Stewarding Insanely

THE IVORY BILLED WOODPECKER, a beautiful bird with a melodious song, is now extinct. No human will ever again see a living one, unless they are cloned. No human deserves to. Another beautiful exotic bird, native to Hawaii, has suffered the same fate. No members of either species have been seen in decades, but hope was held out, until just recently, when they, along with more than twenty other species of missing animals, were officially declared extinct. Pronounced extinct, off hand, matter of factly, and nobody paid much attention or even noticed their being gone. Mostly birds and fish, a mammal here and there, and how many people know or care? We may not miss the fresh water mussels for awhile; all they did was filter and clean the pollutants from water. I remember October first, 1996, exactly twenty five years ago. I was forty one. A couple of friends and I went for a long run on a hilly tree lined trail deep in the woods in the Ozark mountains, and the trees were already far along changing colors. They were an explosion of shades of red, orange, and yellow. In those days that was normal. Back then October was still a cool weather month in the Ozark mountains. Now, October is a summer month, and the leaves start to change color around Halloween in the Ozarks. Both extinctions and climate change are caused, of course, by us. Over the next coupld of decades as many as one million species of animals will likely become extinct, being already threatened with extinction, and the climate, crazy as it has already become, will become much crazier, crazy beyond recognition. any meteorologist wil tell you that the climate and weather from day to day in most areas is already crazy beyond recognition. This, no matter what, if anythyng, humans do to ameliorate the dire situation, no matter how drastice the steps we take, assuming we take any. Its merely a matter of time, extent, and degree. There is no such thing as harmless human infrastructure growth and development, unless we are wliing to drastically reduce the humanpopulation, revert to stone age technology, or crowd thogether in hig density towns in high rise buildings, and leave the rest to nature, which we obviously are not willing to do. We are not willing to abandon our addiction to suburbs and gated communities, McMansions and strip malls, to fossil fuels and general material prosperity and extreme wealth for the few. We are unwilling to live simply that nature may simply live. Humans are irratinal enough to destroy the ecosystem in exchange for short term material prosperity, luxury, and comfort, irrational enough to trade our descendants future for our own profligate lifestyle. Most human are sufficiently irrational not to even care or remain aware of this dire human made situation. Many pretend that climate change and envirnmental destruction do not exist, or tha tit does not matter even if it does because their imaginary skky god is going to come down from the sky any day now, and rapture the saved, by which they mean themselves, into heaven. That is the extent of their insanity. These insane people who call themselves "believers" tend to devout worship capitalism, the freedom the compete ferociously for the acquisition of personal wealth, other people and nature be damned. The intellectual father of modern capitalism, Adam Smith, in his seminal 1776 book "The Wealth of Nations", the bible of capitalistic theory, said that capitalism works for everyone, or should, if people all behave rationally in their own self interest. The problem is that nobody behaves rationally in his or her own self interest, unless you consider drinking, smoking, becoming obese, violence, and an endless list of other destructive human behaviors to be self interested and rational, and an economic system rsulting in the eminent destruction of the Earth's ecosystem to be rational, in society's best interests. If you do, you are not merely irrational, you are flat out straight up crazy. Adam smith knew that in pratice, capitalism cannot and will not work, such is the nature of human nature. People seldom mention that.

Socialists, Hiding In the Closet

WHEN SOCIAL SECURITY was implemented in 1935, my mother was a fifteen year old high school student, a member of a conservative, Repbulican dairy farming family. She and my grandparents all had the exact same attitude about the new FDR program: it was a very bad idea, it simply was not going to work. Roosevelt's socialistic agenda was a huge mistake, they firmly believed, too much government ivolvement in people's lives. The government would immediately begin taking money out of every paycheck of every hard working American, for the rest of the person's working life....for what? Upon retirement the government would begin to pay the money back, in the form of a monthly payment from the Treasury Department. Full retirement age was determined to be sixty five, with early retirement, with lower Social Security payments, possible. There were several obvious problems with this. One, few people actually lived to "retire" in those days. It was conisdered normal for workers to work as long as they were able, then to live out their lives in the care of ther immediate families. That didn't leave much time for actual "retirement". Life expectancy was considerably lower in the nineteen thirties; most folks lived only a few short years beyond the end of their working lives. My mother and her parents were convinced that they would all spend the rest of their working lives paying into a system from which they would never, could not possibly ever get their money back. How wrong they were, as my mother acknowledged late in her long life. My grandfather did indeed die before he was able to retire and enjoy the benefits of social security. But my grandmother lived for several decades beyond her husband, and in fact remarried and outlived her second husband. The social security system did just fine by her. My mother, a career registered nurse, retired at sixty six and lived to ninety three, and drew social security for the twenty seven years of her long and active retirement. She enjoyed her much deserved retired years, remaining active in gardening, community activities, complaining that she never won at the weekly community bingo tournament, and enjoying watching her two children achieve success in early adulthood, all the way into their middle age. It seems likely to me that my mother received far more in social security payments than she ever paid into the system, although she paid into it for more than forty years as a career nurse. That's the way the system works; some people die before they can reap the benefits of their hard work, others live long and reap the benefits afforded by those who die early. By the time my mother died, she was a born again believer in social security, as well as medicare, and all those horrible socialistic programs she and her parents so opposed when they were instituted. I once asked her whether she voted for Roosevelt in 1944, when she was first eleigble to vote in a presidential election. She gave me two answers; "no", and "hell no". My mother turned out to be very lucky that the Democratic socialist president she and her fmaily so loved to hate won those elections in which they voted against him; had Republicnas been in office all along, social security would never have become more than a glimmer in the eyes of America's left wing. The same scenario happens over and over and over in American life; Republican conservatives complain about the dreaded horror of socialism, but do not heistate to take full advantage of its benefits. They send their children to public schools, drive on publicly owned streets and highways, receive protection from socialistic (publicly, not privately owned) police and fire departments and the military, and late in life join pulbicly owned socialized senior centers and gladly accept their social security checks. They are closet socialists, and, in all fairness, hypocrites.

