(#6085) When inconvenience overrules convenience

      Some things are to be adjusted when nothing else works. The normalcy of things are at times manipulated as a wedge to get us to do things we wouldn't ordinarily do without some form of coercion. Taking away our rights is nothing the majority of us signed up for so when the chance for doing that comes to those who are sick in the mind so we must stop them. They look at us with the understanding that the many of us are just lab mice ready to be used at their whim. What we have to show them is that we are not predictably obedient to their methods of control.
     I will not be herded as I suspect the majority of us won't be either. So these diseased ones who liken reality to their dream world of surrealness and two dimensions must be shown that we are complicated human beings who have more than two dimensions to us. We must not only inconvenience ourselves from the behaviors and patterns that allowed the unscrupulous to imagine a continuity of control, but we must make their world view egos suffer indignity and defiance. This is a battle for the soul of countries around the world and nothing is more important than we the people deciding our own fates.
     There are several minor inconveniences we the people can utilize quickly. We can stop and spend a day or more together protesting. We can also adjust our spending habits to either reward good steward companies and corporations while withholding spending on bad faith companies and corporations. It is logical in the sense that getting our minds focused on what we want out of life and who we are willing to help us is part of our individual and collective growth. If we are to be we the people than we must get out of our comfort zones long enough to fight for our right to be back in our comfort zones. This is how we take back control of our destiny while reminding ourselves and the awful ones that we will not to be mastered by the worst of us.

(#6084) We need Karma so get busy Karma!

      I am a firm believer in the arc of justice bending toward fairness. It is my slant on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statement. What I have learned though is that despite what I believe reality is not as an appreciative audience as I prefer. Some wrongs go too long unobstructed. Which is why we all need some Karmic event to hasten along fairness. Considering that slavery lasted here in America for about 400 years I should remind myself that often patience is a defaulted sad reality. Yet my existence is not a subduing one. When change for the better is not at least talked about then the threat is that the worst becomes tolerable.
     We who are less dependent on the concept of thoughts and prayers as a solution understand that human intervention when no other intervening catalyst is available will be inevitable. There are not greater forces that we know of that can magically change our reality. We are the stewards of reality as such as we can observe. Therefore our involvement in whatever form Karma takes is part of the equation to a solution. We know that doing nothing only causes greater harm when the harm is intentionally being administered. So how do we go about assisting Karma in our way? That is the question we can't discuss in civilized conversation unless under duress. So we do little to mobilize ourselves into a strategy.
     There is one thing about thoughts that is quite a shared event. When we all know what we think but cannot put the words together formally. Yet we have a wry smile all around the innuendo of it. As each day unfolds and little is being done to change our dynamics the pressure builds for Karma to expose itself to erase the fraught we are all mired in. I cannot move objects with my mind so wishful thinking is not an action worthy of contemplation. Most of the time for Karma to activate it takes some action on the part of the subject of a Karmic change to help us along. In that understanding there is hope because the foolish will always overestimate their abilities thus leaving room for a possible just Karmic event.

(#6083) Consciousness is only the first step to being human

     "I think therefore I am" is where most all of us begin life. It validates our right as not only human but as a valued member. That to me is where we all start to show our humanity. What deviates us from our human nature is the vileness that discounts one over another. We are not cookie cutter individuals but neither are we more human than anyone else if we so recognize. We are not a demigod nor god species. Regardless if a book says we are created in the image of a god. We are just mortal human beings who share a short amount of time in a social society on a limited planet.
     Our natural order of things has progressed over the centuries to the point now where war and destruction are choices not necessities. Those that start wars for the purpose of ill intent are not valued members of our human family. They are demented in their mindsets and must be put from our social order to a lesser existence. We human beings are corruptible when left to unchecked imaginings. We need each other to share in our experiences together so that we understand the diversity of our species. Just because we are aware of our own existence does not take from all others who are aware of theirs as well.
     Validating my own existence was a priority when I was much younger. However foolish that priority was to me. I am validated as a human being simply because I think with care and wonder about existence and my taking up space within it. I don't need some tragedy or heroic accomplishment to justify my own life. I just need to be free to be me and what comes after that will define whether I was a good steward of my life. I know that caring and wondering will always make up the totality of my life. Because they are more natural to me than anything I have encountered. The best part is that being curious and caring make me much more able to interact with my fellow humans in a positive way. No need to quarantine me like some who cannot find the best of themselves to embrace.

(#6082) Keeping my mind ordered

      I am not sure which will go first, my eyesight or my cognition. It is crap getting older because all the things I have taken for granted about my health are now deteriorating it seems like too soon. I still feel healthy enough to participate in society while enjoying other activities that need attending. My purpose is still with me and my future is still out in front of me. Yet my slow decline into a less sharp version of me is inevitable. I am learning this in real time as I had never heard of what it is like to comprehensively stop and reverse into regressive ability.
     Sure when I was younger it was obvious that the elderly around me had changed and were less able to function as they had preciously. The difference here is that I had no idea the struggle of it. How everything seems more difficult not so much physically but emotionally. The impetus or catalyst behind my eagerness to do what I wanted is now tempered so much that instead of being a joy it has now become less so. Not a drudgery per se but a bit less happy. Instead of being exciting it is now more a validation that I can still function on my own. Not breaking new ground but instead not giving any up.
     I can say this with perfect clarity. When I do learn something new it is a treasure to me. Even if it goes against the grain of my own character. I have a much more appreciative outlook because in essence, I am still a child ready to learn, but from a pool of information slowly receding. I don't catapult myself onto the scene anymore I slowly drift into it. I recognize all these influences and adapt to them in the best manner I am able. If anything, although I may be less so physically, my mind is remaining an alacritous organ. I have seen enough malady around me to know that any scoffing at tragedy is fools dismissal. Like the song, "Anything could Happen", life takes no advice from any of us.

