Corrrecting Conservative Crazy Talk

IN THE EVENT that your judgment is sufficiently poor that you have often, rather than infrequently paid serous attention to the mindless blather of conservative pundits, there are certain bromides with which you have regrettably been redundantly bombarded. here's one, just for starters: people know best how to spend their own money. they know better than government how to spend it, and therefore it is best to keep taxes low, to allow people to keep more of their own money, because government will only confiscate it and waste it, and the folks who earned it by hard work will spend it wisely. Ever heard that one? yes, you have. And, to be quite blunt, its a load of crap, pure, unadulterated nonsense, like most right wing blather. And, just like most other right wing tripe, it sounds deceptively alluring, logical, compellingly true. that is, until you look into the matter a little deeper. Then, the falsehood is exposed. Here's how. think of the way people spend their own money. Yes, on food, clothing, and shelter. and that's about the end of it, as far as wise spending is concerned. After that, we get to the beer, cigarettes, huge cable TV packages with hundreds of redundant and trashy channels, fattening, diabetic inducing food, expensive mindless entertainment, and on, and on...A close examination of the spending patterns of the average American reveals incredible waste and folly. We could all have happier, healthier, longer lives, more financially fit lives, if we would only save more, spend less on harmful and nonsensical goods and services, and live just a wee bit more modestly. We Americans are notorious for living above our means. Now consider government. the first thing people will mention is the huge national debt, and the annual budget deficit. The simple fact is, it would not take much of an adjustment to correct all that, despite the billions and trillions of dollars involved. A little bit more taxing of the wealthy, a little budget cutting of the bloated, excessive military budget, requiring the wealthy to pay more into social security , and a few cosmetic changes to social spending programs would do the trick. the overspending by government isn't nearly as dire a problem, or needn't be, as we are led to believe. Government spends money on highways, roads, military defense, health care, programs to support the elderly, education; all the things we say we so badly want, but seem so unwilling to pay for. contrary to popular mass hysteria opinion, America's public schools are a beacon of hope and success, despite their obvious shortcomings. there are no problems in our public schools that a little bit more attention to poor neighborhoods wouldn't cure. while the American individual is spending hard earned cash watching Labron James go to the hole, and paying people like him ridiculous salaries with their free market discretionary spending by choice, out government, at all levels, is providing all the essential services which we cringe to pay for, but without which we would pitch a fit. We the american people throw away our income on escape entertainment, the government sustains uswith necessary spending. Even the famous supposed "wastes" of money on projects like government studies of Burmese python babies and minnows in Minnesota yield scientific results and knowledge, and the american people never tire of ridiculing science and learning. why not? they have more important things to do, like watch Labron James shoot hoops and Luke Skywalker cut Darth Vader to ribbons with laser pointers, or whatever.

Rethinking Columbus Day

TWENTY SIX Columbus Days ago, it was widely anticipated that the five hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the United States of America, or more accurately the accidental discovery by a Spanish financed Italian explorer of an island in the Caribbean that had already been discovered and was quite well known by its inhabitants, who happily and peacefully resided there, would be met with universal acclaim and sensational ceremony, pomp, and festivities. And yet, the pomp never precipitated. Why not? the answer is that at about the same time progressive minded historians began pointing out in earnest the fact that Christopher Columbus was not only a competent and intrepid explorer and navigator, he was also a murdering, blood thirsty monster and genocidal killer. And the only requirement for proving this to anyone's satisfaction is to rad the first paragraph of Columbus's journal upon his setting foot on the shores of Hispanola, which we today call the Dominican Republic. There is, despite the persistence of pandering, hyper patriotic, hagiographic conservative scholarship and attitudes, an increasing, belated willingness for the American people to teach, tell, and learn the truth about their country's history and culture. It is far from the pretty picture traditionalists have painted. I used to lose teaching jobs for merely pointing out to students that Thomas Jefferson was not a Christian, that he in fact considered much of the Christian faith's dogma superstitious nonsense, that the Untied States was founded upon enlightenment, not Judeo-christian principle, and that the United Stats has from the beginning been an ever expanding empire, whose expansion has manifested mostly by illegal, immoral means. hence we are now willing to take a look at what Columbus wrote, which, paraphrased, goes something like: "we walked up on the shore, and the natives came to greet us. they are beautiful, healthy, wholesome people happy, smiling, friendly, without weapons, docile, willing to give up whatever we want. they are going to make excellent slaves." He and his men then extorted the gold and silver these peace loving people obviously had stored away, as indicated by the trinkets with which they adorned themselves, by cutting off thousands of hands and feet, and killing hundreds of thousands of them. And so Columbus Day is being replace by "Indigenous People Day, I believe its called. Christopher Columbus believed in turning all native people's he encounter into hard working, enslaved Christians, gold miners for the glory of Spain and Christ, even if he had to kill everyone in sight to accomplish it. His own priest kept a diary, in which the father wrote that he cannot possibly imagine how future generations will be able to comprehend to extent of the murderous butchery he was witnessing every day in the "new world". He was right. We have never been able to comprehend it, because we have refused to do so. We prefer a more self congratulatory version of our own history and heritage, as all humans do. The salvation of humanity is that there are always among us those unwilling to live iiiiin lies, adn, even if only belatedly, these pioneering people eventually lead the rest of us a bit more into the light of truth. Happy Indigenous people Day.

