graciously invited to lunch by a friend of mine and his family, and, after a lively discussion, sushi was the chosen framework. I was starving, and up for anything.

When the server brought everyone chopsticks, i initially felt a surge of panic, then, collecting myself, i had enough presence of mind to speak right up, up front, and say, "I have no chance with chopsticks alone. I am from arkansas, and therefore cosmopolitan-culturally compromised, so can you please americanize me, utensily?" The nice young lady brought me a fork, and i thanked her. We all had a nice laugh, at least i did, praising my self for my honesty and humility.

When the food began to arrive, in waves, merely having a fork available gave me the courage to try chopsticks. With backup, what was there to lose, other than my dignity? I immediately asked for a quick lesson from my friend's daughter, a bright college junior, majoring in pre veterinary medicine.

She led me through the standard, by the book chopsticks in hand position, which left me feeling clumsy and awkward. I quicky forgot all she had taught me about proper form, but tried the chopsticks, and was able to stab, spear, and tweezer enough into my gaping mouth to avoid starvation and ridicule.

The entire family was highly supportive of me, and as the courses arrived, one at a time, i became increasingly bold and confident. I got greedy, though, and cocky, and overreached my ability, by trying to pick up a bundle of eggs with seaweed wrapped around them with my chopsticks. About a third of the tiny orange eggs fell out, and landed next to my plate. Since they were delicious, i wasn't about to waste them, so i unabashedly scooped 'tm up with muh fork, and shoved 'em in. High class, that's me.\

But i am still glad that i had enough sense to draw attention to my lack of experience with chopsticks, and turn it into a good natured learning experience, rather try to fake my way through the entire meal, and end up looking like barney fife.  That shows maturity. And japanese food is delicious beyond comprehension. Maybe next time, maybe someday i will have the courage, and experience, to not ask for a fork.

Dwelling in the Realm of Stupidity

SOMETIMEIN THE LATE NINETEEN SEVENTIES, before i had even tried smoking marijuana, a friend of mine from college announced that after years of inhaling, he was giving up the herb. I asked why, and he replied "because it makes me stupid."

My thought was "if you have been smoking it for a long time, presumably it has been making you stupid for a long time. Why now have you suddenly decided that temporary stupidity is no longer worth pursuing?" But instead I said "good for you". One often fares better if one does not articulate  one's thoughts out loud , most of us learn, eventually, often at great cost.

the thought also came to me "I spend every waking moment of my life attempting to be as intelligent as possible. I read, study, and go to class. I exercise, meditate, and indulge in what to me seems contemplation of the deepest sort. And yet what, in the end, does it ever get me, other than a painful awareness of the stupid, banal, tragedy of the world in which i regretably dwell?"

If life is a comedy to those who think, and a tragedy to those who feel, it seems to me that whether I think or feel, it is a tragedy. Not so much my own life, but the life of the society i see all around me.

The very notion that marijuana makes one stupid was for me  nearly enough incentive to give it a try. But then I thought, alcohol does the same thing, and in any event, is less likely to land you in jail. But, oh, those hangovers.

I have also heard that using marijuana, in moderate amounts, on an occasional basis, does something other than trigger stupidity. I had  heard that it can at times, again when used quite sparingly, inspire highly creative states of mind, and this from such notable intellectuals as dr carl sagan.

The same with alcohol. Very modest doses of the drug can be quite relaxing, comforting, and indeed mentally stimulating, but woe to those who over do it, either by imbibing an escessive amount at a single sitting, or by imbibing too frequently.

So maye its the same with marijauna, and with all drugs; that when used in proper, restrained amounts, they are truly theraputic, and bring healing, but that too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

Our culture hurls stupidity at us in overly abundant quantities, primarily through our seductive, sedative, salacious stupid media. this, for the obvious purpose of rendering us passively open to instruction and manipulation. The aspects of our modern culture which would make us more intelligent are available, but not nearly as readily. We must seek those out.

But in a world which preaches intelligence but practices stupidty, maybe an occasional self induced stupidity is a good healthy diversion for the erstwhile intelligent among us, while an occasional visit to a good research library, or to public broadcast television, might serve as an illuminating palliative to those among us who dwell mainly in the realm of stupidity. 

