Perhaps the american soldier who killed 16 Afghan civilians should never have been in that country.He had seen three tours of duty in Iraq, had been wounded, and evidently did not want to go to Afghanistan.
After what he went through what he did in Iraq, he probably should have been sent to wherever he wanted to go, which might have been home. The United States is paying $50,000.00 to each family for each person killed, which can and must be seen as a nice geture on the part of the americans.
In american law, wrongful death seems to result frequently in cash payments, notwhithstanding widespread belief in the concept that human life is priceless. WE must not make the mistake of thinking that there is any funadmemtal difference between these sixteen murders, and all the rest of the murders which have taken place in Afghanistan in recent years.
Every death in war is a murder. The death of a volunteer prosfessional soldier at the hands of another volunteer professional soldier is, flatly, murder. We humans murdered over one hundred million of each other during the last century, despite the teachings of Christ, and other teachers of wisdom.
May we as a global culture some day find all murders in all wars to be as disgusting and reprehensible as that of the sixteen civilians in Afghanistan.
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Sunday, March 25, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Cultural Conquest
President Andrew Jackson did not like indians. Like most European-americans of his day, he regarded them as heathen, unchristian savages, He wanted to appear noble, magnanimous, and generous, so he adopted a paternalistic, condescending attitue towards native americans, pretending to think of them as childlike barbarians, fundamentally good, but needing guidance.
For their part, the indians were generally terrified of Old Hickory, and nicknamed him "sharp knife", in deference to Jackson's brutality in battle. For many years the Cherokees in Oklahoma refused to accept twenty dollar bills, because of Jackson's image on them.
The underlying truth is, of course, that Andrew Jackson hated Indians. And why not? During his life, everybody in the United States, basically, hated indians, particularly on the western frontier, where pioneers feared the indians, and their local military superiority.
Jackson was one of these people, an indian fearing/hating pioneer. And that's exactly what Davy Crockett should have been; and indian fearing/hating pioneer. But Davy went a little bit deeper, thought about it a little bit, which Davy Crockett, despite his lack of formal education, was prone to do. Look deeper, think deeper.
After fighting the Indians, under General Jackson, Davy ended up admiring them, and understanding that they were human beings. And in this, during his time, he was practically alone. Many Northeasterners, Bostonians, New Yorkers, and such, also supported the indian cause, but, of course, it was easy to do that in New York or Boston.
Not so easy in the wilds of 1820 Tennessee. Because of Andrew Jackson, the indians were herded across the mississippi into oklahoma reservations, and america in its present from became possible.
But what if america had done what crockett wanted; to honor treaties promising indian ownership of georgia, and other places, forever? what if amierica had honored treaties with the indians, instead of indian giving?
eventually, probably the same thing that happened anyway, only a bit more slowly; a gradual europeanization of american culture, and a gradual absorption of native culture into european, with a fair amount of residual, token, native culture, like we have today in the U.S.
One way or aonther, there was never any question the Europeans were going to conquer and domindate the western hemisphere. Just seems like they coulda done it a little nicer.
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler!Thanks!
For their part, the indians were generally terrified of Old Hickory, and nicknamed him "sharp knife", in deference to Jackson's brutality in battle. For many years the Cherokees in Oklahoma refused to accept twenty dollar bills, because of Jackson's image on them.
The underlying truth is, of course, that Andrew Jackson hated Indians. And why not? During his life, everybody in the United States, basically, hated indians, particularly on the western frontier, where pioneers feared the indians, and their local military superiority.
Jackson was one of these people, an indian fearing/hating pioneer. And that's exactly what Davy Crockett should have been; and indian fearing/hating pioneer. But Davy went a little bit deeper, thought about it a little bit, which Davy Crockett, despite his lack of formal education, was prone to do. Look deeper, think deeper.
After fighting the Indians, under General Jackson, Davy ended up admiring them, and understanding that they were human beings. And in this, during his time, he was practically alone. Many Northeasterners, Bostonians, New Yorkers, and such, also supported the indian cause, but, of course, it was easy to do that in New York or Boston.
Not so easy in the wilds of 1820 Tennessee. Because of Andrew Jackson, the indians were herded across the mississippi into oklahoma reservations, and america in its present from became possible.
But what if america had done what crockett wanted; to honor treaties promising indian ownership of georgia, and other places, forever? what if amierica had honored treaties with the indians, instead of indian giving?
eventually, probably the same thing that happened anyway, only a bit more slowly; a gradual europeanization of american culture, and a gradual absorption of native culture into european, with a fair amount of residual, token, native culture, like we have today in the U.S.
One way or aonther, there was never any question the Europeans were going to conquer and domindate the western hemisphere. Just seems like they coulda done it a little nicer.
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler!Thanks!
Friday, March 23, 2012
Survival
As you approach senior citizenship, things change. All the experiences and memories and thoughts pile up over the years, making us what we are, and what we later become. You start to think about what will happen after you are gone. I seem to have a sort of bias in favor of human existence continuing beyong this, my lifetime.
That is, it becomes increasingly important to me to believe that, after my demise in this form, humanity, in this plane of existence, will not only continue, but continue somewhat happily. By "happily", I mean a world relatively free from material want, despair, etc.
I was born in 1955. What will happen in 2055? If I aint around to find out, I want to believe that whatever happens will be progress for homo sapiens. Ultimate ethnocentricity. I,a human being, loyal to the human species, in a universe filled with billions of species. And trust me, the universe, this galaxy, is filled with an incredible variety of life forms.
