It used to be in America that it was easy to hate the poor because poverty was something that happened elsewhere, usually to someone with darker skin than you. This didn't stop the politicians from whipping up fear and hatred, but at least America was prosperous enough to make sure the fear was more theoretical than real, if you lived in the right neighborhood. But now, with the deliberate destruction of the American middle class, poverty is just not for people of color anymore. Your next door neighbor, right here in Suburb Beautiful, could lose his job, his pension, and his savings, and be plunged into poverty. Has that made Americans more compassionate to the poor? Not exactly. In fact, the more people see poverty, the more people hate the poor. And you are more likely to hate people poorer than you if you are a member of the working poor.
The Tampa Bay Times recently printed an article by political writer Alex MacGillis. He tackles the well worn subject of exactly why the working poor vote Republican supposedly against their own interests , which just happened yet again in Kentucky. Turns out that the working poor, the next to last quintile on the income ladder, resent the government aid that people in the lowest quintile get, because they feel they don't deserve it. Same song, different race. The fact that the poor now in America are much more likely now to be a neighbor or even a member of your own family has not changed white America's hatred in the least. If fact they are doubling down on it. Everyone now has a story about how Cousin Randy won't work because he's hooked on Oxy but still gets a government check. Or how the Joneses next door bought a steak with their food stamps. It doesn't matter if these stories are true or not, they spread like wildfire, much like the stories Reagan told about welfare queens. Everybody says that they don't mind people getting assistance if "they really need it" but everyone assumes that people getting assistance don't need it or don't deserve it. Its the same old story, except the hatred is directed toward your neighbor. Very sad. In a time when everyone in the bottom 90% is getting squeezed to the limit by the elites incompetence and greed, the working poor are trying to keep their self esteem by looking down on people less fortunate then them rather than showing compassion for them. I, and my fellow lefties, are forever hoping that people will join forces with their neighbor to fight against the common enemy that is destroying us all. And of course we are forever disappointed.
We are losing because we do not realize that the enemy is Original Sin. You might wonder how the scorned and hated poor people are reacting to their neighbor's cruelty. Well we know one thing: they are not voting. At all. It is obvious these people have been so browbeaten that they do not have the self esteem to fight for themselves. They do not believe that Jesus Christ, through his Passion, Death and Resurrection, gives hope, and most of all, DIGNITY to us all, no matter how poor we are. You do not hate your neighbor if you believe that Jesus loves them and gives then eternal life. Nor do you cave in to despair OR the scorn of a $9.00 an hour Wal-Mart clerk if you believe you are the recipient of Infinite Love. The choice is ours. We can all take solace in the Infinite Power of Jesus Christ and make a better life for all of us. Or we can believe we are on our own, and let Evil pick us off one by one. It is obvious that too many Americans are taking the wrong path. Soon, the people lucky enough to have a job will too, get picked off.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Monday, November 23, 2015
Are You Happy You Smeared Bernie Sanders?
UPDATE....Once again I was right. Reading Thomas Frank"s article In Harpers, it is clear that the Lamestream Media's hated candidate was not Donald Trump but....Bernie Samders!! Never have I been so sad to be so right.
It is hilarious to watch the Washington elites ad the Lamestream Media poo-poo Bernie Sanders as he gets stronger. First he was a fringe candidate who would be lucky to break out of single digits. Then it wasn't a big deal after he broke 20 percent in polls. Then we were told to disregard the huge crowds and the huge amount of cash he was raising from the grassroots. After all, we were told that crowds don't matter. Grass roots funding does not matter, because after all, the Big Boys and Democratic Party Insiders were all for Hillary. Now we are told that it doesn't matter if Bernie wins Iowa and New Hampshire! Unbelievable! I have been a total political junkie since 1976 and never has it been said that losing Iowa and New Hampshire is not a big deal. In fact, such a result has always been described as a disaster. When Hillary was on the brink of losing both states in 2008, it was described as a quick kill for Barack Obama, until Hillary pulled out New Hampshire after some well timed blubbering. Why, is it all of a sudden, not a big deal in 2016?? We are told that its because of Hillary's strength with minority voters., which are few in Iowa and N.H. What, you don't think it will matter with minority voters after Hillary gets off to a disastrous start? You don't think that the Clinton's long record of race baiting whenever they get in trouble will not be remembered? The unions are for Hillary in Nevada!! We are told unions are dying, that they are irrelevant, except of course when they endorse Hillary Clinton.
But the real reason is that the elites have decided that Bernie Sanders must never be taken seriously. Ever. No matter what happens. No matter what is said. If we just ignore Bernie Sanders, his ultra lefty ass will just go away. The elites will say that Hillary wins debates when the polls say that Sanders won. They will say that her performance in front of the Benghazi Committee, which she essentially played it cool while the GOP made asses of themselves, is a clincher when it will be forgotten when the primaries start. Hillary is Inevitable! We said so!
Yes , Hillary is still a big favorite. But it might be a good idea if someone stopped the slide in Iowa and New Hampshire. Before people start, you know, voting.
It is hilarious to watch the Washington elites ad the Lamestream Media poo-poo Bernie Sanders as he gets stronger. First he was a fringe candidate who would be lucky to break out of single digits. Then it wasn't a big deal after he broke 20 percent in polls. Then we were told to disregard the huge crowds and the huge amount of cash he was raising from the grassroots. After all, we were told that crowds don't matter. Grass roots funding does not matter, because after all, the Big Boys and Democratic Party Insiders were all for Hillary. Now we are told that it doesn't matter if Bernie wins Iowa and New Hampshire! Unbelievable! I have been a total political junkie since 1976 and never has it been said that losing Iowa and New Hampshire is not a big deal. In fact, such a result has always been described as a disaster. When Hillary was on the brink of losing both states in 2008, it was described as a quick kill for Barack Obama, until Hillary pulled out New Hampshire after some well timed blubbering. Why, is it all of a sudden, not a big deal in 2016?? We are told that its because of Hillary's strength with minority voters., which are few in Iowa and N.H. What, you don't think it will matter with minority voters after Hillary gets off to a disastrous start? You don't think that the Clinton's long record of race baiting whenever they get in trouble will not be remembered? The unions are for Hillary in Nevada!! We are told unions are dying, that they are irrelevant, except of course when they endorse Hillary Clinton.
But the real reason is that the elites have decided that Bernie Sanders must never be taken seriously. Ever. No matter what happens. No matter what is said. If we just ignore Bernie Sanders, his ultra lefty ass will just go away. The elites will say that Hillary wins debates when the polls say that Sanders won. They will say that her performance in front of the Benghazi Committee, which she essentially played it cool while the GOP made asses of themselves, is a clincher when it will be forgotten when the primaries start. Hillary is Inevitable! We said so!
Yes , Hillary is still a big favorite. But it might be a good idea if someone stopped the slide in Iowa and New Hampshire. Before people start, you know, voting.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Ronald Reagan Continues His Stranglehold on America
Sometimes the ignorance, bigotry, and hatred in this country is so overwhelming it breaks your heart.
Exhibit A- This morning, my wife's slightly redneck but usually decent cousin posted on Facebook actually begging ISIS to kill President Obama. Really. My hands literally shook with rage and shock. After all, I knew he was a conservative, but I really never associated such levels of hatred with him. What the hell is the matter with these people? What the hell happened to make this type of thing respectable in certain circles?
Well, Ronald Reagan happened. And he is still with us.
Reagan has been called the "Great Communicator." But what exactly did he communicate? That
it is OK to indulge in your hatreds and your selfishness. Reagan made it respectable to be a racist. Reagan made it respectable to be selfish and greedy. Reagan made it respectable to be a warmonger. In short Reagan made it respectable to indulge in sin as to your public actions. We still live in Ronald Reagans dictatorship of the national soul. My entire adult life has been spent in utter disgust of the coarseness and cruelty of our national discourse. My entire adult life has been spent in the fruitless hope that this national nightmare might end. And I am always disappointed. The middle class being strangled to death? It is the result of Reagan's ideas, and they still prevail. Endless, fruitless, war? Reagan paved the way with his belligerence. After the Masters of the Universe nearly tanked Western Civilization in 2008, I thought people would finally wake up and smell the coffee. We finally elected a Democratic President without the support of the South. Finally, I thought, we have finally shrugged off the poisonous legacy of Ronald Reagan. No such luck. The hatred and ignorance is still with us, only stronger and harder than before. Fox News, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, Scott Walker, Rick Scott. and many more. They are all the bastard children of Ronald Reagan. All they do is follow Reagan's ideas to their viscous and poisonous extremes. They would not exist without Ronald Reagan. Uncle Ron's superficial charm is long gone. The meanness and hatred is still with us. And millions of white conservatives proudly sprew out his hatred, pleased as punched with themselves, blissfully unaware of the shriveling of their immortal souls.
How can this be so? One of the reasons is that liberals are blissfully unaware of Reagan's total triumph. It is often said that today society is the result of a deal between liberals and conservatives. Liberals got the culture while letting conservatives run the economy. But as David Sirota explains in his book Back To Our Future, the liberals never got the culture either. The ideas of the Reagan Decade, the 1980's, still have a stranglehold on our soul. This is because of the reinforcements of pop culture. The so called hippies of the 60's have been totally demonized by characters such as Forrest Gump and Michael J. Fox's Alex Keaton in Family Ties. War has been glamorized by movies like First Blood, Top Gun, Red Dawn and too many others. Pop Culture has totally glamorized the myth of the Lone Hero against the Evil, Stupid Bureaucrat. Finally we accept black people only if they no longer act black. Bill Cosby's Cliff Huxtable. Oprah Winfrey. Michael Jordan was able to bleach himself in white people's eyes. LeBron James has not. Barack Obama thought he bleached himself enough to be accepted by whites. But it turned out that Reagan's America still thinks he's a nigger. So much for "hope" and "change". Reagan's America never changes. David Sirota is an expert an pop culture as only a child of the 80's is. Read his book. You will be both greatly entertained and greatly angered. Freaking Ronald Reagan never dies.
I write this four days after the ISIS terrorist attacks on France. But I don't worry about ISIS destroying America. I'm afraid Ronald Reagan has already managed it.
Exhibit A- This morning, my wife's slightly redneck but usually decent cousin posted on Facebook actually begging ISIS to kill President Obama. Really. My hands literally shook with rage and shock. After all, I knew he was a conservative, but I really never associated such levels of hatred with him. What the hell is the matter with these people? What the hell happened to make this type of thing respectable in certain circles?
Well, Ronald Reagan happened. And he is still with us.
Reagan has been called the "Great Communicator." But what exactly did he communicate? That
it is OK to indulge in your hatreds and your selfishness. Reagan made it respectable to be a racist. Reagan made it respectable to be selfish and greedy. Reagan made it respectable to be a warmonger. In short Reagan made it respectable to indulge in sin as to your public actions. We still live in Ronald Reagans dictatorship of the national soul. My entire adult life has been spent in utter disgust of the coarseness and cruelty of our national discourse. My entire adult life has been spent in the fruitless hope that this national nightmare might end. And I am always disappointed. The middle class being strangled to death? It is the result of Reagan's ideas, and they still prevail. Endless, fruitless, war? Reagan paved the way with his belligerence. After the Masters of the Universe nearly tanked Western Civilization in 2008, I thought people would finally wake up and smell the coffee. We finally elected a Democratic President without the support of the South. Finally, I thought, we have finally shrugged off the poisonous legacy of Ronald Reagan. No such luck. The hatred and ignorance is still with us, only stronger and harder than before. Fox News, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, Scott Walker, Rick Scott. and many more. They are all the bastard children of Ronald Reagan. All they do is follow Reagan's ideas to their viscous and poisonous extremes. They would not exist without Ronald Reagan. Uncle Ron's superficial charm is long gone. The meanness and hatred is still with us. And millions of white conservatives proudly sprew out his hatred, pleased as punched with themselves, blissfully unaware of the shriveling of their immortal souls.
How can this be so? One of the reasons is that liberals are blissfully unaware of Reagan's total triumph. It is often said that today society is the result of a deal between liberals and conservatives. Liberals got the culture while letting conservatives run the economy. But as David Sirota explains in his book Back To Our Future, the liberals never got the culture either. The ideas of the Reagan Decade, the 1980's, still have a stranglehold on our soul. This is because of the reinforcements of pop culture. The so called hippies of the 60's have been totally demonized by characters such as Forrest Gump and Michael J. Fox's Alex Keaton in Family Ties. War has been glamorized by movies like First Blood, Top Gun, Red Dawn and too many others. Pop Culture has totally glamorized the myth of the Lone Hero against the Evil, Stupid Bureaucrat. Finally we accept black people only if they no longer act black. Bill Cosby's Cliff Huxtable. Oprah Winfrey. Michael Jordan was able to bleach himself in white people's eyes. LeBron James has not. Barack Obama thought he bleached himself enough to be accepted by whites. But it turned out that Reagan's America still thinks he's a nigger. So much for "hope" and "change". Reagan's America never changes. David Sirota is an expert an pop culture as only a child of the 80's is. Read his book. You will be both greatly entertained and greatly angered. Freaking Ronald Reagan never dies.
I write this four days after the ISIS terrorist attacks on France. But I don't worry about ISIS destroying America. I'm afraid Ronald Reagan has already managed it.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
The Pentagon's Shocking Record of Failure
Now that the horror of the ISIS attacks is sinking in, the spastic little children in the GOP and the media are demanding "Do Something!!!". The fact that these people don't have the slightest idea about what to do does not stop them from screaming. All they want is to send the US Military out to kill people and blow things up. Doesn't matter what or where as long as it's Muslim. It is horribly and sadly predictable how this is all going to play out. First, wise people asking for restraint will be mocked as wimpy, unpatriotic appeasers. Then to appease these babies, the US will bomb something or invade something Islamic. This will accomplish nothing except help ISIS recruit more terrorists, kill innocent people, and finally get American soldiers killed. Oh yes, and give people like Marco Rubio a cheap bounce in the polls. When the body bags start coming home, General Marco will nowhere be found. And when the next terrorist attack happens, liberals will be blamed. Or hippies. Or Peaceniks. Or Jane Fonda. Or anyone except the assholes who demanded war. Who will be screaming, once again...do something!!!......
Any shrink can tell you a working definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again even if it doesn't work. By that definition, the United States of America is insane. We keep asking the Pentagon to get US out of these messes. And it has been proven that the Pentagon is only good at two things 1) Blowing things up 2) Fucking up.
Why hasn't it been reported that, since the end of World War II whenever the enemy decides not to cave in and, you know. actually fire back, the Pentagon loses the war? Korea was a tie once the Chinese got involved. Vietnam was a disaster. In this century both Iraq and Afghanistan were bloody, pointless slogs. The Marines were blown out of Beirut in the 80's when Reagan decided to Do Something about Libyan terrorism. The only time the Pentagon wins is if the enemy is so weak it cant resist (Grenada, Panama), can be subdued by just bombing (the Balkans) , or when the enemy essentially leaves the battlefield (the first Gulf War). All the rest have been defeats of the United States. This despite the fact that one half of the world military expenditures are borne by the United States. This despite the fact that the US has the world's only functioning blue water navy. This despite the fact that the US spends so much on national defense that nobody can tell exactly how much is being spent! I guess it would be unpatriotic to subject the Pentagon, to, you know, an audit. Finally, this despite the fact that the average American soldier nowadays is of consistently high quality. ( they are not "troops" they are soldiers). So we blame our defeats on Jane Fonda. Or that we didn't let MacArthur cross the Yalu or let John Rambo win the war in Vietnam. Or we just didn't have enough troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Or they didn't give us enough time. Hey, if they would only give us 20 years, we could complete our "nation building" , whatever the hell that is. Its always the fault of someone else. Never because of the possibility that the generals, the desk jockeys, and the politicians might be incompetent. Oh no!
Maybe I'm being too hard on the Pentagon. After all, they work for a public that has essentially abdicated the responsibilities of citizenship and national defense. The volunteer army lets us dump all the responsibility of our safety on a small strata of people who are overstressed due to the demands made on them. Many in the military did not want to follow up on Bush's harebrained scheme in Iraq. What is sadly apparent is that a combination of an ignorant public, mindless politicians, and a Pentagon so bloated that it cannot get out of its own way will only get people killed while doing little to stop the evil of ISIS.
Before we start another war, maybe we can demand that Saudi Arabia and other petro-dictatorships stop funding terrorists just to save their own corrupt skins. Remember when Jimmy Carter was laughed out of the White House when he called the energy crisis "the moral equivalent of war?" Well it is war when the money we pay for gas winds up in the hands of ISIS thanks to our "allies". We could cut down our dependence on foreign oil, leaving the sheiks no option but to drink it. Finally, those of us who call ourselves "Christians", followers of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. can stand in the forefront, demanding accountability from those who would get us in another pointless war.
