Hiding From Drones

WITHIN A FEW YEARS the skies over America will be filled with drones, going about our business for us, robotically. Has Amazon dot com made their first drone delivery yet? How on earth will it, does it work? UFO descends from the sky, hovers in front of front door, attracts attention of recipient within, who opens the front door, then opens a compartment in the drone and removes the newest science fiction novel? Or does the drone use a mechanical arm to reach out and hand the merchandise to the customer? And here's a question for ya: what happens when the damned things start crashing through roofs, and into people's living rooms? What happens when somebody walking down the street gets slaughtered by one? You know its going to happen. All technology has accidents. I honest to goodness think that if ever some flying robot comes down out of the sky and tries to communicate with me, I'll drop dead of a heart attack. Fright, actually. Am I just dreaming all this? God, I hope so. A list of how drones will be used is mind boggling. Agricultural work, infrastructure monitoring and repair, surveillance, and many others. All this within the next five years, because the technology is already here. We are going to have all this futuristic technology, whether we want it or not. It is ot be hoped that it shan't be owned and controlled by a very few super wealthy super powerful elite. That's the last thing we want. What we want, fellow humans, is economic and political and social equality. Its worth working for, an idea worth keeping alive, and bringing to life, whenever and wherever possible. Unless technology provides a better life for all, it isn't worth having. To have a sustainable future, we'll have to change, and now is the perfect time for change, at the start of a new year. Meanwhile, I'll have to make sure I never buy anything vrom Amazon dot com. I sure as hell don't want some flying robot to attack me.

Seasons and Attitudes

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, but I think I prefer equinoxes over solstices. At the soltices occur when the season is on the verge of becoming extremely hot or extremely cold, at the thirty sixth parallel, and nearby. Equinoxes, half way up the planet in the northern hemisphere, signal the beginning of moderate weather, moderately warm or cool, and it is either spring covering the world with the first shade of green, or autumn, preparing to dazzle us with bright hot tree colors. But the trick is, equinox or solstice, to embrace. Embrace either. Embrace both. Humans can learn to embrace anything, even suffering. A Goethe said: "one does not always lose if one has to do without". And "sickness too has its virtues. I have learned much in illness that I would have haver learned in good health". Embrace the new year! Embrace the aging process, and embrace death. In America, we tend to celebrate a birth and mourn a death. Shouldn't we do the opposite? Bertolt Brecht said "In the earthquakes to come it is to be hoped I shan't allow bitterness to quench my cigar's glow." I'm pretty sure it was January 1, 1966, when I began my diary. I wrote things in it like "I had a pretty good day today." Good, simple, positive stuff. No cynicism or sophisticated analysis. The kind of 'tude that wouldn't do any harm right about now. I think by the time February rolled around, my entries were less frequent than daily. And by March and April, the diary was idle. Oh well. Not bad for a ten year old fifth grader, in the nineteen sixties, without a kindle, I pad, or word processor.

Separating Church and State, For Peace

A FEW DAYS AGO a car bomb killed four NATO personel, including one American, in Iraq, and the Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for it. I'll take their word for it. Why would they lie aobut his? They have plenty of other things to lie about, and they aint shy about lying. Even if I were driven to do something like that, I aint sure I'd take responsibility for it. I think I would be too ashamed of myself. Wouldn't most people? Wouldn't any civilized person, ever after a moment's reflrecion, feel shame for murdering? The suicide bombers in Russia perhaps thought they would avoid shame, and bask in glory, but we'll see. For all we know, all suicide bombers are roasting in hell. The Taliban was previously in power in Afghanistan, having been put in power by, you guessed it, the United States. Do they consider car bombings good credentials for governing their country, or being good citizens whithin it? They want the foreigners out. That's understandable. But they want more. All the suicide bombings appear to have the object of bringing about an Islamic state in the former Soviet Union and in Afghanistan. The ends justifies the means, which is intimidation by murder. The United States of America is, admittedly, a violent nation. But it has a stable government, which the people have the power to replace at regular intervals, through elections. Nobody is in power for very long in America, and religion doesn't matter; public policy is what matters in America. There are advantages to a secular democracy; one advantage is that members of all religions feel free to pariticpate in government, but no religion feels free to dominate and control government. Other than a few prayers and crosses here and there, the Christians in America are very tame about inserting their religion into America's secular government, bless their hearts. That trait among Americans, if any, might be one worth emulating by moslems everywhere.

Saving the Planet With Government Regulation

THE CLEAN WATER ACT is forty years old, and one of the greatest pieces of legislatin in American history. Before it was passed, towns, cities, and corporations were dumping their sewage and waste material directly into rivers and lakes, killing the. At one point, Lake Erie caught on fire. That was a wake up call. Rivers and lakes that were once polluted heavily are now healthy ecosystems. Now, America's waters are much cleaner. Other federal laws are responsible for cleaner air, and a cleaner environment generally. Obviously, there is a proper use of government: namely, protecting the environment, saving the planet. Unfortuantelly, however, it doesn't matter. Even with government regulation, free enterprise corporate capitalism has managed to destroy the planet. Or, it almost has. Assuming, of course, that global warming remains unchecked, and we perish, as the earth turns into another Venus. Or who knows, we might decide to do something about it, by passing a few more laws, like we did before. What's stopping us? The political forces representing corporate capitalism, that's what. Big corporate money, buying politicians, opposing environmental legislation. The corporate free enterprisers want corporate free enterprise, unregulated, at any cost. Its a matter of pride, dogma, and ideology. Almost like a religion. More than anything, its a matter of money, and power. Those who possess the money and power on planet Earth, fewer then one percent, have no interest in creating greater economic or political equality. If the people had power, political equality, pollution would cease, and global warming would stop. The powers that be do not want equality of power, or wealth. And they don't care about saving the planet.

Proclaiming One's Sexuality, For A Cause

ABOUT SIXTY YEARS AGO there was a good left handed pitcher named Robin roberts. The new Robin Roberts in an actress, or do we call them famale actors nowadays? She is a celebrity, and thus, always under scrutiny. Her announcement the other day that she is gay was not a sensational news event, but it wasn't entirely ignored either. If it had been, I wouldn't know about it. But why do I know about it? Why should I? There must have been a time, fairly recently, when being gay was frightening, and when it was always tempting to gay people to avoid all the bullshit by staying in the closet. Back then, everyone stayed in the closet, and we all thought that hardly anyone was gay, homosexuality was nothing but a nasty rumor, and anyone who was suspected of it, was the subject of the most dire worry and concern. But now everyone doesn't stay in the closet; the number of openly gay people has swelled to the point that those remaining concealed are becoming a small minority, are finding it difficult to remain concealed, and finding it increasingly frustrating that they have to suffer the consequences of concealment, while their friends and community enjoy the benefits of coming out. That might be one reason why she came out; to join the club. Perhaps some of her fellow lesbian friends urged Robin Roberts to come out, in order to further the cause of acceptance and equality. That this needs to happen is more evidence that we have come a long way, bu that we still have far to go. It shouldn't matter to anyone anyone's elses sexual orientation, and people shouldn't have to proclaim their sexual orientation to strengthen the cause of social equality. But they do. Maybe someday soon they will achieve what they seek, and the proclaiming can stop.

Living In Orwellian Times

JUST WHEN YOU THINK it can't get any worse, it does. It has now been revealed, believe it or not, that the United States government can do more than merely listen to your phone calls and read your email. It turns out that smart phones and computers can be messed with before they ever leave the store, configured to allow government access to all information which surges through the machine. Can you believe it? If you can, you must be a science fiction reader, or writer. Just imagine it. You rush home from Wal AMart with your brand new, still in the box desktop computer. You got it for a great price, because nobody buys desktop computers anymore, so the prices have gone way down. You open it up, set it up, and boot it up. Little do you know that already, the National Security Agency has acces to anything you receive or put on your hard drive, because of a sophisticated system in use by the government. And the bad part is, it appears to be really happening. There is absolutely nothing in any science fiction novel, "Brave New World" and "1984" included, which comes close to this, in the category of big brotherly overlordship. When I read those two books, almost forty five years ago, I never thought for a moment that it would ever come to anything like this. I would've laughed at it, had someone actually predicted that 2014 would be the way it actually is. The internet itself would've been hard to believe back in the nineteen sixties, but the idea that it would be thoroughly monitored by big brother government would have been utterly unthinkable. Which only goes to show how much I knew, or didn't know, back then, in more innocent times.

Questioning Ted Cruz's Americanhood

ANOTHER SENSATIONAL SCANDAL IS ERUPTING in Washington D.C.. Texas tea party Senator Ted Cruz is trying to renounce his Canadian citizenship, as quietly as possible. Several weeks ago it was disclosed by undisclosed sources that Senator Cruz is a Canadian, not an American, because he was born in Canada, and his father was a Cuban. If Cruz can renounce his Canadian citizenship quietly and quickly enough, he might be able to elude some of the political fall out which is bound to accrue to Cruz. However, Cruz may be forced, because of the sluggishness of Canadian bureaucracy, to remain a citizen of his true homeland until well into 2014, which might give him enough time to sabotage the America surveillance community, and deliver its secrets into the hands of Canadian operatives. You just never know. All I know is, the American Congress should be for Americans, not Canadians. What does it say about a person's character that he is so eager to renounce his own heritage, but only when it becomes a political liability? Cruz should be singing "Oh Canada!" with the same vociferous vigor with which he condemns Obamacare. Cruz, of course, is among those who claim that because President Obama was born in Hawaii, he is not an American, or some such geographically ignorant nonsense. "Birthers", they're called, because they question Obama's birth. Even Obama's birth certificate couldn't convince Cruz and his ilk that Obama was born in America, and thus, is an American. Applying Cruz's own standards for American citizenship to himself, he is not an American, and might well be an operative for a foreign country, such as Canada. He should consider resigning his seat in the United States Senate immediately, if not sooner.

