Gun control (#2443)

I am fine with people who use guns for recreational purposes and there should be some kind of regulation that allows for just that, but this insane lack of any process to keep us from the wild west days is immature and deathly. How many of us citizens are going to have to die at the hands of people who should not be allowed anywhere near a weapon of murder. How many children will have to die because gun owners and manufacturers fail to want to keep them safe? I like the idea of self protection like most all of us do but there has to be a line that we are not willing to cross when it comes to weapons. Anything that can cause death with little to no physical effort needs to be as highly regulated as we do with rapid firing weapons. There has to be a safe way for persons to enjoy the satisfaction of firing projectiles at appropriate targets but not at the expense of logic and common sense. Switzerland is wrongly used as an example of a nation that safely allows it's citizens to own guns and is very low in gun deaths. What the protectors of no regulations on guns fail to mention is that although the Swiss have guns, they don't have ammunition. they have to go to approved gun ranges in order to fire their weapons. I know I would love it if we were able to do the same here but the fear and lie that we need our weapons and ammo to protect ourselves from some imaginary boogeyman government is absurd and paranoid to a tweaker extreme. We are the government and although too many of us are abdicating our right to define our government there are still enough of us who care to vote to keep it about all of us and not some arm of a private takeover to enslave or kill us. Our democracy needs us to be part of it's advancement and instead of burying our heads in the sand on gun control we should be making laws that protect our right to enjoy our weapons safely, while protecting the general public in an enlightened way.

The most magnificent species existing (#2442)

Yes, we humans. We don't necessarily show it enough but the potential is unlimited. What we lack in courage and exhibit with fear notwithstanding. We have everything we need to master all around us. We have a complex mind that can reason, analyze and conclude. We have five senses from which to gather external and internal data. We have in our minds a memory system that not only allows us to recall previously learned information but to take many bits of information and comprehensively apply it in new and exciting ways. We have the capacity to walk on our feet upright and run and jump as needed. We can sustain ourselves from what we know of our surroundings. We are a species that is meant for great things in this otherwise barren universe that has for now encapsulated us. Our minds give us another paradigm, our imaginations. We can imagine not only what our past was like based upon science and fact but we can envision our future in ways that drives our innovation and creativity. No species in our knowledge base has ever been to this point in an evolutionary process. We adapt, that is what we humans do. We humans also have the capacity to care for our environment and the other species that inhabit our world and possibly beyond. We are so amazing that a comparison to a super evolved species is within our reach. We humans are at the threshold of conquering the boundaries of our planet and reaching out into the universe to seek out what we can find. Nothing is holding us back accept the aforementioned lack of courage and illogical fear. We will move beyond our own human fear based limitations and gain the confidence needed to become the species that we all imagine at some point in our lives that we truly are. I am humbled and privileged to be a human being and for that no greater gift has been given me.

Capitalism run amok (#2441)

The sacredness that capitalism has within too many souls seems to have been confused with democracy. Capitalism is where trade and industry are run by private concerns, not the government. So in that world there would be a system much like Republicans are striving to attain. Where the captains of industry and trade make all the decisions about economic concerns of the whole of our citizenry. Where no collective bargaining or minimum wages would exist. Now democracy, which is the collection of all eligible citizens, makes the will of their interests known through their representatives. In this way, capitalism is a subset of democracy and answers to the will of the people and not the captains of industry. I am all for capitalistic values of hard work equating to merit and creativity and innovation equating to profit, but not without an oversight that regulates the inverse and adverse effects of extremism within these paradigms. We cannot have a purely capitalistic society since all those majority many who do not succeed have no other recourse for survival outside of begging for mercy. Neither can we have a non capitalistic society where no one has to do anything to survive. There must be a balance where there is no floor from which any soul may drop below as well as no ceiling that the wealthy can rise above. A healthy society includes all of its members and expects its members to have a duty to maintain the society through voting and participation. Democracy is our number one objective in society and all else flows from it. Capitalism is a tool for us to improve our society while giving us all something to value with our time and energy. Capitalism is just one avenue within our democracy for us to achieve our end, happiness and fulfillment, not despair and anguish.