We baby bomers are aging and fading fast. So be it. We've had our shot. I want to believe that after I am dead humanity will conquer hunger, poverty, war, violence, disease....(you know the list as well as I.)...
...and create and build a perpetually evolving but sufficiently stable human culture to endure for millions, yes millions..of years. For that's how long it takes to be a successful species in this galaxy, let alone this universe.
Colonizing the moon and Mars, and developing interstallar flight is essential for long term human survival, and quite possible. But first, we must somehow make it to the year 2013...
That is, it becomes increasingly important to me to believe that, after my demise in this form, humanity, in this plane of existence, will not only continue, but continue somewhat happily. By "happily", I mean a world relatively free from material want, despair, etc.
I was born in 1955. What will happen in 2055? If I aint around to find out, I want to believe that whatever happens will be progress for homo sapiens. Ultimate ethnocentricity. I,a human being, loyal to the human species, in a universe filled with billions of species. And trust me, the universe, this galaxy, is filled with an incredible variety of life forms.
We baby bomers are aging and fading fast. So be it. We've had our shot. I want to believe that after I am dead humanity will conquer hunger, poverty, war, violence, disease....(you know the list as well as I.)...
...and create and build a perpetually evolving but sufficiently stable human culture to endure for millions, yes millions..of years. For that's how long it takes to be a successful species in this galaxy, let alone this universe.
Colonizing the moon and Mars, and developing interstallar flight is essential for long term human survival, and quite possible. But first, we must somehow make it to the year 2013...
Atheist Alert!
The atheists are coming! The atheists are coming! But no need to bolt your doors and lock your kids in the closet, for verily, rumors of atheist immorality are greatly...fabricated.
The event in Washington D.C. is being touted as a woodstock for atheists, and what a healthy event , at least in theory, it is. This is the most overlooked group against which intolerance has been systematically directed.
It may be that the United States is the most strongly christian country in the world, notwithstanding the fact that adherants of thousands of religions live in america. Throughout Europe and the world in general membership in the christian church is dwindling; the catholic pedophile-priesthood controversy cannot be helping membership in latin america.
There are strong signs that christianity is disappearing, though it may never disappear entirely. Over the several thousand year history of humanity, many religions have evolved into being , evolved and grown for thousands of years, and then slowly evolved out of existence. This seems to be the normal pattern. Religions, like whole civilizations, seem to be mortal.
Atheism, meanwhile, is on the rise, perhaps nurtured by the overwhelimng technological world in which we live, which is predicated on science, of course, rather than religion.Perhaps we are entering the "age of reason", or perhaps it started in the eigtheenth century, and is ongoing and growing..
Religiosity seems to be a fundamental human need. It is possible that humanity will become so well educated scientifically that religiosity will no longer be a fundamental need, or that science itself will become the new religion, serving this unremovable need?
For right now christianity and islam remain powerful forces in the world, and they are both more hostile to atheists than they are to homosexuals, and that's goin' some. This is the reason for the atheist rally in DC: to damand equality and respect.
Perhaps some forms of religiosity are better than others. If anything, there is a good deal of evidence that atheists are superior, intellectually, attitudinally, behavorially. Atheists tend not to condemn others who differ from themselves, tend to be more tolerant, which arguably is a superior behavioral trait. Let's just call everybody of all faiths equal, and split the difference.
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler!Thanks!
The event in Washington D.C. is being touted as a woodstock for atheists, and what a healthy event , at least in theory, it is. This is the most overlooked group against which intolerance has been systematically directed.
It may be that the United States is the most strongly christian country in the world, notwithstanding the fact that adherants of thousands of religions live in america. Throughout Europe and the world in general membership in the christian church is dwindling; the catholic pedophile-priesthood controversy cannot be helping membership in latin america.
There are strong signs that christianity is disappearing, though it may never disappear entirely. Over the several thousand year history of humanity, many religions have evolved into being , evolved and grown for thousands of years, and then slowly evolved out of existence. This seems to be the normal pattern. Religions, like whole civilizations, seem to be mortal.
Atheism, meanwhile, is on the rise, perhaps nurtured by the overwhelimng technological world in which we live, which is predicated on science, of course, rather than religion.Perhaps we are entering the "age of reason", or perhaps it started in the eigtheenth century, and is ongoing and growing..
Religiosity seems to be a fundamental human need. It is possible that humanity will become so well educated scientifically that religiosity will no longer be a fundamental need, or that science itself will become the new religion, serving this unremovable need?
For right now christianity and islam remain powerful forces in the world, and they are both more hostile to atheists than they are to homosexuals, and that's goin' some. This is the reason for the atheist rally in DC: to damand equality and respect.
Perhaps some forms of religiosity are better than others. If anything, there is a good deal of evidence that atheists are superior, intellectually, attitudinally, behavorially. Atheists tend not to condemn others who differ from themselves, tend to be more tolerant, which arguably is a superior behavioral trait. Let's just call everybody of all faiths equal, and split the difference.
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler!Thanks!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Sexual Mores
Social mores, sexual mores. Every person has opinions about sex, and so does every country, every society, every culture. Contemporary american sexual mores seem to be in a perpetual state of contradiction and turmoil.
Every century is different, of course. The nineteenth century, known as the "victorian" period, was a time of extremely conservative sexual values, attitudes, mores, in the western world. Sex was sinful. Sleek curvy piano legs were covered with cloth, as were female bodies, head to toe.