Any shrink can tell you a working definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again even if it doesn't work. By that definition, the United States of America is insane. We keep asking the Pentagon to get US out of these messes. And it has been proven that the Pentagon is only good at two things 1) Blowing things up 2) Fucking up.
Why hasn't it been reported that, since the end of World War II whenever the enemy decides not to cave in and, you know. actually fire back, the Pentagon loses the war? Korea was a tie once the Chinese got involved. Vietnam was a disaster. In this century both Iraq and Afghanistan were bloody, pointless slogs. The Marines were blown out of Beirut in the 80's when Reagan decided to Do Something about Libyan terrorism. The only time the Pentagon wins is if the enemy is so weak it cant resist (Grenada, Panama), can be subdued by just bombing (the Balkans) , or when the enemy essentially leaves the battlefield (the first Gulf War). All the rest have been defeats of the United States. This despite the fact that one half of the world military expenditures are borne by the United States. This despite the fact that the US has the world's only functioning blue water navy. This despite the fact that the US spends so much on national defense that nobody can tell exactly how much is being spent! I guess it would be unpatriotic to subject the Pentagon, to, you know, an audit. Finally, this despite the fact that the average American soldier nowadays is of consistently high quality. ( they are not "troops" they are soldiers). So we blame our defeats on Jane Fonda. Or that we didn't let MacArthur cross the Yalu or let John Rambo win the war in Vietnam. Or we just didn't have enough troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Or they didn't give us enough time. Hey, if they would only give us 20 years, we could complete our "nation building" , whatever the hell that is. Its always the fault of someone else. Never because of the possibility that the generals, the desk jockeys, and the politicians might be incompetent. Oh no!
Maybe I'm being too hard on the Pentagon. After all, they work for a public that has essentially abdicated the responsibilities of citizenship and national defense. The volunteer army lets us dump all the responsibility of our safety on a small strata of people who are overstressed due to the demands made on them. Many in the military did not want to follow up on Bush's harebrained scheme in Iraq. What is sadly apparent is that a combination of an ignorant public, mindless politicians, and a Pentagon so bloated that it cannot get out of its own way will only get people killed while doing little to stop the evil of ISIS.
Before we start another war, maybe we can demand that Saudi Arabia and other petro-dictatorships stop funding terrorists just to save their own corrupt skins. Remember when Jimmy Carter was laughed out of the White House when he called the energy crisis "the moral equivalent of war?" Well it is war when the money we pay for gas winds up in the hands of ISIS thanks to our "allies". We could cut down our dependence on foreign oil, leaving the sheiks no option but to drink it. Finally, those of us who call ourselves "Christians", followers of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. can stand in the forefront, demanding accountability from those who would get us in another pointless war.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Hillary WAS Just Good Enough to Lose With
UPDATE: Don't you just want to strangle Hillary now?
All that Wall Street money is now sticking to Hillary Clinton like stink on you know what. She cannot hide from it. Any pretext of economic populism is buried in it. Bernie Sanders is right. They do not give you that money out of the goodness of their hearts. They give it to you to own you. Does anyone really believe recent Hillary's shift to the left? Most people believe its just a stunt. A stunt that will be funded with Wall Street dollars. A stunt that will be repudiated when Hillary finally gets to sit in the Big Chair. Then it will be business as usual. Even if her recent shift is sincere, few will believe her. You took the money, Honey.
I am usually one to decry the media's obsession with "gaffes". The banal horserace reporting without speaking of what the candidates are really saying can drive me mad. But, man, Hillary really laid a big one at the debate November 14. When Sanders persisted in pressuring Hillary on her millions and millions of bucks from the Vampire Squid and others, Hillary said that it doesn't matter because, well, Wall Street was close to the World Trade Center, and she was New York's senator during 911 and therefore we were all victims or something so...uh...don't worry about the money because .....well, just because. All this after the ISIS attacks in France.
Good God.
Doesn't the Inevitable Nominee realize that her ties to WS are just as deadly as Jeb Bust's ties to Dubya and Iraq? Didn't she know the question was coming? Why, like Jeb, does she not prepare for this question? Could the reason be that there is no answer to the question? Could it be that her closeness to Wall Street will piss away all the populist advantages that the Democrats should have in 2016? Can you imagine Donald Trump saying "Hey Hillary, why did you take the money? Why did you take MY money?"
Isn't it about time the Democrats starting asking these questions?
All that Wall Street money is now sticking to Hillary Clinton like stink on you know what. She cannot hide from it. Any pretext of economic populism is buried in it. Bernie Sanders is right. They do not give you that money out of the goodness of their hearts. They give it to you to own you. Does anyone really believe recent Hillary's shift to the left? Most people believe its just a stunt. A stunt that will be funded with Wall Street dollars. A stunt that will be repudiated when Hillary finally gets to sit in the Big Chair. Then it will be business as usual. Even if her recent shift is sincere, few will believe her. You took the money, Honey.
I am usually one to decry the media's obsession with "gaffes". The banal horserace reporting without speaking of what the candidates are really saying can drive me mad. But, man, Hillary really laid a big one at the debate November 14. When Sanders persisted in pressuring Hillary on her millions and millions of bucks from the Vampire Squid and others, Hillary said that it doesn't matter because, well, Wall Street was close to the World Trade Center, and she was New York's senator during 911 and therefore we were all victims or something so...uh...don't worry about the money because .....well, just because. All this after the ISIS attacks in France.
Good God.
Doesn't the Inevitable Nominee realize that her ties to WS are just as deadly as Jeb Bust's ties to Dubya and Iraq? Didn't she know the question was coming? Why, like Jeb, does she not prepare for this question? Could the reason be that there is no answer to the question? Could it be that her closeness to Wall Street will piss away all the populist advantages that the Democrats should have in 2016? Can you imagine Donald Trump saying "Hey Hillary, why did you take the money? Why did you take MY money?"
Isn't it about time the Democrats starting asking these questions?
Oil Dictatorships Need to Stop Funding ISIS
I helped fund ISIS today.
I didn't mean to . but I did. You see. I drove to the grocery store.
Whether you drive a Prius or a Lincoln Navigator we help fund the atrocities of ISIS. The butchering in Paris only the latest. We drive our vehicles. We buy gas. Some of that gas comes from Saudi Arabia. Qatar. the UAE and others. The dictators, kings, sheiks, and bankers get the money. American oil companies and politicians like the Bushes make sure they get that money They use that money to fund opulent lifestyles and to oppress the masses. The average citizen becomes poor and frustrated. To stay in power, the kings buy off and fund Islamic extremist and terrorist groups. The groups then recruit frustrated outcasts to commit terrorists acts. In short, the sheiks, bankers, kings and oil companies get rich. Innocent citizens minding their own business in the World Trade Center and Paris and too many places in between get slaughtered. So the cycle goes on and on. Wars are started. Sabers are rattled. Fingers are pointed. Names are called. Soldiers die. Innocents die.
The bank accounts get fatter. The terrorists get deadlier.
The horror will never stop until the oil dictators are held accountable. Yeah, Jeb! That includes your family's buddies in the Saudi royal family.
I didn't mean to . but I did. You see. I drove to the grocery store.
Whether you drive a Prius or a Lincoln Navigator we help fund the atrocities of ISIS. The butchering in Paris only the latest. We drive our vehicles. We buy gas. Some of that gas comes from Saudi Arabia. Qatar. the UAE and others. The dictators, kings, sheiks, and bankers get the money. American oil companies and politicians like the Bushes make sure they get that money They use that money to fund opulent lifestyles and to oppress the masses. The average citizen becomes poor and frustrated. To stay in power, the kings buy off and fund Islamic extremist and terrorist groups. The groups then recruit frustrated outcasts to commit terrorists acts. In short, the sheiks, bankers, kings and oil companies get rich. Innocent citizens minding their own business in the World Trade Center and Paris and too many places in between get slaughtered. So the cycle goes on and on. Wars are started. Sabers are rattled. Fingers are pointed. Names are called. Soldiers die. Innocents die.
The bank accounts get fatter. The terrorists get deadlier.
The horror will never stop until the oil dictators are held accountable. Yeah, Jeb! That includes your family's buddies in the Saudi royal family.
Friday, November 13, 2015
Man's Search for Meaning in the 21st Century
Victor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning remains a classic today. His ideas, forged in the hellish pit of Auschwitz, still stun and move us. He reminds us that no matter how bad your circumstances are, the only freedom that cannot be taken away is the right to choose your attitude. The right to choose your own way. Coming from Frankl, these words no longer seem like new age pabulum. They were forged from history's most brutal laboratory. Frankl quotes Nietzsche with approval: "He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How." In the concentration camps, Frankl stated that the people who survived these most inhuman conditions were the people who believed they had something to live for. These people would never give up. When people gave up in Auschwitz, death would surely follow. As I write this, I am going through one of the most difficult circumstances of my life. Frankl's words jolted me out of my depression and stupor and got me hoping again. If he could survive Auschwitz, certainly I could survive my problems and face them with courage and bravery if I only would choose to do so. Wherever you are now, Viktor Frankl, I owe you a lot.
America in 2016 is certainly not Auschwitz. We enjoy freedom and luxury that Frankl and his fellow inmates could only dream of. But in America we certainly have not abolished despair. Depression and suicide remain menaces. But suicide rates in America remain incredibly uneven.
Suicide rates of white males over forty years old in America are THIRTY times more than black females of the same age group. Not three times more, not thirty percent more, thirty times more! Since I am a white male approaching my 54th birthday with a melancholy temperament, this is a cause for concern. I read in my hometown newspaper just last Sunday, how suicide and depression rates among white working class males is going through the roof. What is going on here? Could it be that we have all been sold lies? That wealth and status and accumulating stuff is the be all and end all of our existence in America? That the tragedy of my brethren was that they believed these lies? As the fallout of America's winner-take-all society reached critical mass, could it be that the so called losers couldn't take the shame? Was the shame so unbearable that some of these men killed themselves? I think so. Because when these men found out that their financial and social standing were hopeless, life lost all meaning. They had nothing else to fall back on. And what of the black females, the ones with the much lower suicide rates. They are certainly a much scorned group in America. They are much less wealthy then their white male brethren. But they are not killing themselves. Could the reason be that because of circumstances, they never really bought into the American dream? When hardship comes, these ladies, as a group, have something to fall back on. They have their community and are not as isolated as the white male. This goes to man's, and woman's search for meaning. For when hard times come, as they inevitably will for all of us, we must have a reason to keep going. Something to give meaning to our sufferings. This is true whether we are in Auschwitz or a wealthy suburb. The question is not how much stuff we have but whether our lives have meaning.
So, in these hard times of mine, what gives my life meaning. It is simply the fact that Jesus Christ died on the Cross to forgive me of my sins and bring me to Eternal life. And just as importantly, bring my friends and family to eternal life also. I am the youngest child of a family of five. with the death of my father two years ago, I am the last survivor. My eldest brother died of cancer in 2009 at age 49. My second eldest brother, died in a reckless gun accident in 1992 at the age of 37. You would think that now that my wife and I have been left alone, that suffering in the other areas of our lives would have eased up. Think again. The suffering of this life grinds on and on despite the desperate cries of Scott Stark to the Almighty screaming "Ease up on me! Call the dogs off! You took my family! Isn't that enough?? But I don't give up. Because I have the hope of Heaven. The hope that I will see everyone again. That we will be reunited and all our tears will be wiped away. I offer up my sufferings in the hope that they can be used by my family in redemption. The hope of heaven gives my life on Earth meaning. I use this power to keep going on, that there is something the world needs that only I can give, even if I have wasted a lot of my 54 years.
So let us all pray, Lord, give us your love. Your grace. For with this we are rich. We need nothing more.
Nothing.
America in 2016 is certainly not Auschwitz. We enjoy freedom and luxury that Frankl and his fellow inmates could only dream of. But in America we certainly have not abolished despair. Depression and suicide remain menaces. But suicide rates in America remain incredibly uneven.
Suicide rates of white males over forty years old in America are THIRTY times more than black females of the same age group. Not three times more, not thirty percent more, thirty times more! Since I am a white male approaching my 54th birthday with a melancholy temperament, this is a cause for concern. I read in my hometown newspaper just last Sunday, how suicide and depression rates among white working class males is going through the roof. What is going on here? Could it be that we have all been sold lies? That wealth and status and accumulating stuff is the be all and end all of our existence in America? That the tragedy of my brethren was that they believed these lies? As the fallout of America's winner-take-all society reached critical mass, could it be that the so called losers couldn't take the shame? Was the shame so unbearable that some of these men killed themselves? I think so. Because when these men found out that their financial and social standing were hopeless, life lost all meaning. They had nothing else to fall back on. And what of the black females, the ones with the much lower suicide rates. They are certainly a much scorned group in America. They are much less wealthy then their white male brethren. But they are not killing themselves. Could the reason be that because of circumstances, they never really bought into the American dream? When hardship comes, these ladies, as a group, have something to fall back on. They have their community and are not as isolated as the white male. This goes to man's, and woman's search for meaning. For when hard times come, as they inevitably will for all of us, we must have a reason to keep going. Something to give meaning to our sufferings. This is true whether we are in Auschwitz or a wealthy suburb. The question is not how much stuff we have but whether our lives have meaning.
So, in these hard times of mine, what gives my life meaning. It is simply the fact that Jesus Christ died on the Cross to forgive me of my sins and bring me to Eternal life. And just as importantly, bring my friends and family to eternal life also. I am the youngest child of a family of five. with the death of my father two years ago, I am the last survivor. My eldest brother died of cancer in 2009 at age 49. My second eldest brother, died in a reckless gun accident in 1992 at the age of 37. You would think that now that my wife and I have been left alone, that suffering in the other areas of our lives would have eased up. Think again. The suffering of this life grinds on and on despite the desperate cries of Scott Stark to the Almighty screaming "Ease up on me! Call the dogs off! You took my family! Isn't that enough?? But I don't give up. Because I have the hope of Heaven. The hope that I will see everyone again. That we will be reunited and all our tears will be wiped away. I offer up my sufferings in the hope that they can be used by my family in redemption. The hope of heaven gives my life on Earth meaning. I use this power to keep going on, that there is something the world needs that only I can give, even if I have wasted a lot of my 54 years.
So let us all pray, Lord, give us your love. Your grace. For with this we are rich. We need nothing more.
Nothing.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Kentucky: The canery in the coal mine.
UPDATE. The Election is over. Democrats have once again proven their uselessness.
Well, in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky they just had an election for Governor. Once again, a wingnut lunatic, Matt Bevin, was elected over a centrist Democrat, Jack Conway. This will have real consequences for real people. The healthcare exchange that was a model for the nation will now be dismantled. Over half a million people will lose their health insurance. And thousands of Kentuckians will die. Sorry if that shocks some people. People get sick. People need health care. People cannot afford health care. People die. The logic is unbreakable.
Why did this happen? It is because people will always vote for something over nothing. Democrats too timid to stand up for the truth? Fine, people will vote for Kim Davis-like fag bashing. Wingnut Republicans almost always beat timid, moderate Democrats. Especially those who are obviously ashamed to be Democrats. Especially Democrats who are too afraid to stand up for what they believe. Especially Democrats who do not believe in anything.
I am sick of hearing about how the future demographics favor Democrats. For every Colorado or New Mexico they gained, they have lost Appalachia. Kentucky. Tennessee. Arkansas. West Virginia. Missouri. All states where Democrats have been competitive. All solid for the GOP. The bright people in the Democratic Party, in their lust for 270 every four years ignore off year elections. Ignore state houses. Throw up their hands and whine "Gerrymandering!" or "Citizens United!" . This is a party that does not sweat the small offices. Does not want to get its fingernails dirty. Does not want to scuff its Gucci's. Does not want to go into tough areas or make tough races. Does not want to contest all 50 states,
It would really be funny if people weren't dying.
Well, in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky they just had an election for Governor. Once again, a wingnut lunatic, Matt Bevin, was elected over a centrist Democrat, Jack Conway. This will have real consequences for real people. The healthcare exchange that was a model for the nation will now be dismantled. Over half a million people will lose their health insurance. And thousands of Kentuckians will die. Sorry if that shocks some people. People get sick. People need health care. People cannot afford health care. People die. The logic is unbreakable.
Why did this happen? It is because people will always vote for something over nothing. Democrats too timid to stand up for the truth? Fine, people will vote for Kim Davis-like fag bashing. Wingnut Republicans almost always beat timid, moderate Democrats. Especially those who are obviously ashamed to be Democrats. Especially Democrats who are too afraid to stand up for what they believe. Especially Democrats who do not believe in anything.
