That pheromone thing (#2434)

I gotta tell you, I find this is a real thing for me. There are just some souls out there that I feel such an attraction to that I can't explain with vocabulary but instead with chemistry. Surely I am not the only one who has experienced attraction on sight without knowing a thing about the other person. I don't know much about it other than it is a real thing with me. I suppose there is a chemical makeup within all of us that has either a sameness or a polar opposite that influences our thinking and feelings. I am not saddened by this since it is a magical experience that isn't about logic or reason, it is just a sensation that has the force of our greatest wills. lol. Anyway, the fact of it's being with me is enough to make me smile when I think of myself attracted to another without even knowing why or how. It has happened enough in my life for me to have figured out that not all of these attractions are healthy or sane. Hopefully we find the one that will give us the greatest companionship in life but there are obviously no guarantees. This is why I cannot abide these arranged marriages or marriages brought about due to other considerations than attraction. I don't try to swim against the tide of who I am as a human whether I understand it or not. We, all of us humans from the beginning of our time have been lost as to our fully understood purpose in this existence so to ignore the nature of our being is to deny that we aren't in control of our destiny. We do not control our fates in a perfect way so what we experience must be given due deference as part of who we are. That is how I look at life and until someone gives me a better picture of what life really is from its inception outside of belief systems I will continue to allow the senses that emanate from me to have a home in my life.

A sovereign born of democracy (#2433)

What we all learn in life is that no matter how hard we try to keep the peace there are always those who would force harm on others. There are plenty of mental disorders to go around to explain why some would choose to upset the peace of others. Regardless, there must be a force or if you will a sovereign that regulates those few to stop their madness. We have tried monarchs and dictators for this role in the past and have always come up wanting. So now we here in America are working to have the sovereign as a collection of souls under an ideal of democracy. We are a work in progress but the idea is worth all effort to give it a chance to succeed. For all of us to be part of a collective that is the sovereign is a magnificent way to include all those who would benefit from the collective guidance of our futures. We already have a strong forming basis for individual sovereignty that we utilize in our personal lives so why not collect us all and allow us to lead our nation and even the world where applicable? This is what our democracy allows for us. We get to vote for the candidates that reflect our will in as many ways possible. We also get to opinate our desires as to the direction our nation can take in ways where the obvious is demanded. but even more so we get to influence how our leaders protect our freedom and security by electing those officials who understand the theory of peace through strength. We are not bullies here but we will not let bullies ruin the world around us. We have a principled set of ideals to follow and no one should fall under the paradigm of harm while we are on world watch. We cannot be effective everywhere but where we can be, we need to be. The greatest realities in life are freedom and security from harm. No amount of capital is worth the value of these things when compared to the loss of them and the suffering of even one human being. Our chance to be the benevolent sovereign of this world is at hand and now is the time for us to grasp it's opportunity.

Exploration of our universe (#2432)

No one here should doubt that I am one of the biggest proponents of space exploration that there is. I mean if I had to sacrifice most of what I have to be part of the effort I would unhesitantly. There are few things in life that inspire me like discovering the yet undiscovered. The bottom of our deepest oceans notwithstanding but we have pretty much scoured our planet for hidden discoveries. The next generational step for our species is to advance beyond our limited boundaries. Unlike manifest destiny and our early courageous explorers, we have a good idea about where we will go and the maturing science to get us there. The difference is that we will be discovering beyond any discovering our species has ever attempted. If you haven't guessed it by now I am not much one who believes in human divisions. We are all humans and all of us deserve that recognition and respect. Together, with our diverse outlooks and abilities, I have no doubt that our species is capable of not only succeeding in our universal quest but we are varied enough with knowledge and common sense to expand our reach even further into our solar system and then beyond that. The universe is so large that even trying to define it with the term eternal is not definitive enough to comprehensively describe its scope. We humans, like I have stated here in this blog many times are like individual biological data processors. We input information through our senses and analyze, reason and compute through our majestic brains. Our purpose for existing is to discover, we are all Christopher Columbus' and the sooner we get on with our destinies the sooner we get to the treasure of discovery that the universe has to offer.

An example for us all (#2431)

The Catholic pope visited America over the last week and by his actions and words we can all learn a valuable lesson. I am NOT advocating any type of religion here, instead I am highlighting the man at the head of one of the world's largest religions. His actions speak volumes as to how we should be living. Much like the Hindu, Mahatma Gandhi taught us about self sacrifice, living the idea of the religion is the value, not the religion itself. So as a spiritual minded soul like myself who calls the universe and its connectivity to myself my religion, I can emulate someone else from another faith based system and learn. If there is one thing religion can teach all of us it is to be humble. Finding our core and letting that core find peace. We here in America have taken religion to an abstract state, where profit from tithing is acceptable and preaching the prejudice of politics expected. Though the Bible is supposed to be the guide, it's message is often left wanting by our churches today. By examining the life of the current Catholic pope we find a man who is not in the position to profit for himself, contrarily, he is in it to help those who would seek help. he is living the example of the picture we get of the Christ. Not the Pharisees and money changers in the Temple. We humans are a troubled lot. We cannot keep ourselves in line with logic or compassion, so we step outside what is best about us and allow ourselves to think we are better than we are. This is why humility is so important, it keeps us in check with reality. So while I do not advocate for religion as it is practiced with the dogma of man, I do advocate for living a life that exemplifies the best of what religion would like to teach us. I have been reminded by the pope's visit of the kindness that is just bursting within me hoping to get out.

