Tuesday, March 4, 2025

A Wider Window To Life



 We’re all born to this world with individual wonderment of the same universe. And, sharing gives life to that wonderment. Human nature is revealed on the face of an innocent child where love comes first, shown with a smile. Life is an individual journey.

“The Nature of Reality in the Conscious Mind is thru Stories.“ said Deepak Chopra.

What better excitement of your finding the beautiful flower, smelling it’s unique aroma, adding to the joy by telling a friend who delights in your story?


A fundamental question of Life’s Journey, when and where is the line drawn on the depth of Parenthood?  I find it difficult to share life with adult children who are distant. The sharing of life’s wonderment goes beyond a calendar, or sharing food recipes.


As parents we went through the stage in life and had the ‘Baby Thing’.  Our children grew up, but as adults they decided to be distant. That’s their choice.  We did the ‘Baby Thing’ by raising our children with love and a bundle of care.


The gateway to happiness is held in the hands of Humanity with the Key of Love. Let Love keep us at the top of this tapestry of humanity.


I find wonderment in life with the love of animals.  Watching the little creatures keeps life simple. Sniff, look, feel, hear, taste, all reminded about what’s important, and gives us a wider window to life.  


What motivates us? Remember, life is an individual journey. Some grow up with a competitive effort to conquer the same universe that they were born to, and cleave to greed.  


Reminded that greed is the seed for all kinds of Evil.  Greed reaches its limit when the fate of Humanity is held in the clutch of a few or submissive to one.


“The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.” - Tagore


 A reflection from a spoken Native American, which harmonizes with this theme of wonderment, saying their religion is not Faith Based but real. You can feel it, taste it, breathing the air, drinking clean water, seeing the sun, feeling and smelling  the earth, living plants and animals in harmony - living, loving, sharing.


“One is responsible for life: It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return.” - James Baldwin 


“We are all tourists, God is our travel agent who already made our itineraries, bookings and destinations...Trust him and enjoy LIFE.  Life is just a journey! Live today!”- Charles Chaplin


We sit in awe of the wonderment of the miracles of Nature.

My wife Bobbi grows butterflies, from picking itsy bitsy caterpillars on dill from the backyard garden, placing them in a cage, feeding them dill / parsley until they’re big enough to form chrysalis. Then 7 to 10 days when they emerge as butterflies is a miracle.  


Further mystery is the time when the chrysalis stops evolving at Fall Equinox, waits through winter to then emerge in the Spring as Butterflies.   It’s Life’s Wonderment.


Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Speaking Corporatese




“Sergeant Toomey:  What would you do if the entire Japanese Army were behind you?
Private Eugene Jerome: Surrender and get some sleep.

Private Selridge:  If this keeps up, we'll lose this war. They'll be speaking German in Chicago.” 

from Biloxi Blues by Neil Simon


Today it’s not obvious to identify those who want to destroy the basic foundation on which we preach freedom, the Great Middle Class and the pinnacle of democracy.  


President Roosevelt referred to them as  Economic Royalists and “Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob”. 


President Truman said: “The Republican Party, … favors the privileged few and not the common everyday man.”  President Jimmy Carter said that we are now an Oligarchy.  


And now today we speak Corporatese.  Our news media speaks of Dow Jones Industrials, NASDAQ, which does not reflect the happenings of the majority of working Americans, but in reality reflects the Wall Street gangs.  


We speak of Corporate Inversions which is the moving of American jobs and American factories to other countries. We speak of Off Shore Tax Havens. All legal.   


Our cities throughout the Rust Belt, the name given to our devastated industrial heartland, resemble the bombed out cities of WWII Germany.  


Detroit, for example, had a population of over 2 million residents in its heyday and was listed as the richest city in America due mainly to its industrial base revolving around the manufacturing of automobiles.  


Today the population of Detroit is under 700,000 with the difference in resident’s abandoned houses resembling what time did in lieu of bombs.


The text book definition of Profit is a measurement of efficiencies between competitive companies. Since we no longer enforce the Sherman Anti Trust Act via Ronald Reagan, profit has morphed into a destructive force entity with Conspiratorial Capitalism thrust upon us today coupled with the monopoly factor.  


We see, for example, the increase in prices for life saving medicine increasing 600% to 3,000% for no other reason but that big Pharma can.  


We have replaced text book Capitalism with Conspiratorial Capitalism, a systemic corrupt system bought and paid for by legislators and corporate lobbyists.


