Fact based reality (#2251)

Is it so scary to live in this existence that we must choose to accept fantasy in place of reality? I can only guess that it is fear that makes us move from logical observation to fantasy acceptance. I have discussed fear here many times and every time I do it is to point out that most fear is not good. Some fear is good when it cautions us to dangers that are real but for the most part fear is not healthy nor wise in our calculations about what is real. Facts tell me how I live and what I think. Even opinions and theories are better than fear based fantasies. At least with opinions and theories, I can further them along toward their truth, or disprove them, by investigating them with logical reason, analysis and conclusion. Not so with fantasy. Fantasy is an alternative to reality where there is no rational way to prove or disprove. I am not a child who needs a pacifier to calm me. I am a bold adult human being who can utilize his ability to gather and process real information and apply it to my environment. I can accept the reality of what truth and fact expose because I am just a guest here in this existence and a short time guest to boot! I don't need an illusion to help me along with my life, what I do need is rational and logical investigation into what we humans have been able to calculate out of life to this point. I have a desire to understand what is real, not what is fantasy. So if that is offensive then take offense. yet you will not deter nor hinder my life from being lived to understand that which is tangibly before me. I am a human being, the greatest species to have evolved in this existence. To live any less would be to bring shame and dishonor to the gift of my being. Reality is where I live and it will be my clarion call to know where my future takes me.

Fear is no boundary to me (#2250)

It has taken most of m life to realize that nothing should stop me from realizing my hopes and dreams. I know I am limited in many ways like I will never be able to travel around the Universe exploring and discovering like I really want to but that doesn't stop me from holding out hope for others who think like me. If I cannot be at the helm then I want to help produce the helm for the next dreamer. Life in this existence is easy to understand if you dedicate yourself to enlightenment and courage. Who doesn't want to be the next greatly admired soul to show the goodness of life? Only those who live in the shadow of fear unfortunately. Let me say this about fear. Some fear in general is a good thing as it instills a sense of pausing or caution in order to better assess a situation or endeavor. That is not the type of fear I am referencing. The fear I am talking about is that fear which thwarts us from the natural general curiosity we have within us. Curiosity is our genesis to move and learn. Curiosity is our most important trait in that it gives us the impetus to know. If we didn't know we would be like the all the other inanimate objects, just there without comprehension. So to allow for our curiosity to flourish, we cannot allow those things and people who would limit it. That is where our courage comes into play. Courage is not just a naturally occurring phenomenon it is a developed action over time. Sure, some of it is instinctual, but most of it is calculated. We must first think about how we would react in generic situations so that when they occur our best actions are the ones we display. So it is with fear, we must first understand that fear is a defense mechanism designed to keep us safe as a general rule but in most cases fear is not our ally. It inhibits our curiosity without effecting a benefit for us. So move past your fear and discover life in it's fullness and allow your personality and character to define who you are, not your fears.

Building up instead of tearing down (#2249)

This is what we should be doing in our public lives and our private lives. There are too many people who cause too much trouble for no other reason than to make life more difficult. It is as if they have a vendetta against improving life and for whatever tormented reason they wish worse than better for those not them. Their is nothing more discouraging than to have some souls work against what is best for everyone. Sometimes we need to tear down to recreate better and that is understood but not tearing down just so that something good is destroyed. Progress is a natural and expected journey we are all on so when some divert from progress out of some need other than betterment we get what we have today, people who want less of good because they cannot abide good as a result. There must be some sort of self loathing that triggers it but why that is so is not my forte. I have fought and defeated my personal demons and all it took was for me to let my own designs on life go and just live for whatever is best for all of us, not just me. I am truly a member of the human community because I accept all for who they are and act accordingly. Some are just unfathomable people and I, as just a simple man, choose to separate myself from them for my own sanity. I respect their lives as beings but not their thoughts as comforting or logical. Instead I choose to be around folks who appreciate progress and undoing harms that are more institutionalized than should be. Folks who want paradigms that reflect our enlightened thinking not our crass condescending thoughts. I like folks who build from the better and best of who we are not those who tear down that better and best. It is simple for me, those who see our world through the lens of improving the wrongs are my friends, those who see the world as the next step in a long line of steps going forward are my friends. those who want to build a better world with us are the ones who I admire and hope to emulate.

Fighting for respect and dignity (#2248)

We are all human beings, period! As such we all deserve the respect and dignity that being human demands. Privilege and advantage are not to be borne as determining factors. Respect and dignity are the default position not the struggle to achieve. Starting from a position of respect and dignity allows us to build a life based upon what is right and good about us. There will be those who dishonor respect and dignity and for that they must pay a price but no one, I mean no one should ever have to suffer the indignity and disrespect of being condescended to as a lesser human being just for being born, regardless of existential origin. Dignity and respect for all human life is universal and until this is acknowledged by all we will continue to struggle to make it so. That there are human beings who place higher priorities to lesser ideals is the sickness and illness we are fighting against. There are those who continue to look at different souls as lesser human beings and until we bring those out into the open and dispel their illogical arguments we will not be free of their pervasive corrosion. All on our planet are negatively affected by thoughts and actions that turn to policy that reflect division and segregation. No one group or individual has any right to discriminate against another human being from the foundation of difference. We may not like each other for myriad valid reasons but we damn well better respect each other through our actions and through the equal application of our laws. Dignity in oneself is an effect that is caused through respect and if we want all our fellow humans to have a dignified life, which is right and good, then we have to respect their diversity with a tolerance we give to anyone else, including ourselves. There are no exceptions from this foundational beginning.