My passions and frailties in a constructive way (#2430)

I am human so I experience most all human emotions. Although some of our species are incapable of human emotion but thankfully I am not one of these psychopaths/sociopaths. So occasionally I rant and rage with the best of them. I say this because these posts I post are not perfectly reflective of my own behavior. Again, I am human and given that imperfection is within my daily experience, I sometimes allow myself the indiscretion of actually participating in my own failures and foibles as a human being. I know what I am doing yet there are too many numerous times when my failure to be a nonstop shining example is exposed. I accept that and live with my frailties. Yet, although I may come out of my skin at times it is never from the genesis of a good and/or kind act. Specifically, when I do lose my "cool" and dig deep within that loss, it is usually because I have been outraged by utter stupidity or ridiculousness. Occasionally I do play the fool and try to lambast those who are the villains in our politics with some goofy paradigm meant to shine a light on their harm. But that is just my humanity taking a break from the seriousness of calling out harm when harm is being perpetrated. Again, I am human and given to being at fault. I don't pretend to be someone I am not although I strive to be someone who I hope can be trusted to tell the truth, especially when the truth is being questioned. I am just a simple man who has created a forum for himself to fight back against those forces that are stronger and more powerful than I am with the only weapon I have, my honor. So when I go off on some funny side or ranting side of myself, take care to know that I am real and like all of us given to creating outlets for steam or personality to vent. Thanks for reading this and letting me explain that I am no more or less than anyone else.

The two foot drop (#2429)

I got this concept from a self help group that aimed to make me realize that it isn't just with my head that I decide how my life will be but it is in conjunction with my heart. Recently I wrote about the cold hardness of logic when it is applied without humanity. Well this is just a continuation of that theme. The heart, or our compassion is the filter by which we must judge all things. This is who we are as human beings. We are not some automaton that only deals in logic. We have our intuition and our care for all the amazing living species, not just our own but all that we encounter in different forms. We are born with emotion as part of who we are. This emotion is grounded in our ability to "feel" the gamut of pain and pleasure. This is a unique quality for us humans, in that many other species also feel emotion but we have out paced them toward combining our curiosity with our compassion. Our human evolution has taken us from the early discovery of fire and it's uses to our present day understanding of space and time. None of it occurs unless we had the ability to not only think but to also feel. The distance between our minds and our hearts is approximately two feet thus the phrase, the two foot drop. It is when we fail to realize that our minds full of logic must filter through our hearts is when we begin to lose the magic of our uniquely human advancement. Advancing we are doing regardless of those who wish to have none of it. Time and space are in a constant flux of change and we are subject to those changes so no amount of ignoring or refusing to accept reality will change that. So for us to keep pace with our destiny of curiosity and compassion, we must combine the two in ways that are not only the best of who are but the best of who can become.

Logic without compassion is cruel (#2428)

I am one of the most fervent defenders of logic that there is out there. yet I am human and my humanity is why I care about logic. Otherwise without humanity, logic is cold and harsh. Logic is a comprehensive precision by which we can calculate the simplest of tasks. But without a human touch to it the order of the task is only supreme, not the effect on the human performing it. What we have here in this existence is a limited geographical sphere from which to operate and live out our lives. By coming together as a society we have agreed that doing things together instead of being at chaotic odds with each other is much more sensible. So our society allows us to operate under rules and conditions we are still working on but mostly agreeable. It is this somewhat peaceful paradigm that civilization offers us that we can employ logic for the most part and mostly all agree. Because life on our planet is finite none of us is going to escape the confines of it in the foreseeable future. So we endeavor to occupy our time here doing what we can to maintain our society but also to fulfill our lives where we can based upon the contract of society. Our humanity is the key to how our society breathes. We have given in to society so that we can enjoy life and have happiness because of it. Never should our society become so strict with just cold logic as it's guide without taking into account our circumstances for having a society. It isn't just to maintain order and otherwise compete against each other as a way of placating the masses and killing time. It is to create a civilization that not only offers equality and justice to all but opportunity as well to all while never letting the least of us become expendable. Logic tells me that our human lives should be getting better not getting worse and when I see our lives getting worse then I know logic is being employed without any humanity at it's foundation.

A soul satisfying life (#2427)

Very few things in life should make us want to harm ourselves or others. A healthy society doesn't reconcile the less than better as good enough. We see so much of the hustle and bustle of our society arranged around our ability to make ends meet or even succeed beyond our basic necessities. The drive to have an ordinary life is so centered on competition with each other that the end result is that many will lose in the competition, and only a few seem to consistently win in the competition. That is out of balance with all of us finding happiness in our lives. You would think that in the end we all would like to see each other be happy. Not so with our current economic and social paradigms. We have too many unfair economic scenarios that favor certain folks over many folks. We have too many who do not understand the basic tenet of the first amendment of our constitution and want to instead place their own rationalizations of morality upon many others. Our economic lives and our social lives are not being given due deference to all on an equal opportunity basis. I prefer to let live and do good where I can when the intent of others is the same. I cannot always do that in the face of too many who place greed and power above happiness, but I do try. Although I have found an inner peace in my own life I still advocate out to others that overall we are being cut short from an ideal reality. It is my duty not to sit back with what little peace I find in my own happiness but to instead fight for those who have far less even though I have little. There is something within me that drives me to protect those who are less able to protect themselves and to stand up to those who are much stronger than I am. It is the nature of me to want my happiness but not at the expense of others finding theirs.

