A Tale Of Two Guys, and Two Restaurants

TWO COOL METROSEXUAL DUDES, young well educated well dressed Ivy League wall street types with great careers in the financial services industry ahead of them, recently decided to deep six their wall street careers, and make a difference. Using their business acumen, and with a little help from a few old corporate friends, they opened two restaurants, both called "Every Table", one in south Los Angeles, a poor neighborhood, the other a couple of miles away, downtown, where the high rise white collar up scale set hangs. The business plan was to provide healthy , fast, convenient meals to both ends of the economic spectrum, at prices both spectral-ends could afford. With exactly the same menu in both locations, the downtown store charges twice as much as the south L.A. location, with both locations intended to make a profit, independent of each other. The average annual income in south L.A. is around thirteen thousand per, so "Every Table" would make healthy food affordable to low income and poor Americans, a rarity in the United States. Since both locations serve prepackaged meals from the same kitchen, overhead and employee expenses can be held down. One question might be, why wouldn't the up scale customers downtown simply get in their cars, and drive the two miles to south L.A.,for a half price lunch? Convenience, perhaps. Time limits, the hassle of driving and finding a parking space, maybe. Or maybe they know what's going on, and out of pride, or community spirit, prefer to stay put downtown near their high rise office building, and pay twice the south L.A. price, because its still a good deal. Compassionate, socially conscious capitalism may very well be the next big thing in America. We've got people like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates running around, creating charitable trust funds and poor folk-friendly businesses, and restaurants which allow customers to pay whatever they think they can afford report doing well. You somehow sense that these two young, smart wall street guys are gong to do just fine, and you certainly hope so.------------PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE WITH OTHERS. WE WANT TO PROVIDE A DIALOGUE FOR PROGRESS. THANKS!

Trump, Caught In A Mexican Trap

DONALD TRUMP is presumably visiting the President of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, to improve his own election chances, which requires that he get along well with the president, to improve his reputation among Hispanic voters in America, and he must do this while keeping his plan to build the Great Wall of Trump standing, to keep his base happy, and doing both simultaneously might be hard for even a wheeler dealer like the Donald to pull off. The President of Mexico does not necessarily want to or plan to get along well with Trump, which Trump might not fully realize. The Mexican people hate both of them, and Nieto's approval rating can only get worse by being friendly to the Yankee imperialist. Telling Trump to go to hell would make the President's approval rating soar, and the Mexican State of the Union message is next week. If Trump sticks to his guns regarding his plan to deport eleven million Mexicans living illegally in America, to build The Great Wall of Trump along the Rio Grande, and to have Mexico pay for it, the two men will most definitely not get along. Not a chance. The President of Mexico will be very unhappy, because he wants Trump to aback down, and he will tell the Donald to go straight to hell, and to take his wall with him. This will greatly improve his popularity, while greatly hurting Trump's at home among Hispanics and undecided voters. If Trump backs down, and starts talking about a pathway to citizenship for the eleven million illegal Mexicans, or starts talking about a smaller wall or possibly no wall at all, his base supporters, the angry aggressive conservative American white folk, will be outraged, betrayed, and quite unhappy. So Trump would seem to be in a bit of a bind, damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't. He might've been better off to have stayed home, and kept his mouth shut.-------SUPPORT FREE EXPRESSION. PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE WITH YOUR FRIENDS! THANKS!

Understanding Our Dogs, For Once

WE ALL LIKE TO THINK that our dogs understand what we say when we speak to them. We agree, however, that they do not, they cannot, because they aren't human, and that's a fact we just have to live with. Hopeless fantasy. Your dog only seems to be responding appropriately to you, because you want it to be that way. But, wait. Not so fast. Never assume anything until proven. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Science comes through again! Some egghead scientist in Hungary, whose name, believe it or not, is "Attila", wanted to find out about dogs, and how well they understand us. So he trained about a dozen dogs of different breeds to lie still, and accept brain scan equipment. Then, he had their owners sweet talk them. Every dog owner knows exactly how to sweet talk her dog. They then had the owners talk blandly, emotionlessly, monotonously, in a dead sounding, neutral voice. Each time, the same part of the brain of all the dog's lit up in a certain way when sweet talked, but remained inert when talked to emotionlessly. It was the part of the brain which deals with communication. Obviously, all the dogs know the difference between sweet talk and cold talk. But how much, if any, of the actual message do they understand? It was also discovered that the communication center in dog's brains are identical to that in human brains. All the specific electrical and chemical responses in the dogs matched those in humans, strongly indicating that not only do do dogs understand the general tone of voice and what it means, but that they understand much more, maybe the message itself. Suddenly, millions of people can now speak to their best friend with a renewed sense of hope, a sense of real communication, really taking place. Sometimes our dreams come true.------WE ARE LOOKING TO PUBLISH CREATIVE, ORIGINAL WRITING WITH A VARIETY OF TOPICS, STYLES, AND THOUGHTS. PLEASE HELP FREE EXPRESSION BY LOGGING ON OFTEN. WE PUBLISH NEW MATERIAL EVERY FEW HOURS! THANKS!

Changing Our Hearts and Minds, Somehow Or Other

DWAYNE WADE CRIES OUT AGAINST gun violence the very moment his cousin, a young mother, is shot and killed pushing a baby carriage down the street in Chicago when caught in the crossfire of a gun battle. Wade isn't alone. We are all crying out against gun violence. Unfortunately, crying out against it doesn't stop it. How, then? Wade did make a valid point. We've got the find a way to change hearts and minds of all those who might engage in future gun violence, before they ever engage in it, and since we have no idea who they might be in advance, we must change the hearts and minds of everybody, even those who nobody would ever suspect of being a future violent person. In what way? First, we must accept the apparently obvious truth that violence is very deeply embedded in human nature, and is very easy to bring out. Humans are inclined to engage in highly organized mass violence on a large scale, with their own approval. (see: history books, military). People as individuals are quick to frighten, quick to anger, and quick to lash out violently when frightened, threatened, or angered. Our tendency as a species, all too common, to experience road rage when cut off in traffic, or to utter an obscenity to a stranger who cuts in line in front of us at 3 A.M. outside the front door at Wal Mart on black Friday, bodes ill for our future survival, considering the sheer destructive power of our weapons, and the state of international relations, and the general level of mental health of the general human population, historically and now. We either need extraterrestrial intervention, or some radically new, fundamentally different new philosophy or religion to sweep across the planet, turning us all into enlightened, non violent beings. Everything we've tried before has failed. With regard to highly advanced, benevolent extraterrestrials suddenly showing up and bailing us out, don't bank on it. I wouldn't hold my breath. If they're out there, they're probably as afraid of us as we are, totally turned off by our violence towards each other, and have no intention of getting anywhere near us. So, we're on our own. What next?--------PLEASE SUPPORT FREE SPEECH BY SHARING THIS WEBSITE WITH SOMEONE.THANKS!

Who Is Minding the Store?

FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW, Ireland and Apple Computer have been experiencing a financial renaissance, with each other's help. Ireland lured Apple to Ireland with promises of huge tax breaks, Steve Jobs accepted the offer not long before he died, and since Apple avoids paying taxes everywhere, most notably in America, why not? Low Irish taxes, lower than normal as a special privilege, cheap labor, great profit. Years of mutual prosperity and thousands of new jobs later, the European Union, which Ireland supposedly wants to remain part of, announced that Apple owes the EU fourteen billion, with a "B', in back taxes. Apple is quite naturally appealing, Ireland is saying it does not want the money, and is formally on Apple's side, though you damned good and well know they want the money, secretly (who wouldn't?) The United States is on Apple's side, strange, since the U.S. also thinks Apple owes tax money in the U.S., and should keep its jobs in America. If all this sounds complicated, it is, a are all situations involving corporate intrigue, greed, and foolishness, particularly when the U.S. government is involved, even more so when Europe is. it is enough to make reasonable people to wonder: why don't governments simply establish reasonable tax laws, and apply them equally, fairly, consistently, transparently? The answer, of course, is that doing so would just make too damned much sense. From the government perspective, If you do that, then you lose the ability to lure business and influence corporate behavior with "creative" tax policy. No government on Earth is going to enact legislation which prevents it own corrupt activities. Free market Americans complain about the high cost of corporate taxes in America, supposedly in the world, but how many of America's hugest corporations actually pay taxes, after all the discounts, write offs, and government subsidies are taken into account? None, most likely. General Electric is famous for consistently having no federal ax liability, year after multi billion dollar year. Corporations must be regulated at last somewhat for the good of society, and the same thing applies to government, it must be kept under control. So who is guarding the guard? No one, if not we the people.------OUR GOAL IS TO INCLUDE AS MANY CREATIVE PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE IN THE CONVERSATION. PLEASE LOG ON OFTEN, AND SHARE THIS WEBSITE WITH OTHERS. THANKS!

Self Identifying, As None Of the Above

WE ARE STARTING TO AGREE, despite strenuous conservative opposition, that we all have the right to self identify. We are who we say we are, and what we say we are. Potential problems with this are obvious, but we'll find a way to work it out. My great grandparents came to America from Bavaria, but by God if I want to call myself "African-American" because I choose to trace my ancestry all the way back to the start, that's my choice. But if people start self identifying as the God of Mars, the King of England, or Superman, or heaven knows what else, the rest of us might have to invoke the right to be skeptical and dismissive. If gay marriage opens up marriage to any combination of people and things under the sun, as it does not at first glance seem to, well then, so be it. If somebody decides to marry a flag pole, nobody has to pay any attention. However, society is going to have to give serious consideration, very serious consideration, to acknowledging and accepting transgenders, in their new, or most recent gender incarnation. Most recent, because a fair number of people have already reassigned their individual gender more than once, sometimes several times. You almost wonder if they are confused, and if anyone might be able to help. But we must not be judgmental. This, all this confusion and identity changing, perhaps, was predictable. Let's face it, anybody who goes to the trouble to make a complete transition, in dress style, behavior, and personal identity, means business, and anybody who goes to all the trouble to undergo sexual reassignment surgery, with the tinkering with the sex organs, and all that - really means business, and should be taken seriously, and respected. With one and a half million transgender people in the United Stats, if its a perversion, sin, or sickness, it sure as hell is a widespread one, widespread enough to make one wonder whether transgenderism might somehow, someway, for some unknown reason, be part of nature's plan. Its been around for a long time, just like homosexuality, but swept under the rug in less "enlightened" cultures. In Washington state, there is a fifty two year old retired tank mechanic who changed into a woman, then just the other day, won her case in court to be allowed to change into another gender, specifically, no gender. To be gender free, non binary, what is sometimes called "gender queer", denoting the absence of any firm, fixed, well defined gender status. Free to be a man one day, a woman the next, or any combination thereof, whenever one pleases. Weird as that sounds now, we may all end up with this sort of designation some day, just to avoid legal complications. Meanwhile, I'm thinking seriously of reintroducing myself to the world - as a genderless extraterrestrial being. Its my god given right, so it seems, and besides, maybe there's money in it.-------SUPPORT FREE EXPRESSION AND CREATIVITY! PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE WITH OTHERS! THANKS!