Changing The Subject, Drastically

AT WORK in the kitchen at the senior center, reminding me that I was once, not so long ago, retired, my forty one year old supervisor will not retire for a long time, because she has seven children, six of whom are still under her roof, though a few are approaching independence, such as it is these days. These days, parental dependency can linger long into adulthood, due to pervasive economic circumstances. She has a flurry of grand children on their way, and the number of great grand children is incalculable. The other worker is an older lady with three adolescents of her own, so the two of them talk about their families at length on a daily basis. I'm sixty three, childless and wifeless, and retired, or I used to be, so, I don't care. Let them drone on; they have much in common. Its all about what this child said, what that child did, and what this or that child should or should not have said and done. And of course, its all well and good, let them drone on. Well and good, except for a vaguely disquieting thought lurking in the back of my troubled, albeit child free mind. It must be surpassingly fulfilling to be a mother, and to share the experience with someone who really understands, to share all experiences of raising a flock of children, as each child moves through the various stages of growth, and to compare notes and anecdotes, large, small, profound and trivial. But still and all, there is something missing in what I catch of the conversations as I move around the kitchen, collecting dirty dishes and turning them into clean ones, taking out garbage, frying a few potatoes, boxing up meals for Meals On Wheels. A disconcerting sense of something missing. Where is the concern for the future? Not about money for college, or career choices, or even next year's grades. That'll all come; these are working class folk, and the presumption is for working class careers for the kids. No, something more dire, but less immediate, and yet...more immediate. Where I live, its eighty five degrees in October, all October, every October now, and twenty years ago this was not the case, because I can remember well, and I have paid attention. The climate is changing, fast. By my reckoning, and more importantly by the reckoning of nearly all of the world's scientists, unless drastic action is taken very soon, the planet's climate will not only be unrecognizable within a few decades, it may well be unlivable. Already the process is very much with us. Where I live, spring begins in early February, rather than late March. Summers are long and hot, and extend through the month of October. The tress, which not so long ago were changing color by the first of October, now wait until Halloween, or after, most years. And in winter, it rarely snows anymore. I live well inland, but in coastal areas, the ocean is starting to encroach upon the land, dramatically and daily. So what about my coworker's grandchildren, and great grandchildren? Even their children will be alive sixty years from now, and by that time, the change in climate will already be extreme, assuming the climate change deniers and corporations continue to have their way, and we ween off of fossil fuels too slowly, as seems to be the prevailing plan. The mega fossil fuel companies now openly admit the truth, and their role in it, but they do not hide the fact that they want to take their money with them when they get out of the business, and they seem not to be in any urgent hurry to divest and change. And my friends in the kitchen? What would I have them do different? Oh, not much, really. Maybe a neatly written letter or two to a fuel company exec or two, maybe a phone call or email to someone in congress, telling the business executives about their children and oncoming grand children, and their hopes and dreams. And maybe even a word or two in the kitchen about the irresponsible leaders we seem stuck with. And maybe just a quick pic or two, a selfie of the entire family, sent out to our representatives, smiling faces full of hopes and dreams for a healthy, fruitful future.