Improving (American) Diplomacy

AS 2013 DRAWS TO A CLOSE, the greatest threat to mankind appears to be microorganic. Political violence, warfare, which are the same thing, is a great threat because it could lead to mircroorganic or atomic warfare, either of which could end life on Earth. Expert scholars now say that the chances of atomic warfare somewhere in the world soon are very good. It has been pointed out that all armed conflict between nations is based on a conflict over access to rights to mineral resources, particularly land. In our world today, nations are at war over economic differences, and religious differences,those diferences serving as the badkground for mistrust, and lack of cooperation. Venezuela and Cuba, with socialistic governments, get along swimmingly. Neither one of them is Satan incarnate, but the United States seems to think otherwise. Before Castro came to power in Cuba, in 1959, the United States had absolutely no problems with the Cubans. American corporations had the run of Cuba, and American millionaires partied in Havana. But that was a capitalistic Cuban dictatorship, the kind the United States likes. The United States supports all dictatorships which are receptive to corporate capitalism. Castro's socialim kicked out all the American money changers, and the United States decided to turn Cuba into an enemy. Same country, same people, but now, an enemy, all because of economics, all because Cuba no longer allowed Americas to exploit it. In the future, we have simply got to have better diplomacy, and better foreign policy than that, among all nations, everywhere. "The Tragedy of American Diplomcay" by William A. Williams explains it all perfectly; how not to deal with other nations. If the United States would appoint Dennis Rodman Ambassador to North Korea, the situation would probably take a turn for the better.

America Not Working

STARTING YESTERDY, another one million Americans, approximately, not only have no job, they no longer have unemployment benefits. Many of the people involved have interesting and compelling stories. Hard working, professional, successful people who suddenly, through no fault of their own, lose their jobs, and then are unable to find another. An unemployment rate of around five percent is probably healthy and normal, because at any given time, out of every one hundred workers, it makes sense that five of them might be in between jobs, unemployed, for one reason or another, reasons related to personal situations, and not the general economy. But our unemployment rate is considerably higher than five percent, as if the economy doesn't function properly, or as if the powers that be want high unemployment, to keep the cost of labor down. With our technology and productivity, we should all be rich by now, with free energy, free food, free everything. But something went wrong. Almost as if something is wrong with the system itself, the economic, financial, and political system. We all agree that there should be some limit to unemployment benefits, and probably for disability benefits as well, which have become, in many cases, unemployment benefits. What would the savings be if annual cost of living increases were eliminated for all govenment payouts? The savings could be invested in a government program offering any unemployed person employment, planting trees, or something equally productive. Anybody who can sit and watch television all day can sit in front of a computer screen for eight hours a day, doing something productive, and getting paid for it. In our modern computerized world, no one need be considered "disabled"! Unlock the full power of human employment!

Changing Direction

THE LADY AT THE LIQUOR STORE turned out to be quite a reader, so since I saw her often anyway, she recommended books to me. One day she threw a blue paperback through the rear window of my car, which was fortunately rolled down, and said: "here, read this". A few months later, I did. It was a novel called "The Street Lawyer", by John Grisham, about a hot shot successful wealthy corporate attorney who gives up the rich life in order to provide legal services to homeless people. A truly inspiring story. Things like that happen in real life too. People change directions, suddenly. There is a wall street corporate type who decided to become a photographer, and began taking pictures of drug addicts and prostitutes in the Bronx, New York, at the other end of the city, far from the wealth of wall street. His purpose you can guess; by shedding light on the plight of the drug addicts and the prostitues, he is shedding light on the conditions which create these phenomena, conditions such as poverty and lack of opportunity. Our wall street corporate type turned hero understands the profound truth of "there but for the grace of God go I". A change of direction can be a shocking experience, but it happens all the time, among individuals, and among large groups and organizations. Some Americans may be familiar with the Auburn University football team, and the Boston Red Sox baseball team, both of whom were losing teams, then suddenly became winning teams. The entire human race has the ability, and the opportunity to change direction, as we enter a new year filled with nothing but the opportunity to solve all our problems. The reason the human race needs to change direction is that the direction it is going now is way off course, leading to disaster, extinction. But disaster is not inevitable, and opportunities to change course are constant. The answers we seek are all around us. That fact alone should increase our chances of finding them.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett: Solving Problems

I TAKE A LOT OF GRIEF from folks because of my admiration of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, America's two multti billionaire business and investment superstars. Show a little capitalistic love, and the lefties are out to get you. Gates and Buffett never apologize for their success, but neither do they use it to enhance their self esteem, or so it seems. Both of them seem concerned primarily with getting things done, with improving the state of the world and the quality of life for everyone, rather than basking in any personal glory. Someone pointed out that even after they finished giving away half their wealth, nearly fifty billion dollars apiece, they still have about that same amount left over for themselves. True, I responded, but if one kills the goose that lays teh golden egg, the golden egg itself vanishes. I thought that was a rather clever response on my part. I also pointed out that the rest of us will probably get the rest of it when the two philanthropists depart this world for the next. We do not wish to live in a world in which a very few produce all the wealth, then generously bestow it upon the rest of us idle indolent unemployed poor. What we want is a world in which everyone has a productive life, and a fair, reasonable income and standard of living. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are simultaneously part of the problem, and part of the solution, just like the rest of us. And both of them are gonna tell you the same thing; running around proclaiming some economic or political doctrine is never going to solve our many and profound problems. But good hard work, common sense solutions, and a little cooperation will.

All Protesting Is Good

ARE THE GOOD PEOPLE IN Kiev, the Ukraine, still protesting in the square? You hope so, if you believe in common people. If you believe in the right of all humans to be free, healthy, happy, and equal. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The tree of liberty must be watered from time to time by the blood of patriots and tyrants. The protest in Kiev is based on the people's desire to forge closer economic ties to western Europe, while the Ukrainian government, under pressure from Russia, is evidently still intent on forming close economic ties to Russia,a instead of western Europe. Other mass protests are more substantive; like the ones in America, for racial equality and women's rights. But all mass popular protests are good, no matter what they are protesting. Thousands of people do not go to the trouble to protest unless they have a worthy cause. Power to the People! May all protests everywhere succeed in bringing about real human progress, as they are intended to do! May the Occupy Wall Street protest return to America! The Ukrainians are arguing about whether to join western Europe, or Russia, economically. On the surface, that seems trivial, relatively. Why not join both? But why must the world be divided into economic spheres of influence? Better to unite the world around basic human values of prosperity for all, and equality, economically, politically, and socially, rather than international competition. The powerful wealthy elite few rulers of every country on earth are planning and plotting how to enhance their own prosperity, not the prosperity of the teeming masses. Whether Ukraine aligns with Russia or Russia is far less important than whether we the billions of powerless impoverished multitudes of the world unite and organize, for our own good. The oppressed masses of the world always make the same mistake of assuming that their rulers care about them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our rulers care only for their own power and wealth. We the teeming masses must advocate for ourselves, must unite to achieve our prosperity, along side that our our ruling elite. If we don't, who will?

Long Live Books!

THERE IS A WONDERFUL BOOKSTORE in Greenwich Village, New York. I've never been there, and I only found out about it recently. Its called "The Strand". It must be wonderful, being a bookstore, and being in Greenwich Village. It must be one of those iconic cultural spots in the Big Apple which one must see. The good news is that book sales at The Strand are way up over the past few months! The significance of this is, as usual, as follows: as it goes in New York, so it usually goes, eventually, in the rest of the nation. Books on paper, physical books, are one of the great wonders of the universe, and must not vanish. We humans are real killers, and we slaughter each other like the vicious beasts that we are, and we have killed many a species, but we must not kill books. Books must not go extinct. Animals that humans are, they are brilliant, and books are a sublime invention. Books are an evolutionary step forward in efficiency from scrolls, and books really feel good in human hands; people love books, and must not, will not let them vanish, even in the encroaching age of computers and digital electronic information storage and transfer. Thirty years ago I predicted that books were going to become extinct, because of computers. I thought I was being realistic. I'm sure I'm not the only one who used to think that. Fifteen years later, fifteen years ago, I made the same prediction, in front of a class in a high school library. Boy, was I ever wrong. I loved to read from the git go. Dick, Jane, and Sally had me at "run spot run". By the time I was ten, in 1965, I had a small book collection. By the time I was thirty, I had thousands. When my father, the real bibliophile, died, I gave away my books to a worthy cause in honor of dad. I'm glad I did. I don't need books in my home, I have the internet. But I check out books from local libraries constantly,knowing that I need only return them within two weeks, and I won't be burdened with owning them. And its a great blessing to be able to read paper bound books, in this super advanced computer age. May we forever have books on paper.

Motivating People to Want to learn

A NEW STUDY indicates that great teachers have a profound impact on people and society, in more ways than we ever thought possible. Its no secret that good teachers make a big difference, everyone knows that, but that they do so in every aspect of the future lives of their fortunate students is eye opening. In every way, economically, health wise, level of happiness, people who had the good fortune to study under excellent teachers fare better for having done so, far beter than those who were less fortunate, and had fewer good teachers. A good teacher is like a good salseman or politician; whatever you are trying to sell, you are selling yourself, and you must sell yourself, in order to sell whatever it is you wish to sell. Great teachers tend to be unconventional, full of life and personality, and extremely fun. Effective teaching, much like high volume sales, or corporate advancement, social status, or winning elections, is largely a matter of personality, not education or intellegence. Those latter two one can fake; with personality, one either has it, or doesn't. Sometimes it almost seems as if the most potentially high quality teachers choose not to enter the teaching profession. You see them all the time; people full of personality who seem to enjoy explaining things. It almost seems the way we choose and train teachers discourages the kind of creative classroom personality so impoartant in motivating people to want to learn. Above all, a great teachers must be a good actor, a good entertainer, attracting the attention of students, and engaging them, on the teacher's terms, with latent student permission. Sometimes the kids who dyed their hair blue in high school make the best teachers.