Hillary and Trump's Great American Race Card War

NOW WE ENTER EH QUAGMIRE FOR REAL, the one of our own manufacture, descending ever deeper into the darkness, as Hillary and Trump take off the kid gloves, and call each other "racists". And it can only get better, or worse. Just when you think we can go no lower, we do. At least we're the world's best at something, eh? Oh yes, my fellow cogs of the United states of Avoidance of Reality. we created this, as a team, for which we can congratulate ourselves. How Donald Trump can accuse Hillary Clinton of "bigotry" would be beyond comprehension, if one didn't consider the source. In conservative logic, advocacy for government programs to assist poor minorities amounts to racism. Well, whatever. Ninety eight percent of America's African-Americans, for some strange reason, prefer Hillary Clinton's version of bigotry. Comparing two two versions is revealing. Hillary wants to admit thousands more Syrian refugees, Trump does not. Trump wants to keep all Muslims out of the country, and send all illegal Mexicans back to Mexico, and Hillary does not. Trump, of course, wants his Great Wall of Donald, which will never happen, not in a million years. Off the cuff, wouldn't you say that Hillary's positions sound just a tad less, shall we say, based on racial distinctions, than Mr. Trump's? You'd almost have to say so, if you're being fair and honest. Trump's most recent campaign manager is a person who once openly declared his fear that white America is losing its identity, whatever in hell that means. Whatever it means, it sounds angry, paranoid, wild, and crazy. Just like Donald Trump. Do we begin to discern a pattern here? If not, there is the minor matter of Donald Trump's rental properties, years ago, screening applicants for race, and placing the letter "C", for "colored", in a separate pile, headed for the dumpster. Remember that Hispanic judge judged by Trump to be unqualified to render justice in a case involving Trump, due to his being Hispanic? Of course you do, though you might prefer not to, if you're a Trump supporter. Upon examination, it would seem that there is considerable more substance to Hillary's accusations than Mr. Trump's, if they choose to persist with the race card.---------- PLEASE TELL OTHER PEOPLE ABOUT THIS WEBSITE. SUPPORT CREATIVITY.THANKS!

Moving On

I DON'T GET MUCH EMAIL these days, although I used to. I outran spam, so far, and my friends? I may have finally succeeded in alienating them enough to drive them off, with the exception of the occasional howdy how are ya? My is the perception on my part of self absorption on their part. We all have personal interests. These we invariably closely associate with ourselves, and seek to share with others, especially our friends, a perfectly normal urge. Interests vary, from job and family, to extraterrestrial contacts, the Galactic Federation, or a budding career as a guitar strumming singer song writer. It can be anything. Whatever it may be, by all means, share. But how much sharing can a single poor sucker of a recipient absorb? And how long must said recipient wait for some trace of variety, something outside the sacred realm, some hint or trace of alternative interest? In all honesty, I cannot recall the last time one of my forty year friends expressed the slightest curiosity about me and my mundane daily life and activities. And I don't expect much. I'm low maintenance. But when your dear friends from the class of seventy three have no idea whether or where you work, even after years of sustained email exchanges, whether you have children and if so who they are, you begin to feel a bit neglected. I think I've been more than accommodating. How many reports from alpha Centauri can one read in a single sitting? Sure, buddy, I would love to download your most recent demo song, you, your fine voice, acoustic, and harmonica. Send it now, by all means! I feel as if I've spent the entire internet age in a state of acquiescent accommodation, receiving, accepting, profusely thanking and feigning interest. Over time, one starts to fade. One grows weary, sated. So I try to change the subject, to inject new life, but invariably, to no avail. The conversation goes right back to where it was, and has been, for years. All my comments and inquiries into forbidden areas are summarily dismissed or ignored. My friend who so loves extraterrestrial diplomacy simply will not talk about his career, whatever is is. My soon to be musical superstar never mentions his children, if he has any, nor mine, if I have any. Any comment I might make about my life or interests, as by now you might have guessed, is dismissed, ignored. Finally, I've had enough. Here's my plan. I shall email nobody. Whatever I might receive, I shall fail utterly to grace with comment or any sort of response. I shall instead provide a detailed description of my mundane daily life, my deepest thoughts, aspirations, and interests, to the exclusion of all else. that should do the trick. I shall, in a nutshell, bore them into submission. I fully expect, within a short time, to open my email box, and find it delightfully, refreshingly empty.--------------PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE WITH OTHERS, TO AID FREE EXPRESSION AND CREATIVITY.THANKS!

Explaining What We Do, And Doing It

This is not a blog. This, dear friends, is a website for creative, original writing, and for expressing good thoughts or ideas. We intend to soon set up an email address to which everyone can send questions, comments,ideas for articles, or better yet, essays and articles. The more, the merrier. In order to keep intellectual activity alive in America and throughout the western world, it shall be necessary to have websites like this one; dedicated to intelligent, productive expression. We all have an inalienable, inherent right to self identify, and this creative writing website hereby self identifies thusly: is not a blog, never has been, and never will be, no matter how many people choose to call it that. Don't blogs tend to be personal, self absorbed and topically defined and limited? And don't blogs usually present only one person's viewpoint, and don't most of them use this new, truncated, abbreviated text lingo which quite simply defies all logic and virtually renders intelligent discourse impossible? Blogd, or 'web logs", sprang into being as a sort of online personal diary, a quasi social media posting site, only apart from corporate control. Its better to have more than one person's point of view on a website, and it helps to have all the posts, essays, or whatever you want to call them, well written. That's what we intend here: more posts by more people, different points of view, more readers, and more input from the readers. The new email address will be announced shortly. Freedom of expression, and intelligent discourse are essential for the survival of America; the opportunity for the common human to self express, to help foster a willingness of the masses to step up and over our corporate rulers and determine their own future. It is the masses who must determine America's future, the teeming, unwashed masses of ordinary people, free of corporate control. They need to organize, these unwashed American and milling international masses, and agree on a plan to overthrow the power of the traditional wealthy elite, seize control of the country and the world in a massive, populist, perfectly legal takeover, and what better place to do it, than on the internet, on a previously obscure website of interest only to eccentric intellectuals, but now, spearheading the cause of popular revolution. The Occupy Wall Street movement a few years ago was absolutely wonderful, but didn't go far enough. Now is the time to get it going again, although most Americans probably realize or agree with that, or if conservative, despise the very thought of relinquishing corporate governance in favor of true populism. If, on the other hand, someone happens to believe that the United States of America is absolutely perfect in its present form, and needs not one iota of change, dubious though that viewpoint might seem, it is a point of view worthy of expression, as all viewpoints are, even those which defy intelligent comprehension. The light must be shined on our garbage too, lest we forget its existence.

Getting the Point Across, the Colin Kaepernick Way

COLIN KAEPERNICK HAS THE COURAGE of his convictions, the willingness to back up what he says, through an act of self sacrifice, if nothing else. Being an NFL quarterback, you'd expect him to have good character, strength, and toughness, to be able to take the heat. He has that, in spades. Even though I'm a football fan, before the story of his protest broke, I couldn't remember his ethnicity, because I don't have a television, and without that, there's no way of knowing anyone's race. They don't mention details like that on the radio. To do so would be politically incorrect. You have to see for yourself. That he's black fits in with human nature; we tend to care more about those groups with which we more closely identify as members. More than mental toughness, Colin has compassion for those who do not receive equal treatment, and never did get a fair shake in American society - minorities. He has spent the entire preseason sitting down during the national anthem in protest, not against the police, government, or conservatives, but against the whole country, against American society, against all of us, and the way we allow discrimination against minorities to exist throughout our society institutionally, as every study proves. We all contribute, if only by default and inaction. Vegas is probably taking odds on whether he'll stand up when the regular season begins. Your best bet is that he will, because by then he will have made his point, and his behavior is reportedly having an adverse, divisive influence on his team. Plus, if he doesn't stop, look for the NFL powers that be to come down heavy on him, which thus far they have not. You could argue his case either way. The best argument against what he's doing is that there are plenty of opportunities to register one's opinion without disrespecting the national anthem, which, after all, is something which can unify us, if we allow it, and which stands for all that is good about America, including the progress that has been made towards equality. True enough, but there is also the matter of being heard, and how to do it. One can write letters to the editor, or start a blog, or talk to people one to one. But sitting down during the Star Spangled Banner not only sends a message, it sends one that is definitely going to be heard, without making a fuss, without actually disrupting anything anybody else is doing, without even speaking. The proof is in the fact that everyone is talking about some bask up NFL quarterback sitting on a bench for two minutes, when we think he should stand. All things considered, that's a pretty tame and innocuous way of making a statement, simply by non participation, passive aggressively, getting the attention any important and true message deserves. I can think of a lot worse ways of getting the point across.--------PUBLISHING A VARIETY OF THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS IS WHAT THIS WEBSITE IS ALL ABOUT. PLEASE SHARE IT WITH A FRIEND. THANKS!!!

