Waiting For Maybe A Blue Wave

LESS THAN six months until the election, and most indications remain predicting a blue wave, to one degree or another. Considering the administration and Congress so far, its no wonder why. When you consider that Trump and MAGA are still blaming Biden for everything, and that they are trying to change the subject to a hypothetical arch of triumph near the reflecting pool on the Capitol mall, you realize that Trump and MAGA are doing everything humanly possible to avoid actually discussing Trump, and the performance pf him and his administration.They'll use anythingthat works, whatever it takes. A ball room, an arch, Trump's face added to Mt. Rushmore, anything, whatever works. Whatever succeeds in taking the nation's attention off of the infamous and mysterious Epstein files. "The Epstein files", as they are called, is evidently a massive collection of documented evidence and proof that Donald Trump is indeed a pedophile who acts on his impulses, and is guilty of sexually abusing and raping children. Even if normal, everyday MAGA folk would rather the Epstein file quietly go away, they aren't likely to, at least, not soon. The war against Iran, Turmp's war of choice, is not making anybody, Republicans included, happy, The United States, and we the American people are far from being done with this war of Trump's (our) choice, and we might not be done with it for a lot longer than we now think, as is the case with all wars. It may be that by early November, when election day rolls around, his war against Iran may have become something of an albatross around Trump's fleshy neck. When one further considers how strenuous opposition to Trump has been, remains, and that it seems destined to only increase, and that as of now less than forty percent of the American support either Trump or his various wars of choice,it begins to seem increasingly likely that all this will hurt Republicans and help Democrats in November. But, as always, who knows? Its hard to imagine Trump gaining any new support from here on out. Anybody not on board with him by now most likely never will be. Opposition to Trump, over sixty percent of America, is rock solid, angry, and enthusiastic. So far it shows no sign of being well organized, by anybody, but what relly matters is voter turnout for the midterms. The higher it is, the more it becomes possible for Democrats to take both the House and the Senate, although the Senate will still remain unlikely. There are several ky aspects of this administration, other than the Epstein files and Trump's obvious lifeling immorality and criminality, which engender disapproval from both sides of the isle. Attacking Iran is one of them. All of Trump's nonsense about Canada and Cuba is another. But working against Trump and the Republicans more than anything at the moment is inflation, for which Trump et al will get the blame, as is always the case, depsite their best attempts to deflect it. No president can do much about inflation, which comes in cycles, like most economic phenomena, and must run its course. This is, however, a perfect opportunity for Democrats to pin the blame on Republicans, who, after all, currently have control of all three branches of government, and most state governments. No decent person wants the American people to suffer economically. But if in the coming months they do indeed suffer in the pocketbook, whatever state the economy is in on election day will not be attributed to Democrats, and will be directly attributed to Trump and Republicans.

Preaching

I ATTENDED Presbyterian church this past Sunday,where my dear friend and fellow anti-Trumper, a lawyer turned minister, gave one of his characteristically excellent sermons. It seems a pity that there are usually no more than about ten people in the building when he "preaches", but, so be it.He's good enough to be heard by minions, however many that is.This is all well and good, but I have now missed my beloved Unitarian Universalist service several weeks in a row, and I am becoming rather eager to attend one. The sooner I decide about thsi coming Sunday, the more settled I'll be. I am leaning towards making the twenty mile drive to the UU service. I can certainly understand the need to organize religion. Otherwise, we're jsut a unch of individuals running around, each with our own version of reality, theologically. Scientifically, we can unite, and, ultimately, we must, for there is only one version of natural law. As far as we can tell so far, there is only one universe. Stay tuned. Can you imagine having only a single religion on Earth, a global religion, with all other religions being strictly prohibited? I think I can, and it aint pretty. Such a planetary religion would be well organized, perhaps, but stagnant, monolithic, decaying with age. Its difficult to actually imagine that, because, truth be told, we all have a little bit of Martin Luther in us. We all, ultimately, invent our own religions. We have no other choice. As Goethe said: "When I realized that everyone invents his own religion I decided to invent mine." As of now, this moment, I liek my pantheistic, Unitarian semi-Presbyterian Heinz fifty Seven approach, heavy on the Spinoza and Einstein, my religious role models, along with perhaps Jefferson. All religions have antecedents and lifespans. If and when humanity expands human habitat otuward from Earth and into outer space, it will almost certainly take its various religions with it.Perhaps our descendants will engender new religions, to fit their circumstances. One thing we know about Christianity: the Christian messiah appeared at the exact time when it was normal among Jews and throughout the Jewish culture to await and anticipate his arrival, and had been for awhile.This was certainly true of the Jews, and and, to some extent, of the Romans as well, who were as uaual open mnded on te matter, flexible, amenable to religious evolution, quite willing to embrace, to a certain extent, just bout any and every religious bandwagon that came rolling along the Appian Way. The old Roman Gods were losing their power and hold over the vast and varied Roman EMpire. The new Christian God, "the light", was spreading like contagion. Call religion whatever you want. Feel free. I know I do. I have many unflattering opinions about religion in general. So do many people, especially in the "west", where secularism and science are taking over. But it is equally important for everyone to never lose sight of the reality that for billions of human beings, at our current level of spiritual and intellectual evolution, religion plays, demonstrably, indisputably, an indispensable part. I can envisin, vaguely, a future human culture in which the traidtional, ancient, blood sacrificial religions, which evolved from ancient primitive cults, have evolved into a higher level of awareness of reality based on observable reality, which reveals to us a universe of incredible harmonious beauty, more than worthy of admiration and religious veneration.

Keeping Our Brains Honest

THE LADY at the senior center who got caught stealing and got fired spooked me a bit. Not that I'm naive, or anything like that. I certainly shouldn't be, at seventy one years of age. My thinking is: if someone like her, a deeply religious Pentecostal, is doing something like this, then precisely what in hell or on Earth might the rest of of us be doing? I recall reading a stark stat. Your average American and probably average human in general will commit at least one felony during his or her lifetime, many of them unknowingly. Part of that is of course the sheer number of felonies on the books; tens of thousands, available for committing, in our litigious, legalistic American culture. Part of it is human nature. Cheating seems to be a somewhat basic human behavior, intended to provide the cheater a competitive advantage. To keep ourselves honest, we must rely on ourselves, and our received moral standards. One way or another, the criminals are going to get inside our fortress homes, despite all our locks, alarms, and guns. We lock our doors to keep the rest of us, each other, the honest people, honest. In smaller groups mutual monitoring helps keep all members honest. Both honesty and deceit are necessary, it seems, for human survival. And it seems that all of us, in one way or another, are mentally ill, just as arguably nobody experiences perfect physical health all the time. I suffer from paranoia, I think. But of course, we must be careful precisely waht we describe a "ill". Under Stalin, it was considered a mental illness to fail to embrace communism. We must avoid the trap of diagnosing so many types of behaviors as "mentally ill" that we all start taking pills at the slightest provocation which turn us into uniformly mentally stagnant zombies. The first time you look at a Picasso or Dali painting or hear Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring", you might be tempted to ascribe to some sort of mental or "artistic illness", as many originally did, rather than, more properly, to artistic creativity and genius. One might wonder how great Beethoven would have been had he not been sick and depressed much of the time, or deaf, with the attendant isolation, depression, and anger. Not worth a plugged nickel, perhaps. The mind must be free to be creative. Sure, let's study technique, let's ahve our do's and don'ts. But above all, let's allow our shining, unique personalities emerge from wthin ourselves, radiate outward, and wash over each other in our unique individual vibrations of joy. I think it was Carl Sagan who said that considering the sheer number of brain cells we all have within our skulls, we should probably never be surprised by anything anyone ever says or does. We also do well to remember that all actons, large and small, engender responses. There isn't the slightest piece of real evidence that there exists anything which might remotely be called "free will". There is a great amount of evidence that every particle of matter and enerty in the universe obeys the laws of nature. Instead of thinking in terms of reward and punishment, praise and blame, it might help to think in terms of cause and effect. If every human being in the world embarked on a project to make better choices and decisions, perhaps the cumulative effect of billions of better decisions, better choices, better thinking, would transform the world, from its current largely undesirable state of affairs, to one much more closely reembling a utopian vision the sort of which most people imagine and desire. As Carl Sagan pointd out, humanity is not afflicted with a shortage of intelligence, but himan intelligence is a tool which can be used either destructively, or productively. We can destroy, but, thank heavens, we can create.

Trump, Visiting China

TRUMP'S VISIT TO CHINA is, for my money, a very good thing, irrespective of my personal opinion of Trump. Any harm he does can be undone, any good he manages to do benefits us all. The older I get the more I come to believe that communication is always beneficial, much better than no communication. A married couple yelling at each other, or two powerful, aggressive nations trying to preserve peach and prevent war, communications yields information, and communication facilitates better decisions and action. We humans can and should celebrate the unique beauty of the individual personality, which freedom of speech enhances, but we must always remain aware of the reality that any individual human, however intelligent and creative, is ultimately no more able to function properly without societal support than your average individual red ant. For Americans, rooting for president Trum, or any president to fail at anything is a no win proposition.While we may hope and work for his legislative an dpoicy agenda to be voted down and replaced by better ones, or at least a halfway decent one, whatever dealings Trump has internationaly on behalf of the United States, whatever actions he takes on our behalf, we must hope for their success, for our own sake. If trickle down economics suddenly, magically begins working well for the working class, although it never has before, all the better, bring it on. Truly, that would be amazing and miraculous to behold.That is precisely the situation we are in, like it or not. It is one thing to hope or work for the cancallation of Trump's ball room,it is quite another to hope that his visit to China fails to achieve positive results, only because it is the despicable Trump who is doing the visiting. Like it or not, everybody's fate is greatly influenced, impacted by in Trump's position, and those os us who despice him personally can root up one side and down the other for Trump to fail, but as long as he is president, his failures for the most part are indeed our failures. Opposing Trump's policies is not the same thing as hoping and working for their failure, for his failure. We must therefore hope that actions we disagree with do less harm and more good than we anticipate. Again,this is precisely the situation we are in, like it or not. His failures, to one extent or another, are our failures as a nation. In this vain, I hope, fore example, that Trump's cutting funds for education and medical research of all kinds helps the country, somehow, hard as it is to see how it possibly can. We can always restore this vital funding later, after Trump is gone, and we are going about the business of cleaning up the messes he has made and undoing what damage we can. If nothing else, surely we can restore our support, as a nation, for the arts and sciences, and education. Federal support for these is crucial for our future as a nation, as a culture. Critics of Trump point out the damage he has done and continues to do to the country in alienating America's traditional allies and hollowing out American culture from within, and in suberting and harming democratic processes. But at least he is visiting China, on behalf of us all, like it or not, and that's not all bad. All of these criticisms are perfectly valid and true, and must receive continued and constant attention. But when you consider how resiliently the United States has recovered from past harm, self inflicted or otherwise, you can almost begin to see the damage to America being done by Trump and MAGA as opportunity, the opportunity to weather the storm, and then, one fine day, to build back better.