The nasty brutish Republican philosophy (#2247)

I get that Republicans and Democrats use the argument that we all should be held accountable for our own actions, but the difference is that Republicans stop there while Democrats provide a safety net for those who cannot or struggle to be accountable for their own actions and work hard toward equal rights for all. Republicans are a bitter set of people who think that they are the true destiny of our species. They adhere to the survival of the fittest doctrine like it is as necessary as breathing air. The problem is that they are some of the biggest users of social programs they beat Democrats over the head with. The cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy is astonishing. I am all for us working toward our goals in life but not as a survival demand, but as a journey of discovery. Our lives should not be enslaved to principles of greed and hatred, but instead to principles of respect and dignity. Commerce is important in how our civilized society operates but democratic principles are crucial to our society surviving. Democracy will always outweigh capitalism as a necessity for an enlightened society. If ever we choose that enlightenment is not as important as profit then our democracy will be dismantled. Our constitution has evolved to help guide us toward a more complete union, however it takes participation by all to have it's full effect. The current philosophy of Republican conservatism is an irrational reading of religious liberty in conjunction with a lessening of equal rights. The Republican road map toward dismantling our democracy is underway with their current majorities in governmental leadership roles and until we all wake up to the deterioration, we will continue to see the nasty brutish effects of hatred and greed so admired by Republican voters.

Republicans are not advancing modernity (#2246)

The republican party has shown it's intent and it is not for the benefit of society a large. It's intent instead is to roll back modernity and it's innovative processes for the more ancient paradigm of patriarchy in a plutocratic government. Republicans would have the many dependent upon the few as a rule not to be broken. They want limited access to power and wealth for the masses while they maintain and strengthen laws that protect their power and wealth. I posed this question yesterday in a semi-serious way, when was a bill introduced for legislation by Republicans that actually benefited the middle or poor class? I have yet to think of one instance in my lifetime of watching national politics of any such bill. I am not saying that it hasn't happened but if it has it is a distant memory. On the other hand how many bills for legislation have Republicans offered that hurt the middle and poor class? the number is so high that hundreds would be too low, most likely thousands. From restricting the vote, to cutting winter oil for the poor in cold state, to cutting food stamps for millions of families with mostly children affected, to not continuing unemployment insurance when the need was great, to testing for drugs those who need welfare while not testing for drugs the wealthy who take far more in welfare from our social programs. The intent is clear that Republicans want to stop all social programs that affect the downtrodden while enhancing social programs and further extending tax breaks to the wealthy. Republicans know that our economic system is rigged toward the wealthy yet they want less regulation and less protection of our natural resources. As Republicans continue to cut research and development, the engine that modernizes our society, we see the final nail in our coffin coming toward our democracy. If Republicans are not stopped from their pied piper example, we will all be off the cliff soon enough, all of us, yes even Republicans.

Breaking the molds (#2245)

This was the battle cry of my generation growing up. Too much of the cookie cutter philosophy that was expected of most of us. Not that some expectation of continuing important advancements wasn't proper and good, but too much of it was tradition and myth based, instead of enlightened progress. Each generation of human advancement comes in the form of finding a noble purpose for which to rally. Each generation must connect in some comprehensive way with the best of the generations before them. It is our link to the past and on into the future. Our present will determine the success of our resolve and nothing short of endurance will sustain it's possibility. But first, each generation must find it's identity and it's goal. What we have to help us is the knowledge that has been passed on from the beginning of our species' ability to communicate. I try in this blog to highlight the nature of our humanness and the abilities we possess in applying our nature to existence. We are probing biological data processors who are curious and caring, the two greatest natures our species has developed. We also have the ability to input information through our senses and the mental capability to store knowledge that has been processed in our brains through reason, analyzing and concluding. We are a most remarkable species and yet we have not yet even managed to tap our yet unknown potential. So allowing ourselves to stay in the comfort of illusion is not an option for so noble a species as we. Any mold that has endured through time has to be reconciled with the ever changing dynamic of our increased logic and common sense. No mold is meant to remain as an absolute when nothing in life has that capability. We are all going to be different in a constant way not unlike our universal surroundings. So each generation must find it's purpose and then spend the rest of it's existence advancing that purpose. Destiny awaits!

Why I rant and rail (#2244)

I do advocate for so many progressive and just policies on this blog here but that is because I know that the better our world is the better chance we the people will have to find happiness in it. That is why I will not accept the doom and gloom of the republican party. I don't live in the negative or in the idea that we need to be herded like cattle because we can't fend for ourselves. I know for a fact that if given the opportunity to learn and be part of our society in a real and fair way, most all of us would welcome that paradigm. We don't have that right now. Instead we have a system that favors privilege and advantage, not based upon merit but instead based upon nepotism and wealth. It seems that old mores die hard when it comes to fear and greed. Instead of being an enlightened being and earning the respect of their peers, the privileged and advantaged demand respect and if not given then the back of their hand is their "gift" to us. Such a cheap and thieving hollowness as a reward they are willing to embrace. Not a proud and honorable decision of earned respect but an ego driven craving to demand it without deserving it. So onward I go with some subject every day to bring to light my disgust with being associated, through species, with these weaklings with power. They will defeat people like me with their shrewd and clever twisting of facts but nonetheless I will remain resolutely steadfast in my shame for them and myself since we are all of the same ability to reason, analyze and conclude. That they choose to keep an artificial and false sense of dignity in place of humility I must live with it but never will I accept it. So rant and rail I will because the honorable ideals and principles I live by are my constant companion and I protect my companions even to my death.