Why We Deny, Or Believe In Man Made Climate Change

EVERY FEW WEEKS, new data tragically confirms the reality of climate change, beyond all lingering doubt. Climate change is happening faster than anyone, including the experts, ever thought possible, and its entirely man made, not some natural cycle, as our foolish conservative friends spew. The truth is terrifying, and maybe it would be better that we not know, or pretend not to, just give up, and die peacefully, so we can get to heaven sooner. Global warming is happening right now, right before our very eyes, as each month gets hotter and hotter, setting records. Amazingly, this denial bullshit is still coming from American conservatives, albeit from fewer people, at a slower pace, and more lamely and timidly. Within a few years this insane denial will have totally died out in America, thank heavens, as it already has in every other nation on earth, the ones featuring intelligent people. The fantasy that there has been no warming during the past eighteen years, until recently a staple argument of right wingers in denial, has vanished, because it was discredited long ago. There is actually one conservative radio talk show host, believe it or not, Phil Valentine, who said on his show he can't wait for Trump to get elected, so we can finally stop hearing all this talk about climate change, which is nothing but a liberal hoax. I shit you not, that's what this idiot really said. Hard as it is to believe that anyone that stupid could possibly be allowed to talk on radio for fifteen seconds, let alone host a talk show, its happening, right before our very ears. Does this Valentine fool actually believe that the minute a republican becomes president, tens of thousands of scientists and billions of people will suddenly stop talking about climate change, about their drought stricken neck of their woods, or their hurricane and flood ravaged homes, or the fact that their beach front property is sinking beneath the waves? Like, I am sooooo totally sure, Mr. valentine. Typical conservative, that Phil valentine. Dumber than a door nail, or pretending to be, for unknown reasons. If climate change is real, which it most certainly is, it means that we the human race must make drastic changes to our technologies, our economy, and our entire civilization. Nothing is more dreadful to conservatives, than the thought of fundamental change. That's why they call them "conservatives"; they want to conserve the status quo, and tradition. Liberals want change, which is why they are accused so often of being unpatriotic trouble making whiners. Much of what people believe they believe in order to assuage their emotions. Hell, who knows? maybe liberals believe in man made climate change only because climate change means humans must change, we we like change. Or, maybe its because every physics, chemistry, and biology professor on the planet, and every high school physics, chemistry, and biology teacher in the world, hundreds of thousands of them altogether, tells us that climate change is happening, and choose to believe them.-----------WE TRY TO PUBLISH CREATIVE, ORIGINAL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS. PLEASE HELP BY LOGGING ON OFTEN, AND TELLING OTHERS ABOUT THIS SITE. THANKS!

Being Educated, Or At Least Wanting To

MY ILLITERATE, LARGE MOUTHED FRIEND at the senior center, the one I told you about who tries to shove religion down everybody's throat and who I suspect of being a retired hit man for Whitey Bulger in Boston back in the day, walked up to me the other day, and apologized for calling me an "educated idiot". He said the Lord told him to do it, naturally. Whatever goof ball dude does, the Lord told him to do it. He has no independent judgment in lieu of the Lord, which, on balance, is probably best for us all. The apology was a good start, particularly since it is probably the only thing of value I will ever get from this knucklehead. I remember trying to explain to him that people with PhDs, like me, are not idiots, we are the opposite of idiots, which is what we went to school to for. Among true American idiots today, such as my illiterate friend, and say, Rush Limbaugh, there is a distinct bias against and animus for science and education. Right wingers who went to work and on to family raising after high school never stop trying to ridicule well educated academicians, ivory tower eggheads, out of touch with the real world, you've heard it. That's because overwhelmingly, ivory tower intellectuals tend to be liberal, the more intelligent and educated, the more liberal, as a rule. Conservatives can't stand this. They resent and envy the intelligence and education of liberals. Rush Limbaugh, who never passed a single class in his two short semesters in college, considers himself educated, and indeed, a genius. I've got news for him. Actually Rush is plenty intelligent, but not sufficiently educated. If he went to college right now, and kept at it until he had a double major doctorate in American history and political science, he would be a much more potent and impressive man, intellectually. But of course, people like Rush don't think they need to learn anything more, don't think anybody else can teach them anything more, because they already know it all. My illiterate friend, who truly cannot read one letter, is absolutely convinced that he is just fine and dandy the way he is now. Why should he bother to learn to read, when he can listen to the Bible, the only book that matters? however, as all educated people know, nobody is good enough now, we all require more education, and the moment we stop realizing this, the moment our Intellectual stagnation and death begins. My illiterate fried and Rush Limbaugh are both deceiving themselves, on purpose, too afraid to accept and come to terms with their own glaring inadequacies. But of course you already knew that, because you are educated, or at least you want to be----------------------THE MORE WE SHARE THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS, THE MORE WE KNOW, THE MORE WE UNDERSTAND. PLEASE SHARE THIS SITE WITH OTHERS! THANKS!

Trying, and Failing, to Destroy Barack Hussein

HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU HEARD SOME IDIOT say "Obama hates america"? At least once, probably several times, maybe more than that. Every time you hear it, a conservative said it. One more damned idiotic conservative, hatin' on Obama, accusing the president of hating the country, knowing its a lie. Can't they criticize instead of fantasize? That they say it and don't believe it makes them more dishonest than idiotic, or both. I've lost social studies teaching jobs for telling high school students that the Cold War was america's invention, that dropping atomic bombs on Japan was only for show, that the United States was always intended to be owned and operated by an elite small wealthy group, and still is, and that Thomas Jefferson and many of America's founding fathers despised the Christian religion. In america, if you lie, you get elected, and if you tell the truth, you lose your job. Telling the truth about America, past present, will get you accused of hating America by the extreme right wing, and even the mainstream right wing, whose members pride themselves on their devout patriotism, as if that were some kind of morally superior virtue, as if honest criticism of country were unpatriotic, as if excessive patriotism didn't corrupt history and serve as a refuge for scoundrels. Somebody who hates America is not going to spend half his life, twenty four seven, trying to become president of it. The fact that Obama tried to change America does not mean that he hates it. We shun what we despise, and seek to improve that which we love. seeking change is not hatred, it is striving for progress and improvement. You hear these same conservative bastards accuse Obama of having fundamentally changed america irreversibly, of having destroyed it, as if it no longer existed. A quick glance outside the window plainly belies that inanity. the fact is that Obama has changed america very little, far less than he or any other reasonable person would want to, because and only because our elected republican leaders in Congress regard any change as anathema, unpatriotic, and harmful to American core values, conservative principles, and other idiocies. consider this: Obama, fulfilling his constitutional duty, nominated a very moderate person to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. by now, Merrick Garland should be sitting on the court. But o. Oh hell no. whatever Obama does, or tries to do, no matter how sensible, is opposed automatically by our right wing idiots, because, well, Obama did it, and Obama hates America, and thus most be opposed. most of what Obama has done, had it been tried by a conservative republican president, would have been celebrated and praised by our right wing nut cases. Let's hope Obama doesn't try to donate his salary as president to the Treasury department before he leaves office; if he does, he'll be run out of the country-----------------------PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE WITH OTHERS. WE TRY TO SHARE THOUGHTS, AND OPINIONS.

Loving Our Dogs and Cats, More Than Each Other

I DON'T LIKE THE POST OFFICE. Sluggish, inefficient, and expensive, let's privatize it. Then too, there are those postal employees, with their perfunctory, punctilious, packaged postal personalities, sticklers for detail, which may derive from stress and overwork. They rub me the wrong way, even though they are pillars of society. Truth is,I aint much of a cop fan either, personality wise. Strong, silent, stolid, stoic, unsmiling. maybe that has something to do with living in constant fear of losing your life. they are, obviously, heroes. Hell, for that matter, I can't rightly say, as I head into dotage, that I like Americans very much, what with their insufferable arrogance and self absorption. Humanity, truth be told, is not my favorite land animal. Without doubt, I prefer dogs and cats to humans. hell, so does every other american, which indicates that American, arrogant though they are, have good judgement. Every American I've ever asked, and there have been many, says the same thing: yes, I too prefer dogs and cats to people. When I quote a Harvard study which reveals that on surveys fifteen percent of the American people express preference for pets, everyone has the same response: those numbers have got to be low. I agree.Harvard needs to start over. A friend of mine from China had Americans pegged to a tee. "You Amellicans are the roneriest people in world. You care more about your dogs and cats than each other! He acted like there was something wrong with this, that we should be shocked, surprised, and ashamed. Hell yeah, I replied. You got that right. Actually, he only got the last part of it right. We Americans are lonely at all, unless we happen to be in a crowd. We have our cats and dogs to keep us company, and that's exactly the way we want it, and intend to keep it-------------PLEASE TELL OTHER READERS ABOUT THIS WEBSITE, WHICH IS INTENDED TO BA A FORUM FOR CREATIVE WRITING AND READING. THANKS!