Looking For Love; The FBI and I

AMONG MY RECENT RESOLUTIONS  is my intention to learn to like the federal bureau of investigation. So far, no luck, but its still early, and I've plenty of time (i hope). When world war two broke out for the united states, my father was twenty three years old, single, a newly minted attorney at law, employed by my grandfather in their tort oriented law firm.

It was a cinch my dad would get the call, so he tried something creative; he applied for employment with the, you guessed it, FBI. They turned him down flat, as in feet. I don't know the real reason, presumably they knew a draft dodger when they saw one. So, my father, undaunted, enlisted in the U.S. navy, and spent four years as a lt jr grade, drilling a platoon near the defense worthy panama canal.

my dad was about as much a natural military officer - man as i am, which is to say, not much. But, being a lawyer, he was made into an officer, and discharged honorably after four years of service, for which he received a pension the rest of his life. So, it all worked out. At least, we won the war.

He told me that while in panama he could smell an approaching crippled warship before he could see it - burning fuel, burning bodies. the funniest story involves a training mission, in which my father was teaching a young seaman how to fly a steerman plane, out over the carribean, on a bright and sunny day.

A sudden noise and jolt; the wing had a smokin'  hole in it. Down below, a U boat was sitting there,black, menacing, and doubtless bored. The recruit wanted to engage the enemy; my dad had the good sense to point out that one does not engage a german U boat with .22 caliber pop guns on both wings. A cock pit scuffle ensued, my dad won, but in so doing put a scratch on the youngster's face; for which the kid put in, and received, a purple heart. True story.

But I digress. Back to the FBI. In 1990 i thought they kept a bit too close an eye on our peaceful anti war in iraq demostration. I didn't like the binoculars. Then, in 2010, the storied investigative agency made my close friend a "person of interest" in their investigation of some serial killings. They doubtless had their reason, most of which turned out to be mere coincidences. He happened to be in the same place, at the same approximate times, and so on, and so forth.

but the investigation dragged on inerminably, far too long, and disrupted my good friend's life too dramatically. Seizure of passports, seizure and damage to personal computers, streetside surveillance, phone tapping, repeated interrogations, the whole ball of wax.

So i walked into the FBI branch of my town and asked, politely, i thought, "what the hell?". The young, well dressed man with the sunglasses and lapel pin looked at me a bit sternly, i thought, then told me that he really couldn't help me, that these things take time, they always run their course, and, if my friend is innocent, in the fullness of time, it will be revealed, which it was.

Of course, everybody who knows my friend coulda told 'em that right off the bat, but hey, what can you do.... after a futile attempt at some small talk and a joke or two, i left the building, while i still could, grateful for the opportunity.

I have read john grisham novels, all of them. According to grisham, the FBI at times plays hard ball a tad too hard, and that's good enough for me. The wiretapping of martin luther king having lawful sexual intercourse with his lawfully wedded wife, i can overlook. likewise forty years of j edgar hooverian tyranny, keeping his director job by holding dirt over the heads of presidents, i can overlook.

But anybody who turns my daddy down for a job, thus forcing him into an unwanted albeit brief military career for which he was uniquely unsuited - that tears it. Hell, that german U boat coulda aimed just a bit better, then where would I be?

So, I will keep trying. Having read all of john grisham, he can do nothing further, for the moment, to spoil my image of hoover's bloodhounds. And, until the next foreign war of american aggression, i won't be out protesting again - though likely as not I won't have to wait long. in america, one never does.

Cute Conservative Comments

CONSERVATIVES SAY THE CUTEST THINGS. Some brilliant conservative, it might have been a conservative republican united states senator, it might have been rush limbaugh, it really doesn't matter, the two are indistinguishable, made the following brilliant comment: "every twenty nine year old government employee who disagrees with the united states government doesn't have permission to commit treason, and endanger national security, then go running off to china."