Mistakenly Placing Value On Art

ONE OF THE WAYS in which the world's largest corporation, Wal Mart, is giving back to the community of mankind is in the magnificent Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, deep in the wooded wilderness of Northwest Arkansas, where Wal Mart was founded. Visit Crystal Bridges online to get an idea of its beauty and grandeur. Its only been open for about two years, and it is world class in conceivable every way. The building is a modern architectural marvel, giving the impression of being always surrounded by pure glass and pure water. The choice to confine the contents to American art was wise; it gives the opportunity for a more comprehensive permanent exhibit. The investment must be a billion dollars or two, and the Walton Wal Mart money could probably afford to build the world's most magnificent museum of European art next door. But where does one get the art? Isn't most great art, especially European art, spoken for, owned by somebody? Well of course. Thus the collecting of great art with which to open a brand new art museum is a cut throat affair, involving enormous amounts of money, negotiation, and legalities. A lot of sordid, petty nonsense, in other words. How sad, that for us cultural capitalists modern art has disintegrated into nothing more than a big money enterprise, under the mistaken belief that great art, or any art, can possibly be assigned a monetary value, meaningfully. The fact that the monetary value of art is determined by what is essentially a free market of buying, selling, and bidding does nothing to mitigate the travesty of the system. Its worse than major league baseball. Great art is beyond monetary considerations. Great art is preicless. Or it should be.

Courtroom Drama, American Style

A LAWSUIT BETWEEN HOOTERS, Craigslist, and an escort service is about as exciting as it gets. Good old fashioned corporate litigation, with plenty of courtroom brawling jet flying hot shot lawyers, and big time corporate money, and who knows what nefarious acts of espionage and sabotage behind the scenes. At least, that's the way it always is in John Grisham novels, and this Hooter's lawsuit is a real life John Grisham novel. Plus, its all about sex. Sex, big corporate money, and a lawsuit! How much more American can you get? Some "escort service" in Florida was trying to hire Hooter's girls, and using Craigslist as an advertising medium. Hooters claims copyright infringement; that the excort service was stealing from Hooters by trying to hire away Hooters employees, and the craigslist was complicit. The excort services claims that it was only offering employment to a targeted pool of potential employees, and stealing from nobody. Hooters, which is a private company, has filed similar lawsuits dozens times, enough such that the company and its owneres almost seems like some paranoid filer of frivolous lawsuits. This one seems questionable. If we're lucky, there will be no out of court settlement, and we'll all be treated to some reall courtroom drama, big money versus big money, a corporate cock fight, maybe even good enough to show highlights on Fox and CNN. In any good John Grisham novel, ther is no out of courst settlement; the litigants are all revved up and ready to go, and the courtroom fight is a reall doozy, both in and out of court. So let's keep it that way in real life. Reality legal TV. Daily televised courtroom drama involving big money, corporations, sex, and what the hell, drugs. Why not? Its an idea whose time has come. Has anybody else thought of it yet?

The United State of Colorado Marijuana

UNLESS YOU HAPPEN TO BE in Colorado right now, its a little hard to figure out exactly what's going on there. Marijuana stores are opening all over the state, correct? (just guessing, so work with me here). Presumably, the lion's share of those marijuana stores are located in either Denver or Boulder, but you never know. Furthermore, word is that all of them are extremely busy and popular, that the newly legalized marijuana industry is taking off on legal turf like wildfire, and that the retailers can't keep enough of the stuff in stock to satisfy the demand. Does that sound about right? No problem, at least on that account. No problem with supply, long term. In the long run, there will be absolutely no problem with the supply of marijuana in America, or anywhere else. There will never be another shortage of the plant, except for this minor temporary obamacare-like glitch coming out of the starting gate in Colorado. Can you imagine the tax revenue being generated already in Colorado by marijuana sales? The federal government in Washington D.C., (remember them?) must be seething with the anger of offended tyrants as marijuana and gay marriage are legalized all over the country by the various states, in direct defiance of federal law. Power to the people! This states rights business has value after all, it would seem. No wonder the south seceded. No wonder South Carolina had their "nullification" policy, stating that if a state didn't like a federal law, it could deep six it. Long live state's rights in the United States! The FBI does not appear to be on its way to Colorado to shut down all the marijuana businesses. No suits, sunglasses and lapel pins lurkig in corners that anyone has reported. And since they the feds haven't done it by now, they won't be able to do it, as the pot business proliferates to every convenience store in Colorado, then America. NO, Obama is not stupid enough to try to stop the Coloradons from doing their thing. Nor all the other independent spirited Americans, in all the other states of the union.

Duck Dynatsy Dude; Ridiculing the Ridiculous, and Moving On

THE DUCK DYNASTY DUDE is coming back to American television, and all's well that ends well. The TV program "Duck Dynasty" might be a bit difficult for anyone not intimately familair with American culture and its various subcultures, such as anyone who is not an American. How we Americans love to poke fun at our various subcultures. Which is exactly what Phil Robertson, the Duck Dynasty Dude, was doing that got him in trouble in the first place. How ironic. A television show devoted to laughing, in a positive healthy way, at paople in an American sub culture who willingly participated in making fun of themselves, and their provincial culture. Suddenly, one of the provincials makes a comment about two othr American sub cultures: blacks, and gays, the two most "controversial" sub cultures in the country, if only because of the traditional and shameful manner in which blacks and gay people have been been treated by other sub cultural groups; such as Ohil Robertson's. The rule appears to be that you can ridicule or even dinigrate your own ethnicity or subculture, but nobody else's. You just have to sit and watch other people ridiculing themselves, but you cannot join in the fun. Very well, then, let's just all make sure we play by the rules. But when somebody - anybody - makes a stupid comment, let's just ridicule the ridiculous for a little bit, express our disagreement and disapproval, and then move on. Any greater show of forces gives far too much attention to a matter which is best forgotten. Everything stupid that the Duck Dynasty Dude ever says will be forgotten soon enough. His only chance of enduring gfame may reside entirely within the realm of his own social sub culture, and his ability to effectively make fun of himself, not others, week after week, on a very fickle American television network, in front of a very fickle viewing audience.

We the People, Making It Happen

TECHNOLOGY IS BEING DEMOCRATIZED. In other words, more and more people are gaining access to high tech opportunities, which means potential wealth and power. Especially power. All people should have the same power, even if they do not have the same wealth. Technology is making the world more democratic; at least, it has the power to do so, if only we the people make it so, allow it to happen. We do want more democracy, do we not? We want more power to go to the people, the poor working masses, the billions. Power to the people. Technology was formerly exclusively in the hands of an elite wealthy powerful few, but no more. Billions of people have cell phones. Now that Apple has signed a contract with China, billions more will soon have them. Trust me; American corporations know how to market, advertise, and sell. A protest movement like "Occupy Wall Street" or the Arab spring or the current uprising in Kiev, Ukraine, or the civil war in Syria, can be fomented and organized entirely online, or by phone. IN the Syrian civil war, the rebels are making grenades, rocket launchers, and all manner of other weapons in their basements and backyards. Even I, poor I, poor meek, humble harmless I..have a laser gun which I aim at overhead aircraft, in direct violation of American federal law. So we're all little monsters, in our own way. What we the people need to do, since there are so many of us, and we are so powerless and poor...what we should do, is: organize. We should organize a world wide coalition of the powerless and poor people. Greater economic, political, and social equality would be our aim. And its all possible because of the democratizing potential of technology, which is something our corporate masters evidently didn't think about, until now. Now that our elite wealthy corporate masters are thinking about it, they, or rather, their obedient servants who control the American government by holding elective political offices, are trying to control and destroy internet and telephone freedom. We mustn't let it happen.

American Imperialism: Ignoring the Will of the People

IT IS A BIT MURKY, historically, just who the American or group of Americans was who decided that, at the end of World War Two, the American military would not be brought home and mustered out of service, but would instead be left very much intact, and stationed all over the world, especially in conquered countries, like Japan and Germany. Blame probably goes to Harry Truman, who was president when the war ended, and for over six years thereafter. You might as well say that Theodore Roosevelt made the decision, when he decided, early in his life, that the United States should be a world power, and possibly even an empire. Of course he got his wish. From the very beginning of the American republic, the American republic has had the word "empire" written all over it. The American military base on the Japanesse island of Okinawa has been there since the big war, and over the decades urban sprawl has caught up with and surrounded it. Therefore the Americans have decided to build and are building a new base on the same Island, but with more room. You wonder how much all this costs. Billions, we can safely assume. You also wonder whether there will ever come a time, even in the remote future, when there will be no American base in Japan, or if Okinawa is eternal. Unless I'm dreaming, the Japanese recently decided to assume responsibilty for their own defense, and to build their own military? Was I dreaming? The United States should not be the policeman of the world, the world's hegemonic superpower. All that should be in the hands of the United Nations. a majority of Americans agree with this idea; but their government, a military-industrial complex, ignores the will of the people.