Conspiratorial Capitalism is the collusion among legislators, right-wing judges, and corporate mass media.  The federal government lowers the tax rate for the wealthy, stops enforcing the Sherman Anti-Trust Legislation, anti-labor and essentially gives corporations and Wall Street free will.  


We now have a corporate press free from the Fairness Doctrine, which the FCC under Reagan in 1987,  left broadcast corporations worry free about broadcasting in the public interest." 


There is nothing in the corporate news about the decline of the middle class, which the last 35 years has left America destroyed while the Republican agenda of closing factories in the United States to the tune of 50,000 factories and moving American jobs to China continues. 


Republicans continue  blocking legislation to restore American manufacturing industry. We do not enforce our tariffs that all other countries use to protect their manufacturing base!


The powerful right-wing network that hijacks state politics and government through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) continue their nefarious agenda of wealth redistribution upwards to the rich. Composing legislation, calling for a conference of all state legislators to attend, then handing out previously composed legislation for the legislative attendees to take back to their state legislation to vote upon is what ALEC is about. And, with a majority of Republicans in many state legislatures, the vote is “Aye.”


Our health care is like no other in the world and defines what profit means today by holding hostage and skimming off the top to a destructive degree.  The health care insurance is a sham with CEO billionaire “banksters” reaping rewards. Health care has morphed into a disease. 


How can we define and justify profit with private prisons?  Where can efficiency occur in this prison for profit industry except by sacrificing basic human needs?  The Private Prisons takes the word profit to a disgusting definition.


A new business model for profit is government subsidies. The largest retailer is the apparent founder of this business model whereby they pay their workers below substance wages. Their employees then apply for food stamps and medicaid in order to live, all subsidized by the American taxpayer.


Ronald Reagan’s infamous 9 words: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”  Reagan’s First Inaugural: “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” 


From this foreboding idea that government is incompetent sprang the buzz word “privatize”.  Let’s privatize everything! 


The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) is a United States federal statute enacted by the 109th United States Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 20, 2006, a poison pill mandating that the USPS pre-fund 75 years of benefits for its employees within a 10 year window.  


An all inclusive example of Corporatese is GOP Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan who Installed Emergency Managers to sell off city assets to the rich. 


Here was Gov Snyder’s game plan: give $1.8 billion in tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations at the expense of Michigan cities’ budgets, then ask the individual cities to make up the difference. 


Knowing that this shorting the cities of expected revenue sharing, many cities would have hardships and struggles to make up the difference, especially cities with large black populations like Benton Harbor, who lost a children's lakeside park to a rich private golf park, given in perpetuity by the Klock Family in memory of their lost child to the children of Benton Harbor.


When the individual cities fell behind in their fiscal obligations, Rick Snyder sent in his appointed Czar, an Emergency Manager to sell off the city’s assets, in other words a transfer of wealth upwards.


Let’s privatize everything because the Market Place is the best arbiter of freedom!  Just a few examples of innumerable …


Perhaps the enemy is only an idea, albeit a bad idea.  The solution would be to educate the American public through the mass media.  But the mass media is owned by 6 corporations who speak only Corporatese!  Therein lies the problem.


Friday, February 14, 2025

The Moral Compass





Today, overwhelming evidence shows that people vote against their own best self interest.

Ike was last legit Republican President, Nixon conspired with Viet Nam to continue the war (Treason), Reagan conspired with Iran to hold the hostages, (Treason), George H.W. Bush came from Reagan, George W. Bush was appointed by SCOTUS, and Trump lost the popular vote.


Paul Weyrich, religious conservative political activist and commentator of the New Right said: “I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”


The GOP wins power by the slimmest margins, only because the election process is theirs through Gerrymandering, voter suppression, voter crosscheck purge, corporate so-called news, SCOTUS Citizens United, Electoral College, Billionaires with Dark Money.  It would take a tsunami of progressive voter turnout to overcome.


Sen Whitehouse’ reply to GOP when they ruled “because we can”: “Don’t think when you have established the rule of ‘because we can,’ that should the shoe be on the other foot, you will have any credibility to come to us and say: ‘yeah, I know you can do that, but you shouldn’t.”


The Dumbing Down of America with 40 years of  Reagan’s “Government is the Problem”, no Civic Classes taught in school, and his appointing Bennett Education Secretary who despised public education, can be traced to the source of our woe.