Lashing Out Angrily, With Fantasy

THERE HA BEEN A LOT OF TALK among conservative Americans to the effect that Barack Hussein Obama is so corrupt, so devious and power hungry, that he hasn't the slightest intention of leaving office when his time comes to leave next January, and and since his scheduled leaving cannot come too soon for our right wing colleagues, they are much concerned about the prospect of a permanent Obama presidency. Although this sort of thinking usually originates with the same sort of people who believe that the Federal Reserve system is secretly controlled by a small elite group of European billionaire nobility, and that Hitler lived in South America until 1979, it is quite likely that all this is true. Obama was reportedly seen recently in the White House wearing a crown, sitting on a throne, wielding a scepter. The fact that he is Islamic gives him, in his twisted mind, the right to rule for the remainder of his life. I have a group of friends, left over from high school forty six years ago, who put forward the theory that Michelle Obama is a transgender, and that her children were adopted. They had pictures to prove it. I expect these half baked folk from the class of -73 to trot out photo shopped photos any day showing Hillary Clinton in her former life as a man. I cannot bring myself to even think that people like this actually believe nonsense like this, but the point is, they try to believe it, they want to, and so they pretend to. And all these far right loons who talk about Obama staying in office by declaring a constitutional crises and in his capacity as Commander In Chief ordering the military to support his ascent to a permanent presidency - they don't stop there, and just leave it at that. That's why I am seriously considering blowing off my fifty year high school reunion, even though the ones so far have been fun. People seem to be getting crazier.....and crazier. That, or angrier and angrier, more desperate to express hatred and frustration. John McCain, Senator of Arizona, is running in a primary election Tuesday, against a lady, Kelly Ward, who at one time was seriously into the paranormal community and accusing the United States government of spraying chemicals all over the countryside to somehow control or render infertile the American mainstream paranormal community, or something like that. Perhaps you've heard the "chem trail" people. In McCain's campaign, he is reminding voters of this, calling her "chem trail Kelly", trying to convince the good people of Arizona that his opponent is unstable, possessed of poor judgement, and should therefore not be elected. If John McCain is looking for wack jobs to go after, he needn't look any further than within the mainstream of his own off the wall republican party. With Hillary and Donald accusing each other of being temperamentally unfit for the job, it may be that we are entering an era of savage personal attacks based upon psychological warfare. We'd better be careful about this, if we know what's good for us, which invariably we don't. There is no end to which people can attack each other on the basis of the murky nature of the mind, deciding what is normal, and healthy, and what is not is precarious at best, impossible at worst. And besides, when it comes right down to it, we are all just a little bit off in the head, and none of us really has much right to talk about others, when we ourselves could use some improvement, in terms of basic mental stability. There is log, in each of our eyes, here in the United States of Alternative Reality.

Hillary, Going Downhill

HILLARY CLINTON IS DEATLHY ILL, according to America's conservative community, that bulwark of honesty and integrity. She has, it seems, been giving short speeches, a sure indication of mental illness, either that, or, maybe good sense. She has developed very peculiar way of expressing herself, facial tics, declarations of allegiance to liberal ideology, and who knows what will happen next? Hell, five years ago she tripped while walking up and away into her private jet, and since the stairs are made of solid aluminum lattice work and inclined at a reasonable seventy five degree angle, with jet exhaust blowing and cameras of a million media members clicking while boarding, to trip is a sure indication of declining [physical agility, and hence, encroaching decrepitude. And if you believe all that, maybe you should either go shopping for real estate in Central Florida, or transition to a comprehensive mental evaluation of her (Hillary's) chief political rival, Donald J. trump. According to those how know the Donald best, his privately owned personality is entirely different than his public one, political one. In private, Trump is kind, sensitive, quiet, nurturing, a regular Mother Theresa, while out on the campaign trail or in the board room, watch out! that's all fine and dandy, believable, and no crime, but it proves only one thing; Trump, in public, becomes a psychopathic narcissistic mania. So what, right? well, this begs the question: "why"? why bother to live a Jekyll and Hyde life, merely on account of some weird need to separate private life from public life? is that really necessary? Or Is this behavior in and of itself evidence of a multiplicity of mental and emotional issues, ranging from paranoia, narcissism, and obsessive compulsive to downright double life dishonesty, adding p to a huge personality disorder? When Barry Goldwater suffered detrimental effects, politically, of being analyzed by shrinks off the record in 1964, the Goldwater law was passed, requiring psychologists to keep their mouths shut in public about public figures, which seems rather like an abridgement of first amendment rights. Meanwhile, we can be sure that the vast right wing conspiratorial hatchet machine will keep perking right along, seeking to portray Hillary as everything from extraterrestrial being, to arch criminal, to incurable psychopath. Let the games begin!..........ALL VIEWPOINTS MUST BE HEARD. PLEASE SHARE THIS SITE WITH A FRIEND! THANKS!

Deciding Which Is More Fun: Guns Or Dildos

THE ANTI GUN PROTESTERS at the University of Texas, Austen have taken to taping dildos to the outside of their backpacks in protest of the new conceal carry gun law, which is against the law. They are beginning to gather together in groups, and parade around campus, so adorned. Campus police are not interfering, choosing instead to treat the situation as a matter of free expression and social protest. The idea behind this really really weird form making a statement is to emphasize that sex toys are illegal on campus, but not are not, to get people to think about the obvious irony involved. And indeed, when you stop and think about it, that does seems a bit strange, doesn't it? You'd almost think that it might be the other way around, or should be, sex toys being legal, and guns not being. O the two, which one is more fun? if you say "guns", you're just plain weird. If you evade the question by saying that fun isn't the point, and both items have different purposes, and we need guns for protection but we need to keep obscene sex toys out of sight, you're even weirder. just answer the question, even it, especially, you happen to be a right wing conservative christian nut case. Sex toys are just plain old more fun, a lot more fun than guns, and safer too. And granted, guns are fun, or can be. For target practice or hunting,or shooting ate each other with paint guns, from a safe distance. But as, noted above by our hypothetical conservative right wing Tea Party Jesus Guns and Money Loon, the purpose of conceal carry on college campuses in the great state of Texas sure isn't fun. Its fear. Fear, leading to protection, or some crazy notion of it. It will be interesting to see whether armed good people stop more criminals and terrorists, or kill more of each other. time will tell. Meanwhile, Maybe the Texas state legislature, or a state or federal court, or UT Administration or some other renowned official governing body will step up, show some real leadership, will decide that conceal carry sex toys are legal, but not open carry, just like guns, for consistency's sake. Because right now, the only people showing any initiative or leadership or community concern whatsoever are the good folks, mostly young ladies, presumably, walking around campus with dildos taped to their backpacks, which seems like the weirdest thing of all in a generally weird situation. But weird situations in general and people with the dildos in particular are by far the most fun.

Making Lemonade and Taking Over the World

A BEAUTIFUL BIRD with a badly injured beak was rescued recently in Costa Rica, and nursed back to health by someone for whom there is now a special place awaiting in heaven, if not before. The Tucan will be returned to the wild, presumably, unless it can't fend for itself and needs human assistance. In either case, it will live a full life free of all further human violence. This in and of itself is a great miracle - how many people have you ever known or heard of who lived an entire life free of human violence? None, presumably. Its almost impossible to do. But in Coasta Rica, the plight and subsequent rescue of this beautiful creature is well known, and as a result a huge animal rights movement has arisen throughout the country, and could easily spread throughout Central american, and then, perhaps, the entire world. Stranger things have happened. The well known, controversial american organization People for the ethical Treatment of Animals (P.E.T.A.) has surely by now established substantive, ongoing contact with the nascent Coasta Rican movement, and might even be considering trying to expand into Coasta Rica, adding the members of that animals right movement to their formal membership. Why not? To do so would be perfectly in keeping with standard American behavior: foreign imperialism. just imagine: this namby pamby bleeding heart pussy liberal gang of thugs, joining the ranks of such exulted entities as the United states government, the American corporate community, and the american military industrial complex in encroaching upon the internal affairs of, and taking control of the rest of the world, animal rights wise. Too cool. I hope the sudden new animal rights movement in Costa Rica, triggered by a single sick bird but spreading in a country whose people are evidently fully aware of their country's nature beauty and natural resources, spreads around the world, and dominates it. I hope People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals takes over the whole world.---------------------START YOUR OWN BLOG. POST. EXPRESS...SHARE

Making American Scrabble Great Again

I USED TO DREAD GOING TO VISIT MY MOTHER, because, soon as I walked through the door, there sat the Scrabble board, all laid out and ready to rock. Mom was great at the game, and used to get into to it with my sister, both of whom had an uncanny knack of coming up with "Q"s, which can be a good thing, and a bad thing. Nothing against Scrabble, its just that I don't like sitting still, which used to cost me in school. I always thought the official game dictionary was too full of too many small pseudo words, there weren't enough letters in the box or on my rack, and too many double and triple pointers. I envisioned a super scrabble version, with a bigger board with twice as many squares, more letters per player, and longer, more intellectually challenging words. A version which, to my knowledge, has never existed in the real world, and most likely never will. Well, there is something to be said for tradition, the ability to compare players across the decades, and, as Goethe said, "it is the limitations which make the master". The international Scrabble championship is now taking place in France, presumably accompanied by pastries, cheeses, and wines for participants, and a full dress gala banquet for the winners. You know those French; they do't scrimp on ceremony. People play the game all over the world, and every country on the planet has its own local, regional, and national championship, and to get very far at any level has got to be a source of immense pride. Naturally, there are individual and team world rankings, constantly changing, in this highly organized "sport". The defending world champ is a Nigerian. The top ranked team and country in the world is Nigeria. Scrabble is a national passion in Nigeria; they don't play, they take is seriously, which is what makes anybody good at anything. The champ is a young man who doesn't leave home without his signature fedora, and is nicknamed "the cat in the hat" by his teammates. One of his teammates, a thirteen year old girl, says the game has improved her math, reading, and general academic skills, and when you hear her speak, you believe every last word of it, including those over seven letter in length. Bear in mind that the game is played in English, so, why isn't the United States the world's super power? well, probably for the usual reasons. Kids just aren't raised on a scrabble field like they used to be. Too much television, texting, and time spent on the couch instead of at the table. Why, kid, I'll tell you what. When I was your age, we'd walk five miles, through rain, sleet, or snow, just to get to the sand lot Scrabble table, and we played, no matter what the conditions on the field, no matter how worn our equipment. You kids today have just plain gone soft, and a little time spent at the letter rack with faded yellow squares in front of you wouldn't do you a damned bit of harm. Its a damned shame, sacrificing our American pride to a bunch of damned foreigners who didn't even invent the game. Bring Scrabble back to America, where it belongs! Make America great again......THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL BLOG. THIS IS A CREATIVE WRITING WEBSITE, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON SHARING.