Pentecostal Pilfering

The PENTECOSTAL LADY was indeed dismissed from the senior center, maybe a mutual thing. So I'm seventy one years old now and can still be surprised. I'm lucky. Some scientist once said that when you consider the sheer complexity of the human brain and mind, with billions of nerve cells and all, that we should probably never be surprised by anything that anybody ever does.The scientist, I think, was Carl Sagan, and I think he said it in his great book "Broca's Brain". Or maybe we should be surprised by everything that everybody does, or surprised that anybody ever does anything at all. "I'm Amazed I'm Alive", a friend of mine, a singer song writer, titled one of his songs. Since I am retired, live two blocks from the senior center, and go there for lunch five times a week, and pretty much know everyone there, indeed I was and still am surprised at the alleged, evident Pentecostal petty theft, even if, according to logic and common sense, I shouldn't be. Einstein once said that either everything is a miracle, or nothing is. Amazingly, I understand what Einstein meant by that, and I concur wholeheartedly. Why and how does anything exist at all, my father, a lawyer, once asked. Most of us probably ask this same question at one time or another. I certainly hope so. Thinking about the difference between "brain" and "Mind" is interesting, because they should be, must be, essentially the same thing. You begin to understand why some people consider it more valuable to spend their lives meditating in a cave than acdtiviely participating in society. But doesn't it sees as if you could accomplish more in your cave meditations by being well educated, by having studied and learned,and lived many years of life experiences, rather than just entering the cave young and stupid, open mind or not. The truth appears to be that there is no such thing as "free will", that every particle of matter and energy in the universe, ourselves included, obeys the laws of nature, is constrained by and to natural law, and that therefore the human mind, we us, are not the creative free thinking intelligent being we often fancy ourselves, but rather, mere collections of chemicals, obeying, like all matter and energy, the laws of nature. You arrive, don't you, at the conclusion that we must be both, bags of chemicals and creative, intelligent beings, creatures, entities, without the slighets knowledge of how we came into being,and thus limited to our notion of what we call "God". My best effort is to believe that the terms "God", "cosmos", and "universe" are synonimous, regardless of how they are defined in Webster's one millionth edition. Usually, we are surprised by what other people do, but not surprised by what we oursleves think and do. To me, all of my thoughts and actions seem understandable, or so I think. No matter what I do, I think I can, if aked, or if I choose to, explain the reaons for it to somebody else. Of course, I'm deceiving myself. Hell, I don't even know why I exist, let alone something picky like why I like watching "Gunsmoke" or eating tator tots. The fact that life is a complete mystery was a source of inspiration, wonder, and happy rumination for Einstein. He didn't let the fact that he failed to achieve his intended goals in science rain on his parade. For him, it is the process of wonder,thought, and exploration that motivated him, the process itself, rather than outcome. We all need to approve of ourselves, and to live so as to merit our self approval. We are our own ultimate judges. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to be a little less results oriented, and a little bit more amazed and joyful at the process itself.

Having Morals

THE KITCHEN CREW Cooks at the senior center are great, and folks jokingly beg them to never ever leave. However, just yesteday they fired the sixty year old lady who is a a Pentecostal Christian, dresses conservatively, and can be rather quiet. They fired her for allegedly, get this, stealing cash from the donation box, a brown wooden box up front where you pay, if you can, for your lunch.Each day when we seniros enter the building for lunch, we can stick a five or so in the donation box; its suggested, but nto mandatory. Soem of these eol people live on very modest income. The Pentecostal lady, hair in a bun, dressed for the nineteenth century, caught with her hand in teh cookie jar, so to speak. I shouldn't be shocked. My best guess, my intuition, is that petty theft and crime of all kinds is not much less prevelant within the religious community than anywhere else. We tend to have the idea that, to assume that religion improves people, without having the slightest bit of evidence that it actually does. They say that locking our doors doesn't keep out any crooks or prevent them from stealig from you, but that it does keep the rest of uw honest people honest. This I believe. I was taken to church as a young child, pre first grade, and I honestly cant remember whether I was asked whether I really wanted to go. I probably did. I was almost certainly given a choice, throughout my childhood, sixty five years ago. I do know that I stopped going at a very early young age, stopped going to Sunday school and church, at some point before fourth grade. One year, when I was about six or so, I was sent to "Vacation Bible School" as they called it. I had mixed emotions about it, mostly negative, and that didn't last long either. As I made my way through grade school, those explosive growth first through sixth grade years, I knew that I was not becoming religious, even as I was learning more and more about religion, including the Bible. I knew,just as I stillknow, that "religion" per se, was not, is not, for me. Now, at seventy one, I go to church, although I still haven't changed my view of religion; that it has both positive and negative aspects and qualities. But since I seemed to have found an organized religions perfectly suited to me, which still seems amazing to me, my general attitude towars organized religion needs to be, should become, so I believe, more tolerant, expansive, and inclusive than ever before. It wouldn't do well for me to gleefully eter a Uniterian Universalist church every Sunday, which is my intent, while simultaneously disparaging any other, or all other religious faiths and traditions. And if, for example, I happen by virtue of my inner nature to embrace Mark Twain's remark that "The Bible contains some noble poetry, clever fables, a vast quantity of obscenity, and no fewer than one thousand outright lies", well then, so be it. I take my bible to church every Sunday, or grab one already there. I ring the bell to signal church beginning. My attitude is "when in rome". I can certainly accept and respect the religiosity of every one else, while rejoicing in my own, as others seem to. I have no need to nor interest in converting anyone to anything, although I am always willing to teach what little I happen to know. Like everyone else, I make more mistakes before nine o'clock in the morning than....who knows who? Kant said: "I am in awe of two things; the starry heavens above me, an the moral law within me." Perhaps our greatest blessing of all is our awareness of both.

Saving Democracy

THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM is sick as a dog, rotten to the core, all cliches aside, and must be drastically reformed and overhauled if democracy in these United States is to be salvaged. As of now, American democracy appears to be collapsing inward towards the center, congealing, coalsscing within the wealth and purchased political power of the ultra wealthy plutocracy,our wealthy powerful elite "corporate masters", as gore Vidal termed our rulers. The fact that big wealthy corporations own the country and the political system is evidenced by the simple fact that virtually every important political office in freedom's land is bought and paid for by its occupant-owner. Hence, what we have in these United States is government by the wealthy, by the wealthy, and for the wealthy.As Congressman Davy Crockett famouosly said "It is my firm belief that Congress ought to at least occasionally legislate for the poor." Laws limiting political campaign contributions, public funding of political campaigns, regulating political advertising,including bringing back the "Fairness Doctrine", would be instrumental in ending or reducing the corruption. It almost begins to seem as if nobody wants to end it, certainly those who benefit from it. Now that SCOTUS has ruled that gerrymandering is legal, we can expect a veritabel avalanche of it. A nation broken into political enclaves, each enclave doing its very best to preclude the opposition party from having any real participation in governining. In every one fo the fifty nifty, the party in power seems poised to gerrymander and rig elections. Any real resistance to this has either been silenced, or ignored. We seem destined to possess fifty equally corrupt political systems, all adding up to national corruption of gigantic proportions. As we seemingly slide inexorably towards this this undesirable state of affairs, the problem is, or certainly seems to be, that nobody cares. As often happens in these United States of Avoidance, the corruption grows, unchecked, uncontested. Politics at the state level is being bought and paid for by the wealthy elite few. Wherever you live in the U.S., if the other party is perpetually in power,you and your party officially have no voice, no vote, no power. Since the SCOTUS strangely says that money is free speech,we the teeming masses of the wretched poor must, so it seems, fight tooth and nail to invent and install a democracy where it isn't, or at least, isn't always present. We the people must demolish once and for all the absurd, outdated notion that is is some sort of sacred human right to us private money to influence the political process. Without proper,effective constraints on the use of personal wealth for political gain,inevitably super wealthy individuals or groups will use money to keep corrupting our sacred American democracy, such as it is. If and when the people generally lose faith and interest in popular government of, by, and for the people, those who seek to use their personal wealth to purchase political power to estabilish a capitalistic corporate dictatorship in America, which, in any event, is, in our current political environment, far more likely, and far less desirable to the working poor than a socialist democracy, will succeed in completing the work of fully, formally establishing a corporate dictatorship in the United States.Humans are by nature inclined to exploit and dominate one another, even as they simultaneously otherwise cooperate. Democratic government, in order to endure, must be constantly sustained and strengthened by the strongest potential force in human affairs; the will of the people.