Perhaps the conservative, whoever it was, and again, it doesn't matter, is overlooking the relevant fact that the twenty nine year old mr snowden wasn't asking for anyone's permission. One does not usually seek permission from the tyrannt before opposing tyranny. The united states certainly does not. And, of course, if anybody else had had the courage to expose american government perfidy, anybody else would be in china, or the bahamas, too. That means you.

It is also quite likely that the american people, whom this is, after all, all about, consider the twenty nine year old whistle blower to be a much greater american patriot, and much more valuable to the american people, than all the righteously outraged conservative politicians and talk show hosts in freedom's land. Approval of congress is the lowest of any group of people who ever sought approval, and right wing radio talk show hosts preach to relatively small choirs.

then enters sarah palin, another typically brilliant conservative, who thinks that allah should sort out the mess in syria. She might be right about that, which in itself would be amazing, but, make no mistake, sarah was not showing respect to anyone else's religion when she made use of the term "allah".

After looking up the islamic word for "god" in her dusty dictionary, she used it as a lame attempt at denigration. sarah, like most consrvative american christians, suffers from the self inflicted delusion that only her chosen religion has merit. How delightfully provincial of her! How typical! But at least the occasion inspired her to find out that people of other religions have their own names for god, and that, for her, is a beginning.

I leave you with gershwin and grofe'

NOTHING IS BETTER than awakening to national public radio, just before arising for a cup of half decaf coffee, and a bit o blogging. With NPR you either get classical music to start your day, or, if you sleep a bit longer, cogent analysis of current events.

On weekends they throw in interesting human interest programs, among them, one called "Human Kind". A good name, for its gender inclusive title, and the double entendre evoked by the use of the word "kind". Another good one is "This American Life", with ira glass. We'll leave that for later.

The topics are always of interest, and worthwhile, and you don't always have to agree with what they say. This morning for me began with gershwin's "rhapsody in blue" mainly on piano, and grofe's "grand canyon suite", which i sleepily learned both premiered in a once in a lifetime type concert in new york in 1924. Oh, to've been there. Gershwin of course was trying, successfully, to blend jazz with classical music, and so successfully did he do so that  "jazz became a lady".

ferde grofe', who, believe it or not was an american composer, not french, actually visited the grand chasm several times, but wrote the suite in chicago, i learned, sleepily. (I sleepily, not ferde). I slept through only a small part of each piece, but, oh, how vivid were my dreams!

Back to human kind. The topic was relaxation, and the reduction of stress. relevant, because what american among us does not think about it, and have at least one issue with it? But today, i disagreed with a lot of what the expert was saying.

He said we don't get enough rest in ameica because we live in a culture which doesn't give us permission to rest. My immediate response, half asleep, was: who in the hell needs permission from some stinking american to get a little rest! But of course i got his point; in a culture whcih urges us all to activity, and work, work, work, rest is almost a sin, a sign of laziness, a disgrace.

Then he suggested that a great way to reduce or eliminate stress is to gather together some people, and just talk, even if, as he said, its only five or six people. Sleepily, i thought "that's lunacy!" If you get get five or six americans in the same room, which might be nearly impossible in any event, all you're gonna get is five or six voices screeching simultaneously, three or four arguments, and enough added stress to raise your systolic six points.

Talk it all out with a few friends, was the message. Talk it out, and it will drain away.. well, OK...but be careful..be very, very careful...by doing this, you are being dareful.

then he said something about the blatant individualism of our culture, which shuts out this sort of group activity, i think was his point. (again, i was sleepy, and as yet uncoffeed.) Individualism? in THIS culture? what!!!!  Hell, the least indication of non conformity in this culutre renders you an outcast. this culture is about as individualistic as as a tadpole in a mud puddle. all vestiges of individualism, any trace, was burned out of our system with the death of the hippie movement, which occured, like everything bad in america, starting with the reagan administration in the early nineteen eighties.

But at least i got to hear some good gershwin, some good grofe (american), and some good, if crazy dreaming, all before coffee, and i leave you with that.

