Chaos

We live in an orderly Universe governed by rational laws. Mostly. The Creator threw in a wild card, chaos/ We can predict very little because we never know all the factors influencing reactions. On top of that, we have quantum influence. In the quantum, world, not only are their countless reactions happening at amazing speeds. I can only speculate, not being God that this was done to prevent a stagnant Universe. A mechanical, clockwork Universe would be incredibly boring.
There are folks, many, who are not thrilled with this. It shows up in all religions, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, even some types of Hinduism. Not so much in Buddhism, but that is really more of a psychology than a religion.
You see this among the World's leaders. They want power with the intent of establishing a World order that meets their ideas of the way things should be. Upon establishment of that World, they will fight, bully and connive, cheat, lie and even kill. This has happened over and over again throughout human history and still continues. It does not, has not and will not work for any extended period of time. For brief instants, yes, although always at a terrible price.
 The Universe will not abide stagnation and will not long tolerate those who try to impose their will over the Creation. And yet, the elite, the powerful continue to try . They are quite mad and yet they are the World's leaders and many of the populace just go along with their agenda. Maybe they hope to make some money, maybe they are scared to oppose, maybe they want to bask in the false glory of their leaders, or maybe they just are too beaten down to stand up and say no. Or maybe they want the reassurance of tyranny, preferring that to the discomfort of uncertainty.
The Universe is glorious because it will always change and always amaze. You cannot own it, you cannot possess it and you cannot control it. Because of the chaotic nature of things, chaotic in the sense that we can never know all contributing factors in a process and never be sire of the outcome,  for the same reason, all attempts to impose any individual's or any group's view on our World, is an affront to our Creator. It is an attempt to set yourself up as God and that will not work. Have a very Blessed day.

War

We humans have been fighting each other as long as we have been on this planet. By the time the early nation-states, like Sumer, rolled around, we weer fighting on a grand scale. I have no problem with self defense, but most wars are wars of acquisition. Nations want what others have, and try to take it from them.Okay, that's how it has been. Things are a bit more subtle now, but, in essence, the same. Look at the current scenarios.
No one is attacking the USA. With our nuclear arsenal, we will not be attacked. Yer, we have troops everywhere. Why?
Iraq did not attack us. Terrorists from Saudi Arabia led the 9/11 attacks. Afghanistan did harbor ben Lauder, but we found him in our ally, Pakistan's mountains He's dead, we are still in Afghanistan Iran has not attacked us. N. Korea has not attacked us. Vietnam never attacked us (the Gulf of Tonkin incident was staged' the military's own records admit this). On and on goes the list, and America's troops are still scattered all over the Earth. Men and wo,en are being killed and crippled. Why?
Thar's the easy question. Power. Control. And their stepchild, wealth. Troops are scattered simply to protect American bug business interests. To keep any country that might get a dollar richer off us, under our thumbs.
You say, what about terrorism?. Look at the facts. Most of our terrorism is home grown. Even 9/11 was done by our great allies, the Saudis.
N. Korea? They are just trying to scam is to get money and trade. They know that any attack is suicide.
The creation of nuclear arms, killed the classic idea of war. Now, we fight lottle battles for no reasons other than economic.  Or for the display of power. Poiwer is the most addictive drug their is, and its pursuit is a deep mental illness.
There will come a time, sooner rather than later, when the USA will no longer be the big dog. This has happened to every powerful, militant Nation in the history of the World and there is no reason to think we will be the exception. How will we handle that? Well. that is for those coming along now, the younger Americans. Maybe, they will finally, at long last see the lunacy of War. Or, they may choose to go out in a blaze of glory, much like Hitler did in Germany. Or they may just curl up in a little ball and whine. I have no idea. Bur, it will be their choice.
As always, have a fine and Blessed day.

The Federal Government

Any sane person will agree that the Federal Government is bloated and nearly useless. The Founding Fathers meant America to be a loose confederation of states. The Federal Government was given the right to oversee interstate commerce, so silly trade wars between the states would be kept minimal and the right to conduct international affairs, It has grown into a monster and seized absurd power. Some love this and wish it to grow larger. This would create a National Socialist state and, yes, the Nazis were just that.
The answer? In this election year. vote for anyone who wants to shrink the Federal grip. Certainly, some of these conservatives are a bit over the top, but when the Federal Government shrinks, they will find themselves with little power and the inability to carry out their wackier plans.
That will leave a power vacuum which will. if sane heads prevail,  be filled by state and local governments. This is how it was intended. The States have different needs. Florida has much different problems than Montana. Even here in Georgia, Brunswick, on the SE Coast, has many different issues than Atlanta. Keep power close to home and keep you tax money close to home. The Federal Government should balance their budget, defend the Country from direct foreign attack, settle the rare interstate commerce issues and stay out of our lives.
This election year, vote to shrink the Federal monster and return power, and your tax money, to lacal authorities, where they belong. Keep everything close to home.