The eighteenth century had relatively promiscuous, and after the excesses of the French revolutionary period society seemed to recoil in horror to a more modest approach to life. A hundred years later world war one had the opposite effect. The great wart ended the Victorian age, along with Victorian prudishness.
The roaring twenties, with the liberation of women's right to look sexy, was a reaction to, a rebellion against, a nightmare.. during the Victorian era sexual mores seem to have been most influenced by the church.
Today, the church remains a strong influence, but enter another powerful player: corporate capitalism and mass marketing. It seems strange how sharply christian and capitalist values differ, and yet the large number of people who embrace both as gospel.
Today we are torn between two worlds, sexually, the christian, and the capitalist. They advocate opposite approaches to sex. The capitalist approach seems to be prevailing, but the jury is still out. Perhaps world war three will push the world away from sexual exploitation, and back to sexual suppression.
American culture is a confusing quagmire of latter day victorian values, and corporate sexual exploitation and promiscuity.
Perhaps, in another hundred years, people will be making love in public. The only certainty is that the situation will be far different, one way or another, than now.
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The The Truthless Reconciler! Thanks!
Every century is different, of course. The nineteenth century, known as the "victorian" period, was a time of extremely conservative sexual values, attitudes, mores, in the western world. Sex was sinful. Sleek curvy piano legs were covered with cloth, as were female bodies, head to toe.
The eighteenth century had relatively promiscuous, and after the excesses of the French revolutionary period society seemed to recoil in horror to a more modest approach to life. A hundred years later world war one had the opposite effect. The great wart ended the Victorian age, along with Victorian prudishness.
The roaring twenties, with the liberation of women's right to look sexy, was a reaction to, a rebellion against, a nightmare.. during the Victorian era sexual mores seem to have been most influenced by the church.
Today, the church remains a strong influence, but enter another powerful player: corporate capitalism and mass marketing. It seems strange how sharply christian and capitalist values differ, and yet the large number of people who embrace both as gospel.
Today we are torn between two worlds, sexually, the christian, and the capitalist. They advocate opposite approaches to sex. The capitalist approach seems to be prevailing, but the jury is still out. Perhaps world war three will push the world away from sexual exploitation, and back to sexual suppression.
American culture is a confusing quagmire of latter day victorian values, and corporate sexual exploitation and promiscuity.
Perhaps, in another hundred years, people will be making love in public. The only certainty is that the situation will be far different, one way or another, than now.
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The The Truthless Reconciler! Thanks!
Expansive Thinking
President Obama, probably at least partly in response to polls, is now talking big about drilling for oil, and building oil pipelines.
Bear in mind that Obama has always maintained a very environmentally protective, conservation minded, anti consumption attidude about energy and resources in general. And good for him.
However, he surely realizes that, for now, we must have oil, and since it will be dug up somewhere, it might as well be dug up here (in America). Again, good for him. So Obama wants to be be pro prosperity and pro environment, simultaneously.
And really, doesn't everybody? Limbaugh is all over Obama for trying to gain political support with his policies, as if there is something unusual about doing so. AS if we all don't curry favor among our fellows. Limbaugh thinks its hypocritcal for Obama to be so pro environment, and willing to use government regulations to protect the environment, while claiming to be in favor of economic growth and prosperity.
Limbaugh is a sympton of the illness which infects american culture; conflict and dispute and negativity, simply for the sake of conflict and dispute and negativity, simply to get attention, to stimulate hormones. You gotta give credit to Rush, though. At least he hasn't called the president a "slut". At least, not yet.
It would be just as easy for Rush to proclaim "good for Obama! He's finally coming around to the conservative viewpoint with regard to domestic oil production, while remaining committed to environmental health, like everybody else!"
But no, that wouldn't be as exciting or fun, to praise, instead of denigrate.
My liberals friends are just as bad. They hate Limbaugh because....
...partly because he is conservative, and just about every liberal I know, bless their hearts, has a negative attitude about conservatism, across the board. And, until recently, so did I. But now I have found a better way, and it includes tolerance, understanding,inclusiveness,openmindedness, and conciliation.
Neither liberalism nor conservatism is good, or bad.
If you are a liberal, listen to Limbaugh, or some other representative conservative. Then, steal whatever good ideals you hear, unabashedly. By so doing you will prevail, by drawing a circle around your ideological opponents. Regard them as contributors (to you), rather than opponents.
AS popular as Rush is, he could be much more popular, were he but more ideologically expansive, and generous.
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Bear in mind that Obama has always maintained a very environmentally protective, conservation minded, anti consumption attidude about energy and resources in general. And good for him.
However, he surely realizes that, for now, we must have oil, and since it will be dug up somewhere, it might as well be dug up here (in America). Again, good for him. So Obama wants to be be pro prosperity and pro environment, simultaneously.
And really, doesn't everybody? Limbaugh is all over Obama for trying to gain political support with his policies, as if there is something unusual about doing so. AS if we all don't curry favor among our fellows. Limbaugh thinks its hypocritcal for Obama to be so pro environment, and willing to use government regulations to protect the environment, while claiming to be in favor of economic growth and prosperity.
Limbaugh is a sympton of the illness which infects american culture; conflict and dispute and negativity, simply for the sake of conflict and dispute and negativity, simply to get attention, to stimulate hormones. You gotta give credit to Rush, though. At least he hasn't called the president a "slut". At least, not yet.
It would be just as easy for Rush to proclaim "good for Obama! He's finally coming around to the conservative viewpoint with regard to domestic oil production, while remaining committed to environmental health, like everybody else!"
