Sizing Up Trump and His Ilk, Fearfully

THE HATE MONGERS on right wing American radio, angry, hateful screamers like Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Chris Plante, et al, are trying to brainwash their followers into accepting the notion that all acts of terrorism committed by Moslems from the middle east are representative of the entire Islamic faith, and an alarming number of mind numbed American right wing moronic sycophants appear to be buying into it. This could lead to trouble, if enough Americans accept this insanity. As usual, the American conservative movement is embracing an idea that is the exact opposite of the truth, of reality, of reason. They deny global warming, and claim to follow Jesus, who was a social yet, they embrace free market cutthroat economics .There was never an economic or environmental issue on which our extreme right wing wasn't wrong. But the entire Christian religion cannot be held responsible for its fringe lunatics, and neither can the entire Islamic faith be blamed for terrorism. Consider the American Ku Klux Klan, a true American icon of an institution, good Christian folk, representative of a large part of American culture and the American Christian community. Al Qaeda, the Taliban,the Islamic State, are all fringe organizations, operating on the fringe of a great religion, not at all a part of it, just like the KKK is not representative of American in general, but only of a certain segment of American society. Read "Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West", by Benazir Bhutto, the former president of Pakistan, and a truly great lady who explains Islam and terrorism clearly. Donald Trump and his anti-Islamic followers are a potential Hitler and the NAZIs, born again. McCarthy-ites. thugs, mongering hatred and fear. First, keep out the Moslem immigrants to America, and what next? The expulsion of those already here? Make the desert glow, says Senator Ted "the nuke" Cruz! Trump is attractive to many, myself included, because of his simple, straight talk, but the political pundits have him sized up well: he is a fear monger, politically profiting from our epidemic of fear and anger and ignorance in America. Trump is a business man, and knows what will sell. He is selling fear.

Going To Church, by Invitation

THE INVITATIONS TO CHURCH keeping coming in over at the senior center, where I, aged sixty, am the newbie, the baby. Its great to be young again. Over at the university, where I'm taking classes for free, I'm too old: life has a way of balancing. Seven invitations to church, and counting. Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, and a church of Christ or two. Seven, in all, and this in a very small southern American town from a few dozen senior center members. How many churches are there around here, anyway, I ask? Many, is always the answer. How large are the various congregations, I wonder. Small groups, I am told. Makes you wonder why they don't all just get together, and go to the same church, and do away with the fragmentation. Or perhaps maybe we should all realize that we all have different religious views, and worship at home, alone, but in comfort. Admit that we all have a unique religiosity, and all go home, and worship alone. Perhaps they enjoy the small fragmented groups, with their slightly different ways of doing things. But why all the invitations for me? Its as if they take one look at me, decide I must be a heathen, and need saving. Either that, or they invite everybody, trying to bolster their membership in the face of fierce competition. Have any of them ever considered the possibility that a man, at the age of sixty, probably already has his personal religious house in order, to his satisfaction? Probably not. Maybe they don't expect me to join or convert, but only to visit, and give it some thought. They always tempt me with food. I never mention that food seems a bit beside the. I'm easy. See you Sunday!