Choosing

MY SENIOR YEAR in high school, 1972-73, enthusiastically following the lead of our clique leader, the class president, I supported the reelection of Richard M. Nixon. "Reelect the President" I believe was our slogan, which I take credit for. Quite clever, I thought at the time. Now, mot so much. If nothing else, I can proudly say, or hide behind, that the worst mistake of my political life I made when I was seventeen years old. I felt betrayed by "Watergate", and became a firm, lifelong Democrat.On the other hand, I was twenty five in 1980 whenI voted for John Anderson instead of Carter, and lived to regret it. At the time, Anderson, a Republican, seemed more progressive to me than the safely ensconced centrist Jimmy Carter. Reagan's victory devastated me. It still does. Now Ronald Reagan appears well on his way or safely ensconced among the ranks of America's most beloved presidents, almost Rushmore ready, and yet to this day I still despise him, for his conservatism.This reminds me of the way both of my parents despised and repeaedly voted against my hero Franklin D. Roosevelt, for his liberalism, indeed, for his outright socialism. The generational political opposition of my parents and me had no bearing on our mutually loving relationship, nor should it ever, with anyone. I am embarking on a project which might become my tendency; to offer the following line to anyone and everyone, far and wide: politics is not important, friendship is. In a democracy, or a purported one, personal political opinions are precisely as numerous as rectums, and in many cases are no more pleasant to contemplate at length and share. Just as we humans are far more likely to tolerate bad, ineffective, or oppressive government than to alter and reform it,we are more incinded to toleratedeny, or ignore political corruption than to combat and reform it. I played tennis most of my life, but I never cheated, nor even considered cheating, because I knew in advance that doing so would make the game meaningless for me. I suspect that tennis players who get into the habit of cheatingusually don't continue ennis as a hobby for very long. To elect my favorite political candidate through gerrymandering, cheating,voter fraud, whichever or whatever, would be for me more hollow than, say, your average statement from Donald Trump, and that's goin' some, as they say. My best guess, and my best hope, is that there will eventually emerge from within the great state of Tennessee, and every other state,a growing belief that winning elections or anything else by cheating or rigging the rules aint worth, as Sam Rayburn once said of the Vice Presidency, "a bucket fo warm spit". Winning anthing by rigging the system is pure hollowness,as anyone who tries or does it full well knows. You want to defeat your foes at his best, not beause the system has been rigged against him. Itmay bethat Republicans are not being careful enough about what they are wishing for, and are seeking, with apparent success, to implement in Tennessee and all across the solid conservtive south, one party rule. We Americans are known for being choosy, for wanting and expecting real choices. Voting Republican is one thing. Having no real alternative is quite another. Americans deprived of real choices tend to become restless and angry. Surely to goodness even Republicans want to vote Republican for a better reason than having no other choice.

Building Democracy

IN STATES controlled by Republicans,Republicans are doing everything in their power to make sure that the system is rigged to elect as many Republicans as possible to the U.S. House of Representatives. They are redrawing congressional voting districts, gerrymadering them into truly salamanderian shapes, to achieve political dominance. Democrats are of course doing the exact same thing in states they control.but they seem to control fewer states, and appear to have less to gain by playing this game. But is they don't play it at all if they sit on the sidelines in this sordid activety proclaiming that they are morally superior to such nefarious behavior, they risk falling behnd, being left in the dust, eventual extinction. It is not pleasant trying to imagine an America with only one major political party. We need and must have at least two, and arguably more. It is equally hard to imagine the American people being happy long term with only one major party. So diverse and divisive are we by nature that a single political party could never adequately represent all Americans. But are two enough? A two party system has the advantage of legislative efficiency. There is automatically and always a distinct majority and minority, on every issue, aiding clarity. And yet, European democracies all have more than two parties, anywhere to a handful to an unlimited number. And yet, their democracies seem to function at least as efficiently and effectively as the American version. They compensate for the potential with shifting coalitions, depending on the issue. The added flexibility enhances efficiency and effectiveness. The Democratic party in the U.S., for example, could probabyy be vroken down into five or six smaller parties. It is a big tent which includes both socialists and capitalists, moderates and far left wingers. It is possible to find true Democrats whose viewpoint seems to have little in common with other Democrats. It is hard to find any two Democrats exactly alike, and the moderates and the socialists do indeed seem better suited to different parties. The Republicans,meanwhile, still have some moderate conservatives to balance out the far right wing, the fascists, the folks with full body tattoos, flying confederate flags on their porches, pick ups, and trailors, They like the Third Reich red n black swastika too, but seem to be a bit more discreet about breaking it out for all to see. Whereas as recently as the nineteen seventies party differences were minimized as both parties moved towards and clustered in the political center,we now seem to have opened up a considerable gap between them, as many of their adherents have fled outward, towards the extremist fringes of their party,far left and far right. This polarization of political opinion has the advantage of offering everyone a celar, distinct choice. But unless a large, strong moderate political community thrives,polarization invites conflict and instability. It might behoove us all to seek more balance, and less extremism, in our personal political portfolios. This involves nothing more than the willingness of the individual to open the mind to greater diversity of thought, to "think outside the box", as they say. First, we must build and maintain a fair democracy, without any political party abusing democracy to gain an advantage.To build such parties, parties concerned about real democracy, they must be joined and led by people whose proirity is truly democracy,and not personal or political gain or party advantage. In other words, moral people.

Attending a Very Small Church

YESTERDAY, SUNDAY, I attended a Presbyterian church service, at the quaint little country brick church I have referenced before,the one nearly two hundred years old. I wonder whether there are any ghosts of congregants past watching over us. It would be a great place for ghosts to hang out, what with the old wood work in the floors and pews, the stained glass windows,the whole nineteenth century look of the place. The interior has been carefully, purposefully maintained in its 19h century look for decades. As the decades have gone by, generations of people have evidently all noticed and loved the perfect, quaint, rustic decor, and have over and over again through the decades, resolved not to touch it, not to change it even the tiniest amount. And so, two hundred years after its construction and founding as a formally registered Presbyterian congregation, ti remains as quaint and rustic as ever.We could all rent some nineteenth century clothing from a costume shop or something, all dress up accordingly, and look for all the world like a genuine Civil War era church congregation, in our little brick and wooden church down in the valley, in the woods. The minister, a friend of mine, delivers a progressive sounding sermon, with love and happiness rather than fire and brimstone, and I always leave the service uplifted and happy, ready for a big lunch. Isn't that what religion's all about, or should be? The only problem with going to church there is that it makes it nearly impossible to attend the Uniterian Universalist house of cosmic reverence some miles away, because in order to get there on time, I would have to leave the first church post haste,and drive like a maniac to the second, which I am unwilling to do. This past sunday, if my memory is accurate, there were nine people in the building, including the minister, organist, and "liturgist", who together constitute our version of "the clergy". I always hope for double digits in attendance; no go for this week. Better luck next time. Suddenly, the year two thousand and twenty eight is right around the corner, which'll be the two hundreth anniversary of the church. It must have been built by some of the earliest settlers in the region; avid, fervant Presbyterians who, above all else, above the need even for houses and stores and bars, knew in their hearts that they needed and would have to build a church, first. Of course, in nineteenth century American frontier culture, a single primitive building could and often did serve as church, school, and in many cases temporarly sleeping quarters for new arrivals in the community, while they got their log cabin built. My European friends seem amazed and amused at how recent our history is here in the American frontier 'west". For us, for me (and I am 71 years old) the late nineteenth century, when my grandparents were born, seems like a remote time deep in history; for my ninety two year old friend from Germany,it seems like nothing, like recent history, like just yesterday. She was a teenager in 1945 Germany, remembers Hitler, and warns us about Trump. I consider myself part Unitarian, part Presbyterian (a very small part), and, overwhemlingly, a pantheist, like Spinoza and Einstein. The Unitarian emphasis on the unity of all human religiosity impresses me, and inspires me to feel comfortable in churches of various denominations. I am inclined towards believing that once one has declared one's self a "panthieist", all things are possible, religiously. Our Presbyterian church has about a dozen actual members. I am not one of them. I have no intention of ever joining somebody else's church, but rather, remaining contentedly within mine,and visiting other churches for spiritual and mental growth. Goethe's admonition remains more vital to me than ever: "When I realized that everyone invents his own religion, I decided to invent mine;"

Sharing

IT WAS ONE OF THOSE "leaked" government reports of the usual sort, but indications are that these United States,as always acting ostensibly on behalf of the American people but in actuality acting on behalf of America's corporate owners and masters, has issued what amounts to an ultimatum to the African country of Uganda, threatening to end all Amercan medical and financial assistance for fighting AIDS, unless said U.S. receives in return Uganda's mineral rights to its copper, nickel, and cobalt. For the U.S. to seek access to these metals is understandable. To seek it in this manner is, quite arguably, unconscionable,indeed, nefarious, perfidious. The problem with this leaked report is that it seems to have a certain basis in reality, rather than merely being another internet lie. Bottom line: if you are a decent person or country, you cannot and do not tie emergency medical assistance to industrial mineral resources as a bargaining chip, no matter how devilishly tempting it might be. Surely not. Or do you, do we, should we? Are we? We the people sure as hell ought to know, and should find out, poste haste. I for one intend to find out...surely, not my America. Trump's America? Who knows? Life saving plague stopping modern miracle medicines and vaccines for diseases like AIDS and all the rest, should be available to everybody, regardless of abilitiy to pay, surely we can all agree, at a reasonably low cost. Yes, we want productivity and proper payment from everyone, but, we want everyone in the world vaccinated for everything, every year, no matter what, full stop. We can iron out the financial details and discuss the efficacy of vaccines with our ant-vaxxer comrades while vaccinating at a feverish pace, pun intended. It is all well and good that the U.S. wants and needs mineral resources form other countries, at times, for various worthwhile purposes, and vice versa. And yes, let's make deals, in a civilized, cooperative manner. But let's not go full Trump, the low life dishonest low life approach of extortaion and deceit, which if of course what Don teh Con is all about, and always has been, in plain sight. Let's make the arrangements cooperatively, for the benefit of as many people as possible, not jsut the billionaires and corporations. On this fragile planet we humans will of necessity do more sharing in the future, of everything, at all levels, for our survival. Consider, for instance, American capitalism. The more money we distribute, by any means, among America's poorest people, the more economic growth we have, including and especially among the millionaires and billionaires. An economic system, a nation's economy, is inevitably a pyramed, a pyrmaid best build long, broad, and low, an close to the ground, with the top being close enough to the ground to be seen from the ground...With food,clothing,shelter, and health, lettuce all help each other, and share. When all of our basic needs are met sustainably, for all of us, we can knock ourselves out competing for luxuries, frivolities and non essential goods and services in the great sacred totally normal and natural Adam Smithian free market level playing field of economics and life, or whatever. Nobody should have to fight and struggle constantly to simply live. Surely we can have some basic socialism for the poor. Lord knows we have had, and still have, through our economic and taxation system, plenty of socialism for the wealthy.

