(#5562) Find your courage Americans, now is our time!

      As it is now we Americans are not physically at war. Yet the time is coming regardless of how we try to avoid it. We either face it and battle as needed or we fold and let the aggressors remove us from the ideals we as a nation stand for. It is much like the bully who will come eventually to take every bit of our dignity away because we were not ready to fight him to keep our dignity. This is the duty of all peace loving individuals. It is also a fear that must be overcome. We cannot have peace unless we are strong. The bullies of the world want what isn't theirs and we must not let them have what is ours!
     The foundation for a war has been building over many decades. The bad people who would rule the world have not gone away and instead have been building toward this time in our history. They are now fighting in Ukraine and Ukraine has shown the world how to stop them. Ukraine has fought for every inch of its existence with a fervor that exemplifies courage and bravery. We Americans are not yet reduced to fighting on our own soil to preserve it from the forces of brute force and cruelty but if we are not ready for such an event the time will come when we find that a last minute scramble to save ourselves is more futile than effective.
     When we Americans focus our attention on the harm that will befall all of us then we become united and an invincible force that cannot be undone. However if we fail to resolve ourselves toward our courage, we will stay divided thus easily defeated. There is war now in Ukraine and the aggressors want not only Ukraine but all democracies to fall to them. They are like the locusts eating everything in their path. Well the pestilence that they exemplify must be trounced and only when that occurs can the rest of the world relax a bit and reorganize toward peace. Peace can only exist when we the many remain strong against those who would destroy it. We Americans must prepare to fight to preserve peace!

(#5561) Ukraine's task of recapturing lost ground while waiting for US aid

      Even today Russia advances on strongholds of Ukraine because Ukraine doesn't have the resources to defend itself properly. Although the coming aid from the US is imminent, it is still late. If this aid had been approved two months ago Ukraine would be on the offensive instead of having to retreat in too many places. This is all due to trump and his hold on the republican party. The republicans get no pass on the blame either for they were the ones cowering to trump. Even though republicans finally did the correct thing and approved the aid it is not without a grave cost to Ukraine and it's fallen brave defenders.
     I will never forget how the republican party played with lives in order to waste time and do practically nothing as a benefit toward themselves. It was all about themselves by the way as the majority of the American people were anguished by the choice of republicans to not protect our allies and democracy from the brute putin who would put the whole of the world under his boot. The cognitive dissonance it took for the republicans to languish about with a haughty nerve in stifling the aid is still unnerving to me. I have no respect for their tactics that cost thousands of Ukrainian lives due to their inability to be good stewards of democracy. The republican failure at being honorable beings is a stain on the rest of us.
     With President Biden signing the aid bill today the process to quickly get the aid to our allies begins in earnest and without delay. Every minute is crucial in the aid finding its way to the front lines and air defense systems. Russia has leveraged the trump led opposition to Ukrainian aid over the last several months almost as if trump and putin designed a strategy of complicitness. Occam's Razor would agree and although difficult to prove at this point could well be the case. Either way the aid will begin to save Ukrainian lives from further destruction at the hands of putin and that in the final analysis is what is important today. There will be a reckoning in the future of the actions of all involved in how each political party behaved and for republicans that reckoning will not be kind!

(#5560) Understanding human nature

      I find events in my life are ever changing requiring me to evaluate my environment on a nearly constant basis. Not that the foundation of my life is in play, but that some of the periphery is in need of adjustment. Our relationships and the behaviors they entail are the crux of the change. Not all of my relationships are built upon solid footings. Some are still in flux and need to be understood better before they become commonplace within my sphere of living. I am a particular man when it comes to who is in my life and who isn't allowed. I have a short life to live in the overall reality of the human timeline and as such will not waste the good I may advance on those who do not find it worthy.
     There is something more about me that is as best described as hard. I do not care to be surrounded by fools who have no purpose nor by those who have chosen to dismiss reality in favor of their own imaginations. I am my own man and therefore will proceed accordingly. Not all will like who I am but the man I am is not unworthy nor filled with ulterior motives. My tight grip on reality is in knowing that we humans are caring and curious. We strive for these two natures in the whole entirety of our living. Where we get off course is when we let our lesser instincts of ego and fear loose to satisfy themselves. I will not allow those, in my life, who are less than sincere in their efforts to make our world better through care and curiosity.
     Those who have motives beyond the honorable are quickly found out by me and are left away from me. It is how I deal with those who do not place themselves more as servants than they do as masters. Ego and fear are the playground of the undisciplined mind and although hopefully curable, I am not the one who has the antidote. I have spent far too much of my time trying to enlighten those who would not have knowledge so I have learned that I am not their savior, nor by enabling them, helpful. As I near the end of my timeline in existence I would rather be helpful to those who see the value in my help and are ready to accept it. I am always learning something new going forward and hopefully helping others do the same.

(#5559) I am never happy about war but I am determined to stop those who start them!

      For those who follow me on this blog and other pages that I write on can testify that I am all in on freedom, justice, and liberty. These are the hallmarks of democracy and as such become my honor and duty to protect and advance. Our world is still fraught with those who are small minded and cruel to the bone. When they gain power and lord over others their brand of life sufferings for those who are their victims is when something must be done to relieve them of that power. We are witnessing this scenario currently in Ukraine. Where the tyrant putin, who has a stranglehold on the Russian people, is forcing himself further on the Ukrainian people.
     This person putin has no lively soul worthy of admiration nor care. He is about harm! I am no embellisher of facts here. This person putin has so far pushed more than 460,000 of his countrymen into the grave so that he may gain land that is not his. In the history yet to be written of this time he will go down as one of the worst persons to ever wield the power to amass such numbers of lives lost to his ambitions of cruelty and brutish ego. The Ukrainian people and the Russian people have historically been more agreeable than not. But since putin has decided that he doesn't want his dictatorship of Russia to be bordered by a democratic Ukraine he has set out to destroy that general good will history between the two nations.
     One man and his boot licking comrades in the kremlin have set a course for murder, mayhem, and destruction like we have not seen since the middle of the last century. The lives lost and the damage done does not concern putin. What does concern putin is the victory he perceives he can attain at any cost. He will not care if he burns Russia down to achieve his goal. The Russian people for their part are more afraid of putin than they are courageous to stand up to him. Thus this invasion of putin's into Ukraine will continue until the end of putin or the end of Ukraine. We in the civilized world, with Ukraine, will not fold on our part so the finale of this gambit of putin's will be his fate on the line.

(#5558) The gig is up for both putin and trump!

      With yesterday's vote in the House of Representatives to approve Ukrainian and other foreign aid both putin and trump were denied their last hope of taking over the world. This for me was a turning point where putin and trump were thwarted from their last chance to turn our world upside down. What happens to both of them over the coming near future is anybody's guess but it won't be anything they will be glad to have happen. Their gambit, to me, has failed and all that is left is the mopping up of their messes. With the Ukraine aid the momentum has now swung back to Ukraine and their fighting forces are now bolstered so much so that they will have even more impetus to reclaim their land and send Russia back to their own land.
     For putin, the new aid to Ukraine will destroy his plans of taking Ukraine and marching on into Europe with sheer overwhelming force. The defense Ukraine will be able to employ shortly will keep the Russian troops at bay until the counter offensive by Ukraine may be consolidated and employed to further rush putin and his minions out of Russian held Ukrainian territory. There are other problems now for putin and his underlings and the Russian people can also see the new barriers to putin's ambitions and the cost they will have on all of them. There is no loyalty in tyranny, only revenge, so expect putin to become even more reclusive in his concern for his own safety.
     That putin will be hiding out in his fear, trump will be even more exposed to the justice of his behaviors and actions. Criminality has been a trump trademark and his desire for a world dominated by criminals is about to come to an end. When he does finally see the writing on the wall and starts to plan his escape he may find that he has waited too long and will not be able to jump the ship of his just deserves. However, either way, caught to face his sentences or on the run to his diabolical associates. He and putin will both be marked men who have nothing left to interfere in as we the rest of the world build our futures together with democracy and rights of humans as our design.

(#5557) Finally, we are about to give the aid for Ukraine!

      When Dr. King said "The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, But it Bends Toward Justice.” he was referring to the pace of change. It may take time but change will eventually arrive. This is the feeling I am experiencing with the Ukraine aid that has been long overdue. Not because of some obstacles outside our imaginations but because the republican party chose to play politics with life and death. The gamesmanship reserved for less lethal activities is now fair game to republicans. This is not an opinion, it is a fact. This aid should have been given our ally last December but no, leveraging life and death is/was more important to republicans than honor.
     Do not misinterpret me here. I am well happy that the arc of moral justice has arrived for Ukraine and the lift in my spirits is real. Yet the need for this aid was many months ago and since then many brave Ukrainian citizens have paid the ultimate price because of it's unnecessary delay. All the dithering and lack of concern for the high priority of protecting not only democracy but of protecting life has not forwarded anything positive. Now the lives lost and the territories lost because Ukraine could not defend and protect itself efficiently falls to the responsibility of republicans who played games while grave consequences befell Ukraine.
     Today the House will vote to supply the long promised aid to our allies who are fighting for their survival. It is a triumph of will over obstinance and we democrats may take our hard earned victory here and continue to uphold the virtues of democracy and the value of at least our word to never give up on our allies. The republican party is less so in both their word and their values but in this instance they did the correct thing and mostly aligned with democrats to keep the manifest destiny of our world toward democracy and the right of all human beings to equal and just pursuits of happiness.