(#6081) The liar in chief

      The bully and his threats are coming fast and furious. His desperation is evidently clear especially since he doesn't want the epstein files released. Since the special election in Arizona and now the delayed swearing in of the democrat, trump hopes to postpone the coming vote to release the files coming from the House. Under normal circumstances when the vote is clear who the winner is there is no delay in swearing in the winner. But since she will be the 218th vote to release the files the speaker of the House, a republican intent on protecting trump, will hold off on the swearing in for looks to be nearly a month.
     The only plausible reason for the delay of the Arizona district to not have representation in Congress today is a personal one to trump and his bootlicker johnson. The clear in front of our faces manipulation of this administration and it's lackeys is corruption at the highest level. Yet it is only one among many that the trumps are ramping up. Their gathering of all the generals can only be one of discovery. The trumps want to know which generals are loyal to them and which ones are still loyal to our constitution. This does not bode well at all. We can hope for the solidarity of our generals but what we have seen from congress people and too many in the courts is capitulation to an emperor trump.
     What we have also seen is the brash mismanagement of our media. After watching numerous maga people offer their "understanding of current events" I know that the lies of trump have been successful. They are incapable of believing the truth because their indoctrination has been so complete. Even now if the media turned its back on the lies too many would still believe the media has become part of the conspiracy to defame trump. Some intervening event needs to happen that changes this paradigm of trump and his plan to destroy our democracy. What that intervening event will be must occur very soon as the time for the shock of this is over and a new surreal reality becomes our present and future.

(#6080) Working with dirt today

      Last Saturday I was able to acquire 15 dump truck loads of dirt being removed from the bank on the creek behind my house. Good dirt, a bit sandy but mostly just dirt. Now of course over the many decades some debris and old roots were included but I have a system, albeit a slow labor intense method that will filter each shovel full of dirt. I got the early preparation for filtering the dirt done yesterday so that all I do today is get out to the first big pile and start shoveling through my filter grate and into the wheelbarrow. My backyard is expansive so the approximately 120 cubic yards dropped off in a spread out design will accept it.
     For the most part leveling the ground is my main objective but raising the elevation a bit is also part of the plan. Most of my topsoil had been washed away from previous creek floods. So trying to restore some elevation will in effect help me to level everything back to being flat. When I first saw the excavators in the creek on Saturday I decided to go around to their access point and ask for the dirt. My yard has a big gate on one side where the dump trucks could easily enough enter and maneuver around the yard for dropping their loads. The foreman was accommodating since his trucks would only be gone for a moment just going around the corner.
     So I have 120 cubic yards of free dirt to move around in my backyard for the next foreseeable future. I will do most all of it by hand as it will be a good project for me to exercise. Since I need to clean the piles of small boulders, and other debris the idea of using a small tractor although initially sensical is not not so much since my filtering method is now in play. For most of my life in work and play I have been physical so this is just a continuance of that. I am now in my 70's and must be careful of my actions. I have a plan that will take many months and even more than a year but it is steady and doable. Today is going to be eventful because once I start I won't finish until it is done.

(#6079) We democrats will not be caught unawares!

      The beauty of the democratic party is that we are free thinkers. We are not mind controlled by republican leaders who tell us how to think. The republicans leaders wish they could control us like they control their own followers but that will not happen! We are beyond their threats and coercions. If anything we are adamantly in opposition to them and it makes them a bit crazy. They thought they could walk into power here in the United States and dictate our futures with little to no pushback. Wrong! We are if anything the children of our patriotic foreparents.
     Our whole existence as democrats is to be free to think for ourselves. While we agree on many policies as democrats we are not beholden to them all individually, with some exceptions. That is another beautiful thing about we democrats. We agree on many major policies while also disagreeing with each other on some others. We accept that as the trial and error struggle phase of learning to adjust to new parameters. We don't silence each other to make ourselves feel less annoyed that we are not picture perfect on every detail. The vast majority of us recognize that we don't know it all and are learning together.
     So as we democrats are accepting of each other the republicans are less so. They fight each other with intimidation and threats to get their perceived outcome regardless if that outcome has democratic principles of equity and fairness. Their entitlement deserve outweighs common sense and decency. The world is their oyster and they do not want to share it with others. That is the epitome of being a republican. It really is all about them and how they see the rest of us as just resources to be manipulated. The republican party has come to symbolize a craven party that will excuse itself every time for their intentional discretions and harms caused. We democrats know this and are ready to defeat them again!

(#6078) A stupid people's president

      It is not easy for me to title this post like this. I am an optimist and prefer to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Yet we are living in dishonorable times right now. Too many people think they are really smart when the evidence of their self believed wisdom is displayed as ignorance and cruel when they speak. I often speak here about the failure of taking shortcuts. In some respects shortcuts are not bad but in many more instances shortcuts are really bad ideas. Especially when it comes to knowledge and intelligence. I can simplify my words to make them sound more understandable but I can never shortcut my foundation of actually knowing what I am talking about.
     What I hear too often is people saying things to make themselves sound smart while missing the point of what they are saying. To say something with an authority while not knowing what the words actually mean is disturbing and obviously dishonorable. I don't act like a know it all so I can sound smart. I try to learn what is going on and then discuss it with an open mind. That is what is missing today. Too many like to think that their 30 minutes of google search is the final solution. What is even more disturbing is the way too many of these folks who need to be told how to think take advice from conmen, hucksters, and bullies.
     I often find that specialists are worthy of being heard in their areas of expertise. I lean one way or another given their objective views. I do not pretend that their thoughts are mine nor do I take their viewpoints as absolutes. Just beginning starting points of any type of learning debate. For any specialist in any field of knowledge to peak my interest they must generally be honorable and respectable human beings. I do not listen to folks who display their egos harming and dividing. We currently have a president who spends more time dishonoring our democracy and our rights than not. I do not listen to him or his megaphone speakers. It isn't that he is a monster per se but he is not an honorable person of objective knowledge to be attentive to or admired.