Reading the Bible, Reasonably

EVERY AMERICAN HAS A FAVORITE FOUNDER, except those Americans unaware of America's relatively recent founding. Among mine are Jefferson, Franklin, and Paine. Of these three, my current favorite is Thomas Paine, though it varies from day to day, and is always a close contest. Paine did more to inspire the revolution than anyone, by writing "Common Sense", which sold half a million copies in January of 1776. Another of his essays, "The Age of Reason", published in 1794, logically dismantles the Christian faith, without harming a hair on the head of Jesus Christ. Paine, like everyone else, could plainly see the enlightened message of Joshua one of Joseph, and, like many other enlightened people, he cold see the absurdity, brutality, and barbarism of the Christian faith, and its Bible Every devout christian should read The Age of Reason", and every non christian should read the bible, the most important book in history. Regarding the bible, Paine wrote:......"When we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions and unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon, than the word of God.".......for my part, I sincerely detest the Bible." .........That's Paine, not me, but I generally agree with him. I don't "detest" the bible, because I think it provides good insights into the psychology of primitive cultures,,,, clues to their history, tough it is not a reliable history text, and it makes good fiction, full of those twin towers of pulp fiction, sex, and violence. What I do detest is that two billion people, incredibly, consider this barbarous manuscript, pieced together haphazardly over centuries by thousands of decidedly ungodly humans, the "Word of God". At the very thought that the word of god is contained is some sex novel, as my father put it, I roll my eyes, marvel, scoff, and sometimes laugh out loud. Judeo-Christianity, like its god, is a primitive, barbaric, cruel, insane religion, and the world would be better off without it, better off to have replaced it, long ago, with sanity, sense, and science. The essential message and morality of Jesus, which had been expressed hundreds of years before he lived by many, including Confucius, is a beacon of brilliance embedded within a wasteland of primitive, barbaric, if illuminating literature and belief. Thomas Jefferson said, when he took a razor and cut the bible to shreds, and constructed his own version consisting mainly of Christ's teachings, that he was "extracting diamonds from a pile of dung." The Holy bible is the most influential book every written, but far from the best, and certainly not the word of god, unless god happens to be a psychopathic serial killer and mass murderer, which, one must trust, she is not. To find the world of god, study nature. The truly enlightened people throughout history and today have always understood that. What else is there? As Goethe said:....."It is beyond me how anyone can believe that god speaks to us in books and stories. If the world does not directly reveal itself to us, and if our hearts do not tell us what we owe ourselves and other, we will most certainly not find this in books, which at best are designed only to give names to our mistakes.".....And......."Behold the phenomena, for they are the doctrine".......I couldn't've said it better myself.

Mooching the Internet

I HAVE A CONFESSION. I am a WiFi moocher. I know so little about WiFi, am not even sure what the letters stand for or whether you're supposed to capitalize the "I"s, that I scarcely consider myself qualified to talk about it. All I know is that I sign on to the internet with my laptop, and I don't pay a plugged nickel for the privilege. All of my neighbors have satellite dishes on their roofs, some just one, most two or three. How or why anyone would have more than one is beyond my comprehension. I like my roof top clean and pristine. Is one for television, and the other for internet? See how little I know? I went a long time without a home computer of any sort. The local public library is right across the street, and is a comfortable, pleasant place with plenty of computers available for public use. So, I just walk across the street, and I'm good to go. But the library isn't always open, and I have blogging to do that just will not wait. So, after thinking about it for an eternity and shopping all over the place, and putting it off, somebody at the local senior center offered to sell me a used laptop at a good prince, and I took the plunge. it was the best decision I ever made, other than the decision not to get married. Now all I have to do is sit outside the library after hours, or, like I said before, log on at home, and let the free loading begin. I have mixed emotions about it. There's the guilt, of course. using something without paying for it carries with it a considerable moral burden. but not enough of a burden to stop me. when it comes to saving money, no mere moral burden is too great for this cheapo. My neighbor has the ability to lock her Wifi down any time she wishes, presumably by merely pushing a few buttons, and she does this often. But not all the time, for some reason. Often, her access is wide open, and in I go. Why does she block me sometimes, and let me in other times? I'll never know, because I'll never ask. Maybe she's secretly in love with me, or maybe shew enjoys toying with me, cat and mouse, for the power rush. The best time of day, most likely to allow unhindered access, is in the middle of the night, which makes sense. Our little cat and mouse game is endless, and kind of fun. I log on, in the clear, then, out of the blue, she blocks me. I fiddle around a bit with buttons, get back on, and within minutes she blocks me again. This can happen whether or not she happens to be home. Maybe she takes her laptop to work with her, and jousts with me from that location. Again, I'LL never know, unless she chooses to knock on my door, and talk about it. Somehow, I don't see that happening, and, in any event, I'm not so sure I would answer the door......THIS IS A TRUE STORY. PLEASE SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, AS A CAUTIONARY TALE.

Texting, But Losing Our Grip

YET MORE HARVARD STYLE trivial social research reveals that, believe it or not, the average American shake is weakening in grip strength, decreasing in duration, and as you might by now have guessed, it all because of, yes, you guessed it, texting. Presumably this conclusion was reached by the extensive accumulation of empirical date; Harvard would have it no other way. maybe their student body was measured in an all campus project, or maybe people were randomly selected from the general population. Details were not provided. we can take it on faith that the results are conclusive, verifiable, and reproducible, Harvard would have it no other way. I was raised, as were most men my age, to look your handshake partner straight in the eye,make a firm grip, and hole the position for not less than three but not more than five seconds. I've spent my life obeying this dictum, but differing results. some guys just flat over do it. you know the type; the type that can't seem to let og, or can't seem to squeeze hard enough, as if trying to prove something. With those guys, small is my hands, are I always hang tight, because I have strong hands, after years of tennis and, tennis ball squeezing, and isometrics. But then too, there are the limp wristed guys, who barely give you a grip, not because of their sexual orientation, but because they were never given the handskaking 101 course by my father. these guys just never learned how to do it. Mamby pamby liberals, invariably. the emergence of text messaging as the communication mode of choice naturally invited a hand strength study, and into the vacuum stepped dare old Harvard, which never saw a study it didn't like. Blame it on the smart phones, and our addiction to it. The weakening of the hands applies across gender, age, ethnic, and religious lines, but is most pronounced among millennial men, possibly cause this is the one demographic group most likely to replace other forms of hand strengthening labor with texting. The silver lining is that the grip lessening has been accompanied by a verified increase in thumb strength, for obvious reasons. Millennial in general tend to be two thumb texters. None of this hunt and peck stuff for them, they get right to the text. the problem concerns every other muscle in the hand, all of which are becoming severely atrophied as texting insinuates itself ever more insidiously into human culture. so, without corrective measure, such as universal group hand strengthening classes or mandatory restorative surgery at government expense, we're doomed to a future of all thumb, no fingers. welcome to a world of squishy, tentacled humans, where baseball is extinct, but swimming records are broken daily.-------------------PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE WITH OTHERS. WE WANT TO ENCOURAGE CREATIVITY!

Thinking First, Then Going Right Ahead With Talking Trash , Donald Trump Style

MUCH HAS BEEN MADE OF DONALD TRUMP'S alleged unfiltered honesty, that he is a man who pulls no punches, shoots straight, says what he thinks, right off the well dressed cuff. This notion is greatly mistaken. Let us all agree that there is a substantial difference between making outlandish comments, responding rapidly, and saying what you think. The received reasoning seems to go something to the effect that nobody could possibly make as many outrageous statements as Mr. Trump, without them being genuine, from the heart, honest to a fault. Not true. It is perfectly possible for any normal human being to utter inanities with fore thought. In fact, among the drastically misguided, the more unbelievable the remark, chances are, the less it is to be believed, the more a product of willful deception and dishonesty. Pernicious, calculating people rarely reveal their cards initially, business people in particular, and here the intent is not to categorize business people as pernicious, but indeed the intent is very definitely to categorize them as calculating, otherwise they wouldn't be in business long. Donald Trump has been in business long, is demonstrably pernicious, as witnessed by his apparent delight in firing and otherwise doing great damage to people, and if he isn't calculating, then that descriptive term doesn't belong in any standardized dictionary of the English language. When Obama first took office, and even before, here came Trump, with his very calculated, very pernicious, and very insane "birther" movement, wherein no amount of documentary evidence, including a valid Hawaiian birth certificate, testimony from elderly retired delivery room nurses who were there when Obama issued forth from his mother's womb, or impassioned testimony from Obama family members and friends, could convince his pernicious Trump card playing majesty to cease and desist with his outlandish foolishness. Thus did the Donald reveal his true nature, as people are unwittingly wont to do, by exposing himself as possessed of enormously poor judgement, pernicious, but, in the end, quite calculating, quite the premeditated man. Accusing Obama of entering this tragically flawed world in every every locale under the sun other than Hawaii, Trump was neither speaking spontaneously, nor revealing his true thoughts. He knew perfectly well where Obama was born, only he decided not to say so. And that is exactly the way he has conducted himself since the first day he entered the race for the presidency; he thinks first, then lies.

The Pot, Calling the Kettle Black

OUR CONSERVATIVE AMERICAN colleagues are so self absorbed that as they gaze admiringly into their mirrors, thinking they see someone else, and they talk about themselves, while imagining they talk about others. One of my best right wing buddies expressed the greatest shock and righteous outrage when Bill Clinton had the unmitigated temerity to stroll across a major metropolitan tarmac to great the Attorney general. Then, when I calmly questioned whether an intelligent person would conspire to engage in criminal conduct in broad daylight in the presence of ubiquitous smart phones, my indignant good ole boy buddy accused me of "faux rage", in feigned French, no less. He then called me "hilariously condescending" when I had the unmitigated audacity to suggest that Clinton and Obama are smarter than Bush the first and second. As proof, he pointed to the Bush Ivy League pedigrees. Hilariously condescending, indeed. Into the populist fray helicopters Donald J. Trump, who between bouts of chasing Mexicans across the border and stonewalling votaries of the Islamic faith, accuses Hillary of bigotry by virtue of her advocacy of federal assistance for African-American children. If The Donald could ever catch up with his ever changing campaign staff long enough to catch a quick glimpse into its ideological make up, even he might notice that it is well stocked with folks who fear the loss of something called "white identity", with the distinct aroma of John Birch klanishness, that traditional cradle of American conservatism, past and present.. If my right leaning friend could pull himself away from his highly reflective computer screen for a moment, he might catch a quick peek at his own anti-progressive rage, clearly visible, if occasionally obscured by the faux reasoning of his dying right wing extremism.