Always Fun; Here We Go Again

THE STUPID HEADLINE says "amid growing tensions, obama and putin to meet". OK, fine. Sure.
Whether they intend to meet in person or on the phone i do not know, and is of no consequence. Hell, chances are, if they talk on the phone, their conversation will be monitored by the FBI, CIA, NSA, and whoever the hell else does all that crap for the corporate empire, aka america. What goes around comes around, barrack hussein....

The rising tensions have to do with the fact that the united states now says it will send help, real help, to the syrian rebels, while putin and the russians are staunchly allied with assad, and the existing syrian government. So, here we go again. Another freaking viet nam. Global superpowers supporting opposing sides of a civil war, for whatever phony trumped up reasons. 

First, we'll send  M16s and ammo, then, a lil air cover, then, who knows what else; whatever our corporate masters can trick us into paying for, correct? How many times must a good baby booming american citizen go through this in a single lifetime! If only obama were old enough to remember, i mean really remember, the horror that was nam..

this whole business of "we caught the syrian government using chemical weapons against the rebels, which means they done crossed the line in the sand, which means that we, america the magnanimous, must now enter the fray....well, frankly, it smells like a rat, a big 'un.

remember the maine? we claimed the spanish sank her in 1898, and declared war on spain; in truth, the boiler exploded due to incompetence.  And, then too, in 1846 we claimed that the mexicans were inviading america, so, we invaded mexico.

then, of course, was the famous gulf of tonkin, 1964, in which the U.S. of by god america claimed that the north vietnamese navy was attacking, full out, the american peace keeping armada off the shores of nam, which gave LBJ (see Johnson, lyndon, prez, USA) the excuse he wanted for giving the military industrial complex the war, or rather "police action" they wanted so badly.

and to think, back in 1939, when hitler dressed up a few germans to look like polish infantry, then crossed into poland, then back into germany, and hitler invaded poland in defense of germany, we acted like it was such a terrible thing to do. Hell, adolph was merely borrowing a page or two from the standard american playbook...

Who knows? maybe we can string this one out long enough to have one of our patented vituperative american national arguments about it, and half of us can get out in the streets with "war no more" placards, left over from viet nam, and iraq,a bit tattered but still legible, while the other, conservative half sit at home, munching buffalo wings, and bitching about "those damned peace luvin' hippies"...that's always fun...

Kindly Socialism

WHAT IF PATENTS DID NOT EXIST? Can you imagine? You invent something, or develop a great idea for a product which you are certain will be extremely popular, and profitable. But there is no protection for your idea. The minute it enters your head, the drawing board, and comes into existence, anyone who finds out about it can perfectly legally steal the idea from you, copy it, market it, and profit from it, before you do. Your only recourse is to keep the idea a complete secret until launch day, then hit the market on the run, and hope you get enough of a head start to thwart and leave behind any potential imitators.

What if bankruptcy laws did not exist? No matter how much debt you incurred, or how you incurred it, you were liable for it, with no chapter seven or chapter eleven options, no way to ever get back on your financial feet, until  and unless the debt is fully satisfied.

What if there were no such animal, no such legal fiction, as a "corporation? Big businesses, yes. Huge companies, yes. But no corporations, no incorporations within the court, within the legal system. No invisible corp, body , given to a business enterprise, making it a separate legal individual. That would mean that every individual, every owner of said business, or anyone having anything to do with it in any manner, would be entirely responsible for all financial invovlement, to the complete extent of involvement; there would be no separate entity known as a "corporation" to use as an avoidance of liability (responsibility) for flesh and blood humans. Whatever debt, however enormous, owed by the company, the owners of the compay, every investor, would be responsible for the satisfaction of said debt, no matter how enormous.

the term "free market" is deceiving. A truly free market, one without any government involvment, control, or regulation whatsoever, would be one without incorporated businesses, bankruptcy laws, or patents, or copyrights. You write a song, any body can sing it, record it, perform it, profit from it, right from the git go. A "free" market, rather than a market overseen by government to protect business enterprise from the big bad, natural predatory world around it.

Such an economic system would strangle on its own competitive brutality, dragging down so many people, stifling so much investment, that it could never function. Thus we invented the three completely artificial, government mandated and backed, economic devices described above; incorporation, patents, bankruptcy. Artificial ecomonic institutions, government instituted, cooperatively maintained by society at large, socially accepted and utilized. Socialism.