Getting Obamacare, Or Trying To

YESTERDAY I MADE A PHONE CALL, and applied for Obamacare. They said at first that I would be on hold, waiting, for twenty minutes, and it turned out to be forty. No problem; one must be tolerant of small inefficiencies in a new program. All big new programs stumble at first; Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid all stumbled at first, then turned out to be shining examples of the effectiveness of socialism. After a long interview, they told me that within a few weeks, I would be notified, one way or the other, whether I had been accepted. Until that moment, I really didn't know that an Obamacare applicant could either be accepted or rejected. Hell, I just figured that anyone who applied would at least be offered a plan, automatically, and would be free to accept or reject it. Shows what I know. So, I'll wait and see, and hope to be accepted into the great socialistic train wreck that is the Affordable Care Act. At least, I've been told, time and again, by conservatives, that Obamacare is a complete train wreck, a hopeless failure, which is running up health insurance costs for everyone, ruining the American health care system, which used to be the very best in the world, and in general ruining the United States of America. According to conservatives, Obama has already destroyed America, and the only solution is to elect a right winger in sixteen, and start over. Like, Trump? Yeah, I am soooo sure.. For actual evidence of all this calamity they offer nothing, unsurprisingly. The very moment I see even a trace of evidence for Obama's having destroyed America, I'll start paying more attention, and open my mind to the possibility that American conservatives are something other than unhinged. Don't hold your breath. The lady asked me an infinite number of questions, including, my income. She seemed utterly aghast when I told her, truthfully, that I had none. Thank God for retirement savings! But its good to know that there is somebody who is aghast at the thought of somebody having no income. There are millions of folks, worldwide, who have little or none, and we need to all be aghast. Meanwhile, I await the word on my Obamacare, hoping.

Let The Revolution Begin!

IF DOW AND DUPONT MERGE, let's hope the new company keeps both names, because they've both been around forever, and are American icons. They want to merge, according to the word on the street. A few board members perhaps flew to a plush Caribbean resort, sipped cocktails, and came up with a trillion dollar plan. It would be the largest corporate merger in the history of the solar system, and though it is strictly illegal, the United States government will undoubtedly lift not a finger to prevent it. This is because the America government is owned and controlled, lock, stock and barrel, by, you guessed it, the American corporate community. What the American corporate community wants, the American corporate community gets. Got it? Only now, however, is the American corporate community becoming the international American corporate community, as the American corporate community reaches out, in war and free trade, unto the world, seeking to own and control same. Dowdupont is merely another step towards our inevitable fate; ownership of everything in the world, including us, by one person, incorporated. Unless we the American people, or we the workers and poor of the world, unite and get out in the streets, have a big revolution, and change the world, the concentration of wealth will have us all impoverished, and one lucky person will be a multi trillionaire. Its just a matter of when and whom. The Occupy Wall Street movement was our most recent attempt at revolution, and although it was anemic, it was the right idea. All it lacked was a leader, some organization, and an international orientation. Let's get Occupy Wall Street going again! This time, let's start out as a union of American and Russian working poor, with the intention of redistributing wealth and power equally, and averting global self destruction. We'll see you in the streets, Comrads!

Going To Church In Small Town America, and Surviving

BACK AT THE SENIOR CENTER, onward goes the saga, the daily saga of my having retired too young from teaching, sixty, and joined the senior center. There is an epidemic of aging globally, although American conservative republicans might deny it. Aging in America and around the world might be in the same category as global warming, the holocaust, and the moon landings: factual, but denied by American conservative Republicans. We're going to have to learn to take care of each other, pure and simple. At the senior center in a town of two thousand, I have received seven (7) invitations to church, all Christian churches, presumably. I intend to accept them all, but just haven't started yet. What's delaying me, I'm not sure. I am a natural procrastinator. Also, reluctant. Every Christian church I've been in in the American south in the past few years dogs he Moslems, the gays, and the liberals, and I don't like that. It aint Christian, to dog folks. And I hope none of the big seven, my inviters, does it this time. My God, I wonder, exactly how fragmented is American Christianity? How many churches in such a small town, with how many members? I have told a senior or two that this proves my point: we all have our own individual religions. Not a popular notion at the conservative Christian small town American senior center. Most of my notions are not popular, and its a wonder I haven't been kicked out> But its still early. Hell, I'm actually rather popular. Must be that glowing smile, warm personality, and incessant smartassiness. These people have a sense of humor, which is why I love them. That, plus, after thirty five years with children, and I'm ready for a change. What a change. but I cannot be honest with them and conceal that fact that I have a religiosity similar to that of Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein, which is decidedly non-Christian, but, to my way of thinking, utterly sublime, sensible, and logical. I'll go to these tiny country churches, with an open mind. Nonetheless, I am not likely to emerge therefrom believing that God speaks to us in books and stories, or any such nonsense.