You can't buy integrity nor confiscate it (#2426)

Integrity is a noble principle. It is a value that can only be earned by an individual. It is a stout honesty that cannot be swayed. Integrity is not something that can be transferred from individual to individual. It isn't something that can be bought, regardless of a price offered. It cannot be taken as like a thief in the night. Integrity is the conclusion of many different moral standards we hold within our understanding. Integrity is the reflection of who we are and what we hold dear. Those with no integrity are those who have no backbone for moral principled living. Our morality is usually defined by honor. What is it about us that makes us stand up with courage in the face of those who would harm us for our standing? It is our right to be good, decent human beings. That is worth standing up for against those who have no morals or integrity. We protect that which we would hope all would hold dear, yet many do not thus the standing up. I see folks around me who are willing to sell their integrity to make some financial gain. Our society rewards efforts at capitalism even if they degrade who we are or who we could become. We have many ills in our society and those particular ones that highlight a lack of integrity should be the first to be cured. We all are on a stage so to speak here in America and the rest of the world is watching to see how we perform the function of being a human being. Our actions have costs, we either influence other folks in ways that are admirable or we influence folks in ways that are cynical. The final analysis should not be whether we made a profit off of selling our integrity for a price, it should be how we didn't sacrifice our integrity for a price. If you want to live a well and good life then stand up for the principles of honesty, justice and fairness every time and you will find that it becomes second nature and emboldens you to a life of courage, not a life of cowardice for profit.

From point a to point b (#2425)

This is the logical progression as we currently know it and unless we think we can live in the world of black holes where point a can go directly to point c, we are fooling ourselves. The hard work of one step at a time is a successful strategy. First we must do this then this can occur. Much like the logical sequence of a premise leading to a conclusion. So how do we begin to solve a problem or to get from point a to point b? We begin with a solution, much like if I breathe then I will continue to live. So it is with all the things in life that we wish to accomplish. If we want our children to grow up with knowledge than we must make sure that education is available. If we want our planet to remain as livable to our species, then we must maintain it's natural ecosystems. If we want to remain an advanced society, then we must invest in new creative, innovative, opportunistic ideas. The simple logic we use to live our lives is functional if we allow for the facts of things to be known and then decided upon. Where we go wrong is when we let things that are not facts appear as if they are facts. Truths are truths and lies are lies and if we cannot separate them out from dissemination of truth then the whole of what we try to accomplish becomes chaotic. From point a to point b is a logical progression that if one thing happens the result will be something directly proportional to that happening. The colors red and yellow combined make for the color orange and no matter how times you try you will never get red and yellow to make green. Logic is the simple equation of valid deductive reasoning. You can come up with illogical reasoning but that is just like thinking you can make green out of red and yellow. If we approach all our problems from the perspective of following the simple path of point a to point b, we will find that our solutions are as obvious as the sun in the sky.

Justice will prevail (#2424)

Justice is an objective fairness for all people. This is a common value that we all should instill in our daily lives. Yet that is not currently the case with our society. Too many are working against justice so that they may steal from us. By denying all of us justice they are taking a value away from us so that they may find an unearned advantage. Manipulation is the word to describe what they are doing and that we cannot always punish them under the law is the point here. But I believe that the light of day on the issue of justice for all is coming and no amount of ignorance nor chaos will prevent justice from fulfilling it's promise to all of us. No matter how hard a few powerful souls wish to make the idea of justice an abstract idea, the reality of justice will prevail. The world is confusing and our daily lives are such that anything that disturbs our finely tuned schedules puts burdens on us that we otherwise would dismiss. However, when we have been wronged, the wrong makes us realize that ignoring the loss of our value, justice, is not worth the void we get by ignoring it. The cost/benefit ratio tells us that defending or acquiring our justice is a greater value than the disruption of our daily lives. There is always a tipping point for many of us to act. My tipping point got hit many decades ago and I have striven to fight against the powers that would make our democracy less than ideal. The only reason there are souls out there trying to curtail our democratic principles is so that they may steal an advantage from the rest of us. I don't know about your principles for living, but mine do not allow me to let thieves steal without impunity. There is nothing noble about stealing form those who have little to give to those who have much. That should be plainly obvious and although uncomfortable to many to have to confront, the truth of it is nevertheless real. Justice will prevail because even those who wish to ignore it will find that when they will surely become a victim of it, they will have reached their tipping point.

Intellectual dishonesty (#2423)

Those of the current Republican party are practicing this paradigm, yes it is now a cottage industry, with no thought to the consequences it makes on those who believe them. If these politicians and their donors continue to lie to the general public with such outlandish claims, knowing full well that by the time they are exposed for lying the damage has already been done, we will continue as Americans to fall further behind in the battle for the truth to be a uniting force for us in our society. The calculation by these liars is that they may gain in the short term and thereby raise their prospects among their followers, who believe them at the drop of a hat. Even when their lies are exposed, a series of double speaks or outright accusation of character assassination is used by them to nullify the fact that they lied. They change the subject with another outlandish lie or they finesse the original lie so it doesn't sound so wrong. Either way, they are allowed to lie given the sorry state of  our laws regarding truth in advertising as it relates to political activities. So otherwise intelligent beings are strategically using falsehoods to advance their own personal agendas outside of benefitting the public good. There is only one major political party that is employing this tactic and it is the Republican party. I utilize this blog as a soap box especially during the election season to trumpet out my contempt for the lies and distortions Republicans are dividing our country with for their own personal gain. It is a travesty that too many in the mainstream media refuse to act as fact checkers when they report the lies and distortions as if valid, but that is the current dismal reality our 4th estate has become. My heart breaks at the thought that good honest decent folks are not being given the truth by which they can make an objective informed decision by those in the Republican party who aspire to be our public voices for less than honorable reasons.