Bringing Back the Panda, and the World

2013 WAS THE YEAR OF the resurgence of the panda bear! This is the most positive development of the past year. In 2013 forty two pandas were born in captivity around the world. There was a time when nobody could get pandas to mate in captivity, so this new develpoment is profound, and it virtually guarantees that pandas will not go extinct. At last count, there were roughly sixteen hundred of them living in the wild. That isn't enough, of course. For a country of a billion and a half people however, China does a great job of preserving wilderness and wildlife habitat. Its land mass is enormous, which helps, but good stewardship of natural resources is starting to take hold in China. They are moving towards sustainable energy, cleaner temporary use of carbon based planet killing energies, and preservation of the beautiful, wonderful panda. The fact that most Chinese live in huge cities, hundreds of huge cities of millions of people each, tends to open up the rural areas for agriculture and wildlife. A future planet with a reasonable human population total, and efficient human use of land and resources can allow wildlife to flourish everywhere in the world, alongside people. Can you imagine it? A few billion humans living for the most part in apartment buildings in cities, and freeing most of teh earth's land for wolderness? A lovely future option. It should be possible to rebirth species of plants and animals which have already gone extinct, transfer to solar energy just as soon as we use up every drop of oil and every lump of coal in the world, plant trees, desalinate water, and presto! The world is reborn!

Stopping the American Police State

AN AMERICAN GENTELMAN, a scholar, a student of Arab culture and language, made a serious mistake recently at an American airport. He got out his Arab language word study flash cards, and began studying them. That simply won't do, not in the United States of Anit-Terrorism. Aforementioned American gentleman was detained for several housrs, cuffed, and questioned, by all manner of airport anti-terrorist security personnel. When it was determined, belatedly, that the young gentleman was a good loyal law abiding American citizen, rather than an Arab terrorist, he was released. All this treatment riled him up a mite, but he fared no better in court, which ruled that his constitutional rights had not been violated, and that his treatment at the airport was within, albeit barely, the scope of legality. Really? Handcuffed, hands behind his back, for five hours, and interrogated, in an American airport: an American citizen, because he was studying Arabic. And that's constitutional? Valid search and seizure, no violations of privavy rights? Where, exactly, is the probable cause? If linguistic studies consiitute probably cause for investigation of potential terroristic activity, the United Sates of America is rapidly approaching the paranoid police state level of a Nazi Germany, a Stalinist Russia, or a Maoist China. I mean, its really getting bad in America, in terms of an encroaching authoritarian police state smothering the life out of the republic. That, combined with America's usual twin demons, public ignorance and apathy. When will the American people revolt, and put an end to all this nonsense? When we all get birthday cards, on the right day, from the National Security Agency? Or when everyone in the country has been strip searched several times?

Being Ignored by the U.S. Government, but Not Wanting To Be

A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO an American gentleman made a very bad mistake; he got himself kidnapped by Al Qaeda, which might hold the world's record for hatred of America and Americans, and that takes some doing. Any American who knows what's good for him would just about rather have any misfortune befall instead of being kidnapped by Al Qaeda. All things considered, you'd really rather get yourself kidnapped by the klan than Al Qaeda. If you're an American, and you're kidnapped by Al Qaeda, you're not going to be processed and released, like clockwork, with just a few minutes of paper work. You're going to be paraded around as an American imperialistic terrorist, a criminal, and used as bait and leverage. You're going to be placed in front of a camera, cleaned up a little bit, and forced to read a scrpit. The script will include expressions of outrage against the United States, and expressions of understanding for the captors, and of the utter necessity of their behavior. The current Al Qaeda captive is conforming to the script to the letter. He says he feels forgotten and abandoned by the United States government. There must be at least a good hundred million Americans, in the safety of their own homes, who feel much the same way. You certainly don't have to be kidnapped by Al Qaeda to feel ignored by the federal government. Any American, in the comfort of their own home, who doesn't feel ignored by the government, probably wonders why on earth anyone, any American, would think that being ignored by their government is even such a bad thing. What's wrong with flying a bit beneath the radar? The lessons here are clear. Do not, under any circumstances, get yourself captured by Al Qaeda. And if you do, do not expect the U.S. govenment to negotiate to secure your release. The U.S. government refuses to negotiate with terrorists. And if you are ever in a situation in which you actually want the U.S. government to pay attention to you, you are to be pitied.

Ending the Old Year

AS WE RAPIDLY APPROACH THE END of the year, what was the most important event? The advent of Obamacare, and its disastrous beginning? Edward Snowden, traitorously showing the secret American government to the American people, or the inability of Obama and Congress to work together to get anything at all accomplished? Or was the advent of the new pope the year's most important event? Or the popular uprising in Kiev perhaps? The most important event of the year was probably the publication in some obscure academic journal an idea to save the planet, which will gain great attention later. WE approach the new year with the world divided into sovereign nation-states, aligned against each other in ways and for reasons which, to any thinking person, seems idiotic. Militarism and war are prevalent. Its always been that way, but there may come a glorious future time when nation-states are replaced by a universal siblinghood of humanity. For the time being, the United States continues to exercise unchallenged global hegemony, which makes American citizenship a prize of potential particular value. Beginning in the year 2014, all people should refuse military service. As an American citizen, I figure I can try to help my country behave sanely in the near future. At least, I hope I can. Surely to goodness we the peace loving citizens of the world can somehow persuade our governments to be less militaristic, less aggressive. As we enter the new year, the world needs to turn up the pressure for a peaceful settlement to the civil war in syria, and the world needs to turn up the pressure for the elimination of all nuclear weapons, not just those which may be or are owned by North Korea and Iran. The world is fortunate to have survived another year, in our troubled modern times. But we the members of the human race have more work to do than ever in order to continue surviving. People of the world unite! We have only our problems to solve!

The United States of Aggression

SHORTLY BEFORE CHRISTMAS DAY the United States fired yet another drone missile-bomb into Pakistan, and later claimed that the strike killed four people, all terrorists. As a "no longer quite as naive" American citizen, I have my doubtfuls, and I'm taking it with a grain of salt. If the latest American drone strike happened to kill dozens of innocent civilians, we the American people'll never know about it, unless by accident. And of course you never know. The amount of colatteral damage, as they call it, in drone stikes in Pakistan is mounting rather substantially, which is the primary reason why the Pakistani government refuses to permit American drone strikes in Pakistan. The United States does it anyway. All the time. And it knows that there is really nothing that Pakistan can do about it. Obama loves his drone strikes, and he doesn't bother to get permission from the host country beforehand. A true American, that Obama. He likes to look tough, defending America from wicked forces. The new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, rarely if ever abides by the terms of treaties it signs, agreements it makes, or the wishes of so called "allies". Just ask the people living on indian reservations scattered around the country. Native American protests have never been heard any more than the Pakistani protests concerning drone strikes, which are in direct violation of all international law, are being heard now. On the one hand,it gives you a feeling of strength, living in a country which makes it own rules. On the other hand, its a bit creepy. The great thing about being an American is that you can tell the truth about America, and even though it sounds like you're complaining about it, other Americans will either laugh at you, ignore you, or agree with you, and so will most foreigners. But nobody will arrest you, lock you up, try you, and imprison you. Oh say does that illegal spy drone yet fly, o'er the land of the free, and the home, of the brave.

Altering and Amending the Forms of Government, Jefferson Style

IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Thomas Jefferson reminds us that people are willing to take a lot of crap from their own government, usually, and that it takes a great deal of abuse, and should, to motivate the abused to organize and fight back. Jefferson is quick to prolcaim that God gives all humans the right to fight back,by revolting against and overthrowing their own government, when sufficiently abused. He does not cite the source of this information. Throughout American history, Jefferson has been shown to be right in innumerable instances. Our history is overflowing with uprisings against our own government, bless our hearts. The more the merrier! Now is the time for all good public teachers, seeking to regain their sanity, and all public school administrators, seeking the same, to rise up and overthrow the tyranny of "No Child Left Behind"! Or, so it would seem. There is ubiquitous discontent within the education profession for George Bush's and Barack Obama's federal government meddling in our schools. Bush started it, Obama added to it. Uniform standards of learning for America's children, dictated by Washington D.C. . Endless repitious, standardized, testing. Big Brother, far away, judging whether students, teachers, and schools pass or fail, and rating them accordingly. People who have never spent a day teaching devising and implementing all this madness. The plan is for one hundred percent of America's schools and students to pass and succeed; in fact, over eighty percent fail, both the students, the teachers, and the schools. But now, in state after state, town after town, school after school, classroom after classroom, the revolt has begun. What we need is less test and punishment, and more assess and improve. And it looks ke that in order to change the system, as usual, extreme measrues on the part of we teh people will be required. Its only a matter of time until the barracdes go up, and the molotov cocktails start flying.All across the fruited plain, teachers and administrators and public school students, if the oppression continues, will be occupying school buildings, refusing to surrender control. Just say no to big government control of our local schools!

Telling The Truth, From Russia (With Love?)

WE ALL HAVE our fifteen minutes of fame, whether or not we know it or appreciate it. Mr. E Snowden, who may simultaneously be the biggest villain and greatest hero in American history for showing the world the shocking enormity of the American police state, has most likely already had his big fifteen, but you never know. He isn't going away quietly. I heard his voice, on the radio, and I am sure it was neither a dream nor a nightmare. Was National Public Radio playing a sound byte from an Ed Snowden audio transmission direct from Russia? That, I believe, is so. Snowden is still in Russia, but is no longer camping out at the airport in Moscow. He must have his own place to live now, and access to the internet. In the United States, none of that would mena anything. IN America, you can get a place to live, and internet access, and the government doesn't know anything about it. Well, until the NSA catches up with you, at least. But in Russia, if you have a place to live and internet access, you have these things because the central government allows it. Particularly if you're an American on the run, guilty of treason and espionage against your own country, with a head full of knowledge about top secret stuff. The Russians have decided pamper Snowden and let him speak, doubtles in the hope that he will somehow damage the United States,and make America look bad! You Russians need to realize that we Americans already do a perfectly good job of that on our own, and require no further assistance, thank you very much. In the sound byte, Snowden was saying that in America privacy is an issue which is at the very core of who and what we are as individuals, and as a nation, and that the United States has surpassed anything even remotely dreamed of by George Orwell. (Read, or reread, "1984". You'll see. We're way beyond Orwell, and that fact should freak out everyone.) On all these points, Snowden is right as rain, right on the mark. Give the young man credit; he tells the truth. If nothing else, its good to know that an American somewhere is telling the truth, and that somebody in Russia is allowed to tell the truth.