Cruzing With Ted Cruz Into Lunacy

DEMOCRATS ARE LICKING their chops because Donald Trump might well be on the verge of destroying the Republican party. But then again, Trump might not be the party's, and the nation's destruction. We can hope. Hell, maybe he's the answer! Seems unlikely, but who knows? For all we know, were the Moslems excluded from America, all would be well, unlikely though that seems. Maybe Donald Trump isn't crazy, but he sure sounds like he is. The destruction of the Republican party, or a nation unfortunate enough to be governed by it, would come from within. Consider Ted Cruz, the best educated Republican presidential candidate, yet, utterly nutty. Ted Cruz , like most conservatives, claims that global warming is a liberal hoax and power grab. He ignores his high school chemistry education by so doing, as do all deniers of carbon based truth. Ted Cruz claims that when liberals use the term "climate change denier", they are expressing a religious, not a scientific viewpoint, because of their use of the word "denier". Um..Oooo-kay...slick Teddy claims that replacing the phrase "global warming' with the phrase "climate change" is obvious proof of a global liberal socialist pseudo scientific conspiracy. Yeah, right Ted. Oh, that religion were science, and science, religion! Enough Ted Cruzing, with a brain full of education and yet, utterly nuts. He ignores his education and his true mind, does Senator Cruz, and allows his emotional attachment to his rock solid conservative ideology have free reign. The frightening thing about Cruz is that he seems perfectly intelligent.

Keeping America Clean

RONALD REAGAN MIGHT SAY: "There you go again." Trump, being Trump. Reagan, come to think of it, might actually agree with Trump, about incoming Muslims. Donald wants to keep incoming Muslims out of the country (America), as you know by now. The Trump insane idea of the day. Next thing you know, he'll want to kick out those already here. What, ten million? Don't put it past him. The Donald, utterly heedless of public opinion, he just plain don't care. Think its hard to get guns away from Americans? Its harder to vett Muslims. They can just check the "non Islamic" blank on the questionnaire. You have to hope that this guy stays in the race until the very end because he's so very entertaining, crazy, and damaging to the republican party and the conservative movement. Trump'll get kicked out of the G.O.P. run by himself, split the right, and elect Hillary. Actually, maybe Trump has a point about keeping Muslims out of the U.S., but why leave anyone out of the plan? Hell, let's keep everybody out! Then maybe we could start kicking out the Muslims already here, then, one by one, slowly, steadily, but surely, all other ethnic groups. Why hold back? Thus we return freedom's land to the lesser, but less violent animals, America the emptied out. The current American mindset is cognitively impaired, and the American right is leading the way into ever deepening lunacy. Before you know it America will be a nation sans Muslims, with the rest of us carrying handguns in public, ready to defend freedom. Can't wait. So if the choice is between continuing to go in the same insane direction we for some reason are taking ourselves, or just all leaving ,and maybe starting over again later, maybe it would be best to reboot.