But no, that wouldn't be as exciting or fun, to praise, instead of denigrate.
My liberals friends are just as bad. They hate Limbaugh because....
...partly because he is conservative, and just about every liberal I know, bless their hearts, has a negative attitude about conservatism, across the board. And, until recently, so did I. But now I have found a better way, and it includes tolerance, understanding,inclusiveness,openmindedness, and conciliation.
Neither liberalism nor conservatism is good, or bad.
If you are a liberal, listen to Limbaugh, or some other representative conservative. Then, steal whatever good ideals you hear, unabashedly. By so doing you will prevail, by drawing a circle around your ideological opponents. Regard them as contributors (to you), rather than opponents.
AS popular as Rush is, he could be much more popular, were he but more ideologically expansive, and generous.
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INformation
My creative writing professor told us almost forty years ago that there were one million writers in america wanting to be published, and that forty thousand new books every year were being published. That was in the mid nineteen seventies. Heaven only knows what the numbers are now. Now, of course, everybody who wants to be be published, IS published! All Hail to the Internet!
It may be that every human art form shall experience a glorious renaissance onna counta technology. We could fill the entire universe with human babies, just doing what we do best, combined with the mathematical law of exponential compounding. Could we do the same with books on micro chips? Let's try! Start writing your books, everyone.
Maybe a billion books on micro chip could be stored in a space the size of a paperback, but even so, we'll run out of room for books on this planet, which is one reason why the human species should expand its domain to other planets. The moon, as an orbiting library.
WE should perhaps bear in mind the possibility that the human species , in order to survive long term, must either expand, or stabilize, which can easily lead to stagnation.
Our organic bodies will be replaced by pure energy, eventually, after passing through the machine phase, so living space will not be a problem for us, but it will be a problem for our information. Perhaps "this" universe is nothing other than a huge amount of stored information.
The computers will enter our bodies at our invitation, then become our bodies. Oops, I just dropped the library of congress on the floor, somewhere...
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler. Thanks!
It may be that every human art form shall experience a glorious renaissance onna counta technology. We could fill the entire universe with human babies, just doing what we do best, combined with the mathematical law of exponential compounding. Could we do the same with books on micro chips? Let's try! Start writing your books, everyone.
Maybe a billion books on micro chip could be stored in a space the size of a paperback, but even so, we'll run out of room for books on this planet, which is one reason why the human species should expand its domain to other planets. The moon, as an orbiting library.
WE should perhaps bear in mind the possibility that the human species , in order to survive long term, must either expand, or stabilize, which can easily lead to stagnation.
Our organic bodies will be replaced by pure energy, eventually, after passing through the machine phase, so living space will not be a problem for us, but it will be a problem for our information. Perhaps "this" universe is nothing other than a huge amount of stored information.
The computers will enter our bodies at our invitation, then become our bodies. Oops, I just dropped the library of congress on the floor, somewhere...
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler. Thanks!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Chameleon Accountability
Just when you think the republican presidential campaign can't possibly become any more entertaining or humorous, it does. During a TV interview one of Romney's top aides was asked if perhaps his candidate had become too conservative during the primaries to appeal to moderate undecided voters during the general election campaign against Obama.
He replied that there is no problem, since his candidate will simply press reset, reinvent himself anew for the campaign against Obama, like shaking an Etch A Sketch and then drawing a new picture.
Santorum and Gingrich are all over it, handing out Etch A Sketches to members of the media. (Everyone should have one; its a great toy.) Newt handed one to a child, and said now the child is qualified to run for president. Rick had helpers handing out mock Etch A Sketches at campaign events.
Newt and Rick are not going to let this Etch A Sketch scandal go. Trust me on this. They are going to rip into it, cling to it, bring it up, over and over again. It might be Mitt's worst gaff yet, out of a long and entertaining, and humorous series of verbal faux pas.
And who knows how many more there are to come? Hell, Mitt might just be getting started! One can scarcely imagine how potentially entertaining he might become in a debate with Obama...
I got my first Etch A Sketch sometime in the early to mid nineteen sixties, when I was a kid. I spent hours enjoying it. My mom gave me another one, as a kind of joke gift, just a few years ago. I enjoyed it for awhile, then gave it to a disabled child. Etch A Sketch is the greatest toy on the planet. If you've never had one, you need to get one.
So now the great secret is out. Political candidates, always pretending to be genuine, sincere, and honest, are in reality a pre planned packaged commodity. How surprising. As if we didn't already know, or sense.
The ironic thing is the fact that of course the Romney aide was simply telling the truth, about his candidate, about any candidate. They all do that; they present whatever image works during the primary campaign, then switch to a new image during the general presidential race. All of them do it.
Obama and Hillary Clinton fell all over themselves trying to be more liberal than each other during the 2008 democratic primary race. After Obama won the democratec nomination, and started running against McCain in the general election campaign, he moved steadily towards the middle, and has stayed there ever since...
Romney's aide made a big mistake in admitting it. In this world, if you tell the truth, you pay a high price. AS Goethe said "we resist the truth simply because we would perish if we accepted it."
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler.Thanks!
He replied that there is no problem, since his candidate will simply press reset, reinvent himself anew for the campaign against Obama, like shaking an Etch A Sketch and then drawing a new picture.
Santorum and Gingrich are all over it, handing out Etch A Sketches to members of the media. (Everyone should have one; its a great toy.) Newt handed one to a child, and said now the child is qualified to run for president. Rick had helpers handing out mock Etch A Sketches at campaign events.