Gerrymandering Part II

THIS WHOLE GERRYMANDERING thing in Florida is beyond disgusting, just as it is always disgusting, no matter who is doing it, no matter which party. Currently, it appears to be primarily if not excusively Republicans of the MAGA kind doing the dirty deed, led by Trump, and the primary, immediate impetus seems to be coming from the widespread right wing desire to keep Trump and MAGA politicians in power, indefinitely, perhaps eternally. Stipulated here is that this behavior anybody is capable of,just like anybody is capable of lying, cheating, stealing, or killing. Democrats gerrymander too. Over the circuitous course of American politica history, who's to say who or which party has been the most guilty of it? Its as if,in a democracy organized by voting districts,its going to happen. We must stop it in the U.S., or at least try to, instead of placidly accepting it as some sort of inevitable, unavoidable,necessary evil. What the Republicans are trying to do and successfully doing in Florida isnothing other than outright subversion of democracy, and we all,if we are good citizens,must rise up and stop it. We must fight to unrig our democracy,our alleged democracy. Everybody talks about the big corrupting money in American politics,and of course,that is the main problem,and must be dealt with first. America's poor majority must organize,and take our democracy back from the billionaires, and aare perhaps are finally being heard, auspiciously, more often of late. The ruling plutocracy can be dismantled, removed from power, maybe as easily as enacting a few basic new laws. It wouls start, ofcourse, with public cammpaign financing,and strict limits on campaign contributions. One we make it impossible to actually blatanly purchase political offices, we are beginnning to build an actual democracy. But not until. Many people argue that our two party system is best, because it quickly, effectively gives us a clear majority and a minnority, on all issues at all times, instead of a collection of many different fragmented small parties witth differing points ofview, no clear majority, and a permenantly fragmented societed, paralyzed in inaction. However, in countries where such a fragmented situation exists, thyy have learned the art ofcompromise and temporary, shifting party party allliances, dependant on ths issues of the day. In any political system in which money is not regulated and is allowed to flow freely throughout the political system, the political system becomes and remains utterly corrupted,bought and paid for by the wealthiest of the wealthy elite. Rich versus poor is the main American divide. This is reality, not "class warfare", as the rich like to call it. Or, OK, call it class warfare. The poor and working poor classes can either accept the currrent situation, or they can try to do something about it,to change it. This our wealthy elite masters call "class warfare." Billionaires organize to keep their wealth and power, and attack the poor for organizeing to gain some of it, some semblance of equality. The Marxist theory of history can be attacked, criticized, demonized all day long. It remains fundamentally valid, as a partial explanation of history which, in concert with other theories and paradigms, helps us understand human history, and ourselves. Recent history has seen the rebirth of democracy, dead since ancient Greece and Rome. Today, it is a dwindling flame, attacked by forces intent on putting it out. MAGA is anti-democratic,and must be opposed, and ultimately defeated.

Being Conservative

I'M WILLING To ACCEPT THE BALLROOM, with conditions. Not on the White House lawn. Maybe down the street a bit, on Pennsylvania Ave. Leave the White House lawn the way it is, but replace the Rose Garden with the Rose Garden, put it back the way it was. No stone or concrete patio. All future additions must conform and compliment those already there, let's say. And this big new wing Trump is building, stop it. No White House expansion, I dare say, most Americans say. What we're going to do, what Trump and his cult are going to do, is overbuild. We do not want to reamke Washington or Mt. Rushmmore in the image of Trump, permanently, for futue generations to ridicule. So let's put the proposed new White HOuse wing and the ball room and the Arch de la Trump on hold, and give it all due consideration. And, above all, if an when we the people, acting through our federal government, choose to build some sort of arch, fine; but make damned sure it has nothing to do with Trump, with mentioning him or honoring hime, and instead, make it a tribute to the common man, for instance, a granite "fanfare for the common man". Arron Copeland, baby. Hell, let the people weigh in! What's wrong with a little patience, due deliberation, democracy, and due process? We don't want Trump, of all people, making these decisions alone, or with his inner circle. We want all this to be an expression of the will of the people, American style. Lettuce await the results of the many national, scientifically accurate polls and surveys which can and probably will inform us of the popular will. We could have much more democracy in this counrty than we do. We could vote on many of the things we leave to teh government to decie. Our democarcy has, arguably, become a bit too representative, and too little direct. At the ballot box in this November's midterms, why not vote on whether to keep the White HOuse the same, or to allow big changes and additions to be made to it? I've jsut go to believe that a majority of the American people do not want any changes to the White House. I sure as hell don't. Especially some huge gawdy fun house next door, dwarfing and dominating the White House, replacing lovely green lawns, trees, and gardens. Let trump and hsi party buddies have their fun in Vegas, Atlantic City, Mara Lago, or Epstein's place, their usual haunts. If its beyond repair, tear it down, and rebuild it precisely the way it was, as closely as possible. Hell, 3D print the damned thing, build it out of plastic! (joke). Let's take the conservative approach; change as little as possible, and preferably, nothing. The White House (andmaybe the capital, among other buildings), is perfect the way it is, correct, America? What we need now is change to our political and electoral system. We need fair and reasonable Congressional voting districts, not gerrymandered by anybody, determined by independent, impartial groups and committees, with public approval. Whether its one party, two, or one trillion poltical parties trying to cheat and rig elections, we must support and expand democracy instead of destroying it, by implementing fair voting districts, easy, accessible voting, and by making it easeir, not harder, to vote. Democrats must fight for easy voting and mass voting, to replace our oligarchial Republican plutocracy with government by the people, of the people, and, well..you know the rest. And as for the ballroom, if they build the damned thing, I think I and everybody else should have access to it, not just the billionaires.

Writing Love Letters In The Sand

COMEY'S 8647 sand script number posting was, seemingly obviously a joke, corrrect? Like, he he, haha. Let's get rid of Trump, Down with Trump. Out with Trump, at the ballor box, wherever, however,being the obvious message. But instead we're ("we" being MAGA) choosing to take it seriously, maybe to take full advantage of it, to make the most of an opportunity to defame, dehumanize, falsely incriminate Comey, the great Trump slayer, to get even. Demonize Comey, victimize Trump. Now, you'll have to admit, it aint necessarily easy turning somebody like Trump, with all that wealth, power, and ego, into a convincing sympathetic victim, except perhaps in a literary sense. Something Shakespearian, such as King Leer, although the metaphor doesn't exactly match. However, if the Trump administration is splitting hairs and rasing a stink over letters and numbers in the sand, which are here today and cast washed into the sea tomorrow, they're either trying to create a distraction from something or other by making scandalous mountains out of mole hills, are deeply paranoid, or both. Regarding James Comey, and all that he has done since leaving the Trump administration as FBI Chief, and regarding any alleged or feigned importance attached to any of his actions or words, methinks the king doth protest too much, to quote Shakespeare. Comey was apparently indicating in sand that he wants Trump to be out of office, rather than in it. My Dear God, how shocking! Hell, I express that exact saem sentement on this very website more times before nine o'clock in teh morning than most folks do all damned day, at least. I despise Trump, I want hi out of office, and if he has to die to leave, that worked for me. I would, in a nutshell, rather have Trump dead than president. So, shoot me, or sue me, MAGA. Far as I know it is nto illegal to say that you wish somebody or other were alive, or that somebody or other were dead. I wish Trump wpuld leave politics and the presidency, and if he had to die to do it, that's fine with me. I assume that if I were famous and influential the Trump administration would come after me for saying this, and in fact for saying much of what I have said, on this website, about Trump for the past dozen years or so. Iknow hat paranoia is. I suffer from it, among probably a vast and impressive array of mental illnesses. Nobody is entirely healthy, physically, or mentally. I'm flexible, willing to get rid of Trump by any means necessary, after the fashion of how many people today feel about Hitler in 1935, retroactively. A year ago we anti-Trumpers lamented the forthcoming four years of hell. Now its down to three, and here we are, alive and well, sailing smoothly if angrily towards the inevitable end of Trump. And no, there won't be, in late 2028 and early 2029 any vast groundswell among MAGATs to rewrite the constitution and remake the Trump administration, duration wise, in the image of the FDR administration. Won't happen. By the end of this what may seem like but really is not interminable term, we'll, Republican included, by more than ready to move on. Granted, they wanted Reagan to stay in 1988, but only lukewarmly. They knew he was losing it fast, had already lost much of it, senility rapidly encroaching in the Gipper. They know the same thing about Trump. Republicans, a bunch of old people, with their endless succession of ancient, over the hill political leaders. Trump is losing it fast, and it'll be a race to the finish line.

Disliking Israel

I DON'T LIKE ISRAEL, and I never have. I think its because I have somehow gotten the impression that Israel is a propped up military power, whose need to defend itself and is very existence has evolved, over the years, into a messaged ideology that the nation of Israel is the exclusive victim in constant dire peril, constantly fighting for its existence against the evil forces of its powerful, ruthless, relentless enemies. This, I now believe, and would flatly asset, is complete and utter nonsense.It truly seems as if Israel controls the United States government. It doesn't buy the control. The money for this comes streaming in from the United States, and has since Israels' inception on May 15, 1948. The pro Israeli lobby in Congress, among the strongest, best funded such efforts on Capitol Hill, has the full support of millions of American Jewish benefactors, and many other pro Isralei donors.I am not a Christian, am not anti-semitic, and have nothing against Jews, Christians, or anyone. But the nation-state of Israel under Neyanyahu has become a terorist monstrosity. This description includes and is partly based upon its recent treatment of Gaza, and all of its other neighbors. My impression and understanding is that almost from the moment of its declaration of nationhood, Israel naturally had the sacred and inviolable right to defend itself, and has done so with great success, with American and British assistance. But soon thereafter it became increasingly obvious that Israel and its leaders would not be content to remain peacefully within it own original borders, but would conduct its foreign policy as an aggressive, expanionist politial and military entity. Staunch American supporters of Israel fume and chafe at the very notion of anyone not being pro Israel, not being firmly, toally Zionist, and not being completely hateful towards Iarael's mostly Islamic enemies. If one does not like the Judaic religion, or any religion, or religion generally, there is no necessary association with this point of view with hatred of the nation of Israel. What we all must avoid doing is disliking or discriminating against Jews, or anybody else, as human beings, based upon merely religious considerations. Disliking governments and countries is an entirely different matter. Some governments and whole countries, by virtue of their behavior and the support of their citizens of their behavior, deserve only contempt, censure, and condemnation, if only temporarily. My belief, over the years, is that the United States, its government and foreign relations establishment, has always been much too closely allied, aligned with Israel, with an imbalanced foreign policy skewed against the Islamic countries and Islamic international community. I confess that I have a far less favorable attitude towards religions other than my own, which is essentially pantheism, or deism. Recognizing this limitation, I have determined to be more openminded and tolerant. Surely every intelligent person of faith in the world has the potential to openmindedly comprehend and accept the wisdom and beauty inherent in all of the world's more than forty two hundred known organized religious faiths. I embrace and rejoice in my Uniterian pantheism, which, from the Christian viewpoint, is nearly indistinguishable from atheism. In terms of some anthropomorphic Biblial or Koranic deity, I am indeed an atheist. Thus go our individual differences. Let us embrace the reality that Goethe was speaking the truth when he said; "When I realized that everyone invents his own religion, I decided to invent mine."