The Risk of Believing Conservatism

DO YOU BELIEVE that climate change is a hoax, a liberal scam, and that even if it is happening, which is doubtful, it is entirelly natural, and beyond human influence or control? Do you believe that humanity should continue to use fossil fuels as long as they remain plentiful, because using them has no disecernable impact on the environment, and creates material prosperity for everyone, and that the manufacture of as much material prosperity as possible should remin a primary objective of American, and indeed human enterprise? Are you convinced that all illegal immigration into the United States should be stopped immediately by constructing a massive wall along the entire southern border of the country, and that legal immigration should be strictly limited to people who possess skills needed in the United States? Do you beieve that Covid 19 is nothing other than another variety of the flu, that it has been much overblown out of proportion by liberals, the ainstream liberal media, and by the government, and that vaccine mandates, mask wearing, social distancing, quarantining, and vaccinating are being implemented for the sole purpose of implementing more government control over the population and limitinfg individual freedom? Do you believe that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, and that today's Christians are under attack by the political left and non Christian community in a "war against Christianity", and the today's Christians must do all in their power to ensure that the United States remains forever a Christian nation, one nation under God? Do you believe that socialism is evil, a form of government control, and that all good Americans must fight to keep socialism out of the American economic system? Are you convinced that all government intervention in theeconomy, including redistribution of wealth, is unfair and harms the nation by penalizing hard work and success, and rewarding those who have not done what is necessary to achieve success on their own? If you answer "yes" to all the above, you are most definitely a conservative, and probably an evangelical Christian conservative. Most importantly, if you answered "yes" to these questions, you are not only wrong, but dead wrong, are living in a false reality, and are harmful to the well being of the United States and the world. There is more proof that climate change is real, and caused by humans, than there is proof that the holocaust happened, that the Earth is round, or that evolution by natural selection explains the existence of the human species. Climate change, in other words, is too obvious to be denied any longer by any reasonably intelligent person. The same is true of evolution, but, a shockingly high percentage of evangelical christian conservatives refuse to accept this reality as well. Covid 29 has killed nearly three quqrters of a million Americans, even with a readily available vaccine. That is hardly "just another flu". Socialism in America? How aobut social security, medicare, public streets and highways, public police and fire departments, and public schools, to name but a few examples of successful socialsm in America today. Immigration? Without immigrants, the aging American native born population would soon run out of working age people, and become a nation of elderly non producers. Immigrants tend to be young, healthy, ready to work. They pay taxes, and they keep the American economy afloat. We are all the descendants of immigrants. The United States was founded as a secular democracy, with religious freedom and tolerance, and no official state religion. For proof, read the constitution. Or maybe letters written by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. The best we can hope to do with our evangelical Christian conservative citizens is to make them good citizens, by educating them. It will be a daunting task, with uncooperative students.