Remembering Extreme Makeover R.I.P.

IT IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING to me how many channels you can get on cable television. Don't they have cable television packages now which include literally hundreds of channels, with many categories, cartoon, movies, sports, and so forth, and dozens of channels in each category? Amazing. The most I ever had when I had TV was sixty or seventy, and that seemed like a lot. I remember discovering the show "Extreme Makeover", by accident, the way I discover everything. I was in love with it from word one. What network was it on? One of those cerebral ones, wasn't it...each episode they chose a large family of poor people, good hard working virtuous people who had rought times in a sub par run down house, sent the family on a one week vacation to Disneyworld or someplace, then, while they were gone, brought in a mob an built a brand new beautiful house for the fmaily to come home to. And they built the house in one week. An absolutely bizzare television whow. Bizarrely beautiful. Extremely heartwarming, because the families they chose had so many problems, needed help so badly, were so virtuous and deserving, and the help they got was so wonderful, and they were always so happy to get it. A great advertising for liberal, socialistic, christian, cooperative way of looking at and solving economic problems. Since so many television programs are competitive and violent and capitalistic and corporate, I found Extreme Makeover extremely refreshing. But I sensed, early on, that it couoldn't last. I don't know how many episides I saw before I realized that the plot was always the same, and I lost interest, but I'll bet it was more than most people. I was in denial briefly. It took me a while, maybe four or five episodes, to lose interest. And that was the show's fatal flaw. I assume the producers never intended for the show to last very long. I hope not. I'm just assuming that the show's been canceled long since, I think I heard somewhere that it has been off a while now. Still, it was a great concept; for a little while.

Growing Old Slowly, and Dying

YOU START OPUT in life with everybody older than you, and you become accustomed to living in a world in which everyone is older than you. Only slowly and gradually does that change, until one day you look up and realize that a good many, indeed most of the people you see in the world look younger than you, because they are younger than you. It never seems like you're exactly in the middle. Either you're old, or you're young. And the world begins to fill up with old people. Old people, living longer, old people everywhere. It must be strange, to be so old that everyone you see is younger than you. The world is getting older, and it seems that someday there will be many old people and not very many young people. The eternal search for the fountain of youth is more intense, but no further along than ever. At this stage in human history, with over population and a birth rate that is slowly slowing down, porlonging life indefinitely might not be in the best interests of mankind in general. Looking at old trees, you can retrace their history. You can see where the branches have been sawed off, and where they have grown at gnarley angles, and where whole sections of the tree have fallen off. We can do something similar by observing individual people, and their personal histories. Watching your own parents age and approach death is as stressful an event as life has to offer, and it offers many stressful events. From an early age we humans understand that we can die at any moment, at any age. Still, we never really believe we are going to die, maybe even up until the actual point of death, and maybe even then when we die, we die know believing that we are dying. Perhaps even people with terminal illnesses know thay are going to die with their illness - tomorrow. Whatever works. We all find out the answer to this question, but when we do, we can't report the results.

Christmas Music As Tradition

EVERY YEAR, when December rolls around, then mid December, and the Christmas music starts to awaken, the thought crosses my mind that Christmas music, by and large, is very old. Starting with the ultimate Christmas music, which is really Easter music, Handel's "Messiah", which is about three hundred years old, Christmas music never seems to be any younger than World War Two, which has receded into the historical distance. Anything new since "White Christmas"? Most major recording artists over the past fifty years have recorded at least one Christmas album, so beloved is Christmas music, but these usually consist of traditional tunes, with snazzy new and innovative instrumentation, orchestrations, and vocals. Much of it really doesn't sound very good. There is a limit to the appeal on "Silent Night" on electric slide guitar. I heard people talking about Christmas music on a Christmas music radio show, and somebody expressed the wish that somebody, maybe more than one somebody, would start writing some new Christmas music, to compliment the old. To me, this is a very dubious proposition. New Christmas musi? Well, yes, O.K. Fine. But we must bear in mind that Christmas, and the music associated with it, is nothing but pure tradition. An accumulated, highly evolved set of beliefs, rituals, and practices which we have labored centuries to produce. As we continue to evolve, continue to add to Christmas traditions, we will do so slowly, and new Christmas music will make its way into our collection on its own merits, but slowly, over time. No sudden, drastic output of new Christmas music will do. It would never stick. Such is the nature of tradition; one is stuck, for the time being, with what one already has.

Giving of Myself on Christmas Eve, Fortunately

BEING A BLOOD DONATOR, and having a rare blood type, is a grand adventure. I became a blood donor forty years ago, but for some reason, only a few years ago did anybody notice that my blood is "anti CMV negative", meaning that it is virus free. Thus my blood is suitable for transfusion into infants. The same is true of my platelets. A person can donate platelets every two weeks, and they have a short shelf life. My Christmas Eve consisted of lying on my back for two hours, while my blood was circulated in and out of my body, through a machine, through a long transparent tube right in front of me, watching my own blood, and platelets were scooped up and removed, later to be injected into somebody else. In this case, an infant in another state. The thirty mile drive over there, knowing what I was going to do, what I had to do, must've been a bit stressful, because my BP was up a bit, but, who cares. And yes the needle hurts going in, everytime, and its weird looking at a long plastic tube full of my own blood, thinking how much of my blood is outside my body. I had had no intention of spending my Christmas eve this way, but it turns out to be the best Christmas eve of my life, and there've been many a good one. One year I was sick with a flu like illness Christmas eve while American astronauts arbited the moon (1968?), and miraculously, on christmas morning, I was perfectly well! I thought it was amazing at the time, and I think so now. Usually when I donate platelets I feel a little sluggish afterward, and I have no endurance exercising for a day or two. This time, I noticed no such effects. It went smooth as silk, and was a totally pleasant experience. Perhaps that's the lord's reward for going in on Christmas eve. Whatever little kid gets my platelets is going to get a lot better, real fast. I'll be back there in two weeks to spew out more. Of that I am certain. I have high powered, antibody rich blood platelets, and it (my stuff) will kick some butt in bringing anergy and health to their recipient. What a crazy feeling. Simultaneously, how fortunate, for me.

The Nordic Undertones of Christmas

ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL THINGS about Christmas is that it comes at the perfect time of the year. Right smack dab after the winter solstice. There, at the very beginning of winter, in the very dead of winter, there is a bright light, psychologically, and it means everything. We are reasonably sure that Jesus was born sometime in early April, possibly April 6, in the year 6 B.C. And we know that the celebration of the birth of Jesus was moved to just after the winter solsitce to coincide it with the winter celebrations of the northern germanic europeans. It was a brilliant way to spread the Christian faith in northern europe. People living in the far north watched the sun get lower each day, and teh days shorten, then the first day after teh solstice, they noticed teh days beginning to lengthen, the sun starting to return, and another summer would eventually come, they realized. So, on about the twenty fifth, they celebrated. Maybe they celebrated with feasing, drinking, and bonfire building. But they really needed the psychological boost that the passage of the solstice gave them, because event hough the sun was now returning north, it would take at least another two long months of frigid winter weather to bring it all the way back. Christmas for us gives us a big day of happiness and joy before we plunge headlong into the new year, and what a great send off to the old year. Psychologically, Christmas serves the same purpose for us today that the winter festival did gor the northerneres thousands of years ago. It is difficult to imagine Christmas being the same, having the same feel, far to the south, or in the southern hemisphere, such are its obvious nordic undertones. Maybe we should consider moving Christmas to the last Monday in December, thus making it a three day weekend. Why not? Its already been moved at least once already, for extremely practical reasons.

Surving Christmas Gift Giving, Emotionally, and Financially

AMAZING TO CONSIDER the number of different ways of contending with the whole concept of Christmas gift giving. A complete rejection of the custon, one has to admit, has certain advantages immediately, namely, simplifying life. In my family there is nothing but adults, and they all have everything they want or need. Even the children in our family are adults. And Christmas is ninety nine percent for kids, right? So, several years ago we all just agreed to forego gift giving, all of us figuring that by now we have all had a chance to get and to give everything that we possibly could; we have experienced the tradition to its fullest, and can move on. Its really worked out well. I have a lifetime of great Christmas memories, and now the hustle, bustle, and stress are all in the past. I have a friend from a big family, many siblings, nephews, and nieces, and they draw names out of a hat, to keep Christmas to a dull roar. On the internet somebody proposed the three gift per person limit for raking it it, which sounds good on paper, but could lead to controversy and confusion. One can limits one's giving to one's famlly, and omit one's friends, usually without acrimony. Here's another idea. Buy a Christmas present or two, or however many you want - for yourself. Why not? You know what you need and want more than anyone else, and if everybody simply treated himself or herself to a Christmas present once a year, and we all understood the logic of doing so, how much happier we would all be, without all this regifting, neglected gifts, or feigned gratitude for unwanted gifts. Another solultion, one which works well with married couples, is to simply tell each other in advance what to get, then, when its time to actually give the gifts, everybody can still act surprised, or maybe even actually be surprised, since you never know if your wish has been acted on until the very moment of unwrapping. Whatever style suits you, good luck with it, good luck surviving emotionally and financially, and Happy Holidays!