Celebrating Birthdays

TODAY IS MY BIRTDAY, and I'm excited about it, as I was trained, lured into being from an early age. My parents treated my birthday from an early age like a national holiday, at least in terms of presents given and joyfully received, and, well, old dogs, new tricks, no go. I was in essence, brainwashed and lured into regarding my own virthday as an occasion suitable for excessive celebration. They piled the beautifully brightly wrapped presents onto the kitchen table, and I thought maybe they should have erected a Christmas tree (birthday tree?...HEY!) I recall one year in particular, I think it was my eleventh birthday, but it not, it was close, when Iwalked nextdoorto my neighbor's house, and,with my arms loaded with the weight of too many material objects, bats, ball gloves, ball caps ( I was still a Cardinal fan in those days, but a "closet" Yankee fan.) The neighbor mother answered patronizengly, laconically, I beamed broadly, and said something childish like "loog what I got for my birthday!" She smiled slightly, and pretended to care, poorly. I took her lack of interest for toned down interest. Over the years Idon't rmember ever having a bad birthday, and this one is off to a glorious beginning and only promises to get better. I reckon the real reason for my lifelong birthday success is that I have always made damned sure that they turned out that way, that I made them this way. On the first day of April at the senior center the director and staff gave a birthday party for everone having a birthday during April. Its a great monthly senior center activity.I proud and thrilled to stand up in front the other ancient ones. These words appeared on this "Paper" early on teh mmorning of my birthdy, amid my joy, and boy howdy how rapidly it will go and is going by. I must make every second count. The best celebration of my birthday is on Facebook, so how in hell can I join the veritable legion of Facebook users who claim that they hate Facebook, only use it rarely, only when they have to, blah blah, because its so lewd, immoral, or wtf ever. Hell, I like Faceboo, and aint ashamed to admit it. I have no snobbish condescending need to convince everyone that I truly hae Facebook and consider it beneath me, whhile spending twenty hours a day on it. I have no idea whether, wenn I show up for ten oc'lock gospel singing, anybody there will mention my birthday. I hope somebody does; I doubt anyone will. But, not to worry. As you have by now no doubt apprehended, I can and do make damned sure my birthday isn't ignored. Other people, Americans, might tend to ignore or downplay their own birthdays, and acknowledge and celebrate other people's, but not me, oh no, hell no. Dennis Rodman used to party for a week. He had a "birthday week". I can relate, but find it more special still to use only this one day, watch it pass and dwindle, and reflect on the nature of the universe. Man, does it ever come and go in a hurry. And, truth be told, it has always seemed, been that way, even back in the day when I was terribly young and the rivier of time flowed sluggishly, like molasses. Even then it seemed too fast. Today'll shoot by like a rocket, despite my best intentions to slow it down, which, they say, can be done, through perception. Like Dr. Faustus whined when his deal with the deal was coming due, "Oh horses of time, run slowly, slowly...". I'll be fine, it'll be great, and already is. Thanks, everyone. Maybe my misanthropy is misplaced. Maybe, insane. Hell, maybe folks aint so bad after all. Maybe, just maybe, there is hope for the world. Goethe, who was no gullible pollyanna optiimist, said: "Noble be man, compassionate, and good," Isn't it perfectly normal and understandable to make a big deal out of one's birthday, much bigger than out of other's? Happy Birthday to me!

Streaming

ITS POSSIBLE, and maybe even at times preferable, to just sit down at teh keyboard and let the stream of conscious run wild. If you're not used to doing it, if you're used to using the standard academic notecards outline rough draft final draft technique, fine, and more power to ya. I never do stream of conscious exactly.Even when I sit at the keyboard and type essasy straight out of my head, as I go along, I naturally tend to construct a logical sequence of sentences on a coherent topic, making a point. I don't think I can ever shut that down, and go total stream. But I can walk into the room, turn on the computer, and just type and write. I love and admire the funadmental artistic necessity of writing in the "first person", but I don't want to confine myself exclusively to it, out of laziness of habit. You need a fast ball, preferably a two seem, four seem, and a cutter, all three kinds, at least one breaking pitch, usually a hard slider, and probably a change up. Any decent writer shouldn't be limited by necessity to the first person point of view. If you can't write in the third person, which you can, learn how to. I get omniscient, and limited omniscient. I think a composer should at least be capable of writing in all twenty four keys, even if he or she doesn't. I dont't hink there is anything wrong with trying to make a lot of points in a single essay, or wrong to skip around from subject to seemingly haphazardly, with a subtle, hidden coherent, pattern, and logic known only to the author, but accessible to the reader, providing a willingness by said reader to think hard, go deep, and figure it out. It it not impolite to suddenly change the subject during a conversation, aeven though if somebody brings up a topic in a conversation, and you listen to everything he or she says, and without responding to the content, and make a comment which diverges in a way not according to the speakers plans and intentions, and become angry at you for having done this, well, respectfully, fuck the motherfucker. It almost seems to me that ninety percent of the time, when I initiate a conversation with a fellow human, about some intelligent, intellectual, relevant topic, like history, philosophy, politics, or science, he or she will either change the subject and start talking about him or herself, or just totally ignore what I said, no matter how interesting it is, (and I only make ineresting statements and comments IMHO), and say nothing. Okay, fine. Mybe I should be grateful that the pedestrian emmeffer has the decency at least not to bore me to death with one of his characteristically inane, vanilla, cue card cookie cutter comments. After all, amsll minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, and great minds discuss ideas. My high school classmate uttered these profound words at our graduation ceremony, and I will never forget them. I like to discuss all three, intelligently, I trust and pray. I need to comprosem, give ground, cut slack, and accede to the conversation. and comments others make, merely by listend closely and responding to them. I get that. But my response might be, indeed quite likely will be, somthing very different than my conversation partner wants or expects. I try to avoid saying to people what I think they want to hear,but rather, what I want them to hear. by not kissing ass I Might be giving up a bit of love, approval, and popularity. But quite often, what I what the person to hear happens to be what they want to, or seem to want to hear. Conversation is a skill, a cooperative activity, which of course can be competitive and often is. I am uncivilized, in that I don't like verbal amenities most of the time. Amenities are of the utmost importance, I am wrong about this. Blunt and brutally honest is what I want to be and tend to be. I try to compensate by ending every sentence with the words "ma'am" and "sir", like my parents taught me. I think everybody should do that, frankly. At my local senior center, I am the only person, I swear to God, who does. There aint a whole lotta please and thank you goin' on among the old folks, for that matter. Robert Heinlein said that amenities, verbal, social, physical, incidate the level of civilization of a society, and that another indicator is the level of cleaniless of a society's public restrooms. I hope private bathrooms aren't included. If they are, I am beyond barbaric. I am, I fear, a savage.

Trump, Blathering

INTO GOOGLE I typed "Stupid statements made by Donald Trump", thinking my "search" would cough up a veritable cornucopia bonanza of verbal Trump word salad sandwich inanities. My first reaction to what came up was disappointment. Nothing but a list of the usual expansive yet limited menu of garbled sentencs, butchered grammer, twisting and tormenting observers like watching a bad movie or a python consuming a fawn without chewing. Then, I dug a little deeper,in "AI mode", whatever that is, like Thomas Jefferson cutting a Bible to shreds, extracting, as he said, diamonds from a dung heap. I began to harvest the low hanging fruit. With Trump, its all low hanging, and for best resulsts when in a lazy frame of mind,one can take the easy way out, and stoop over to pick up the juicy rotten stuff off the ground, like fat possums by moonlight. Topping the billboard top one hundred hit list, by a mile if not more, has got to be the immortal "They say that windmill noise causes cancer.", whoever the generic "they" moght be, probably RFK Jr. Go ahead adn Google "stpid statements made by Trump". See what you come up with. I may well have missed a few diamonds in the rough, and we can compares notes. My mother, perhaps hoping to improve my ocabulary, used to give me every Christmas one of those "word of the day" calendars, the kind where you tear off a sheet every day if you want to keep up, and for every day there was another inordinately esoteric word from the million word English language, a word one would never use in polite conversation or even intellectual writing, words with a million synonyms and meanings. I'm not complaining. We Eglish speakers are the fortunate recipiets of a mixed breed langauge replete with coorful words and expressions stolen from languages all over the world. romance, Germanic, and the rest. We English speakers are gifted to have such a rich language, albeit one with relatively few rhyming words, mcuh to the chagrin of authors of sing songy poetic doggerel. The fact that we are the beneficiaries of a richly rewarding linguistic tradition is our blessing, a blessing only a select few bother to take advantage of. Donald Trump makes Yogi Berra like like a piker, beside the fact that Yogi was charing and funny, if unintentionally. You never got tired of hearing Yogi talk, and by the time you tore off all three hundred and sixty five of his crown jewels, you were in stitches, if a bit dazed and confused. Verbally, Trump is just disgusting, just like he is non verbally and every other conceiveable way. Yogi's verbal contortionas were word salad tossed as if by a world renowned chef; he made you smile, laugh, and feel warm and fuzzy all over. Trumps', imbedded in and gund heap piled higher and deeper, also make you laugh, but in total dusgust. You laugh to postpone or altogether avoid vomiting. Approximately sixty percent of the American people simply cannot bear to look at or listen to our national embarressment. Those puckered lips look like they are still sucking something, and you fear to find out what. We now have a little less than three years of this fatuous idiocy left to endure, but it is heartening to recall that it once, not long ago, was much more. Tempus fugit, thank heavens and physics. We've made it this far, we can go the distance, as about thirty thousand people were telling themselves at the five mile marker in the recent Boston marathon. Only one runner collapsed, and he got help from two magnanimous gentleman willing to sacrifice their life's dream to come to the aid of a fellow sufferer. We,as good Americans, should do no less. As Goethe said: "There is no situation which cannot be ennobled through achievement and enduring." Now, it would seem, is our time to suffer, to achieve, and, above all, to endure.

Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering turns congressional districts into salamander shaped territores, makes voting more meaningless than it already is, and utterly corrupts the political process by effectively herding voters, like the sheep they have essentially thus become, into like minded bubbles of passive observers, whether they bothered to vote or not. When it became known that the majority Democrats had gerrymandered the Commomwwealth of Virginia, progressives reacted with joy, purely reflexive. Upon further consideration, they began to fully comprehend the implications and probable consequences of their questionable behavior: a nation of contrived, twisted congressional voting districts, pockets of political uniformity, a deliberate mechanism by which the outcomes of nearly all elections are preordained,and the voters at large are left, in effect, without a voice. Like most of the many varieties of American political corruption, the party in power drawing voting districts to favor one party over another has a long and sordid history. States with uneven geographical shapes are much more vulnerable to it. Even if, say, the Republicans tried to gerrymander Kansas or Nebraska, the result would be voters clustered together in squares and rectangles, with little or no difference between the respective districts in these uniformly conservative states. In Kansas, he conservative candidate will usually win, regardless of party or location. Massachusetts, New York, and California, inherently salamander shaped, will send mostly Democrats to the House of Reprseentatives, no matter the part of the state from which they hale. Everyone claims to detest the corruption of gerrymanering. Nobody to date has done much about it. More alarming still is the willingness with which we the American people, led by our leashes by our power grabbing partisan politicians, meekly submit and accede to the subversion of democracy for political gain, and the passive, inert "enthusiasm" with which the body politic so meekly acquiesces. The founders knew well the potential for seemingly endless forms of corruption in the system they designed, including the subversion of the entire system by a single political party. For this reason, among others, they were almost to a person antithetical to the very existence of political parties, and considered them to be little more than gangs of potential usupers of justice and the will of the people. Just as adulthood is an opportunity to correct the mistakes of our youth, we in the twenty first century have the opportunity to correct the mistakes made by our founding m mothers and fathers, who were as flawed as we,if only we choose to take advantage of it. This we do not seem to be in any particular hurry to do. Conservative by nature, people, as Jefferson pointed out, are much more inclined to sufffer silently under an inefficient, corrputed political system than to take arms agaisnt a sea of troubles, as Shakespeare said. In 1776 the average age of an average Americcan was about nineteen years old. Jefferson reasoned, strangely, that on account of this, a generation therefore consisted of about nineteen years, and that every new generation should write its own constitution and extablish its own system of government, to avoid the undesirable condition of being governed by their ancestors. Instead, we choose, systematically, to indeed by governed by our ancestors. Contray to popular belief, our American constitution is not sacred, inviolable, and perfect. It is a very flawed document, as its authors knew and said, and it should have been updated or replaced years ago. Fortunately, it still isn't too late, assuming we can transcend our silly tendency towards ancestor worship. Enlightened though the founders clearly were, we are no less intelligent than they. Perhaps now is the time to prove it.

Putting Trump Money On the Pope

SOMEBODY SAID SOMETHING about converting Trump and his supporters to sanity and decency. Good luck wth that, as we often say. One's chances of converting a Red Sox fan to a Yankee fan, or a Christian to Islam would be better, although both have been done, supposedly. This well intentioned pipe dream has the fatal flaw of windmill tilting crusades for justice in that it is hopeless on its face. We must, we should, Goethe admonished, do with others as we do with toddlers learning to walk; allow them to toddle along, unassisted, learning as they go. If Trump hasn't learned not to disrespect the Pope by now, he never will. Pope Leo has assigned blame for the world's miseries; a few tyrants, whom he refrained from naming. He missed a golden opportunity, or maybe he's saving the names for later. We cannot afford to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, or house the homeless because, after all, we have a war of choice to fight in Iran, and our heroes must be well armed. The Pope, intimated the greasy haired Secretary of Defense, who is now perhaps or perhaps not sober, should flat out mind his own business, ignoring the fact that upbraiding petty tyrants for failing to beat swords into plough shares is preceisly what said Pope, all Popes, are hired to do. American evangelicals, eighty two percent of whom still support Trump, are predictably solidly behind their petty tyrant of choice in his war of choice, and in his attempt to incite a verbal war with His Holiness, a war of words His Orangeness could never hope to win, owing to his lack of anything intellectually worth its salt beyond a grade school vocabulary and special education intellect. Pete Hegseth, quoting the scripture from the film "Pulp Fiction", chose from aomng the many violent passages in what is beyond dispute the most violent book ever written by any God, living or dead, ever. Something about a just war, and taking up the sword when one has other choices. Arguably, Pope Leo should mention by name the petty tyrants to whom he appropriately refers. He has more than a few to choose from, and you know who would surely make the cut. Bruce Willis, bless his heart, is no longer able to chime in on the matter, nor any other matter, but Samule L.Jackson is,and word is that he is siding with the Pope, and looking to kick Trump's reportedly diapered butt. Of the world's nearly billion and a half Catholics, five'll get you ten that the vast majority of them are less than pleased with the President of the twenty first century version of the Roman Empire, and proud of the Vicar of Christ, who does not need to cloister imself within the walls of the Vatican, surrounded by moats and crumbling classical architecture, to come out verally swinging for the fences. He is, after all, an American, a spiritually rough and tumble intellectual brawler from the city of big shoulders,who could brush aside alightweight like Don the Con with more rapid dispatch than Cassius Clay in the second Sonny Liston fight. The good money is on Leo the whatever number his is. Trump'll hit the canvas quicker than Roberto Duran said "no mas", and Leo, without even getting his hands or white garments dirty, will be right back in the ring quicker than a hiccup, spreading the gospel of love and peace. Trump'll take an eight count, and be carried off on a stretcher, looking like a patsy poorly paid but still willing to take a dive, while his MAGA flock scatters to the four winds, wishing to heaven and hell that they had put their money on the Pope.

Trump, Going Ever Lower, Attacks Pope

AT THE PRECISE MOMENT when you become certain that the great reprobate can go no lower, he does. I suspect that I have begun other essays with this exact observation, maybet oo many essays to remember. Is it even remotely conceiveable that any halfway decent person would verbally attack a person of such dignity and virtue as the Pope himself? I have developed a new defense mechanism against memory loss, bane of old age. The loss of short term memory serves as an adequate but not complete defense mechanism against the avalanche of inanities of a demonstrably psychopathic American president. I'll give it that. The Pope, being an American, the firstAmerican to ever assume the papacy, isa man well known to American Catholics,espeiallythosin and around Chicago. I don't remember Pope John; he ascended into heaven in 1963, when I was but eight years old. Pope Paul the sixth was my fisrt Pope, and by 1978, the year of his heavenly ascension, I was twenty three years old. Although I have known from an early age, eight years oldor so, that I was not religious and probably never would be, I was, and have remained to this day a "fan" of the Pope,all Popes, regardless of which one headed the Roman Catholic church. Despite my agnosticism which tends towards atheism, and which has evolved over the years into pantheism, love and wisdom are the central tenets of all religions, including Catholicism, and I have always remained a "fan" of the Pope, whhch ever one headed the church and happened to occupy the papal throne at any given time. I havesaid that religion is nonsense,andI mean it. I refer of course to religious dogma. Hinduism, which encompasses all religions, surrounding them like a circle, is, ironically, relatively free of dogma, dogma which arises from the divisive effects of varied interpretations of religion and reality. There are an estimated four thousand and two hundred organized religions in the world, as many as half of which are various Christian denominations. Ultimately there is but one religion, or must surely be, beause we are aware of only one universe. The present Pope, unlike past Popes, stands ready to acccept and embrace them all. He is a prodcut of the twentieth century, a century in which the seemingly unending human conflct engendered by religious differences seems poised to fade and blend into a harmonious global whole, a whole by which humanity understands that whereas we humans have our many and sundery inerpetations of reality and reality's creator, we ultimately derive from a single source, whatever precisely that source may be. Popes have evolved.They now accept the transparent reality that they are not perfect. "If I make a mistake, just correct me",said a recent, enlightened Pope. This is progress, this is enlightened spiritual and intellectual evolution. Inour age of rapid scientific advancement, religion is arguably becoming outdated, obsolete. It will remain relevant aslong as we humans need it,and no longer. We still need religion. We have not weened ourselve off it, as our descendants likely will. We need the Pope, with all his kindness, gentleness,and wisdom. We need a Pope who speaks truth to power, unafraid to stand up against a bullying head of state, and we have one. What we do not need is a psycopathic American head of state who lashes out at a good man for having the courage to speak truth to power. But tragically, that is precisely what we have.