Long standing Eloise Psychiatric Hospital is now a strip mall, golf course & condominium thanks to Reagan’s policy of making mental illness a homeless problem.


Irony: the poor & disenfranchised cleave to the very people who cause their Woe - the GOP. Why? “If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” - Malcom X


The Republican Health Care Plan: “Don’t Get Sick, And if you get sick, Die Quickly” - Alan Grayson 


Who are the nefarious “They” that we keep referring to in our everyday political discourse?  James Madison, fourth President of the United States, in his Federalist Papers No. 10, explained that Factions, like minded groups, were the natural state of man.


A Faction when standing alone is Benign, but when aligned with other Factions is dangerous when the uniting Cancer is HATE coupled with fear and prejudice. That’s the “They” and the GOP is the Cancer.  


Here is a short list at random of issues which the Republican Party votes against solving:

  1. Toxic waste
  2. Homelessness
  3. Guns
  4. Hunger
  5. Pregnancy
  6. Cancer
  7. Hate
  8. Tearing children from their parents
  9. Cutting Medication
  10. Lack of Healthcare
  11. Coivid 19
  12. Misogyny
  13. Student debt
  14. Racism
  15. Poverty
  16. Autocracy and strongman government
  17. Untreated mental health, closing Eloise
  18. Air and Water Pollution

Reminded:

“Well, all I know is what I read in the Papers.” - Will Rogers


Visitor from Planet Ethics would agree with Deepak Chopra that “The Nature of Reality in the Conscious Mind is thru Stories.“ The Corporate Media controls the stories, is owned by five corporations, and is the source of our woe. Main Street Media shows no guilt in replacing Journalism with Infotainment.


The GOP is the antithesis of ethics. What is mysteriously scary is the question: are Republican Candidates the Fomenter or Reflection of their Electorate?


The GOP has "morphed" into an "incredibly dangerous" party, says Ken Burns.  "It's going to be difficult for the Republican Party to figure a way to escape the specific gravity of the darkness that engulfs it."

Thursday, January 23, 2025

The Fourth Estate


 “Well, all I know is what I read in the Papers.” said Will Rogers

The term Fourth Estate hails back to the 19th Century European concept of the realm of three estates:  the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners.  The Fourth Estate being a Free Press.


Thomas Jefferson believed in the necessity of a free press as a watchdog keeping citizens informed in government affairs, and that the press had the responsibility of accuracy in their reporting.


Unlike the Postal Code, Article I, Section 8, giving Congress specific power to establish Post Offices and postal road, and to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper, the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the more broadly power to protect Free Speech and Free Press equally.  


Our 1st Amendment is so profoundly imbued that it even guarantees money as Free Speech, thanks to Right-Wing, GOP appointed SCOTUS with Buckley v Valeo, Citizens United decisions. Therein Lies the Problem.  


It’s ok to buy Congress to kneecap the United States Postal Service, and allow monopolies, wherein five multi-national corporations own the Mass Media aka Main Street Media.


Unrest and civil disobedience is being fueled by Fox-so-called-News.  It's no longer anecdotal but propaganda.


The Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act. Passed by Republican Congress and signed by President George W. Bush 2006, a “poison pill” designed to destroy USPS requiring it to pre-fund its Retiree Health Benefits Fund 75 years in advance.


Postmaster DeJoy, appointed by Republicans, defies the Constitution by criminally destroying USPS property with over 700 automated sorting machines dismantled and thrown in the trash. And, DeJoy is not charged with a crime!


Deepak Chopra on PBS said: “Nature of Reality in the conscious mind is thru Stories.”  Corporate Media controls the stories.  And, they show no shame in removing Journalism and replacing with Infotainment.


After the FCC stopped enforcing the Fairness Doctrine under Reagan in 1987, broadcast corporations stopped having to worry about broadcasting in the public interest.


Leslie Moonves CEO - CBS said about Donald Trump: "It May Not Be Good for America, but It's Damn Good for CBS”  A disservice to America!


The spread of misinformation, disinformation clearly falls on Corporate Media, MSM, and they show no remorse in removing Journalism and  replacing it with INFOTAINMENT. The Billionaire$ money in Government is systemic. 