Lying To Suit Their own Purposes

BARACK OBAMA is pro choice, believes in equal rights and respect for LGBTQ people, eats bacon, and drinks beer. And yet, there are conservative republicans, a regrettably goodly number of them, who claim to believe that he is a Muslim. In fact, they know that he isn't, but prefer their dishonest claims.. They like to make their sneering accusations, because in their warped minds it is wrong to be Islamic, and therefor an insult to accuse someone of it. Of course, it is neither wrong nor an insult to be Islamic, but only reasonable people know that, and these hateful conservative republicans are not reasonable people. Reasonable people do not think like this. Confronted with these facts, Republicans might persist in their accusations against Obama, adding that he is merely a lapsed, disobedient Muslim. These people never stop. You can almost hear the idiots say that Obama's middle name gives him away.... Donald J. Trump has five children by three different wives, is a self admitted, indeed self proclaimed sexual predator, issues a constant stream of vicious, slanderous insults, accusations and lies against his critics, and is demonstrably consumed with greed. And yet, the same people who call Obama a Muslim call Trump a Christian. Dishonest, regrettable, laughable. They call trump a Christian knowing full well that he is in fact the furthest thing from it, only because it suits their purpose to call him a Christian, their purpose being to reconcile their support for Trump and their purported Christian faith. But the two cannot be reconciled, and somewhere deep within their twisted souls, they must know it. For this they should be ashamed of their dishonesty and hypocrisy, but they aren't, and never will be. Can these wretched cowards be expected to awaken one day and after proclaiming their love of Christ proclaim their belief that we should render unto Caesar and give unto the poor? Hardly. They can be expected only to continue their hatred and disparagement of the poor, by blaming poverty on poor work habits, immorality, stupidity, rather than on bad fortune and an unjust society. They can be expected to justify their own greed by claiming that taxing the wealthy is unfair, and punishes achievement. They can be expected to call their greed hard work and to equate helping the poor with creating dependency and encouraging laziness. And they can be expected to lie about people they dislike who almost invariably are people who actually do embody christian values, and they can be expected to continue to support greedy, evil people, and to call such people "Christian", because it suits their purposes to do so, and quite likely reminds them of themselves.

At Least The Chinese Are Trying

AND SO, IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME, it came to pass that the ancient kingdom (China) was found to be attempting to influence American politics, unsurprisingly. Their apparent aim was/is the removal of Donald J. Trump from his position of president. In that endeavor, there are many among us, roughly sixty five percent of the American people, who overtly or otherwise wish them the very best of luck. And why not? Why wouldn't, why shouldn't the Chinese get some skin in the game? And why wouldn't shouldn't a sizable chunk of the American people, whose interests converge with China, applaud the oriental enterprise? After all, its the only game in town, considering that most of the American electorate don't bother to vote because they give not a rat's ass about either their own country's political fortunes of global geopolitics. For a few measly billion, you too, even if you happen to be Chinese, can purchase your very own american politician(s), who soon become the policy enacting political leaders of tomorrow. Anybody who's anybody is doing it, its the latest thing. The Russians either tried to or actually did purchase the last election for Donald J. Trump, and will doubtless do so again in 2020. The Chinese are attempting to achieve exactly the opposite result; the dismissal pf Trump by the american people from their leadership. And just as nobody can stop the Russians or even prove their complicity beyond all doubt, so too nobody can definitely indict nor even prove the existence of the Chinese enterprise And that, my fellow american free marketeer, is the supremely diabolical beauty of the American capitalist system: money can be rendered dark, and nobody shall ever know whence it came, nor where it went, nor to what precise purpose. Yet another beautiful feature is that the more the Russians spend to try to defeat each other's purposes in American politics, the more they cancel each other out, the more politically useless they render each other's attempts, and the more dark money is pumped into the american economy, dark, but spendable. this is the diabolical beauty of the world we the american people have created by our unwillingness to remove money and office purchasing from our political system; foreigners are free to involve themselves in and determine political outcomes in the United states, we are powerless to prevent it, and we have all that beautiful foreign money enriching our advertising industry, and, somehow or other, us.

Being Warned

THE PRESIDENTIAL SMART PHONE ALERT system was test run, and by all accounts acquitted itself quite famously, without a hitch, a glitch, or even so much as a trumped up twitter tweet. A further benefit is that the actual test text message was nothing more than a bland, generic, perfunctory computer generated statement of pure fact, something to the effect that no, this is not an actual emergency of any sort, but merely a test of a newly devised emergency alert system, opting out of reception of this here message is not an option, but no catastrophes are expected. That it was not composed by Donald J. Trump was evident in the fact that it was articulately written, did not include expressions like "totally terrific", or "we'll have to wait and see" and contained no gratuitous threats against anyone. And yet, the very appearance on one's smart phone of this ostensibly innocuous blather precipitates a vague sense of alarm. In particular, the part about one not being able to avoid getting the alert. There is, so it s, no opting our, no escape. Inclusion in the system is mandatory. This in itself is sufficient reason for me personally to consider the fact that I do not have a smart phone, primarily and previously for reasons of expense, risk of loss or destruction in coffee of expensive equipment, and a discernible yearning to be left alone. now I have a good new reason to avoid paying several hundred dollars upfront and a hundred dollars a month for the privilege of staring incessantly at a small screen while walking head first into trees, the new alert system itself. if I had a choice about whether to receive text message warnings of doom, I might consider putting myself on the list of alertees. but, with no such choice, if I had a smart phone, at this point, I would drive over it, and would not miss. Predictably, law suits are starting to pop up all across freedom's land, claiming the right to be left unharassed by cellular phonetic intrusions. I believe folks like the American Civil Liberties Union are chiming in, even as we text. Hardly surprising, considering the traditional liberal American love of liberty, and at least a few of these cases are destined to make their way up the judicial food chain, all the way to, heaven forbid, Kavanaugh and company, the infamous gang of nine reactionaries who are quite likely, in their current incarnation, to uphold the government's right to intrude into the small box beneath your pillow at their whimsical discretion. These right wing purveyors of alleged justice tout themselves as defenders of personal liberty against the encroaching high tide of intrusive big government, but don't believe it for a single stroke of the gavel.. The righteous conservative defense of personal liberty is merely a sham defense of the desire of all corporate enterprise to withhold any vestige of reasonable prosperity from employees, and a revulsion at the very thought that government might be used to do anything to help the poor, which in conservative circles is called "an attack on liberty". But it may eventuate that we the people are guaranteed at long last the right to enjoy life without having text tweets jammed down our gullets. The best advice, nonetheless, is to immediately trash your smart phone, and go E free. You'll save a great amount of money, and freedom to boot.