If you believe in a God then thank him/her for Democrats! (#2440)

Republicans care not for the average person, which is about 95% of our American citizenry. If not for the Democrats and our fight to aid the working/middle/poor class there would be a barren wasteland between the castled wealthy and the rest of us peons begging for an ort. The Republican party has so far fought and lost in the battle to establish unemployment benefits, social security, medicare/medicaid, food stamps, Pell grants for college, and all other social programs aimed at establishing a floor by which no American human being should fall below. Think about this, Republicans would do away with not only social security insurance, by which we worker's pay every cent of, they also want to do away with voting as a right. How on this green blue Earth can there still be anyone who still votes for Republicans except the psychopath/sociopath(s) and the greedy wealthy. Where did the idea of a modern civilized society get so twisted that too many of us non-wealthy still vote for Republicans? How did the idea of science ever get lessened to the point of being downgraded to below faith based systems. I am in wonder as to the depths of how far we can fall from the days of my youth to now? When I was born in the 50's the promise of our nation was at a high degree of expectation and hopefulness, yet today just getting by or not going in reverse too fast is seen as an accomplishment. I am appalled by the deceit and deception employed by the Republican party to sacrifice the promise of our youth for old men to profit. It is an embarrassment of epic proportions and it stirs in me a fire that is melting hot. If there is one thing in existence I cannot stand or will not tolerate it is thievery from the promise of our collective future. We Democrats can only do so much so everyone else needs to get into the mix and make yourselves purposeful.

The harmony of goodwill and the sensation of hope (#2439)

Nothing on Earth is as rewarding as turning something worse into something better. I like to think of it as our inner harmonics. Our nature, by my reckoning is to be compassionate and curious. We care and we wonder. If that is true then when we see something not right and we make it even just a little bit better there is a reaction within our souls that uplifts us and offers us a sensation of hope. It isn't often that we can actually feel the effects of hope but hope is real not only in a conscious existential construct but in a felt way. What does hope feel like? It feels like satisfaction compounded with positive energy. Each day I wake up from my nightly sleep and it is if I am starting afresh from a new starting point. Such it is with the effects of a goodwill experience. I could have all the riches, glory and pleasure I desired out of life yet none of it stacks up to the simple expression of reaching out a hand to someone or something that is in desperate need of a hand. This current obsession with wealth and power is ridiculous from my vantage point. Nothing about the process to gain wealth and power is attractive but too many of our citizens are dismissive of the ruthless, cruel and brutish manner we have to take to achieve economic success. Somehow they have reconciled to themselves that achievement, regardless of the cost/benefit analysis is the ultimate paradigm over all else. What do we expect once the rare occurrence of wealth and power fulfillment has been achieved? Do we expect to feel the action of hope? The feeling of hope only comes about through making something better that was worse, not the accumulation of all the prizes that are out there. My life is simple, it is not dictated by the rules of commerce. Instead my life is dictated by the relationships I make better wherever my life takes me. My treasure is not tangible, my treasure is the smile I get when I can make something better or the respect I feel back when I have first given respect. The universe is greater than all of us so finding my harmony within it is much more important to me than to be filled with less than honorable actions devoid of care and wonder.

Republican politicians have no plan, they just blame (#2438)

Is it not obvious to all yet? I have been seeing it for decades but I know I pay close attention to politics, even to the point of making political science my university major for my bachelor's degree. So I have no excuse for not seeing how stark and bare the Republican agenda is for advancing our nation forward for those of us who are not wealthy. Now this should be clear, 99% of our American citizenry is not wealthy therefore 99% of us are not part of the Republican agenda. So how is that they keep getting elected to public office? Simply by controlling the mechanism of who is eligible to vote and where they vote. Now that is a part of it but not the biggest part. The biggest part is that Republicans have effectively turned our diverse nation from tolerant and respectful of each other into being afraid of each other. They have turned too many of us 99% into bigots full of prejudice and hate. There is a cancer running through the course of our nation's blood that will not be treated as long as Republicans continue to control the levers of public power. We 99% have got to be able to see above the pettiness we are presented with by the 1% of wealthy who are relentless in their narrative to undermine democracy in order to promote division among the rest of us while eventually gaining dispensation from the general laws of all men and women. The cancer in our society is driven by greed and we see its effect when we care to look at our society with a comprehensive view. The wealthy keep getting wealthier while the many of us stay the same or get poorer. There are only so many dollars in an economic society that will maintain their value and if most of the dollars are only going to a few then the rest of us are scrambling ever harder in order to just survive. Republicans are the carriers of the cancer of our economic and social strife so the best possible outcome is for us to exercise what voting rights we have left that Republicans have not taken from us and vote them out of office. Now is the time!