(#5556) Ukraine aid still moving forward in the House

      I cannot reiterate this enough. The importance of this aid finally getting past the House is beyond my words to describe. That the aid is moving forward toward a vote in the House tomorrow afternoon is remarkable considering how the aid was being successfully blocked by pro trump/putin forces. It seems the new republican speaker has found his courage and will not be deterred in his plan to help Ukraine despite the trump anger at him for doing so. I cannot impress upon my readers the troublesomeness of trump being pro tyrant putin and therefore anti democratic. How this worthless con man has been able to sucker in his cult is beyond my ability to comprehend.
     Regardless of the obstacles the fact the aid is being forwarded in much the same shape as the Senate version is comforting to me. I personally, as well as many others, have been waiting for this period of time to begin. Where the House under a bare majority has been controlled by republicans to thwart anything democrats want to do for our allies. It seems that gamesmanship has been extended to denying democracy to our allies in order to score some political points somehow. As I consider the tradeoff for the stalling of the aid that should have been passed into law last December, I cannot fathom a good reason. The only reason I can fathom is a bad one. Where trump is in cahoots with putin the tyrant to annex Ukraine into the Russian sphere instead of allowing it to remain a sovereign democracy.
     I cannot doubt much that my opinion is in fact the most likely truth. That trump is all about getting putin what he wants despite what it does to democracy. A debt trump owes to putin that trump knows must be paid. Yet the speaker of the House is not allowing any further delay to the aid going to Ukraine. So watch trump as this aid is finally voted on and sent back to the Senate for it's immediate vote and passage and then President Biden signing the bill into law immediately after that. What trump does will show just how much my opinion is truth or just coincidental. I will stand by my conviction that given all the rhetoric of trump in the past about how he wouldn't help Ukraine and that putin should be allowed to fold Ukraine into Russian territory, that trump is against the manifest destiny of democracy being our world political reality.

(#5555) It finally looks like the aid may be coming to Ukraine

      After all the stalling and rhetoric of nonsense coming from the republicans in the House of Representatives for the last 5 months it is clear they are about to pass basically the same bill from the Senate they had been stalling. No other reason than trump saying don't pass the Ukrainian aid can be drawn. Why would trump not want to help a democratic nation under attack? Because his buddy putin is the one doing the attacking! If you needed to know anything about trump and his disloyalty to democracy and those of us who want democracy for all the world then you have this example.
     That the House republican majority is now able to push beyond trump and his desire to destroy Ukraine and enhance his buddy the tyrant putin is a turning point. Doing what is correct for America instead of doing what is selfish for trump is now on display. The House unveiled their "bills" for perusal and for a vote on Saturday evening. The Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan aid bills will get a separate vote with all three presumed to be passed handily. Joe Biden will spend little time signing them into law and then the help Ukraine has needed for so many months will begin to arrive in Ukraine.
     All that the republican party of trump accomplished was to weaken Ukraine for a little while and allow Russia to murder more citizens of Ukraine. That is their accomplishment by standing by trump and his goal to help putin. For the American people like me it has been a devastating time filled with remorse and sadness that Ukraine and it's brave citizenry have been bandied about by those American republicans who play at democracy and in essence little deserve it themselves. Joe Biden and we democrats will never give up on helping Ukraine and by this time Sunday morning the aid package for Ukraine will finally be coming.

(#5554) Doing the correct thing should not be the last resort!

      As we again wait on the republican speaker of the House to fulfill his broken promises on aid to our foreign allies, it must be stated that his fear of losing his speakership for doing the correct thing should not be his highest priority. Doing the correct thing should be his priority and come what may should be his expectation. He has already received assurances from democrats that they will protect his speakership through the remaining months if he will only do the correct thing on allowing the aid to reach the House floor for a vote. His concern is his extra job within his normal job of being a congressman.
     What Ukraine and other foreign nations are losing are lives by the many due to his delay in deciding. He is essentially saying his second job is more important than thousands of lives. This isn't that hard to figure out. I feel no sadness for him over his personal dilemma of losing out his position as speaker when the lives of so many are daily ended because of him and his lack of empathy for the lives of others who are only trying to preserve the right of self governing. As the republican speaker in his fear allows for a tyrant like putin to increase his confidence in attacking innocent people, a precedence of cowardice begins to form.
     Such is the opinion of many of us who already know that the foreign aid is many months late now and has been the catalyst for putin to attack even more ferociously the people of Ukraine. The republican speaker should immediately allow for a floor vote of the Senate passed legislation and when handily passed, allow Joe Biden to sign it and get aid to the desperate Ukrainians. They are our allies and we promised to help them defend their democracy. How utterly absurd it is for the republican speaker to squirm and quibble when others are being buried in the ground because of his inaction over a job title that is of now, little more than defined as a lackey to trump.

(#5553) This could be the week where Ukraine aid passes out of the House

      I am still skeptical and will not lend my credulity to any of it. However, the timing seems like a possibility with the attack by Iran on Israel. The inept republicans in the House and even possibly the ridiculous criminal trump may be about to temper their anti democracy rhetoric long enough for the aid bill to find its way beyond the hold in the House by republicans. I have written about this before and have come up empty in my intuitive analysis. I had always assumed that after some gamesmanship that republicans would do the correct thing and be somewhat honorable.
     Yet I have been proven wrong! The republican party is not about being honorable they are about being greedy and selfish. They have found a consistency in their drive to control and acquire in unlimited terms. So never again will I make the mistake of supposing that republicans are for all instead of just being for themselves. That being said, there are other forces at play that are as strong or stronger than republican greed and selfishness. Their very survival is now a consideration in a world where they have to exist. So the idea that war all around them might make their greed and selfishness difficult to attain may well be the wedge needed to get them to move on the foreign aid.
     Today will be the signal if it is to be. A bill or more will need to be voted on and must be ready for that process to begin. There is no excuse not to have ready some package or package of bills relative to the aid. The republican party in the House has been stalling the aid bill already voted on in the Senate for many months and can have no reason not to be prepared to legislate. For me it has never been about legislating, it has been about the republicans doing what trump wants them to do and that would be to allow putin to take Ukraine. However the problem with that is some in the republican party are not for putin and are still fighting for Ukraine and other foreign aid desperately needed to keep democracy alive.
     

(#5552) Ukraine aid is the hill trump will fail to survive

      The one thing that trump is determined to stop is aiding Ukraine. He has a deal with putin that if he breaks it will certainly cause putin to retribute toward trump a mighty hurt. This is why trump will not give his blessing to aiding Ukraine. The republican party will have to find a way around trump so as to get Ukraine the aid. There will likely be a vote this week to help Israel and what the outcome of that vote does to the republican party will be in large part due to whether Ukraine aid is part of it. If not then anything could happen even republicans voting against a stand alone bill just to help Israel.
     That would be the only way for the more moderate republicans in the House of Representatives to force the trump speaker of the House to offer a bill that also includes Ukraine, in order to get aid to Israel. It is an opportunity to force the Ukraine aid along despite the obstruction and threats coming from trump. The defense of Israel is a much more delicate issue with the often distorted evangelical base of the republican party. So it's heightened importance may be the push that Ukraine aid needs to get past the trumpian deal with putin to quit Ukraine and give it to putin. I don't hold out much hope for anything any more but when an opportunity shows itself I must at least root for it.
     So it seems another week of guessing how the pressures of trump may be overcome by rationality is upon us. All of this makes me long for the next election when we can eliminate the republican party from power in the last sector of our government that deals with legislative issues. Ukraine will likely need to fend off Russia without American help until the election makes for a new majority in the House. 9 months of strategy to survive instead of having the aid and literally kicking Russia out of Ukraine now. What the republican party is doing to Ukraine will forever stain the moral and ethical ground they suppose they stand on. They are not moral or ethical in their ambition to let a democracy of brave intelligent people be consumed by a treacherous and tyrannical figure like putin!

(#5551) The world burns when trump is being trump

      With the trumpian speaker of the House doing his bidding and keeping foreign aid from reaching our allies the heat is turned up on our allies and death and destruction is the result. Nothing I have seen of trump suggests that he is about putting out fires but instead creating them. If trump had his way during his 2020 insurrection our world would already be inflamed with conflicts everywhere as he is all about letting dictators and tyrants rule the world. Democracy would be under attack everywhere on our planet and no doubt we would all be armed and fighting each other for the sake of egos like trump.
     Even now that trump is not in power he holds sway over too many who do have power. His design to help putin keep Ukraine and any other land that putin desires is evident. We know putin has things on trump that force trump to do whatever the little tyrant wants. We cannot have a compromised criminal like trump anywhere near power for the sake of all of us and our ideals of self government. The attack on Ukraine, and now the attack on Israel is evidence that the aid that Joe Biden is trying to get to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan is imperative to those nations being able to defend and defeat their attackers. Taiwan has at yet to be attacked but it seems logical they will be next.
     With trump behind the scenes making republicans act like him it is inevitable that the aid that is dearly needed will not be coming during this year. The only hope now is for the discharge petition attempt to manifest itself so that a forced House vote on the existing Senate passed bill for foreign aid is allowed. I have no new news on the discharge petition but hopefully it is ready for serious advancement. The time is short for the aid to be effective and if not delivered soon will be too late for many good souls who will have died needlessly because trump is an egomaniac. Never underestimate the disease of trump to rule the world with putin even if it means putting us all at grave risk.