Being Basically Decent

WHEN AN ELECTION is over, the politicians shake hands and congratulate each other, if they were raised right and remain decent people. Its like shaking hands after a football game with both teams on the field, good gaming the other team. If instead you claim the election was stolen from you and refuse to concede, refuse to shake hands and congratulate the winner, you must identify who stole it, and show proof, or at least strong evidence. Accusations of criminal activity must always be accompanied by identifying the criminal, and providing evidence or proof of the crime. These basic principles of civilized behavior are still being ignored by Trump and his supporters. President Trump phoned the Attorney General of Georgia, and tried to bully him into stealing the election for Trump. Trump tried to commit the exact crime he and his supporters accused some mysterious unidentified party of committing. In Georgia, Republican paranoia, and their delusional desperation belief that the election had been stolen from Trump caused there to be three seperate vote recounts - Biden won every time. In the other crucial swing states, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona, investigations and recounts have already been completed or are still underway, with no changes in the election outcome. The Arizona Republicans hand picked a firm to recount the votes, and the the firm of Trump supporters sadly reported the other day that a recount showed that Biden actually won by a few hundred more votes than in the original vote count. On election night in these states mobs of MAGA mad trump supporters, noticing that Biden was gaining on Trump in the count becaue of mail in votes, mostly Democratic, being counted last, tried to stop the voting, but intrepid election workers in every case refused to accede to the angry mobs, and like the Georgia Attorney General, helped save Democracy. Now the disappointed Trump supporters are claiming that recounts are not about reversing the election results, but only about ensuring future vote integrity, which, of course is a lie, and a pathetic, hilarious attempt to save face and dignity in the face of continued defeat and failure. Trump supporters know full well that elections in America are essentially free of fraud, that the presidential election of twenty twenty was fair and honest, and that Trump lost. But because they have taken on the personailtiy traits of Trump, Trump's supporters are behaving like him, embracing a malicious lie and refusing to do the honorable thing, and congratulate Biden. Trump supporters are deeply ashamed of themselves, ashamed of their own behavior, ashamed to have embraced Trump's election lie, ashamed of their childish response to their election loss. They should be ashamed, ashamed of what and who they have allowed themselves to become. Their shame is still hidden from themselves, but it comes out in their anger and violent behavior. In their attempt to destroy American democracy in the pursuit of illegal power for Trump they have forfeited whatever moral decency they may once have had. Trump, meanwhile, has completed his fall from power, but not his fall from grace. The plethora of ongoing investigations into his behavior and consequent lawsuits are only just beginning, and will eventually reveal his criminal activity, and brand him a criminal for life, and for posterity. When the smoke clears and the dust settles his remaining followers will have to decide whether to cling to him until the bitter end, or renounce him for the sake of their personal dignity and self respect, the same sort of choice Richard Nixon's supporters faced a half century ago. Trump supporters are in a moral trap, and only they can extricate themselves from it.

Nature, Collapsing

THE WORLD'S ECOSYSTEM is collapsing. Its too obvious to deny, and there is no other way to describe it. Millions of species of animals are threatened with extinction; many have already gone extincet. We are in the midst of the sixt mass extinction event in natural history, this one caused entirely by human activity. Just recently sixteen animal species were removed from the endangered species list; tehy have gone extinct. Fianlly, elatedlly, we are strting to scramble for solutions, one of which is heh so called "thirty by thirty" project. According to this plan, at least thirty percent of the Earth's land area would be reserved exclusively for natural habitat by teh year twenty thirty. how generous of homo sapien sapiens to magnanimously give up thirty percent of the world to all the other plants and animals combined, instead of paving it into parking lots and housing subdivisions with gated communites and privacy fences. Stingy though that may seem, by human standards it isn't bad, and, if nothing else, its a start. There is more good news. At the United Nations china suddenly announced that it would stop financing and building coal powered plants in other countries, immediately. Thus heh human carbon "footprint" becomes a bit lighter. In its quest to be teh world's most powerful country economically as well as militarily, china has in recent years embarked on massive projects of infrastructure investment in developing nations. By cancellign curretnlyplanned coal plants, China is taking a big step forward to sustainability. its next best step would be to stop building one coal plant per week, on average, in its own country, which it says it intends to do within a decade or so. Baby steps, as they say. Elsewhere, ther is in Switzerland a company called "Klime-works" which develops methods of fighting climate change. One, a promising machine which looks somewhat like a large shipping container, a large rectangular metal box. A fan inside sucks in air, cleans the carbon out of it, then releases teh clean air back into the atmosphere. A single dumpster sixed machine can clean about four thousand metric tons of air in a year, not mcuh, but, again, its a start. All that is needed is to scale up the system, and use it world wide. this can be done using geo-thermal energy, which is abailable in many places, including beneath most of the western United States. Iceland is already doing this. Planting one trillion trees worldwide, converting to clean energy, and using carbon atmospheric capture (C.A.R.), is a formula for success in reversing global warming. WE already have the tachnology and teh ability to do all three.So we still have a chance to ensure the future survival of teh ecosystem and the human species. After all, its not about us, its about our grandchildren, and their grand children.