Socialism is what keeps capitalism afloat, and without socialism, there is no capitalism. Predictably, every hard nosed conservative capitalist in america or anywhere else would argue to the death that incorporation, bankruptcy, and patenting are not socialism, but are merely features to protect fair business practices. But what is  "fair" business practice, if not made fair by universal rules, by society itself? Cutthroat competition, that's what fair business is, that's what fair living is; cut throat competition. All's fair in love and war, and everything else, in a truly "free" enterprise system. What we have is a mitigated, regulated enterprise systm, capitalism founded upoon socialist principles, to prevent economic collapse. Thank the powers that be for their kind socialistic assistance!

One in a Million; not even

FRANK HERBERT, science fiction writer extraordinaire, wrote the best selling science fiction novel of all time, "Dune", and its five sequals. In it is a prominent planet "Salusa Secondus". Most of the Dune books were written in the nineteen sixties and seventies, and herbert died in 1986, at the age of sixty five.

Now fast forward to the present. On the internet, there is an "entity" called "Salusa", who is allegedly a being from the star sirius, presumably a plaent orbiting said star, because sirius is even hotter than most stars, and that's goin' some.

Salusa is "channeled " by an older gentleman named mike quinsey, and is featured on at least one blog, and maybe many more.. Salusa, from all appearances, is quite popular. Apparently thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, log on to the channelings of salusa.

the people who do evidently accept the claim a priori that salusa is a being from sirius , without any hesitation. I know of at least one person who fits this category. What salusa says is quite comforting, and gentle.

The message, essentially, is that the world is messed up because it is run by evil people, but things are changing, because the human race is undergoing a spiritual awakening, and is being aided by the galactic federation of light. You can figure out for yourself what this is. Our future is golden.

I am perfectly willing to accept all this. I am even perfectly willing to assert that i believe that there is a ninety nine percent probability that salusa is indeed an enlightened being from sirius, and that mike is channeling said being. this i choose to do.

But i am also willing to accept the possibility, the one percent possibility, that mike is an attention seeking fraud, and that maybe he read "Dune" at a younger age. Of course, it is possible that a very real being from another star system just happens to call itself by the name of a planet in an earthly science fiction novel. Or maybe the enlightened being from the galactic federation of light read "Dune", and likes the name, and chose to adopt it.

Mike recently suffered a mild stroke, (may he get well soon) and instead of salusa choosing to send messages to somebody else as a temporary substitute channeler, it has been announced that salusa has temporarily stopped sending messages, until mike is back on his feet, which, it is hoped, is quite soon.

we live in an age of credulity, of believing, af grasping for something, anything, other than the harsh reality of the world we see. Hence, alcoholism, and widespread drug use. Hence, the booming psychiatric industry. Hence the enormous escape entertainment industry. Hence salusa?

is there even a one in a million chance that salusa is nothing other than mike quinsey's fertile imagination?  Maybe, but don't try telling that to any of his many followers. You'll have an angry antagonistic believer with whom to deal, one who will have an answer for you which will not reflect well on your open mindedness nor intelligence, and will doubtless have the full support of the galactic federation of light.

Pulling Weeds, Hanging Pictures

AS I HAVE AGED, i have acquired the habit of going to be early, very early, and waking up and getting up early, usually about sunrise. In summer, a cup of coffee on a front porch surrounded by shrubs and trees helps me wake up.

When i had this house built, it was a barren construction site, a half acre of dirt and crabgrass surrounding the paint fresh ranch style house. I didn't think i had a chance. The place looked like the surface of the moon.

I have an aversion to paying somebody to make my yard pretty. Likewise, I have an aversion to tanning parlors, golf carts, personal trainers, and having somebody wait on me while i sit at a table in a restaurant.

All this may well be a cry for independence, for self sufficiency. My mother was a bit doting. So, after finally realizing that I had closed on the house, and that it would bring difficulties to back out now, i went to work on the yard, slowly.