(#6077) Only the maniacal want to be autocrats

      The idea that anyone would want to be a world ruler from his own perspective is a lot narcissistic. I mean think about it for a moment. If some person who was as sincere as Dr. King or Ghandi were to want to be the sole leader of the world then maybe I wouldn't be one hundred percent against it. However those types who seek justice and peace are not the ones who are forcefully applying for the job. With them it takes a mindset of brutality and cruelty to want to be the sole leader who can shape the fates of the rest of us. The current regional autocrats are pretty much all the same. They have no empathy nor compassion for the individual only their own ambitions.
     America was founded on the idea of breaking away from a monarch who was essentially an autocrat. The no taxation without representation call was just one of the many grievances we newly aroused revolutionary Americans used to cite as our red lines. The founding fathers and mothers of our nation knew we were born to be represented by ourselves as the future way forward. Which explains why our declaration of independence and our national constitution where less difficult to write. Those themes were on the top of our leaders and followers heads.
     Throughout that time since our revolutionary war victory our American democracy of we the people has been nothing short of a success. The only time when our nation has some hiccups is when the political party of anti democracy uses nefarious methods. The process of attaining a more perfect union does not happen over night nor does it happen without all of us shouldering a fair share. Democracy is a strong entity but not invincible. So we must protect her from those who use her to undercut her power. Our democracy is most invincible when protecting from without, but we are most vulnerable when protecting from within.

(#6076) Being objective is a beautiful thing

      So many folks like to act like they already know answers to questions many of us are still trying to understand. There are many also who act like they know answers to questions they don't even understand as questions. Instead of saying I don't know they go into their programmed responses that are little more than absurd to those of us who have put in time to research. What these folks must think in their quiet times is not something I would want to experience. I like to question my own understandings, not look for ways to justify them to fit what I would do if I were a god.
     I am no god nor a leader who tells everyone else what is good and bad in the world. None of us are yet it is that many think there are gods on Earth who despite all evidence to the contrary, never will be. I have always, and I mean always found that logic and common sense cannot be left out of any beginning foundation of a debate on any subject. Chief among the principles of common sense and logic are objectivity. Let me explain what being object means to me. Simply I let facts and truths guide my thinking. I do not prejudge because of some bias or prejudice. I just let the facts and truths dictate which way I understand something.
     No belief system, nor favoritism, nor feeling is allowed under being objective. An innocence if you will as a starting point. The facts and truths of things are the determining factors along with the guidelines of democratic principles. I love living my life within these parameters. Because no one is excepted or left out. We all live within the same rules for understanding. When we don't and logic and common sense are denied along with democratic principles then we get a chaos that undercuts human evolvement. In no second of my life would I ever consider sabotaging our own species through vice or power or any other nefarious purpose. I am a child of our amazing species and as such am proud and willing to defend the best of who we are against the worst of who we are!

(#6075) The spirit of my soul is still unsettled

      I can still feel an uneasiness within me about where I am and where I could be. I am ninety nine percent good where I am at but there is still a little niggling. My nature has always been one of adventure. The idea of settling down was never a top priority in my life. Yet I am getting older and my responsibilities are numerous. Yet like in the movie Chocolat, the lead had always been a wanderer. I really do identify with that wandering role. We humans are so different in many ways and in this I suspect that my life choices have centered for the most part on that inclination.
     What is somewhat not surprising though is that when I do get somewhere else I soon realize a fondness from where I left that is stronger than it was when I actually left. Yet even more is the feeling to go somewhere completely new that somehow has inspired me. These inclinations of mine are well and good for a younger version of me but not so much for me in this older age timeframe. Too many factors come into play that were not there when I was a younger version of myself. Yet the inclinations continue to surface regardless of my evolved biological persona.
     I know that we humans are not naturally settled beings. We have too many physical and mental attributes to be sedentary. However as children of our societies we are brought up to stand in lines of eventualities. Those of us who are not kin to being conformed find our way out of the lines and into the unknown. Yet in the unknown we can find a place for ourselves even if it is drifting. I know I am one of the unsettled ones who has landed here and for now will stay. But the issue, like me isn't settled. For now though I am satisfied even though not completely at ease. The future will bring its presence and then I will reexamine my own.

(#6074) Being precise about sharing information

      Often I think of myself as being OCD when I put things out on the Internet. I kind of chastise myself for being overly informative. But then every now and again I am reminded that not enough information may cause more confusion than the message being relayed. As always the intent is to be honest and forthright yet the intent can be muddled through unclear messaging. I found this to be the case this morning when attempting to just post about a task I accomplished. What happened instead was a confusion about process.
     I won't get into what this is about other than to say I needed to be clearer especially since it did concern a vital paradigm. I have spent the last hour working to make sure my post is now more complete in its description so no further confusion will follow. It is part of our society to respond in quick narratives and metaphors which leave too much for the imagination to interpret beyond the original intent. I had fallen prey to that shortcut mentality and again was made to rectify it. Which again I should learn instead of doing it over again as I seem prone to do. There is a silver lining to this in that the trial and error failures do eventually produce progress.
     It is my hope that my trial and error phases will shorten as I do not have the luxury of wasting time. I keep forgetting it seems that shortcuts, although sometimes beneficial, are not when it comes to information being clear. Pointing that way when asked directions may be helpful but only to start. Giving an address while pointing that way is much more clear. We can all learn to be more precise while not being overly complicated in our presentation. Too much information is just as bad as not enough in many respects. However, given either I would rather give too much than not enough. The battle over how to describe things in a perfect way continues... :)

(#6073) Lying adults alienate the young!