America Fighting Back

THE AMERICAN EMPIRE is beginning to fight back (economically) against the Chinese hordes! After years of retreat, of selling U.S. bonds to them and owing them ever increasing amounts of hard currency, America is showing signs of life, an American concern has risen up and achieved a great victory within the ancient kingdom of China itself. Apple Computer will have a contract to sell I pads, I pods, and I phones to the Chinese. That amounts to about a billion potential customers for Apple, if not more. Which is to say, two or three times as many potential Chinese customers for Apple as there are human beings in the United States. Wow. If I were Apple, I'd get a move on, manufacture like hell, and advertise in China to the limit of what they allow. This could be the biggest, most profitable enterprise in corporate history; the Gadgetery electrification of all China! Apple could become the first multi trillion dollar corporation in the world's history, and its top execs could become the first trillionaires in individual flesh and blood human history. Apple's top executives could possibly build and occasionally reside in the world's first one hundred thousand square foot condos. Perhaps America could even follow up this economic bonanza with further foreign incursions, especially in China. Perhaps we the American people could pay off the huge debt we owe to China, and make them owe us money instead! Make them sell us their government bonds! We now live in a world of vast international cartel competition. An American feels inherently inclined to root for American corporations to succeed in international competition, strangely enough. What we ought really to hope for is a massive movement on the part of the seven billion exploited people in the world, to gain equality. Equality for all. Also, a little more international cooperation, instead of international competition might help. China wants to outlaw weapons in space, as does everyone, execpt the United States. The entire world wants to eliminate all nuclear weapons - except our beloved United States. So, America has some work to do, with regard to achieving and perpetuating civilization, and averting planetary devastation.. But at least Apple is in China.

Ignoring the Distractions

SOMEBODY, SOME GOSSIP magazine or somebody, suggested that celebrity actor Tom Cruise was less than an entirely attentive parent to his young daughter, and top gun fired right back, with a fifty million dollar defamation of character lawsuit. The lawsuit was settled out of court the other day, which is good. Cruise is known for being a rather laid back, peaceful, spiritual type, who doesn't like conflict. Thus, we assume he filed the lawsuit as what he considered to be a last or only resort. Can you imagine what might've happend had it gone to trial? Particularly, if both parties had sharp lawyers. My understanding is that famous people are public domain, in terms of gossip. I thought it was hard to defame the character of someone as famous as Cruise, simply because he is famous, and anything goes. The person who defamed Tom perhaps should have let the case go to trial. He might have won. On the other hand, the out of court settlement might not have been very much; Tom Cruise is already wealthy, and he just wanted to make a point, and get people to realize that you can't just attack people at will in the media, fame or no fame. Or something like that. Whether Tom Cruise is a good parent should be of no concern to anyone out across the fruited plain, and really it isn't, except that we are told that is is by our corporate masters, we are spoon fed a never ending spew of distracting, seductive nonsense, to take our minds off what's really important; namely, the dire straights in which the nation and the world finds itself, partly as a result of being distracted. If only we could learn to ignore the distractions.

Whipping the Government Into Shape

ACCORDING TO THE NUMBERS, the American government, which means Congress and the President, passed fewer pieces of legislation in 2013 than in any other year in American history, going way back. That may not be entirely true, but its probably pretty close, and it highlights the fact that President Obama can't get along with the Republicans in the House of Reps, and the fact that our government, and our nation, is seriously divided, as usual. The term "do nothing congress" was invented, most likely, by President Harry Truman in the late nineteen forties. Every American president has at one time or another complained about congress; always the same "do nothing" complaint, which is code for "I can't control them and make them enact my agenda." But maybe our do nothing government aint such a bad thing. It could be argued that that government which governs least governs best, as Locke, Hume, Jefferson et al believed back in the enlightened and revolutionary late eighteenth century. Early twentieth century American comedian Will Rogers once said that the invention of air conditioning was the most harmful event in American hisotry, becuase it permitted Congress to meet year round, including in the stifling heat of an ordinary Washington D.C. summer. No more extended summer weather breaks for government. More time for congress to pass laws, spend money, and make a bigger mess, in languid, air conditioned comfort. Famed frontiersman and congressional character Davy Crockett spent three terms in Congress and never sponsored a single piece of legislation that got passed. Everything he proposed got voted down. For that reason historians have tended to lable him an ineffective politician. True, but it could also be argued that at least Crockett, unlike the rest of them, didn't do any more harm than had alredy been done. Davy was just too honest and too independent to be a consensus builder and political deal maker. He didn't play the game. Ironically, everything Davy stood for was good and honorable, like land rights for frontier folks. He just couldn't get the big money east coast people to turn loose of the land. The problem with our government today is that even though we really don't want it to do too much, we want it to at least pass a federal budget every year, and it can't even do that. If only we had President Harry Truman and Congressman Davy Crodkett to whip 'em all into shape!

Living Outside the Box

A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE is in his early sixties, and he has two young sons, about ten and twelve years of age. He and his boys are going through a period of life, the pre-adolescent phase I think its called, in child raising, which most fathers usually go through twenty or twenty five years earlier in life. By the time one is in one's early sixties one is most usually helping raise grandchildren, and is long finished raising one's own children. My friend takes both boys to soccer practice, throws batting practice for them, does all the things a man usually has stored in his memory as he reaches retirement age. He says the boys wear him to a frazzle, and he has sore muscles he didn't even know were muscles, but its all worth the pain and suffering, and humiliation. My friend simply married late in life, and started his family late in life. He may not live long enough to ever have much to do with his grandchildren, but somehow you just feel that he does not regret that, doesn't even think about it much. There are times when you admire people who do not engage in activities at an appropiate, predictable, conventional age. The elderly person hiking up a mountain, or learing a new language, or taking classes in college. The young child who is an accomplished piano player, or reads above his grade level, or is interested in art and music rather than video games. Anything inappropiate, anything outside the box, off the well traveled trail. Here's to all the good folks who refuse to follow the herd, refuse to live in the comfort zone, those who care nothing for convention, and who pursue life with a passionate anything can be done attitude. That's the true American spirit, and for that matter, the true human spirit. The spirit of adventure, of fearlessly knowing that you are right, then going ahead. To all those who live outside the box; congratulations!

Let There Always Be Christmas!

CHRISTMAS IS A LOVELY HOLIDAY. Especially the lights, the decorations, the music, and all the other aspects. And it couldn't come at a better time, just after the winter solstice. Theological scholars believe that Jesus was really born in early April, in the spring. Winterfest winter solstice Christmas is a concession to northern Europeans, and it helped spread Christianity. Throughout history, in many parts of the world, such as early America, Christmas has been ingored. We modern folks have turned it into a religious and a festival type holiday, all in one. Joshua ben Joseph, aka Jesus, never wrote anything down on paper, such as instructions for the rest of us on how to live, but instead relied on word of mouth, which really seems strange, especially since, during his lifetime, written texts were common. Jesus must have known that by leaving his message only by word of mouth, it would result in its being distorted. Wouldn't it be great if Jesus had written a gospel of his own, to go along with Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John? If he had, we wouldn't really need Mathew, Mark, Luke, nor John, would we? Who would dare write an account differing from that of the main man? To execute a man as beautiful as Jesus, on the trumped up false charges against him, was and is incredibly stupid, barbariic, and shameful. A complete miscarriage of justice. A sad commentary on the people involved. I swear, had I been standing among the Jewish mob, I woulda yelled for Jesus, not Barabbas. Barabbas had a rap sheet a mile long, as a criminal, thief, thug, and Jesus was merely a teacher, a priest, a philosopher, telling people things that seemed harmless enough, among which was "I am no threat to anyone." Why would any idiot think Barabbas was a better person to set free than Jesus? The Bible was assembled at the Council of Nicea, in 325 A.D., by a large group of high ranking church officials, amid much dissension, disagreement, and controversy. It has many different writing styles and personalities, as if it were written by many different people, each contributing a book or two. Many interesting books were left out of the Bible, in order to compromise. And the Christian religion is evolving, as always. For the sake of all the fun it is, even though many people are unfortunately unhappy during the Christmas season, most aren't, so let there always be Christmas!

How Things Turned Out in 2014

WHEN I WAS A CHILD, in the nineteen sixties, I fantasized that by the year 2014 I would have the option of living on the moon or Mars, hunger and disease would be conquered, there would be no more war, and I'd be living in a very high tech, beam me down scottie paradise. Reckon it didn't quite turn out that way. The persistence of war, and the persistence of dictatorial, tyrannical governments around the world is another thing which surprises me, and which I would've hoped would be gone by now. The very idea of someone, anyone, gaining great political power, such as complete control of a country, at a relatively young age, and keeping that power throughout life seems, somehow, primitive, appalling, and inappropiate in a world which increasingly embraces democracy and equality, at least in name. Cuba, for instance. What Cuba needs, it almost seems, is some democracy and term limits. For one man to be in complete dictatorial power for fifty five years, without ever running for reelection, in this modern world seems a bit, shall we say, "extreme", or "anachronistic", doesn't it? In 1990, when the Berlin wall came down and the Soviet Union broke up into all the countries which comprised it, there was a sense of great excitement among advocates of democracy, and hope, that the newly independent Russia would embrace democracy, and the freedom of capitalism, and maybe retain a good deal of economic and political equality. Alas, 'twas not to be. The old autocratic spirit proved too strong and deeply ingrained to be so quickly evicted. Vladimir Putin rules Russia with an iron hand which is far more remindful of previouis Russian Tsars than modern presidents of progressive democtracies. He, like Castro, has been in power way too long, with no end in sight. One of the great things about the United States of America is that, for the most part, nobody is ever in power for very long. Our heads of state come and go. Our national legislators need to come and go a bit more often, but we're working on it. It would be nice to have a greater variety to choose from in America, politically, but at least we get to choose.