(#5550) Another predictable feint from the republicans in the House

      Sadly the republicans in the House are more like the boy who cried wolf than anything else. They go on recess for weeks and then when they come back they say they will address Ukrainian aid. Yet each time they do that they don't address Ukrainian aid. They put it off for some other reason known only to them. Well the rest of us see them and are calling out that they are stalling by lying to us. They have no intention of passing Ukrainian aid while they have the majority because the decrepit trump doesn't want to harm his patron putin. That trump will put his loyalty to putin over his loyalty to democracy is unquestionable. Yet his followers don't see that as a deal breaker.
     So his followers are as well anti democracy if it helps trump. Just think about that for a moment. The pied piper trump is like a cult leader who has hypnotized his followers into going off a cliff with him. He will drive our democracy to the ground if it helps him win power. He, trump, has no allegiance to our nation unless he can get something from it. This is the person who is under constant civil and criminal scrutiny for his blatant business practices, abhorrent personal behavior, and his attempted overthrow of our constitution. It is amazing to me that so many Americans are blinded by his rhetoric nor cannot admit his behavior and actions. They do not correlate the hypocrisy of his acts from his bombastic words.
     To me it isn't a failure of democracy that has brought us to this, it is a failure of decency and respect that has enveloped the minds of stubborn republican voters. If I am having a hard time convincing folks that being an upright decent human being is what we should be striving to become then what is the value of our society when it is neither fair nor equal. I always felt that we the America dream were the best of what the world could become. But it seems now that I was dreaming instead of being awake and seeing who we really are and what that really means. Ukraine will languish without the months ago promised aid and republicans are the ones who will be responsible for their likely defeat because they admire the conman trump more than they fear the loss of democracy.

(#5549) I don't just live to exist

      This blog has always been about how I see the two main instincts within human beings. For me they are naturally compassion and curiosity, or more commonly care and wonder. Yet there was always a third that I couldn't easily fit into either of those categories. That being the survival instinct. However I may be unable to interpret its placement, it is still real and vital to our species. Leaving how I should categorize it for now, I will say that it is a start but not an end. I do need to survive and that is essential to my life but it is not all that I need for my particular life.
     Surviving or in this case existing is the foundation for me but from there is where I begin to live my life. In one way when I was younger I was much more bold in how I gambled with my own life. I was fearless at times and put myself into situations beyond the safety of caution. In that regard I was less than intellectual about my survival but nonetheless there was the hubris of my youth at play. What I also have done is defy the safety of ordered thinking so that I could create outside the box of ordinary imagination. I have done so because I understood early on that we all must add to the knowledge bank we humans have been building over our entire generations of existence.
     We are not born into this existence with knowledge that is complete nor even mostly accurate. We find that life is an evolutionary process beginning with our own maturity from child to adult to old age. Everywhere around us are examples of evolved ideas, good and not so good, that have been formed into paradigms that we utilize to our benefit. As we all evolve into our futures the creative and innovative will remain constant and being able to adapt, to the better and best we continue to imagine, is the hallmark of a society of humans, not just me, that places itself above just existing.

(#5548) The Democratic party is the party of faith and hope

      I spend a lot of time trying to describe the failed fallen republican party and not enough time giving an alternative to those troubled republican voters. Let us list a couple of ways the democratic party helps the working middle poor class in our nation. We democrats are champions of social security and health care. No other political party in the history of our nation has done more for our citizenry than the democratic party. For seniors and the infirmed the difference between having resources and care and having none is stark. Imagine being older and having to work out the last of your days doing the work that is expected from strong healthy younger folks?
     Imagine having to live with disabilities sustained over a lifetime of labor up until your dying day? Without social security and medicare the imagining would be real, not a dream. We democrats fight for equality like no other political party in the history of our nation. We are not able to achieve full equality because the republican party does not work to make equality between human beings a right. We democrats have secured many advantages for the downtrodden but the ways to go is still long and arduous. We democrats have the faith that humanity is still a virtue and that hope for the better and best we can be as humans is still viable.
     We democrats are strong and vigilant in our determination that all human beings deserve a life in this existence that has as many possibilities in it that justice, equity, and fairness may allow. We do not see the world through a lens of cant's and wont's but through a lens of shoulds and can's. We democrats want humanity, science, and logic to guide our decisions about how we exist in this vast Universe of possibilities. We want to treat each other fairly and with respect. We are all humans, thus our compassion should reflect that. Logic and science dictates that treating each other like we would want to be treated is the best guide for how we should be behaving. We democrats are optimists about life with the faith and hope to achieve great things through policies that enhance life not undermine it.

(#5547) The republican party is synonymous with tyranny

      The world is begging republicans to help Ukraine stave of putin and his tyranny but republicans are not listening. It is the same old usual for republicans to dismiss equality and justice so that they can attain power and wealth. It really is that simple. The putin's of the world will not stop invading other nations as long as the greatest democracy on Earth, America, refuses to stop them. In our American form of government, 3 branches control the destiny of our nation. What is particularly unnerving is that in the one branch of our government, the legislative, which is bicameral, the Senate where democrats have a majority and the House, where republicans have a razor thin majority, and as such can hold up any aid we the rest of the majority of our nation want to allocate to Ukraine.
     So as democracy in Ukraine is being overwhelmed by the bully tyrant putin, republicans are ignoring the urgency of the moment by fiddling around and doing nothing to help. The republican de facto leader the criminal trump is against helping democracy in Ukraine because he has a financial relationship with putin's Russia. So his forcefulness to block aid to Ukraine which would hurt Russia is making getting aid voted on in the House nearly impossible. Meanwhile Russia is taking full advantage of the aid not being delivered by attacking Ukraine with full force everywhere they can to break the Ukrainian will. I am so ashamed at being an American with such a political party as republicanism in our government.
     For all those who keep the republican party in power the shame you have on your soul will never be cleansed once you finally wake up to the fact you helped cause the mass murder of Ukrainian patriots not unlike our own during our struggle for independence here in America for the sake of putin and the criminal trump. To be on the side of republicanism is to be on the side of tyranny. How have republican voters fallen so low and despicable as this without a full understanding of their arrogant thinking? I am a simple man who has his own faults in life but I would never vote to betray the honor and nobleness of democracy and the blood and treasure our foreparents spent to attain it!

(#5546) Why can't republican voters see the problem with republicanism?

      When you consider the voting to expand rights and privileges to citizens in red states it makes you wonder why those same voting citizens in those states keep supporting republican candidates. The expansion of rights and privileges are not coming from the republican party they are coming from the democratic base in those red states. So why is it that the citizens who support those democratic ballot initiatives keep voting against the democratic candidates that support those popular policies? It is a question that needs to be answered as soon as possible with the next major election slated for this November.
     Confusion about who supports what may be the problem and likely is in some cases but what else is at play? Is it a deep down hard hatred of democratic policies that current republican voters find offensive? That could be as well some of the answer. Or is it a loyalty to the republican party that has deep roots and despite the incongruence between what they want and what they cherish has left them still automatically voting for republican politicians? That as well would be likely. It just seems to me that the complexity of trying to understand what is the better and best of us shouldn't be a conflict. We should all vote for our candidates based upon what they will do for us and our nation. Not to indiscriminately punish or over past hatred.
     The current republican party is counting on their base voters not to see that they are working to end democracy and instead install an autocracy where a strongman will lead without having to run for any future election. A king if you will. The republican party has reduced itself to only wanting to ease the tax burden for the wealthy and stimulate policies that harm our environment. Those who are wealthy may see the benefit of their wallets getting even bigger but the rest of us are paying for it by having less resources to share amongst ourselves. There are many reasons not to vote for republicans and many reasons to vote for democrats. When we all get on this same page is when the magic of America can begin to reflect to all of life on this planet that America is the bastion of all that is good and great about our existence.