Newt and Rick are not going to let this Etch A Sketch scandal go. Trust me on this. They are going to rip into it, cling to it, bring it up, over and over again. It might be Mitt's worst gaff yet, out of a long and entertaining, and humorous series of verbal faux pas.
And who knows how many more there are to come? Hell, Mitt might just be getting started! One can scarcely imagine how potentially entertaining he might become in a debate with Obama...
I got my first Etch A Sketch sometime in the early to mid nineteen sixties, when I was a kid. I spent hours enjoying it. My mom gave me another one, as a kind of joke gift, just a few years ago. I enjoyed it for awhile, then gave it to a disabled child. Etch A Sketch is the greatest toy on the planet. If you've never had one, you need to get one.
So now the great secret is out. Political candidates, always pretending to be genuine, sincere, and honest, are in reality a pre planned packaged commodity. How surprising. As if we didn't already know, or sense.
The ironic thing is the fact that of course the Romney aide was simply telling the truth, about his candidate, about any candidate. They all do that; they present whatever image works during the primary campaign, then switch to a new image during the general presidential race. All of them do it.
Obama and Hillary Clinton fell all over themselves trying to be more liberal than each other during the 2008 democratic primary race. After Obama won the democratec nomination, and started running against McCain in the general election campaign, he moved steadily towards the middle, and has stayed there ever since...
Romney's aide made a big mistake in admitting it. In this world, if you tell the truth, you pay a high price. AS Goethe said "we resist the truth simply because we would perish if we accepted it."
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler.Thanks!
Dream Jobs
What are all the politicians talking about? Jobs, among other things.
Today on Yahoo’s home page, there is a story about the 8 easiest jobs on the planet, including professional sleeper (testing hotel beds), chocolate taste tester, mansion sitter, and TV watcher. I am qualified for all these jobs, so why can’t I find one? Actually, I shouldn’t complain. One of my part time jobs is teaching tennis to kids. I love it so it doesn’t feel like work.
Confucius said, “Find a job you enjoy and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Dream jobs do exist. So one day after a particularly bad day at work, I checked out the employment website at the college I attend part time, in hopes of finding a dream job on campus.
There were only a few positions posted, none of which I was qualified for, and most specifically, a part time position for nude models in the art department. Although the listing called for all body types, the only qualification I could actually perform is: “Must be able to…sit or recline without moving for at least 30 minutes at a time.” Please, no offense intended to the models or our fine art department. Being an artist is a dream job.
Then I checked my local newspaper want ads and among the small number of jobs listed, none met my definition of dream job. Certainly everyone’s definition of “dream job” is different.
The Wall Street Journal reported the best and worst jobs in the U.S.
On the flip side, there are multiple websites that list dream jobs. Some are one-of-a-kind jobs, like the man whose sense of smell was so good that he turned it into a lucrative career in the fragrance industry. The dream job lists at least provide inspiration.
The job market is actually improving. The recovery has been slow but it seems a lot of people were content to live on unemployment for the maximum time, rather than accept a job they didn’t want. The Yahoo article did mention that the easiest jobs are the hardest to find. I can’t compete with all the unemployed people with masters degrees fighting over minimum wage jobs right now anyway, so I will use this time while I’m still in college to apply for dream jobs such as restaurant critic, BMW test driver, travel writer, movie critic, or back-up singer for The Grateful Dead, and hope that my resume never finds its way to my college art department.
### annie
Our Revolutionary World
There is a revolution happening, even as we speak. Maybe the year 2012 will be remembered as a period of uniquely great change, or, maybe, just maybe, our current rapid rate of change is destined to become a permanent part of the human landscape, though its hard to imagine how.
How much faster can humanity change? And for how long? Our life spans are lengthening dramatically, our physical size is increasing rapidly, our level of education, largely due to computers and the genaral increase in human knowledge, is rising rapidly as well.
Change is cyclical. Football players won't keep getting bigger n bigger, forever. Likewise, the human population won't keep growing, and human life spans lengthening, indefinitely.
If aliens are watching us, as I suspect they are, they surely find us fascinating. How could they not? After all, in the blink of an eye the human species has evolved from the stone age into the computer age, amazing technological advance in a remarkably short period of time.
That, if nothing else about us, should be sufficient to attract extraterrestrial attention. We are obviously highly intelligent, creative, complicated, and fascinating creatures. At least, we are to me, and, I suspect, to everyone else.
We are, in a word, worth preserving, and for the sake of argument let us assume that we, but only we, can preserve ourselves.
The human population has more than doubled in the past 40 years, nations like China and Russia have utterly remade themselves, politically and economically, much to their credit, and medical, agricultural, and computer sciences are exploding with new knowledge.
Its fun to watch. It makes one want to live a long time. A friend of mine swallowd a bottle of aspirin in 1975, when he was 22, but then panickily eliminated the poison from his system when he suddenly realized that he wanted to stick around just to see what would happen next.
He's still around, and I'm glad he is. A lot has happened since 1975.
When I was a kid, in the nineteen sixties, I thought that in the twenty first century I would be flying in my car, or maybe visiting the moon or Mars, all the while conversing on my wrist watch. Space flight was an american passion during the nineteen sixties, and computers were on the verge of becoming the passion they are today.
I also thought I would be living in a paradise world which had eliminated hunger, poverty, disease, and war.
Everyone who has ever tried to predict the future has been wrong, way wrong, dead wrong, with all due respect to Nostradamus, Edgar Casey, and our current fine crop of future forecastors.