I am sick of hearing about how the future demographics favor Democrats. For every Colorado or New Mexico they gained, they have lost Appalachia. Kentucky. Tennessee. Arkansas. West Virginia. Missouri. All states where Democrats have been competitive. All solid for the GOP. The bright people in the Democratic Party, in their lust for 270 every four years ignore off year elections. Ignore state houses. Throw up their hands and whine "Gerrymandering!" or "Citizens United!" . This is a party that does not sweat the small offices. Does not want to get its fingernails dirty. Does not want to scuff its Gucci's. Does not want to go into tough areas or make tough races. Does not want to contest all 50 states,
It would really be funny if people weren't dying.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
The Elites Perversion of the Concept of Work.
When I contemplate our wonderful economic system, with its built in unemployment, downsizing, low pay, long hours, tediousness, inequality, and just sometimes downright cruelty, I am reminded of the sign that the Nazis hung up over the gates of Auschwitz, "Work Will Set You Free". This is doubly horrible, not just because of its disgusting taunting of the Jewish prisoners who would be worked to death, but also of the desiccation of something sacred. You see, God created work to set you free. Work, when we are in tune with the sacred, is indeed glorious. Work does indeed set us free. Even Sigmund Freud stated that the two human needs are love and creative work. And we human beings, deep down, love to work. After all, what is a hobby? Its the work that you do when you get away from that job that's boring the living piss out of you. So many of us hate our jobs, so much that the comparison to a Nazi death camp does not seem so outrageous. Our system for too many souls, is a perversion of something that our Creator intended to be glorious.
Am I being too harsh? What about the abomination that is unemployment? We have become much too accepting of this grievous social sin. With our flimsy social safety net in the United States, the specter of unemployment has become a club to terrify the masses into submission. If you lose your job, you better get one quickly, or you might lose your spouse, your family and your friends. In these Great Recession times, everyone knows someone who life has been destroyed by unemployment. People know damm well that if you lose your job you will be stigmatized as lazy. It will be treated like it was your own fault. Get off your ass and beat the pavement! There are plenty of jobs out there! It does absolutely no good to say that, no there are not plenty of jobs out there, no matter how truthful that is.. You will be stigmatized. Or there might be some jobs out there, but they don't want to hire you. Because there is something wrong with you. You are unemployed! Welcome to being a social leper, buddy! Better get a job quickly, or you will be assumed to be unemployable. You will be assumed to have lost your skills, whatever that means. You will find out very quickly about a society that loves to divide people into winners and losers, because baby, you are one of the losers. The people who are most afraid of becoming losers themselves will be the ones to heap the most misery on you. Unless of course, your loving family gets there first. I once faced a troublesome period of unemployment, and it was always my dear old dad who got in front of the line and bashed me with those clichés that make the tormenter think they are oh so wise and profound. Get a job! I don't care if you have to shovel shit! GET A FUCKING JOB! I wanted so much to say to him, hey dad, I would love to! Just show me the pile of shit and I'll shovel it! But nobody is going to pay me to shovel shit. Nobody wants to pay me for ANYTHING! But I said nothing about his unfair criticism. Because I didn't want to make him mad. Because I needed him for help. Because I was fucking unemployed.
At least I was spared the horror of having my wife leave me, like some of my friends. Because in the good old USA of 2015, everything is a market, even the market for spouses. Trade in that loser for a shiny new model, one that has a good job. In a world that thinks that God is dead, there is no consequence for such casual cruelty. And everyone knows it. The elites especially know it. They always make sure the threat of unemployment is always over the workers heads. Want to unionize? Want to be paid more? Want to be treated like a decent human being? Better shut up or you're fired! And all the horror that was described above will become your life. Is it any wonder that so many people are afraid? Is it any wonder unions are dying? I have not even mentioned the productivity that is lost forever to society when talented people cannot find work. Who cares about the damage to society that the lost productivity, despair, and the ruining of people's lives causes? As long as the profits stay high, as long as the elites get theirs, its just fine and dandy. As long as I get mine who cares about the crushed souls?
Another way the elites devalue work is to make us waste time on useless stuff while the very necessary work for strong families and a strong nation gets undone. Imagine a Venn diagram with two circles intersecting. One circle is will be marked "Work that is necessary for the survival of society" . The other is "work some corporation or rich guy will pay you to do" . Or you can just call the second circle "jobs". In a healthy society, the circles would intersect pretty closely. In reality, they are mostly separate, with a small intersection in the middle. The necessary work that keeps a society going is just not getting done in America. Roads and bridges are crumbling. Hospitals are understaffed. The mentally ill are not being treated. The schools are underfunded and kids are not getting educated. People are hungry. The streets teem with homeless. The elderly die neglected and lonely. On and on it goes. We can spend all night listing the very important work that is not getting done in America. Why? Because these very necessary tasks don't make profits for rich people. Is anyone else outraged about all of the good, unemployed people who are forced to sit idle and hungry while the country rots because of neglect? Either the elites don't want to pay for it at all, or usually they pay just enough to keep a half assed system going that becomes more and more useless over time. So there is the poor American worker, trapped in his cubicle, trying to sell something from China people don't need while their kids are not getting taught, their parents are rotting in a nursing home and the neighborhood is going to hell. So we are told that this is the only way to do things, and it you question it, you are a Communist or something. Well, if I was a Communist, and I really wanted to destroy America, I could hardly do worse than what we are doing now.
But really, the worst thing the system has done is to take something holy, like work, and make us hate it. Drudgery and low pay. How many people have spent their working all their lives at a job they hated, dreaming of "retiring" at 65, only to become too sick to enjoy it, or worse, die off before you can retire. Or, some person will love their job, do it well, still be healthy, but told they have to quit at the age of 65. Why have we given up control of something so sacred, so important, and given it all to a small strata of people who don't have our interests at heart? Who would gladly enslave us if they could? It is because we are indeed already slaves, of bad ideas. That's just the way it is. Some things will never change. When we lose our sense of the sacred, we lose the power of the sacred to transform us. God put each one of us on earth with a purpose. It is our God given right to discern that purpose for ourselves. Our work is sacred. Our souls are eternal. A life is too important to waste on someone else's whim. We have allowed ourselves to be enslaved. Dear Lord, give us the strength and wisdom to reclaim our sacred work lives from those who would profane them.
Am I being too harsh? What about the abomination that is unemployment? We have become much too accepting of this grievous social sin. With our flimsy social safety net in the United States, the specter of unemployment has become a club to terrify the masses into submission. If you lose your job, you better get one quickly, or you might lose your spouse, your family and your friends. In these Great Recession times, everyone knows someone who life has been destroyed by unemployment. People know damm well that if you lose your job you will be stigmatized as lazy. It will be treated like it was your own fault. Get off your ass and beat the pavement! There are plenty of jobs out there! It does absolutely no good to say that, no there are not plenty of jobs out there, no matter how truthful that is.. You will be stigmatized. Or there might be some jobs out there, but they don't want to hire you. Because there is something wrong with you. You are unemployed! Welcome to being a social leper, buddy! Better get a job quickly, or you will be assumed to be unemployable. You will be assumed to have lost your skills, whatever that means. You will find out very quickly about a society that loves to divide people into winners and losers, because baby, you are one of the losers. The people who are most afraid of becoming losers themselves will be the ones to heap the most misery on you. Unless of course, your loving family gets there first. I once faced a troublesome period of unemployment, and it was always my dear old dad who got in front of the line and bashed me with those clichés that make the tormenter think they are oh so wise and profound. Get a job! I don't care if you have to shovel shit! GET A FUCKING JOB! I wanted so much to say to him, hey dad, I would love to! Just show me the pile of shit and I'll shovel it! But nobody is going to pay me to shovel shit. Nobody wants to pay me for ANYTHING! But I said nothing about his unfair criticism. Because I didn't want to make him mad. Because I needed him for help. Because I was fucking unemployed.
At least I was spared the horror of having my wife leave me, like some of my friends. Because in the good old USA of 2015, everything is a market, even the market for spouses. Trade in that loser for a shiny new model, one that has a good job. In a world that thinks that God is dead, there is no consequence for such casual cruelty. And everyone knows it. The elites especially know it. They always make sure the threat of unemployment is always over the workers heads. Want to unionize? Want to be paid more? Want to be treated like a decent human being? Better shut up or you're fired! And all the horror that was described above will become your life. Is it any wonder that so many people are afraid? Is it any wonder unions are dying? I have not even mentioned the productivity that is lost forever to society when talented people cannot find work. Who cares about the damage to society that the lost productivity, despair, and the ruining of people's lives causes? As long as the profits stay high, as long as the elites get theirs, its just fine and dandy. As long as I get mine who cares about the crushed souls?
Another way the elites devalue work is to make us waste time on useless stuff while the very necessary work for strong families and a strong nation gets undone. Imagine a Venn diagram with two circles intersecting. One circle is will be marked "Work that is necessary for the survival of society" . The other is "work some corporation or rich guy will pay you to do" . Or you can just call the second circle "jobs". In a healthy society, the circles would intersect pretty closely. In reality, they are mostly separate, with a small intersection in the middle. The necessary work that keeps a society going is just not getting done in America. Roads and bridges are crumbling. Hospitals are understaffed. The mentally ill are not being treated. The schools are underfunded and kids are not getting educated. People are hungry. The streets teem with homeless. The elderly die neglected and lonely. On and on it goes. We can spend all night listing the very important work that is not getting done in America. Why? Because these very necessary tasks don't make profits for rich people. Is anyone else outraged about all of the good, unemployed people who are forced to sit idle and hungry while the country rots because of neglect? Either the elites don't want to pay for it at all, or usually they pay just enough to keep a half assed system going that becomes more and more useless over time. So there is the poor American worker, trapped in his cubicle, trying to sell something from China people don't need while their kids are not getting taught, their parents are rotting in a nursing home and the neighborhood is going to hell. So we are told that this is the only way to do things, and it you question it, you are a Communist or something. Well, if I was a Communist, and I really wanted to destroy America, I could hardly do worse than what we are doing now.
But really, the worst thing the system has done is to take something holy, like work, and make us hate it. Drudgery and low pay. How many people have spent their working all their lives at a job they hated, dreaming of "retiring" at 65, only to become too sick to enjoy it, or worse, die off before you can retire. Or, some person will love their job, do it well, still be healthy, but told they have to quit at the age of 65. Why have we given up control of something so sacred, so important, and given it all to a small strata of people who don't have our interests at heart? Who would gladly enslave us if they could? It is because we are indeed already slaves, of bad ideas. That's just the way it is. Some things will never change. When we lose our sense of the sacred, we lose the power of the sacred to transform us. God put each one of us on earth with a purpose. It is our God given right to discern that purpose for ourselves. Our work is sacred. Our souls are eternal. A life is too important to waste on someone else's whim. We have allowed ourselves to be enslaved. Dear Lord, give us the strength and wisdom to reclaim our sacred work lives from those who would profane them.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Three Things I Learned About Life
Lets get one thing straight from the start. I learned these three things not because I followed them, but because I didn't follow them. I learned this wisdom, such as it is, from the pit of despair, not from the pinnacle of success. I am trying to follow them now, at 53 years of age. Kinda late, I know. But, I think most would say better late than never. I think Jesus would say that. One of the reasons I think He lets us suffer is to give us the opportunity to gain wisdom and to share it with others. It is my prayer that this little blog will help some sole in despair somehow, somewhere. Ok, here goes!
RULE NUMBER ONE (THE FUN RULE) Do whatever you want with your life!!! Everyone is going to like this. Follow your muse. Live your passion. Find your vocation. Do your own thing. Insert your own cliché here. Because they're all true. Don't worry about the market. Don't worry that it is hard. Go for it! Want to be an artist, be an artist. Want to be a blacksmith, be a blacksmith. Want to play center field for the Yankees, give it your best shot. Want to be a beach bum, well its a beautiful day. You only go around once in life...and its your life. Be who you want to be.
Wow! That was fun! There's got to be a catch right? You bet your sweet bippy there is!
RULE NUMBER TWO ( THE NASTY RULE). Try to follow Rule1 and the world will make you swallow lots and lots of shit! Shit from your parents. Shit from your spouse. Shit from your family in general. Shit from your friends. Shit from your enemies. Shit from society, which is just a fancy word for all the people who will tell you how to live your life. Guilt will be heaped upon you. You will be made to feel selfish. Irresponsible. Because there will be two forces dishing out the shit. One is peer pressure, because in a way, high school never ends. All those people who never had the guts to follow rule No. 1 will move heaven and earth to make sure you don't either. Because they don't want you to be happy when they are miserable. Because rule 2 shit can be vicious and terrifying. We wont pay for your college if you don't do what I say. Or I'll divorce you. Never be your friend again. You don't need me to remind you of the nasty things that people can do to you. For most people, this is more than enough to keep them in line.
In case that isn't enough, there is "the system". The system needs you to forget about your dreams so you can work to make its leaders richer. The system needs fodder to stuff its cubicles, clean their toilets, and pick their crops, among other fun things.. The system does want people living their dreams. The system wants slaves. Peer pressure works on your fear of being left behind, of being lonely. The system works on your fear of poverty. To follow our dreams, to follow rule 1, is to risk your financial security. There is a weak safety net and that is the way the system wants it. Its not just that the elites don't want to pay for it. The system wants you to be terrified of walking the tightrope of life without a net. Bottom line: live your life your way and malevolent forces will combine to harass and scare the hell out of you. So very few people do it.
Sounds pretty gloomy, right? But wait, were not done! Time for....
RULE NO. THREE (THE WISE RULE). No matter how much you suffer under Rule 2, It will never be as bad as the REGRETS you will suffer by NOT following rule 1!!!.
How do I know this? Because I have suffered oceans of regret in my life. Because like most of humanity, I caved in to Rule 2. Tried to take the safe way. Let other people lead me by the nose. For example, I would have loved to major in history or political science in college. But because I felt that I had to have a "marketable" degree, I majored in.....business. Not only did I hate it, not only did it bore me to death, the stuff I "learned" had no application in real life or is totally obsolete now. It did not make me any more money. Neither that obnoxious blowhard of a marketing professor, nor I, knew that something called the "internet" was coming down the pike and that said "internet" would reduce his words to a pile of gibberish. Like almost everyone else, when I came to a problem, I had to teach myself. I always loved history and politics. Like every amateur blogger worth his salt. I believe that my stuff is much better than a lot of the idiots who get paid for it. Why are they getting paid for it? Because they starting writing out of college. Do I have regrets about not being a writer out of college? With every keystroke on my blog. Rule 3 pain of regret is blistering and blinding. At least I learned this in my early 50's. I still have a shot. At least I am not finding this out on my deathbed like no many other poor souls. Thank you Jesus. Don't YOU wait until you are fifty years old to follow your own personal Rule One.
This is equally true in romance. Ask that guy or girl out! I am happily married now, but it doesn't mean I don't have any regrets. When I was in high school, I had a terrible crush on a girl. I was too shy to ask her out. The regrets still haunt me to this day, even though my rational brain says things worked out for the better. Luckily when I got to law school I had some unconscious inkling of the Three Rules of life. I fell in love with one of the most desired women in our class. I thought to myself, this time I wont let her go by! This won't be high school! So I pulled out all the romantic stops. Even lost a ton of weight to impress her. Know what? She turned me down flat. It really hurt at the time. But it doesn't hurt now! Unlike High School Girl, I barely think of her. Because I tried. Because I gave it my best! Took a big swing for the fences and I wiffed. Big time. But there are no regrets. At least I had the guts, for once in my life, to get in the game and step up to the plate.
One of the favorite tricks of Rule Two slaves is to say that following Rule One is selfish. Don't believe it. Do you want to help our poor, suffering world? Than stand up to all the drones who are ruining the world while their souls are slip sliding away (thank you Paul Simon).If you want to help the world, live your passion, because people who live their passion are exactly what this hurting world needs. Think about it.
Dear people, the biggest lie people believe is that you can live a life without suffering. This is the lie that makes people give up their dreams. People believe they can take the easy path. But its a terrible trick. Folks, in this life you are going to suffer. I wish it were otherwise. But we have the choice of how we suffer. We can suffer the pains of living our dreams. We can also suffer the pain of failure. Nobody likes to fail. But better to fail than not to try at all. Because there is nothing more horrible than the pain of regret. So, Good People, move heaven and earth to find out what your personal Rule 1 is and live it! Bravely prepare yourself for the inevitable Rule 2 heat, as bad as it might get. Because Rule Three is the wisest and deadliest of truths. Dear Jesus, give me the strength to bear the crosses of Life. Help me avoid the pain of regret.
RULE NUMBER ONE (THE FUN RULE) Do whatever you want with your life!!! Everyone is going to like this. Follow your muse. Live your passion. Find your vocation. Do your own thing. Insert your own cliché here. Because they're all true. Don't worry about the market. Don't worry that it is hard. Go for it! Want to be an artist, be an artist. Want to be a blacksmith, be a blacksmith. Want to play center field for the Yankees, give it your best shot. Want to be a beach bum, well its a beautiful day. You only go around once in life...and its your life. Be who you want to be.
Wow! That was fun! There's got to be a catch right? You bet your sweet bippy there is!