Maximizing profit instead of making people whole (#2243)

Today's, what seems like an endless amount of days of ranting, is about how insurance companies treat their clients and those who are harmed by their clients. Since most insurance is mandatory many are left without a recourse when insurance companies all seem to come up with the same types of policy procedures as it relates to charges and benefits. I am not saying outright that insurance companies collude but the differences between them is small enough to at least reasonably conclude there is some general outline of agreement they all seem to follow. What I have noticed, in my limited view, is that regardless of reality, insurance companies seem to default to the worst of what they think we are capable of doing. My own experience shows that no matter which insurance company I rate as to yearly cost, they all seem to have the same increases despite no claims or violations. Curious to say the least. Now as to paying benefits, insurance companies would rather pay huge amounts to law firms and medical experts that specialize in overly minimizing any and all harms perpetrated by the their members' policy holders, than to actually make those who are harmed whole again, at least in a fair and just way. The way they operate is simple enough to understand, they want the most amount coming in and the least amount going out. Capitalism in operation as it's cold methodical self when profit is placed above the intent of a well meaning law and the protection of the human condition. It is obvious enough to me as well that our governmental insurance oversight is not an effective sovereign over the methods and mission goals of mandatory insurance providers. This is just another example of capitalism and it's out of control lust for profit that is destroying the good will in our democracy. I just barely touched on this subject as a deficit to our enlightened philosophy of democratic principles but the depth of the problems that exist within our insurance industry are too numerous to continue to ignore.

Every one of us was meant for more than just surviving (#2242)

Unfortunately there are too many capitalists who see human life as a commodity. It is unfortunate since capitalists don't have to see maximizing profits at the expense of people. They could still have profit but also improve society and help enable those who are stuck in impoverished and under developed paradigms. But no, the majority of the current crop of capitalists have not much care for society on whole. Their major concern is maximizing profits without regard to the consequences of their actions. It is all around us from poverty wages to destruction of our environment. This shortsighted vision of greedy accumulation is an  economic illness we can least let continue. Our society has always done well for all when all are part of it in opportunistic ways. There has to be a sense of honor and respect for our way of life for it to remain healthy and vibrant. We do not know from where or from whom the next great breakthrough in our knowledge will come from and if we are not fostering the foundation from which anyone can succeed, we are only subtracting from our best chance in order to satisfy our illogical greed. I believe that the right amount of capitalism will help our society advance and progress but not an unfettered capitalism. An unfettered capitalism will funnel most all resource into the hands of a few who will be reluctant to part with it. Leaving the many scrambling for what is left. We were meant for more than just struggling to survive. Our ancestors have already fought that battle and won, giving us a democracy that hoped to achieve one day an equality unparalleled in all of our human history. We are at that crossroads but in order to move forward we must stop the ever widening capitalistic imbalance and restore more toward our societal ideals of ethical justice, fairness and opportunity. Otherwise the very trunk of our democracy will be in jeopardy of being pulled out by the root.

The negative force of power (#2241)

That sinking feeling of knowing that things have changed for the worse because power has over ruled our better natures. It reduces honorable conviction and purposeful action to a nullifying reality. How many times must we be beat down before we realize that we are losing ground? The worse part is that we were already in a bad situation and were just trying to make it better. So ending up in a worse position really wipes any smile I had left right off of my face. The closest analogy is that we are those frogs who started out in a cold pot of water and ever since the temperature of the water keeps going up and it won't be long before the water is boiling and we won't even have noticed that we were letting ourselves be cooked. How can this be you may ask, I don't see where we are being forced into a worse reality? It is because you don't see the comprehensive picture. You see what is around you and you are unable to fathom that other human beings would intentionally harm us as a strategic vision. Ask yourself this question, if others were trying to make my life better, why don't I see that all around me? If things are still the same for you or even worse, cannot you make the connection that those who are leading are not leading us to a better reality? Is it a brutish and harsh world you want for yourself and your children? Is it easier to not pay attention so that you are not put upon to stand up for what is right and good? What is it that allows us to accept and defend policies that harm us instead of help us. We are all in this together but as of now my shame for being a human being is deep and humiliating. We have better within us as a default but we choose for whatever reason to allow those others who care not for us to lead us. The positive force of power is within all of us and it is past time for us to combine our strengths for a better world.

Life is about your honor (#2240)

If you don't already know this, when you get to the end of your life it won't be what you were able to buy or how much money you have that will be in your thoughts, it will be your family and friends and how you lived. I just simplify it and call it honor. Were you a good person who stood up for the things in life that help people live better lives? Did you make a difference with your life that had a positive effect on more than just yourself? Did you fight for justice and respect as honored principles for all or just yourself? Were you greater than your baser instincts? These questions will flash into your mind as you take an accounting of who you were and how you lived near the end of your time in this existence. I am a proud man in my own knowing of me, not proud as boastful, but as relentlessly determined to do what's right when the doing of what's right is upon me. Standing and fighting for tolerance and equality is the great struggle of our time, and being there involved in that struggle will leave your life in a better position when the accounting time comes. There are too many who have no idea why they are alive except that they think they are to do for themselves without much regard to what that does to others. They see life as a game of accumulation and false prestige. Title nor wealth makes no person more than another person, yet too many will lie, cheat and steal to defy that fact. A rather disgraceful purpose when seen in the light of day. I know that what I have done in my life has the value of honor to it. I have not always been an honorable man as I too had to hoe a long road of confusion and chaos before I awoke to the realization that I can control the best of who I am when the need is there, not just when it is convenient for me. Pretentious consumerism is false and fake when matched up against the will to struggle and fight for what is best about all of us not just about myself.