      The simpletons who continue to support trump despite the clear evidence of his brutish incestuous deceptions are the problem. That trump is playing at being a chaotic behavior designed to confuse all, stems from his need to hide his lascivious history. He couldn't be a good guy if he wanted to because of his past criminal behavior. So don't expect him to change. What may change however is how we understand him. He is not a mystery anymore to me and shouldn't be to anyone else either. Yet the young are still being buffaloed by his bullshit. They know something is wrong about him but cannot define it yet!
     Instead they are removing themselves from what we older adults see as social media. I am not on Tiktok nor Snapchat where a majority of the young congregate. So they are not viewers of any abundance to our thoughts on protecting democracy and exposing trump's incessant lies. I understand the plight of the young as I remembered I wanted to have fun and enjoy life and not be serious all the time. Which is what it takes to have any chance of saving our democracy. I do not blame young folks for their indifference. I do blame the trumps who are the nastiest vilest ego maniacs to ever lead our nation. They would burn the world down in order to not admit they are wrong.
     All I can do is what I can think to do about reaching out to younger folks. I am hoping that at least their fixable confusion about what is good and honorable in the world is better than anything trumps are capable of delivering. Hopefully the echo of our voices will initiate a curious head turn and maybe a wrinkle of a smile. We are leaving this existence to the young and with all my might I am trying to tell them life should not be this hard when all we have to do is follow our best instincts about the principles of democracy. We have the guideline built into our declaration of independence and our national constitution. All they have to do is to trust their hearts to make it all better through their advocacy for democracy..

(#6072) Everything is political to workers!

      I know what it is to be uncomfortable. I feel the tension of it as it appears in context with my speech. I do not want to alienate those who I know little about and am becoming more acquainted with. There is a nuance of behavior that is like a tightrope and I am careful with each step. Yet I do not allow myself the luxury of not letting everyone know that I am a good person who works very hard at liking everyone. Some are impossible to like and I do not spend time with them out of choice. But most others at least get to see the better side of me when in my company as a rule. That includes my advocacy for policies that raise the boat we are all in.
     Most of us go about our days doing what we must at the direction of those who pay us. We just want to live normally without being the target of things that have nothing to do with merit or effort. Yet that isn't the case for still too many. There are unwritten rules followed by too many in power that drive prejudices and biases. For whatever underhanded reason this is not acceptable. Which is why the politics of things is a real value. We have laws that protect those who are treated in manners outside normalcy for all. To keep those laws in place we need to understand which political party is the catalyst for them.
     We democrats have and always will be the political party of the working man, woman, and yes, even animals. We are constantly looking for ways to improve and enhance the working and living experience. Our economic system of capitalism demands that we trade labor for resources. Only democrats understand that the working class is vulnerable to the hiring class and therefore must protect workers from the hiring class efforts on their part to diminish workers compensation. One glaring example of this is the federal minimum wage. It has been at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Every time we democrats try to raise this limit to a less poverty induced amount the republicans defeat those efforts. Tell me, if you are a worker are you really voting for the worker compensation suppressing republicans?
     

(#6071) We are going to survive!

      I am one who is more optimistic than anything so remember that. Yet despite my initial beginning on the darker side, I am getting the vibe that we, all of us, will make it through whatever trump and his minions have devised for us. After the election I didn't have this feeling. instead it was a dire one. But as each day has progressed the hope is coming back and the chances trump will succeed are dwindling. He has gotten push back from so many quarters that there is even some pride emanating from me in my fellow citizens. How we could have let him be elected in the first place will always be a mystery to me.
     His solutions to everything is making suffering and failure a virtue. He wants to be praised for his attempts to destroy unity and common good. He scoffs at those of us who care about all of us and he laughs at our attempts to ask him why he doesn't! He is the epitome of a fool in his own court. A jester out of touch with what is important in life. Yet here we are and at first I thought he would end us all with one of his arrogant demands that require us to treat his folly as genius. Instead we began mocking him as a way to keep our own sanity. His demands are simply a coercion to get something from us he cannot get through respect, honor or logic.
     It is now later September and I personally thought that he would have made the many of us obsolete by now. He hasn't done that nor has he a strategy to do so that is within his reach. Each and every setback he receives through our democratic processes is another nail in his coffin that will with due course finally end him before he can smear our society any further. He is a weakened bully who has found out that he cannot master the totality of us without our help. So far we have resisted and even turned his demands into silence and acquiescence on his part. We are withstanding his barrage of hate and pain with some glory and we will continue to do so as long as we need to survive him.