Conquering ignorance and fear with enlightenment (#2437)

There is one nation in our world where the remarkable advancement of enlightenment is occurring. Sweden, a country where the rights of humans is being advanced above the rights of the individual wealthy and corporations. I am so excited to see a country on our planet advance the ideal of the pursuit of happiness as a high priority in its social and economic policies. Sure they have their problems still but the fact that they are actually addressing them is an example for all of us to follow. We here in America cannot seem to get past the misbegotten idea that human life is worth less once achieved and then the idea of creating it. We here also seem to think that economic life is akin to a war we have to fight among each other for survival. Where the wealthy are assumed to be above the general laws the rest of us must follow. I look at Sweden and their encouragement of advanced education and that is how I see their successful evolvement. Where the idea there is to educate their citizens to a higher plane of reason and understanding, which is where enlightenment has the best chance to be fostered and bred. They also manage their economy in such a way as to basically have eliminated obscene income inequality. They have learned that government is the sovereign in all industry within their society. You cannot allow those who are the profiteers to set the rules for who and how profits can be made. You cannot allow those who are benefitting the most off of society to be the ones who decide how little tax they should pay. You cannot allow those who are bigoted to decide how much bigotry can be allowed and you cannot allow those who are elected into a democracy decide how much democracy some can have and others cannot have based upon something other than fairness. I hold Sweden up as an example of how life could be and hopefully we all will heed their insight.

Our youth need their time to live (#2436)

The one thing that I have had is a fulfilling youth. A time of discovery and the excitement that created. Not everything out there has to be viewed from negative perspective. I gave myself the time to get comfortable with what would inevitably would be my future. The hubris of my youth had an outlet to get to know what it is to be human and enjoy the benefits of my one time at being a young person with his life all out in front of him. I may have been bolder than many but it is my nature to explore and experience. I risked my life many times that now seems reckless but at the time seemed so natural within my generation. I have seen nature and our environment from a view of uninhibited curiosity instead of fleeting time frames. I had pushed the envelope on the thrill of being all I could be within my youth. I loved the time I spent actually living my youth. I may have been too wild and free but there I was where I wanted to be and others were wishing they could be. I soaked in the adventures of my generation like a thirsty soul who was always seeking to quench his thirst. My experiences from back then were so numerous and so mind numbing when the memories come flooding into my thoughts. My youth, the most precious time of my life and I didn't spend it doing what I must do now as a result of not being the vibrant soul I was back when I was just starting out with my own individual life. No one can take that harmony from me nor diminish it. How I knew that that my youth was more important to me than what my future may bring was probably the wisest decision I have ever made. So today I am not the most successful in the grind of life but I am content in my soul regardless of the next moment of my present or future. This is why our youth need to be able to explore the genius of being young and all the vibrant memories they can store for their future contentment. Inside me I am still that young man I was all those years ago regardless that I am this now older slower less mobile man.

When you finally start helping make the world better (#2435)

I know when i was young I was so angry that nothing that could be right about our world was actually right. Oh there were a few things that inspired like walking on the moon but for the most part I was mostly disappointed and given to becoming cynical about our future. I began a cycle in my life where my pleasures and desires were the only things that made my hierarchy of daily calculations. But not soon after I found that my own fulfillments were not a destination but less so, more like a temporary stopover. I began to realize that the world was not better like it should be because I wasn't involved in making it so. I expected others to carry my weight. So since my little self revelation I have been letting go of my wants and desires to a more basic needs only basis. In that way my time is valued over everything else. I don't give my time to things that are part of the problem or less than honorable in their nature. I can control who and where I spend my time. My time became my genesis for evaluating how to live my life. What do we do with our lives is a question we all will confront, hopefully in time to actually bring some good to fruition. Because if we get to the end of my life and have to face who I was and what I did I want there to be a smile on my face because although I didn't start out early in life helping to change reality for the better at least I finally did show up and carry my weight and maybe a little bit more. My time spent doing good is the value I had been looking for and because of that I know I have touched reality in a way that has caused reverberations to it. Isn't that what we all wanted to begin with? A purpose of noble and honorable influence? I don't have to have all the answers, I just have to know to never cause harm where harm isn't absolutely necessary, and to do right and good when hope is all that is left.