Oh, many people have made predictions which turned out to be remarkably accurate, and it seems plausible that there are ways of sensing the future - but accurately and clearly presenting the future in great accuracy and detail, in a comprehensive manner - that seems beyond human capabilities, at least, currently...
But the revolution, the frantic rate of change in this world that we see every day...wherever it leads us, it will be to places we can't even imagine now, but will arrive at soon enough. We only know two things: that the future is ours to shape, and that there are many options.
by Bob Bond
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How much faster can humanity change? And for how long? Our life spans are lengthening dramatically, our physical size is increasing rapidly, our level of education, largely due to computers and the genaral increase in human knowledge, is rising rapidly as well.
Change is cyclical. Football players won't keep getting bigger n bigger, forever. Likewise, the human population won't keep growing, and human life spans lengthening, indefinitely.
If aliens are watching us, as I suspect they are, they surely find us fascinating. How could they not? After all, in the blink of an eye the human species has evolved from the stone age into the computer age, amazing technological advance in a remarkably short period of time.
That, if nothing else about us, should be sufficient to attract extraterrestrial attention. We are obviously highly intelligent, creative, complicated, and fascinating creatures. At least, we are to me, and, I suspect, to everyone else.
We are, in a word, worth preserving, and for the sake of argument let us assume that we, but only we, can preserve ourselves.
The human population has more than doubled in the past 40 years, nations like China and Russia have utterly remade themselves, politically and economically, much to their credit, and medical, agricultural, and computer sciences are exploding with new knowledge.
Its fun to watch. It makes one want to live a long time. A friend of mine swallowd a bottle of aspirin in 1975, when he was 22, but then panickily eliminated the poison from his system when he suddenly realized that he wanted to stick around just to see what would happen next.
He's still around, and I'm glad he is. A lot has happened since 1975.
When I was a kid, in the nineteen sixties, I thought that in the twenty first century I would be flying in my car, or maybe visiting the moon or Mars, all the while conversing on my wrist watch. Space flight was an american passion during the nineteen sixties, and computers were on the verge of becoming the passion they are today.
I also thought I would be living in a paradise world which had eliminated hunger, poverty, disease, and war.
Everyone who has ever tried to predict the future has been wrong, way wrong, dead wrong, with all due respect to Nostradamus, Edgar Casey, and our current fine crop of future forecastors.
Oh, many people have made predictions which turned out to be remarkably accurate, and it seems plausible that there are ways of sensing the future - but accurately and clearly presenting the future in great accuracy and detail, in a comprehensive manner - that seems beyond human capabilities, at least, currently...
But the revolution, the frantic rate of change in this world that we see every day...wherever it leads us, it will be to places we can't even imagine now, but will arrive at soon enough. We only know two things: that the future is ours to shape, and that there are many options.
by Bob Bond
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Economic Inequality, and Cultural Evolution
There's a growing income gap in America, not merely between the rich and the poor, but between the super rich and everyone else.
The super wealthy are getting much wealthier, and everyone else's incomes are practically stagnant. The richest 10% of americans account for about half of the nation's wealth, helped in large part by public policy, including deregulation of the financial sector.
The richest 400 americans pay an 18% income tax rate. Candidate Mitt Romney pays about 15%. This is largely due to tax cuts for the wealthy enacted by recent administrations and congresses, including the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy in 2003.
In 1976, the percentage of national income going to the top 1% was 9%. Thirty years later, in 2006, the same percentage of the american population was taking in 24% of the national income.
There is now more wealth in the top 1% than in the bottom 90%. For several decades the american middle class has been shrinking, some moving into the upper class, most moving down, into the poor, working, pay check to pay check class.
Shrinking labor unions under an adverse and hostile cultural environment, and deregulation of the large scale investment industry have combined to widen the gap between rich and poor.
All this is verifiable fact, not liberal propaganda. To what extent can this continue, without destroying civilization? The modern world is too educated to accept feudalism. Only democracy and economic equality will do now, as witnessed by current events in the Arab world, and the growing atmosphere of protest in america and europe.
Just at there ought to be a balance between central authority, local government, and individual liberty, there ought to be a balance between economic regulation, cooperation, and individual economic freedom.
Grotesque economic, political, and social inequality has characterized human history, as have violence and enslavement. But now, in the era of the internet, the seeds of cultural evolution are being sown, as humanity begins to demand a better system.
by Tx Trumbo and Bob Bond
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler! Thanks!
The super wealthy are getting much wealthier, and everyone else's incomes are practically stagnant. The richest 10% of americans account for about half of the nation's wealth, helped in large part by public policy, including deregulation of the financial sector.
The richest 400 americans pay an 18% income tax rate. Candidate Mitt Romney pays about 15%. This is largely due to tax cuts for the wealthy enacted by recent administrations and congresses, including the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy in 2003.
In 1976, the percentage of national income going to the top 1% was 9%. Thirty years later, in 2006, the same percentage of the american population was taking in 24% of the national income.
There is now more wealth in the top 1% than in the bottom 90%. For several decades the american middle class has been shrinking, some moving into the upper class, most moving down, into the poor, working, pay check to pay check class.
Shrinking labor unions under an adverse and hostile cultural environment, and deregulation of the large scale investment industry have combined to widen the gap between rich and poor.
All this is verifiable fact, not liberal propaganda. To what extent can this continue, without destroying civilization? The modern world is too educated to accept feudalism. Only democracy and economic equality will do now, as witnessed by current events in the Arab world, and the growing atmosphere of protest in america and europe.