Nearly Degenerating Into Tyranny

ON JANUARY SIXTH, 2021, the United States came perilously close, closer than most people can imagine, to degenerating from a democratic republic into a fascist dictatorship. Vice President Pence, before finally acceding to reality, tried everything in his power to reverse the election results to make Trump the winner. Recent research indicates that Pence consulted dozens of constitutional legal experts and former V.P. Dan Quayle, and that all of them assured him that there was no way to accomplish that objective. Until now, only a handful of people were aware of Pence's desperate last ditch effort to steal the election for Trump, who of course was himself trying to steal it, by telling his big lie that it had been stolen from him, and by filing frivoloous lawsuits in many different courts, among other more desperate means. On election night, in the swing states in which Trump took an early lead in the vote count, Biden was closing the gap as the mail in votes were counted last, most of which were from Democrats. The handwriting was on the wall: Biden was going to catch up, pass Trump, and win crucial states. In many places in these states mobs of angry Trump supporters gathered outside pollling places and tried to stop the count, but in every instance the vote counters held firm, and bravely refused to capitulate. Thus they saved democracy. Trump's famous phone call to the Georgia Attorney General in which the would-be-dictator tried to bully the A.G. into stealing the Georgia election for Trump, is well known; millions have heard the tape recording the A.G. made of the surreal conversation. Once again, electoral democracy was saved from Trump and his lawless, violent supporters. Had Trump succeeded in intimating the Attorney General in Georga into stealing the state election for Tmump, who knows what might have happened in other states where Republican controlled state legislatures, bouyed by the Georgia example, might have followed suit? What other successful acts of tyranny might Trump have successfully engineered? Them most alarming example was of course Janaury sixth, when a large energetic rally Trump had planned well in advance was held near the White House, a campaign style rally for a man with only two weeks left in office. This gathering had no other possible purpose for Trump than to try to violently keep him in office for a second term, and that was Trump's intent when he ordered the angry mob , after getting them emotionally fired up with words, to go to the capitol and "fight", which is exaxcly what they did. The violent insurrection was preplanned by Trump, but it failed, whereas Trump had intended it to succeed in forcing Congress to reverse the results of the electoral college. For the first time in American history, an American president tried to overthrow the American government. The failure of the coup was the final, most dramatic democracy saving event in the whole sordid sequence of events, in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Trump's election loss and the subsequent events surrounding his false claim of victory are the subject of a new assiduously researched book by Wall Street Journal White House reporter Michael Charles Bender, which recounts the nightmarish scenarios, and convinces any reader than indeed Trump and his supporters nearly ended American democracy, an attempt at which to this day they regret having failed . The surrealism continues to this day, as Trump supporters prefer to ignore the insurrection, or to pretend that it was a harmless event, or, as Trump recently said: "A loving group". That most of Trump's supportes still support him and still regret that their attempted coup failed is the most frightening aspect of all, and will be, as long as these traitors are active among us.

Abandoning France

FRANCE is America's most loyal and long standing ally, having provided the American colonies with the weapons and ammunition necessary to gain their independence from Great Britain. The facat that the assistance was provided more to harm France's ancient enemy Great Britian than to help the fledgling United States does not diminish the importance of the assistance, without which American independence would have been impossible. Had the revolution failed, the consequences would have been dire for the colonists, many of whom, as Benjamin Franklin warned, would have been hanged seperately. During the two world wars of the twentieth century, the United States repaid its debt, ("Lafayette, we are here") partially, if not entirely. As for the joint French-American Viet Nam disaster, in which the Americans replaced the French in trying to retain control of the revolting French colony, call it an even split, two imperial powers tag teaming defeat. However you calculate who owes whom, the United States under Biden was guilty of deceitful and grossly disrespectful treatment of the French. Because the nuclear powered submarine deal between the U.S. and Australia and the South pacific military agreement intending to oppose Chinese domination of the region involving Australia, the U.S., and Great Britain directly affected France, and was carrried out not only in the absence of partiipation but also of involvement by the French, this shabby treatment of a valued ally was inexcusable. The apology delivered by Biden, a presumed expert on foreign relations through long experience in the field may have been sufficient to heal the rift. Talk, as they say, is cheap. Were I the French, I might insist on more substantial compensation. Perhpas a healthy load of nuclear warheads would suffice, or bottomless mugs of Budweiser and Jack Daniels for all French imbibers. Maybe even a few nuclear powered subs delivered to France, or a few billion dolars in trade credit...lest Trump people be tempted to criticize Biden for shabby treatment of our closest ally, to send another violent mob of angry supporters to overthrow the Biden government, and to wistfully wonder what Trump would have done different and better, it would do to recall that Trump indicated his desire to remove the United States from N.A.T.O., claimed that during the Revolutionary War George Washington captured every airport in the thirteen colonies, and incessantly railed agasint our cloesest allies for all manner of imagined offenses, while cozying up to the world's most brutal dictators. So much for Mr. Trump's diplomatic astuteness.