Packing Heat, and Posting Up

SUPPOSE FOR A MOMENT THAT American conservatives have a valid point, if that's even possible, and that it would be a peachy idea for all good Americans to go out into the public arena packing heat, aka handguns, carried, concealed...or not. (they can't seem to decide which is best, which in itself is alarming). We are told that so doing would bring comfort to us all, and absolute deterrence to the bad guys, the would be mass shooters. But one quick question: in order to benefit from this anti-Earpian (Wyatt never cottoned to non professionals goin' heals (carrying a gun on one's hip)) arrangement, wouldn't it help, indeed, wouldn't it be necessary, for all the good people gathering together to know whether, and if so, which other ones..in any given public venue....were actually carrying? Remember, its all about feeling safe. And then too, if Joe mass murdered happens to stroll in, looking to spray lead, don't we need to deter him right off the bat, before he even gets started, by letting him or he know, in no uncertain terms, that the room is full of uninfringed gun slingers, ready to kill? Therefore I propose a new American institution, the, let us say, "gun list", to be stationed at the front door of every public place, from library, to restaurant, to football stadium, to church - which those enter may state their status by signature: a checkmark in the "carrying" column if it applies, and one in the "unarmed and therefore soon to be dead" (acceding to conservative thinking) column. Completely voluntary of course. not required. Just an opportunity to "show 'em what's what. Just a checkmark, and we all know where we and the rest of stand. If you think that's crazy, think again. It aint no crazier than one hundred American arrogant angry fruitcakes constantly packing, tailgaiting, being tailgated, and packing heat..... it aint no crazier than thinking the super well armed public solution is going to actually work, and it might just be the antidote that we most need to all this sudden craziness in mainstream American discourse.

Withholding Sex, and Saving the World

LONG ABOUT FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO, in the middle of one of those never ending wars for which we humans are known and loved, Aristophenes got impatient, and wrote a very funny play, called "Lysistrata", because of it. IN the play, you all know, lady organizes all the babes to withhold all sex from all men till such time as hostilities cease, and swords are beaten in plowshares. The play has been read, enjoyed, and enacted millions of times down through the millennia, except by conservative Christians, who prefer to ignore sex, or any and all references thereto. Even now, unless I'm, dreaming, there's another version sprouting up along Broadway. My suggestion is this: let's do it again! for real. Ladies of the world unite! You have only your lover's wrath to dodge. Aint a few billion frustrated, horny men worth the elimination of all violence, war, and climate change on Earth? Oh yes, dear ladies, let's up the ante. Let's bargain hard, in earnest. No more fun stuff till the swords are plowshares, and the air clear and pristine. the only problem is, it would have no impact on conservative Christians and Muslims, who rarely have sex anyway. But we could "work around" that. You think this sounds crazy, try listening to everyone's else's solutions. Ted Cruz wants to bomb Iraq until the sands glow. He and others like him, conservative idiots, want to ignore global warming, because they don't like it. Now, against that backdrop of sheer lunacy, enter the Truthless Reconciler, citing Aristophanes, and taking a cue from it. think about it. It makes more sense than you might think. think of the power you rally have, ladies of the world! think how you could use this power, with the mere crossing of the legs, to make the world a much, much better place.

A Compelling Liberal Hoax

EXXON, NEE STANDARD OIL, was aware of climate change in the nineteen seventies, just as modern scientists were aware of it in the nineteen sixties, just as chemists were aware of the potential for it in the early nineteenth century. Exxon did detailed analyses of the problem, and concluded they had better get their money while the getting was good. This has been revealed by the Journalism Department of Columbia University, which now faces the enmity of Exxon. Conservatives say that gathering together in Paris to discuss the problem and draw up documents outlining solutions is unnecessary, while liberals allege that no matter what is decided in France, it won't be enough. Conservatives further claim that there is no agreement among scientists that humans are raising any temperatures other than those of millions of liberal hoaxers and conspirators, hoping to foment unrest for the purpose of insinuating socialism into western culture. What they forget is that socialism is already well insinuated; there are no privately owned fire or police departments in America, and few roads, highways or bridges are privately owned for profit, and the Social Security system is accessed by conservatives as well as liberals. When challenged to reveal the names of scientists who don't believe in global warming, conservatives trot out a long list of far tight wing pseudo scientists and corporate employees. Of all the republicans running for President in America, none of them believe in climate change, although most of them have had at least one high school chemistry class. The heavier the chemical element, the greater its capacity for heat absorption. Carbon is heavier than nitrogen and oxygen. Carbon, for millions of years, has been a trace element in earth's atmosphere. Now, its growing, rapidly, in atmospheric abundance, and temperature measurements are right on schedule. This liberal hoax, to give credit where credit is due, is most compelling.