Just at there ought to be a balance between central authority, local government, and individual liberty, there ought to be a balance between economic regulation, cooperation, and individual economic freedom.
Grotesque economic, political, and social inequality has characterized human history, as have violence and enslavement. But now, in the era of the internet, the seeds of cultural evolution are being sown, as humanity begins to demand a better system.
by Tx Trumbo and Bob Bond
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler! Thanks!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Conciliation
Rancor and discord, to a certain point, is a good thing in a democracy. We must air our views. The United States of America has been a perpetual argument since the day it was born, because it has always believed, deep down, that everybody has a right to be heard.
It seems worse now than ever. After all, Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neil used to have drinks together. But really, it aint all that bad. There is a fundamental , underlying spirit of harmony in america. Though I am a left wing socialistic liberal, I am a "Limbaugh liberal", in that, I listen to Rush. Not every day, but some.
None of my many liberal friends listens to Rush Limbaugh, or even gives him credit for being human. I , alone of all liberals I know, listens to Rush with an open mind, trying to understand and appreciate. Its hard, especially when Rush seems to do nothing but attack liberals, rather than explaining and expousing conservatism.
But I keep listening, to broaden myself, to learn, to reconcile...
The fundamentals of conservatism: opportunity, freedom, love of country, traditional values; these one need not oppose, to be liberal..
If one is a liberal one can, in fact, abstractly reconcile conservatism within the same framework, merely by regarding conservatism as the foundation upon which liberalism is later added, expanding, augmenting, improving.
Rush spends too much time dogging liberalism, instead of explaining conservatism, which he does best. He'd be even more popular than he is now if he would change his attitude towards liberalism, and concede that it isn't inherently evil, any more than conservatism.
Liberals would be better off if they would accept the fundamental truth of conservatism, and simply insist that a bit more is needed.
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler!Thanks!
It seems worse now than ever. After all, Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neil used to have drinks together. But really, it aint all that bad. There is a fundamental , underlying spirit of harmony in america. Though I am a left wing socialistic liberal, I am a "Limbaugh liberal", in that, I listen to Rush. Not every day, but some.
None of my many liberal friends listens to Rush Limbaugh, or even gives him credit for being human. I , alone of all liberals I know, listens to Rush with an open mind, trying to understand and appreciate. Its hard, especially when Rush seems to do nothing but attack liberals, rather than explaining and expousing conservatism.
But I keep listening, to broaden myself, to learn, to reconcile...
The fundamentals of conservatism: opportunity, freedom, love of country, traditional values; these one need not oppose, to be liberal..
If one is a liberal one can, in fact, abstractly reconcile conservatism within the same framework, merely by regarding conservatism as the foundation upon which liberalism is later added, expanding, augmenting, improving.
Rush spends too much time dogging liberalism, instead of explaining conservatism, which he does best. He'd be even more popular than he is now if he would change his attitude towards liberalism, and concede that it isn't inherently evil, any more than conservatism.
Liberals would be better off if they would accept the fundamental truth of conservatism, and simply insist that a bit more is needed.
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler!Thanks!
Heros
Hero worship is something all humas tend to do, even though the wisest among us, often the heros themselves, advise against it. Maybe human nature needs heros, and maybe we can learn to see the hero in us all.
Three of mine are Einstein, Crockett, and Truman. Three dead white men. Need some women in their, and maybe a little color too. Maybe somebody living....and maybe somebody who aint american...hmmm....
OK, let's try Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. What great guys! Perfect examples of corporate capitalism and investing gone right. Mighty strange heros for a socialist such as myself. Maybe I'm just plain open minded.
Obviously, a hero can be either rich or poor in my criteria. But I need to establish for myself some female heros, and some non American...
Buffet and Gates are great because they are giving away most of their money to improve the lives of as many other people as possible. They made their money by doing what they loved, and doing it well. The older they get, the wiser they get, and the more generous and loving toward humanity.
Einstein, Crockett, and Truman never had a dime between them, although Einstein never tried to. Buffet and Gates are just the opposite. A strange pantheon of heros.
Can you imagine such a thing! Liberals and conservatives seeing each other's point of view, and tolerating, accepting, agreeing! Less sexy than bashing and attacking, but more productive, and, really, more realistic.
Several years ago , as thousands of protesters raised hell outside a G8, (now G20) meeting, Gates said something like : " I may be wrong, but what I think what they (the protesters) are trying to say is: how can we create systems which better distribute the wealth and prosperity of the world?"
Gates was right, of course. Entirely correct. And open minded to boot.
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler! Thanks!
Three of mine are Einstein, Crockett, and Truman. Three dead white men. Need some women in their, and maybe a little color too. Maybe somebody living....and maybe somebody who aint american...hmmm....
OK, let's try Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. What great guys! Perfect examples of corporate capitalism and investing gone right. Mighty strange heros for a socialist such as myself. Maybe I'm just plain open minded.
Obviously, a hero can be either rich or poor in my criteria. But I need to establish for myself some female heros, and some non American...
Buffet and Gates are great because they are giving away most of their money to improve the lives of as many other people as possible. They made their money by doing what they loved, and doing it well. The older they get, the wiser they get, and the more generous and loving toward humanity.
Einstein, Crockett, and Truman never had a dime between them, although Einstein never tried to. Buffet and Gates are just the opposite. A strange pantheon of heros.