Abandoning Africa

APPROXIMATELY FOUR PERECENT of Africans have been vaccinated against Covid 19. Fortunately for the rest of the world this is far below the global average of forty percent. This bleak statistic would seem to indicate that the conservative claim that systemic racism is noneexistant is a laughable lie. Systemic racism is not ony very real, it is international in scope. Racism was an invention of the fifteenth century, a modern rather an ancient phenomenon, used by European nations to justify the enslavement of Africans and other dark skinned people, and the plundering of their resources, the theft of their land. No continent on Earth has been as brutally or thoroughly conquered, enslaved, exploited, and plundered as Africa. The obvious reason is the skin pigment of most of its people, and the technologically primitve nature of its cultures, which, like native American culture, is a luxury afforded people who live harmoniously within the natural constraints and conditions of their environment. Technology's primary purpose is to alleviate harsh living conditions. Every major European country invaded, conquered, and plundered parts of Africa, stole its abundant natural resources, and imposed an exploitative imperial colonial rule that guaranteed that the continent would languish in poverty until as least well into the twenty first century, and, apparently, well beyond. Now, the developed world ignores Africa's vaccination needs. In the twenty first century, is is not surprising that during the worst pandemic in more than one hundred years, the world has, thus far, forgotten Africa. As always, the light skinned people mmistreat the dark skinned people of the Earth. Consider Haiti, the blackest and poorest nation in the western hemisphere. The poverty is not coincidental, but is by deliberate, malicious design. Twice in the past one hunded years the United States has invaded and occupied the half island, for having the audacity to install governments and political and economic systems unfavorable to U.S. interests. That too is a commnon theme; the United States intervenes and makes regime changes in weaker resource rich countries which fail to do the American's corporate bidding. On both occassions the American occupiers left Haiti with everything of value that wasn't nailed down. White people have historically hated black people for having the temerity of resisting mistreatment. Blak people alwasy resent and often resist mistreatment by whites, regardless of the skin color of their tormentors. Racism is a one way street, always has been, and still is.

Children, Stressing, Like They Should

YOUNG PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD are experiencing severe emotional trauma concerning climate change, which they justifiably believe is robbing them of a future full of life. Extensive research, consisting of intervieews with thousands of teenagers worldwide, reveals rampant depression, anxiety, and perpetual fear, as young people, always perceptive, can clearly see the impending doom rushing headlong straight at them, preparing to put an end to their hopes and dreams. Activist Greta Thunberg, now an adult, has in recent years awakened the sleeping giant of the world's youth about the clear and present danger of climate change, and the urgent necessity of dealing with it immediately. Children have been lied to about climate change and its implications for their prospects for long, prosperous life, just as children are normally lied to about everything else, from the source of Christmas presents to the source of babies. How should children be educated about climate change? Maybe like they are educated about sex; tell them innocent lies when they are quite young, then spring the truth on them when they are sufficiently mature to comprehend it. Birds, bees, and climate change. Adults lie to each other about anything and everythings as well, of course, and there is a never ending avalanche of lies and disinformation about climate change in real space and time, and especially on the internet. The truth, thanks to exhaustively researched and repeatedly verified science, has been known and available to everyone for more than thirty years. In popular culture, the charlatans and hoaxers are the first to be consulted, and the climate scientists, who should be the only source of information, are the last, and least respected. The dispensers of disinformation, religious fanatics, and self appointed gurus, receive top billing in an undereducated society lacking basic critical thinking skills. In the mainstream media, descriptions of extreme weather events, which are influenced in severity and frequency by climate change, are accompanied by references to climate change less than ten percent of the time. Media outlets, fearful of retribution by their corporate masters and loss of advertising revenue, prefer to dance around reality to avoid alienating a disbelieving portion of the public, which, tragically, is substantial. Fossil fuel companies have known about climate change, and about their large role in creating it, for decades, because they by necessity employ and consult credible scientists. Their initial strategy was to obfuscate and mislead by confusing the issue with claims of "conflicting evidence", but as the reality of human made climate change has become undeniable, they have changed tactics, and now present themselves as noble heroic crusaders in the fight to save the Earth's econsystem, laughably. For this purpose they spend billions of dollars in advertising, money well spent in creating effective propaganda and delaying their inevitable demise as they grab every dollar in profit possible before their ultimate liquidation.. Children are the victims of this disinformation just like the rest of us, but are less prepared to handle it, and have more to lose because of it. But today's children are more computer savvy than previous generations, and more percipient. They get to the truth, no matter how diligently we try to hide it from them. That being the case, little wonder that they tend, as a group, to be depressed and anxious about their prospects for a long and healthy life in a healthy world.