Hiding Kavanaugh

THE GREAT REPROBATE, Kavanaugh the lust crazed, will in all likelihood be confirmed by the Senate and placed on the U.S. Supreme Court this weekend, probably and appropriately in the dark of the night, hidden from view, out of the reach of prying cameras, while we the american people concern ourselves with more wholesome less sordid situations such as college football, the baseball playoffs, and some war or other, give or take a few kidnappings and rapes in prime time. The anxiously awaited FBI report evidently contained such shocking information that only one copy was printed up - shocking, the high cost of paper - kept locked behind closed two foot thick steel doors, far beneath ground. Members of the Senate were allowed to read the forty six pages of superficial investing one at a time, escorted by police on duty. Why the secrecy? Does the report contain shockingly revelatory information about Kavanaugh's love life in the hallways and dormitories of academia? Is it excruciatingly boring? Or is this simply the way our republican masters prefer to conduct themselves, below ground, out of sight, like moles? The latter, likely. The smug conservatives in the Senate, frothing at the eminent elevation of one of their degenerate own to the nation's highest court, ensure us that since no corroborating witnesses exist, Kavanaugh could not possibly have tried to rape a girl in high school and again in college, while blind drunk with drink and unbridled lust. As if people who rape other people do so in public, in front of witnesses, with the entire graduating class looking on. Hint to G.O.P.: when raping someone, always make sure that nobody else is around, that nobody can possibly corroborate the event. They should know, these Republicans, they're the experts. Trump, as usual speaking from the dank dumpster of his decayed soul, informs us that since the FBI has investigated Kavanaugh seven times, redundancy has been achieved, proving that the man is free of sin. Unsaid is that if one is subjected to seven sham investigations, which confirm only that one's church attendance has been spotty but marginally acceptable, one will appear to be cleaner than squeaky clean. One hundred truncated investigations, an example being the just completed one, yields no more information, indeed much less, than a single thorough one. Once every generation, it seems, the conservative republicans elevate to the supreme Court a reprobate, and so we are due. Fortunately for proper jurisprudence, Clarence Thomas has literally sat on his duff on the bench for twenty six years without ever speaking a word nor offering anything of value, other than the occasional question or two. If we are fortunate, Brett Kavanaugh will reveal himself to be exactly the same sort of man; one who hides from his past, and from the public eye, from behind the dark blackness of his ill worn judicial robes.

Amazonian Perfidy

IT TURNS OUT that Amazon dot com is not quite as generous with its employees as it at first seemed. The much publicized fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage raise is, as it turns out, being more than offset by the elimination of all employee bonuses, and by "changes" to their 401K stock portfolios, which means, of course, less stock, lower levels of corporate contribution to retirement plans, less value in employee retirement plans. After all the hype, after all is said and done, the fifteen dollar pr hour pay boost will actually save money thus make money for the internet giant, will result in a net decrease in employee prosperity, and will further enrich the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos. The much hyped gift of love to the lowest level employers turns out to be yet another perfidious corporate trick to transfer yet more wealth from the poor to the wealthy, disguised as the opposite. A few days ago the public relations world was abuzz and ablaze with adulation for the top dogs, who were being touted as beneficent sharers of wealth. the announcement of the hourly wage increases was announced with fanfare befitting a royal wedding or birth; but then, soon thereafter, qnd quietly, the whispered announcement of the stolen benefits from the very people who need them the most, the most desperately poor working class. A coup for the folks at top; credit for being good and generous, while actually being bad and greedy, for you will notice that the outpouring of congratulations for the mega corporation at teh announcement of its wage increase was not matched by any similar fanfare, by any publicity, positive or negative, at the revelation of its amended bonus and retirement plan policy. whether Bernie Sander has commented on the development is uncertain; he was profusely congratulatory of the company at the revelation of their initial ostensibly generous behavior towards its poorest employees. Bernie may stay silent;most politicians prefer to revel in positive reaction to their positive praiseworthy comments, and to leave it at that. But Bernie, and all true champions of the working class should and must at this crucial time come forth in outspoken condemnation of the corporate misdeed being visited upon its own employees, and in unconditional support for the welfare of the workers. the only question is " where are the true champions of the workers, and will they step up and produce?