Giving Thanks, at Christmas, For Socialistic Salvation

SO HERE I AM, living in a truly great semi-socialistic nation, the United States of America. Its maybe or maybe not the greatest nation, but that doesn't matter, its a great nation. And how wonderful, that our illustrious President, Barack Hussein Obama, saved our great nation, and that thus we still have it, at the advent of the 2013 yuletide. Like, hallelujah. Obama, and the people who worked with him, saved the Bank of America, AIG, Citigroup, General Motors, Chryslar, and about a trillion other giant corporations, right at the beginning of his Presidency. They all went bankrupt, all of America's giant financial services corporations, kaput, outta business, if you'll recall. Back then, in 2009, if the government doesn't step in, and lend-give billions to our fallen corporate giants-masters, corporate America goes belly up, and thus, belly up goes America. Let's make no mistake about that. Maybe we shouldn't be so dependent on our large corporations, but we are, and as they go, we all go. Its crazy the way conservative capitalistic republicans couldn't understand that back then, and apparently still don't. The conservative republicans were just too damned proud of their pure capitalistic religion, in which all government intervention in the economy, even to save it, is bad. Its too funny. The socialist President and his fellow socialist legislators using government socialism to save capitalism from its greedy self, like usual, like it did during the great dpression, with the "New Deal". The worshippers of corporate capitalism are probably claiming that our economy would be better off right now if all these companies had been allowed to go through the regular bankruptcy process. Yeah, right. Years of mass corporate bankruptcy proceedure, as the recession deepens into a never ending depression. Please bear in mind that the very concept of a "bankruptcy process" is in itself a gracious socialistic program which allows failed capitalistic enterprises, which in a fair and competitive economy should be dead, to stay alive, with socialistic (government) help and protection. Long live free entgerprise, and thank the dear lord for the socialism which makes it all possible. Hallelajuh, and Happy Holidays!

Ridiculing the Ridiculous, Politically Correctly

ITS ALMOST AN "Only in America" thing. Except, they do it in other countries too. IN fact, they do it everywhere. They distort history, grotesquely, to serve some political agenda, or to make some lame point or express some lame pet peeve. The Jews are destroying Germany. Uncle Joe Stalin was our benevolent protector. The founding fathers of America were all Christians; that sort of thing. Distortions. Lies. But the idea that African-Americans were happy before the civil rights movement, as recently put forth by a long bearded American television celebrity, is so crazy that its hilarious. Of course there's actually a kernel of truth to it. A very very small kernel. Hell, for the most part, give a human being food, clothing, and shelter, decent health, a friend or two, and something to do, and its reasonably content. People who have spent decades in prison stop wanting to be released in many cases. "Habit is our only comfort. We dislike doing without even those unpleasant things to which we have become accustomed", said the oft quoted and spot on Goethe. Folks may be reasonably content, reasonably free of misery, but that don't mean that they are "happy" with their station in life. Not by a long shot. Before civil rights, African-Americans were not happy with their station in life. Every American television star has the sacred right to tell grotesquely distorted history, and the rest of us have the sacred right to ignore the ridiculous, or ridicule the ridiculous, or to oppose and seek to correct the ridiculous. The last thing we need in America is a tyranny of political correctness, in which even the slightest perceived lack of respect in referring to a person or an ethnic group is treated as a vicious and horrible crime, and those who commit such verbal slights are treated as criminals. But neither do we want an America in which those who respond to anti-gay or anti-black or anti anybody slurs in a negative way is labeled a politically correct tyrant trying to abridge our freedom of speech. It may well be that anyone who thinks homosexuality is an evil sin or that blacks were happy before civil rights is an idiot and a liar. Maybe, maybe not. Bad history will always be, and should be, corrected. But those of us who think the those who distort history for foolish reasons are liars and fools certainly need not mind that they believe foolish things. If nothing else, its revealing, and entertaining.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet: Knowing the Difference

IT SEEMS STRANGE that a socialist like myself would choose as two of his heros Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. But maybe there is a connection, somewhere, that isn't loose. The fact is, by giving away half their respective fortunes, both men were acting like socialists. Now, of course, the conservative capitalist crowd is going to object to this assertion. They're gonna want to categorize this good behavior on the capitalistic side. Charity, generosity, philanthropy are part and parcel of capitalism, you can just hear the con-caps saying. All great financial giants practice philanthropy. Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, the whole lot. They all gave their fortunes away to the rest of us. Well, true, for the most part. Not all wealthy folks are civic minded, but a good many indeed are. And, in every instance, when they are, they are turning into socialists the very moment they do so. As the ink pen is hovering over the rectangular piece of paper, Bill Gates is a capitalist. During the few seconds during which ink is being applied to paper, a mysterious spiritual transfiguration is occuring. Upon completion of the writing, after the forty billion dollar check has been writ, Bill Gates emerges as a socialist, perhaps to soon return to the realm of capitalism, perhaps to revisit socialism later. Its that simple. There is absolutely nothing in any economic text book conjoining altruism and capitalism. According to the books and the professors, capitalism involves capital, investment, supply, demand, and many other business and economic concepts, but not generosity. In capitalism, there is no redistribution of wealth. Socialism, however, is just the opposite. IN socialism, it doesn't matter who makes what, who earns what, who deserves what. Its only concern is: who needs what? The arbitrary redistribution of wealth, through the government, or through grass roots citizen behavior, is part and parcel of socialism. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are great men because they are great capitalists, and great socialists, and they understand that there is a time and place for one, and a time and a place for the other, and that the trick is to know the difference.

A Nice Genius and a Good Hillbilly

MY TWO HEROS, Albert Einstein and Davy Crockett, actually had a great deal in common, believe it or not, and maybe the things they had in common are the reason I admire them. First and foremost, both were eccentric as hell, and that I really love. Neither one believed in following the herd, conforming to soical conventions, following in the footsteps of others. Einstein wouldn't wear socks, or neckties,and Crockett walked around Washington D.C. as a member of Congress from the state of Tennessee carrying a loaded rifle and wearing a coonskin cap. They were both saying "I'm gonna do things my way, come hell or high water." Also, both of them played the violin. Einstein played Mozart, rather well, but not great, and Davy played Turkey in the Straw, The Old Grey Mare, songs like that, hillbilly songs, fiddle style, and word was he could make the thing sound like any bird in the woods. Davy never had anybody to show him how to play the fiddle; he just picked one up, bought one in Washington, and taught himself, over time. He taught himself how to read and write, amazingly. Both Crockett and Einstein had incredibly high moral standards, and both of them were incredibly generous, and just plain nice, down to the very core. Neither of them could say no to any request. If Davy had a niekl in his pocket he bought the first round of beer, and the last. Einsteine once bought an elevator for a two story house because "the salesman was such a nice young man". Einstein spoke out against the excesses of corporate capitalism and militaristic nationalism, and neither of them ever turned down a request for an autograph, and there were many. Crockett fought for the rights of the Indians, during a time period when nobody, but nobody else did. Many of his fellow Tennessee neighbors didn't agree; the settlers hated Indians, and that hurt Crockett in his politickin' fer office, but Davy knew right from wrong. Einstein had no patience with stuffy, arrogant intellectuals who act like they know everything but really have very little original to say. Crockett did not like fancy dressing rich easterners who acted like they were better than he. Crockett was cocky but sweet and Einstein was humble and sweet. I like both styles, somehow.

Setting the Duck Dynasty Dude Straight

I SAW THE SHOW "DUCK DYNASTY' once, by accident, and I would love to see more of it. I loved it, so hilarious it was. I don't have cable or satellite TV, so my chances are slim, but you never know... however....This Mr. Robertson gentleman, one of the long bearded ones, and all those who are now staunchly defending him are off the track, and here's why.....he said, as you know, that before civil rights, blacks were generally happy. He also said that homosexual sex is bestiality. Doubtless the few blacks he has encountered briefly and randomly happened to appear happy to him when on occasion he saw them. That, of course, means nothing. All it means is that Robertson saw a tiny minute fraction of all American blacks, for tiny minute fractions of their lives. We all know that blacks were miserable under slavery, segregation, and during the civil rights era. This is a rock solid fact. They wanted freedom, and they wanted equality. They still do. I mean, duh. Who wouldn't, right? Earth to Mr. robertson... Thomas Jefferson treated his slaves well, better than anyone else, and they were fundamentally content. Did they want freedom and equality, rather than slaves at Monticello? Yes. They said so. There are several very good histories of the black situation in America, written by historical scholars who did enormous amounts of research, and Mr. Robertson would do well to read one or two, because they use direct quotes and verified events to clearly show that, guess what? Blacks in America have been treated badly for four hundred years, and they never liked it, nor were happy with it. With reagrd to homosexual sex being "bestiality", so it is, Mr. Robertson, so it is. But, guess what? So is heterosexual sex, "bestiality". Animals having animal sex. Beasts of the earth, albeit highly intelligent beasts, procreating. Folks fucking like foxes. Conservatives are defending Robertson's right to say these things; but its irrelevant, and misses the point, as conservatives usually do. Everyone knows he has the right to say these things, but guess what? Others have an equal right to find his comments false and disgusting, and his employers have the right to fire him for angering his viewing public. One crackpot right wing KKK member wannabe compared Mr. Robertson to Rosa parks. Both are courageous, he blathered; Parks fought racism, and Robertson is fighting the attack on Christian values, particularly the Christian value wherein homosexuality is a sin. Wrong again. Nobody is attacking Christian values, merely by disagreeing with them. A disagreement is not an attack. Nobody questions anyone's right to have or defend Christian values, and nobody should ever question anyone's right to disagree with them.