(#6070) To be a great leader you must be on the correct and good side of human history

      People like trump and putin have already cast their die on how they will be remembered. Both have shown that being correct and good is the furthest thing on their minds. They both are ego driven by the siren call of Pandora's fleeting box of desires. We cannot look upon either trump nor putin as leaders of good character nor intellectual abundance. Both instead have internal desires that supplant anything proper of noble intent. I am at a crossroads with myself because looking forward to the ending of both these living ghouls is dominate in my brain. I never thought rooting for death would be a tool for good purpose but it seems I was mistaken.
     Regardless of the end date for both trump and putin, the next iteration of leaders in both countries must find themselves in opposition to what trump and putin have caused. We the people must find a way to move that possibility of a better future to a probability of a better future. We cannot allow another soulless straw person to guide our futures. We have to choose only between those who are behaviorally respectful and decent toward all living life and who also have a vision for our planet that captures the best of our creativity and innovation. Keeping our blue/green planet blue/green is a start.
     There are many of these folks out there that are ready to forge the future with intelligence and imagination. We need those folks as our leaders. All you have to do to be one of these leaders yourself is to live from your heart and your smartest mind. None of us is a genius in all things but we are good and decent folks to begin with and from there we need to keep learning and being informed of facts and truths. As to our hearts the best example is the one about you treating others as you would want to be treated yourself. That is pretty much it as a foundation and never leaving that foundation is far superior than anything we currently have. History will judge us all so just make sure history knows who you are!

(#6069) We have to think in 3 dimensions

      We must think in 3 dimensions refers to how we process our input from each other. Just looking at someone and making a judgment or an opinion does a disservice to both the viewer and the viewed. We are always in such a rush to earn our profits that we fail to see what we look at. I am guilty of this as I am inundated with perceptions that I am not able to take the necessary time to understand. But when I am able I take the time to view the whole of the possibilities that create what I am observing. So that I don't apply a preformed judgment but instead see a larger narrative form.
     Clearly I am talking about blame for things that we see as unacceptable. Yet I have been looked upon in pity myself with others scoffing as a judgment to my perceived lack of grit. That is an example of people looking but not knowing what the feeling is behind it. Tragedy has a way of robbing us of our motivation and care. We get through it but the process is often messy. I have learned over the years that any judgment on my part is a failing on my part. I don't get to label anyone out of my own ego. My life is well complicated and as such I know everyone else's life is as similar. Compassion is a natural instinct in my mind and seeing our views of the world without it is again a failing.
     Our world operates in a less than desirable way but the current protocols are so ingrained into our behaviors that we cannot envision changing them. Which is why we have so many examples of failure. To reorder our societies to include all who need service of some sort to avoid failure and step toward success we have to change how we see each other. Not as 2 dimensional cardboard cutouts but as living breathing feeling human beings worthy of a life greater than little hope. What that process is that transitions us from what we have now to a more perfect care for ourselves is achievable but not yet a vision from my eyes. Hopefully our species finds that living to just work and not die is not the way forward to our shared future.

(#6068) The disillusionment within right wing politics

      Instead of fostering a wholesome environment right wing politics is about divisiveness and exclusion. So much so that even right wing supporters are angry at the chaotic direction of their limited intellectually stunted direction. The fractures are in plain sight as the various camps within the right wing are at disorder with each other. I am looking at this from afar as I have no inclination to stay abreast of right wing politics. I prefer keeping my sanity as the illogic of their ego and hatred is clinically depressing. As to how they became forces of division I can only surmise that togetherness has been maligned by their worst fears.
     We have seen the lashing out of violence against the left and their own members as a symptom of their inability to coalesce through peaceful means. We on the left do not have such hatred on our side as a rule. We prefer to wait and change things in public opinion and/or the ballot box. We are not the coup warriors the right wing has often enough embraced. We on the left may think about devilish plans out of frustration but we don't activate them as a temper tantrum with no control. The right wing does. Their inability to control themselves is indicative of their lack of scope within a broad ranged knowledge base.
     With the right wing, too many resort to violence because they cannot defend their preferred desires. So instead of showing us their honorable reasoning, analyzing, and then concluding of their desires they just go straight to threats and follow throughs. That old saying about the one who first resorts to an ad hominem is the loser, is valid. When debate is not enough to prove the correctness of the right wing they do not acquiesce to a more logical conclusion, instead they fight it. Which is why the right wing is incapable of forwarding their agenda and instead lash out even at their own. Violence is the hallmark of the brute wile reason is the hallmark of the intellect. Choose your path wisely.

(#6067) We all need each other

      Let me put it this way. The more of us alive the better chance of our species getting the creative thought to keep us not only alive but reaching out to the stars for other life and habitats. Who knows who will be the next genius who unlocks the mysteries we are currently befuddled with. Once everyone understands that we are all capable of being a factor iutellectually then we are able to make sure we all get a shot at learning and understanding. I don't care who gets us to space travel that makes sense. I just want to get there. I don't care who gets us to end world disease, I just want us to end world disease.
     None of us is more able intellectually than another when we all start out in our innocence. We just need to balance opportunity among all of us so that the next genius, regardless of who it is comes about. Since there is no rule book given to us as to how to exist we must make our own. Let us start with making sure every baby born is able to exist in a healthy environment and is given educational growth from early age on. I don't care about differences in race or gender, I just care that we all have a shot at being the next one to move our amazing human being species into a future where possibilities are commonly achieved.
     I have been a member of the human race and I feel a debt owed to the future that is beyond myself. I don't have to feel like that but I do and that is one of the many reasons I urge others to do the same. I am not doing this for a particular DNA sequence because all DNA sequences are unique and of tremendous value. We are a species intertwined with the rationale to embrace it if we could only get past our less than honorable tendencies. I was once a less than honorable person and yet I found my way out of that and into a more admirable existence. We can all do the same if we just stop in the moment we need and say to ourselves enough of this and we are going to change. Since we are all our own worst critics, we can change into the person who is most admired by ourselves.