Facing An Uphill Battle

OF THE SOME THREE THOUSAND three hundred (and spare change) essays published on this illustrious website over its seven year history, between fifty and a hundred of them have concerned themselves with my local small southern town senior center, where I malinger, two blocks from my house, among right wing religious zealots who hold forth righteously, brainwashing themselves into believing that evolution by natural selection is either a rumor, or the latest liberal conspiracy-hoax. Yes, its that bad, and if you've missed my unflattering essays on the subject, scroll back, way back, and catch up. The reason I tend to disparage my fellow senor center members is that for one, they seem to regard non Christians as inferior to themselves, and two, they harbor false notions, such as, evolution does not exist, and the Christian Bible is the word of God, which is sheer lunacy. The Director, a lady a couple of years older than I and a thoroughly delightful person, once asked me whether President Nixon ever got around to dropping a nuclear bomb on North Viet Nam. I swear to God, she actually asked me this. I replied that had he, she would have long since known about it. This seemed to comfort her, which was my intention. Well, at least I hope to god she doesn't think he should have, which I assume she does not. My current project is trying to convince her to not stalk the kitchen staff, seeing as how I am part of the kitchen staff. I advocate for no more verbal and written warnings, no more signing in and out, and no more minute by minute accountability as to one's whereabouts. I am largely immune to all this, because I am a volunteer, but my colleagues are reduced under tyranny, as Jefferson put it, and a revolution is in order, even if the paid staff does not know it. Teaching school for decades taught me that positive reinforcement works far better than punishment, a belief which got me fired more than once, and might yet again, even though I am but a volunteer. Well, screw it. I once worked at a middle school in which any good student's good academic performance and good behavior was rewarded by allowing the student to not come to school for a day or two, near the end of the school year, a day off. Bad behavior was rewarded by kicking the offender out of school for a day or two. See where I'm going with this? Note to dense readers: in the situation describe above, the reward was the same as the punishment. What's wrong with this picture? Yes, I waltzed into the principal's office and called her, in essence, an idiot, and no, I did not return for the next school year. Reward all good behavior and achievement, simply fail to reward bad behavior and performance, and cast out the evil devil of a concept called "punishment", is the idea, an idea which now applies at my local small town senior center, and the kitchen staff. But since the Director, until quite recently, thought for some reason that Nixon might have dropped a nuke on North Viet Nam behind her back, I am facing, to say the least, an uphill battle.