The Far Right, Fizzling

THE BIG RIGHT WING protest at the capitol on Saturday, September 18 was a fizzle. There were more police officers and journalists in attendance than actual protestors, more people to control and report on the protest than protestors to control and report on.The number of people protesting the indictment and prosecution of the criminals who staged the insurrrection January 6 numbered about two hundred. The event was well and widely advertised well in advance - every far right crazy person on social media knew about it. Why then, the lack pf participants? The explanation being lamely offered by the mainstream conservative establishment, which wholeheartedly approved of the event, is that it was a set up, that the feds planned to swoop in and arrest these heroic champions of liberty, virtue, and Donald Trump's election fraud prevarication. That, of course, is nonsense, as nonsensical as the original insurrection itself and the big lie by Trump which precipitated it. What the low turnout clearly demonstrates is that support for Trump's election lie and for right wing terrrorism is broad and wide, but paper thin, few people being willling to atually put their bodies where their mouths are. Intelligent people realize that Trump's big lie and the embrace it has gotten from millions of his supporters is as phony as a three dollar bill. Good citizens recognize the January 6 insurrectionsts for the criminals they are, and that prosecuting their crimes against the United States is justice being done. Last Saturday's protest thus becomes a hollow exercise in futility, misguided cult members complaining about due process and proper justice, in support of wanton criminals, of which Trump was the leader and inciter in chief. How enthusiastic would you be about fighting for a cause which you know in your heart of hearsts is bogus, unjust, nothing but a fight for the unaccountability and impunity of people trying to overthrow the government of their own country? The September 18 reprobates simply lacked conviction, as do Trump supporters; hence, whereas they still believe Trump's big lie on teh surface, and pay lip service to it,, they don't believe it deep down, and are losing the will to fight for it. They are asking themselves, whether or not they admit it; "Is this really worth fighting for?" They know that their cause is a phony hoax, unworthy of real effort. That a misguided, malignant event like the September 18th gathering was even contemplated, much less actualized, is telling; that it was a complete flop even more telling. The Trump movement is irrevocably fading away into the dustbin of history, not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Still Bucking Trends, Though Old

WHEN I TURNED SIXTY several years ago, I decided to go back to college for free. Years before I had spent a pleasant eternity in college, in Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral programs, then had pursued a stange and equally interesting career in teaching, and retired. This time it would be all for fun, no pressure, if I fail I fail, and, best of all, tuition free. In journalism class I sat with about two hundred nineteen year olds, I was the only one in class who took notes the old fashioned way, with pen and paper. The professor, an old fossil about ten years my senior and nearing retirement, said to the class one day: "I notice that the girls on campus all wear shorts and T shirts with the name of their sorority on them. When I was in college the 'co-eds' actually dressed up to attend class." Red flag. The old fossil insults half the class. Hell, dude, when you were in college the cars all had cranks. Moron alert. In retalliation, I started wearing y Rolling Stones T shirt, lips and tongue, to class. The kids loved it. The fossil did not. Pressing the point, I went by his office, and asked him if he was familiar with Chris Hedges, knowing he would be, wanting his reaction. Our mutual dislike already in evidence, his reaction clearly showed that he did not like Chris Hedges, the world's best journalist. "Oh yes", said the fossil, "He's..um different." Different indeed. Chris hedges has inserted himself into every danger spot in the world, the Middle East, Central America, Serbia, reporting on the violence and its consequences, constantly risking his life to elucidate his readers. Fossil either hates Hedges because of jealousy, or because Hedges is a left wing progressive who tells the truth about the complete corruption of prevailing economic and political systems, rather than going along for the ride and for a nice, safe, comfortable academic career, like a certain fossil. But, I had accomplished my goal, to make sure that this sixty year old doctorate holder presented himself as an inveterate Rolling Stones and Chris hedges fan, to the uncouth fossil. I dropped the class. I am still appmalled and horrifed that I ever set foot in his class, like the memory of just having beaten the onrushing train across the tracks by ignoring the warning signal, and regretting it. Everywhere I venture into public, pre pandeic of during it (there is no "post" pandemic, nor any sign that there will ever be such a thing), I am somewhat appalled at the zombie robotic conformity of thought of the American people, including in academia, supposedly the bastian of free thinking and originality. No wonder my teachigng career was so tempestuous. A high school primciple once asked me why I was telling my classes that Thomas Jefferson was an atheist, and I answered his question by asked him: "Why do you think I would do that? Give me your best guess." I never taught anywhere, high school or college, for very long.