That was eight years ago, when I had just turned fifty. One weed at a time. A tree, then another, about my height. the shrubs. Now the trees have grown to twenty feet, and promise much more, there is a thick layer of lush green grass, and, through several several droughts, it all looks quite a bit better than it did when i started.

The inside of the house was as barren as the yard, and equally laden with pure potential. I put cheap impressionistic prints all over the walls, and i think it looks good. every painting print has water as a theme. I don't know why. evolutionary memory?

several years ago a pipe in one of the bathrooms broke, the house flooded, and i thought about giving up, again. the repairs, which included a complete interior repainting, cost me one thousand dollars, and the insurance company seventeen thousand.

It took me two years to redecorate the walls, but, it got done, much as before. Almost every day my mother asks me if i got my yardwork done, and i almost every day i tell her that yard work is never done, unless i am missing something.

what remains at the end of our lives is memory, and all this will be a good one for me.

Far More Fortunate

WHAT AMERICAN ever celebrated the eighteenth birthday with any idea whatever concerning the future, let alone any vague idea? Some, certainly, but, on a purely percentage basis, surely not many. You almost pity those who do; they never get to experience the joyful angst of undecided youth, the joyful, hopeful fear of the vast unkown. They are sequestered in the stultifying comfort of certainty.

College, job, or the military. Are these not the standard choices? Forty years ago, when confronted with these choices, I vowed that i would never join the military voluntarily or any other way; viet nam had decided for me. I would go to canada first. Now, I would join in a heartbeat. It might be the best choice, opening opportunites of enormous variety for post military pursuits. Any opportunities for a fifty eight year old recruit?

And sometimes, when one is uncertain and confused, and ends up pursuing a path that was previously unthinkable, one is actually better off. Consider, for instance, albert einstein. When he graduated college with a degree in physics, he tried to get a job as an assistant to a, any, professor of physics, in a, any, european university. He was about twenty one years old, with a girlfriend and a child, (which nobody knew about until quite recently, and whom he never saw, and gave up for adoption), and in a letter he wrote "I have applied to every physics professor from scandanavia to southern italy".

He never got a job. His credentials were unimpressive, he didn't dress properly, and he was somewhat of, ahem, a smart ass. He never even got any responses to his applications. At one point his father tried to help him by writing a pleading letter to a distinguised professor on his son's behalf, and begged for help - but got no reply.

Einstein began sending out self addressed stamped envelopes for professors to use in reply; none of them ever came back, and today, humorously, these postcards are museum pieces and highly valued collectors items in the collectible industry, fragments from the early life of the great einstein, reminders that, as goethe said "one does not always lose if one has to do without".

einstein ended up getting a job in the swiss patent office, where he worked for seven years, happily inspecting all manner of crazy devices for which inventors were seeking patents. this allowed him plenty of free time to think, and to totally revolutionize science and our understanding of the universe.

I was born nine days after einstein died, and when i was a teenager i thought i might be einstein reincarnated. then, i thought i might end up as an esteemed college professor. Instead i ended up teaching college, all grade levels in public schools, did some substitute teaching, and became a care giver for disabled people. And, a blogger. I have no regrets. Life is fulfilling, no what what one does, so long as what one does is worthwhile, and contributes to humanity.

Late in life einstein said that if he had to do it all over again he would either be a plulmber or a lighthouse attendant, becuae his favorite activity was wuietly thinking, which made the thought of lighthouse sitting attractive to him and plumbling was a helpful, practical profession. The american plumbers association made him an honorary member.

Even though he had a career as a great scientist, world famous, and contributed much, his failures and frustrations were as great as his successes, he hated the notoriety, which he considered weird, annoying, and unfounded, and, as others have pointed out, in terms of actual scientific accomplishments, he might as well have gone fishing the last half of his life.

But one thing einstein was smart enough to know, which we should all know; the success of a person's life is not measured by wealth, fame, or power, but rather, by the degree to which one finds happiness in serving the human race and nature, and god, through humble but productive activity.

And to all you confused eighteen year olds; best of luck, you are far more fortunate than you may realize.