(#6066) Like in Plato's Allegory of the Cave, being woke is venturing out of the illusion

     There is a journey we all must take to understand who we are and where we have come from. A right of passage so to speak. We cannot avoid this journey due to any excuse. Not if we want to be part of life in this current time and space. We see what happens when some others choose to shirk their responsibility. They become complacent and convince themselves or are convinced that they are wise enough to know what the truth is without having to prove it to themselves. Despite those who fail at understanding, each of us has a duty to ourselves to be able to grasp reality through, reason, analyzing, and concluding. Three forms of logic we all possess.
     If you don't know the story of the Allegory of the Cave from Plato's book The Republic, then here is a short summary. Noticing inconsistencies in reality, a person moved out of the cave, the only home known of, where illusions and shadows dominated their lives. Once free from the cave, the person saw the wide panorama of possibilities in the true light of the day. Not from some cave torch and manipulated shadows on the wall. Much like in today's world the cave is where many have chosen or ineptly believe how reality exists. Once free from the cave a new dawning, or awakening occurs.
     The difference between what is an illusion in the cave and what is real in all the world is breathtakingly enormous. Being aware is a good thing although those who would manipulate us in the cave call it bad. Once you know the difference it is easy to spot those with bad intent as they always try to control and manipulate. Those of us who are aware spend our time trying to understand even more about the world because our natures demand it of us. We are a curious species and wanting know the still unknown is like breathing air, we have to do it. Those who would stay in the cave to live their lives are abdicating their natures of uniqueness and sense of discovery to the benefit of those who are only dementedly using them.

(#6065) The coming election is ticking down for trump

      As it stands now there is no reason for trump to hope he can imagine his policies as desirable by the electorate. He has raised prices and fired folks from jobs. He has unleashed masked men on the streets kidnapping at will and alienated our most loyal foreign allies. Other than that he is also an adjudicated rapist and his racial tendencies are an abhorrency. The only redeeming quality he has is his ability to unite the worst segment of our society together as his base. Okay, that isn't a redeeming quality it is just his nasty self attracting nasty people to him.
     There was a House of Representatives election yesterday in Virginia that was won by a democrat. That isn't so surprising since the democrat who died in office won his last election about two to one. Well this latest democrat won his election by a three to one margin. It is significant in that getting more than two thirds of the vote is quite an accomplishment and getting three quarters of the vote since trump came into power may be linked to his performance or lack thereof. I see it as a harbinger of things to come. Again, refer to paragraph one. For those who thought that trump was telling them the truth on the subjects they prioritized they soon found out that the only priority in the world for trump is his appetite and desires.
     The 2018 election was a rebuttal to trump and served to quash any further damage he could do to our democracy. The same can be said for this coming election next year. What could have been a break even election for trump will now be a sweep trump off his feet election. In the meantime the current minority democrats in Congress must make sure that trump does not get any other opportunities to undermine and dismantle our futures. As we continue to have special elections leading up to the midterms, it may not be surprising to think that democrats will continue to overperform while republicans get their noses smashed in for continued support of trump!

(#6064) Slavery is white history, surviving it is black history

      Just so we are clear about the facts of white human ownership of black humans. This fact is not disputable. So for white folks to tell black folks to get over being a race enslaved for 400 years on American soil is an arrogance beyond all logical understanding. Firstly we white folks were not enslaved so our perspective on slavery is imagined. We are surely aware of the advantages of owning people but not the disadvantages of being owned. I was a poorer white child growing up but that would have been a dream for most enslaved black children.
     I am writing this today because yesterday I saw that Ruby Bridges turned 71. She is less than a year older than me and it struck me that we would have gone through school together in today's more normal circumstances. Ruby was the symbol of desegregation to our nation and because of her we are now a more integrated society. Not perfect but we are at least beyond segregated. My life has been lived during a time of significant history. Presidential assassination that changed the trajectory of our democracy in a worse way. Landing on the Moon as an example of what we human beings can achieve in moving out into space.
     If the last several centuries were deemed the enlightened period then today's centuries are the discovery period. Science is pushing the envelope on many fronts including nuclear fusion as a source of power of an unlimited scope. Everything daily is changing and keeping up with it requires us to be constantly informed. What we cannot do is go backwards. Paradigms like slavery must be acknowledged in the proper sense. Generations of black folks dealt with the loss of freedom through excruciating manners. We white folks must be prepared to admit our fault and offer to rectify where we can. I am ashamed of my white race for their actions and feel no less remorse because I wasn't born during that time of chosen brutality.

(#6063) The promise of youth stolen by old men

     The idea that wisdom comes with age is true. But not to all who grow old. Many of the elderly in our species do not gravitate toward wisdom and the discipline it requires. Instead they go by their own subjective ability to grasp power and then wield it like a cudgel. Instead of enlightening society with their acquiescence to shape evolving possibilities they fall back on their own desires regardless if they benefit society. Growing up in my generation there were dreams of greater achievements and spectacular innovations. What we got instead was the result of fear that permeated the elders and forced them to drown their own innocence.
     We, our younger generation, were sabotaged by fear, greed, and self serving interests. So all the hope of our generation disappeared in front of our eyes with assassinations of both Kennedy's and Dr. King. What could have been will never be and for that there is great sorrow in my soul. Instead we got those leaders who were not visionaries nor extraordinary role models outside of Jimmy Carter. Given the penchant for republicans to do underhanded things since before nixon manipulated his election, I do not doubt that republicans had a hand in some aspect of the assassinations. That is how republicans keep power, through taking from us until and beyond we bleed out.
     I will forever be a proponent of lowering the voting age to 16. At 16 I was on top of my political views yet couldn't cast a vote for them. Even the United kingdom instituted a 16 year old vote. Yet we here in America cannot even raise our federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour. The democrats would easily do it but republicans have always been against greater voter participation and citizens earning a living wage. Our youth is the victim of older men who will not let go of the reins of power. They are not wise men nor to be lauded with gravitas. They are a sickened lot who should be thrust from anything that provides creativity and implementation in the public sector.