(#5545) The republican calculus is that death of the innocent is irrelevant to them

      I have come to terms with my assessment that the people who are devout republicans do not care for the safety and welfare of those who are vulnerable to their decisions. The examples within the scope of my lifetime are numerous beginning with the republican sabotage of the peace treaty in 1968 between the US and Vietnam to the present denial of aid by republicans to the Ukrainian effort to defend themselves and democracy from the tyrant putin. If a policy is about lifting people out of desperation, poverty, and hunger then the republican party is about not helping and instead making it harder to actuate  solutions.
     The most recent example of withholding life saving aid to Ukraine in it's struggle to survive the onslaught of the murderous putin, is most excruciating. Many brave Ukrainians are dying today because the aid that was promised them months ago has been held up in the republican controlled House of Representatives because the de facto leader of the republican party, the disgraced trump, doesn't want the aid to go to Ukraine. The reasoning is that he, trump, owes putin favors and one of them is allowing putin to take Ukraine. The disgust I feel about the disgraced trump is beyond normal. Yet he has a hold over those in the House of Representatives that has yet to be broken. I cannot see a near future resolution of releasing the aid when stalling is the norm from the House by republicans.
     So while the defenders of democracy are dying for the inaction of republicans the rest of us are left with not much to do to help the innocent that will pay the ultimate price for the callousness of republican politicians. It has been my wish since I was a new voting young man that no more votes would go to the republican party. They have served notice the length of my lifetime that they are not about helping all in our democracy. Instead they are about ruling with an iron fist toward those who are not able to make themselves independently wealthy. Regardless of by hook or crook. The only real tangible thing republicans want to protect is power and wealth.
     

(#5544) trump working behind the scenes to destroy Ukrainian democracy

      The republican party has become the playground of trump and his anti democratic policies. The reasoning is obvious. He wants to be the leader of America without elections to displace him. What is so startling is that too many Americans would like to see him succeed. We are mostly talking about white christian nationalists. They don't think that anyone who hasn't sworn allegiance to their God could possibly be worthy of being equal with them therefore should not be allowed to vote. They have taken their particular belief system and turned it upside down in order to justify inequality due to their perceived superiority.
     How they are able to do this in the face of traditional religious upbringings begs the following questions. When servitude is taught how is it that mastery over others is the result? Where greed in the form of "name it and claim it" is the virtue, while sacrifice and benevolence is the evil? Where welcoming strangers, which is taught in the Christian bible, is under trump the exception, and denying strangers, the rule? How is it that the cherry picked lessons of God are only attended to when they align with personal preferences? Why is greed and selfishness acceptable when the many more are forced to do without? These are all examples of the changing of the way too many people now see as godliness under the examples of religion under trump.
     For those who do not ascribe to these inverted effects of bad interpretation of religious teachings, and those who have their own principles of morality and ethics outside the ethos of religion, what trump is doing is horrendous. Mocking the traditional God of the Bible with his own brand of religious tomfoolery. For a man who never steps a foot inside a church it sure seems his flock is devoid of the hypocrisy. Those republican politicians who follow trump and parrot his demands, the dire state of Ukrainian aid is and will be difficult to become real when the whole idea of not sending it is the agenda. That trump wants putin to defeat the democracy Ukraine is dying to preserve is the last straw for the many of us who will never stop blocking his path to any more power.

(#5543) It's never to late for this old dog to learn a new trick

      I have been stuck in my ways for decades because I didn't have someone else to consider how my personal habits could affect them. Well now I do and I am learning that despite the comfort of my past habits I am in need of learning new ones. Not only for her but for myself. It is totally different to have someone see my behavior and tell me about it then to accept my behavior from myself as within the bounds of normalcy and keep moving on. There is nuance that I had not consider at times and from there is where I am learning. It seems appropriate anyway because none of us has arrived in a perfect state of being.
     Much like time and space, I have to be able to evolve to the ever changing dynamic of innovation, logic, and creativity. As new paradigms form and now for me a new relationship, the acceptable of the past is now unacceptable in many ways in the present and near future. Some of my considerations that formed previous conclusions are now not the basis for any equitable equation of reason. I have new considerations that are beyond what exists in my own head and soul. I am a man of science and logic so accepting truths even when they go against the grain of my previous safe and secure thoughts is my duty and as such force me to delve into the facts and reconstitute evaluations for proceeding.
     Such is this mystery of life. Just when we think we are somewhere in a safe harbor, a change arises and moves us out into the beginnings of reconfiguring. So my destiny is to keep changing with my existence and make sure that my changes are beneficial to not only myself but to my new companion in life. I think of it this way. I had to get to the point I am now at through the tempests and calm in my life so moving forward is just leaving the plateau I had occupied for a time so that my new adventure will take me along to another plateau of learning, where I am sure I will be needed to move from again in some little time in no doubt my estimation of knowing myself.

(#5542) Doing the best we can do

      It doesn't matter what we do in life, doing it to the best of our ability does matter. On this planet and its current environment there are limits to what can be imagined. However, what we do within the limits we can imagine give us a purpose that keeps us on the edge of our senses and uplifts our motivation to beyond to where the unknown becomes possible to be known. In other words, when we put ourselves to task as best we can within our known existence is where we find the portal to the unknown. Our minds are like a vault waiting to be triggered by the correct combination. When we are in a strong harmony with ourselves through being the best of who we are is when we become in tune with beyond our knowing.
     Consider the unknown as a vibration we have yet to feel. Chaos and turmoil are not conducive to receiving the new vibrations that are awaiting us. Our Universe is our classroom and being attentive and in harmony, free from doubt and closed mindedness, is our structure for advancing. When I am the most open to learn is when I have put all my effort into not only knowing the present but in focusing my attention as best as possible toward the new I am learning or doing. I cannot imagine a magnificent future without mastering the present and past. All the things in life that are available to be discerned can help us to perceive even beyond what has already been thought. We are all unique and as such must now rely on ways to enhance our uniqueness.
     For me the best way to enhance my knowing is to be the best of who I am as much as possible. I am no robot so there are times when I fail to be my best but not because of intentional acts. If I am to be the amazing human being I am capable of being then doing my best as much as possible is my goal in life. For not only will I achieve some satisfaction for trying hard to do my best but it may well lead me to understanding the previously unknown that I hadn't even imagined yet. My mind is best suited to creating and innovating when it is stimulated to not only think rationally but to put action to a high standard of doing. Doing my best in all things will only allow me to become my best in the things I have yet to know and learn.

(#5541) The blue wave is coming...

      Nothing the republican party is trying to accomplish will come to fruition. They want to destabilize our democracy through trump and his acolytes. The idea is to keep power in republican hands for many decades to come. The problem for republicans is that the voters are not being considered in their calculus. The republican party is a minority party in the fact of it having fewer members than required for a majority. The reason they are not a dominating force is because they offer little to nothing to the American people to attract their votes. The republicans want power but not for getting things done for the American people.
     Instead republicans want power in order to change the dynamics of our democracy and its rule by the people to one where a figurehead like trump would have authority over all of us at his whim. Not through consensus, with checks and balances, but through ego and self indulgence. There are too many in our nation who are not comfortable with everyone having a say in our government and that is the problem democracy faces from the maga crowd and trump enthusiasts. They don't admit to being racist but their actions speak louder than their silence or words of denial. This coming election will be all about whether we keep our democracy or not.
     What I do know though is that the firebrand of ignorance surrounding the trump and maga movement is dwindling. There are no large protests or rallies for the disgraced one term appointed ex president. Our current president, democrat Joe Biden, is pretty much on a roll coming into this election. The democratic party is gaining steam at the right moment and is building towards an epic showdown with the chaotic confounded republican party. With each party going in opposite directions the likelihood of a democratic wave election is growing more probable with each passing day. There is nothing for republicans to build on going forward which is the opposite of what democrats have already done and are still accomplishing.

(#5540) 24 hours later my optimism is waning

      The attention should always be in the details. As the maga johnson says he wants to pass Ukrainian aid he is actually working to dismantle democracy as a price for it. President Biden is all about the details and is shutting down the maga attempts to harm the American people. Yesterday I had hoped that what was left of the good in the republican House would find a way to work with democrats to do the correct thing and allow a vote in Ukrainian aid that was not full of poison pills for our democracy. However I should have been less hopeful because it is nothing but the same with republicans. They demand harm in order to pass some good.
     What has happened over the last several months is that President Biden and democrats have been searching for ways to supplement the potential loss of US aid to Ukraine. There have been some interesting avenues for other countries to form initiatives that help Ukraine in their desperate need for the aid that didn't come from the US due to republicans playing at blackmailing democrats instead of helping defeat putin. The longer the aid is held up by republicans the more other methods of aid will find its way to Ukraine. As this continues to happen the leverage republicans thought they had over democrats will lessen and then they will be left with the stench of working to defeat democracy and help tyranny as their reward for their failed blackmailing attempt of democrats.
     The election in November will be the republicans defeat as it stands now and add in the possible denial of aid to Ukraine the notion that republicans will have any success in the election continues to dwindle in scope. Ukraine is a mighty nation that will find a way to thwart the overt putin and the by omission American republicans who are nevertheless working together to destroy Ukrainian culture and sovereignty. The disgust the many of us here in America have for republicans is continuing to expand and will not soon be forgotten in the years to come. My hope that some good will come from this latest attempt to pass Ukrainian aid is not dead but it is on life support. I had hoped yesterday would bring about a new beginning at least on bipartisanship toward helping Ukraine keep her democracy but alas I am now less certain than before I had renewed hope.