Enduring, By Being An American

THE CITY OF CENTRAL, LOUISIANA, in central Louisiana, was, quite recently, quite underwater. Twenty five thousand of its twenty seven thousand citizens lost their homes. The houses, for the most part, still stand, but are no longer inhabitable. Too much mud, mold and mildew, too few salvageable possessions. Down the road, the town's besieged mayor sits in his makeshift shopping mall office, unsure what to do next, wearing a T shirt which defiantly asserts: "we stick together, come hell or high water". In this case, both, simultaneously. He says he hasn't the foggiest idea what, precisely, his town is going to do to restore itself, but is not concerned. He knows it will do something, and that something will be whatever is required. The return to full municipal health is a process which, through sheer determination, has already begun. Meanwhile, all across America, signs of awakening energy begin to sir, sluggishly at first, then with gathering force, as it always does when disaster strikes elsewhere. Though sometimes slowly at first, America always responds, as a growing avalanche of love and material necessity takes form, and begins to move to where it is needed. The wave is even now beginning to flow into town, a hastening mass of people and material help, which, if not organized and tempered, will result in more new housing than can ever be utilized, and more cheeseburgers, toothpaste, bottled water and toilet paper than can ever be consumed. If they're not careful, the good people of Central, Louisiana will begin to put on weight, in America's excessive, exuberant generosity. When America goes, it goes big. The mayor asks what a ninety year old man, who has lost everything, will ever do to start over. The answer, of course, is that he will not start over, because he cannot. What he will do is resume, doing what he can, with what he has, which will soon become much. We can never truly star over, its always too late for that, but when the spirit endures, as it will, we endure, and we proceed. And besides, our ninety year old neighbor has one great advantage in his quest to endure, for after all, he is an American.

Our Aging Population, and its Consequences

THERE IS A PHENOMENON, which might be called "the aging of the general population" which is going, very soon, to have a profound impact not only on the United States, but on the rest of the world as well. In western Europe and America, the birth rate is way down, as people are getting married later in life and having smaller families, and people are living longer. This may be largely an economic phenomenon, as the standard of living is declining along with the birth rate, while better medicine and health tactics are giving us longer life. That is to say, we may all have more gadgets and trinkets these days, but food, clothing, and shelter are downright harder to come by, and a man can no longer count on supporting a family of four on minimum wage, as he could, unbelievably, in the nineteen fifties, when I was born. My mother often said she doesn't know how young parents do it now. Neither does anyone else. They struggle mightily, is how they do it, working one job after another, longer hours, on lower wages relative to the cost of living. Because of all this, over the next few decades there is going to be an increase in the percentage of the population over the current retirement age of sixty five, in the U.S., Europe, and especially China, where the one kid per family policy has recently been deep sixed, owing to their sudden awareness that it was doing little other than replacing aging retiring workers with fewer and fewer young workers. With all of us retired and sitting on our pension grubbing butts, who is going to do all the work required not only for a growing and prosperous economy, but merely to support our infrastructure, to keep things working? Nobody, that's who. So, either we're going to have to rely ever more heavily on machinery, a catch twenty two, since all machinery must be built, maintained, and eventually replaced, which requires laborers, start making people work longer into their lives, whether they want to or not, by raising the retirement age, eliminate the concept of retirement entirely, or, we're gonna have to get humping, as it were, and drum up a lot more babies to lead the way into a more prosperous future. Yet another solution presents itself, one so horrible that one can scarcely bring one's self to contemplate it: stop growing economically, and return to a simpler, less materialistic lifestyle, nightmarish though that may sound to our materialistic American ears. Whatever our choices, which may include some clever combination of all the above, its going to be a tough roe to hoe, because this problem, like most others, is not going to go away by simply ignoring it, as is our usual custom.

Hunting Hillary, To Distraction

OUR CONSERVATIVE AMERICAN FOOLS WOULD INDEED BE HUMOROUS, were they not in such deadly earnest. Let's start with Hillary. I don't like Hillary Clinton, for reasons of my own. Namely, I'm a Bernie sanders supporter, and I still firmly believe he should be the nominee. But he isn't, and so, like any law abiding line toeing conservative, I am angry, dead set pissed at Hillary for being so damned close to gaining the office I so strongly, passionately feel should go to someone else, the aforementioned Bernie. But 'tis only fair to ask: if she is truly the criminal the right wingers claim she is, and have so claimed for twenty five years, how is it that she has escaped justice all this time? The current FBI director is a right wing stalwart, who would have loved nothing more than to have indicted the bitch. When the FBI investigates you, you've been investigated. We all know that. The FBI doesn't play around. Every aspect of her and her philandering husband's lives, personal and professional, has been gone over with a fine tooth comb, over, and over...and over again...ad nauseum. And yet? Nothing. Zilch. Zero. At what point do we call off the dogs, stop the witch hunt, throw in the towel, cease and desist, and move the fuck on, pardon the French, to the much neglected business at hand; making America great again, to borrow a phrase? For God's sake,man, have you, at long last, no sense of decency? Or sanity? Hillary Rodham Clinton is a money hungry, power hungry, shrill, abrasive bitch, granted. But, Christ, dude. If only you conservatives would pull your Bibles and your sacred U.S. Constitutions out of your pious asses, and insert in their stead merely a modicum of intelligence, common sense, and objective reality, you'd realize that anybody who is the Secretary of state only for the purpose of becoming president of the United states, and knows her every move is being assiduously scrutinized, and has coveted the top office since Vassar, or where ever in the hell the wench went to school, sure as hell is going to be careful, mighty careful, to make sure that she does nothing while Sec of state to attract the attention of the hounds of hell (e.g., you damnable vultures, aka conservatives), and thus jeopardize her chances at the White House. Am I right? Hello? In your heart, you know he's right, to borrow a Barry Goldwater-ism. So, why not move right along with the business of defeating Hillary man to man, on the issues, at the pools, and in return we bleeding heart socialistic commie lovin' anti-american values democrats will kindly refrain from digging into Donald trump's bankruptcies, his shady deals, his persistent history of mafia style thuggery, inarticulate ignorance of the issues, boorishness, and we will do you one even better. We will, for the time being, refrain from ridiculing you for insanely thinking that the human race can inject five hundred million tons of surplus carbon into the atmosphere, and leave it there, day in day out, without it having the slightest effect on the climate. We promise? Deal? No? well, I didn't think so.........ANGER IS GOOD. SHARE THIS ESSAY WITH YOUR BEST CONSERVATIVE BUDDY. YOU'LL NEVER REGRET IT. THANKS!

Losing Civility Online

YOUR AVERAGE AMERICAN has her own smart phone by age six. Your average millennial American screws around with her smart phone about two hundred times a day, usually while driving or walking, making a butchered mess of the King's English, and we baby boomers aint all that far behind, text wise, if a bit slower with our opposable thumbs. Thumbs up! In a fascinating new monograph, "The Cyber Effect", Mary Akin, America's premier cyber psychologist, explores an even darker, more ominous phenomenon; the monster effect, consisting in the fact that turning on a computer and communicating online alters the personality of human beings, mysteriously turning them into inveterate devils, after the fashion of Jekyll and Hyde. She explore reasons for this, which everyone else and I figured out fifteen years ago, and suggests potential ameliorations, and potential solutions to the bullying effect, aka "trolling". She proposes regulating internet behavior globally, excluding the Chinese, who have their own thing going, and claims that trolling could easily be eliminated by merely tracing it to its source, easily enough done, although high tech corporate entities steadfastly deny its possibility, owing to its unavoidable costing of money. How surprising, right? Fifteen years ago I was a forty five year old cyber neophyte, single, all juiced up on the raging testosterone often associated with late middle age bachelorhood, and blindly I jumped into the AOL chat room scene, thinking myself some kind of Don Juan, and quickly discovered that people in chat rooms behaved like Attila the Hun. Everyone else made the same discovery, and, wala! Chatrooms went the way of Edsels. End of story, but not quite. AOl went straight into the toilet, and along came Facebook and other lesser manifestations of social media, which have the very same darkening effect upon the fallible human soul, only society hasn't yet figured that out as of this writing. It will, soon enough, and Facebook and its ilk will go the way of "Thirties Love Arkansas" and "Gardeners Flower Room". Too much back biting and general acrimony, way too much, even for your average caffeinated American slob. What we all realized fifteen years ago, some even earlier, is that without faces, names, and addresses, people go crazy, allowing their evil twin to emerge, without relent. Yet, all is not yet lost. Assuming people like Mary Akin continue to delve into our darkest online psyches, solutions will ultimately emerge, much like polio was defeated and the Third Reich evolved by brute force into today's magnificent modern world leading, example setting German Democratic republic. until the, good luck online, you'll need it, and, to the extant that its still an option, happy interfacing!------------------------------------JOIN WITH US IN SUPPORTING ORIGINAL, FREE THINKING, CREATIVE WRITING BY UNKNOWN WRITERS. SHARE THIS SITE WITH AT LEAST ONE OTHER READER! THANKS!

Dreaming Of life Among the Stars, For Real, for Once

WHEN I WAS A KID IN the nineteen sixties, I became fascinated by astronomy, and in high school I spent more time in the back yard with my telescope than indoors doing homework. Always the big question: is there life out there, and how many, if any, planets orbit other stars? Eagerly awaiting the forthcoming moon landing, everyone else asked the same questions. The answers began coming in in 1995, when the first of thousands of planets was discovered orbiting a far away star, and the last twenty years have been perhaps the most exciting time of discovery in human history, exceeding in interest even a Donald Trump insult, Hillary Clinton FBI investigation, or extra racy episode of Keeping UP With the Kardashians. There is an astronomer at Harvard with a smart watch which sings a cute song every time a new planet is announced; she turns it off at night, as it keeps her awake. The most exciting discovery yet occurred just the other day, when a planet of earth size was found orbiting Proxima Centauri, which is the companion star of the famed Alpha Centauri, the closet other star to the sun. This planet is the right size, shape, and distance from the star it orbits, all within acceptable parameters, indicating that the potential exists for life to evolve upon the planet. Let the dreaming resume! Maybe if we send a probe there, we can find out all we want to know. A probe the size of a smart phone, with all the bells and whistles, should do the trick. Expect to hear talk of this soon. They were already talking about such things in ivory tower think tanks, now Richard Branson can expect to start getting annoying phone calls. Tiny space probes cost much less money, can do the same things huge ones can, and can travel faster to boot. We may be able to photograph all the people who have been abducted by Proxima Centaurians, toiling in their slave labor camps, waiting for a chance to go home. We might no longer be reduced to inventing imaginative scenarios involving Andromedans and Galactic Federations, and can turn our attention instead to the real deal, in the real world. It sure as heavens is about damned time.