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.

My innocence keeps me sane (#2404)

I am still that young boy who not that long ago, to me anyway, was as innocent about how I perceived existence as I am today. I know that cynicism and bad behavior has rusted some of the edges of my innocence but in my mind and heart my innocence is still purely immeasurable. That is the lens by which I can perceive all that is around me. The best of what could be and the happiest of what should be, are never far from my intentions. I have seen the purity of good, better and best and how much I admire and respect the raw expression of them. Regardless of the circumstance or situation, innocence revealed and acted upon is precious. That is the reality I live in. I know that most of the time innocence is lost in the daily hustle and bustle of life but that is no excuse for not striving to have the best of who we are and what we can become. I wont settle for less when my life is all that I have to control. I am the one who can change and be an example so that is my duty given the chaotic paradigm we have before us. We are out of our cycle of natural being. We have become automatons to our work, our society's expectations, to too many other things who we are not. My foundation, my genetic thrust is for me to be the best human I can possibly be. How do I do this? By learning whatever it takes to keep my mind open to facts and truths while never losing my hope or wishes and dreams. I am an amalgamation of interests but only one is supreme to all others, that being my purpose for living. I am a biological sensory processor who can input data and then analyze, reason and conclude from it. I then store in my memory a comprehensive outlook and then act upon it. My purpose is to function as the best biological data processor I can be. I also have an emotional component that gives me character and personality. With these I can operate as more than just a biological computer, I can be the master of my abilities and then proceed to express only the most noble and honorable actions and thoughts I can humanly create. This all stems from my innocence which I will never abandon nor denigrate.

Register to vote if you care about your future (#2403)

Why is it important to vote? Because we all get one vote if we choose to exercise it so we all have an equal chance to say how we want our future to unfold. Today more than ever the differences in the two visions being laid out is stark. There can be no confusing one for the other. In other words in no scenario are both parties the same. There is the Republican vision that would have us living like in the wild west days where guns ruled the law and the Democratic vision where laws rule the guns. Republicans would have us living under the confines of religious dogma whereas Democrats, like our founding fathers, would have us living free from religious persecution. Republicans would install a government that favored those who capitalized on our economy regardless of it's staggering income inequality, whereas Democrats would keep our government in the business of regulating and socializing our competitive but flawed capitalistic system. Republicans would and are clamoring for war as a solution in lieu of any other solution that isn't utter surrender. Democrats would, as a final move use deadly force in order to bring about change but not until peaceful negotiation had run it's course. The Republican doctrine of survival of the fittest would leave our seniors, children, and disabled citizens with little recourse other than begging as a means for them to exist, while Democrats believe and implement social programs designed to reduce and eliminate suffering and harm to our most vulnerable citizens. Republicans if given the opportunity, would restrict voting rights in every way that they could in order to only allow for property owners and privileged to vote for our future. Democrats are of another mindset, we Democrats would rather allow universal voting for all citizens of our country and make it available as easily as possible so that everyone could have a voice in our democracy. Do you see the reason now why it is so important to register to vote so that you can have a say in what your future could be?

The desperation of being brutalized (#2402)

We sit here safe in our seats at home here in America while the world is volatile in too many places. I feel guilty for having some safe harbor here while too many others are fleeing for their lives with all they can carry on their backs. Philosophically it reminds me that our world is not civilized enough for all of us to live in peace, yet it also reminds me that real people are trying to stop the violence enough so that we can find peace for all. Reality is more dark and harrowing. Reality is showing me that the forces that wish to keep peace at bay are still strong and forceful in their intent to kill and harm. What does this say about the nature of humanity? It isn't the humanity that I live so it tells me that there is a brutal perversion that exists among us that does not recognize the value of human life. Surely these despotic souls recognize a higher order of value for their own lives but not for anyone else's. This perverted mindset that has infected their ability to reason with a humane logic must be quelled with a strong arm since the kindness of debatable argument is impossible. We must abate those who would destroy humanity for their own brutal perversions with the same force of will even if it must include shackling and removing them from further interconnectedness with the rest of civilization. An intelligent and caring society must not only be willing to negotiate our problems with an eye toward the most doable solution, but we must also wield a heavy hand when forced to act by those who would brutally pervert our system of equality, justice and fairness. The desperation of being brutalized that too many feel now is an effect from the cause of too many societies ruled by too many perverted brutalizers.