(#5539) Ukrainian aid may finally be on the way past republican obstruction

      I am cautiously optimistic that the few republicans in the House who are firmly in the camp of protecting democracy will get this done. What shape or form it will take to get legislation to the floor of the House for a vote is still up in the air but it seems that a likely compromise will occur between democrats and republicans. The Senate passed bill will not likely be the legislation that gets to the House floor for a vote so more procedures will have to be hurdled but the aid itself being passed and signed by President Biden is ultimately coming.
     There is much I could say here about the delay in this crucial aid for Ukraine but I have said it many times before and don't want to dwell on the fact of republicans and their intransigence. Suffice it to say that the aid although nearly 4 months in arrears will finally be coming if I feel the drift of how negotiations are going between the two parties and the chaos in the republican party. Protecting democracy should be all of our duty to affirm and why too many republicans are less than patriotic to democracy is a baffling question. We democrats stand united in protecting democracy everywhere it is possible.
     I know I have been optimistic in the past about this aid being delivered through republican obstruction but this time it seems the necessary republicans for the aid to succeed are doing what it takes to make that happen. The consequences for Ukraine are dire and although the aid is quite late it will help bolster not only Ukraine's defenses but will provide a morale boost to Ukraine that will be transferred over to the battlefields. All Ukrainians have asked for is aid while they provide the manpower and initiative to go into the trenches and dig out the pestilent russians who have invaded their lands. I hope I have this correct and the aid is truly delivered over the next several months. Ukraine deserves our help and for the courageous and able people of Ukraine I wish them all the best they need to defend and protect democracy.

(#5538) Reshaping my new life not unlike Ukraine reshaping theirs after russian invasion

      It is common for me to want to write about more than one subject and most often I have to choose which is the most prominent in my priority assessment. What is rarer is when I have two subjects that are different but also the same. Sure Ukraine and I are two different entities but we are both going through some changes that demand our attention. First off Ukraine is by far the more important subject and will get the most coverage here in this post but my life change is important to me and mine and although not as critical as Ukraine is still critical to me.
     I am assimilating my tapered down life into another's and it is a process of adding, subtracting, and combining. Much like with Ukraine. They are in the process of reevaluating all their previous administrative purposes and looking to downsize and reconfigure while remaining efficient in the delivery of their necessary societal goals. All democracies are faced with dilemmas as to what they can and can't do for their societies but when also under attack by a ruthless dictator the job becomes even more heightened and an imperative to bring to a realization.
     My life is flowing steadily along while Ukraine is having to mix and match at lightning speed to keep up with the ever changing dynamics of their current reality. What makes life for Ukrainians even more difficult is the lack of aid that was promised to them by the USA. Social concerns are less important when all your resources are furthered into protecting your right to exist on our planet. The aid will when it does hopefully come from us keep Ukraine in a protected and advancing mode while also allowing them to improve their society for their citizenry. May we both, Ukraine and I, have a happy transition into a better and best future as quickly in the present as possible.

(#5537) The republican party keeps playing games with Ukrainian lives!

      Everyday I check to see if the republicans in the House will finally get to a point where they put the Ukrainian aid bill up for a vote. Everyday I continue to be disappointed. They always have some lame excuse for not giving the Senate passed Ukrainian bill a vote and each time it gets more lame if that is possible. They have no justifiable excuse for withholding the aid because they don't admit the urgency of the aid that is already 4 months late in getting to Ukraine. They tell us that other things are more important but don't work on the other things and instead spend more time away from Washington than they would if they were serious.
     For those of you who don't follow politics here in America it is all about not telling the truth with republicans. They have some power and are using that power to not only destroy the democratic process here but are working to help the tyrant putin because they worship at the altar of their false god trump. Yes, the republican party is now more cult like than representative of their voters. To republicans, power is the essence of their purpose, not governing to the betterment of our society. You can see it with trump who is the epitome of someone who would trade democracy for tyrannical rule. He has instructed his House sycophants like johnson to withhold the Ukrainian aid vote to make Joe Biden look bad.
     That is the kind of person trump is, like nixon, who kept the Vietnam war going so as to hurt democrat Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 presidential election. The republican party is about not telling the truth about things so that they can fool many people into believing they care about our democracy. Even though they have in the face of us taken away the right of women to be equal partners in our democracy. It is my hope that one day we the American electorate will wake up to the fact that republicans are not sincere nor allies with the rest of us in keeping the dream of our foreparents alive and evolving. Shame on them and for those who vote for them to continue to destroy our democracy!
     

(#5536) The republican party elevates money over people

      I have been trying to differentiate the effects of the two major political parties and this keeps coming up in my head. That republicans do not give life of beings the same deference they give to treasure. It is the one narrative that keeps coming up in all the different paradigms of how we live within our society. The republican party is about self and not about selflessness. The only sacrifice republicans are willing to make is for themselves to profit from. Not from any noble ideal that has its roots in principle or honor, but for accumulation and desire. Where philanthropy does exist in the republican sphere it is offset by deductions and benefits on their tax returns.
     Everything is a transaction to republicans. There has to be a return on investment that is tangible and with an increasing effect to their own personal wealth. Their hearts are not in the social difficulties that are readily created unto others through their own actions. Their hearts are well satisfied by the increased thickness of their wallets. Starving children and adults get a concerned look from some republicans but unless there is money to be made from helping the unfortunate it is back to "take care of yourself". My description may seem to be harsh to some but it is a general observation that is not an embellishment. Whereas for the most part we democrats are about people over money, the same cannot be said for republicans.
     We democrats realize something that republicans fail to capitalize on. They don't understand the value of humanity and how life isn't just about money. We democrats know money is part of how we exist in our societies but we also know that the more of us who participate in our societies the better off our societies become. Our own pocketbooks are important but when we all have a pocketbook with a livable amount in it the better the world is around us. In that our own personal wealth is enhanced by all who participate in society with a share in it. This republican mantra of wanting all of what one individual can possibly attain is not the approach to take when we democrats show that all of us sharing in the wealth we together create is a far superior approach to increasing happiness and our pursuit of it.

(#5535) How badly men treat women

      I had intended to write about how difficult it is to express humor on Facebook but I was informed by a post sent to me about how women are left with such different thoughts during the day that I as a man take for granted. First, when I wake up in the morning I am not burdened about clothing I wear or shouldn't wear. I am not forced into a defensive mode every time I go outside beyond the safety of my home. Even then precautions are taken by women to be aware of their surroundings outside their own homes. As a man I do not default to caution as my day begins, I automatically think like a free human person who has all the options available should I choose.
     Unlike women who are aware of their surroundings because we the male species have made them uncomfortable and even fearful for their safety and even their lives. That my mind doesn't have to worry about concerns for safety and my life everyday I am able to enjoy my day and the myriad choices I can make without having a plan to live them to survive. The reason is that a sense of enculturation that women are less than men is still pervasive in the more reluctantly intelligent parts of our nation. They presuppose that women are more like property than free human beings as a rule. There are many of us men who do not think like that but not enough of us can change the behavior of those who are less able to evolve their own early flawed learning.
     Too many men are satisfied with being the boss of women and they are not likely to relinquish that illogical fallacy. Women are amazing. They create, they care and they lead with compassion and strength. We men are less able to lead because we are less able to understand the details like women can as a rule. Some of us men are able to combine the best of what a human being can be to conclude that we are not all selfish cruel beings but not enough in my book. We men generally put women into a reality where they fear more than enjoy and for that I apologize for all of us. Sadly though the men out there who are still happy with women being property is still a problem but a problem that will be solved because I refuse to let it remain the great injustice it is. Link to post that struck me. https://www.facebook.com/mariahum108/posts/pfbid02N9ygXKyQTP8DU6n1SiNW28DxtkUCNivKooKL2xFsbiBYXmegwSCoiWhAdmJtixk4l

(#5534) Dying with dignity

      My brother John is the topic for discussion this morning. As some of you may know John had a debilitating stroke that has taken him from his home with me to a hospice care facility. Since, very recently, I have also moved from my home and into another part of the country. So as his medical and legal advocate I decided to give another family member who is close to where he actually is the right to make decisions on his behalf with the caveat that I agree. Which as things are now I am in full agreement with this family member because we are both like minded about how the life of John should continue with care, dignity, and respect.
     This moment in time of John's condition has been arduous and less than happy for him and for those of us who care about him. But life is what it is and we who have an understanding about the emotion and patience concerning life and death issues realize that sacrifice and duty are values worthy of our time and effort. John was an important part of our lives and although he is less able to function as a member he is no less valuable as a part of our family. Since I am no longer able to be part of John's immediate circle I feel that this won't be a detriment as another family member is now going to fill as best as possible my intent toward John's remaining days with us.
     Those of us who are in a position to choose to be helpful in hard situations are filled with the knowledge that but for luck there go I. So we treat our loved ones with the same respect and dignity that we would hope would be bestowed upon us given a similar situation. We are human and as such should exemplify the best qualities that end of life care should provide. John's life is still ongoing but his decline is imminent to some degree. We don't know when but we shouldn't think of when as much as we should be thinking about how to be of service to him now. Time will take care of the rest. In the meantime John will be given a level of care that he deserves as a loved and valued member of our family.