Turning American Football Back Into Rugby, For Safety

SO FAR THIS FOOTBALL SEASON nineteen players have died while playing, and although the season isn't quite over, fortunately, its close. All of the deaths were at the high school level or younger. Causes range from extreme dehydration to brain trauma to sudden cardiac arrest, presumably resulting from extreme over exertion. Two hundred thousand concussions a year occur at the high school level of below, but we love our football. We used to call it "ringing the bell", and urge victims to shake it off. Actually, excessively hard hitting American football is not new. It was recently revealed that Frank Gifford, who played in the late fifties and early sixties, had indeed suffered from brain trauma, like so many others who have recently retired. Gifford, who carried the football and therefore got tackled often and hard, was apparently subjected to a large number of particularly hard hits, perhaps because he was targeted for being a pretty boy. but its gotten worse, much worse, in this modern era of rock hard football helmets which are being used as offensive weapons rather than protection. Consider rugby, football's ancestor. Ever popular around the world, rugby is not lacking in solid body contact, but the injuries are much milder, usually a broken tooth or a bruise here and there, even though ruggers don't wear pads and helmets. maybe because they don't wear protection, rugby players make contact with each other for a good reason, within the desired results of competition. American footballs no longer are content to block and tackle; now, they must hit, and hit hard. Coaches and parents, belatedly and reluctantly, are starting to respond to this tragic circumstance, and there is talk of "rugby-fying" the sport. A simpler solution is right at our fingertips: its called the "unnecessary roughness" penalty. We use this only to protect quarterbacks; it could and probably should be used to protect all other players as well. a few more yellow flags could well result in fewer premature deaths. the only problem is; where oh where would the American people, hungry for vicarious violence, ever get their fix?

Distinguishing Good People From Bad People

YESTERDAY'S EPISODE of the great American slaughter saga was perpetrated by good people, not bad people. There are, according to conservative pseudo intellectuals, two kinds of people: good, and bad. Give handguns to all the good people, and keep guns away from all the bad people, problem solved. Anyone who goes astray in public, and waxes violent, and starts to spray bullets randomly, will instantly be gunned down by a good Samaritan - gun toting - good person before he or she bad person can reload. The fact that we are all both good and bad, and can turn the switch on and off in a heartbeat never crosses the minds of conservative intellectuals; its one, or the other, period. But again, the married couple with good records, good jobs, and a six month old daughter obtained their weapons legally, because they were good people, good people who mysteriously turned bad. Oh, but they were Muslims! Hint: that does not make them bad people, any more than being christian makes someone a good person. Again, they had perfect records, good jobs, were lawfully married, had started a family - and then blew away fourteen people and wounded seventeen others without the slightest trace of warning. Sometimes bad people are well disguised as good people, and nobody but nobody can tell the difference. Otherwise, the married couple would never have been issued firearm licenses. So much for the theories of conservative intellectuals. There are more guns than people in the United states of Ammunition. Thousands of people die each year from gun violence in America, half of them are suicides. Whether they are good people or bad people becomes moot. If the federal government decided to take away all civilian guns, all the gun toting christian conservatives would doubtless die defending their right to defend themselves, as they claim they would. and the ATF would perhaps be happy to assist. Jesus, guns, and money, defended unto death, in the cold dead hands of america's most righteous.