Watching Television

I QUIT WATCHING TELEVISION in the early nineteen seventies, except for sports, news, educational TV, and an occasional movie. Famous prime time shows like "Dallas", "The Rockford Files", "Matlock", McGiver", "Three's Company", "Hill Street Blues", "Third Rock From The Sun", "24", "Breaking Bad", "Hawaii Five Oh", "CSI", "Charlie's Angels", "L.A.Law", "Sex IN the City", "E.R.", "Barnaby Jones", and a whole host of other famous television prime time programs, from the nineteen seventies to the two thousand and teens, sit com, drama, cops, doctors, lawyers, the whole gamut, I never saw any of them. Anything After Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and Star Trek Spock I never saw, except for some reruns of Mash. I watched mainstream network TV when I was a kid in the nineteen sixties, which to me seems to be pretty much what TV is for, kids, then pretty much quit by high school. I fondly remember the days of three black and white broadcast networks, Walter Cronkite looking fuzzy, and walking across the room to change channels or adjust the volume. Then, about six weeks ago, Sept. 2018, I bought my first flat screen. They're cheap now. I waited long enough. It stayed in the box for six weeks, while the cats circled around it and I contemplated whether to return it to Wal Mart, give it to a neighbor, or just leave it in the box as an amusement for my cats. Finally, intrepidly, I got it out, set it on a stand, and hooked up an antennae. When I figured out that I could turn it on from across the room, I did so, and got three channels, crystal clear, living color, flat as a pancake. These new TVs are marvelous, aren't they? I watched a little news, noting the pores on the weather hottie's lovely face. I saw some cop and drama show on CBS, with gorgeous lay cops, and gorgeous young female criminals. A lady had her house full of hoarder's trash, full of garbage, disgusting, and the neighbors were complaining about it. A black cop and a hot lady cop visited, and warned her to clean it up. She said she would, but just couldn't seem to get started. They came back later, because the neighbors were by this time losing patience, and becoming downright surly. I started to wonder why everyone didn't just chill, and realize that what the lady needed was help, not threats of prosecution and incarceration. Why not just gang up a group of neighbors and hot cops, and clean the joint up, then order pizza, being careful to take the box with them when they leave? That wouldn't make much a television drama, would it...then, a high school girl was suspended for a week for engaging in, I think, prostitution on her own time after school hours. Again I thought; "what this girl needs is help, not punishment!". Disgusted, I turned the TV off, after realizing that I didn't have to move out of my seat to do so. I briefly considered returning it to its box, and then to the store, but I realized that the cats had already ripped the empty box to shreds. Now, i'm wondering whether the idiots ever figured out that all they needed to do was help the lady with the trash filled hoarder house, and that all they needed to do was give the high school girl some healthy activities, inclusion in groups of kids her own age, some parental love, and a nice young man to go out on healthy dates with. Maybe that's how it all turned out! On the other hand, maybe everybody ended up dead, or in the federal pen. I'll never know, because first thing in the morning I'm going to take the sonofabitch back to Wal mart, box, or no box.

Trump, and His Criminal Gang, Slouching Off

DONALD TRUMP is now openly mocking the lady who alleges that she was the victim of an attempted rape by Brett Kavanaugh while in high school. this is hardly surprising; the only surprising aspect of Trump's behavior is that it took more than a day or two for him to stoop to this moral depravity. Mrs. ford, a professor and lady of impeccable credentials, knew full well that by coming forward she was putting her life, and that of her family, at great risk. She had nothing to gain, and everything to lose, since her life was quite rewarding before her public allegation against Kavanaugh. Now, with the president mocking her, his gangster like supporters, so very remindful psychologically and behaviorally of Hitler and his followers, will only enhance her danger. we might soon expect a gang of right wing skin heads waring "make America Great Again" re ball caps, carrying confederate flags and adorned with swastikas to appear at her doorstep, demanding that she repent of her sin of daring to question their fuhrer's words, actions, and appointments. As a matter of fact, of all the thousands upon thousands of women who report being sexually abused, which is not really sexual in nature but rather purely an act of violence, five percent, yes five percent turn out to be fabrications, usually made by mentally ill women, once in a great while made for financial gain, publicity, or as revenge on a former spouse or boyfriend. This, coupled with new revelations by the New York times that Donald J. Trump inherited a great deal of money from his father, contrary to what Trump has repeatedly claimed, and that he and his siblings used various of tax evasion and financial fraud to multiply their inherited fortune. The New York times is the most reliable, credible newspaper in the world, and does not report a story unless it has confirmed all the facts beyond dispute, despite what America's right wing community claims. The Time,s and the rest of America's so called "mainstream media" is neither liberal nor corrupt nor propagates "fake news". In fact, the mainstream meida, including the Times, seeks to be politically neutral and balanced in order to attract man and offend no one, but since that requires that it not echo the right wing ideology espoused by a vociferous minority of Trump supporting Republicans, the right wing ceaselessly unleashes assaults aimed at the Times, and the rest of America's generally responsible and reliable news media. At what point will the thirty five percent of the American people who fall into this category, the category of supporting Trump and spouting right wing nonsense and prevarications, finally come clean, mend their ways, and change their behavior? wehn will they become something other than dishonest, morally bankrupt reprobates/ most likely on the day that their self esteemed leader, mr. Trump, is removed from office, led away in handcuffs, and sent to prison, and his right wing mob of extremist un-American supporters finally disperses, and go slouching off int o the murky swamp of their own making, and into the dustbin of history.