(#5533) Reorganizing my life

      I haven't had much time to reflect on events that have up to this point in my life shaped my outlook because I have taken myself from one location to another. I like to think of it as an uprooting of all that is me to place myself into a different environment. Both environments were and are good but this one I am now in, given all the intervening factors, is an improvement for me personally. I have finally found my soulmate and getting to her outweighed all other considerations despite them being difficult and emotional. Yet the decision has been accomplished and now it is time to put myself together here in an ordered way.
     I was able to take just my pickup truck full of the most important things in my life with me to start anew. I left behind many things that otherwise had value to me but were not necessary for my future. My truck will finally be offloaded later today and I will be able to get at some of the more nuanced items I have packed away. As of now I feel like I am just somewhat a visitor in my new beginning and when I get into my other things that are difficult to access until my truck is emptied will I really feel like I have begun to exist in my new home. I am odd that way I suppose since I am fully made to feel like this is my home but for me it is the comfort of things I am used to having at my beck and call that will bring about a complete being at home feeling.
     Once I have organized my belongings into their spaces will I know this is the new me in another space. Of course the biggest difference is that I am now loved by another and that is the overarching realization that does make me feel almost at home. By surrounding myself with what I have brought with me to simplify and make my life more efficient will I know deep down that my move is completed and my new home is settled in my heart. I am a lucky man for having found love this late in life but I am also satisfied that this love is worth all the work and effort it takes to make it real and everlasting.

(#5532) Logically experiencing my emotions

      To begin with, I am still not perfectly well processed with my different emotions. I find that I am still less than mature when it comes to disappointment, and alternatively, satisfaction at the other end of the spectrum. I am a person who seems to like being in the middle of all emotions. Sort of like ordinary things being better for me than them being extraordinary. Yet they are not and yet I still have a difficulty being in tune with how to properly process my emotions in some areas of my life. For instance, I struggle with being congratulated for things that appear to me to be no brainers.
     I also get angry with myself for the often many ridiculous things I do counter to good common sense and logic. However, I do know that doing the simple right things at times are considered special when the circumstances are chaotic or confusing. I also know that chastising myself for the many blunders I seem to cause is a bit over the top when they are more much ado about nothing than about me and the too high a bar standards I set for myself. In other words I still haven't regulated a protocol for processing my emotions in a completely efficiently proper way. I am human and will make mistakes but I cannot use that as an excuse not to evolve my own behavior.
     I do want to say something here that may sound counter intuitive. My emotions are attached to my logic a lot of the time. I make logical decisions with the knowledge that those decisions will cause me pain, hurt, and suffering as well as happiness, joy, and peace. I cannot deny the fact that logic and emotion are intertwined in my life and for that I would never want to escape. So there is more to a human being than them being just logical or emotional. I am both because they serve each other as the beginning of a behavior that is natural and real to me.

(#5531) Updated status on my move after writing this blog post

      I have decided that I can leave this early morning after writing this blog post. I have all things packed except a few things that are right here in front of me like this laptop and some small items still on my desk. I will go to my local gas station, top off and check my tires for any need of air and then it is off to my new home up on the western side of the state of Washington. It is unique that for the last many years I have longed to go back to the Seattle area but in my mind I knew that the logistics were nearly impossible, until this last December when things moved into place that forced a life changing decision that made the impossible, possible.
     Falling in love can do that to a person even one long in the tooth like me who has never been in a committed relationship that is at the stage of marriage this coming July. There was little doubt that moving up to her was the correct option instead of her moving down here to me especially since I wanted to be up north. Getting this move accomplished required many moving parts to fall into place and that they have. Almost like a synchronicity of fate was and is at play. In other words destiny knocked on my and Judy's door and we both answered. It is hitting me a bit this morning the leaving behind but like all things in this existence very few things are designed for an unchanging.
     A few of those things that are designed for remaining the same are instincts like our compassion and curiosity. These two things are my guiding principles for living and both are about to take a prominent center stage in my life as I venture from this setting to a new one. For love in my heart and wonder at what comes next, both will help me through to a place where the best of who I am will be allowed to flourish and grow. I will have many fond memories of my time here back in my hometown where I relearned what it is to be a good human being again. Many from here will live on with me in my memories and happy those memories will be for me.

(#5530) Last big push to get my things boxed up

      I have finished the majority of my packing the easy stuff and the hard stuff. Now it is time to find the few remaining items that are not easily noticed but just as valuable. The last minute things that are going to take careful scrutiny with a practiced eye. I have not loaded much but at least most is packed and ready to be strategically located into the bed of my truck. I thought I might need a trailer to pull what I was going to take but as I got into actually packing I realized that I could fit it all in the back of my truck with the electronics I am taking being on the back seat on the inside of my quad cab truck.
     I will finish loading today and tarping everything up water tight because I know on my 12 to 14 hour trip up to Seattle I will encounter rain as it is the season for it. Either way I will be prepared. I didn't think I would take a lot of stuff with me but it seems that I do have a lot of stuff that is valuable to me. I will probably whittle down a little more once I get to my new home. Where I am going the house is already set with everything a newly to be domesticated man could imagine. Yet there are some things that I need for how I live that must be added to the mix in however we, Judy and I, will configure. Still having simplified my life to one stuffed truck load is pretty good maneuvering.
     I, as you can imagine, am worn out from the drive to get myself leaving on the 26th, 2 days hence. Yet I have much more to do and although taking the time to sit and write this blog does my legs and back some good I will need to finish this and then get back at the process I can envision that gets me on the road for Tuesday, hopefully before midday. The rush to get this move of mine done will help to mask the feelings I have for leaving my home for another. Yet know this, I am a happy man despite the feelings of what I am leaving behind. The last great adventure of my life is about to begin and for me it is the best of times yet still to come.

(#5529) The unrest in Russia

      As each day that Russia sends their troops to death in Ukraine the unrest in Russia increases. Russia's putin has little in the way of extra troops to end much of any uprising that is now fomenting in Russia. What is now more possible is that the people of Russia may now be ready to rise up and confront putin and his kremlin bootlickers. The Russian people need to become more involved in the wherewithal that putin is involving them in. He, putin, has already destroyed the world standing of Russia among civilized nations and caused the Russian people sufferings and hardships within their families through dead young Russian soldiers and with fewer economic considerations.
     The choice the Russian people have is stark. Either follow putin down the path of a world war or end his reign of disruption and death. The choice seems clear among those of us who are not craven murderers who care less about pain and suffering than their own false sense of superiority. The time may now be ripe with all the incursions by pro Ukrainian Russian forces within Russia causing havoc in strategically located regions within Russia. The damage they are doing is not only significant but it is serving to inspire others who were less courageous to now commit to ending the reign of putin.
     When the wrong you are doing is so devastating that ordinary people are becoming angry and fearless then the wrongdoers are in for more than they thought would come their way. The putin's of the world will soon find their avenues of escape and safety all ended. They will also learn that brutality and cruelty have a cost that they will have to pay. No one is immune to the cost benefit ratio although it may take longer to achieve for some. As the heat is turned up by pro western militia's within Russia the Ukrainians will likely find the defense of their country a little easier as the Russian troops will be even less motivated about fighting in Ukraine when their own country is being sent into upheaval from within.

(#5528) Busy day today

      On a personal note, I am very busy today gleaning through what I have accumulated for the last many decades. I am only taking the bare minimum with me to my new life and winnowing that down is a bit of a challenge. Not so much emotional as utilitarian. I am just like others before me and since that kept things I could well use in the future but didn't. Those things will go easily. The harder things to part with are the things that are still of use but are no longer required. But like all things inanimate I will let them go and if needed in the future may easily be replaced with more modern versions. I am making this move by choice and that supersedes all other considerations of my own personal preference.
     So this morning the bedroom and it's contents will be assessed and then added to the going with me, giveaway, or throw away piles. The furniture, dressers, mirror, and nightstands are going to be given away to hopefully someone with a need. I have out front of my house a pile already for "free stuff" giveaway and lots have been gone away. More to come over the next 3 days and then what is left is slated for throw away. The rest I will put in my truck to the brim if needed for the trip up north. I do believe that after my last dental appointment on Tuesday morning that I will stock my truck, nap, and then go. So I now know my departure day and that will please a certain lady up north who has been my motivator and champion to start my new life with.
     The next 80 hours or so will be a whirlwind of activity as it should be for a man who has just changed most everything in his 68 years of life. All for the better it will be with some fondness for my time here in my California, I will leave with a happy heart. My lady is passionate about who I am so changing from anything we all know to be will not occur. Here is some advice, if looking into a relationship with anyone make sure you are like minded. Nothing is harder to change than your nature, regardless of the cause. Anyway, this little bit of respite writing this blog post is about over so back to the detailed task of rummaging through my life and choosing what that looks like by Monday evening. I feel like a kid starting out in life with a great adventure before me. Here is to all of us finding the happiness we should all be pursuing. :)

(#5527) California passed the mental health care and homeless bill into law

      The vote was close throughout whether this bill would pass even in a democratic stronghold like California. Even as we democrats are all for helping our society through the ills and obstacles of republican uncare we are still fiscally responsible. This law is based upon a bond which is a loan and needs to be repaid in the future with interest. So the vote shows us the split between our care for our fellow human beings and our concerns for affording that care in this particular form. Well as you can see the better part of our natures won over the concerns of our pocketbook. For that I am humbly excited. Because this law will actually start to reverse the increased homelessness here in our state and give other states a template in how they treat their own homelessness problems.
     When republican ronald reagan worked to eliminate mental health care for the mentally challenged in the 1960's our streets were the logical home for these folks who could not assimilate into our society with any cohesion. We here in California have been paying the price of this cavalier approach to another problem republicans would rather bury their heads in the sand over. Well in the intervening years these folks have become a staple on our streets and a harm to themselves. With even more economic mayhem republicans are causing; the chances of the working middle poor class of ending up on the streets themselves with the mentally challenged is only increasing. Between the mentally challenged and the culture of drug and alcohol addiction stubbornness a solution was needed and this law will be that attempt.
     Creating beds and outpatient treatment options to serve to diagnose and treat the root causes of mental instability is a start. Our society has a part in this as our societies are not functioning as free and fair environments that offer opportunities to all but that is for another law to be created. This one however is a major accomplishment and will start to show that our desire to solve our problems is greater than our desire to ignore them. I would hope republicans would start to realize this and join the rest of we democrats in being efficient and intelligent about solutions that are out there instead of fighting us when we only have what is best for all of us at heart.