You can't take it with you (#2422)

Reality is that we accumulate stuff. At least here in the industrial nations where consumerism is the economic engine of our lives. However, there has to be an end point to how much we can accumulate especially when balanced with the needs of our whole society. Too much is just too much and is wasted on those who just like to have stuff whether they use it or not. A comfort in a psychological way. Yet the majority of the humans on our planet are barely scratching a living out of the dirt. Our humanity demands that we let loose of things that are not part of our lives and return them to the cycle of reclamation or redistribution. I have a closet full of clothes I will never wear again, I know this. Yet my inclination is to hold onto them just in case of something I cannot readily define. I need to let them go where they can be used by those who would put them to use. Same with the filthy rich, they have resources that they are banking for what I will call a rainy day, but the will never spend that banked capital because they have too much already to spend. We have tried to appeal to the extremely wealthy to manage their own accounts to prioritize the national good over greed but the results are dismal. With cases like the big box stores showing us for the most part how notoriously stingy and uncaring the large corporations can be instead of honoring the national good and the common worker. Why so many of these workers must rely on government assistance to survive is indicative of just how uncaring the wealthy have become. A redistribution is in order and since the wealthy refuse to uphold the common good they must be forced to do so from the very system that has given them plenty. There cannot be unlimited wealth as a right when wealth is finite. There has to be a measurable way of restricting wealth so that wealth can be attained but not obscene wealth held and closeted.

Republicans lie to keep power (#2421)

We have little in the way of truth in advertising laws when it comes to politics. So which party has taken that advantage and distorted and lied about most issues concerning Americans? Why of course it is the Republican party. (Lie number 1). The latest trick they are trying pull is the one where the economy isn't full of high paying jobs and they are proposing that electing them would change that. Republicans don't bother to tell us how they will do that but they claim they will. The vulgarity of their claim is undercut by the fact that the Republican party refuses to raise the minimum wage to keep up with inflation. So Republicans are stagnating the wages that they are claiming to be wanting to improve. (Lie number 2). Republicans are also the ones who are blocking Democratic sponsored needed infrastructure bills to repair and replace our roads, bridges and utility grids. Now that republicans have effectively blocked these bills that could provide millions of good paying jobs to the American people Republicans are blaming Democrats for not creating opportunities for greater economic fortune. (Lie number 3). Democrats have introduced bills to level the playing field on pay for women with men for doing the same work but Republicans, who blocked this as well since they control both houses of Congress, once again blame Democrats for not improving the lives of working women. (Lie number 4). There are laws on the books that reward corporations for taking their manufacturing of products overseas. Democrats have spent the last decade trying to undo these laws and instead reward corporations who keep their manufacturing processes here in America and penalize those corporations that take their manufacturing processes overseas. Republicans have successfully blocked these attempts and further have tried mightily to give large corporations and the wealthy even greater tax breaks. Now we know that manufacturing jobs pay better than service industry jobs but Republicans refuse to help the American job force, once again blaming democrats for not improving the economy Republicans were most responsible for crashing under President G. W. Bush. Lies are what Republicans have and the more we electorate refuse to call them out on them the more we hurt ourselves in the long run.

The manifestation of hate (#2420)

Hate has many appearances. It isn't just the shouting slurring shaming cussing individual who is most identified as hateful. It is the person who is ambivalent toward the misery of others. It is the person who thinks that the color of one's skin is a determining factor in evaluating one's character. It is the person who thinks that one gender of our species is less than the other gender of our species. It is the person who thinks that wealth and it's accumulation is a greater goal than helping the poor and needy. I could go on for days with examples but hate is not so visible in the traditional sense until we start to label it's actions. Hate is shown when one religious sect of belief discards another religious sect of belief based upon culture and geography. Hate is shown when one group of people unlawfully decide that another group of people are not worthy of participating in our democracy. Hate is when the care and survival of our weakest citizens is seen as an enabling act that should be terminated. Hate is shown when we decide that profit is to be worshipped over and above education, health and nutrition. Hate is when the needs of the few are given greater priority than the needs of the many. Hate is when we look down upon the very souls who risked their lives to keep us safe. Hate is the constant attempt to bully others through force when listening and understanding is available. Hate is when the cost of death is weighed by perception instead of reality. Hate is when the ego of a few cannot abide the rights of all others. Hate is selfishness, greed and lust for all that there is to the point of nothing left for others. Hate is the admiration of those same selfish, greedy, lusty unconscionable souls. Hate is when one decides he/she is better than another. Hate is the seed of a mental illness that must be addressed and cured. Hate is a way of life for too many and the time to stop the haters is now!