(#6062) The survivor instinct is a mighty one

      Some have been through so much trauma and suffering it is a wonder how they survived. Not to me. I know that what doesn't kill me strengthens me. I have had my share of despondency and have always come through it to a better place. That is the nature of life sort of, trial and error a lot of the time. No one lives a perfectly strong life because we are human and experience our quiet moments of weakness. Yet we know that despite the worst of our feelings there will be another moment where that worst subsides and becomes better. Some of us are quite happy to mire in the despondency but way too many of us move forward because we know life is precious.
     Within us a base instinct of survival is built into who we are yet we are a thinking and pondering species so we can confuse our conclusions based upon faulty data. But even faulty data is overcome by the natural understanding that life is a one shot deal. We can always reinvent ourselves if the path we are on becomes too overbearing. I have started over twice in my life with nothing but the clothes on my back. Our survival instinct is powerful as well as our instinct to care and wonder. It is the caring and wondering that fuels my forward momentum into a new life and accelerates my move away from an older life.
     If I needed to start over again I could do it somewhat easily because I have always found it easy to have no expectations. I don't kid myself into thinking I deserve anything. I just need a chance to prove myself a utility and not a burden. It may seem like pride here but it is more like validating my own existence to me. I have no delusions of grandeur nor any desire for privilege. I just want to exist in a way that doesn't harm me or others. Life is not always that adaptable and I must at times make concessions to it but not by bad intent. To live is a mighty thing and keeping my life going is something I owe to the survival instinct.

(#6061) My passions are not tempered with age!

      I am glad I found a title for how I am feeling this morning. In my mind I am still looking at existence as I did when I first started out in life. The world is my oyster kind of thing. It is perhaps not the same physically as it was for me back in the 1960's but mentally I am still the same. I have optimism for how my present and future could be and for some reason I can put aside all the problems that reality is confronting me and us with. A sort of peace that is beyond the mundane and hopes for the possibilities that I have envisioned. I know most of what I dream will not occur for me personally but the wishes don't die because logic and common sense say so.
     That is the point I guess that no matter the forgone conclusion I still have dreams of greater more exciting tomorrows. Everything of good consequence I have accumulated in my memory banks are still in play. My experiences are not all done yet and my happiness is still growing. I have concerns and worries but they are just machinations of things not yet set in stone. That is how I live. I only focus on the changeable and leave the already done unchangeable to the history books. Somehow that entails an inspiration within me that is enduring. Was I such a lucky fool to have found a little secret to maintaining a healthy and vibrant outlook?
     Possibly I have this wise nugget. It is that nothing that is still ongoing or completely done cannot change. That is the outlook of an optimist. Someone who always sees the glass as half full. Ready to be filled even further. Clearly though I do get down at times and that is what makes me human. The ability to feel the loss of good possibility when that loss is deliberate. Yet I am not deterred for long and as if by magic I regain my focus and push forward with what is best inside me. So if anything of value I may add here it is to fill yourself with the best things in life and share them like you would air and water. Life is good when we never give up on the passions we felt when we first saw through innocent eyes.

(#6060) Arguing with a republican supporter is devoid of logic

      I actually enjoy debating people on the merits of improving life. It is fulfilling to me because I get to hear information that constantly informs my ever building understanding. I was raised with that inclination and to this day I am able to adjust my opinions on many matters because of new information. I cannot do that with republicans. As I have aged I have rounded out my thoughts about myriad policies based upon the principles of democracy such as equity and fairness. With republicans they do not feature equity and fairness in their simple calculus. It is all about them unfortunately and not about anyone else who is not them..
     Which makes me debating them on merits impossible when we cannot even agree on the ground rules. No amount of greed or power will ever allow me to change from being a defender of democracy, period! So unless a republican is willing to accept that all of us are part of any discussion the interchange I expect will not occur. I won't waste any more of my time on the chaos of  self serving irrationality. The republican party wants to act like brutes and take what they want and we democrats are the brute punishers when push comes to shove. At least this democrat is and many more like me. It doesn't take much effort to be a civil human being but not for republicans as they are not able to perform that simple function.
     I have had this mindset for several decades now since the reagan cabal began their descent into bullying. The leaders of our nation are the servants of the people and when that dynamic changes like when republican politicians achieve power then is when the ability to converse about what matters to all of us ends. We the people now need to weather the storm of republican rule, and it is rule, until we get another opportunity to sort out our political landscape back to what the founders envisioned. Their intention was for freedom, liberty and justice for all to underscore all that we strive to achieve. Not this current demeaning of citizenry and its intentional deprivation of core democratic principles.

(#6059) Keep fighting back against pandora, my new name for trump!