Failing to call out harm when it comes from a sacred institution (#2239)

This one paradigm is wholly troubling to me. I have spent a lifetime having to live in a world that prefers to see the best about a sacred institution despite many abysmal performances. I could live with that given that many of these performances are few and far between but nonetheless need addressing. The church on whole provides for a sanctuary for guilt and remorse to be alleviated through confession and contrition. If one can find it within themselves to let go of their guilt and shame then they have that opportunity through the church. But letting go of what is the lesser of our actions or thoughts is not the end of it. There is always change that must occur for the individual to find meaningful purpose to continue. That is the function of the church in my estimation. Not the more glamorous aspects of wealth and privilege that the church has allowed itself to become. I see too many so called leaders of the church living in extravagance and above the law. From the ministries that accumulate wealth as if it were a business to the church offering refuse and protection to it's own child molesters. I often think of the examples in the Bible of Jesus and how he threw the money changers out of the Temple for their greed and how Jesus said that what you do for the least of these you do for me, paraphrased, as it applies to all actions by those who would follow him. I have never been convinced that a "holy" man should put his own immoral desires before his obedience to humility and care. Or his own greed for wealth as greater than the need of the truly desperate. Yet in our society many religions have become a business and the end goal is not a salvation based upon love but a salvation based upon tithes and intolerance. I have a peace about me that incorporates what is best about our species and that is how I choose to live notwithstanding some "holy" man or "sacred" institution that has strayed from the example of Jesus.

Our fear is greater than our courage (#2238)

It has become obvious to me that not enough of us are brave enough to overcome our own fear. We are not the honorable beings we generally accept that we are. How can I say this? Easy enough in how I see what we the majority opinion in this country are doing. Not only here but in the world at large. The politics of fear seems to be what motivates us to policies and politicians as guidelines and leaders. The best of who we are is a further distance from the truth than what I had hoped to see from us. Maybe the simple truth is that we are scared to be alive and are willing to serve a master than to be a beacon of enlightenment. The unique possibility of humanity with all our individual gifts is being thwarted, not by a force, but by our own unwillingness to stand and defend it. It takes courage to have harmony and opportunity yet not enough of us are aware of this or not enough of us are willing to break from fear. Nothing in life is guaranteed yet too many of us act as if our honorable principles aren't worth fighting for. Too many would bow to an existence that didn't make a wave in the Universe, against our very natures, too many would rather exist only to exist. A rather feeble and weak existence in order to avoid being proud to fight for what is right. A sad commentary on how our species is evolving. Too many would rather put their faith in superstition than to face the reality that their existence is a challenge to their integrity. A subservient acquiescence to those who would rule as an imperfect and illusory god rather than to stand up to their fear and forge their own personal identity based upon individual strength and bold character. This posting is a reflection on how far we have to go just to be at the beginning of our own courage as a foundation.

The nasty brutish Republicans (#2237)

Never in my lifetime have I seen this current crop of Republican party politicians and their wealthy donors condone such horrible human behavior. Outright plotting to intercede in delicate foreign affairs like a bull in a China shop. What is worst is that those in the Republican party who have not lost touch with reality altogether are not shaming and shouting down their clueless colleagues. From the insanity of Republicans advocating on behalf of the ex KGB officer now president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who is in the process of annexing Ukraine, a western leaning country back into it's fold, to asking a foreign leader to speak to Congress without authorizing it with our president. Republicans are showing that they care little for the future of America as a governing body if that governing body isn't of their own construct instead of the will of the people. There are words like treason that come to mind when thinking about what they are doing and although it would be hard to legally justify a charge against Republicans, the spirit of what they are doing leaves no question at all to their guilt of such a crime. Republicans are openly working to foment war as a first resort while blasting negotiations as unimportant. It would be one thing if Republican leaders were on the battlefield leading from the front in their insatiable quest for war but it isn't so. They see themselves as indispensable and the rest of us non Republicans as the perfect blend of cannon fodder. Thankfully, there is a real chance that Israel's election today will bring about new leadership that bends toward justice and not harm. Also in Russia it appears that cooler heads are prevailing and the hawks there pushing to cause more chaos in Ukraine are being reined in. Now what to do here in America? the 2016 elections cannot come soon enough and those Republicans who are up for election need to be kicked out on their asses!