The Clintons, Cashing In, the American Way

THE CLINTON FOUNDATION, whatever in the world it might possibly actually be, must be the very essence of nefarious iniquity. How can it be otherwise? Does it not involve large amounts of money, and American politicians, past and present? So says every right wing politician and radio talk show host, and isn't their word good enough? Far be it for any right wing talking head to depart in the least from objective assessment. America's conservatives ceaselessly tout their own impartial objectivity and point to the emotion based thinking of liberals, so, there you have it. The Clinton foundation, a charitable non profit organization established for the express purpose of raising and distributing money to assist those most in need, must surely be a veritable hell hole of dark intent, sucking in millions, perhaps trillions of American dollars in foreign money, and, after laundering it, use it to bribe and/or purchase and thus control the actions of such iconic institutions as the FBI, the Supreme Court, and the entire commercial banking system. The cost of access to Hillary Rodham Clinton is soaring, for the very same reason dogs lick their genitals while jealous humans piously shake their heads; because it can. With all that dirty money accruing to the most corrupt power couple in the entire history of the republic, little wonder that every decision made by every federal regulatory agency in America renders unto the Clintons a favorable outcome. Exactly what is going on here in the great american fun house of ex presidential get rich schemes? Well, basically, this: Bill Clinton is cashing in, like most twentieth century former presidents, and has been since he left office in 2001, amid a cloud of smoke and mirrors controversy. Der Slickmeister has accumulated at least one hundred million dollarinis in personal wealth since he become a private citizen, mostly by giving high priced speeches, and marketing his voluminous tome, "My Life". Its almost enough to lure one into fondly remembering the days of Ronald Wilson Reagan (666). Very shortly after leaving the presidency in 1989, Reagan high tailed it to Japan and made off with a cool two million for about forty five minutes of disjointed prattle in the presence of bemused and vicariously embarrassed Japanese high paying high society types. It was indeed fortunate for Ronaldus Magnus that he pulled off this little scam lickety split, for by the summer of 1989 he was clearly in the full throes of dementia, as witnessed by his appearance on television at major league baseball's all star game, when, as the first two batters of the game crushed towering home runs to dead center field and the crowd in Chicago went bananas, dear Ronnie rambled and waxed confused, mumbling something about his time in the radio booth in the nineteen thirties. Bottom line is this: there are few platforms on the planet as conducive to implementing get rich schemes as the American former presidency, and, come hell or high dollar, our modern manifestations of virtuous financial practices are going to cash in. Wasn't it Harry Truman, a plain speaking straight talking fellow if ever there were one, (and there might never have been one), who said that any politician who gets rich while in office must, of necessity, be a damned crook? So there's your answer. They wait patiently until they leave office. The Clintons only do what the rest of us would like to, only they do it better. And lest we plebeians be tempted to cast too many stones and endanger our pitching arms, let us remember this simple truth; in a political, social, and economic system made for corruption, corruption thous shalt have, in spades.

Packing Heat, Deep In the Heart of Texas University

TODAY WAS THE FIRST DAY of classes at the University of Texas at Austen, and somewhat surrealistically, the first day during which it is legal to carry firearms on campus. Fifty thousand undergrads, ranging in age from eighteen to twenty, potentially armed. Remind me not to appear on campus wearing cardinal red, with a hog on my hat, and a t shirt reading" Go Razorbacks". Such behavior would be unsafe under the best of circumstances, and decidedly unsafe under current circumstances, which, you sense, are not the best. Or, maybe it is. Maybe the best idea is to give guns to recent high school graduates in large numbers, and then allow the usual start of the semester pledge parties, the usual hormones raging. Its a capital idea, according to conservatives, of which the Lone Star State is plum full. You know the type: gun totin', Bible banging free marketeers, your garden variety Jesus, guns, and money TEA Party model. these folks remember the Alamo, vividly, hate the federal government, and long for the days of the independent Republic of Texas, the finest of six flags, seemingly forgetting that during these glory days, 1836-1845, the Texas economy fell flat on its face, too insular, and too small to survive without the rest of the U.S. to offer reinforcement. Yet, there is hope, there is more to Austen that reactionary right wing culture. The city of over a million inhabitants is shot through and through with free thinking, radical left wingers, like any other college town, a veritable oasis of intellect amid a vast wasteland of extreme right wing anger. to that end, the gun culture does not go unopposed. There are, and will continue to be, anti-gun protests all over campus, an expression of bleeding heart liberals fearing for their own bleeding hearts. It may even eventuate that surprisingly few students actually end up carrying, and that those who do do so only for fear of those who do. Is it conceal carry, or open carry? Amid the ambient haze of sulfuric smoke, one forgets. Let us briefly consider each case, and its probably consequences. In a conceal carry scenario, everyone wonders, and better safe than sorry, tends to assume that everyone else is packing heat, but no one knows for sure abut anybody else. Uncertainty festers in the back of the troubled mind, and people tend towards keeping a discreet distance, and exuding a showy, if feigned courtesy to all strangers. A sullen, self conscious miasma pervades campus culture. Those of a certain age will recall that horrible day in 1966, when the victim of a brain tumor opened fire from atop the Texas Tower, killing more than a dozen innocents. the theory is that a well armed ad hoc citizen militia would put a stop to this sort of nonsense with a hail of virtuous bullets, but which comes first, the pissed off test flunker with a sudden uncontrollable urge to do random harm, or the well regulated heat packing student body? That is the question. If we are very lucky, we'll never know the answer. In the open carry scenario, either you're packing or not, and everybody knows what's what, straight up. Everyone can decide, adequately informed, who to avoid, and with which gang to hang, depending of course on one's attitude towards a well armed citizenry, faith in fundamental human nature, and willingness to take a chance. Gradually a new caste system emerges, utterly independent of the usual determining factors like race, creed, and socio-economic status, based instead on haves and have nots, cliques forming around the armed and the unarmed. the distinction between liberals and conservatives come into sharper focus. conservatives go heels, liberals stand naked of personal protection. liberals still greatly out number conservatives, as they tend to on any college campus, but for how long? They're dropping like flies, unprotected, shot through...........THE ISSUE IS NOT WHETHER WE AGREE, BUT WHETHER WE COMMUNICATE. PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE!

Swimming, Winning, Sinning, and Spinning

THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY, and trillions of versions, which makes life complicated, but interesting. According to the Rio police, an unruly gang of drunken American louts rampaged through the city, setting fire to vacant houses, frightening homeless children, separating well turned out members of the upper middle class, few that there are, of their possessions at gunpoint, checking every lock that wasn't locked, smashing beer bottles, yelling anti Catholic epithets, and generally making a nuisance out of themselves. The official American Olympic aquatic athletic version is that the upstanding boys were strolling with great dignity, so as to avoid wrinkling their tuxedos, doing a bit of post race sight seeing, Bibles in hand, singing hymns swimmingly if a bit off key, remarking on the beauty of the Christ the Redeemer statue, when suddenly and unexpectedly they were accosted by an even larger group of marauding toughs, brandishing arms, demanding cash, American. Our swimmers deferred, indicating that they would gladly have offered whatever monetary assistance they could without the need of any threat of force, but obliged, willingly, in keeping with various admonitions found in the New Testament concerning giving unto the poor, and all that.....Our wholesome young gentlemen then went about their day, poorer but unbent, praising the lord for their deliverance from evil and mosquitoes, giving thanks for chlorine and clear water. And there you have it, two distinctly different versions of what hardly seems the same event. We are thus left with a choice between two extremes. As always, we may presume that the truth lay somewhere in the middle, not at all close to either version, since the choice is between a version rendered by young and arrogant American champions of sport, which means automatic self serving exaggeration, and Brazilian police, which points to corruption. Let's assume this: the kids, pampered, American middle class, and thus full of themselves, needed to relieve themselves, and, finding no acceptable location, tried to force entry by pounding a door into submission much as they had done to their swimming opponents, did the deed, and having made too much noise, attracted too much unwanted attention from the wrong party, and got caught. They landed in jail, foreign police recognizing and seizing upon a rare and good opportunity to put Americans in their place, and not wanting to pass up what may never come again. Then, the spinning of tall tales began. Enter the American media, equally aware of opportunity for profit through the usual mode of yellow journalism, which gave their take, and as for the rest of us? Well, we just did what we always do when stuff hits the fan; formed our own opinions, never letting any verified facts interfering with our fantasies. Only this time we were marginally justified, for, what exactly were the facts? The only certainty is that we'll never know for sure.........PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE. NEVER LET A GOOD STORY GO UNREAD.