Making Christmas Memories

OH, THOSE HALCYON DAYS OF CHILDHOOD, during the yuletide season! It was particulalry pleasant during the post war nineteen fifties and nineteen sixites, when America was as its height of prosperity, before the Viet Nam war and the welfare state began sapping the vitality out of its roaring post war economy. My parents always put up the tree about a week before Christmas, and none of this artificial tree stuff either; we got the real thing, a fine pine smelling seven footer, usually. IN those days, trees made out of metal were popular; I never did get the hang of silver colored Christmas trees, and thankfully neither did our parents. We thought our neighbors, who put theirs up on Thanksgiving, were a bit strange. Now, we do it that way too... During the week before the big day, the brightly wrapped presents would appear beneath the tree, one by one, a few every day, my eyes growing larger as the stockpile grew at an accelerating pace. Oh, the excitement! how clever of my parents, to build the excitement slowly and steadily, culminating in a Christmas Day crescendo. And here's the thing: our family was not wealthy. Not the least bit. Far from it. We were lower middle class blue collar, all the way. But, in the nineteen sixties, even the working class had some prosperity in America. My, how times have changed. Christmas morning, starting about sun up, was an explosion of colored paper, cardboard boxes, and toys. We unwrapped 'em one a time, everybody taking turns. Each unwrapping was its own moment in the spotlight. Our parents paid for their own gifts. Every year mom started a Christmas savings account at her local bank, in our (the kid's) name. By the time Christmas rolled around, my sister and I each had twelve dollars and fifty cents to spend onour parents, straight out of their paychecks. Quite an arrangement for us the kids. At one point, the amount grew to twenty five dollars a year. Inflation. In those days, this was no insignificant amount of jack. A recent survey indicated that the American people think that its a good idea to limit gift giving to about three gifts per person, and that drawing names out of a hat is a good idea, as a way to limit materialism, and financial damage. Today's kids are making their own memories, and may they all be beautiful.

Gentrification sucks

WHAT EXACTLY IS A "college town"? Possibly it is a town whose entire nature and character is determined by the presence of a college or University. A college town may in fact be a rather large city, like Austin, Texas, but this requires the presence of a huge university. Austin, Texas, everyone agrees, is a classic college town, even though it has grown enormously. A small college in a large city doth not a college town make; the city merely swallows up the school. Austin, Texas is a true college town, even though Austin has a population of nearly two million, because the University of Texas is so enormous that it shapes the character of Austin. In particular, the presence of the University of Texas turns Austin into a progressive, liberal minded, culturally diverse oasis in the midst of an otherwise staid, conservative region. Starkville, Mississippi is a college town, because the town itself is quite small; any college at all, let alone a major university, would render Starkville a true college town, due to the lack of other cultural points of light nearby. College towns are very special places. They seem so...alive. Even with UCLA and USC, Los Angels, California can never be a college town; the city is so enormous that it swallows up everything in it , and there is no one thing which shapes the character of a huge city of several million people. Among America's most personality laden college towns are Boulder, Colorado, Madison, Wisconsin, and Fayetteville, Arkiansas. These are places which cannot even be imagined without the existence of their higher education institutions. Sometimes college towns grow so much that the local populations begins to regret the growth. "Keep Austin funky", the cry goes out. When the main drag, the street where all the bars, shops, restaurants, and book stores are, starts to gentrify, the regret begins. Old, threadbare, crumbling buildings, within which are ensconced little off beat business; these are the stuff of which college towns are made. When the corporations come along, bringing plastic and glittering glass, and chain stores, the atmosphere is damaged. Gentrification sucks.

America, the Guilty Party

ALBERT EINSTEIN, in one of the final acts of his illustrious life, issued a joint statement with renowned writer-philosopher Bertrand Russell. The statement called upon the citizens of the world to set aside their differences and strong feelings they have about many issues, and to begin to regard themselves simply as members of a biological species which has a remarkable history, and whose disappearance "none of us can desire". The choice facing the world, they said, "is stark and dreadful and inescapable"; shall we put an end to the human race, or shall mankind renounce war? Nearly sixty years later, the world has not renounced war. Quite the contrary, in fact. The world embraces war like never before. The primary villain in all this is, beyond question, the United States of America. The U.S.A. accords itself the right to make war at will, always on the pretext of self defense and national security. Meanwhile, with much self righteous posturing, the U.S. expects other nations to abide by international agreements, treaties, law, and rules of world order, which it consdiers itself above. What the most important and urgent issues of the day are is a matter of opinion, but the threat of nuclear war and environmental destruction must surely be on everyone's list. The greatest threat to bring about these catastrophies is the United States, which threatens other nations with violence unless they renounce atomic weapons, while maintaining the world's largest collection itself. Every international agreement on environmental protection has been signed by nearly all the world's nations - except the United States. Among the most fundamental principles of logic and morality is the concept of "universality"; that which applies to one, applies to all. Mention this to most Americans, they will either dismiss it or ignore it. But by far what makes the United States so dangerous to the rest of the world is the fact that its government ingores the opinions of its citizens. Americans generally want nuclear disarmament for all, including themselves, and they want to participate in international environmental agreements. The American people want to spend more money on social programs, and less on the military and foreign wars of aggression. But they have no power to make their wishes come true in a country in which all political power is in the hands not of the people at large, but of a few powerful elite who care nothing for popular opiniohe greatest obstacle to human progress on the planet.

Questions

I GOTTA QUICK QUESTION: what on earth, or anywhere else, is an "E" cigarette? Electronic ciggie, I got that part. But, um...where do you plug it in? Does it run on batteries? Do the batteries come included with the ciggie, or must one purchase them separately? Presumably, and this is just a guess, a person needs to only have a single E cigarette. How many do you buy? One? Twenty? Why would anyone need more than one? Are they not resuable, like all other electronic gadgets? What are they like? Do they look the same as regular accoustic cigarettes? Where does the smoke come from? Is it manufactured electronically, in side a miniature motor within the tube proper? Do they taste good? Do they somehow include nicotene? If not, do they satisfy real smokers? Or, are they nicotene free, and intended as a means of weening folks off the "real thing"? Questions, questions. All stupid sounding, but sincerely posed, by someone who has never smoked a cigarette, and thus knows nothing. And, you know what they say about questions; there aint never a supid one. Then, moving right along, what on earth is "bitcoin"? A new, internet based system of currency, it would seem. Where, and by whom, did "bitcoin" originate? Is it here to stay? Is it solvent, exchangeable with other major world currencies? Who keeps track of it? Why are the Cninese refusing to participate in the system? (or are they?) And, last but not least, will bitcoin become the new international currency, replacing the American dollar and superceding the Euro as the international unit of exchange? Anyone who can answer these questions about these two topics, and also clearly, lucidly explain exactly who the Kardashians are and why they are on television, is far more culturally literate than I . Ignorance, however, is indeed bliss.

Protesting Wars, and Opposing the World

DURING THE VIET NAM WAR, I was just a kid. But about the time that the big Viet Cong-North Vietnamese offensive in early January, 1968 was successfully turned back, I began to have my doubts. The Tet offensive was a failure...or was it? How many times could they do the same thing, over and over again? Even as a soon-to-be thirteen year old this much was clear to me; the United Stes would never win the Viet Nam ware unless its military walked into Hanoi and occupied it. If I had it all to do over again, I would not let my youth stop me from openly complaining about it, to hell with my conservative patriotic parents, and the devil take the hindmost. (that's easy to say now,aint it...) In 1990, when President Bush told Saddan Hussein that the U.S. would never interfere or meddle in inter-Arab matters, then did, I finally got my big chance to actually protest a war: flag, sign, march, the whole kit 'n kaboodle. It was exhilarating. That's where my war protesting memory comes to an end. Since 1990, the United States has been involved in so many wars that I simply haven't the time to protest further, and apparently neither does anyone else. "The world advances only because of those who oppose it" said Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a smart dude with whom we should all acquaint ourselves . The war protestors are the greatest of all patriots, because they care enough to at least attempt to keep the fatherland far away from suicidal fool's errands. President Barack Hussein Obama has thus far deported two million Mexicans, tried hard to drop bombs on Syria, as if that shambles of a nation needed any more bombs dropped upon it, and has failed to show and sign that the U.S.A. intends to ever reduce its own nuclear arsenal or military might. Incidently, if the United States had abided by all the nuclear disarmament treateis it has negotiated and signed, it would currently have no nuclear weapons, rather than the many thousand it actually has. As Casey Stengal said "you cold look it up." Without opposition, the world never makes any progress.

Making Promises Hard to Keep

FOR THE MOST PART, when the United States government hires people to work in its massive bureaucracies, civil services and such, and recruits people for military service, it faces a great deal of competition. Competition from a frequently vigorous, robust, and highly competitive private economic sector. Because of this, the government must offer a great deal to lure participants. And this is exactly what it does. Currently, one half of the military budget is targeted for services to retired veterans. Medical services and pensions, and education opportunities such as the G I bill, primarily. One half. One half of paying for the defense of our country is paid to people who no longer defend it, and quite likely never did much to defend it while on active duty, but instead spent their time in the military training....eternally training. This is not a sustainable situation, according to top military brass, and according to common sense. The ancient truth adheres; it is far easier to make promises than to keep them. All across the land of the free cities and states are confronting essentially the same problem; paying pensions to retirees is bankrupting them. The same is true at the state level. Promises are easy to make, hard to keep. Anyone who is married already realizes this, naturally. There are two obvious choices for solutions. Either we must stop making such grand promises, or, we must stop keeping them. Or both. A member of my own family, one of my siblings, enlisted in the military right out of college, and spent three years in the army. then, she transitionede smoothly into the federal civil service, from which she retired at the age of fifty fifty. No 401K for her; a full lifetime pension. Hell, she'll probaly live to be ninety, like her mother. that's forty years of full retirement pension, for thirty years of work. Its insane. At the current rate, this sibling of mine will never see gevernment money beyond her seventy fifth birthday. Neither will anybody else. All this, before even mentioning the problems associated with the solvency of social security, medicare, and medicaid. When the social security system went into effect in 1935, there were something like thirty people working and paying into the system for every person still working. Now the ratio is less than three to one, and shrinking. The United States is a nation in which millions upon millions of people will be expecting to recieve benefits simultaneously, with but few people working to generate the national wealth necessary to do this. Can we say "means testing"?