Obviously, it’s difficult to govern with an uniformed public. A Free Press, Fourth Estate, with accuracy in their reporting is vital to a functioning democracy”

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

The Religious Right Is Wrong

James Madison, fourth President of the United States, in his Federalist Papers No. 10 explained that factions, alliances, were the natural state of man, that the like minded would form in groups.  But he warned of the inherent danger when these Factions turned political to the detriment of the public interest. 

The adherents of the Religious Right focus on the “me” society rather than the “we” society.  Therein lies a major conflict with the Bible: Matthew 25:45 “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”  

The Religious Right is an exclusive group choosing the phrases in the Bible exclusively to further their prejudices.

Another difference between the members of the Religious Right and mainstream Christian Churches is the former are political, and Republican.  The so-called christians who subscribe to the various groups do so willingly knowing the positions that the hate groups stand by, albeit refuse to identify them as hate groups.  Moreover, these groups claim to be christian but they take passages out of context from the Bible and twist the meaning to further their agenda: money.

Here is an example of an un-christian religious ceremony introduced and promoted by Randy Wilson.  At public display, the father ceremoniously marries his daughter to hold her to swear before God her virginity which the father swears before God to hold until she marries his choice.  Totally sick and creepy!  This religious ceremony is against the Bible and a sacrilege:  

Matthew 5:34-37  But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:  Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

James 5:12  But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath:  but let you yea be yea; and you nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

There are many issues with so-called Religious Right Christian views.  The Jews are going to hell as one Religious Right person told me years ago.  These mis-directed sycophants are carrying on the same instilling of hate towards the Jews carried on generation after generation since the Diaspora of ancient time to the Holocaust of the 20th Century.

In his acceptance of the Ecumenical Council of 1960-1965, Vatican II, Pope John Paul II asserted that as a descendent to the throne of St. Peter, the true message of Jesus was all inclusive, that all people of the world were saved.  I believe all main-stream Christian Churches believe the true message of Jesus was love for all religious communities since all mainstream religions believe and practice the same love. 

But let’s not forget the Evangelical Religious Right homeschooling who believe that it is the parents right to instill in their children the need to save this country from the Jews, Catholics, the LGBT, the Liberals, and anyone who does not believe in the views of Mike Pence.  Let’s take back the Country for Christ.

Here’s what Mike Pence stands for:  He’s very pro-gun; he’s very anti-abortion. As Governor of Indiana, he signed a law mandating funerals for fetuses; he’s hostile to LGBT rights; he supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP); he wants to cut taxes for the rich.

The LGBT community is the target of Focus On The Family and has made anti-LGBT activism a cornerstone of it’s “pro-family” cause.  The millionaire James Dobson is not an ordained minister of the pulpit, but a graduate Psychologists who discovered the propensity to make money selling religion to the vulnerable.

It is one thing for a person to hold his opinions to him self but for a person to act out his prejudices by pursuing organizations that cause harm to others is wrong. 

Former President Jimmy Carter, who in 2000 officially severed ties with the Southern Baptist Convention after the SBC declared its opposition to female pastors and reiterated its calls “for wives to be submissive to their husbands.”   He condemned the mistreatment of women by religious leaders, writing: “the words of God do not justify cruelty to women.”

In an opinion piece published “Losing my Religion for Equality.”  President Carter said that a “twisted interpretation of the word of God” taught by male religious leaders has been used to justify the oppression of women:  “The truth is that male religious leaders have had — and still have — an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter.”

There are phrases in the Bible that exalt women and here is just a sample of many:  Romans 16:1New International Version (NIV) Personal Greetings 16 “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae”; Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”; Romans 2:11 “For God shows no partiality”; Ephesians 5:21 “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ”.

How can this faction be morally right when its leaders, like Franklin Graham, James Dobson, Pat Robertson do not condemn President Trump in his relationship to racism and white supremacy, but praise him and campaigned for him?  Christian Right leader Jerry Falwell owes his claim to fame fighting to uphold segregation with his sermons on how integration was offensive to God.  

President Trump pandering.  The Christian Right’s plan is simple: Dominate the courts, state legislatures, and push their twisted morality on all of us.

I refuse to live in their world.  A world where men are superior, where women are subordinate, controlled, and relegated to motherhood.  A world where anyone different from me are not only shunned, but pursued.  

What’s right is St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: 1 Corinthians 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  The Bible is replete with God’s message of Joy and Salvation for all religious communities of the world. Inherent in a gift is there is no payment in return.

Saturday, January 4, 2025

Hope


The profundity of faith  compared to coincidence is in the eye of the beholder.  

While stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood in the Army Basic Training many years ago, I attended church regularly.  Basic Training for this 20 year old soldier, and for all the other soldiers, was grueling and physically draining, especially in the cold winter of January - I literally watched a water puddle freeze while standing in formation. 


We had Saturdays and Sundays off and the $79.00 per month salary in the early 1960’s left you pretty much broke by the end of the month.


On the last Sunday of the month while attending church, I had a decision to make as the donation platter was being passed among the pews.  I only had one nickel in my pocket, the only one nickel before payday. 


It was a difficult decision because as a routine we all lined up at the candy machine outside the barracks to soothe the hunger before bedtime - a Snickers Bar was 5 cents.


With the theme of most church services sermons Acts 20:35 “It is more blessed to give than to receive ” the collection plate came closer. 


My thought was donate or candy, donate or candy.  If it was Snickers, God would understand.  The collections plate was handed to me and donate won.


The Ft. Leonard Wood church was a white painted wooden chapel, as were most of the barracks made of wood, left-overs from WWII.  I exited the church walking down the 3 wooden steps and grabbing the white wooden hand rail, watching my foot steps down the stairs. 


And, to my amazement at the bottom left on the ground was a nickel.  


Thursday, December 26, 2024

Beyond Rude, Absurd

 



List of characters:

  Old Man

  Old Man’s Wife

  Son

  Son’s mom

  Daughter-in-law

                                                   Daughter-in-law’s mom

                                                   Daughter-in-law’s dad


Old Man and his wife rescued Son from his depression, no job, apartment in disarray.  They spent the day cleaning his apartment so that he could get his deposit, then invited him to live with them.  After a year, and finding a good paying job, the Son successfully ‘flew the coup”.


Old Man, his wife, and wife’s mom at the Wedding Reception were seated at the last table next to the kitchen.  One would think that a generous monetary wedding gift would rate a better seating, at least a seating for the honor of being parents.


Also at the Wedding Reception party, Son's mother-in-law confronted Son's Uncle, saying "What are you doing here?  You were not invited. Please leave." After the Son's Uncle gave a $200 gift.  How low can a person go?


“Well Old Man, you have a business degree so you must know about Amortization Tables”. said Daughter-in-law’s mom sarcastically. 


The Visitor Baton was passed between the two friends of Daughter-in-law “ok, it’s my turn” as this game went on for quite a while as they waited to see mother and child. Daughter-in-law mom sat there and watched this charade.


With their newly purchased house, they came over to help clean and were completely shunned by daughter-in-law mom, her husband, and all of their friends.


They pulled into the driveway for the diner invitation, and as they walked up the sidewalk, they noticed daughter-in-law mom and husband jump from their parked car to rush ahead of them saying nothing but giving a dirty look.


While sitting in the waiting room at the hospital, daughter-in-law mom sat there knitting, and when Old Man asked about her husband, she scornfully said “you know that my husband does not like hospitals!”


They attended the baby’s baptism and were motioned to sit with family, but were shunned by daughter-in-law mom since they  took her seat.  “Well Old Man, since you’re in my spot, heres my camera, you’re in charge of taking pictures…”


As Old Man stood in her driveway smoking his cigarette, daughter-in-law drove up, got out of her car, and while approaching Old Man he gave congratulations on the Baptism. She gave the Old Man smart aleck remark “Piff”. 


The Old Man and his wife gave his son their three year old refrigerator, which they gladly accepted for use in the garage.  After a bitter winter's use, the moister tubes in the refrigerator busted.  The daughter-in-law's dad claimed that the Old Man gave away a bum refrigerator.  


Old Man’s wife to Daughter-in-law: maybe your husbands mom could take care of your child while you work.  Daughter-in-law responded:  “i don’t want that fuc**** cripple taking care of my child.” as her husband sat in chair saying nothing.


They heard that the baby was sick, throwing up, fever.  Old Man’s wife, RN, talked on the telephone to recommended pedialyte, and absolutely no milk.  Daughter-in-law mom interceded and said to give the baby lots of milk.


Old Man’s wife’s mom died and Son did not acknowledge even though she loved him like a grandchild.


Old Man and his wife were not notified of the birth of their second grandchild of Son. Heard about it thru the grape vine a week later.


The Old Man and his wife agreed that obviously one can’t choose family, but what’s the excuse for disrespect bordering on hatred?