(#5526) NATO ground troops in Europe to fight against putin since republicans refuse to aid Ukraine!

      The idea of NATO sending ground troops into specific areas outside and inside Ukraine is neither unthinkable nor unreasonable. When French President Macron suggested the idea last week he was ignored by many but as the days have passed forward the idea is now starting to take shape. Other western leaders are starting to make plans for an invasion by Russia into their boundaries. Let me be perfectly clear here. If Russia is not stopped in Ukraine it will continue to invade in order to bolster the ego of putin. He is on a mad dash to control all of Europe if we don't stop him now.
     Which is why the many of us have been advocating fiercely for the republicans in the House of Representatives to bring the Ukraine aid bill up for a vote. The republican leadership keeps saying they are for Ukraine but their non action on the vital aid bill speaks the total opposite. I have also been saying for decades that the republican party says one thing in public and the opposite by their inaction. They know that they can fool people easily because people do not generally fact check them. Well many of us do and we proclaim it when they are constantly abusing the truth about important things that we all should be concerned about. Why too many of you out there keep supporting a republican political party that works against the values we honor like free will is unfortunately well beyond me.
     What is in store for Europe over the next many weeks is going to become obvious if the republicans continue to be successful in blocking life and death aid that will if given turn the tide of putin's invasion against him. NATO will find that Macon's idea of ground troops is not out of the question and in a short time the only real response left for civilized modern democracies to employ. The threat to Europe and the world is real as we hear from the tyrant putin and his fear mongering bellicose hot air. We in the west have but one intelligent response, arm Ukraine and let the Ukrainian military destroy the land grab of putin, or face a desperate reality where we gear up ourselves and fight a much bigger war than the world has yet known!
     

(#5525) I am responsible for my own life

      A lot of things happened to me when I was growing up that had little to do with how I choose to live. But since my 18th year my life has been my own. I had allowed others to decide for me on occasion when I was a young man in exceptional circumstances but again, that was my choice and still my responsibility. I will not nor should not try to escape the decisions in life that have brought about me to this point. They were a combination of great choices and some not so great choices but in sum they were all mine. For the most part my decisions were based in my own principles of honor and dignity but some were not and sadly that is my reality.
     Yet being an imperfect being is part of the growing process as well. None of us has the perfect life ahead of us or behind us but if we strive to keep within our boundaries of intelligence, decency, and respect we may find that our choices will most likely end up being the correct ones. I didn't always consider how my actions would affect others because I was at times selfish with a cynical outlook. I had my innocence tainted and was not prone to being forgiving at times. The dog eat dog mentality of too many now a days was something I immersed in for a time. putting myself ahead of others was not what I stayed in long but it did happen and for that I was fortunately taught a great life lesson.
     I learned that caring for others was actually caring for myself. I learned that putting myself out of the priority gave me a perspective of how others were living. It became apparent to me that by being so selfish I was part of the problem that I was so deadened by to begin with. To fast forward to how I live now is to be at peace with myself and tired as well. The tired is a good tired however because it reminds me that what I do now is worthy and an accomplishment of note. The responsibilities that I carry forward are clearly defined and easy to follow. I want to help make our world, this existence we live in, a remarkable experience for every soul that inhabits the base qualities of compassion and curiosity.

(#5524) Winding down my time in California

      California is where I have lived most of my life and for me that was a remarkable turn of luck. None of us knows where we will be born in life so having the exceptional luck to be birthed in a part of the world where my philosophical center is and the environment that has climate and natural beauty that is most stellar is exceptional. I will never forget my growing and formative years here and then my later years of maturity that have spanned more that 45 years of my life. Yet there is more to the world than my great home state. As a young person I appreciated that California was a moderate to hot climate with bodies of water nearly everywhere I turned.
     I am no longer a young person capable of being enthralled and physically able to withstand the demands of youth that California has historically catered. I am off to another region of our great nation that has cooler climes that I cherish and a slower pace of activity that suits my enduring evolving life existence. It had been my hope to relocate to the upper northwest for many years since I had lived in the Seattle area for nearly 18 years. I am at a stage in life where I enjoy the rain and snow of winter and the soft rains otherwise dispersed throughout the year. Seattle offers that and I am ready for it. It just so happens that a life changing event occurred and I am ready and willing to embrace that life changing effect.
     So in short order I will pulling up my stakes and moving where I not only will be happy to experience the weather but also a new chapter in my life that has another person involved in it. But more about that aspect later. Today I focus on the winding down time here as I sort, pack, load, and unload what things in life I have acquired to settle me in here. My new beginning will require much less that I have now and that is what new beginnings may offer. Life has taught me that the things I acquired in the past are not being utilized as I had hoped so they must be passed on to others whose time is just beginning. My dream of moving back up north is about to happen and for that I am eternally humbled.

(#5523) If you want to stop trump you must first stop putin!

      They are inexorably linked. Both trump and putin are two heads of the same body with putin being the driver of their deviousness. You could see it in their body language when they were photographed together during trump's time in our presidency. As well with the assumptions that putin has many incriminating items to coerce trump to do his bidding. Which nicely explains why trump is against sending US aid to Ukraine to help keep Ukrainian democracy alive. That trump is doing putin's bidding is unquestionable through instructing his sycophant johnson the current majority republican speaker of the House from bringing the, already passed in the Senate by a 70-29 margin, aid bill for Ukraine to a floor vote.
     With trump wanting to divest from NATO is a clear sign that putin is his compatriot, not democracy. So when we stop putin the need for trump by putin will cease and trump himself will wither from the lack of need and the loss of protection his friend putin tries to scare the world with. With putin gone the force behind trump will end as well. We the many of us suspect that trump has much of his financing from Russia through many different sources so when the tyrant putin is relieved of his control is when the money faucet to trump will dry up. Without money and the bravado of a putin in his corner the simpleton trump will no longer have his kremlin talking points and will further fade into absurdity.
     By supporting the US aid to Ukraine you are also supporting the diminution of putin and by extension the support he spreads around the world in the form of anti democracy propaganda, chaos, and brutality. If you think of putin as the head of the snake you begin to realize that neutralizing the head will destroy the body. The defeat in Ukraine of putin will effectively put an end to putin's and the kremlin's machinations in America and around the world and force those who are his allies to crawl back into the dark recesses they deserve to dwell within. We need real strong pro democracy leaders in this world and for that to happen we need to stop the forces that are trying to end democracy like what putin did to Navalny in Russia.

(#5522) The discharge petition is all that will get past the obstructionist republicans in the House

      If you haven't already guessed by the stalled action on behalf of the extreme republican leader of the House, the Senate bill that passed that chamber by a vote of 70-29 will not get a house vote, So what is to be done in the face of the stalling and untruths the current speaker of the House keeps forwarding? The discharge petition is what can be done. It has some time frame issues to it and will require a handful of republicans to vote for it but as it stands now it is the only hope for Ukraine aid to be approved before Ukrainian democracy dies from republican intransigence from the brutal and cruel Russian invasion of Ukraine.
     The discharge petition will allow 218 congresspeople of both parties to sign a document that allows them the maneuver of putting the aid bill on the House floor for a vote. Under regular order the speaker of the House brings whatever bill to the floor he decides is to be voted on and this current one, johnson a republican, is not doing so because he is fully engaged into what trump wants and trump wants putin to succeed in destroying democracy in Ukraine. So getting through the procedures of the House to form this petition into a ripe usage of it takes some legislative calendar days and right now those days are being utilized.
     There is this one step of getting aid to Ukraine and it must be taken. It is a rare and unusual way to bypass the speaker of the House and it is rarely used but the crucial nature of this aid getting to Ukraine before Russia takes full advantage of its not being available to Ukraine makes it a necessity of huge importance. You must ask yourself why would the republican party align with a dictator like the tyrant putin of Russia over the democracy striving nation of Ukraine? If you can come up with an answer that justifies the republican stance then you are an amazing person because logic as it is does not support the republican position nor does their hypocrisy when asked about it.

(#5521) Women's rights are on the ballot come November, never forget!