There is no accolade for being a brute (#2419)

It seems that too many feel that by being harsh and brutish as a philosophy is an honorable thing. A greater calling heard only by those who consider themselves somewhere between human and demigod. They have vanquished their conscience and only see themselves as some self determined judge of all of humanity. They act without regard to others and how their acts may affect them. They are only concerned with an ideal that allows them to discriminate and discard other humans as they see fit. I am no psychologist or psychiatrist so I won't try and diagnose their malady but it is certainly not reflective of those of us within the bounds of normalcy. They claim some moral high ground that is dispensational only to their understanding. In conjunction, they also foster a vision that their brutishness is a great value and subject to their interpretation for it's application. They have allowed themselves to control the thought that it is their right to rule regardless if it intersects with others. They see themselves as masters of the Universe who answer to no one except possibly others like them. We have many among us and their telltale sign is a heartless response to those many who have little hope. They see themselves as the ones who must make the hard decisions about life and death, again, the survival of the fittest mentality, whereas regardless of how well our societies care for all of us, they rebuke the idea of compassion and care as a value. Their vision contemplates nothing while forging is everything. Their idea of protecting lives does not include all. The brutes of our world are not here to advance civilization, if anything they are here to simplify it back to a rudimentary society where power and wealth are luxuries only for those who are the most capable of manhandling it from others. They will stop at nothing and if civilized laws get in their way they will work outside the law to dismantle all that is an obstacle to them. They either lost their humanity long ago or never had it, nonetheless, they will stop at nothing to create the world to their vision to the applause they hear in their own heads.

There is much work to do here in America (#2418)

There is no more time to ignore the challenges we face here in our great democracy. We all have a duty to know the problems we face. In that knowing we will then be able to find consensus on how to work to fix our problems and create an even better society. We have got to find a way to not only confront climate change but to nationwide and worldwide work to reverse what effects we still can. We need to make voting universal so that all of us are part of the solution which creates a bond of ownership we can all be proud of. We need to make health care universal and not for profit. The health of our citizens should be a right, not a privilege. We need to get all private money out of our elections and make our elections about the issues, not the influence. We need to provide enough good jobs for our citizens so that a burgeoning middle class is revitalized. Our nation is in bad need of infrastructure repair and replacement which should provide millions of job opportunities as well as room for new ideas and innovation in our electrical grids and other vital delivery systems. New technologies are fast becoming the normal in efficient energy sustainable applications. There is no need for us to continue to ignore the effect of fossil fuel on our planet or our physical health. We must also reign in the continuing growth of income inequality. We can do this by removing the cap on Social Security and raising taxes on the wealthiest obscenely rich in our society. We must also make education our highest priority again. We have fallen away from educating our children as a whole. Education at the highest levels should be public private enterprise where no tuition is required. If we entice our brightest into a life long pursuit of knowledge we will all benefit from their imaginings. I could go on and on especially in the area of eliminating poverty, policing philosophy and human and animal social services but that will be for a later time.

The destructive power of wealth (#2417)

Here in America our middle class is being destroyed by the wealthy. We are all just people who ordinarily would exhibit a more nurturing attitude toward each other except that wealth has given some of us a fear that if we don't keep the non-wealthy as far away from us as possible we will lose our wealth to them. What these wealthy don't get is that a greed has beset them so that being comfortably wealthy is not enough and nothing short of obscene wealth will do. Which means they must take from those who have a little until no one has enough. The wealthy justify this by telling themselves that this is the nature of economics and only those tough enough to do whatever it takes to secure their wealth are worthy of respect. What these greed infected wealthy do not understand is that our nation has been built by a thriving middle class and destroying that middle class, although good for their profit and bottom line, will erode the nature of their reality. They will become more isolated and more hated by those of us who are left with little to no wealth and little opportunity to for anymore. The wealthy also don't see the anguish and punishment they are inflicting on the bottom rung of society. They live in their mansions and their guarded fortresses away from the real world of despair they are creating. The current trend of greater income inequality is not seen by them as a harbinger of an ill society, on the contrary, it is seen by them as reflective of their own brilliance to achieve. Their ego's have outgrown any logic that if they stopped to become objective, would tell them that taking all for themselves will lead to the downfall of the very structure that allowed them a chance for success to begin with. Their infectious greed is the driving force behind their dismantling and destruction of our middle class and growing income inequality and the time for stopping them is now for if they solidify their advances in economics, politics and law, through the Republican party, we those who are non-wealthy, will find ourselves without a voice in our own democracy, with only table scraps as our only hope.

Passport ready but no stamps (#2416)

This has been on my mind for several years now. Back in 2002 I got my first passport and expected to hopefully get out into the world. But no, Republicans started two wars and I felt it wouldn't be right to be exploring the planet as best I could while we Americans had committed to war. Over the years the wars raged on and no thought was given to traveling abroad. We have finally moved past Republicans being in control of whether we go to another war so it is time to think again about getting out into the world. I am now on my second passport, they time out after 10 years, and still no stamps from any other port of entry. I will make certain by waiting for the 2016 national election to make sure a Republican is not elected in as President and when we have another Democrat as president it is then I will begin to make plans for an overseas trip. I have wanted to go to the United Kingdom as a start and if and when I can I do believe England is where I will get my first passport stamp. Our world should be a place for all of us Earthlings to explore as much as we can. These constant divisive wars and threats of war are unworthy of our species. We are not some form of cattle to be owned or sold as some may wish to do to us. We are all intelligent human beings, with the freedom to live our lives without causing each other harm. The natural wonders of our planet are a sight to behold from what pictures I have seen. I want to see them firsthand. I have had a hankering to visit Stonehenge all my life and other great monolithic structures that define our past. I am getting up in years now so the window is closing for folks like me who want to share ourselves with the world and see what the world offers us back. it is getting close to time to dust off the passport and make ready a stamping.