The conservative propaganda machine (#2236)

Ever since our conservative courts have upheld the notion that lies can be protected speech, conservative Republicans have been taking advantage of it to the extreme. Now conservatives for their part answer back that it is the rest of the media that is lying and that they are the ones telling truths. Looking at this from an objective viewpoint it is strange that conservatives claim they are the ones who are truth telling when considering the facts of things, they are the ones most often exposed as the liars. Regardless, of the conservative assertion that everyone else is lying, just researching and fact checking their claims will be plenty enough to show that they are again lying. Most Americans do not fact check as they have their political party viewpoints and just go with whoever is reporting their policies. Convenient but sloppy. The agenda of a news outlet should be to portray the facts of a situation and allow it's viewers to form a critical thought of their own. Yet with the high gain partisanship yields, news outlets are utilized for feeding party line tropes instead of allowing for it's viewers to conclude what is right or wrong about what is happening. I entitled this piece the conservative propaganda machine because for the most part liberal news reporting has had to spend too much of it's time just rebutting the lies that the conservative propaganda machine is spewing. Too many of our news outlets are owned by conservatives and their agenda is to promote their policies as beneficial to all, when in actuality they are only beneficial to the wealthy. They use hatred, division and misinformation as their framework for subjectively interpreting the news so that they can keep their less informed supporters in line and away from objective fact checking. Allowing the ability to lie as a protected speech is killing our democracy and our ability to move forward with a smarter and more understanding citizenry.

Research and development (#2235)

Our nation has been positively modernized in many ways by creative imaginings that have been turned into innovative inventions. This is what we can do when we work as a nation to discover. Our curious ability to search and explore has given rise to new ways of thinking and doing. It is natural for us to move from the days of only fire to days we have now of electricity and gas/oil power. Our next leap will involve moving from fossil fuels toward renewable energies that safeguard our environment. We are learning that the burning of fossil fuels in the long run is a detriment to not only our life breathing health but also to our planets ability to release greenhouse gases. Simple science teaches us that matter moves from one form to another and thus with burning fossil fuels, as a byproduct, we are allowing for the build up of life threatening molecules to entrap heat and air pollution in our stratosphere. We need to have a robust national research and development program to help guide us through the many new challenges our society is facing, not only by our own doing but to help abate what other countries are doing as well. At this point in time America has a great opportunity to thrust itself into the world leadership of smart energy efficient production. But regardless if we do or not, other countries are stepping up and leading in our absence. The die is cast on climate change and now the only question will be, will we accept it? Unfortunately, there are many powerful greedy forces that are determined to keep us trapped in old technology despite all evidence to the contrary. Eventually our democracy will have to sustain science over any and all desperate attempts to thwart it but as we fight this unnecessary fight we are not moving forward as efficiently as we should be.

Find the time to vote! (#2234)

Paying all your attention on the little things in life will cause you to miss the big picture. Your life is being changed while you are living it because you are not paying attention to your voting responsibilities. If you do anything at all outside your little world make sure it is to vote. There are destructive forces out there who want you to dismiss your place in our democracy. They have tons of money to spend on making you think that nothing you do will matter. They want to nullify one thing in this existence from you, your participation in your own democracy. So do not let them take from you your national voice. We all have a national voice when it comes to voting. It is our right to have and exercise so those who are trying to confuse and take from you your right to vote deserve your anger and your determination to stop them. We have bad actors in our politics and they are there because not enough of us took the time to vote when the voting time came. We are slowly allowing them to take control of our democracy so that they can then pass laws that change equality and fairness. I know most all of us are for equality and fairness so that this is happening is troubling. It is happening and if you were or are paying attention you would absolutely know it. This isn't just me acting all conspiratorial or paranoid, this is real. From the reduction in voting rights, to outrageous gerrymandering to restrictions on which American citizens can vote, the Republican party is in an all out mode to increase it's chances to stay in power not by the will of all the people but by the will of only their people. You younger generation, this is an alarm call to you. You will be the most harmed by the continued loss of our democracy so it is critical that you force yourselves to participate in what your future will be.

Compassion and curiosity is who we are (#2233)

We human probes have a distinct identity. Sure, we are information gatherers but more so we are an intelligent species with identifiable characteristics. I call us probes because we have senses we use to understand the existence we inhabit. The smells, sights, sounds, tastes and touch of things are the senses we use every moment we exist. We take in what data we receive and store it with previously gathered information in our unique memories. Yes, our memories are our storage units. not only do we store information, and much more than ordinary probes, we reason, analyze and conclude about not only specific information we gather but on a more complex level we reason, analyze and conclude on a comprehensive level. We are the ultimate in probes as yet known. Our capability is unmatched in the known Universe. So it is important to understand what our motivations are in a world where everyone is constantly trying to figure out their own particular purpose. I have spent a lifetime trying to understand what makes us tick. It always, and I mean always boils down to us having very distinct and powerful natures; curiosity for all that is around us and compassion for the struggle everything has to endure to survive in this otherwise harsh reality. I am at a loss for words to describe the gift that each human is. I am not able to express how magnificent a species we are without defining who we are. We are a biological data processor with the capacity to form wisdom based upon how we are able to logically and emotionally think. Not only are we able to logically calculate but we have also a unique unquantifiable instinct toward intuition. In other words we are able to project imagination with possibilities beyond facts. With our species, it all starts with us caring and wondering, simply put.