No Bounds

ONE IN FOUR AMERICAN workers gets no vacation, according to reliable statistics. By this is meant "paid" vacation time. Presumably, anyone with a job who wants to take a vacation can do so, providing the person is willing to pay for it without employee assistance of any sort, and also willing to return to work to discover that he or she has been replaced.

Those fortunate seventy five percent who do get paid vacation time don't get much. The  american vacation on average is two weeks, or less. IN europe, tehe average is four to six week,s and anyone with a job is blessed with paid vacation time, mandated by government, in good old socialistic europe.

the mere fact that three out of four americas does get a paid vacation clearly indicates that american society considers paid vacation time to be acceptable, and, dare one say, prescribed.

WE americans don't pay our workers all that well either. Even with minimum wage now raised to something like seven twenty five per hour, it seems paltry, inadequate, behind the economic times of real life economics, dare one say, "exploitational".

Partly because of this,in free market businesses all over america, profits, benefits, and wealth, which always begin at the bottom, are sucked upward by the management and owner powers that be, the middle class shrinks by the year, and the gap between rich and poor is greater than it has ever been, in the united states, or anywhere else.

But believe it or not, things have improved, greatly. The federally mandated forty hour work week has been with us since the nineteen thirties. Overtime pay, health care insurance provided by employers, and safer working conditions are all twentieth century phenomena.

The best place to get an idea of what workers had to endure in the nineteenth century is the groundbreaking novel "the Jungle", by upton sinclair. It was published in 1905, was a popular success, and later that same year the government initiated, for the first time, labor reform, amid strenuous corporate opposition. (all labor reforem manifests amid strenuous corporate opposition).

If you were employed in the chicago stockyards meatpacking factories in 1904, you were worked to the bone, overseen by booses whose job was to speed you up while you cut the guts out of slain cattle, or shoveled meat into containers along with dead rats, often in extreme heat or bitter cold, and crippling or fatal injuries were run of the mill. If you dropped dead on the job, your body was either swept casually aside, or added to the lard buckets.

the pay was pennies per day, there was no vacation time, days off, work days were twelve hours and up, uion organizers were brutally beaten by thugs hired by millionaire owners, and anyone with a family trying to work in a place like this went hungry. Child labor was commomplace.

So we have improved conditions for workers, but only at gunpoint, by federal legislation. Just so you'll know; we still need more federal legislation, more protection for workers against exploitation, and more organization by workers. The alternative is to return to conditions as they were a hundred and twenty years ago. Don't think our corporate masters wouldn't want this.Greed knows no bounds.

Being Consistent,Being Human

CONSISTENCY IS WHAT we expect from other people, but not from ourselves. It is a perception only, a way of making the world a bit more comprehensible. and when others fail to meet our expectations of consistency, we react with disdain. Those aomng us who are perceived as inconsistent are either stupid, or poorly educated, or just dead wrong.

I try to be on the look out for this in myself; i remind myself that anyone who fails to meet my expections of consistent behavior or beliefs is not necessarily wrong, or stupid. My current test consists of united states congresspeople who, on the one hand, oppose all legislation to strengthen gun control laws on the basis that such measures intrude on constitutional rights, and simultaneously favor government surveillance of the american people as a necessary deterrent to terrorism.

I just don't get it.

Why would anyone who believes that all gun control is an invasion of civil rights not believe that governemnt surveillance of telephone and internet communication is also an invasion of civil rights? How do they figure this?

I suppose I would be happier if those who oppose gun control also opposed electronic surveillence, or conversely, if those who favor gun control accepted electronic surveillance is a necessary evil? Or even if a person opposed surveillance but favored gun control, on the grounds that guns are much more potentially and immediately harmful than telephone talk or email letter writing.

So i I fall victim to human nature, like everyone else. I establish what i consider to be consistency in thought and action, and manifest disdain for anyone else who fails to meet my standards. I myself being in favor of what I think to be "reasonable" expanded gun control, but entirely opposed to spying on american citizens. I , who am inconsistent, expect others to adhere to my definition of consistency. Well, at least, its nice to know that I am, after all, human.