If you build it it may come about (#2415)

Whatever it is that you are trying to create for yourself or for more than just you, trust your instincts and your hope. I have found that making myself ready for what I would like to happen for me/us is the best way to spend my time. I will not wait for things to happen, I will work toward being ready if and when they do happen. No guarantees anything will but if it does I will not squander the opportunity by not being ready for it. It doesn't matter what it is either, I know I am being a bit cryptic but notwithstanding my reservations about sharing my inner most thoughts, the idea is sound. Being prepared is not only wise but it is a way of keeping hope alive. By moving forward I am progressing on toward a good thing regardless if it comes true. My life is full of hope and that is priceless. My energy for moving forward is strengthened by my resolve for my hope. My mental health is clear and unwavering in that I have a worthy goal that I am trying to achieve. Nothing but good can happen for me/us by preparing myself to create an environment that can bring joy and happiness in an even greater amount. If we build it it may come about is perfect in that I have the ability to redirect my life toward forging a new reality. I am not hindered by the odds or the likelihood of some form of success. I don't see so much how hard something will be to attain, but instead I see a way it may come about. I see that my input is directly proportional to what I may hopefully expect. Again though, nothing is guaranteed but rarely is anything ever gained by doing nothing. If I create the environment for something then it is more likely that something may find that which it is most likely to call a safe harbor. In a world where I can only control what I can do this I have found is my most purposeful path forward.

Life is all about what's good (#2414)

Life isn't about my favorite sports team winning. Life isn't about how big my bank account is. Life isn't about the buzz at the next party and who I can get "lucky" with. Life is about what is good. the good feeling I get when I can do or say something that is helpful to someone else. Life is good when I sense all of existence around me and not have to worry about anything but right now. I have tried all the pacifiers out there that could seemingly make me feel good and although some did for a short moment, they didn't last nor did they work again. A lot of living is going through the never ending cycle of trial and error. I was stuck on that carousel for decades hoping that a different outcome would happen even though it never did. I suppose I was one of those who let a cognitive dissonance rule my consciousness to the point of not caring what logic dictated. I was struggling against what logic was telling me and I couldn't surrender to logic no matter how much it made sense. I had to do what I was doing because somehow I thought I was different and the laws of physics and language didn't have to apply to me. Talk about an ego complex, I had a doozy. But after failing so miserably and almost ruining my health and mental capabilities, I found a way to force myself to accept logic and the facts as real. I changed my behavior and found that all the time I was searching and forcing myself to chase after what I thought was good in life, was the exact opposite of what I needed to do. I needed to give of myself and help those who needed my help. In the process of doing for others I realized that I was also doing for myself. I found happiness and goodness in being the real me. The one deep down inside that doesn't need a mask or an illusion to feel right. I feel good now because I do good now. I am not selfish or greedy in my life, I am the opposite of those things. Because I have learned through trial and error that there is only one true purpose for life, to care and to wonder and for that I am the luckiest man in the world to have discovered.

Republican politics are about greed for the wealthy (#2413)

Eventually, someday those poorer Republican voters will realize that despite all these inconsequential hate filled social policies that Republicans keep front and center, the economics of Republican politics is what is not helping them. They don't see it yet because Republican leadership plays to their prejudices, and gives them hope that they will someday be wealthy if only they could defeat and destroy the Democratic party. Republicans don't use logic or reason to convince their voters, They use prejudicial rhetoric to inflame the passions of their otherwise less than objective voting base. I don't know how and when the Republican party became such bigots and liars, probably around the time of Nixon, since Eisenhower was at least a decent human being. But since Nixon the Republican party has done all it can to weaken what was our strength here in America, the middle class. By telling less than intelligent poor folks that people of color and people who are educated are the problem, they have sufficiently segregated out a large mass of people who think the Republican party is caring for them over the "others". It will be tough to break that allegiance since The wealthy here in America have mostly sided with Republican politics because of the greed the wealthy can profit from with a diminishing middle class. At least that is what the greedy wealthy think. So controlling much of the media and spending immense amounts of money in the political arena has allowed Republicans to keep their disingenuous message alive. Like I say, someday the less than objective will see that their lives are not getting better and will hopefully become more curious as to why. It is then that they may find that the Republicans they bet their future on are the ones who are keeping a decent future from happening for them.

Morality exists outside religion (#2412)

It isn't hard at all being a good person. I want to be treated well so I treat others well. It is living by example. I don't need a weekly sermon from any dogmatic religion to tell me to be a good person. It is easy enough for me to just be kind and helpful wherever I can be. I don't need some expectation of an afterlife as a reward for being myself. The fantasy that creates is actually a stunt to my own caring and curious growth as a living, evolving human being. What I need are facts and truths in my life, not some hoped for eternity that has little to do with how I live while I am alive. John Stuart Mill is most famously known by me and many many more as the man who put the phrase "do no harm", into my/our lexicon of understandings. Do no harm, is not only a phrase of succinct understanding but it is a moral philosophy by which I base all of my principles. Whatever I do or don't do in life must pass this one simple test, do no harm. This is morality at it's most perfect core. So living in a world where I am not surrounded or encompassed by man made religious doctrines, has actually allowed me to grow as a human being in the least resistant way. I am not dogged by rules and doctrines that are decided by others who would be the voice of religious dogma. Nor am I bound by those rules or made to feel less if I violate them. Now surely not everything is simply solved by a do no harm philosophy. Many times an individual will have to take into account the lesser of greater harms as a path when no harm can be avoided by either action or inaction. Again though, it is the intent of the do no harm ideology that must be followed regardless of the choices that are available. We will fall short and for that it shows us our frailty as humans. But to shackle oneself to a belief system as a fact is not anything I will ever allow to happen to me even under penalty of martyrdom.