Purchasing Political Power

U.S. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER John McConnell has more letters in his last name than he needs, and less sense in his political ideology. He wants to take a bad situation, and make it worse. He wants to eliminate limits on campaign contributions made to political parties and political candidates. Since 2010, the year in which the U.S. supreme court decided that money is a form of free speech, Political Action Committees have sprouted all across the fruited plain, accumulating vast treasure troves of money from super rich folks, and using it to buy advertising, and thus elections, for candidates of choice. Politicians are currently owned and controlled by political action committees, and MccConnnell them to be owned and controlled more directly, by the established (republican) party system. People who consider politicians to be all crooks are quite correct; they accept bribes from contributors, and thus become beholden to them, bound to do their bidding. but direct contributions to parties and candidates are still limited by law, and this is what the Kentucky Senator wishes to change. His reasoning is that by so doing, influence of PACs will be equalized by direct party influence, and, after all, its the parties themselves that matter, and its the parties themselves which should have at least as much purchasing power as the outside, unregulated PACs. In other words, since we have a corrupt system, equalize the corruption, and spread the wealth. This is insanity, because the reasonable answer consists in only seven simple words, or, if you prefer, nine: "the sale and purchase) of political advertising is prohibited." The man of many letters is hugely successful at raising campaign funds - why wouldn't he want to play the game at an even higher level? The American political system is utterly corrupt, corrupted by big money. Why wouldn't the rest of us want to do away with it, and establish something more closely resembling a democratic political system in which we the people are actually represented?

Contending In Vain, Against Stupidity

IN THE NEAR FUTURE a solar energy revolution, which has already begun, will sweep around the world, and save us all from the catastrophic effects of climate change. When that happens, all the climate change deniers, aka American conservatives, will shrug and say: " we tried to tell you all along that climate change was only a liberal hoax, and that there was nothing to worry about." And you know what? So what? Let the fools save face! Einstein said: "the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius is somewhat limited". The ancient Greek philosopher Agathon said: "against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." Then came P.T. Barnum, with his cogent and prescient observation that "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." The Europeans in general, many of whom have taken a chemistry class, find it amazing that anybody anywhere would doubt the simple, provable, observable science of climate change. They are stunned when they are told that nearly one third of all Americans deny it, merely because they, the conservative fools who deny it, understand that accepting climate change means accepting the need for fundamental change in human civilization, which, as we know, is anathema to those who embrace tradition and shun innovation. We should all be amazed at their stupidity. Or should we? The people who deny the obvious reality of the heat retention property of carbon also tend to embrace a primitive cult of human sacrifice as universal truth, and tend to believe that we would all be better off if we went around carrying guns. American conservatives believe that tens of millions of liberals worldwide, who should know better, are engaged in and duped by a conspiracy to use the "myth" of climate change as an excuse to foster government power and redistribution of wealth. There is no cure for stupidity, and unfortunately, seldom one for insanity.

Achieving Enlightenment Through Tragedy, and Becoming Transcendently Happy

THERE IS A MAN in France who has gotten off the wheel, the ever repeating cycle of birth, life, suffering, and death, and elevated himself to a higher, transcendent level. This he has done through an extraordinary act of self control, a simple act of the will, of restraint. When terrorists killed his wife in Paris, a wife with whom he is and will always be in love, he simply refused to give her killers the gift of his anguish and his hatred. We are born into this world again and again, so says the philosophy of Buddhism, to live, to suffer, and, hopefully, to spiritually grow. With sufficient growth, we remove ourselves from the wheel of eternal struggle, and reach a state of eternal peace. In the Dhammapada, a book of wisdom, it says: "Mind foreruns all conditions. Mind is chief. Of mind are they made. If one speaks or acts with wicked mind, because of this, evil follows one, even as the wheel follows the hoof of the draft ox. He beat me, he abused me, he defeated me, he robbed me. The hatred of those who harbor such thoughts is never appeased. If one speaks or acts with pure mind, because of this, happiness follows one, even as the shadow which never leaves. He beat me, he abused me, he defeated me, he robbed me. The hatred of those who do not harbor such thoughts is always appeased. And this is a law eternal." And so it seems, and therefore so it is.According to Buddhist belief, we live many lives in order to ascend, which, with enough growth, we do. Some of us are old souls with many lives behind us, and some of us are young souls, with many lives ahead. This man in France, whoever he is, has done what few can do. He has, it seems, lived enough lives to know wisdom, and because of this, has escaped the cycle of birth and death. Perhaps he beckons the rest of us to join him. He must be very happy. He deserves to be.