      No matter what trump and republicans take from us they cannot defeat us unless we just quit! I will never be a quitter regardless of how long it takes to overcome the suffering and cruelty they keep thrusting at us nonstop. It is easier to just stop and lay down for the worst because we are too tired or too threatened to protect our right to be individual human beings, but it would be wrong! Because although it may give some relief, it will only prolong the agony to many others and continue suffering in the longer run than if we fought back. We can defeat the forces of pandora, my new nickname for trump, but only if we endure not to quit!
     Mr. pandora is everything wrong in the world. He doesn't fight to preserve and improve our democracy, he instead wants to destroy it so that we are not free humans beings any longer able to choose our own destinies. He thinks of us as a bother that he has to deal with, not the priority of his life. That pandora is starting to wear us down gets him excited so that he can finally control us like cattle. Think of that! We are property to trumps not free will human beings. What do those of you who still support the next stage iteration of trump as he is transformed from, in my opinion, stem cell experimentation, into a cadaverous tyrant?
     You have to know that pandora is afraid of death and will try anything, and I mean anything, to stay alive. He will be like the fictional character mad scientist Frankenstein, and try anything to keep his monstrous existence ongoing. I have said that pandora thinks of himself above any law prescribed for the rest of us so do not be fooled into thinking him saving his own life is beneath anything in existence. As to his nickname pandora, I give it to him because he does represent the seven deadly sins, (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth). For years I have been thinking of what to call trump based upon the entirety of his character and behavior and pandora is the closest definition of a word that I can apply as him.

(#6058) I am so proud of Ukrainians!

      While I sit here and anguish over the loss of core understandings here in America I do find it refreshing to see the Ukrainian people remind me that democratic values are the most important values of all. Yes, even more than the supposed moral and ethical ones so discarded here in America. When we cannot even be free to express our opinion without threats and coercion then what does it matter who loves who and how much money we can take from each other. The theft of democracy is the rotting of our character. We no longer try to take the high road when that road is littered with the disappointment of the caring.
     Why should we try to be better folks when many others just call us fools? It must be nice for them to be so ignorant of what an intelligent compassionate society is capable of attaining, that they even relish in destroying the possibility of such. What their ignorance fails to warn them of is that the downfall of their democracy will be the downfall of everything they currently take for granted. How can we feel any remorse or sadness for them for their looming misery when they are the ones responsible for bringing about ours? The failure of our educational system is mostly to blame as we didn't make sure to teach the basics in a way that would never fail them in the future.
     What we have here in America is too many who are heading toward leadership without leadership skills. No burgeoning wisdom to guide them. No ability to reason, analyze, and conclude using logical concepts. No understanding of the very nature of humanity and its inescapable ability to evolve and adapt. We have people seeking power only for the purpose of being powerful. You have to know what that outcome will be by just looking at trump and before him shrub! I see the end of our democratic dynasty coming about not because it is something I would ever hope for but because too many others chose not to know what we are all about.

(#6057) Your fear has to be strong to be a republican

      I was thinking this morning of why some of my relatives are republicans when for the earlier part of their lives they were democrats. This one concept came to me and I have not been able to dislodge it as a real solid answer. Fear. When we were younger we had the world in front of us and were motivated to change it for the better. But now that many of us are older we are no longer interested in shaking things up because we have accepted what is and want to now protect it as we have become part of it. So instead of still trying to make the world better some are now loud and silent about that.
     They have invested their resources and lives into the status quo and are now part of the problem. To shake things up requires courage and for too many the idea of being courageous is a fearful thing beyond their capacity to accomplish. So instead they hold their noses at republican leaders who are a travesty by no other definition and either quietly avoid acknowledging their support for misogynists, rapists, and racists or brush off such claims with self delusional hypocrisy. They, these republicans, have found the courage to defend the indefensible because it is their, I'm scared, way of life they ignorantly are trying to protect. So the hell with truth, facts, and ethics if they are an impediment to their narrative of intolerance.
     What all this underscores is that republicans only have the courage to deny equality, freedom, fairness, and justice to anyone not them. Otherwise they are afraid to defend the concept of all of us together in harmony. Beneath their fear is a mixture of greed and ignorance that helps justify to them their battle to keep the status quo. Well I am ashamed for them to have settled for being okay with their choice to be a dishonorable human being. I see who they are so they do not come around me as a rule. I do not let them off the hook either as a compromise. They are wrong and will not be allowed in my presence unless and until they face their own frailty and rejoin the rest of us in the fight to bring true democracy to the world.

(#6056) Mixed bag...

      First thing on my mind is a cost/benefit for either voting or not voting if eligible. Maybe $100 for voting in tax return benefit and a $100 tax cost for not voting. I know we have to incentivize voting if we are to get much better participation. Doing our duty is not working as well as it should so perhaps making it more like what we are inundated with now, capitalization, it will improve participation. I know myself an extra $100 to vote would be welcome in every two year cycle. This is just an example to show what voting could be like going forward.
     Secondly, I heard a song again for probably the 100th time since its release in the mid seventies about growing up to realize that opportunity is biased and in less than ways that are equitable. The song, Seventeen by Janis Ian reminds me that growing up for older girls about to reach womanhood is filled with prejudices and despairs. The pressure on older girls to glamorize themselves to even have a chance of some limited happiness is high. Not only are older girls going through puberty much like the boys they are even more so struggling with finances and cultural stigmas. As an older boy I was always under pressure because coming from a large family that was not even middle class and moving around a lot it seemed that even the floor was above my head as an older teenager.
     Lastly, I want to thank all those who have ever read any post I have written. In the more than 16 years I have been doing this I find that as few as 3 people have read a post in a 24 hour period and as many as more than 11,000 have read a post in a 24 hour period. It really does blow my mind, I am no brilliant person but at least I am an honest one with lots of thoughts to share. I don't charge anything for reading my posts nor do I advertise. It is just me and the universe having a conversation once a day. I don't know about everyone out there but I need to speak my mind so that it goes out into the ether as a tribute to what I hope to be and strive like all get out for you to understand.