Can you imagine such a thing! Liberals and conservatives seeing each other's point of view, and tolerating, accepting, agreeing! Less sexy than bashing and attacking, but more productive, and, really, more realistic.
Several years ago , as thousands of protesters raised hell outside a G8, (now G20) meeting, Gates said something like : " I may be wrong, but what I think what they (the protesters) are trying to say is: how can we create systems which better distribute the wealth and prosperity of the world?"
Gates was right, of course. Entirely correct. And open minded to boot.
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler! Thanks!
Mind Games
Sometimes a situation is just too juicy to avoid commenting on. On the AOL homepage was a headline, something to the effect : "Obama reportedly blames FOX News for Moslem rumor".
Surely Obama understands that anyone accusing him of being a Moslem is only trying to make trouble, and has no concern or interest in the truth.
Evidently there is a new book coming out, surprisingly, something to the effect "How Obama dealt with those mean conservatives over at Fox Television". It must have been written by someone who had the president's assistance, sitting and talking. Amazing, that the president, any president, has the time to ghost write books and attend multiple campaign fund raisers in a single day.
Of course, everybody writes, or speaks, books these days, and that's probably a good thing...as long as we don't have to read them. Thousands of books are being written every day. The more the merrier. Now, let's make sure we beam 'em all out into space...
...just in case the human species fails to survive long term, we want the universe to know that we once existed...don't we?
The "blame" for the rumor that Obama is a Moslem goes to anybody who believes it, which nobody does, not Fox news, for heavens sake. Since nobody really believes Obama is a secret Moslem, no blame is to be attached for anything, anywhere. Case closed!
Talking about whether Obama is a closet Moslem relieves us of any obligaton to talk about other matters, such as the 49 million Americans without health insurance, or the national bankruptcy thingie.
Enough substance. Back to the Kardashians!
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler! Thanks!
Surely Obama understands that anyone accusing him of being a Moslem is only trying to make trouble, and has no concern or interest in the truth.
Evidently there is a new book coming out, surprisingly, something to the effect "How Obama dealt with those mean conservatives over at Fox Television". It must have been written by someone who had the president's assistance, sitting and talking. Amazing, that the president, any president, has the time to ghost write books and attend multiple campaign fund raisers in a single day.
Of course, everybody writes, or speaks, books these days, and that's probably a good thing...as long as we don't have to read them. Thousands of books are being written every day. The more the merrier. Now, let's make sure we beam 'em all out into space...
...just in case the human species fails to survive long term, we want the universe to know that we once existed...don't we?
The "blame" for the rumor that Obama is a Moslem goes to anybody who believes it, which nobody does, not Fox news, for heavens sake. Since nobody really believes Obama is a secret Moslem, no blame is to be attached for anything, anywhere. Case closed!
Talking about whether Obama is a closet Moslem relieves us of any obligaton to talk about other matters, such as the 49 million Americans without health insurance, or the national bankruptcy thingie.
Enough substance. Back to the Kardashians!
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler! Thanks!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Prosperity
Three American companies, in the wake of the recent great recession, are doing quite well. Apple, Google, and Microsoft all have an enormous amount of money, 40 or 50 billion.
Of the three, only Microsoft felt anything remotely resembling a recession. Apple has sold 37 million I Phones recently; they hardly know what to do with all this profit.
One proposed plan is to pay a dividend to shareholders. The shareholders are doubtless saying "its about time". Three successful corporations, stellar examples of corporate capitalism...but what about everybody else?
Must the American economy ceaselessly swing like a pendulum back and forth between prosperity and depression? Volatile as life/ nature is, does it have to be that volatile? One would think that, considering the genius of our corporate based economic system, there would be greater economic stability, and more general and sustained prosperity.
But, alas...whoever the lowest paid employees of these companies are, perhaps they should be the first in line to share company profits. The shareholders are doing pretty well already, and the board members even better.
An economic system in which teachers make a mere fraction of what entertainers make is obviously ill. Totally privitazed education would only make matters worse, for in america, entertainment is truly valued more than education, sadly.
IN the great pyramid of the american economic system, the current base is broad, and low. Hence, we have a huge poor working class in this country. In a country as wealthy as America, should the working class be poor at all, much less universally poor?
This is the point the Occupy Wall Street movement is trying to make; and it isn't finished...
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler! Thanks!
Of the three, only Microsoft felt anything remotely resembling a recession. Apple has sold 37 million I Phones recently; they hardly know what to do with all this profit.
One proposed plan is to pay a dividend to shareholders. The shareholders are doubtless saying "its about time". Three successful corporations, stellar examples of corporate capitalism...but what about everybody else?
Must the American economy ceaselessly swing like a pendulum back and forth between prosperity and depression? Volatile as life/ nature is, does it have to be that volatile? One would think that, considering the genius of our corporate based economic system, there would be greater economic stability, and more general and sustained prosperity.
But, alas...whoever the lowest paid employees of these companies are, perhaps they should be the first in line to share company profits. The shareholders are doing pretty well already, and the board members even better.
An economic system in which teachers make a mere fraction of what entertainers make is obviously ill. Totally privitazed education would only make matters worse, for in america, entertainment is truly valued more than education, sadly.
IN the great pyramid of the american economic system, the current base is broad, and low. Hence, we have a huge poor working class in this country. In a country as wealthy as America, should the working class be poor at all, much less universally poor?
This is the point the Occupy Wall Street movement is trying to make; and it isn't finished...
Please scroll down for the other articles in today's issue of The Truthless Reconciler! Thanks!
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