      The day when the republican party finally got their desire of turning women into second class citizens was the day that many women began to understand that the republican party is an evil to them. I have known this about them for over 50 years but now we have many more who get it that the republican party is a scourge to democracy and the principles of freedom and human rights for all of our species. With the destruction of Roe v. Wade the republicans proved without a doubt that they do not consider women intellectually nor with enough common sense to control the function of their own bodies. That only republican men should be able to decide for them what they can or can't do with their own anatomy.
     I don't know what else must happen for all good people of honor and respect to realize that the scope of republicanism is to deny liberties and justice that are the hallmark of a civilized society. The republican party has laid bare it's core agenda and if you think that women's rights are the only thing under attack here you are not quite informed yet. People of color nor the poor who are not psychopathic/sociopathic have little to hope of protection nor gain from the republican party. Instead they are marginalized and diluted through republican voter repression actions and gerrymandering engineered through a nefarious republican strategy.
     Democracy itself is under siege like in Ukraine where republicans are not allowing help for them to fend off the dictator putin. If any example of anti democracy can be given it is in democracy being destroyed in Ukraine and republicans turning their back to it. So to sum this all up is to say that the republican party has literally shown itself to be undermining democracy, free will, and the hopes and dreams of all of us to pursue our own happiness. The dream of our foreparents when creating our democracy was one where freedom of choice and freedom not to choose was actually written into the first amendment to our constitution. The republican party would abolish that right and many others that restrict republicans from controlling all of us!

(#5520) Our generation has failed us but can yet redeem itself

      When I was young my generation walked on the moon. We brought about great social change. We even started on inventing the ease of usage of creative and innovative technology to convenience. The hope and promise of our generation was poisoned however by three events that left us without the leadership we so desperately needed. Both John and Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King were all three assassinated in their prime before they could shape our generation into a mighty progressive force. Instead we were rudderless and lost our focus on the amazing that we had yet to inject into our society.
     That is no excuse even though the anti democratic forces within our society worked hard to destroy enlightened democracy in favor of their controlled one. Despite their best efforts we should have been able to thwart their attempts had we just remained objective and rational. Yet we didn't and many of our generation joined those forces of disruptions to our democracy with the vigor of our earlier rebellion against the establishment as we knew it. Without our three great leaders we were ripe for taking over by those who have no heart for freedom and democracy. Their only goal is to always divide and conquer and unfortunately with my generation they were ultimately successful.
     Without our leaders we lost our courage and foresight to a better world. We instead of boldly living an honorable life succumbed to some of our worst natures and turned our heads away from being human. Nothing much is wasted like a soul who does not exemplify the characteristics of a wise and just evolution. What my generation should have done is make sure those who stole our leaders from us were found out and fittingly disciplined. We then should have all risen up as leaders to carry on the work of John, Martin, and Robert. We can still do that at this late point in our time but it must be now when the effect will be felt for centuries not just years or decades!

(#5519) President Biden will find a way to help Ukraine in the short term

      The republicans in the House of Representatives have been very good at helping Russia and putin attempt to defeat Ukraine by stalling the aid bill for Ukraine. However, despite the turncoat actions of republicans against helping Ukraine keep their democracy from the tyrant putin, Joe Biden is finding ways to help Ukraine in the meantime. He just released 300 million in aid to Ukraine that was left over from the last allotment of aid for Ukraine and now he is about to release between 2 and 4 billion more from the defense department budget. That aid from the Defense Department does not need Congressional approval so republicans in the House cannot stop it.
     Why republicans are so intent on helping a tyrant like putin is beyond the bounds of normalcy. It is as if they have decided that equality and justice are just for a few and not for all. Well Joe Biden is not like republicans and instead he honors the commitment of over 248 years of American independence to make our democracy a more perfect product. The will of Joe is greater than the obstruction of republicans and for that we should all be humbly grateful for his perseverance. The European Union found a way to get past their putin loving obstacles and Joe Biden is doing something similar although not as robust.
     In the history of the world great change came about through great sacrifice and what the Ukrainian people are doing now qualifies as such. The Russians on the other hand are being held at bay by their own ineptitude and incompetence. They have been losing close to 1000 troops a day for many weeks now and have lost over 426,000 troops since February 24, 2022. Now with the unrest in Russia starting to hurt the Russian economy and bringing home alarming safety and security issues, pressure is building. Russia is not only being destroyed in Ukraine but at home as well. How much longer putin will remain in charge may well be a question with an answer to come sooner than later.

(#5518) The republican party has failed democracy

      Each day that goes by without the Ukraine aid bill coming up for a vote in the House of Representatives is another day brave Ukrainian defenders of democracy will die. This cannot be understated. The republican party says they want to preserve life but their actions are the opposite. They know that democracy is in peril with the Russian invasion of Ukraine yet they ignore this and refuse to help Ukraine defend it's democracy. I am not playing at words here I am just saying the truth of consequences. When the act is proven to be detrimental then the explanation of it is worthy of being exposed.
     The republican party is failing democracy and no other explanation will ever conceal their choice to further putin and his tyrannical ambitions against democracy. So however those republican voters are able to hold their noses at the stench of decay that is the republican party is beyond me. I am a free spirit because democracy gives me that so voting for any republican anywhere would be against the freedom of my soul to exist. I know this and would never jeopardise my love for democracy because of some misplaced loyalty to some political party or some carnival barker representing them. I am not some novice or greenhorn available to be confused through any bias or prejudice into believing that democracy would ever be a worse thing over something based in brutality and fear.
     Actions are in motion by a small contingent within the republican party to allow a vote to come to the House floor on the Ukraine aid. One action will require the republican slim majority and it's speaker to be bypassed by a majority of representatives, 218, to force a vote. This process has been in play for a week or two now and will ripen at the beginning of April. It won't be easy to accomplish but given the stakes in Ukraine nothing here about getting to a vote is harder than fighting for your life against a murderer who is intent on eliminating your very existence. It will always be a stain on our national view as a world leader in protecting democracy but we will get there despite the wrong side being chosen by the yellow bellied republican party.

(#5517) Gearing up for the move over the next two weeks

     Today will start my packing up what I want to start my life with. It is happening and no matter how nostalgic I get over the next few weeks my present and future are moving toward a new beginning. I am getting married to Judy and together we are about to start our lives not here in California. I will miss my birth state but not the hot weather. I need a more moderate climate and that is where I am heading. So packing up what I want with me is going to be a chore of sorts but not so much as it might otherwise be. I expect that the things I have surrounded myself with were more for convenience than necessity. So much will be left and few things will survive my keeping.
     I have always been personally frugal so there is not much that has a sentimental value to me other than the normal ties to the past in pictures and some items. The rest I have accumulated here will stay with the house and become a utility for those who are to manage my home until another decision is made concerning the future of my home. For the near foreseeable future though the packing will be less although thorough. I must go through everything in order to get a clear picture of what I really want and what really needs to stay. All of this is a bit conflicting as it should be. I am uprooting myself for one last adventure. But know this I am ready and happy to be doing it. However there are still emotions that have to be experienced and dealt with.
     If anything I am a comprehensive man who knows that all of my moments in time need my attention to the fullest and what I am doing now to set the stage for my departure will occupy me in full. Every inch of space needs my view so that there is nothing forgotten or misplaced. My life in my new place will be a wonderful gift for me and the countdown to that time is being anxiously awaited. I find that I am keenly aware of all that I view here because that viewing will be the memories I hold within me. I have put a lot of time and effort into this home and all that it has become. Nothing about actually leaving is going to be exciting but it is necessary as an outcome for something even more breathtakingly beautiful.

(#5516) A third world war is ripening!

      Let me be perfectly clear. No third world war need to be had. It will only come about through ignorance, obstinance, and selfishness. Yet it seems that all three of these negative otherworldly characteristics are much in vogue in the current iteration of republican political circles. For the most part however there is much in the way of this scenario of foolishness and greed. Yet not enough to stop the current momentum that is being actuated by some who should know better. We have somehow gotten to appointed leaders who would rather gamble on a world war then not. As incredible as that seems our reality is proving it true.
     For months many of us have been boldly exclaiming that if we don't do the right thing by honoring our national commitment to helping Ukraine stop the mad rush of the tyrant putin at Ukraine's doorstep the whole of Europe will become involved in stopping the madness of putin further into central and western Europe. With that NATO will be activated and all the world will have troops in Europe fighting to protect the alliances and treaties negotiated since the end of world war two. A third world war will not be the same as the land war of world war two. It will involve sophisticated weaponry that will hit all cities from any country. no one will be safe from a third world war anywhere on our planet!
     All of what I have just expressed could be avoided simply by letting the brave Ukrainians stop the putin rush at the border of Ukraine and Russia. But not until the republicans in the House find both their courage and sense to allow a vote on the Ukraine aid we all need to keep putin within his own borders. If ever there was a simple turning point that could be activated to prevent world wide despair and misery this is it. The history books will either herald the defeat of Russia at the Ukrainian border or they will lament the lunacy that the House republicans caused through a third world war. There is still time for republicans in the House to do their duty to democracy and the world but that time is quickly running short...