RULE NUMBER TWO ( THE NASTY RULE). Try to follow Rule1 and the world will make you swallow lots and lots of shit! Shit from your parents. Shit from your spouse. Shit from your family in general. Shit from your friends. Shit from your enemies. Shit from society, which is just a fancy word for all the people who will tell you how to live your life. Guilt will be heaped upon you. You will be made to feel selfish. Irresponsible. Because there will be two forces dishing out the shit. One is peer pressure, because in a way, high school never ends. All those people who never had the guts to follow rule No. 1 will move heaven and earth to make sure you don't either. Because they don't want you to be happy when they are miserable. Because rule 2 shit can be vicious and terrifying. We wont pay for your college if you don't do what I say. Or I'll divorce you. Never be your friend again. You don't need me to remind you of the nasty things that people can do to you. For most people, this is more than enough to keep them in line.
In case that isn't enough, there is "the system". The system needs you to forget about your dreams so you can work to make its leaders richer. The system needs fodder to stuff its cubicles, clean their toilets, and pick their crops, among other fun things.. The system does want people living their dreams. The system wants slaves. Peer pressure works on your fear of being left behind, of being lonely. The system works on your fear of poverty. To follow our dreams, to follow rule 1, is to risk your financial security. There is a weak safety net and that is the way the system wants it. Its not just that the elites don't want to pay for it. The system wants you to be terrified of walking the tightrope of life without a net. Bottom line: live your life your way and malevolent forces will combine to harass and scare the hell out of you. So very few people do it.
Sounds pretty gloomy, right? But wait, were not done! Time for....
RULE NO. THREE (THE WISE RULE). No matter how much you suffer under Rule 2, It will never be as bad as the REGRETS you will suffer by NOT following rule 1!!!.
How do I know this? Because I have suffered oceans of regret in my life. Because like most of humanity, I caved in to Rule 2. Tried to take the safe way. Let other people lead me by the nose. For example, I would have loved to major in history or political science in college. But because I felt that I had to have a "marketable" degree, I majored in.....business. Not only did I hate it, not only did it bore me to death, the stuff I "learned" had no application in real life or is totally obsolete now. It did not make me any more money. Neither that obnoxious blowhard of a marketing professor, nor I, knew that something called the "internet" was coming down the pike and that said "internet" would reduce his words to a pile of gibberish. Like almost everyone else, when I came to a problem, I had to teach myself. I always loved history and politics. Like every amateur blogger worth his salt. I believe that my stuff is much better than a lot of the idiots who get paid for it. Why are they getting paid for it? Because they starting writing out of college. Do I have regrets about not being a writer out of college? With every keystroke on my blog. Rule 3 pain of regret is blistering and blinding. At least I learned this in my early 50's. I still have a shot. At least I am not finding this out on my deathbed like no many other poor souls. Thank you Jesus. Don't YOU wait until you are fifty years old to follow your own personal Rule One.
This is equally true in romance. Ask that guy or girl out! I am happily married now, but it doesn't mean I don't have any regrets. When I was in high school, I had a terrible crush on a girl. I was too shy to ask her out. The regrets still haunt me to this day, even though my rational brain says things worked out for the better. Luckily when I got to law school I had some unconscious inkling of the Three Rules of life. I fell in love with one of the most desired women in our class. I thought to myself, this time I wont let her go by! This won't be high school! So I pulled out all the romantic stops. Even lost a ton of weight to impress her. Know what? She turned me down flat. It really hurt at the time. But it doesn't hurt now! Unlike High School Girl, I barely think of her. Because I tried. Because I gave it my best! Took a big swing for the fences and I wiffed. Big time. But there are no regrets. At least I had the guts, for once in my life, to get in the game and step up to the plate.
One of the favorite tricks of Rule Two slaves is to say that following Rule One is selfish. Don't believe it. Do you want to help our poor, suffering world? Than stand up to all the drones who are ruining the world while their souls are slip sliding away (thank you Paul Simon).If you want to help the world, live your passion, because people who live their passion are exactly what this hurting world needs. Think about it.
Dear people, the biggest lie people believe is that you can live a life without suffering. This is the lie that makes people give up their dreams. People believe they can take the easy path. But its a terrible trick. Folks, in this life you are going to suffer. I wish it were otherwise. But we have the choice of how we suffer. We can suffer the pains of living our dreams. We can also suffer the pain of failure. Nobody likes to fail. But better to fail than not to try at all. Because there is nothing more horrible than the pain of regret. So, Good People, move heaven and earth to find out what your personal Rule 1 is and live it! Bravely prepare yourself for the inevitable Rule 2 heat, as bad as it might get. Because Rule Three is the wisest and deadliest of truths. Dear Jesus, give me the strength to bear the crosses of Life. Help me avoid the pain of regret.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Childhood and Education Changes Not For the Better
High Stakes Testing. Teaching to the test. Forcing children to sit there while you are teaching to the test because some idiot politician makes you teach to the test. Playdates. Your whole day totally regimented, Don't go outside because there is a child molester on every corner! Tons of homework. Soccer practice. Band practice. Karate. Ballet. Activity, Activity. Activity. You need this activity to put on your application to Harvard or Duke or Stanford, because if you don't get into an elite school your life is over. Its a tough world out there and we are just trying to protect you, sweetie. Its all for your own good! Thirteen year old Emily is cracking under the pressure? Give her a freaking Xanax because she needs to go to her SAT prep class! Can't slow down now! This is your future at stake!
Oh, did you hear about Josh down the street? Why would he kill himself? He was only fifteen years old. Guess he couldn't take it. Probably would have been a loser anyway.
It is amazing to me how well meaning parents have become monsters to their own children because of their own creeping terror. We live in a winner take all society, and baby, these adults know it. They know what happens when you lose. So they push their kids to the limit to make sure their kids stay above the ever more demanding machine. But by doing so, they perpetrate the machine's malevolent force. It is a shame that these parents are so bullshit with fear. If they could slow down and think through the fear, just maybe they would teach their children that they could change the system that is making everybody so miserable.
I grew up in the Seventies. There was a lot of things that were crazy about the Seventies. But dammit, we had fun! We would get on our bikes, not put on our helmets, and zip up and down the streets of Norridge and Harwood Heights, Illinois. (two little suburbs pressed between Chicago and O'Hare Airport). We would actually play with our friends. Unsupervised! Unstructured! Heck , if we tried to stay indoors, our patents would kick us out! Go outside! Stop being lazy. Don't get me wrong. I did not grow up in some "Leave it to Beaver existence". If you wanted drugs in Norridge you could find them. Easily. If you wanted to join a gang, you could do so. This was the Seventies, after all. The suburb I live in Florida now is a lot safer than Norridge was in the Seventies. But you know what the big difference is? My parents were a LOT less fearful than people are now. You knew your neighbors. There were 14 houses on the side of my block and I knew the names of all the families. I could write them all down now if you wanted me to. Not so now. I know very few of my neighbors. Some are so paranoid you wouldn't want to know them! I'm sure its the same for almost all who are reading this.
My high school, Ridgewood High, was founded in 1961, the year I was born. RHS (home of the Rebels!) was born in a burst of idealism and creativity. It was even listed as one of the top ten schools in the country by a news magazine in the early 60's. It was proud of following its own unique curriculum, the Trump plan.(no not that Trump!) RHS was born in an era when even working class suburbs could be proud of their public schools.
By the time I got there in 1976, a lot of the bloom was off the rose. Drugs had taken their toll. But the biggest disease rotting good ol' RHS was cynicism. We were the tail end of the baby boom, mostly the youngest kids in our families, more Gen X in attitude than Boomer. Many teachers didn't like the "I don't give a shit" attitude that prevailed among us, so many of them gave up on us. One teacher even sneered at us in a lecture hall "You all are as interesting as bat shit!" It wasn't really anyone's fault. Ridgewood was a part of America and America was just beginning its fall into the Reagan-induced miasma of self centeredness.
BUT.....I got some real benefits too. One of the features of the Trump Plan was a modular schedule. Our schedule was a 6 day recurring cycle, Day 1 through Day 6. Each day was divided up into 20 twenty minute "mods". Every day was different. Courses were divided up in "Large Groups" (lectures), "Small Groups" (seminars where you were seated around a round table) and "labs". Best of all, some mods were reserved for "independent study time" where you could go where you wanted and study. Now like all schools, the quality of instruction varied greatly. RHS had great teachers, lousy teachers and teachers in between. But what really saved school for me was the IS time. I was an obsessive reader and during this time I learned to teach myself. Sometimes I was so into teaching myself that my grades suffered. But in the long run that didn't matter. I wasn't going to Harvard anyway. I had the time to read and explore my love of learning. ( I also did my share of goofing off. Hey, we were kids! Something that is forgotten in 2015) This, not the instruction, was the great gift Ridgewood gave me. The gift of loving learning for learning's sake.
This is another of the reasons I'm glad I'm not a kid today. For the very simple reason that if I attended the typical high school of 2015 I would have gone crazy. Died of boredom. Would have seen right through the cynical lunacy of high stakes testing, like I am sure kids do today. The same thing every day. Teachers terrified to try anything new. Endless drilling in math and science to the exclusion of my favorite subjects. No time for frivolous independent study! OMG we are falling behind FINLAND!! Eeeeeeeeeee! Breaking our kids on the cross of our fears. Thank God I'm not a kid today!
Author William Deresiewicz, in his book Excellent Sheep describes hard working elite educated kids as...excellent sheep. Great at pleasing their elders and getting good grades. Working themselves to death. Stressed out to the max. But not so good at thinking for themselves. Totally unable to apply critical thinking skills to the wreckage of their own lives; to the dark tunnels that society has mapped out for them. There is no room for concepts that don't make money. Love for learning for learning's sake? Finding your own passion? Finding Jesus Christ?? Get real. Get with the program. Its just the way the world works. Could it be that the reason that so called "leaders'" beat critical thinking skills out of their kids is that the brutal winner-take-all society they pimp for cannot stand up to critical thinking? Wonderful country America has become. The 99% is brutally squeezed so the elite one percent can be........miserable. Folks, if this absurdity is going to change, it is going to have to be our kids who will change it. It might be a good idea to stop scaring the shit out of them.
Oh, did you hear about Josh down the street? Why would he kill himself? He was only fifteen years old. Guess he couldn't take it. Probably would have been a loser anyway.
It is amazing to me how well meaning parents have become monsters to their own children because of their own creeping terror. We live in a winner take all society, and baby, these adults know it. They know what happens when you lose. So they push their kids to the limit to make sure their kids stay above the ever more demanding machine. But by doing so, they perpetrate the machine's malevolent force. It is a shame that these parents are so bullshit with fear. If they could slow down and think through the fear, just maybe they would teach their children that they could change the system that is making everybody so miserable.
I grew up in the Seventies. There was a lot of things that were crazy about the Seventies. But dammit, we had fun! We would get on our bikes, not put on our helmets, and zip up and down the streets of Norridge and Harwood Heights, Illinois. (two little suburbs pressed between Chicago and O'Hare Airport). We would actually play with our friends. Unsupervised! Unstructured! Heck , if we tried to stay indoors, our patents would kick us out! Go outside! Stop being lazy. Don't get me wrong. I did not grow up in some "Leave it to Beaver existence". If you wanted drugs in Norridge you could find them. Easily. If you wanted to join a gang, you could do so. This was the Seventies, after all. The suburb I live in Florida now is a lot safer than Norridge was in the Seventies. But you know what the big difference is? My parents were a LOT less fearful than people are now. You knew your neighbors. There were 14 houses on the side of my block and I knew the names of all the families. I could write them all down now if you wanted me to. Not so now. I know very few of my neighbors. Some are so paranoid you wouldn't want to know them! I'm sure its the same for almost all who are reading this.
My high school, Ridgewood High, was founded in 1961, the year I was born. RHS (home of the Rebels!) was born in a burst of idealism and creativity. It was even listed as one of the top ten schools in the country by a news magazine in the early 60's. It was proud of following its own unique curriculum, the Trump plan.(no not that Trump!) RHS was born in an era when even working class suburbs could be proud of their public schools.
By the time I got there in 1976, a lot of the bloom was off the rose. Drugs had taken their toll. But the biggest disease rotting good ol' RHS was cynicism. We were the tail end of the baby boom, mostly the youngest kids in our families, more Gen X in attitude than Boomer. Many teachers didn't like the "I don't give a shit" attitude that prevailed among us, so many of them gave up on us. One teacher even sneered at us in a lecture hall "You all are as interesting as bat shit!" It wasn't really anyone's fault. Ridgewood was a part of America and America was just beginning its fall into the Reagan-induced miasma of self centeredness.
BUT.....I got some real benefits too. One of the features of the Trump Plan was a modular schedule. Our schedule was a 6 day recurring cycle, Day 1 through Day 6. Each day was divided up into 20 twenty minute "mods". Every day was different. Courses were divided up in "Large Groups" (lectures), "Small Groups" (seminars where you were seated around a round table) and "labs". Best of all, some mods were reserved for "independent study time" where you could go where you wanted and study. Now like all schools, the quality of instruction varied greatly. RHS had great teachers, lousy teachers and teachers in between. But what really saved school for me was the IS time. I was an obsessive reader and during this time I learned to teach myself. Sometimes I was so into teaching myself that my grades suffered. But in the long run that didn't matter. I wasn't going to Harvard anyway. I had the time to read and explore my love of learning. ( I also did my share of goofing off. Hey, we were kids! Something that is forgotten in 2015) This, not the instruction, was the great gift Ridgewood gave me. The gift of loving learning for learning's sake.
This is another of the reasons I'm glad I'm not a kid today. For the very simple reason that if I attended the typical high school of 2015 I would have gone crazy. Died of boredom. Would have seen right through the cynical lunacy of high stakes testing, like I am sure kids do today. The same thing every day. Teachers terrified to try anything new. Endless drilling in math and science to the exclusion of my favorite subjects. No time for frivolous independent study! OMG we are falling behind FINLAND!! Eeeeeeeeeee! Breaking our kids on the cross of our fears. Thank God I'm not a kid today!
Author William Deresiewicz, in his book Excellent Sheep describes hard working elite educated kids as...excellent sheep. Great at pleasing their elders and getting good grades. Working themselves to death. Stressed out to the max. But not so good at thinking for themselves. Totally unable to apply critical thinking skills to the wreckage of their own lives; to the dark tunnels that society has mapped out for them. There is no room for concepts that don't make money. Love for learning for learning's sake? Finding your own passion? Finding Jesus Christ?? Get real. Get with the program. Its just the way the world works. Could it be that the reason that so called "leaders'" beat critical thinking skills out of their kids is that the brutal winner-take-all society they pimp for cannot stand up to critical thinking? Wonderful country America has become. The 99% is brutally squeezed so the elite one percent can be........miserable. Folks, if this absurdity is going to change, it is going to have to be our kids who will change it. It might be a good idea to stop scaring the shit out of them.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Too Big To Fail- Does Hillary Pass TheTest?
America's too big to fail banks are the largest criminal enterprises in the history of mankind, committing fraud on the scale that would make John Gotti blush. To recap what happened: The banks frantically made loans to people who they knew damm well could not pay them back. They got the ratings agencies to falsely declare these safe investments. They then sold these financial devices to unwitting investors all over the world. And when people started defaulting on their mortgages, they got robo-signers to forge signatures claiming that the banks still owed the paper. So the banks were in fact stealing houses after they sold the underlying mortgages. People paying off their mortgages had no idea if their payments were going to the proper holder of the mortgage. Many times they found out that they were paying the wrong people when they got sued for foreclosure themselves.
Then there was AIG and their credit default swaps. This was a fancy term for selling insurance on the banks bad loans . In fact, , the whole term "credit default swap" was to hide the fact that they were really selling insurance. You see, insurance is regulated by the government. Thanks to Bill Clinton and the Republicans (and too many Democrats) in Congress, financial derivatives are not. So party on AIG! They would sell CDS's for virtual pennies, agreeing to pay dollars if the loan went bad. Since the banks were engaging in fraud, the loans were guaranteed to go bad. AIG made a fortune selling these cheap CDO's before the bubble burst. Certain assholes at AIG got their big bonuses. Until the market tanked and they were on the hook for hundreds of BILLIONS in bad loans. This was greed and stupidity on an almost cosmic scale.
So what happened? The big banks and AIG were bailed out. The Democratic administration of Barack Obama went along with this. Were the big, crooked banks broken up? Of course not. Were they temporally taken over by the government so the books could be straightened out and the crooks purged? Of course not! Mustn't spook the marketplace! Almost nobody went to jail. Mustn't spook the market. Never mind that the victims of this epic fraud were "spooked" by the loss of their savings, homes, jobs, pensions, ect. And guess what forks? All these organizations are still around, still Too Big To Fail, still engaging in the same crap that got the world in trouble in the first place. Another crash is inevitable if something is not done. And they will get bailed out again. Because they are still Too Big To Fail.