Making it all Worthwhile

"AGAINST STUPIDITY, the gods themselves contend in vain", said the wise ancient greek philosopher, agathon. Or maybe "there is no limit to the length people will go to in order to rationalize their own stupid or immoral behavior". That bit of truth was provided by a modern american blogger.

Two cases in point. The director of the national security agency, who oversees all the thousands of american alphabetical spy organizations, claims that without domestic surveillance programs the country would by now have been devastated by monumental acts of terrorist destruction.

By keeping tabs on tens of millions of john and jand doe americans, our mighty magnanimous government has thwarted scads of terrorist plots, the precise nature of which, of course, cannot be divulged to the masses, for reasons of national security.

Just take our word for it, we who spy on you and never bothered to mention it, we who would now be continuing to spy on your emails and phone chit chat unbeknownst to you, were it not for the traitorous treasonous blabber mouth of a certain former low level employee of america's illegal intelligence complex, now cowardly on the run.

Like, sure. We certainly are gonna beliee that, aren't we, my fellow gullible americans? WE who nibble meekly from your proffered hand, and believe everything, absolutely everything, all the wisdom you bestow upon us from on high, mister national security agency director-spokesperson.

then there is the republican congressperson who insists that the instances in which rape results in pregnancy are vanishingly rare, and are therefore no excuse to alow a women to have an abortion, in an othwerwise perfect abottion free future world. 

You may recall the brilliant congressperson who several months ago articulated the brilliant assertion that it is utterly impossible for a woman to get pregnant from being raped; anyone who gets pregnant must have wanted it.  Hint; science, and common sense, clearly refute this nonsense. 

What will they think of next? The fools would be humorous were they not in such deadly earnest. Did H.L. Mencken say that? No matter, its true, no matter who said it. Somehow, our special breed of american fools are still humorous, no matter their level of deadly earnest. Our american fools are just plain entertaining, and amusing. Somehow, that's consoling. Somehow, that makes it all worthwhile.

Wal Mart as a Role Model

IT IS THE LARGEST CORPORATION in the world, of any type, with annual sales over half a billion dollars, and thousands of stores throughout america and around the world. Everyone in america has shopped at wal mart, except paris hilton and conscientious objectors. Just when shareholders start thinking that the stock price has maxed out, and further appreciation is impossible, up shoots the stock price, and more billions accumulate in the bank accounts of the walton family, which consists of only a half dozen people or so, who own most of the stock, each with something like twenty billion dollars to his or her name.

Since I live near fayetteville, arkansas, the annual shareholders meeting, which attracts twenty thousand people and annually fills up the university of arkansas basketball arena with investors and entertainment celebrities, interests me; I take great care to stay away from fayetteville during the last week in may.

each year big names like miley cyrus, elton john, james taylor, and all manner of A listerers crooningly expound the virtues of their sugar daddy. This year's remarks by guest speaker tom cruise perked up more ears than usual; (at least he didn't try to sing.)

Wal mart a role model? for what? exploitation? A great benefit to women? How so, minimum wage jobs, few benefits, discrimminatory lack of promotions for the ladies? Slave labor in third world garment making countries? There used to be something called "the garment district" in new york city, which stopped locking the girls to their sewing machines several decades ago. Now, thanks to role models like wal mart,  padlocks lock workers to sewing machines in places like bangladesh and india.

Many years ago alice walton, one of the billionaire wal mart family heirs, was arrested for drunken driving and paraded before a fayetteville judge, and on the front page on the local newspaper. I wrote a scathing letter to the editor, pointing out that other DUI offenders are not nearly as well humiliated with front page publicity. For my trouble i was reminded that celebrities are public property, and i never got even a note of thanks from alice, let alone a gift certificate.

So, as far as I'm concerned, tom cruise can take his gratuity, jet it back to his L. ron hubbard cult in california, and prepare to look pretty for another movie performance devoid of any trace of acting. Alice walton can enjoy her texas ranch and american only art, and wal mart can continue to exploit workers and transfer wealth upward as fast as american indolence and apathy allows. You'll find me over at target, where there is still some vestige of hope for a successful, moral corporate enterprise.