Pledging Allegiance

I LOVE THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE It so simple, succinct, to the point. Deliberately crafted for ease of memory. And really, its so harmless and soothing, connecting us with something larger than ourselves, like prayer. As T.S. Eliot said about something else: "So elegant, so intelligent". Professions of loyalty have a certain nobility. Sometimes it seems as if the most fervantly outwardly patriotic people recite the pledge with the most perfunctory manner, as if they own the pledge, and need merely go through the motions, like extremely religiously devout people at prayer. I know the history of the pledge; who wrote it and why, and when. Its author was a minister and a socialist, like Martin Luther King. The most truly patriotic people advocate for change and progress, not content to settle for an unacceptable status quo. In 1954, when the words "under God" were added to the pledge, I would have opposed the addition, because it was already perfect in its original form, and because adding a religious element to it was irrelevant and, arguably, a violation of the first amendment seperation of church and state. But, alas, I wasn't born until the following year. In any event, I have long since learned not to tangle with patriotically devout Christians over minor matters; I have bigger fish to fry, as they say. There are many people who misguidedly associate patriotism with political conservatism, who regared liberals as unpatriotic because liberals advvocate for change. That is nonsense, of course. There are peopl who mistakenly claim that I am "opposed" to the pledge, even though I have promoted it and participated in it, in a leadership role, all my life. These people have been deliberatly deceived with lies and misinformation, and mistakenly consider themselves superior because of their conservative religious views. I can assure them that in no way are they superior to anyone. These misinformed folks are of course Christian conservatives, adn therefor their contempt for me comes quite naturally. Being christian conservatives, they ar epeople inclined to consigna anyone who does not shart their religious or political beliefs to hell, and they are Trump cult members who consider it virtuous to attempt to overthrow the government in order to keep their cult leader in power illegally. My love of the pledge harmonizes perfectly with my belief in secular democracy, my lack of belief in religious dogma, and my fervant embrace of progressive values such as democratic socialism. The Trump supporters, having now become traitors through their support of violent insurrection, reveal their hypocrasy each time they mindlessly mouth the words to the pledge, for appearances only. You simply cannot continue to supprot a president who refuses to accept ligitimate election defeat, then inspires a violent insurection on his behalf, and call yourself a decent patriotic American, or anything but a wanton traitor. I am comforted by the fact that those who falsely accuse me of "opposing" the pledge of allegiance are themselves traitors generally, morally and intellectually bankrupt. I shall continue to support the pledge and the nation for which it promises loyalty, even as they continue to abandon it. I would pray for them, were they worth the effort.

Children Going Hungry In America

I LIVE IN the wealthiest part of a relatively poor state, although arguably every state in these United States is, by global standards, quite wealthy. In my area, there has been an economic and population boom the entire forty years I have lived here. The population of the town I moved to forty years ago has more than doubled since my arrival, from about forty thousand to close to one hundred thousand. The surrounding area, both the very small and larger towns have experienced the same sort of growth. Hundreds of new businesses have sprung up, major corporations have expanded immensely, small roads have become super highways, as about forty people per day move into this very pleasant part of the country, bringing energy and money with them, making this one of the fastest growing areas in the United States. The land of opportunity. And yet, fifteen to twenty percent of the children in the area experience food insecurity on a regular basis, a deplorable, damning fact. A similar situation exists everywhere in the United States, with much worse statistics in many areas. This, in a nation which by many measure is the world's wealthiest, a nation which annually produces twice as much food as it needs, and throws half of it away. A nation in which fully one third of the adult population is obese. A nation in which eighty percent of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of twenty percent of the population, and nealy half in the hands of the top one percent. A nation in which twenty percent of the children experience food insecurity, meaning that nobody knows, from day to day, where their next meal is coming from. This, despite massive nationwide food assistance efforts, such as the S.N.A.P. and food bank programs which, though well intentioned, remain less than fully effective. Conservatives, of course, tend to blame it all on poorly performing parents, and to leave it at that. When traditinal, existing systems, primarily economic and political, fail, conservatives tend to turn away from the failure and to accuse those in need of laziness, or worse. Who should they blame for throwing away half the nation's food? Should they include themselves in the blame game? The pandemic has laid bare the many forms of needless, imposed, extreme inequality in American society, including systemic racism, which, though obvious, the existence of which conservatives are prone to deny. The massive tears and rents, tha gaping wounds in the social fabric of the nation are largely driven by race, always driven by class; the fact that the United States is a society with class distinctions being often overlooked amid the conservative mythology that we live in a "classless" society. Humanity produces enough food annually to feed everone on the planet, and yet hunger and starvatoin, although having been somewhat reduced in recent years, remain endemic. That we the people of planet Earth fail to adequatley feed and hosue everyone is our shame. It is the failure of our political and economic systems, which beg for needed reform but do not get it; rampant unregulated corporate profit seeking capitalism, and government inneficiency, misguided policies favoring the wealthy who own and control the systems, and corruption. Late in Albert Einstein's life he was asked to contribute a message to a time capsule that would be opened one hundred years hence. Roughly paraphrased, he wrote: "If you have not become kinder and more compassionate than we were, may the devil take you". The date is rapidly approaching.