Getting the Girls Out of the Classroom, but at Great Cost

PRIOR TO MY PREMATURE RETIREMENT from America's public schools at the precocious age of sixty, due to an impressive array of stress related personality disorders stemming from job related acrimony, I spent a not inconsiderable amount of time in classrooms at all grade levels, day care through college, which fulfilled a bucket list objective. Surveys indicate that over one half of American parents are satisfied with the public school attended by their own children, but that only about one third of those self same parents consider America's public education satisfactory generally. This trend adheres particularly among conservatives, not unsurprisingly, since public schools are inherently socialistic, due to their being "public". What's wrong with this picture? Why, absolutely nothing. Its normal, to be expected. In accordance with psychology's "observer mirror effect", we tend to think our own kids smarter, cuter, faster, stronger, and much more morally superior than those...other people, and their mangy brood. In other words, we're biased, in favor of our lovely selves. So are communities, ethnic groups, socio-economic strata, and various genders. In Washington D.C., the Ron Brown prep school commenced operation this week, along with most of America's much maligned public schools. All boys, mostly black and Latino. Navy blue slacks with gold stripes, clean pressed starched white shirt, gold and navy striped tie. No word yet on shoes and socks, which are likely dark hued and shined to a reflective gloss. John Philip Sousa would be proud. None of this should have anything to do with improved learning, but it does. The geekier the uniform, the more restrictive the dress code, the less petty sartorial animosity, the fewer the distractions. Same with uni-sex education. Get the girls and their short skirts out of the building, and the remaining students can concentrate on their books, instead of that special pretty person across the isle. I'm as guilty as the next testosterone laden stud muffin in this regard, an unrepentant sucker for a short skirt and receding neck line. When holding forth from the pedantic pulpit, I always tried, not always successfully, to keep my eyes straight ahead, roaming the entire room, not lingering...anywhere. As a student in high school, I, had the administrators that were gotten the girls out of the building, might have flourished even more academically, because I would most certainly not have been fantasizing, scheming how to get the girls out of the building, erstwhile pretending to be deeply engaged in trig, history, or U.S. government. Life is a trade off. In retrospect, I remain sincerely grateful for the lack of foresight by administration, and that the girls remained right there in class with me, close, oh so close, making memories which have lasted a lifetime. Who needs an education, other than geeky successful folk in proper apparel?----------TO EXPAND CREATIVE WRITING IN THE LAND OF HEEDLESS CONFORMITY, PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE WITH OTHERS!

Passing the Buck To Jesus, Joyfully

AMONG THE MOST SACRED of american core values is the belief in personal responsibility. We instill it in our children, or think we should. Be accountable for your own actions. Accept the consequences of your own behavior, and never assign blame for it to others. Stand tall, be self sufficient, and by all means do not unfairly rely on people who are more successful than you, or envy their success. Make your own luck. Basic, traditional conservative values. So, why, in the name of philosophical consistency, do these same conservative traditional Americans with their traditional values not only allow a good man to be tortured to death as atonement for their sins,, but rejoice in it, glorify it, celebrate it?Why accept this help, rather than proudly refusing it, and accepting the full consequences of bad personal behavior? The very same people, conservatives, who most fervently preach the doctrine of individual accountability rejoice the loudest that Christ died on the cross for the sins only of those who accept him as their personal savior, for those who most eagerly accept his gloriously taking on the burden of their, not his, mistakes. Salvation for a sinner, willingly, voluntarily received, by the death of a better man than they. How can this be construed any other way than as a a complete abrogation of responsibility by people who in general preach that we should look after ourselves, and not punish others by relying on them? Is this not hiding behind somebody else's hard work, mooching off an achiever, taking from the successful in return for nothing but a declaration of devotion, an act of sheer cowardice? since Christ rose from the dead three days after his brutal, torturous death, for him the act was but a temporary inconvenience mere theater, and its power of salvation for believers becomes nothing but symbolism. surely, to pay for a lifetime of sin, a good Conservative christian should be willing to die for three days, then awaken to an eternal life of glory in heaven with the lord, rather than happily letting someone else do it. it all seems senseless n another important way. we all teach ourselves that what we sow is what we reap, what goes around comes around, here in this lifetime, so why must we pay for our mistakes twice, first by enduring the consequences of our actions of this life in this lifetime, then, all over again, by enduring death, only this time someone else's death, rather than our own? A twisted confusion of shadowy, primitive, barbaric doctrines. A double payment, the last half deferred in the ultimate act of irresponsible cowardice, which we celebrate by wearing around our smug necks a copy of the very weapon of torture and death we never have to endure ourselves. The stated alternative to this arrangement is for the sinner to endure eternal damnation and torment in a fiery infernal, the system devised by a God who loves us nonetheless so very much. what could possibly be more reasonable, sane, or in keeping with the logical order of the universe, the laws of nature and nature's god? Damned near anything, one might think.........The quite logical views expressed in the above are the author's, and do not represent either the ownership or management of this website, or any of the numerous sub species within the very diverse denominations and highly differentiated interpretations of the multifaceted Christian religion..........DIVERSITY "TRUMPS" MINDLESS CONFORMITY, ESPECIALLY IN RELIGION AND POLITICS. PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE WITH AT LEAST ONE OTHER PERSON! THANKS!

Defending the Russian Olympic Committee

ONE WOULD BE HARD PUT to determine the greatest cheater, the Russian government, the New England Patriots, cocaine dealers in mid town Manhattan, or French tax payers. Early returns indicate the Russians have a sizable lead, but its still early, and the summer Olympics are still fresh in memory. Most amazing is the incredible list of pathetic excuses slewing forth from the Russian Olympic committee to explain the presence of performance enhancing drugs in every member of the Russian Olympic contingent: "The problem is a matter of individual choice, mere indiscretions of youth, and is neither systemic nor endemic. Other nations do the same thing, Turkey, Kenya, the Islamic state, among others". Never mind that bad behavior is not justified by pointing to other bad behavior by someone else. These people are masters of excuse mongering. "The mainstream American liberal media has grossly overstated the problem. A rampaging pack of feral Siberian huskies devoured every piece of drug testing equipment in the country." And the list goes on. No American prep school student body ever generated a more impressive litany of lame, pathetic denials of responsibility. No other conclusion is possible than that the term "integrity" is foreign to every official organization in Russia. One is sorely tempted to place more faith in the parental role modeling and moral rectitude of Bill Cosby than anything officially Russian. But of course, this is a country with a rich tradition of deception, with past leaders named "Ivan the Terrible", "Joe Steel", and "Vladimir the Impaler". Ivan used to pluck the feathers from the wings of pigeons, cast them off a Kremlin tower, and time their descent, just for sport. Joseph "man of steel" Stalin murdered thirty million of his subjects for the great crime of disagreeing with his domestic policies, then told the world that the apparent disappearance of so many people was directly attributable to improved efficiency in the communist economic system, resulting in vast numbers of hard working citizens spending more time in their happy offices and factories, and thus only seeming to have vanished. Without American spies, the world would never have known of the presence of Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba, concentration camps in Siberia, or the militarization of the Soviet space program, so, why should we be surprised? With all this history, who cares that a few hundred Russian athletes showed up bench pressing five hundred pounds with each arm, or running a kilometer in less than three minutes?........WE HOPE TO ENCOURAGE ORIGINAL, CREATIVE WRITING BY EXPANDING OUR WEBSITE AND OUR READERSHIP. PLEASE SHARE THIS SITE WITH A FRIEND!

The Repeated Remaking of Donald J. Trump

DONALD TRUMP has changed his voter registration seven times, so that tells you something; that he is a man of great versatility, politically. Raise the red flag. Republican, democrat, reform, and, unless memory serves not, socialist, communist seventh day adventist, reform baptist, and fascist, to name a few. Meet the Donald, with more versions of himself than Genesis has version of creation (2). Fred trump told his little boy to go big, do big things, and big the Donald went, has named now firmly affixed to more buildings than that of the former Saul of Tarsus the christian killer turned Paul, bane of the unsaved, who suffered his own self identity confusion. Trump has had four gorgeous wives to date, or is it a mere three, and a nearly unbelievably huge array of businesses, failed and otherwise. Wives and businesses don't always come cheap. Nobody, himself included, knows how much money he has on any given day. that depends on his mood, inner truth detector,greed, and estimate of the opening bell value of his sundry assets and exalted name, which appears eve on his helicopter, weirdly enough. And now we arrive at what is surely the climax of a colorfully checkered career, trump the presidential candidate, vintage republican. In a land where political perception makes the most extreme carnival fun house look like stark naked, objective reality, Donald the Chameleon just may pull it off. and what a hoot that would be, and what a wild ride for us all. If Guatemala can elect a stand up comedian to its highest office, which it can and did, we can surely do the same in the United States of Allusion. is he liberal, conservative, does it depend on the day of the week, and does he even know the difference, or care? ask him next week, but not today; he might not know or tell the truth if he does. Will he really be oblivious enough of reality to build the great wall of Mexico? You can bet your frayed rope ladder and dirty shovel he will. Fiscal policy? A mere game of monopoly. foreign policy? Maybe leave NATO, maybe not, cozy up to Putin, make the Islamic State glow in the dark with nukes made in America. make America great, again and again. Economic policy and job creation strategy? bring back all those outsourced jobs, perhaps even including the ones he himself outsourced, numerous that theY are. Load up eleven million Mexicans on buses, send 'em packing, and, while were at it, do the same to five million American Muslims, on buses without life jackets. But he still isn't done. he is busy being sincerely regretful for all those nasty things he has said about all living Americans. Hitting back ten times as hard, just as he was instructed all those years ago, Trump listened not only to daddy but to cut throat lawyers, having listened to the advice of his con man thug mentor Roy Cohn. Now that the Donald has yet another campaign staff in place, this one marginally sane, Trumpian regret is the order of the day. It is absolutely amazing what a sharp drop in the polls will do for a nasty man's contrition. A thousand apologies go out to "Lying Ted", "little Marco", and a thousnad more go out to the Gold Star family so recently ruthlessly verbally attacked by the big bad bully. So sorry to have offended FOX news anchor person Megan kelley, all those long months ago. Oh, how very regretful we suddenly are. Bring out the sad mournful violins, the kleenex, and the dark confessional closet of trumps' twisted, mean spirited mind. But not fast do we apologize to! crooked Hillary. One can do only so much regretting, and only after the battle is won. After all that, a man of seventy years need to settle his current image into an easy chair, and mix a nice cocktail, perhaps a bloody Mary and Manhattan combined, with the flavor of the day, which will fool you, believe me.----------------------------PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE WITH OTHERS. WE ENCOURAGE PUBLICATION OF ORIGINAL, CREATIVE ESSAYS