Speech and truth (#2232)

What good is protecting free speech if the free speech being protected is false or a lie? I don't see an upside in that scenario. An important goal of any society should be to have a flourishing communication process by which all can have information that is valid and factual. In having other information that is intentionally invalid and non-factual only muddles the progress of the society on whole and gives an unfair advantage to those who create and manipulate the misinformation. The fact that intentional misinformation, or otherwise known as propaganda at best, blatant lies at worst, is protected for the most part as free speech shows that our judiciary and legislative branches have not done their jobs nearly enough in distinguishing out what is protected speech and what isn't. Free speech is our foundation, however not without tests to show whether the free speech is truth or lies. We have the means for developing tests by giving examples as evidence and then fine tuning those examples into general principles. A several part test is the best way to filter out whether a truth or a lie is being offered and for our judiciary and legislative branches to have done little to nothing to offer these tests is the general failing of both branches. They must be held accountable for their lack of effort to secure for our society a method for separating out what is protected speech and what isn't and making unprotected speech a libelous offence with real penalties and punishment. We as a society must have the ability to communicate with each other as maximally as possible through truth and facts. In order for our citizenry to grow into being the most and the best they can be they must have reliable and truthful information from which to apply their own critical thinking. Shame on the Supreme court and shame on Congress!

I am stronger than a broken heart (#2231)

I have learned that time does heal all wounds of the heart. But time needs it's space to happen. The fact of a broken heart is not an easy experience yet it may well be part of what we go through in order to find out how or with whom we spend our lives. I am of the mindset that there is only one I want to build a life with and until I find her I am still hopeful that we will find our way to each other. So going through relationships along the way is hard to avoid. When I had found what I thought was my life time partner and was surprised to learn that she wasn't, I did leave myself vulnerable to a broken heart. I suffered the loss of that relationship as surely as if I had been kicked in my guts. But time took me from that hellish feeling and although I am now more cautious about who I fall in love with I am determined to continue to search. I am stronger than my broken heart. I can admit that I made a mistake in whatever area that allowed me to experience such a devastating reality. I am human and given that I know I can be wrong about a thing regardless of how right I felt about it, gives me the foundation to try again. Hopefully with better results but no guarantees. I am not sure why this is the topic of my posting today but it somehow was heavy upon me. My emotional life is the core of who I am. I am a logical soul but logic has little heart to it and I have lots of heart so my emotional life is critical to how I see and live my life. So forward I go despite any setback. The beautiful part about life is actually being alive and appreciating all of it's magnificence. What the future holds is still a mystery to me but I await it with an expectation of hopefulness and openness to finally find something that is just pure enough for a woman who feels the same with me.

This isn't the dark ages although too many Republicans would have us go back (#2230)

What kind of hatred is it that embraces such a harsh and brutish existence in the face of enlightenment? How despicable a person must you be that the sentience of others is of little or no value in your mind? I know we carry things from early years of learning forward into our own perceptions of life but to carry forward a desire to destroy modernity and replace it with suffering is unfathomable to me. Being devoid of a conscious must be the beginning of how this current cancer on our civilization has evolved. Not since the Civil War has anything in the history of our United States has such an attack on the very foundation of our democracy been such a threat. The safeguards we put in place to keep our society from being infiltrated by anti-democratic forces have been sorely compromised. There are those who have been elected and appointed, and hold limited power in our government that have but one overarching agenda, which is to begin the dismantling of democracy and replace it with a plutocracy/theocracy. Selling off and dismantling democratic institutions that were created for all citizens in the public sphere that are now being sold off or destroyed by the private market. An intentional shifting of protected public programs to the private market for the sole purpose of justifying their elimination through some nefarious manipulation of a market forces scheme. The hatred it takes to harm millions upon millions of American citizens is hellish and yet it is infecting too many. The fever of hatred must be broken if our society is to survive in it's democratic form. With democracy we have liberty but without democracy we will not have liberty but instead a cruel subjugation to those whose fealty will be demanded.

Progress will continue despite entrenched unwillingness (#2229)

Like when Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of "The arc of the moral Universe is long but it bends toward justice", so does progress proceed. Despite any and all attempts to throttle or fetter it's momentum, progress has inertia and the inertia of it is unstoppable. Even though progress has no matter to it's direct existence, it is nonetheless an idea that has no boundary. We humans are amazing and incredible in our genesis. We are by nature constantly evolving through thought and act. So for us to move forward into new paradigms is as natural as the growing and maturing of the flora and fauna around us. Nothing about our abilities or our inquisitive natures denies this premise. So for our species and our societies not to reflect progress is absurd. Yet there are those who wish to stifle and prohibit our advancement through time and space out of some allegiance to an otherworldly concept. My held belief is that if there is some otherworldly existence I will confront it after I am done with this one. This one doesn't allow for me a portal into any other existence while I am here so what logic and physics exist here is what my foundation is based upon. As to my morality, I prefer to practice being a good and respectful person until my goodness or my respect has been dishonored. It works well for me in that I don't condemn before I know the facts of things. Instead I respect as a given until I know the facts of things. Either way, progress is part of the final result. Progress is what I live for as I am a believer in the idea that the world should be a better place after I am gone than what it was before I got here. It is a purposeful ambition full of challenges and hope with progress as the effect on all things I encounter as my wish to leave after I am no more.