Our lives can still be magical (#2411)

Despite the never ending effects of bad people who do bad things on a constant basis, we can still find our little world within the one around us. Because we have within us an amazing ability to overcome our current reality and create new realities based upon our imaginings. I take what little I have around me and see the beauty in it. I sense that time and space keep me locked up in a box but I can still see what could be outside that box. I have found that regardless of horrible people treating other people horrible and getting away with it that karma or morality will eventually conquer them and despite their outcomes I am free from their infectiousness. This must be like what the wise have counseled us about when they tell us to elevate above it all and let the serenity of stillness wash over us. Letting our cores live outside ourselves. The magic happens when we hold our hopes and dreams dearer to us than all the materials around us. As long as I draw breath I will never again stray from the best of who I am and that my friends is my secret for living a magical life. No amount of temptation to change from my simple perspective exists. A groove that never ends. Without the magic everything is just motion with chaos and fear. As time goes on I find that I cannot even fathom how to describe the wonders of my life. There are too many and many of them are just moments in time that I could never hope to remember all. The more to come as well. This blog post is me at my core today and that is not something I do often but today I am in a unique flow with how my mind is working. Sometimes I write a post just for me to free flow and this is one.

My home is my heart (#2410)

Don't get me wrong, I love that my mind works as it does, full of curiosity about all things and relentless to accumulate knowledge but if there is one place inside me that settles my whole being it is my heart for life and things. I know how ever changing my situation can be as we all find out soon enough. Yet how I feel inside me is the one constant that change has little effect on. Surely I do live with a roller coaster of emotions but how my love for things is felt is never changing. There is a solemnity or serenity to the emotional uplift I feel when love occurs. Not just for a mate but for those who find a bind to me that is unexplainable. I can best describe it with the example of a pet. There are some animals that have come into my life that connect with me in a way that reflects their desperation to be wanted and cared for. It seems I end up with those animals that have been discarded or overlooked. Which is great for me since I get to have in my life a friendship of sorts that is true and of value. Because they glom onto me with such a need to be connected. For me it is a perfect situation since I have all this giving inside me to share. I was communicating earlier with someone about how our animals came to us skittish and insecure but after time now they feel like they belong and have a home. It is so satisfying to see the transformation from unwanted low esteem to happy and confident. The time I put into keeping my pets loved and cared for pays off with a loyalty and love they return in so much more quantity than I had expected. Truth be, I find that my pets are a better example of living life with a graceful humility and dignity than I do. It isn't only the other species of animals that amaze and fill me with joy. Other human beings come across my path and warm the depth of my heart with their generosity of good spirit. My heart is where I live and no matter where I go I am always home.

Facing death with dignity (#2409)

Our mortality is not something we often spend time preparing to face. In fact we would as soon do anything else than to think about how our end or when our end of life will come. I know that most all of us would fight against the idea or the eventuality of death with all of our might but when the battle has been lost, is when we find out who we really were and how we want to live the time that is left. I am currently seeing this with my sister in law Dena Clark. She has been a part of our family for three and a half decades and although her husband, my oldest brother Jim's passing took place over 10 years ago, she has not lost any standing with those of us who regard her love and loyalty of our brother's life and now memory. The fact that she is a gentle soul who has had to endure the trauma of her own terminal physical ailments is further a weight on those of us who see how fragile life can be. What she has chosen to do is spend her days with our parents who are looking to her needs with nurture and love. She has not lost her sense of humor nor her kind understanding of our ridiculous natures at times. She is showing us how to live with an upbeat attitude when she has every right not to. Every one of us can learn from her example and when my time comes if I get to know it before it happens I will remember her eloquence in dealing with the ultimate harsh reality. Life is a gift to live especially into the later stages of life, but no matter how long we live, we must find our ability to see above our own plight. We must live like we truly love being alive and express that back to all who are around us. This is why I constantly harp on the idea of finding our contentment. A contented soul can express the joy of life even when our mortality is ending. Building up a reservoir of happy memories and good deeds is the best path to contentment and to living out the remainder of our lives with dignity and honor.