Folks, this crap has to end. First of all, Glass Steagall must be reinstated. This was a depression era common sense law that said when you deposited your hard earned money in a bank, the bank could not invest that money in something stupid, like chinchilla farms and...credit default swaps. Glass Steagall did this by stating that commercial banks should not be allowed to invest like investment banks or insurance companies. This common sense law held us in good stead for 60 years, until the Democratic administration of Hillary's Husband got in cahoots with the Gingrich led Republicans in Congress and actually repealed it! Why? Mustn't interfere with the Great God Market. Good God. Do NOT forget that a Democratic President signed the repeal of the law that would have prevented the Great Recession. Do NOT forget that a Democratic president supported the bailouts. Do NOT forget that a Democratic president has not even tried to break up the Too Big To Fail institutions. Do NOT forget that a Democratic president has not even tried to put these crooks in jail.
My fellow progressives, we have to get control of the Democratic Party. Yes, I know the Republicans are batshit crazy. But we cannot let fear of the GOP let people like Hillary off the hook. It's because Democrats like the Clintons and Obama have basically accepted the conservative free market ideology that enables the Republicans to go crazy. Snarky Hillaryites smugly think we have no place to go, and so they take the banksters money and put in place 90 percent of the GOP economic agenda, Folks, this garbage has to stop.
So, I propose a simple litmus test for Democratic candidates. You will agree to 1) Reinstate Glass Steagall. 2) Break up the big banks 3) Prosecute banksters for their crimes. 4) Regulate and tax useless transactions that do society no good. 5) No more bailouts! In short END TOO BIG TO FAIL If you do not support this Democratic candidate, we will not support you . EVER.
Enough is Enough.
Then there was AIG and their credit default swaps. This was a fancy term for selling insurance on the banks bad loans . In fact, , the whole term "credit default swap" was to hide the fact that they were really selling insurance. You see, insurance is regulated by the government. Thanks to Bill Clinton and the Republicans (and too many Democrats) in Congress, financial derivatives are not. So party on AIG! They would sell CDS's for virtual pennies, agreeing to pay dollars if the loan went bad. Since the banks were engaging in fraud, the loans were guaranteed to go bad. AIG made a fortune selling these cheap CDO's before the bubble burst. Certain assholes at AIG got their big bonuses. Until the market tanked and they were on the hook for hundreds of BILLIONS in bad loans. This was greed and stupidity on an almost cosmic scale.
So what happened? The big banks and AIG were bailed out. The Democratic administration of Barack Obama went along with this. Were the big, crooked banks broken up? Of course not. Were they temporally taken over by the government so the books could be straightened out and the crooks purged? Of course not! Mustn't spook the marketplace! Almost nobody went to jail. Mustn't spook the market. Never mind that the victims of this epic fraud were "spooked" by the loss of their savings, homes, jobs, pensions, ect. And guess what forks? All these organizations are still around, still Too Big To Fail, still engaging in the same crap that got the world in trouble in the first place. Another crash is inevitable if something is not done. And they will get bailed out again. Because they are still Too Big To Fail.
Folks, this crap has to end. First of all, Glass Steagall must be reinstated. This was a depression era common sense law that said when you deposited your hard earned money in a bank, the bank could not invest that money in something stupid, like chinchilla farms and...credit default swaps. Glass Steagall did this by stating that commercial banks should not be allowed to invest like investment banks or insurance companies. This common sense law held us in good stead for 60 years, until the Democratic administration of Hillary's Husband got in cahoots with the Gingrich led Republicans in Congress and actually repealed it! Why? Mustn't interfere with the Great God Market. Good God. Do NOT forget that a Democratic President signed the repeal of the law that would have prevented the Great Recession. Do NOT forget that a Democratic president supported the bailouts. Do NOT forget that a Democratic president has not even tried to break up the Too Big To Fail institutions. Do NOT forget that a Democratic president has not even tried to put these crooks in jail.
My fellow progressives, we have to get control of the Democratic Party. Yes, I know the Republicans are batshit crazy. But we cannot let fear of the GOP let people like Hillary off the hook. It's because Democrats like the Clintons and Obama have basically accepted the conservative free market ideology that enables the Republicans to go crazy. Snarky Hillaryites smugly think we have no place to go, and so they take the banksters money and put in place 90 percent of the GOP economic agenda, Folks, this garbage has to stop.
So, I propose a simple litmus test for Democratic candidates. You will agree to 1) Reinstate Glass Steagall. 2) Break up the big banks 3) Prosecute banksters for their crimes. 4) Regulate and tax useless transactions that do society no good. 5) No more bailouts! In short END TOO BIG TO FAIL If you do not support this Democratic candidate, we will not support you . EVER.
Enough is Enough.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
American Politics at the Foot of the Cross
American politics approaching the election in 2016 has reached a low ebb. Potential voters are staying away in record numbers. The miasma of Big Money and the soul-crushing pile of negativity it will purchase will further discourage a weary nation. Why should we even try? The Big Boys will always win. But in reality, the Big Boys were defeated 2000 years ago when our Savior was nailed to a Cross. Our failure to believe this has resulted in two basic political trains of thought, both which fail us. There is Liberalism, which is essentially Christ without the Cross. Then there is Conservatism, which is the Cross without Christ. They both fall short of meeting our crying world's needs. This world can be redeemed only with Christ on the Cross. To many people this is either ridiculous or scandalous. They much prefer one of the two more respectable solutions.
First, Liberalism Christ without the Cross. This reduces Jesus to just a very good man. A teacher. A man who shows us a better was to live. Be kind to your neighbor. Care for your fellow man. Liberals are certainly right when they claim that most of Jesus' ideas dovetail with their ideas. Its one of the reasons I consider myself a liberal myself. But Jesus The Really Good Man dose nothing about the sin that is crushing the world. Liberals almost always lose in the long run because we are always the do gooders. The ones that are always trying to get the voters to eat their vegetables. So we are easy prey for those who would allow the voters to indulge in greed, hatred, and fear. Christ without the Cross is certainly nominally attractive, but he gives us no strength to fight the more attractive enemy. So voters turn to the conservatives. Ah, the Conservatives! The Cross without Christ.
Yes, the Cross without Christ. The Cross of all the worlds problems on your shoulders without no God to help you. Self Reliance! Rugged Individualism! You're on your own baby! What you need help? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps! What, the world's powerful are so ravenous they even took your bootstraps? Quit whining! The Cross without Christ is no Christianity at all. It is one of Evil's greatest triumphs that the majority of American "Christians" have been tricked into a Christless religion. The First Church of Ayn Rand. Its one of Evil's favorite bait and stitch. Here Mr. America, indulge in your favorite cheap sins. All you got to do is carry that huge burden. Alone.
So, in America a Godless despair prevails with the good people of the world powerless to combat it. So what can we do? Embrace Christ on the Cross! Embrace is with all the blood and dirt and sweat. Embrace the suffering. Embrace the suffering needed to bring about a better world. Because God Himself is suffering with us For you! And me! And for the world. Jesus death on the Cross brings eternal life to all. The eternal life should give us strength to combat the forces of Evil who are pressing an unbearable Cross on all of us. The world is being destroyed under the burden of this Christless cross and all the unholy suffering that it brings. Folks, there is no way out of the pains of this world, despite the lies of Evil that tell you can buy yourself out of it. In order to defeat Evil, we need the help only God can bring. What we are doing now sure ain't working. Jesus promises to stand by us bearing the Cross in this world, and giving us Eternal Life in the next. Should we be so quick to disbelieve him without even seeing for ourselves whether He will keep his promises? As for me, I will cast off the Christless Cross the world has dumped on me and embrace the Suffering Servant. Who Died on the Cross. For you. And me.
First, Liberalism Christ without the Cross. This reduces Jesus to just a very good man. A teacher. A man who shows us a better was to live. Be kind to your neighbor. Care for your fellow man. Liberals are certainly right when they claim that most of Jesus' ideas dovetail with their ideas. Its one of the reasons I consider myself a liberal myself. But Jesus The Really Good Man dose nothing about the sin that is crushing the world. Liberals almost always lose in the long run because we are always the do gooders. The ones that are always trying to get the voters to eat their vegetables. So we are easy prey for those who would allow the voters to indulge in greed, hatred, and fear. Christ without the Cross is certainly nominally attractive, but he gives us no strength to fight the more attractive enemy. So voters turn to the conservatives. Ah, the Conservatives! The Cross without Christ.
Yes, the Cross without Christ. The Cross of all the worlds problems on your shoulders without no God to help you. Self Reliance! Rugged Individualism! You're on your own baby! What you need help? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps! What, the world's powerful are so ravenous they even took your bootstraps? Quit whining! The Cross without Christ is no Christianity at all. It is one of Evil's greatest triumphs that the majority of American "Christians" have been tricked into a Christless religion. The First Church of Ayn Rand. Its one of Evil's favorite bait and stitch. Here Mr. America, indulge in your favorite cheap sins. All you got to do is carry that huge burden. Alone.
So, in America a Godless despair prevails with the good people of the world powerless to combat it. So what can we do? Embrace Christ on the Cross! Embrace is with all the blood and dirt and sweat. Embrace the suffering. Embrace the suffering needed to bring about a better world. Because God Himself is suffering with us For you! And me! And for the world. Jesus death on the Cross brings eternal life to all. The eternal life should give us strength to combat the forces of Evil who are pressing an unbearable Cross on all of us. The world is being destroyed under the burden of this Christless cross and all the unholy suffering that it brings. Folks, there is no way out of the pains of this world, despite the lies of Evil that tell you can buy yourself out of it. In order to defeat Evil, we need the help only God can bring. What we are doing now sure ain't working. Jesus promises to stand by us bearing the Cross in this world, and giving us Eternal Life in the next. Should we be so quick to disbelieve him without even seeing for ourselves whether He will keep his promises? As for me, I will cast off the Christless Cross the world has dumped on me and embrace the Suffering Servant. Who Died on the Cross. For you. And me.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Time for the Disruption of........Corporate Capitalism
We are hearing much about how our Corporate Masters of the Universe are into Disruption. Disrupt old industries. Disrupt old ways of doing things. Uber is "disrupting" the taxi industry! Never mind that the poor taxi drivers, who are probably struggling anyway, probably need the work. Disrupt them! Brag about how disruptive your new technology is and see your stock price soar! Get on the cover of Forbes! Never mind that your company might be like Snapchat still wondering how you are going to make money. Snapchat is Disruptive! Never mind that it really does not do anything good for society. Disruption is the new buzzword! Disruption is now! Disruption is wow! If it happens to throw thousands out of work so the elitist idiots can follow the latest fad, oh well.
Actually, Disruption is nothing new for the Godless corporate capitalists. Millions of good people got their lives "disrupted' by when the Masters of The Universe brought down the economy in 2008. Actually, God's creation is in the process of being disrupted. The seas are being drained empty of fish. Pollution has done untold disruption to nature and the people who depend on clean air and clean water. Thousands of lives are being disrupted by fracking, as The Masters Of The Universe are determined to squeeze every drop of oil out of the ground. And of course there is Global Warming. Ya think future generations might think this "disruptive"? Think the droughts in California are disruptive? Was Superstorm Sandy disruptive? Think the people who live on island nations like Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Maldives seeing their countries disappear under the rising seas might find this just a tad disruptive? Hell, it might even be disruptive if the hipsters on South Beach can't get to Joe's Stone Crab because its under water! A tiny strata of the population gets all the profits. The rest of us get disrupted! Don't like it? Shut up. You are just going to have to "adjust". Again. The creative destructionism of capitalism, you know.
Dear Jesus, I am so sick of this garbage. Its time to disrupt the disruptors.
It is obvious that the politicians will do nothing. The great journalist Thomas Frank got Barack Obama exactly right. Obama won because the people believed his message of "Hope" and "Change". And baby, when he got elected, things needed to change. The stinking rotting edifice that was the system was so out in the open that nobody could ignore the stench anymore. The elites were totally and clearly corrupt. The media was too palsied to report the truth. The middle class was almost squeezed to death. The banks became the largest criminal enterprises in the history of mankind. It was totally clear that things had to change. The Parasite Class was sucking humanity dry. They needed to ne stopped.
They needed to be disrupted!
And.....Nothing.....Happened.
Nothing changed. Nobody went to jail. Obama moved heaven and earth not to disrupt anything. Amazing. Obama needed to buy a new car. Instead he spent tons of money trying to overhaul the old one. Guess what? It runs as bad as before. It runs on the same old bullshit. First it was merger mania. Then it was the dot.com bubble. Crash. Then it was the housing bubble. Crash Again, a really big one this time. Now, the new buzzword is disruption. Their breathless hyping of this lunacy would be hilarious if it wasn't causing the suffering of billions. The elites continue to dance la de da to yet another disaster. With nothing to disrupt them.
Dear people, we have to stop the madness. We have to band together and organize.
This Godless corporate capitalism that has spread worldwide like the plague and made billions of souls miserable around the world has to end.
We have to disrupt them.
We have to stop pretending that things will get better if we just wait it out. It will not. We have to stop pretending that the movers and shakers of the world are decent people. They are not. We have to stop pretending that the gluttonous luxury of a tiny few while the billions of the masses suffer is the natural order of things. It is not. We have to stop pretending that the elites have common sense and science on their side. They do not. All so called classical economic theory. is an attempt to put a scientific gloss on the greed and dysfunction of the world economy. It is not based on any kind of reality. It is mere propaganda. As I have stated in this blog before at length, we are the prisoner of our own bad ideas. Corporations, money, and economic theory are nothing but concepts. We have the power to change the whole stinking system if we just realize that the authority imprisoning ourselves is not legitimate and simply not real.
Finally folks, we have an ally on our side. The same corporate media that pimps for the continuation of this system of madness is the same one that told us that God is Dead. This is NOT a coincidence. It would have you believe that things like economics, corporations and money are real while God is just a fairy tale. A very good thing for evil. For the Jesus depicted in the Gospels was disruptive. Disruptive to the Roman oppressors and the Sadducee elites that got to run the Temple in exchange to sucking up to them. Disruptive to the Pharisee elites who tried to reduce God to a system of laws instead of a God of love. Disruptive to the Jewish masses who wanted a military Messiah to kick the Romans out. Jesus took pity of the starving and miserable masses and died on the Cross to give eternal life for all, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile. Its this hope of Eternity that should give us the strength to take on the corporatist capitalist machine. I know some of you reading this have trouble believing in the divinity of Jesus. The cheap imitation of Christianity that has infested so many American churches has disgusted many. The evil propaganda machine that apologizes for it has done horrible damage to our souls. So has the lie that it is OK for so many billions to be miserable as long as I Got Mine. So has the lie that Getting Yours will make you happy. The faith that I have that Jesus Christ has given me the strength to write this. Otherwise I would have trouble getting out of bed, so overwhelming is the world's evil. It is my prayer that you may find peace and strength in Jesus too. Or at least find strength somewhere. Corporate Evil has had its way for far too long. First it must be disrupted. Then crushed. .
Actually, Disruption is nothing new for the Godless corporate capitalists. Millions of good people got their lives "disrupted' by when the Masters of The Universe brought down the economy in 2008. Actually, God's creation is in the process of being disrupted. The seas are being drained empty of fish. Pollution has done untold disruption to nature and the people who depend on clean air and clean water. Thousands of lives are being disrupted by fracking, as The Masters Of The Universe are determined to squeeze every drop of oil out of the ground. And of course there is Global Warming. Ya think future generations might think this "disruptive"? Think the droughts in California are disruptive? Was Superstorm Sandy disruptive? Think the people who live on island nations like Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Maldives seeing their countries disappear under the rising seas might find this just a tad disruptive? Hell, it might even be disruptive if the hipsters on South Beach can't get to Joe's Stone Crab because its under water! A tiny strata of the population gets all the profits. The rest of us get disrupted! Don't like it? Shut up. You are just going to have to "adjust". Again. The creative destructionism of capitalism, you know.
Dear Jesus, I am so sick of this garbage. Its time to disrupt the disruptors.
It is obvious that the politicians will do nothing. The great journalist Thomas Frank got Barack Obama exactly right. Obama won because the people believed his message of "Hope" and "Change". And baby, when he got elected, things needed to change. The stinking rotting edifice that was the system was so out in the open that nobody could ignore the stench anymore. The elites were totally and clearly corrupt. The media was too palsied to report the truth. The middle class was almost squeezed to death. The banks became the largest criminal enterprises in the history of mankind. It was totally clear that things had to change. The Parasite Class was sucking humanity dry. They needed to ne stopped.
They needed to be disrupted!
And.....Nothing.....Happened.