Our better angels or our worst demons, you decide! (#2228)

I listened to President Obama's speech yesterday as all through it I was reminded of what it is we get to choose to be. We do get to choose who we are as an example and if it is within what we think about ourselves then it reflects our values. He spoke about commitment and how that commitment shapes the destiny of our lives and the generations that come after us like we were shaped by the commitment of those before us. He spoke about our right to vote and how it is being systematically winnowed through laws passed and still now being considered. What he also spoke about is that even if those laws were reversed and voting was still as easy as it could possibly be, our voting record in the past shows that half of us don't bother to vote regardless. Any wonder why it is so easy for those who are now working hard to restrict voting aren't paying a political price for it? We as the American society need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves what is more important to us. Are we fine with being led around by others without bothering to understand what that entails? Are we just well enough within our own lives and uncaring about what any future for those who follow us will look like? Do we unconditionally trust those who divide and segregate us because we are too afraid to admit why we have no strength to fight for justice and fairness? Are we so bound to the idea that we are not worthy of anything great because we have been pounded down upon our whole lives and can't imagine that society owes us anything good? What is it that keeps us from claiming our right and duty to our inalienable rights and the pursuit of each our happiness'? I don't live in a fantasy world, I live in the real world where if we choose we can change the course of the worst that is happening into something much better. I choose the better angels of our lives and refuse to acknowledge the stench of the cynicism coming from the worst of our demons.

Denial as a strategy against the truth or facts (#2227)

This is the most childish of behaviors. I remember when I was a very young boy I would just say that I didn't believe anything that was against what I wanted. It wasn't based on common sense or logic but instead on me wanting to get my way. That was me being obnoxious and illogical. I have learned over the years that regardless of what I want the truth and facts of things will always win out no matter how long it takes. But the lesson within the lesson here is that there are some folks who have decided that time is to there benefit in this equation. If they deny long enough they hope to get the benefit of getting their way despite the lack of common sense or logic in their position. It is a strategy to forestall the truth or facts in order to benefit themselves in some way. So in the bigger picture, they deny the logic and common sense of a situation in order to benefit themselves through a nefariously logical strategy. I would laugh if it wasn't so harmful to the rest of us so that they could benefit. Everything has a cost/benefit analysis to it. So by them using logic to undermine logic and common sense is even more of an assault on not only us but on enlightenment. They make a mockery of how we honestly communicate with each other. It is despicable and vile but it seems that overall we allow it to happen. I have been embarrassed by it for the length of my thinking life yet my, and many others, calling it out doesn't seem to stop it's perpetual usage. Many of us have even narrowed it down to a conservative Republican party that has the bulk of it's policies rooted in the absurd notion that giving the few most of the resources will somehow make us a better society. So in essence Republicans brutally claim that taking from the many to give to the few is going to make the many better off. They will not be challenged on their assertion regardless of how illogical or devoid of common sense their idea is. By ignoring facts and truths they have been able to come this far into controlling our democratic process and if allowed will soon make the idea of truth and facts seem like a fairy tale.

Learning who you are (#2226)

Learning who we are is a lesson everyone needs to master. First we start with the fact that we are all human beings. A species that has qualities like no other species ever known. Second, we all have dreams and ambitions we hope for our lives. Third we all gather knowledge with whatever senses we are gifted with. It is our way of accumulating knowledge over our lifetimes. So just from this small list of obvious similarities we can conclude that we all have value and are worthy of respect as an individual. Now comes the trickier stuff, like our minds and how we reason, analyze and conclude. There are many factors involved in how our process mechanisms function but with the understanding of logic and common sense our thought processes can be formed to a cohesive structure. This being said leads me to my point today, that we are the masters of what we think and what we do regardless of what choices we have. I can look at anything and see the worst to the best of it, that is my choice! What is the most satisfying for me is not what card hand life has dealt me but how I play each card when it is my turn to make a play. My mind is at ease with who I am because I like who I am. The person inside me that is still the eager young hopeful who all those years ago realized how lucky I was to be alive in a society that wasn't just about harm but had all the possibilities of doing more good than not. The person inside me is a happy person and no matter what the world throws in my path I am not going to change who that person is, on the contrary I will just continue to live as I am until I am alive no more. Once you know who you are then everything else in life is an adventure to be lived on the terms that you decide. I am on the back end of my life but every day is still a fresh new beginning and I so look forward to each and every one of them.

A better life not a harder one! (#2225)

It seems these day that those of the Republican party that are in office support punishing policies instead of helpful ones. The whole point of having a government is to support it's citizenry, not harm it! Those that have chosen to be brutish in their cruel leadership are not worthy of being leaders in our country. I say that as an ideal since it seems that our citizenry is too confused to know this since they either don't show up to vote or are intentionally too uncaring to understand basic governing principles in a free society. We need a society that is reflected in the Democrat party. One where both the owners and workers get a fair shake at process. Both will prosper when the government sets policies that honor labor as much as they honor entrepreneurship. I am not saying that profit from the venture is split evenly, but what I am saying is that the workers need to be able to have living wages that give them the opportunity to improve their lives. Both can be winners in our capitalistic society as long as we set the protocols that factor in labor as an essential valued commodity. By being more inclusive to all who participate in commerce we are strengthening our society and it's values in a more harmonic and exemplary way. We Americans often pride ourselves in being the best of what humanity can be but lately our proof has been less than convincing. It is because we have those Republicans in power that do not respect each individual as being of equal character or worth when it comes to their survival of the fittest political philosophy. I am an American who sees the future through our Democrat party's vision of logically enlightened inclusiveness, fairness and with a duty to protect our most vulnerable, an intelligent loving family if you will. I will never surrender this position but instead will ardently advocate for it all the days of my life.