Celebrating, Commemorating, Continuing

TODAY, SEPTEMBER 17, is the two hundred and thirty fourth anniversary of the ratification of the American constitution, the tenth anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the tenth anniversary of The Truthless Reconciler website. It is atogether fitting and proper, to paraphrase Lincoln, that these three entities share the same birth date. The consituttion is by far the most important of the three, and represents a giant step forward in human history, of self governance, a radical document for its time which changed the world, and continues to do so. Occupy Wall Street was, on the other hand, short lived, but had the same basic intention as the constitution; to radically change the world, and to make the world as safer place for decent human civilization. Ostensibly it failed; the economic, financial, and political structure of the United States is much the same as it was before the Occupy movement had its brief moment in the sun. Yet, it lives in memory as a noble attempt to bring fundamental structural change to a system which too much favors the wealthy powerful elite, at the expsnse of everyone else, especially the poor. Its spirit lives on, and will, until the changes it advocated for have become reality, as they most assuredly will, if human civilization is to survive. The Truthless Reconciler was inspired in part by both the consttitution and the occupy movement with the same basic intent; to inspire people to closely examine and to fundamentally change the nation and the world. While this huge and lofty goal will never be reached with something so small as a single website, the effort continues, and will endure, in spirit and "in print". Every essay published in "The Truthless Reconciler" is a rough draft. Hence the typos and sometimes awkward espression. Luxuries such as editing and proof reading cannot be afforded without adequate assistance; such assistance has never been forthcoming. It is more important to pusblish at least one basically well written essay a day, with a good, thought provoking central message, and more than one essay if possible, than to expend the time and effort necessary to closely edit and proof all material. Besides, a litle roughness around the edges lends itself to authenticity. The Truthless Reconciler is genuinely honored to share a birthhdy with two such noble endeavors as the Unitesd States constitution and the Occupy Wall Street movement. May all three live long and prosper.

The Bleeding Man On The Wall

WHEN I WAS A PRESCHOOLER, I was very afraid to enter my grandmother's house, even though she always treated me with loving kindness and tasty treats. Prominently displayed on her living room wall was a large painting of a young long haired man in agony, his hands and feet nailed to a wooden cross, from which his tortured body hung. A crown of thorns adorned his head, from which blood was dripping. It was the most horrible thing I had ever seen, and I had already had enough experience watching television to have seen some horrible things, people getting shot to death, and so forth. I tried, but it was impossible not to notice the gruesome painting. I tried not to stare in horrified fascination, but horrified fascination is what I felt. I intuitivey sensed that my dear sweet grandmmother must have had some good reason for having it on her wall, but I could not imagine what, and I was afraid to ask anyone to explain it to me, why it was there and what it meant, perhpap afraid of what the answer might be. Nobody ever mentioned it, nor made any attempt to xplain it to me. I assumed that I was either supposed to ignore it, take it for granted, or figure it out for myself, which, looking back, were exactly what I was supposed to do. Why would any adult, parent or grandparent want to take on the difficult task of explaining a painting of the crucification of Christ to a four year old? Let the child live, and learn. I was too young to undertand it, but not too young to see it. Nobody ever explained it to me, although a few folks tried. I guess I never became old enough to understand, and more than sixty years later I confess I still don't fully understand it. Over the years, as I grew through childhood I gradually pieced the crucifiction story together, and the basics of the religion in which it plays a central role. I was given the choice whether to attend church; I choose not to. I believe that all children deserve the same choice. Throughout my adult life, beginning in high school and college and continuing to this day, I became a hsitorian, and became educated in the history of the Christian religion, and something of a scholar in religious history through independent reading, as part of my broader professional interest in European history. My favorite Christian historian is Bart Ehrman, chairamn of the religious studies department at UNC Chapel Hill, who is widely considerd the most authoratative historian of the early history of the Christian religion. I avidly recommend Ehrman's work to everyone. He is an agnostic, like I am on most days. He entered the doctoral program in divinity studies at Princeton as a born again Christian, and graduated an agnostic. A high percentage of people who graduate from doctoral divinity programs at universities like Harvard and Princeton, where they teach religious studies in a historical, factual, scientific, critical manner, go through the same personal evolution. Comprehensive scholarship in religious studies invariably reveals that religion, all religion, is very much a human process. One never encounters God directly when examining scripture objectively, even when, especially when one reads every word of the Bible in ancient Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and modern English, which one is required to do at Harvard. Interestingly enough, as one reads the Old Testament page by page in order, without skipping around, God vanishes from it. In the book of Esther, God is not even mentioned. It comforts me that there is no evidence, other than people's personal faith, that the Christian religion is true, that Christ died for our sins but only if we agree to worship him, or that after death God judges us and consigns us to either eternal sameness in heaven or eternal horror in hell. Hell as we conceive it does not appear in the Bible either. Only the human mind could even imagine something so horrible as hell, or a good man being tortured to death, at God's instruction, as the only way to salvage the eternal human spirit from eternal damnation. Humanity invented religion, then it invented science, which increasingly, mostly makes the world we live in today, for better or worse. An intelligent species, like an intelligent perosn, must grow up, eventually.