It's okay to admit we are alone in a great big universe, it is the truth (#2401)

The truth is better than any lie we may tell ourselves. Living in the truth no matter how scary or frightening it may be is the first step to overcoming our fear and fright. The myths and superstitions we have created as a species to help us along in our sometimes trembling lives are meant to assuage the fear reality can bring about. The problem with that type of solution is that it deviates us from fact. Now look about in our society and you can see the absolute adverse effects of myths and superstitions being played out. Not only are there too many who believe in myth and superstition there are too many who are making a business of myth and superstition so much so that too much of reality and fact is ignored. I don't need a pacifier of any sort to be able to get along with my life here in this existence. I have me and the objective elements that make up existence to keep me full of wonder and care. Everything else is just noise from the fearful who have not found their courage to stand on their own ability to define fact from fiction. It is a simple solution for too many to just trust that myth and superstition must be true despite not having any logical evidence to prove it. Too many condition their minds to dismiss contrary evidence in order to maintain an illusion that makes them feel protected and safe. An illusion to make ourselves feel protected and safe is not living, it is abdicating the motivation of our curiosity. Fear will do that and fear often enough is what too may think is the ceiling they may never rise above. I can admit that I am alone in the universe because it is true. There are other beings who reside with me here in the universe but they also only have themselves. We are alone and that is okay. If we get lucky enough we can find a mate to live with us in our lives and that can help with keeping us protected and safe but that is the only real option. Otherwise it is like my life, just living as myself with no fact to anything after my life is over that the universe promises me.

Making voting easy and rewarding (#2400)

Not only should voter registration be as easy as possible for all Americans there should also be a reward for actually voting. Some small but significant option that can be utilized once a cast ballot is confirmed. As it is now we have about half of our eligible voters not voting for may reasons, including the difficult obstacles Republicans are implementing through voter restrictions. The truth of a society being a democracy is in it's citizens participating in it's elections. We cannot say we are a true democracy when we are restricting opportunities to vote and restricting the ability of our citizens to prove they are citizens. We can use Occam's razor to understand the significance of the Republican strategy to restrict voting based upon their claim of voter fraud. Since little to no evidence exists of voter fraud "the more likely reason" (Occam's theorem) for them to be restricting voting is more easily understood by who is feeling the brunt of the restrictions. Older poorer citizens, students and poorer non-caucasians are the ones who are more adversely affected by voter restriction laws. That many of this voting block are Democrat voters indicates to any sensible person that the intent of voter restriction laws is to lessen the democrat vote. Now the partisan on the republican side may well gleefully applaud this somewhat successful tactic, the other many who have a sense about patriotism and democratic principles see this as nothing more than the real voter fraud being perpetrated by Republicans. Aside from that problem, we have an electorate that is disinterested in politics mainly because we have very little truth in advertising for political ad laws. So the constant barrage of mixed messages bordering on absolute falsehood has turned off many who would otherwise like to make an informed decision based upon fact. There is also something to be said for providing a reward for those who do participate in our elections as an incentive to continue such behavior as a means of protecting and improving our democracy.