Nothing changed. Nobody went to jail. Obama moved heaven and earth not to disrupt anything. Amazing. Obama needed to buy a new car. Instead he spent tons of money trying to overhaul the old one. Guess what? It runs as bad as before. It runs on the same old bullshit. First it was merger mania. Then it was the dot.com bubble. Crash. Then it was the housing bubble. Crash Again, a really big one this time. Now, the new buzzword is disruption. Their breathless hyping of this lunacy would be hilarious if it wasn't causing the suffering of billions. The elites continue to dance la de da to yet another disaster. With nothing to disrupt them.
Dear people, we have to stop the madness. We have to band together and organize.
This Godless corporate capitalism that has spread worldwide like the plague and made billions of souls miserable around the world has to end.
We have to disrupt them.
We have to stop pretending that things will get better if we just wait it out. It will not. We have to stop pretending that the movers and shakers of the world are decent people. They are not. We have to stop pretending that the gluttonous luxury of a tiny few while the billions of the masses suffer is the natural order of things. It is not. We have to stop pretending that the elites have common sense and science on their side. They do not. All so called classical economic theory. is an attempt to put a scientific gloss on the greed and dysfunction of the world economy. It is not based on any kind of reality. It is mere propaganda. As I have stated in this blog before at length, we are the prisoner of our own bad ideas. Corporations, money, and economic theory are nothing but concepts. We have the power to change the whole stinking system if we just realize that the authority imprisoning ourselves is not legitimate and simply not real.
Finally folks, we have an ally on our side. The same corporate media that pimps for the continuation of this system of madness is the same one that told us that God is Dead. This is NOT a coincidence. It would have you believe that things like economics, corporations and money are real while God is just a fairy tale. A very good thing for evil. For the Jesus depicted in the Gospels was disruptive. Disruptive to the Roman oppressors and the Sadducee elites that got to run the Temple in exchange to sucking up to them. Disruptive to the Pharisee elites who tried to reduce God to a system of laws instead of a God of love. Disruptive to the Jewish masses who wanted a military Messiah to kick the Romans out. Jesus took pity of the starving and miserable masses and died on the Cross to give eternal life for all, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile. Its this hope of Eternity that should give us the strength to take on the corporatist capitalist machine. I know some of you reading this have trouble believing in the divinity of Jesus. The cheap imitation of Christianity that has infested so many American churches has disgusted many. The evil propaganda machine that apologizes for it has done horrible damage to our souls. So has the lie that it is OK for so many billions to be miserable as long as I Got Mine. So has the lie that Getting Yours will make you happy. The faith that I have that Jesus Christ has given me the strength to write this. Otherwise I would have trouble getting out of bed, so overwhelming is the world's evil. It is my prayer that you may find peace and strength in Jesus too. Or at least find strength somewhere. Corporate Evil has had its way for far too long. First it must be disrupted. Then crushed. .
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Is The Donald Getting Bored?
In this blog, I have taken Donald Trump seriously. Very seriously. I have called him an American fascist threat. I have accused him of debasing American manhood and debasing American religion. I think Jesus had a good laugh when Trump stated that we in America have our own version of Christianity. No Donald, Jesus gets to say what Christianity is. Not billionaires.
I have also stated that both political parties are so flabby and out of it, and the American public is so frustrated and angry, that a charlatan like the Donald can ride the anger all the way to the White House. After all, the Donald is living proof that nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. The media adores the Donald, being that he is a bright shiny thing that the monkeys in the press can't keep their eyes off. But now, it seems like the Donald just might be a giant slobbering orangutan that needs a shiny thing to keep himself interested. Which begs the question: Is the Donald getting bored with the campaign??
There is no doubt that Donald Trump would love to play Prez. The would get all the ego boost that a man can possibly get. He would get to boss people around and blow things up. But Trump seems to think it all should be handed to him. He seems to be getting bored with the torturous path that you have to take to get to the White House. This is one area that I would agree with Donald Trump. The path to the presidency is a path that no sane person would tread. Endless debates with drones like Bush and Rubio? Pretending like you actually enjoy schlepping around Iowa and New Hampshire, flattering the voters inflated perceptions of their own virtue? This is work fit for midgets like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, not for a Master Of The Universe. If Trump is really serious, he is going to eventually have to get out of the helicopter and risk getting pigshit on his Gucci's.
There are signs that the Donald really does not want to do it. He was quoted as saying that if his polls drop, he might drop out. Huh? He really has not spend any money or energy putting together a decent ground game. He is starting to stagnate in the polls. Even a group as brain-challenged as GOP primary voters are eventually going to want to see some elbow grease. You see, Donald, we Americans really don't get the joke. Love you or hate you,we are taking you seriously. We can't help it. The one thing that a Teabagger and I have in common is that we both love this crazy country and don't like it when some egomaniac billionaire messes with it.
So Donald Trump, are you serious? Start showing it or shut the hell up.
I have also stated that both political parties are so flabby and out of it, and the American public is so frustrated and angry, that a charlatan like the Donald can ride the anger all the way to the White House. After all, the Donald is living proof that nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people. The media adores the Donald, being that he is a bright shiny thing that the monkeys in the press can't keep their eyes off. But now, it seems like the Donald just might be a giant slobbering orangutan that needs a shiny thing to keep himself interested. Which begs the question: Is the Donald getting bored with the campaign??
There is no doubt that Donald Trump would love to play Prez. The would get all the ego boost that a man can possibly get. He would get to boss people around and blow things up. But Trump seems to think it all should be handed to him. He seems to be getting bored with the torturous path that you have to take to get to the White House. This is one area that I would agree with Donald Trump. The path to the presidency is a path that no sane person would tread. Endless debates with drones like Bush and Rubio? Pretending like you actually enjoy schlepping around Iowa and New Hampshire, flattering the voters inflated perceptions of their own virtue? This is work fit for midgets like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, not for a Master Of The Universe. If Trump is really serious, he is going to eventually have to get out of the helicopter and risk getting pigshit on his Gucci's.
There are signs that the Donald really does not want to do it. He was quoted as saying that if his polls drop, he might drop out. Huh? He really has not spend any money or energy putting together a decent ground game. He is starting to stagnate in the polls. Even a group as brain-challenged as GOP primary voters are eventually going to want to see some elbow grease. You see, Donald, we Americans really don't get the joke. Love you or hate you,we are taking you seriously. We can't help it. The one thing that a Teabagger and I have in common is that we both love this crazy country and don't like it when some egomaniac billionaire messes with it.
So Donald Trump, are you serious? Start showing it or shut the hell up.
Keep the pressure on Hillary
Today , we now see that Hillary Clinton has come out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This is after she came against the Keystone XL pipeline. Has Hillary seen the light? Is she really going to turn away from her corporate pals and embrace a fairer deal for the much squeezed middle class? Or is this just too clever maneuvering to stave off Bernie Sanders? Is she just talking a progressive game now, only to pivot back to her corporate ways once she finally gets to sit in the Big Chair in the Oval Office that she seems to feel she is entitled to?
There are a lot of signs that are not encouraging. After all TPP and Keystone XL are both things she supported when she was Secretary of State. There is still many years of doing bidding for Wall Street and her campaign contributors that stain her past. You can pardon us progressives if we are a bit skeptical.
But,it is encouraging too. I think we progressives in general and Bernie Sanders in particular, can take credit for Hillary's leftward lurch. We are obviously scaring the hell out of her. Good. The country cannot take four more years of centrist pap that is really 90% of what the conservatives want. We progressives can take credit for Hillary's changes. We need to keep up the pressure. Look at gay marriage. It did not come about because the politicians handed it to them. No, gays refused to be treated like second class citizens anymore, so they organized and forced change. How ironic. The more we organize, the more we support Bernie, the better Hillary Clinton becomes. We cannot ease up on the pressure. Keep on pushing progressives! If we cannot beat Hillary, at least we can scare the crap out of her.
There are a lot of signs that are not encouraging. After all TPP and Keystone XL are both things she supported when she was Secretary of State. There is still many years of doing bidding for Wall Street and her campaign contributors that stain her past. You can pardon us progressives if we are a bit skeptical.
But,it is encouraging too. I think we progressives in general and Bernie Sanders in particular, can take credit for Hillary's leftward lurch. We are obviously scaring the hell out of her. Good. The country cannot take four more years of centrist pap that is really 90% of what the conservatives want. We progressives can take credit for Hillary's changes. We need to keep up the pressure. Look at gay marriage. It did not come about because the politicians handed it to them. No, gays refused to be treated like second class citizens anymore, so they organized and forced change. How ironic. The more we organize, the more we support Bernie, the better Hillary Clinton becomes. We cannot ease up on the pressure. Keep on pushing progressives! If we cannot beat Hillary, at least we can scare the crap out of her.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Marco Rubio is Having Trouble Finding the Narrow Gate.
Baby Marco got his whiny butt on Fox Noise and had this little hissy fit about the Pope: " The Pope is wrong and has no authority on economic issues. Poor people do better when we have free enterprise. He's wrong on climate change. He's wrong on Cuba. I am very disappointed in this pope."
Well.
Once again, when push comes to shove, conservatives choose Mammon over God. As for Marco, what good is it to gain the whole world but lose your soul? Thank God Jesus does not have to impress Republican primary voters. He can keep on giving salvation to the poor, downtrodden, and anyone who has the grace to give his life to Him.
As for Marco, you're heading in the wrong direction, brother. Such a wasted life.
Jesus wept.
Well.
Once again, when push comes to shove, conservatives choose Mammon over God. As for Marco, what good is it to gain the whole world but lose your soul? Thank God Jesus does not have to impress Republican primary voters. He can keep on giving salvation to the poor, downtrodden, and anyone who has the grace to give his life to Him.
As for Marco, you're heading in the wrong direction, brother. Such a wasted life.
Jesus wept.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
The Koch Brothers Just Got Less Scary
It is easy to demonize the Koch Brothers. Two rich billionaires use huge amounts of money to impose their fascist vision on a gullible America. To political observers disgusted and horrified by money in politics and ordinary people just sick of 30 second attack ads, they are the perfect monster. But maybe, just maybe, it's time to take hope and be less scared.
Yes, the KB's have piles and piles of money. It has been widely reported that they are willing to spend $900 million of it to elect a President of their own choosing. But they seem to lack two things. One is an appealing message. Another is just good political judgment.
Oh, the KB's have a message all right. That message is "We billionaires have a right to do what ever we want to make more money, without any interference from the government, no matter how many livelihoods we destroy and no matter how much damage we do to the environment" Not exactly a winning message. Not having a positive message, they use their money to go negative, to destroy anyone who might get in their way. $900 million buys a lot of squid ink. It has worked very well for 35 years now. Who can blame the KB's for thinking it would work in 2016?
As we now know, all that negativity has created a monster and his name is Trump. All of a sudden, the KB's have lost control. They have no idea how to stop Trump. And Trump does not care about them. Trump is veering into populist economics, claiming he will control plutocrats like the Koch Brothers. Trump is almost like a mirror, people see what they want to see in him. Yes, Trump might be a monster, but he is an unpredictable monster. We already know what evil the monster that is the Koch Brothers has in store for us. Is replacing the KB's with Trump a net plus for America? I don't know, but it sure is fun to watch these old men squirm.
Also, The KB's might have a ton of money, but it looks like their judgment sucks. Their favored candidate for President? Scott Walker. Oops. It says a lot about their judgment and their souls that they thought that the totally repulsive Walker would be just a fine and dandy leader of the Free World. Who is the Clown Car will they turn to next? Yes, the KB's still have influence but they are not in control of events. And that makes them less scary.
You know what folks? We never should have been scared. As I have said before, the worst thing about money in politics is the learned helplessness it breeds in Progressives. But we don't have to take this. Look at Bernie Sanders. He is virtually being ignored by the mainstream media. He certainly does not have $900 million to spend on his campaign. But he is leading in Iowa and New Hampshire as I write this. Why? Because his message is so strong it cannot be suppressed. Hey Democrats, I got a radical idea: spend less time fundraising and more time working on how to make the country better. We need not be afraid of scary monsters like the Koch Brothers or Donald Trump. We have the power to slay them.
Yes, the KB's have piles and piles of money. It has been widely reported that they are willing to spend $900 million of it to elect a President of their own choosing. But they seem to lack two things. One is an appealing message. Another is just good political judgment.
Oh, the KB's have a message all right. That message is "We billionaires have a right to do what ever we want to make more money, without any interference from the government, no matter how many livelihoods we destroy and no matter how much damage we do to the environment" Not exactly a winning message. Not having a positive message, they use their money to go negative, to destroy anyone who might get in their way. $900 million buys a lot of squid ink. It has worked very well for 35 years now. Who can blame the KB's for thinking it would work in 2016?
As we now know, all that negativity has created a monster and his name is Trump. All of a sudden, the KB's have lost control. They have no idea how to stop Trump. And Trump does not care about them. Trump is veering into populist economics, claiming he will control plutocrats like the Koch Brothers. Trump is almost like a mirror, people see what they want to see in him. Yes, Trump might be a monster, but he is an unpredictable monster. We already know what evil the monster that is the Koch Brothers has in store for us. Is replacing the KB's with Trump a net plus for America? I don't know, but it sure is fun to watch these old men squirm.
Also, The KB's might have a ton of money, but it looks like their judgment sucks. Their favored candidate for President? Scott Walker. Oops. It says a lot about their judgment and their souls that they thought that the totally repulsive Walker would be just a fine and dandy leader of the Free World. Who is the Clown Car will they turn to next? Yes, the KB's still have influence but they are not in control of events. And that makes them less scary.
You know what folks? We never should have been scared. As I have said before, the worst thing about money in politics is the learned helplessness it breeds in Progressives. But we don't have to take this. Look at Bernie Sanders. He is virtually being ignored by the mainstream media. He certainly does not have $900 million to spend on his campaign. But he is leading in Iowa and New Hampshire as I write this. Why? Because his message is so strong it cannot be suppressed. Hey Democrats, I got a radical idea: spend less time fundraising and more time working on how to make the country better. We need not be afraid of scary monsters like the Koch Brothers or Donald Trump. We have the power to slay them.
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
The Politics of Heaven and Hell
One of the reasons I believe that religion has lost its grip on the popular imagination is the refusal of religious leaders to discuss Heaven and Hell. We have lost the desire for Heaven and the fear of Hell. How can you be surprised? The image of heaven is a bunch of cherubs sitting on clouds and strumming harps. The image of Hell is one of a creature with horns and a red flannel suit scorching people by fire. The first seems hopelessly boring and the latter is too comic to be scary. It is a scandal that these are the prevailing visions of the afterlife. No wonder people say, "I don't care if I go to Hell, all my friends will be there" Was it not Billy Joel who said I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, the sinners are much more fun?
My objection to this attitude is that it has tragic consequences in THIS world. First of all, the hope of an afterlife is not an escape hatch for the problems of the world. The hope of Heaven is designed to give you strength to make the current world a better place. After all, a person who believes that he is truly immortal is much more likely to stand up to the princes who are despoiling this world. How can they hurt us if we are going to live forever? This should have real world consequences in this life. But I am going to dare to take it farther. I am going to dare to say that we all have experienced Heaven in this life. I will also dare to say that we have all experienced Hell. And I will triple dare state that our decisions involving other people, including our political decisions , are the major factor whether we experience Heaven or Hell on earth.
I believe we experience Heaven on Earth when we are in the company and experiencing the love of other people. Think about your most incredible joyous experience. Were you not in the presence of other people? Perhaps it was at a party. Or you were with your family. Or alone with your loved one. Or, especially in the service of others. All of these things have the same thing in common: we were feeling so much love and giving so much love to someone else that we forgot about ourselves! I am going to go out on a limb and say that these experiences are times you at least tasted a tiny part of Heaven.
If there is a Heaven, there must be a Hell. Yes, we have been there also. Every time you have been there you have been alone. I am not talking about peaceful solitude. (Nor am I talking about those people who are downright hellish to be with!). I am talking about Loneliness. Heartbreak. Hatred. And, especially that one deadly sin that does not even bring us cheap pleasure, and that is ENVY. How many times have you sat alone, plotting revenge on your neighbor? Or just feeling jealous? Or just feeling downright miserable. All alone, just you and your miserable hate-filled thoughts to keep you company. Welcome to Hell, brother.
What does this have to do with politics? well, I doubt the politicians ability to bring Heaven on earth , but they can sure bring Hell. War. Poverty. Famine. Disease. Genocide. Racism. Hatred. And what is the one thing they have in common? The worship of the self and the fear and hatred of your neighbor. Yes, Hell. Hell for you and Hell for your neighbor. Wage war on your neighbor. Neglect him. Vilify him. All because I am better that him. Because I am afraid of him. Maybe I just don't like him! To Hell with him. So off to hell he goes, in thousands of evil ways. Divide and conquer has been the successful strategy of many a politician. But what the pols don't tell you is the Hell they put you in. You can't enjoy your things because you might lose them. Someone might take it from you! Kinda hard to love your neighbor when he might take your job. The world is a dangerous place! Look out for number one! Yep, Hell can be that deathbed in the hospital, all alone, your toys far away. Maybe at that time you pray to God to take you to Heaven. Maybe he grants your request. But wouldn't it been better not to have spent your time on earth in the prison of the self? Or forcing people to become selfish just to defend themselves from you?