Electing Fascists

I HAVE A FRIEND, perhaps now a former friend, I haven't seen since the advent of Trump, a friend who is a few years younger than I (I'm seventy), whom I have known since 1985 and who, before the entrance of Trump into the political fray, didn't give a rat's ass about politics. To whatever extent Trump inspires people to be newly politically interested, I congratulate him. And yes, I firmly believe that in a healthy, functioning democracy it is better that everyone participate, regardless of ideology. Bring of the fascists, bless their little Trump lovin' hearts. Let's vote on it, and if we elect a fascist dictator, heaven forbid, just as the Germans in essence elected Hitler by electing a NAZI party majority to their legislature in 1933, well, and then, so be it. As we say, we reap what we sow, as Goethe and others have also said. As Voltaire sid; "We must tend our gardens". An apt cliche might be "let the chips fall where they may." The old joke, "What do you consider to be the greatest threat to informed popular governance, ignorance, or apathy"?. To which the respondent replies: I don't know and I don't care", seems relevant here. Which is preferable, an uinformed, inactive electorate, or an uninformed active one? I submit that it is the latter. We are all limited by the limitations of our intelligence and education. Mind you, I personally would rather Republicans stay home on election day, or send their mail in ballots, which Republicans seem to find repulsive for some reason, to the wrong address. But that is my limitation and problem, not theirs. I do not believe in ideological litmus tests. Let the fascists have their day at the ballot box! you don't want to silence the opposition. You want to hand them the microphone and listen to what they have to say. To silence or attempt to silence the opposition is fascist, not democratic. The cliche "sunlight is the best disinfectant" applies, in that, when we expose both progressive and conservative ideas and ideals to public scrutiny, we progressives needn't fear an intellectual defeat, even as we lament an electoral loss. I never start a political conversation with this right wing Trumper friend of mine. I leave that to him. Invariably he broaches the incendiary subject matter, wanting only to argue and make trouble, and vent his frustration at Trump's widespread and to him inexplicable disapproval, and once again its off to the races. I tell my fascist loving friend that I am content to do my talking at the ballot box. I tell him that I earned my political stripes on Novemeber 22,1963, the day my career as a concerned, politically informed citizen began, when I was a third grader, eight and a half years old. I also tell him that he is a political rookie, raw, green, nascent. Welcome to the big leagues,kiddo. The problem is the usual one,that he,my Trumper friend, is not well informed enough to realize how ill informed he really is. There's a lot of that going around, as we sometimes say. One can only teach a student what he or she is capable of comprehending. We must, as Goethe advised, do with people intellectually as we do with toddlers; let them bandy about, learn to walk for themselves, and find their own way. An avalanche of verified information concerning Trump's sexual and other forms of criminality will sway no one. We Trump haters are going to change nobody. Our best pathway, it seems to me, is to let them find their final approach to Trump without argument or assistance. Only when we experience the effects ofour actions do we reconsider them. And, as Goeteh said; "only by our mistakes which really irk us do we advance."

Being Jewish

I HAVE NO INTEREST in despising the nation of Israel, nor anyone else, nor have I ever. But I despise arrogance, including my own, (except when it manifests in cats, as it inevitably does. As we know well, cats can be and usually are quite arrogant). We are all God's "chosen people", are we not"? If memory serves, there are only a few million Jewish people in the world, a vanishingly small minority. Because they have been systemticaly persecuted for centuries, most recently by Christians, they have justifiably developed an "us against the world" mentality. And if I were Jewish, or had converted to Judaism, I might be somewhat resentful of a Jewish rabbi who two thousand years ago suddenly appeared out of nowhere with the audacity to believe that he could in any way augment or improve upon an ancient, venerable religious, ethnic, and cultural group. An upstart, a trouble maker, bringing a radical and divisive message to a people deeply proud of their religious beliefs and traditions. Under these conditions, it is perfectly understandable why Joshua ben Joseph was rejected and murdered, under the pretext of justice. It is widely considered that the Romans crucified Christ. And indeed, they were in control, responsible by choice for all that took place within this remote, insignificant outpost of the Roman Empire. Others would have you believe that by convicting him and turning him over to the Romans for punishment, the ball was passed to the Romans,unfairly, and the Jews themselves crucified Christ. Your choice. Certainly there is enough blame to go around. As I understand it, the people of Abraham are still awaiting their messiah, in theory. But what need have they of one now, in modern times? Are not the centuries of the diaspora over? Have the children of Abraham not been brought back together, and given their promised land, fulfilling their own prophecy? I cannot recall ever having a friend or even an acquaintance of the Jewish faith-ethnicity. My loss. But, is Jewishness an ethnicty, race, or some seperate sub species of homo sapien sapiens? Opinions vary. Nobody seems to know for sure. I don't, and never have. I am ashamed of this, because I have a doctorate in modern European history, and should know better, should know the answer. So connected are the Hebrew people,conncected by their distinctly seperate religiosity and ethnicity,that they emerged as a seperate and distinct cultural entity, seperating themselves from all other Semites, a Semite being defined as anyone whose ancestors originated within the Arabian "penninsula", or land mass. Ironically, Jews, at their core, ethnically, are Arabs. Would it have been better for them and for the world had they, upon escaping their enslavement from Egyptan bondage, immediately scattered to the four corners of the flat Earth, taking their monotheistic religion with them? Their invention of monotheism is arguably their greatest contribution to history. Among their greatest achievements is that they stayed together geographically as long as possible, were scattered assunder by the vicissitudes and circumstances of history, and that even during the many centuries of their disapora of scattered seperation, remained intact as an identifiable ethnicity and religion both. And now, together again they are, or at least many of them, in the arid wasteland they claim was promised to them by God, and, verifiably, the United Nations. God is stingy, for he gave them a small piece or arid rock in the midst of a vast wasteland, a desolate desert of a homeland. They are gathered together in their super powerful nation state, made so by the American and British empires, and by Christian European guilt. Perhaps the monstrosities of Hitler had an unintended but desirable consequence. It reminded and reinforced the self described chosen people of their responsibilities to their creator,to their fellow humans, and, most importantly, to each other.

Going to Space

WHEN JOHN GLENN orbited the Earth three times in 1962 I was in first grade. When my mother told me about the spaceman in orbit I grew excited and asked: "Did he say anythiing about what its like up there?". Not bad for a six year old, rather precocious, if I do say so myself. She told me that the astronaut had reported that it is very dark up there in "outer space", which is what we called high Earth orbit back then. I was hooked, instantly fascinated by space flight and astronomy. As the years between 1962 and 1969 passed,I devoured every book on those two closely related subjects I could get my hands on, and I was fortunate in having a large supply available to me at the local public library. In those days children's books about astronomy and space travel were ubiquitous, and I presume still are. At least, I hope so. Our contemporary kids deserve to live and feel the same fascination and wonder I felt all those years ago, and, to a degree, still do. I became addicted to a series of books for children called the "Mike Mars" series. In those days books for children about both subjects were ubiquitous, and presumably still are. If not, I would pity the poor curious children, eager for knowledge, who miss out on all the fascinating fun. The protagonist, Michael Albert Robert Sampson (MARS), a kid himself, was smitten with space fever, and I soon followed his lead. I hope that series of books is still in print,and that today's kids still enjoy them. I suspect, however, that they have been supplanted by a more modern, bright and shiny collection of space books for children, replete with modern vernacular and hair styles. There's money in it. I must remind myself to google it. I don't even remember any of the plot lines in any of the Mike Mars books. How much drama and inner conflict can an author impart to a kid crazy with space fever? The Mike Mars are all about the inner self, yearning,and dreaming. Was Mike Mars inspired to fascination with the planet Mars on account of his acronym name? I can't recall the author explicitly revealing that, but I think its implicit in the narrative. I never was much of a literary critic, so I can only speculate. I got my first telesscope when I was fourteen, a 2.4 inch refractor which came in a kit and had to be assembled at home, a task which I, though mechanically challenged, managed to achieve. That didn't last long. It was too small and weak, and a whole universe awaited me. I graduated to a three inch refractor, and then to the astronomical big leagues, or so I thought, with a six inch reflector. I had a good friend, a fellow amatuer astronomer, and and on several occcasions we held "all night overnight" two man observing parties. The first overnight was July 9, 1969, and the second was August 9, 1969. We remember the seminal dates of our lives. Youthful astronomy was replaced by teenaged tennis and girls, but the fond memories remain. About twenty five years ago, in 2001, I discovered that telescopes hadn't increased much in price, and, as aforty six year old, tried to recapture the glory of my youth by purchasing a twelve inch reflector. I never have used it much,and it currently sits in my garage, gathering dust. Thomas wolfe, or whoever, was quite correct; you can't go home again. I still look up at the sky at night, and can still identify most constellations. I follow the phases of the mooon, and take note of the wandering planets,and that's about it. At the end of our days, we have only our memories.

Making Short Wars Long

AWAITING, with eager anticipation, the appearance of the self proclaimed stable genius on national television to announce, evidently for dramatic effect, that the war against the incarnation of evil is beginning at precisely this moment, 9PM EST, the moment of Trump's initial utterances,the thought occurred to me that it might not be the best idea to inform the world, and the enemy of choice, the enemy of the month, in advance. Isn't surprise supposed to be a vital element in all offensive military actions? But, as they say, what do I know? It seems a little self defeating to alert the enemy as to time and place, almost like two medieval European armies, using shields, spears, body armor, and bows and arrow, facing off at an agreed up location, like, say, Normandy or Flanders. Not to to worry, said stable genius has everything under control, or so we are led to believe by the ministry of propaganda, aka Karoline Leavitt. Aside from the urge I feel to slap the holy shit out of her sweet, teeny bopper fat litle face, I reflect that all wars last longer than those who start them anticipate, and none of them go as smoothly as planned. Also,the bloodshed inevitably, in all wars, greatly exceeds all expectations and predictions. In the American Civil War, and again in both world wars, all involved combatants smugly assumed that it would all be over within mere weeks, all the boys would come marching home healthy and triumphant, and all would be well with the world. Nobody who ever said or believed that was right. And yet, we will be told all these lies again, as these lies have been told since ancient times, only this time, the lie will come from the prince of prevarication, a liar to end all liars. The enemy is always more formidable than anticipated, the casualties much higher than anticipated, the war bloodier and less glorious. The stable genius won't, however, be able to drag out his diversionary war to preserve liberty and virtue,to end all things Epstein or to at least make us forget all about it long enough to constitute an adequate diversion, At the end of the day, as we like to say, no matter how much bloodier and difficult our war of the month turns out to be, Epstein will still be in the background, looming, lurking. Normally, I dont listen to or watch Trump's speeches. A little bad grammar among a vast profusion of lies from a person who occupies an office which is supposed to be occupied by a person of morals and intellect goes a long way with me in terms of revulsion; I have never yet made it all the way through a Trump speech, even his first inaugural speech, which mercifully lasted about fifteen minutes. Like everything else he utters,Trump's formal speeches are invariably simplistic, banal, and a pack of lies to boot. Predictably, Don the Con will attempt to justify American aggression as all American aggression is justified; it is our sacred obligation to fight for freedom and liberty,and to offer the many benefits of American global hegemony to a lost world desperately seeking enlightened, aka American leadership, which is predicated entirely upon American military and economic might, and not American morality. American virtue and morality, such as they are, have nothing to do with it, and never have, in any war. As Gore Vidal used to point out, quite accurately, the United States of America is a sham, a system of distinct class distinctions in a country purporting to be egalitarian. Government of the wealthy,by the wealthy, and for the wealthy elite upper two percent lily white. Most amazing of all is that about one half of our nation of sycophantic sheep will hang on every grammatically incorrrect word, and will buy, dirt cheap, every damnable lie.