Spreading The Wealth

JEFF BEZOS, the amazon mogul and multi trillionaire who owns more money than teh seven point billion rest of us combined, more money than God, more money than all the gods of all the religions not only on Earth, but throughout the known and unknown universe, has decided, under intense pressure from Senator Bernie Sanders and others, to begin paying his lowest payed employees fifteen dollars an hour. Although he claims that by so doing he will put himself in the poor house, be forced to live out of dumpsters on the streets, declare bankruptcy, and eat leftovers, he describes his decision as "personal financial suicide", which, he says, "is nonetheless compatible with the principles of God, Christ, and Karl Marx." And for that, Bernie Sanders says "give credit where credit is due." right he is. We socialists do not necessarily have anything against gazillaires. We really don't, for the most part. What we do object to is when they receive tax cuts, and when they use loopholes to avoid paying taxes altogether, and when they pay employees market value, because, market value for labor is often below a living wage. We socialists object to anyone who objects to progressive taxation, tne more progressive the better. The most prosperous period in American history was between 1940 and 1970, when progressive taxation had the wealthy paying inordinately high taxes, and there were few extremely wealthy people, few poor people, nearly everyone was middle class, and a man could support a family of four with a minimum wage job. yes, a family of four with a minimum wage job. sounds incredible, bu tits true. And all because the war effort necessitated taxing the wealthy at an extremely high rate, over ninety percent, a rate which came down only when Kennedy became president, a wealthy man, advocating for the wealthy, as the wealthy, when in power, which is always, tend to do. Tax cuts for the wealthy do nothing except enrich the rich. Tax cuts for corporations give corporations the opportunity to increase production and hire new workers, but they never do, because..why should they? The fact that corporations have more money by paying lower taxes does not increase consumer demand, which is necessary for an increase in production. In order to increase production, supply, first aggregate demand must be increased. This is done by getting money into the hands of many people who did not have money previously, by creating new consumers, expanding the market place. Raising pay for millions of workers, transferring money from the wealthy to the poor, ther is an increase in the number of people who can and must spend money on consumer goods and services, which they spend....with corporations who respond by increasing productions, selling more, and hiring more workers to produce. Tax the wealthy, render unto Caesar, give unto the poor, and it all comes back to the wealthy, and capitalism takes off like a veritable rocket. that's what Jeff Bezos understands, and what Bernie Sanders is congratulating him for.

Saving The Whales, And Ourselves

TO THE HUMAN EYE, the right whale is perhaps the strangest looking life form to ever swim the planet, excepting squid. only, it can't swim. it actually uses its inherent buoyancy to float submerged in the north Atlantic. the size of a school bus, it looks like an oblong rock covered with barnacles, with a huge gaping maw of a mouth. we had better appreciate this magnificent animal while we still can; there are only about four hundred and fifty living, and according to the experts, it will be extinct within two decades, unless drastic action is taken immediately, which does not appear likely. the right whale has stopped reproducing, as if giving up. It can give birth once every three or four years. Of the seventy or so available for birthing this year, none have gotten pregnant, and none will. the reasons for this are the usual suspects: human activity and climate change. In other words, human activity. its migratory patterns, like those of most species, are changing due to global warming, and are taking it into areas with less abundant food sources. entanglements in fishing nets play a role, as do collisions with ocean going vessels. the animal's high fat content make it a tempting target not only for illicit hunters but also for sharks, and other predators. they appear to be stressed out, which could account for its decline in fertility. there is now a constant background of human made noise, machinery, in almost every region of the world's oceans; the right whale is not the only species negatively impacted by the noise of humankind. The whale could be saved with several simple but effort and expense laden steps, according to teh experts, but probably won't be, due to a lack of political will, as mentioned above. prohibiting fishing and al other ships from its habitat would be helpful, as would enriching its food supply by adding nutrition to the areas in which they move. Complacency about the state of the environment is ubiquitous. A case in point is Gregg Easterbrook's new book "Its Better than It Looks: Reasons For Optimism In An Age Of Fear". An interesting read, and uplifting, but, a bit too optimistic on the environment. Easterbrook points out that poverty is being greatly reduced world wide, that modern medicine and technology are improving and lengthening everyone's life, that the crime rate is down, and that there are fewer wars than normal, and all that, all true. Indeed, much of our pervasive pessimism is unfounded. By almost any measure, humankind is better off than ever before. But he runs astray when he tells us that recent predictions concerning the rate of global warming have been too pessimistic, and that the actual rate of climate change is slower than expected. This is simply not true. In fact, plant and animal species are becoming extinct at an unprecedented rate, the result of human activity, the "anthropocene". The average rise in average global temperatures is accelerating, with no relent possible, because the carbon content of teh atmosphere is still increasing. As it now stands, our species will either be extinct or living in extremely hostile climatic conditions within a few generations. Easterbrook is accurate, however, when he points out that the emergence of solar and wind energy offers great hope. its merely a matter of whether clean energy will dominate the market place soon enough, and whether existing damage will be reversed in time. We can only hope, and work hard to survive.