When you help someone you help yourself (#2408)

This is a phenomena that escapes the greedy and selfish among us. I was lucky enough to have learned this at an early age and because of that learning my life has not only been rewarding but it has been well satisfying. It is a bit of a conundrum to understand that by giving we receive. But once we get past trying to wrestle with it in theory and then apply it to our lives we find that karma or the universe has a way of bringing it to fruition. Doing good really is a remedy for not only the souls we help with the good but to our souls as well. We get to feel a worth or value to our existence that greed and selfishness is void of. Life has always been about the quality of the life, not the quantity within it. Regardless of whether I have wealth or I am a pauper, if I do right and good my life is content. That content feeling is invaluable. I can handle all the obstacles life throws at me when I am in a good spiritual place. Some of the most egregious things done to me and around me are all capable of me handling them when my mind is at peace. I find that peace by doing for others before I do for myself. Now I am no Mahatma Gandhi and I never will be able to live up to his most unselfish life but I do strive to live as best I can with the values he so admirably exemplified. I have also found that I am less involved in the wild imaginings I can sometimes create in my head when I am doing something for someone else. I am a creature who is fragile minded at times and even imaginary hurt can put me in a bad way. So keeping my mind healthy by being a good person not only keeps me from my own frailties, but it makes another's life more bearable. I wish I could make everyone's life a dream and if I could I damn well would, but in the meantime I can do what little I am able to do and be glad for that.

Fear of change denies our nature (#2407)

This life we live is not static in any sense of logic. We are changing as I write this post. So to find yourself in fear of change is to find yourself outside your nature. Fear is a natural response to imminent danger to help focus on what we must do immediately to survive. That is the responsibility of fear, nothing more. So to carry around fear when it can be easily shed is illogical. Now I know that some changes are radical and outside our normal understanding but that is why we should never stop learning. In order to understand change we must not only be objective minded but we must inform ourselves of the dynamics of change. Many have a problem with this either through allegiances of some sort or from a belief system. I would offer that both allegiances and belief systems are not logical when weighed against reality, fact and logic. Yet that is still not enough for those who are loyal to a way or feel that some eternal path will be interrupted. First the loyalty issue is based upon a shared vision of some sort that regardless of circumstance or situation can never be altered. I think about that and wonder what kind of loyalty pledge would have us deny reality? It is absurd and not worth our precious time here in existence. The other obstacle is religious dogma. Words passed down through documents written by man as inspired by a God. Well it seems to me that if a God did exist in the manner that most religious minded believe then the God could surely have handed down his commandments without the help of some council or group of men. The farfetched idea that an almighty would rely on the inspiration of men to give his holy decree for our living and following is not within the boundary of normalcy. I am a spiritual soul and therefore am influenced by our universe but our universe is not static, it is ever changing and I plan to honor that fact by not letting myself stay in a static state.

Asbestos, Mesothelioma and Heather Von St. James (#2406)

This isn't my normal type blog post but it struck me as being important to let you know that there are stories out there that offer hope in individual ways. I normally offer my opinions on a variety of issues, mostly politics these days, but today is an offering of not my opinion but a story of a frightening realization and the fear it envelopes on us, that is overcome by a determined will to fight against anything that would steal what is precious to us. Whether it is just the normal time we expect to live into old age or a relationship we value beyond any sacrifice. This is Heather's story. http://www.mesothelioma.com/heather/survivor/#intro. Heather was diagnosed with malignant Pleural Mesothelioma, a cancer that is contracted through significant exposure to Asbestos. There is presently no cure and life expectancy after diagnosis is within a year. Heather's father worked drywall and brought home the remnants of drywall on his work jacket which Heather often wore as children will do who emulate their fathers. I will not get into Heather's story here, which is an ongoing story of Heather's triumph. I will also post links for information about Mesothelioma. What I want to let you know is that Asbestos is not wholly banned here in the United States. http://www2.epa.gov/asbestos/us-federal-bans-asbestos. There are some products that are used to contain Asbestos that are banned but there are other products that still carry it in their ingredients, such as roofing paper, vinyl floor tile, millboard etc... Asbestos has a latency period of up to 50 years, so some may not know they had contracted the deadly Asbestos fibers into their system until many decades later. As many as 43,000 die annually around the world from Asbestos exposure and although 60 countries ban Asbestos, the US and Canada have not fully done so. The early symptoms are generally fatigue, cough, muscle weakness, fever and night sweats.http://www.mesothelioma.com/mesothelioma/symptoms/  If you recognize that these symptoms are happening then get a checkup and advise your healthcare professional accordingly.

Men and the Tarzan complex (#2405)

Here is a problem our American society has let nurture in our young males. We allow a stream of consciousness that dictates the male of our species is a superior gender to females. You can see it clearly in religious teachings and examples in current law regarding choice over women's bodies and the lesser pay women receive for the same work as men. Institutionally we inculcate not only our young males that this is acceptable but we force this dogmatic inequality on women through condescension and disrespect. I have for the last few days been engaged in discussions concerning rape. The mentality that is needed for a man to think that a desirable woman is his toy to be played with and discarded after usage. Many others and I have concluded that the genesis that allows for a man to consider and act as a rapist has a few components. First is the power men feel they are obliged over women due to their birthright as a stronger more physical species. Second is the control men feel they should have to make a woman/women respond like they wish them to act. Lastly is the sex drive, which men feel is their natural right to employ as a benefit of them being a higher order human male. All of these components of rape are justified in their minds for their fortune for being born male. The king of the jungle if you will is not the lion but is man in man's eyes. Man takes what he wants and protects that which is his. The survival of the fittest argument once again. Well we don't live in a jungle, we live in a civilized society where men and women are equal under the law so the rights of a man are no different that the rights of a woman. We still have inequalities in our law favoring men over women and until we break those laws down and provide true equality, men will wrongly continue to infer that they are due power, control and access to women as a right. Women are not property, they are our fellow travelers through time and space and deserve all the rights and privileges that we men demand for ourselves.