Celebrating Easter

I HAD NEVER, to the best of my knowledge, attended church on Easter Sunday, until yesterday. If I am wrong, my Easter attendance occurred when I was was a preschooler, really had no idea of what the holiday was or meant, and was probably carted off to a church service in an attempt by my parents to placate my grandmothers, both of whom were very much women of the nineteenth century who could not possibly conceive of anyone not attending church on Easter Sunday, nor any other Sunday. All religious considerations aside, I thoroughly enjoyed coloring Easter Egss up until I reached the upper levels of grade school, by which time the fun had mellowed into lack of interest. Mom hard boiled about a dozen eggs, and my sibling and I had at it. A good childhood memory... Since I had a free ride to the Presbyterian church, I went. I was one of eleven people in the building, clergy included, about normal for "our" congregation. This congregation has been congregating for two hundred years in the same building, and somebody told me that thirty and forty years ago the attendance on an average Sunday was about thirty or forty, and that one hundred years ago, it was a much as one hundred. I'm just guessing that in the entire two hundred year history of this little church down in the valley, valley so low, this was the smallest Easter congregation ever assembled. The sermon was in keeping with the Easter theme, rebirth, rejuvenation. Easter is arguably a far more important holiday than Christmas from a purely religious standpoint, even though in the United States we place far more importance on Christmas. The resurrection of Christ is the central theme of the Christian faith,a miraculous event which sets the stage, so to speak, for the resurrection of believers in heaven after their wordly demise. Just recently I was made aware of the apparent fact that long before Jesus appeared on Earth, thousands of pre-Christian religions celebrated essentially the same process, the process by which a messiah or savior appers on Earth, delivers a message of love and reconciliation, and is sacrificed on a bloody alter for his trouble. The archetype of a messiah, god come to Earth in human form to deliver humanity from darkness beyond death is amazingly consistent throughout human cultural history. It is something that people very much need to believe and embrace; the idea that their creator truly cares about them,loves them, and is willing to offer them salvation vicariously. It is not possible to examine closely the Christian religion, it history or doctrines, without being confronted with this ancient archetype, of a savior become sacrificial offering to God. For those of us whose religiosity has no traditional roots in organized religion, we are on our own. My entier life, Christmas has aroused great excitement within me. When a five or six year old sits beneath a sweet smelling Christmas tree, with that delightful pine needle fragrance, wondrously imaging what could possibly be inside those beautifully wrapped packages, he or she has captured the Christmas spirit. Brightly painted hard boiled eggs, eggs as symbolic of rebirth, suffice nicely for Easter. I have never seen any reason to deprive myself of the joy and fun of religious holidays merely because I am not religious. I have neighbors who are Jehovah's Witneses, and who don't acknowledge or celebrate any holidays. I respect their approach. But since I am a pantheist, why deprive or limit myself? I accord myself the luxury of cherry picking religious holidays. because,after all, I owe it to myself to not miss out on all the fun over something as trivial as personal beliefs.

Drowning In Incorporated Plastic

I FIGURE I was raised, to a large extent, in and around plastic. As I dimly remember it, or maybe I'mjust imaging that I can remember, being surrounded by a pile of plastic toys while in my crib, or on the floor, where I sat for hours, playing. Nothing engenders technological advancement like a good old fashioned war, by necessity. Plastic,one of the many inventions to emerge from the msot destructive donflict of all time was an instant success in the American post war market place. The period between 1945 and 1960, 1970, or maybe even 1980 was the most prosperous time in American history. The war time economy was rapidly retooled into a peace time consumer economy with a special emphasis on military procurement funded by tax payers producing a vast arsenal of weapons and a permanent huge establishment on a permanent war time level or readiness. Plastic has been front and center in my life, and still is, and has been and remains central to our way of living and our economy. Journalist Beth Gardiner authored a just published seminal work on ths history of plastic, titled "Plastic, Inc." It is already highly recommended, considered essential reading for a deep understanding of the history of and role plastic has played and plays in our modern economy and culture. Too bad it, plastic, isn't biodegradable. A huge amount of plastic is buried in the nation's trash dumps, huge areas where the biosystem has been stripped down to the dirt, with our garbage dumped into ever growing piles daily, decade after decade. Welcome to the "anthropocene", the geological epoch in which a single species of animal, the human species, took total control of the planet with its world wide habitations and ever advancing understanding of nauture and technology. Plasiic is one of the many modern inventions whichi have rasied teh standard of living all voer the world. Were it not for its immortailty it indisposability, plastic might be regarded as humankind's sconomic salvation. But, alas, the plastic is piling up, and worse, it is and already has been injected into the environment in so many forms that billions and trillions of tiny, microscopic plastic are everywhere in teh world, including inside our bodies and bloodstreams. If you give much thought to this at all, you can become alarmed. This amazing, seemingly catastrophic situation is now being made known much more sidely, and the American public and global community are becoming more aware of it, fortunately. People in New Mexico today have a high ra of cancer, doubtless because their grandparents were pepper sprayed by nuclear radiation during the two test explosions in 1944. My understanding is that every human alive today has a few atoms of radioactive material floating around inside them. Microscopic particles of jet fuel, yes, jet fuel, were found in teh breastmilk of a lactating mother. She lived nowhere near an airport. Hopefully, palns and preparations are being made to ameliorate if not totally resolve this unbelievable situation. There are, amazing, plants which, when grown in contaminated soil, help clean ths soil of pollutants. Hemp, for isntance, helps nourish and replenish the soil. Terrifying as the reality of climate change is, the micro pollution of the Earth's air, soil, and water,and of our own bodies, when you really think about it, is more terrifying still. You prefer not to think about it, but, alas,somebody has to, or we humans, if we don't change our ways, will kill our species and all others too. With or without human folly, the Earth's biosystem is an amazing, miraculous manifestation of nature. The time has come to not only clean up the Earth, but to plant colonies of the Earth's biospere throughout the solar system, and beyond. The universe created us, and therefore presumably wants us to exist.

Israel, Kicking Butt As Usual

I AM NOT a big fan of the nation of Israel, and never have been. The founding of modern Israel was incredibly violent towards the Palestinians, the treatment of whom has never improved. During the 1967 six day war I was twelve years old, and from watching the news I quickly got the idea that Israel was militarily kicking the crap out of Egypt, Syria, and one other country. It wasn't even close. So well had the United States and Great Britian armed the newly founded Jewish national homeland that almost from the moment of its inception in 1946, it packed a mite of military might. I shall never forget a television interview I saw in which a young religiously conservative hussitic rabbi, dressed in all black, with a fedora, and long uncut sideburns hanging down, expressed hiw views on the nation-state of Israel. He said he was opposed to the establishment and continuing existence of Israel as a recognized nation, because Judaism, he wuite reasonably asserted, is not intended to be a country, a military power, or a political entity, but rather, a religion. A religion, and nothing else. Makes sense, when you think about it. Islamic Arabs do not generally dispise the Judaic religion nearly as much, if at all, as they depise the imposition and establishment of a Jewish homeland-nation right smack dab in the middle of Arab lands, in Palestine. They would much prefer that Jews be widely dispersed and distributed throughout the middle east and the whole world, as,in fact, they are. Hebrew power diluted, rather than concentrated. Sometimes it almost seems as if American foreign policy, and indeed even domestic policy, is heavily controlled if not controlled outright by Israel and Isralei interests, so huge and powerful is the Zionist lobby in the halls of Congress. Israel is a sacred cow of a large part of both major American political parties, where support of and alliance with Israel is regarded as essential, indispensible, eternal.It is quite evident that the United States attack of Iran was carried out at the behest of America's overlord taskmaster, Israel. Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear bombs by building them is as good a "reason" (excuse) as any for the U.S. to demonstrate its hegemony, regional, and global. We live in a world, for now, with a single hegemonic super power. It is a "pax America" which has endured since the end of World War Two, with first the Soviet Union and then Russia falling by the wayside as their power and influence waned. The world still runs on petroleum, and, somehow appropriately, it turns out that the United States has more of it stored underground than any other country, including Mexico and Saudi Arabia, both of which,among others, were once considered to be the prime repositories of oil on planet Earth. the dirty little secret, you beign to suspect, is that an ocean of oil lurks beneath every square inch of land on Earth, and that we never needed to bother arguing and fighting over it, it being as commom in nature as water and tennis balls. Our descendants ill, we must hope, laugh at us for our folly of fighting over decomposed plants and animals as if our very lives depended on it. You can now buy a machine which makes water out of thin air. Future machines might render every form of resource scarcity a relic of human history, a history of want and lack, transformed into a future of unlimited abundance. But for that to happen, we must find a way to outgrow our addiction to and dependence on plants and animals that died and decomposed eons ago. It has been asserted by historians that all wars are fought over mineral resources, mainly land itself. Fortunately, the universe appears to be full of planets and land, so we can take comfort knowing that as long as we humans choose to keep fighting with each other, we'll certainly have plenty to fight over.