I'm going to take my dare even farther. I am going to speculate what Heaven is like after we die. I have taken most, if not all, of my ideas from spiritual writers. Why not? Why not speculate about this glorious place called Heaven in glorious communion with others? Certainly not by myself! Are you ready? Here goes! Heaven and Hell will be very recognizable to us. They will look like the world. If fact there will just be one thing different in each place. Heaven will be the world without sin. Hell will be the world without love. I will write further about my musings about Heaven and Hell in another post. But first I want you to contemplate my two little ideas. And maybe, just maybe, you will feel the same hope that is now surging within me. Maybe, just maybe we can share it.
My objection to this attitude is that it has tragic consequences in THIS world. First of all, the hope of an afterlife is not an escape hatch for the problems of the world. The hope of Heaven is designed to give you strength to make the current world a better place. After all, a person who believes that he is truly immortal is much more likely to stand up to the princes who are despoiling this world. How can they hurt us if we are going to live forever? This should have real world consequences in this life. But I am going to dare to take it farther. I am going to dare to say that we all have experienced Heaven in this life. I will also dare to say that we have all experienced Hell. And I will triple dare state that our decisions involving other people, including our political decisions , are the major factor whether we experience Heaven or Hell on earth.
I believe we experience Heaven on Earth when we are in the company and experiencing the love of other people. Think about your most incredible joyous experience. Were you not in the presence of other people? Perhaps it was at a party. Or you were with your family. Or alone with your loved one. Or, especially in the service of others. All of these things have the same thing in common: we were feeling so much love and giving so much love to someone else that we forgot about ourselves! I am going to go out on a limb and say that these experiences are times you at least tasted a tiny part of Heaven.
If there is a Heaven, there must be a Hell. Yes, we have been there also. Every time you have been there you have been alone. I am not talking about peaceful solitude. (Nor am I talking about those people who are downright hellish to be with!). I am talking about Loneliness. Heartbreak. Hatred. And, especially that one deadly sin that does not even bring us cheap pleasure, and that is ENVY. How many times have you sat alone, plotting revenge on your neighbor? Or just feeling jealous? Or just feeling downright miserable. All alone, just you and your miserable hate-filled thoughts to keep you company. Welcome to Hell, brother.
What does this have to do with politics? well, I doubt the politicians ability to bring Heaven on earth , but they can sure bring Hell. War. Poverty. Famine. Disease. Genocide. Racism. Hatred. And what is the one thing they have in common? The worship of the self and the fear and hatred of your neighbor. Yes, Hell. Hell for you and Hell for your neighbor. Wage war on your neighbor. Neglect him. Vilify him. All because I am better that him. Because I am afraid of him. Maybe I just don't like him! To Hell with him. So off to hell he goes, in thousands of evil ways. Divide and conquer has been the successful strategy of many a politician. But what the pols don't tell you is the Hell they put you in. You can't enjoy your things because you might lose them. Someone might take it from you! Kinda hard to love your neighbor when he might take your job. The world is a dangerous place! Look out for number one! Yep, Hell can be that deathbed in the hospital, all alone, your toys far away. Maybe at that time you pray to God to take you to Heaven. Maybe he grants your request. But wouldn't it been better not to have spent your time on earth in the prison of the self? Or forcing people to become selfish just to defend themselves from you?
I'm going to take my dare even farther. I am going to speculate what Heaven is like after we die. I have taken most, if not all, of my ideas from spiritual writers. Why not? Why not speculate about this glorious place called Heaven in glorious communion with others? Certainly not by myself! Are you ready? Here goes! Heaven and Hell will be very recognizable to us. They will look like the world. If fact there will just be one thing different in each place. Heaven will be the world without sin. Hell will be the world without love. I will write further about my musings about Heaven and Hell in another post. But first I want you to contemplate my two little ideas. And maybe, just maybe, you will feel the same hope that is now surging within me. Maybe, just maybe we can share it.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Donald Trump and the Continued Perversion of Manhood
UPDATE: Absolutely nothing has changed
. Men, especially white men, seem to be eating up Donald Trump's shtick. The Donald is tough! The Donald is a leader! The Donald is whipping those sissybricthes like Jeb Bush and Rand Paul! The Donald screws supermodels and has no time for ugly women like Hillary and Carly Fiorina! The Donald is going to make America Great Again! Why? The Donald is a billionaire! The Donald kicks ass! Implied in all this is that the Donald is a Real Man, and only a Real Man, a Strongman, can save us!!!.
Nothing can be further than the truth. The fact that Donald Trump is looked on by so many people as the Ultimate Male is just a shining example of how the concept of maleness has been twisted and perverted by the miasma that is modern life. Once upon the time, the Trumps of the world would have laughed out of town for the phonies and posers they are.
The word husband comes from the word "husbandry". Husbandry was the whole process of an independent, free man taking care of his family and his estate. This man was a loyal companion to his friends, and did not shirk from leadership responsibilities. He acted for the good of the community and not just out of self-interest. He took care of the land, taking care to preserve it and not pollute it or harm his neighbors. He took a leadership role in his family but did not abuse or oppress his wife and children. Other male archetypes, such as the knight, the hunter, and the warrior were from the same bent. This man was always willing to sacrifice, even to die for his lord, his king (or queen), his country, his family and especially his comrades in battle. The there running through all these archetypes is self-sacrifice. There was no greater honor than to lay down ones life for his friends. The selfish dandy was recognized for what he was: a man of weak character whose selfishness placed in danger everyone around him. No, this was not always put into practice, but is was an ideal sincerely strived for and universally admired. The man who succeeded in living these ideals was a man of respect. He was a Real Man.
Somewhere along the line, we lost our way. The Fake Real Man of today does not seek to co-operate, he seeks to dominate. The accumulation of money and power to crush others is the hallmark of the New Fake Man. I will look out for Number One and have no obligation to my fellow man. This New Fake Man is often seen on Wall Street, making billions producing nothing of real value and shouting into his Blackberry clutched by his soft pink hands. Indeed, the New Fake Man scorns honest physical labor as fit only for lesser subhumans. The New Fake Man is really not man at all but just an image, a brand. Trapped by the consumer culture, desperate for his paycheck, caged in his cubicle, he finds himself totally unable to strive for the old ancient ideals. Those who fail in the winner-take-all society ( which is almost everyone), often find themselves expressing their maleness in strange and bizarre ways. Guns. Violence. Domestic Violence. Screaming at the TV because Eli Manning threw yet another interception. This New Fake Man has trouble relating to women, who still yearn mostly for the old-style Real Man. In his frustration he resorts to domestic violence. Or serial infidelity. Or porn. In his heart, he wants to be a Real Man but doesn't know how. He is angry. He is frustrated. He desperately searches for a strongman. A savior. A cause in which he can forget about his miserable existence. Someone like Donald Trump.
Folks, this is not to mock the modern American male. He is trapped in a cheap, banal consumer, kleptomaniac culture with precious few opportunities to be a Real Man. So what is his solution? Why, he can escape from the society that binds him. Transcend it. Rise above it. If you want to be a Real Man, turn to a Real Savior. Someone who loves you. Someone with the power to allow you to shake off the chains, frustrations and failures of this world and live for Eternity in the next. Yes, this is Jesus Christ, the ultimate Real Man. All the attributes of a Real Man can be found in his Sacred Heart. All the love for your fellow man can be found on the Cross. The legions of New Fake Men, personified in its most monstrous form by Donald Trump, want to keep the whole world imprisoned in an iron cage of selfishness. This is killing our world, our friends, our families and our neighbors. Folks, I am a very weak man. But in my weakness I am strong. In my weakness I turn to Jesus. And become the Real Man He created me to be.
. Men, especially white men, seem to be eating up Donald Trump's shtick. The Donald is tough! The Donald is a leader! The Donald is whipping those sissybricthes like Jeb Bush and Rand Paul! The Donald screws supermodels and has no time for ugly women like Hillary and Carly Fiorina! The Donald is going to make America Great Again! Why? The Donald is a billionaire! The Donald kicks ass! Implied in all this is that the Donald is a Real Man, and only a Real Man, a Strongman, can save us!!!.
Nothing can be further than the truth. The fact that Donald Trump is looked on by so many people as the Ultimate Male is just a shining example of how the concept of maleness has been twisted and perverted by the miasma that is modern life. Once upon the time, the Trumps of the world would have laughed out of town for the phonies and posers they are.
The word husband comes from the word "husbandry". Husbandry was the whole process of an independent, free man taking care of his family and his estate. This man was a loyal companion to his friends, and did not shirk from leadership responsibilities. He acted for the good of the community and not just out of self-interest. He took care of the land, taking care to preserve it and not pollute it or harm his neighbors. He took a leadership role in his family but did not abuse or oppress his wife and children. Other male archetypes, such as the knight, the hunter, and the warrior were from the same bent. This man was always willing to sacrifice, even to die for his lord, his king (or queen), his country, his family and especially his comrades in battle. The there running through all these archetypes is self-sacrifice. There was no greater honor than to lay down ones life for his friends. The selfish dandy was recognized for what he was: a man of weak character whose selfishness placed in danger everyone around him. No, this was not always put into practice, but is was an ideal sincerely strived for and universally admired. The man who succeeded in living these ideals was a man of respect. He was a Real Man.
Somewhere along the line, we lost our way. The Fake Real Man of today does not seek to co-operate, he seeks to dominate. The accumulation of money and power to crush others is the hallmark of the New Fake Man. I will look out for Number One and have no obligation to my fellow man. This New Fake Man is often seen on Wall Street, making billions producing nothing of real value and shouting into his Blackberry clutched by his soft pink hands. Indeed, the New Fake Man scorns honest physical labor as fit only for lesser subhumans. The New Fake Man is really not man at all but just an image, a brand. Trapped by the consumer culture, desperate for his paycheck, caged in his cubicle, he finds himself totally unable to strive for the old ancient ideals. Those who fail in the winner-take-all society ( which is almost everyone), often find themselves expressing their maleness in strange and bizarre ways. Guns. Violence. Domestic Violence. Screaming at the TV because Eli Manning threw yet another interception. This New Fake Man has trouble relating to women, who still yearn mostly for the old-style Real Man. In his frustration he resorts to domestic violence. Or serial infidelity. Or porn. In his heart, he wants to be a Real Man but doesn't know how. He is angry. He is frustrated. He desperately searches for a strongman. A savior. A cause in which he can forget about his miserable existence. Someone like Donald Trump.
Folks, this is not to mock the modern American male. He is trapped in a cheap, banal consumer, kleptomaniac culture with precious few opportunities to be a Real Man. So what is his solution? Why, he can escape from the society that binds him. Transcend it. Rise above it. If you want to be a Real Man, turn to a Real Savior. Someone who loves you. Someone with the power to allow you to shake off the chains, frustrations and failures of this world and live for Eternity in the next. Yes, this is Jesus Christ, the ultimate Real Man. All the attributes of a Real Man can be found in his Sacred Heart. All the love for your fellow man can be found on the Cross. The legions of New Fake Men, personified in its most monstrous form by Donald Trump, want to keep the whole world imprisoned in an iron cage of selfishness. This is killing our world, our friends, our families and our neighbors. Folks, I am a very weak man. But in my weakness I am strong. In my weakness I turn to Jesus. And become the Real Man He created me to be.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Hey Hillary, Thanks for nothing
UPDATE Why did Hillary Lose??? Maybe its because she left a stunning trail of incompetence. One last reminder before we throw her into the dustbin of history.
GAY RIGHTS- Hillary did not come out for gay marriage until late in the game. People like Hillary and Obama are getting credit for the gains that gays have won themselves through their brave and tireless actions. Without their activism, Hillary type liberals would have trapped gays in "civil unions" without the right to express their love like the rest of humanity. And do not forget, it was the the Clintons who cooked up the ludicrous "Don't ask, Don't tell" chains on gays in the military. Again, it was gays themselves who had to free themselves from this ridiculous "solution". Whenever it got too hot, the Clintons tried to distance themselves from their gay supporters.
THE PATRIOT ACT- Hillary voted for this civil rights crushing pile of paranoia. Bernie Sanders voted against it. In America's darkest hour, when she needed leaders to defend freedom from those who would use fear to take it away, Hillary was asleep at the switch.
EDWARD SNOWDEN- Hillary would toss in jail the man who exposed the fact that our government was illegally spying on us. Snowden's disclosures were simply exposing the evils of Washington and its armies of useless (but dangerous) bureaucrats. Snowden posed almost no threat to national security. What he exposed is how dangerous our out of control government can be. Never mind. Hillary will lock him up. (Sanders supports Snowden)
WAR & PEACE- Hillary supported the Iraq War, again going along with the crowd. She has halfheartedly admitted her mistake. 4,500 war dead probably do not want to forgive. Despite her crocodile tears about her Iraq vote, Hillary pushed an aggressive forging policy as Secretary of State and continues to do so.
FREE TRADE-It was the Clintons who cooked up the job killing NAFTA. Clinton is all for each and every one of these monstrosities. Americans have been waiting for 20 years for jobs that never come. These agreements have killed off tens of millions of American jobs, but the elites of both parties still pushed them. Hillary was all for TPP as Sec. of State, but has been dodging the issue now when it became obvious this might be a problem. Oh, yes, Donald Trump has promised to end free trade agreements, hereby attacking Hillary on the LEFT. How is she going to defend her record? How stupid to become so elitist that she would be vulnerable to demagogues like Trump.
BANKRUPTCY REFORM- People have forgotten this little Hillary gem. First, the credit card companies were allowed to charge interest rates that would had made Fat Tony Salerno blush. They justified this usury by claiming that we need to be able to do this because all of the people filing for bankruptcy. So what did the credit card companies do? Go to Congress and get cabal of big business stooges of both parties to pass bankruptcy "reform", making it harder to discharge credit card debt, much of it interest from the brutal interest rates charged. Bipartisanship at its finest. And Hillary went along with it, standing with the loan sharks instead of their victims. Much later, Hillary says she's going to "fight" for workers and the middle class. Really?
WALL STREET- During the New Deal days Roosevelt and the Democrats had a very radical idea. They decreed that banks should not be allowed to take your savings and but them into bad or risky investments. You know, stuff like chinchilla farms and ......subprime mortgages. They passed a law. Called it Glass-Steagall. Prevented regular banks from acting like investment banks. Worked great for 60 years. But the Clinton administration had a better idea. Repeal Glass-Steagall! Set the banks free! The Great Recession would NOT have occurred if Glass-Steagall were not repealed and the banks properly regulated. This alone disqualifies anyone involved in it from any consideration to be president, especially a Clinton. You say you remember the Clinton Years as prosperous ones? You can call it prosperity. History will call it the High-Tech Bubble. Want to contribute to Hillary's campaign? Cash in your Pets.com stock.
It is common knowledge that the Clintons and Wall Street are closer than stink on shit. Yeah, Hillary is going to stand up for ordinary people and piss off a billion dollars plus load of campaign contributors. Wall Street is Ready for Hillary. Pardon me if I'm not.
MINORITIES- Hillary has gone from laughing at Bernie Sanders to watching him creep up in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire to falling behind Bernie Sanders. in Iowa and New Hampshire. But not to worry, say the pundits. Those two states are all white. Hillary's support among blacks will eventually swamp Bernie and propel her to the nomination. God knows blacks have suffered enough and are free to support whomever they wish and for whatever reason. At the risk of being called a Privileged White Male, I would like to bring up some reasons blacks might reconsider.
Sister Souljah- Remember her? The Clintons turned her name into a verb. To "Sister Souljah" someone is for a white politician to pander to racist whites by mocking or humiliating a black person that white people find annoying or scary. Especially helpful to a "liberal' who wants to show she won't be pushed around by "those people".
Ricky Ray Rector - he was an Arkansas death row inmate who was about to be executed despite being so feeble minded that he literally did not know what was happening to him. But, unfortunately for Rector, he was black. During Bill Clinton's first campaign, he made a big show of rushing to Arkansas to oversee his execution. But of course Clinton's physical presence was not needed for the deathwork to take place. Actually what was needed was to have Rector's black face splayed on all the news shows. The Clinton's showed their approval for the death penalty, a barbarism that affects blacks much more than whites.
Welfare Reform- The Clinton's were in trouble. Again. What to do? Call in Dick Morrie to "triangulate". Reform federal welfare by ending it. The Clintons pander to whites and get a big bounce in the polls. The teeming masses of the poor (white and black) get more misery. but at least Bill and Hillary socked it to the welfare queens!