The wealthy are the problem, not the immigrant (#2399)

The wealthy are the owners of our media and communication outlets so they are successfully able to deflect their ownership of our dismal economy and instead falsely attack the immigrant as the problem. That there is little good work available is their premise and those damn immigrants are taking what there is, is what is causing our problems. The problem with that is that the wealthy are hoarding many trillions of dollars overseas in tax shelters, avoiding paying taxes on their profits here in America and the loss of most of that revenue flowing through our economy is the reason we have little opportunity for businesses to grow and flourish. We are stuck in a bad work situation because the wealthy don't want to pay their share of taxes. That is it in a nutshell so for them to be blaming our economic woes on immigration is not only false it is racist. The argument that the poor colored skin fellow and girl is our problem is wrong, it is the wealthy and their protected greed that is the problem. However the wealthy's narrative is working somewhat as we are not talking about changing the tax code to punish tax evaders or increasing our resources at the IRS in order to handle all the wealthy grifters keeping our nation in an economic stagnant state. That our middle class manufacturing jobs have gone overseas and the wealthy are actually rewarded through the tax code for doing it is even more brutish to our American citizenry's economic outlook. We cannot change these laws because Republican politicians will not do anything to upset the greedy wealthy who are their donor base. The only way to get America back on a firm economic footing is to vote for Democrats everywhere and vote out Republicans everywhere. The wealthy have stolen enough from our middle class and the time has come for them to pay it back with interest and then be punished for their behavior just like any other criminal!

We need intelligent leaders not brutish ones! (#2398)

We have tried brutish leaders who are far from intelligent as leaders and all they have done for us is very little. By very little I can't think of anything so I gave them a benefit of my uncertainty. Nothing that stands out as applaudable. The Republican party is where these brutish leaders are elected from and what is most galling is that many of us have seen this for so long yet cannot convince others from voting for them or others to participate in the vote. It is as if intelligence is being mocked for no sake at all except for harm. I so yearn to be proud of our great American electorate but have as of yet I am only slightly so. We did elect our first African American/white president during the last two national elections and that is significant for our country. Although the civil war was decided 150 years ago in favor of the anti-slavery faction, segregation and institutional racism still flourish under the guise of unequal laws. We have allowed for women to vote about 95 years ago as the law of the land but our brutish leaders from the republican party are never ending in finding ways to make laws that prohibit many women from voting. We changed the voting age from 21 to 18 back in 1971 and since then Republicans have been finding ways to subvert that right by making it hard for students to vote in the college states they attend outside the states they reside. The elderly have not much use for driver's licenses or ID cards but drivers licences and/or ID cards are increasingly required for them to vote. The obviousness of the brutish Republican party to limit the class of voter, mostly Democrat, is just another attempt by them to force us to accept their way of thinking by denying our right to choose. Republicans are not attracting us to their vision, they are thrusting it upon us through strong armed tactics. I expect nothing less of brutish leaders, so let's say we deny them a place in our politics when the next national election in 2016 arrives.

Logic versus illogic (#2397)

One the one hand is logic, where science captures our imaginations with theories and facts. On the other hand is illogic, where belief in the fantastical is given equal weight with reality. Only one of these has a function that propels us into our greatest challenges. The other is what holds us back from meeting those challenges. I have mentioned it so many times in this blog but again I will mention it again. We are biological data processors who also have the ability to compute reason from an unlimited amount of variables. We have memory for which to store comprehensively, we have intuitiveness to allow us to sense that which is less detectable by our 5 sensors. We have a will that sustains us through our curiosity and our compassion and our survival instinct. We are an adaptive processor as we are able to create and innovate from the resources surrounding us. We are an amazing species with an unlimited potential. We can only realize that potential if we are able to rationalize. To rationalize we must be able to express our thoughts and actions in ways that are compatible with each other. We use logic to do that. Logic is our order for language and it's evidentiary factualness. We must remain in reality so reality is our existence. Theories and facts give us the best hope of moving forward if we are to realize our potential. The illogic of myth, superstition and mores were used in ancient times to control civilizations for reasons other than ideality. The time to stop adhering to illogic is and has been upon us for centuries. The problem is that too many profit off of our adherence to illogic and they are greedily resistant to change. The challenge for all of us is to take stock of reality through logic and recognize that none of us is physically bound to illogic unless we so choose. So our choice is clear, embrace logic for all it's human potential or remain closeted with illogic and it's unrecognizable human value.