An assault on intelligence (#2224)

We are still living in an age where the strategy of barbarism is a priority and any attempt to move forward into an enlightened method for resolving conflict is downplayed. I am absolutely appalled at the length that some are going in dismissing reason for the crude tool of crushing force. We have made our problems over time due to callous and greedy policies. All cultures on Earth are in varying degrees to blame for not being in harmony with peace. Yet some still think that brute force and indiscriminate harm is the best available answer. The trouble with that way of concluding is that it doesn't get at the genesis of the initial problem. There is too much greed happening in our world protected by forces that feed off of that greed. As some live in the sunlight of way too much, there too many do not even know where their next meal is coming from. The imbalance in our societies is the problem and no amount of destruction will ever be the answer. Causing harm on those who protest being harmed is curiously illogical. It's illogical to solve a problem by first denying there is a problem and then by trying to ignore and harm those who are being most disadvantaged by the problem. There are solutions to every man made problem but if we don't have the structure or the will to process toward those solutions then what we get is a constant state of strife and irrational thinking. The one mighty tool we have as humans is our ability to reason, not for selfishness, but for good. But until we move to only apply our reasoning to good then we will never find the peace we all deserve. If instead of waiting to die in order to go to some heaven, we actually tried to live our lives like we are already there, we would be taking the first step onto a path that will be filled with nothing but peace.

Why I don't rely on religion for my inner goodness (#2223)

I have too many acquaintances who think that without some form of religion in their lives that they would be horrible people. They feel a need to be grounded in something outside of who they are. I know this feeling as I was the same way for many years. I used to think that without some God in my life I would do and act on my ancient animal instincts and live as a cruel and barbaric being. It is strange to me now to think that my life was going to be either good or bad and I needed to choose which one was going to be my future. By choosing a God and relying on the principles of religion would I save myself from myself. That mindset back then was how I imagined life to be. What I didn't know well enough is that good and bad are controlled by how I think, not by some ancient or mystical approach to life. I am good or bad by my own reckoning. I don't need a moral sovereign to lead me to being a better person, I just need to do what is best about we humans, that is being curious and caring. I am my own sovereign and how I dictate to myself is how I think and react in life. Am I a benevolent sovereign to me? Or am I a hard taskmaster to me? What comes out in the course of my life is often a mixture of everything. Both good and bad. I am human and although I am an enlightened being with a thirst for knowledge and a desire to care against all harms, I still make mistakes based upon the residue of greedy selfishness I battle against within myself. Again, I am not perfect, but I strive to reach that ideal and although I fail enough, I also succeed at times. Why I don't rely on a God is my strength because it makes me accountable for me and not a God to be used as a crutch. I know the difference between right and wrong. As such, I have it within me to do what is right and good in my life simply by recognizing that I want to be good and applying that to everything, everything I do.

Truth telling, a way of life (#2222)

Life is just so much easier when the truth is your guide. For the first part of my life I thought that I had to hide what I didn't want others to see so lying became a knee jerk reaction for me. What I later found out is that what I wanted to hide from others was nothing new to them and so hiding my humanness was absurd. What I also learned was that my failures were actually struggles I had yet to overcome and that at least working toward success in these areas was actually a strength. Being honest became my knee jerk reaction and since then I have had a simple but happy life. The earlier lies had me constantly on guard to not let the illusions I created get muddled. I spent too much time remembering what wasn't true instead of what actually was true. Obviously lying was not a productive strategy in the big picture for me, but truth telling is. I don't need to rehearse what I am going to say now it just flows from me like a natural fresh water spring. I am not bogged down with details about non truths and instead am learning and incorporating truths into my knowledge base. Which serves me well in that my overall comprehension is far more panoramic. I can remember truths and facts in the proper way without having to discard non truths in order to make sense of what I know. The wisdom I gain through telling the truth is that I am now far more readily able to accept the truth of things in my own life even when I am resistant. Facts and logic are hard to dismiss when truth telling is a prioritized principle. I cannot delude myself from hard facts that make me uncomfortable or that highlight my inadequacies. I can live with both the good and bad about me now because it is the truth and if I want less bad and/or more good, I know what I need to work on. Truth telling is the best path for my life and surely for yours as well.

Enculturation to critical thinking (#2221)

Here has been my life in a nutshell. When I was young I mostly followed along with what everyone else was doing although I still found myself being somewhat a rebel in minor ways. But in the major things in life I accepted what was the norm without too much question. I even felt that being consciously cruel was okay since so many others around me were practicing the same ideal. However, inside me I was a skeptic of how I was acting and upon further research and awareness, I found that what I was accepting as normal was actually not normal but elementarily crude. I realized that I had accepted what was in front of me as fact or correct without questioning other possibilities. That was me in the formative years of my life, a first act if you will. I have since become a critical thinker, more comprehensive and objective in my thinking and actions. How? I allowed myself to question the basics in my life. I reduced myself down to being two things, caring and curious. From there I have entered into the second act of my life. Where nothing is a given outside of who I am. I realized that we are all human and no one knows all things. We all may choose to investigate what it is about life that is real and not imaginary or initial inculcation. I learned to think and act for myself on every issue that confronts me. Now my caring isn't just one sided, I can be harsh and uncaring when a unbearable limit has been reached. No one should ever lose sight that not everyone is here in this existence to be a model human being. So being a person who is cautious about his curiosity and caring seems to be the right blend of living. I may not leap into my present with a gusto but I do move forward with my eyes wide open. If I have had this dilemma of having lived in two acts of my life then surely others are struggling the same. I learned with the first act of my life and because of me striving to be a critical thinker, I am now living and repairing the consequences of that first act. Thank goodness and luck that I didn't destroy myself or others during that first act.