Making Capitalism Work, Using Socialism

EACH OCTOBER the great American invention, baseball, makes millions miserable, and a few the fans of the World Series champion, joyful beyond comprehension. that's why we began, several decades ago, awarding participation trophies to all the children; to alleviate misery. There are those, however, who espouse the rather strange view that we must expose children to misery on the playground, lest they be unprepared fr its inevitability in adult life. the thought that it might be more desirable to alleviate, at to some extent, the misery of adult life never seems to gain mention, much less support. In a highly competitive capitalistic society, misery, like money, is compounded, as the winners in business drive out the loser, monopolies are formed just as surely as the patriots and Yankees form dynasties, and there is never a restart button, except for bankruptcy law and anti-trust legislation, which today seems to have been forgotten. professional sports, much to its credit, has not been too proud to utilized socialism as a saving to competitive balance. All pro sports have a player draft, in which the best teams get the least desirable picks in the draft, most professional sports have some sort of salary cap or restriction, baseball has a "Luxury tax"; if a teams spends too much on player's salaries, they are slapped with a heavy tax as a deterrent to runaway player salaries. Socialism, as always, saves capitalism, and the billionaires know how to use socialism to their financial advantage. Baseball players started showing up looking like world class body builders in the mid eighties, so, after reaping a healthy profit from home run numbers on steroids, the owners finally decided to crack down, and performance enhancing drugs were prohibited, and drug testing installed, to regain credibility and profit. it worked. the players started looking like human being again, rather then super heroes, and the game regained self respect. the problem was, and is, now the owners of major league baseball were telling people (players) what they could not put into their own bodies, their temples, their most intimate possessions. they had assumed the power to control the interior of their employees bodies, with the full cooperation of the players and their world's most powerful labor union, themselves. All in the name of cooperation, of "government control", of, yes, socialism. So now the question is; of all the great players who achieved greatness since the nineteen eighties and were also using performance enhancing drugs, people like Barry Bonds, among many, many others, do we included them or exclude them from the iconic coveted baseball Hall of Fame? So far the answer seems to be exclusion. In the fullness of time, baseball will perhaps arrive at the only sensible solution; a steroid Hall of Fame. And why not? For years the owners allowed steroids to flourish in baseball, knowingly, without regulation. Baseball has in the past discriminated on the basis of skin color. So, why not now discriminate on the basis of steroids?

Coopting A Good Idea

IF YOU'RE A CREATIVE PERSON, you've probably read a poem, heard a piece of music, or seen a painting which makes you wish, somehow, that you had been the one to create it. this response is not automatic. Often we enjoy artistic endeavor from others without envy. We merely appreciate, and enjoy. ut there are those special occasions in which there is that special something about a creation which reminds of of ourselves, on a deep level, and inspires us to believe that not only could we have created it, that we should have. The same holds true of ideals. it came to my attention a while back that there is an idea, which unless I am dreaming is nowadays called a "meme", floating about in the cyberspacial cloud (whatever that might be), which is so very, very brilliant, that only am I jealous that I am not its originator, I am actually tempted to claim that I am, a claim which might actually gain some measure of currency in these times of relative truth, fake news, and personal universes. So be it. the idea is mine. All have noticed that members of Congress, the men in particular, wear an informal formal uniform, consisting of a dark blue suit, red tie, and flag lapel pin. Why not actually establish a formal, official, informal uniform, more closely reflecting the reality of political office? How about this: each member of congress henceforth shall be required to wear a NASCAR style jumpsuit, or whatever ever they're called; you know the style, those things that look rots like pilot flight suit, sorta like military fatigues, sorta like work out apparel, sort like astronaut attire. They are all covered, head to toe, with advertising, the logs and such of the corporate sponsors of the various drivers. In the case of Congressmen, and women, the unis could be covered with the logos and insignia of donors to the respective campaigns which elevated the respective congressional members to positions of power! And, come to think of it, let us not limit the idea to men; include the ladies as well, as unisex look, reflecting the equal status of female politicians, just like female race car drivers wear the same apparel as men. the uniforms would be required only during actual sessions on the Senate and House floors; wear during committee hearings would be optional. Among the republicans, one might expect to see the emblem of the Koch brothers proudly displayed, whatever that might be, perhaps one of their oil corporate logos might suffice. Among the Democrats, labor unions might be expected to be widely represented. Accuracy and truth in advertising laws would apply; fact checking would determine whether any member of Congress was omitting a major campaign contributor from display, or whether such a contributor was being falsely represented without actually being a financial donor. A minimum of a say, one hundred thousand dollar contribution to the candidate in question would be required to gain representation of the uniform, Sundry details could be worked out over time.