White privilege and black denigration (#2396)

The color of one's skin is how too many judge each other. The die was cast centuries ago when people of color were considered property by those whites who captured and then bought and sold them. The disgraceful mindset of people as property is the white races shame and being of the white race I bear the stain of my forefathers/mothers who inhumanely practiced this despicable act. Although an American civil war was fought to overcome slavery the remnants of slavery persist to this day. Low wages, poverty and a lack of education, health care and opportunity are the vehicles that keep some white's finding contentment in their never ending justification for labeling some beings lesser than them. White privilege has a home in the Republican party and anyone who votes for their candidates is enabling such cruel and brutish behavior. I am not a black man so my feelings on the denigration the African Americans and even now the Hispanic/Latine races feel is only superficial. But let me tell you, it may be superficial but it is cutting. How much worse must it feel for those who feel it's pain deep within. This existence isn't without consequence regardless of what reality is showing us. There is a sense that Karma and inverse proportion will come to show it's punishment to those who flaunt respect for life and dignity for all those who possess life. I know I work in ways that will help a proportional response to those who are either cavalier about their racism, or deeply hiding it. There is no escape from this horrible behavior that shames the rest of us who are civilized and objective thinkers. I may be of the white race but I am not an advocate for it. I am a human being and that is my race. I do not subset myself out to please those around me nor do I compromise on equality, justice or fairness. The sheer hatred that it takes to think along lines of segregation and condescension will never get any quarter or safe harbor from me and those who are like me.

Check your humanity at the door (#2395)

This Republican mantra of austerity and survival of the fittest is fine if you have no heart or care for anyone else. Is that what has made us a great country? Selfishness? I am getting older by the day and over these 6 decades I have lived the same political reality continues to be a struggle. Why are there enough souls out there that are craving to have more than anyone else? Materialism and consumerism are only by products of a society that is creative and innovative, not the end all. We have a society of civilized folks so that we can work together in order to have a more fulfilling life with a safe harbor to operate from. Hopefully we won't get anarchy but we will get less than democracy if we don't face the reality of our choices. Is it so important to be the wealthiest soul on Earth? Is that what would bring happiness to all of us? Apparently that is impossible since we all can't be the wealthiest at the same time. Why would we want to be part of a society that only celebrated the wealthy while ignoring the vast majority of the rest of us? Is it a deep seated need to validate our own existence by proving we are better than others? Are we the wild savages in literary lore that forego enlightened knowledge in order to be worshipped as some sort of demigod? Do we truly wish to condescend to all others as a reminder to ourselves that we are magnificent and better? What is it that makes us think that survival of the fittest is a better way of life than cooperating and acting as a part of the total instead of the sum of the total? Keeping an austerity derived political mindset is a brutal and punishing mindset that makes life unbearable for those who are not the brightest or more skilled among us. Who has given anyone who pushes austerity the right to judge others based upon a rigged economic system? As I continue to grow in my ageless wonder I also continue to be disappointed and enraged at our callous lack of humanity that is apparently checked at the door of America.

Faith based life style (#2494)

I cannot call it faith based "religions" since the base of religion, a creator who has given us free will, is being bastardized by too many within the faith based community. A sort of make your religion fit anything that satisfies your desires. The idea that the concept of good, which is derived from the intent of God is now up for interpretation as long as it is reasonable to our understanding, is an abomination to what good generates from. Being your brothers keeper and helping the downtrodden is not the priority of a lot of religions today. It seems that filling the pews and collecting the tithes is more important than the giving of one's actionable benevolence to anyone other than the church leaders purse. I see the wealth that many high profile preachers receive and accumulate and it sickens my heart. I am not a religious person per se, but I am a spiritual one who sees a connection to our universe and all things in it. So it is right and good of me to call out when I see those who call themselves preachers ie, the word of God, living a lifestyle that looks more like worshipping the golden calf instead of washing each others feet. Pride is the inverted effect of humility. We seem to have a slew of preachers who have much pride and little humility to their character. Now what is even worse is that religious leaders are more prone to be businessmen instead of lifters up of souls. Is it any wonder that the faith based community is in disarray and unable to evangelize with any success. Not mirroring another organization that does work and shares this tradition, "it is attraction, not promotion", nothing the current church manifests is attractive. One the contrary, the use of a burn in hell promise to prompt folks to join them is increasingly their last play to win over converts. Scaring people to join a faith based religion is brutish, although in keeping with those church leaders who prize the lifestyle of the wealthy more than the health and good will of their congregation.