The Crime Bill- America's crime rate has been going down for a generation. But hysteria about (black) crime caused the Clinton Administration to pass a "Crime Bill". The effects of this bill has been the mass incarceration of thousands and thousands of African-Americans. First this bill made the penalty for crack cocaine 100 times by weight more than powder. Makes no sense, unless you consider that the users of crack were almost all perceived to be black, while much more expensive powder was the drug of choice for wealthy whites. The Clintons enthusiastically supported the privatization of government services including the privatization of prisons. These prisons are loaded with people incarcerated under laws like "3 strikes and you're out" which Clintonite liberals gleefully pushed to show whites they are "tough on crime". Clintonite liberals also pushed the "broken windows theory" in which many folks, almost all poor, are harassed and jailed for the tiniest of offenses. An incredible amount of African-Americans are now in the system either jailed or on probation. The Clintons and their useless liberal ilk did much to aggravate this problem.
Hillary's race-baiting of Obama in 2008- In her desperation to catch up in the late stages of the 2008 primaries, Hillary and Bill turned to making thinly-veiled racial appeals. It almost worked too, as Clinton won a string of primaries that had a lot of older white working class votes. Hillary openly bragged about her appeal to white voters. Hillary gleefully tried to tie Obama to now forgotten figures like Jerimiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan. Bill compared Obama's campaign to Jesse Jackson's. Google "Hillary race baiting Obama" to refresh your memory. When push comes to shove, the Clintons do not hesitate to use GOP code words to win a few more cheap white votes.
TRUST ISSUES- The most dangerous place in the universe is getting in between the Clintons and someone writing them a check. David Sirota reports on numerous times a foreign country has written a check to the Clinton Foundation and then seeing the Clinton State Department doing that country a favor. Yes, the current E-mail scandal is overblown, but what was Hillary thinking of when she put the State Department's server in her own private residence? What could possibly go wrong? You would expect the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Dogpatch County, Arkansas to know this is a bad idea. I could care less if there was any "wrongdoing" at the time. Leaving yourself vulnerable because of this ridiculous unforced error is just so stupid. Yes, many of the Clinton "scandals" are bogus. But the Clintons arrogance and stubbornness and just plain greed keeps getting them into trouble over and over again. This becomes a big problem for the world when you are the "inevitable" nominee of one party, when the other party is going gaga for the fascist demagoguery of Donald Trump. Hillary sometimes seems shockingly ignorant of the awesome responsibility thrust upon her.
COMPETENCE AND ACCOMPLISHMENT- What has Hillary accomplished in her career except the furtherance of her own ambitions? She has screwed up two very big things in her career that seemed to be sure things: health care reform in 1993, and her presidential campaign. Remember that in 1993, the stars were all in line for health care reform. It was a done deal. Bob Dole told the Republicans not to fight it, just try to get some sort of compromise. But Hillary had to do everything in secret and came up with a mishmash that was easy for the conservatives to demonize. Then in 2008 Hillary grabs defeat from the jaws of victory. The campaign was incompetent. Wasted money. Staff Infighting. Loyalty to the wrong people. In short, in two very visible instances, when Hillary actually had to Run Something, she cratered. Badly.
Again, what has Hillary actually accomplished? We are told as a Senator she "worked hard", she "studied all the issues", she "was well liked and made a special effort to get along". All fine and dandy. What is missing is any real accomplishment. What is missing is good judgment on the most important issues she had to vote on. Her tenure at State was much the same thing. Lots of compliments on her work habits and frequent flier mileage. No real accomplishment. Looks like Hillary is a solid assistant coach who is hopelessly over her head when she has to run things. Are things getting better in 2016? So far we have watched Bernie Sanders morph from a total unknown to a nuisance candidate to gaining in the polls to actually leading in Iowa and New Hampshire. And Hillary seems totally at a loss as what to do about it.
And last but not least....
THAT STUPID LOGO.....Haven't you noticed that the arrow is pointing rightward....?
Well, despite these small issues, I think Hillary is doing just fine.
GAY RIGHTS- Hillary did not come out for gay marriage until late in the game. People like Hillary and Obama are getting credit for the gains that gays have won themselves through their brave and tireless actions. Without their activism, Hillary type liberals would have trapped gays in "civil unions" without the right to express their love like the rest of humanity. And do not forget, it was the the Clintons who cooked up the ludicrous "Don't ask, Don't tell" chains on gays in the military. Again, it was gays themselves who had to free themselves from this ridiculous "solution". Whenever it got too hot, the Clintons tried to distance themselves from their gay supporters.
THE PATRIOT ACT- Hillary voted for this civil rights crushing pile of paranoia. Bernie Sanders voted against it. In America's darkest hour, when she needed leaders to defend freedom from those who would use fear to take it away, Hillary was asleep at the switch.
EDWARD SNOWDEN- Hillary would toss in jail the man who exposed the fact that our government was illegally spying on us. Snowden's disclosures were simply exposing the evils of Washington and its armies of useless (but dangerous) bureaucrats. Snowden posed almost no threat to national security. What he exposed is how dangerous our out of control government can be. Never mind. Hillary will lock him up. (Sanders supports Snowden)
WAR & PEACE- Hillary supported the Iraq War, again going along with the crowd. She has halfheartedly admitted her mistake. 4,500 war dead probably do not want to forgive. Despite her crocodile tears about her Iraq vote, Hillary pushed an aggressive forging policy as Secretary of State and continues to do so.
FREE TRADE-It was the Clintons who cooked up the job killing NAFTA. Clinton is all for each and every one of these monstrosities. Americans have been waiting for 20 years for jobs that never come. These agreements have killed off tens of millions of American jobs, but the elites of both parties still pushed them. Hillary was all for TPP as Sec. of State, but has been dodging the issue now when it became obvious this might be a problem. Oh, yes, Donald Trump has promised to end free trade agreements, hereby attacking Hillary on the LEFT. How is she going to defend her record? How stupid to become so elitist that she would be vulnerable to demagogues like Trump.
BANKRUPTCY REFORM- People have forgotten this little Hillary gem. First, the credit card companies were allowed to charge interest rates that would had made Fat Tony Salerno blush. They justified this usury by claiming that we need to be able to do this because all of the people filing for bankruptcy. So what did the credit card companies do? Go to Congress and get cabal of big business stooges of both parties to pass bankruptcy "reform", making it harder to discharge credit card debt, much of it interest from the brutal interest rates charged. Bipartisanship at its finest. And Hillary went along with it, standing with the loan sharks instead of their victims. Much later, Hillary says she's going to "fight" for workers and the middle class. Really?
WALL STREET- During the New Deal days Roosevelt and the Democrats had a very radical idea. They decreed that banks should not be allowed to take your savings and but them into bad or risky investments. You know, stuff like chinchilla farms and ......subprime mortgages. They passed a law. Called it Glass-Steagall. Prevented regular banks from acting like investment banks. Worked great for 60 years. But the Clinton administration had a better idea. Repeal Glass-Steagall! Set the banks free! The Great Recession would NOT have occurred if Glass-Steagall were not repealed and the banks properly regulated. This alone disqualifies anyone involved in it from any consideration to be president, especially a Clinton. You say you remember the Clinton Years as prosperous ones? You can call it prosperity. History will call it the High-Tech Bubble. Want to contribute to Hillary's campaign? Cash in your Pets.com stock.
It is common knowledge that the Clintons and Wall Street are closer than stink on shit. Yeah, Hillary is going to stand up for ordinary people and piss off a billion dollars plus load of campaign contributors. Wall Street is Ready for Hillary. Pardon me if I'm not.
MINORITIES- Hillary has gone from laughing at Bernie Sanders to watching him creep up in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire to falling behind Bernie Sanders. in Iowa and New Hampshire. But not to worry, say the pundits. Those two states are all white. Hillary's support among blacks will eventually swamp Bernie and propel her to the nomination. God knows blacks have suffered enough and are free to support whomever they wish and for whatever reason. At the risk of being called a Privileged White Male, I would like to bring up some reasons blacks might reconsider.
Sister Souljah- Remember her? The Clintons turned her name into a verb. To "Sister Souljah" someone is for a white politician to pander to racist whites by mocking or humiliating a black person that white people find annoying or scary. Especially helpful to a "liberal' who wants to show she won't be pushed around by "those people".
Ricky Ray Rector - he was an Arkansas death row inmate who was about to be executed despite being so feeble minded that he literally did not know what was happening to him. But, unfortunately for Rector, he was black. During Bill Clinton's first campaign, he made a big show of rushing to Arkansas to oversee his execution. But of course Clinton's physical presence was not needed for the deathwork to take place. Actually what was needed was to have Rector's black face splayed on all the news shows. The Clinton's showed their approval for the death penalty, a barbarism that affects blacks much more than whites.
Welfare Reform- The Clinton's were in trouble. Again. What to do? Call in Dick Morrie to "triangulate". Reform federal welfare by ending it. The Clintons pander to whites and get a big bounce in the polls. The teeming masses of the poor (white and black) get more misery. but at least Bill and Hillary socked it to the welfare queens!
The Crime Bill- America's crime rate has been going down for a generation. But hysteria about (black) crime caused the Clinton Administration to pass a "Crime Bill". The effects of this bill has been the mass incarceration of thousands and thousands of African-Americans. First this bill made the penalty for crack cocaine 100 times by weight more than powder. Makes no sense, unless you consider that the users of crack were almost all perceived to be black, while much more expensive powder was the drug of choice for wealthy whites. The Clintons enthusiastically supported the privatization of government services including the privatization of prisons. These prisons are loaded with people incarcerated under laws like "3 strikes and you're out" which Clintonite liberals gleefully pushed to show whites they are "tough on crime". Clintonite liberals also pushed the "broken windows theory" in which many folks, almost all poor, are harassed and jailed for the tiniest of offenses. An incredible amount of African-Americans are now in the system either jailed or on probation. The Clintons and their useless liberal ilk did much to aggravate this problem.
Hillary's race-baiting of Obama in 2008- In her desperation to catch up in the late stages of the 2008 primaries, Hillary and Bill turned to making thinly-veiled racial appeals. It almost worked too, as Clinton won a string of primaries that had a lot of older white working class votes. Hillary openly bragged about her appeal to white voters. Hillary gleefully tried to tie Obama to now forgotten figures like Jerimiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan. Bill compared Obama's campaign to Jesse Jackson's. Google "Hillary race baiting Obama" to refresh your memory. When push comes to shove, the Clintons do not hesitate to use GOP code words to win a few more cheap white votes.
TRUST ISSUES- The most dangerous place in the universe is getting in between the Clintons and someone writing them a check. David Sirota reports on numerous times a foreign country has written a check to the Clinton Foundation and then seeing the Clinton State Department doing that country a favor. Yes, the current E-mail scandal is overblown, but what was Hillary thinking of when she put the State Department's server in her own private residence? What could possibly go wrong? You would expect the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Dogpatch County, Arkansas to know this is a bad idea. I could care less if there was any "wrongdoing" at the time. Leaving yourself vulnerable because of this ridiculous unforced error is just so stupid. Yes, many of the Clinton "scandals" are bogus. But the Clintons arrogance and stubbornness and just plain greed keeps getting them into trouble over and over again. This becomes a big problem for the world when you are the "inevitable" nominee of one party, when the other party is going gaga for the fascist demagoguery of Donald Trump. Hillary sometimes seems shockingly ignorant of the awesome responsibility thrust upon her.
COMPETENCE AND ACCOMPLISHMENT- What has Hillary accomplished in her career except the furtherance of her own ambitions? She has screwed up two very big things in her career that seemed to be sure things: health care reform in 1993, and her presidential campaign. Remember that in 1993, the stars were all in line for health care reform. It was a done deal. Bob Dole told the Republicans not to fight it, just try to get some sort of compromise. But Hillary had to do everything in secret and came up with a mishmash that was easy for the conservatives to demonize. Then in 2008 Hillary grabs defeat from the jaws of victory. The campaign was incompetent. Wasted money. Staff Infighting. Loyalty to the wrong people. In short, in two very visible instances, when Hillary actually had to Run Something, she cratered. Badly.
Again, what has Hillary actually accomplished? We are told as a Senator she "worked hard", she "studied all the issues", she "was well liked and made a special effort to get along". All fine and dandy. What is missing is any real accomplishment. What is missing is good judgment on the most important issues she had to vote on. Her tenure at State was much the same thing. Lots of compliments on her work habits and frequent flier mileage. No real accomplishment. Looks like Hillary is a solid assistant coach who is hopelessly over her head when she has to run things. Are things getting better in 2016? So far we have watched Bernie Sanders morph from a total unknown to a nuisance candidate to gaining in the polls to actually leading in Iowa and New Hampshire. And Hillary seems totally at a loss as what to do about it.
And last but not least....
THAT STUPID LOGO.....Haven't you noticed that the arrow is pointing rightward....?
Well, despite these small issues, I think Hillary is doing just fine.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Liberals benefit from the Rise of Good Religion.
Their is no secret that the majority of liberals are skeptical of religion in America. How can they not be when the face of religion in America are Sarah Palin, the truly loathsome Kim Davis, and many, many others too numerous to mention? Or they may look to the Islamic hate of ISIS or the rise of Jewish intolerance in Israel. Atheists are prominent in liberal publications such as AlterNet. We have a rise of people calling themselves "nones", people who yearn for spirituality or a connection to a Higher Power, but don't want to deal with the haters or drones who are filling too many pews in America. Hell, if what is being taught in wingnut churches was the authentic teaching of Jesus, then I would be an atheist too. Fortunately, it is not.
Skeptics can complain all they want, but religion is not going away. You think the idea of God is crazy? Well I think this suffering, crying foolish world is crazy. Despite our Enlightenment, our science, our technology, our knowledge ad all our toys, humankind still sheds every bit as many tears as before. The crushing problems of poverty, hunger and disease have not been solved. Here in the west, we suffer fear, anxiety, and despair under our high cathedral ceilings that no Xanax can cure. When I was a kid, I used to think that 2015 would be something like the Jetsons and I thought that would be cool. Instead, I got pop up ads and 140 characters. Don't get me wrong, I love Twitter and the Internet and without it you would not be reading this. But it is a poor substitute for the Utopia that was promised, not to mention the grace of God. Do not begrudge us religious people our God, especially when all the alternatives have failed.
Bad religion runs rampant because not enough Good People are around to turn it into Good Religion. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are not religions of hate but fill their places of worship with haters and take out the lovers and hatred will flourish. Certainly Jesus is not a hater. You cite religious wars and violence? As if secular people are incapable of this. The Bible is loaded with violence? As if the secular alternative has been so peaceful. The churches are so loaded with hypocrites? Well, get involved, and don't be a hypocrite, and maybe things will change. If you don't believe, don't begrudge me for trying to change thing from the inside.
You see, there is only one reason to believe anything, and that is because it is true. It would be folly on my part to believe in a God that doesn't exist just because it makes me feel good. But it also would be folly to deny the possibility of God existing just because you don't like the worst examples of Christians like Sarah Palin. I cannot prove that God exists, but I can marshal evidence for that proposition and believe in it Likewise, the atheist cannot prove that God does not exist, but can only give evidence for their belief. So we cannot agree on matters of faith but CAN agree on what is loving, decent, fair and just in society. We have come to the same conclusion from different paths. So we can coexist. And fight the darkness together.
Skeptics can complain all they want, but religion is not going away. You think the idea of God is crazy? Well I think this suffering, crying foolish world is crazy. Despite our Enlightenment, our science, our technology, our knowledge ad all our toys, humankind still sheds every bit as many tears as before. The crushing problems of poverty, hunger and disease have not been solved. Here in the west, we suffer fear, anxiety, and despair under our high cathedral ceilings that no Xanax can cure. When I was a kid, I used to think that 2015 would be something like the Jetsons and I thought that would be cool. Instead, I got pop up ads and 140 characters. Don't get me wrong, I love Twitter and the Internet and without it you would not be reading this. But it is a poor substitute for the Utopia that was promised, not to mention the grace of God. Do not begrudge us religious people our God, especially when all the alternatives have failed.
Bad religion runs rampant because not enough Good People are around to turn it into Good Religion. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are not religions of hate but fill their places of worship with haters and take out the lovers and hatred will flourish. Certainly Jesus is not a hater. You cite religious wars and violence? As if secular people are incapable of this. The Bible is loaded with violence? As if the secular alternative has been so peaceful. The churches are so loaded with hypocrites? Well, get involved, and don't be a hypocrite, and maybe things will change. If you don't believe, don't begrudge me for trying to change thing from the inside.
You see, there is only one reason to believe anything, and that is because it is true. It would be folly on my part to believe in a God that doesn't exist just because it makes me feel good. But it also would be folly to deny the possibility of God existing just because you don't like the worst examples of Christians like Sarah Palin. I cannot prove that God exists, but I can marshal evidence for that proposition and believe in it Likewise, the atheist cannot prove that God does not exist, but can only give evidence for their belief. So we cannot agree on matters of faith but CAN agree on what is loving, decent, fair and just in society. We have come to the same conclusion from different paths. So we can coexist. And fight the darkness together.
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