Americans - Get Ready to Duck

In the last few weeks, we've had the massacre in Orlando, the bombing in Turkey, a slaughter in Bangladesh, and now, this 4th of July morning, word has come of an attempted attack on our embassy in Saudi Arabia. Also, word has been leaked to he media that Hillary will not be indicted.

I was only half paying attention, but someone on Fox news gave the most profound statement about the FBI's Hillary probe. They said that they probably did not want to continue because it would mean opening up areas that no one wanted to look into. That is likely the truth, but, guess what. I, and I am sure many others, want them opened. But, that will not happen. The lid has been shut, just as it has been shut on the JFK assassination, Watergate, Iran-Contra, 9/11, and host of other despicable acts that so many who run this Country have committed.

Start looking at Benghazi and the email scandals, dig deep enough, and you will have to start digging into the CIA, the military, the NSA and a whole hidden set of government operations. We are being forced to allow these fools to continue with their mishandling of our lives.

Richard Nixon tried to stop the Watergate investigations when he realized E. Howard Hunt was involved, saying that it might bring up the 'whole Bay of Pigs thing.' His chief of staff Bob Haldeman was puzzled, then realized that Nixon was talking about the JFK assassination. Sure enough, the Watergate Committee restricted its investigations to certain avenues, giving others a wide berth. Start digging into State Dept. activities and who knows what is lurking.

Just today, a spokesman for the coal miners said that, in the next few weeks, as policies continue, 1000s of miners will be out of work. College costs are now prohibitive, unless you take out a loan that will leave you financially crippled for decades. Obama is touting his absurd idea that strengthening the economies of other lands will create jobs in ours. Well, maybe, but you best keep practicing these words: 'want fries with that?'

The big boys, the guys running the mega corporations, are pushing forward with robotics, thus making human beings near obsolete.

And, the rest of the World is past simmering and beginning to boil as the plans of the elite, the 1% who control damn near all the wealth continue to squeeze every damn dime they can out of the rest of us. They are insane.

We are being lead by madmen, obsessed with power. Will they win? Short term? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on how long they can keep from fighting each other, and that is why ultimately, they will lose. Power does not share and they will eventually fight each other over who is the alpha male ( sorry ladies, if you have some power now, it is just an illusion they have given you to keep you quiet and out of the way. Theirs is an all male club). The question that concerns the rest of us is, what will be left when they finally kill each other off? Will any of us till be standing?

I have no answers to those questions. My crystal ball is cracked and my Tarot deck is missing a few cards. All I can do is warn you. Get ready to duck because soon, sooner than many of us realized, the crap is going to hit the fan.

As Marvin Gaye sang, "Makes me want to holler, they way the do my life." (Inner City Blues)

American Sports - Bigger, Stronger is Not Always Better

I have watched, the last 2 days, the Tournament of Champions PGA event from Hawaii. More and more, golf is becoming a power game. How far you can hit it? How strong and how fit are you? These are often the major topics of the commentators. It is impressive to watch guys bang it out there 350 yards, but there is more to the game than that.

Proof? The leader is last year's phenomenon. Jordan Speith. Jordan is a slightly longer than average driver, barely longer than average. McElroy. Dustin Johnson, Jason Day and many other players can bomb it 40 and 50 yard past him, yet Jordan was player of the year, won the Masters and the US Open and finished 4th at the British Open and second at the PGA. How? Skill combined with thought. By planning the round, by being consistent and by being a fine chipper and a superb putter, he can more than  compensate for the lack of power. The Game is mental and he is as tough as they come. You win at Golf by avoiding mistakes, minimizing the effects of the bad shots everyone hits, and taking advantage of the opportunities that arise. Power, while nice, is not always an advantage. When long drivers are off and spraying the ball all over the course, they do not score well.

Golfers now, we are told, spend countless hours in the gym. If you want to do that. fine, I guess, but think of two things. First, the past greats of the game, for the most part did no such thing. Second, look at Bubba Watson. Bubba is as long as anyone, maybe longer, but by no means is he a great muscular guy. Actually, he is quite slender. Now, I am sure he does something to stay in shape, but his power doesn't come from hours in the gym. Instead, Bubba just seems to have an instinctual feel for how to get the most out of his swing. His power is the result of impeccable timing, each part perfectly coordinated to produce the utmost results.

An example of the limits of power and training is Tiger Woods. Tiger always had power, even when he was a skinny young man and that power, like Bubba's, came from the timing of his swing. Time went by, he became obsessed with fitness and muscle, and guess what? He got very little more distance. Then, as he became more and more bloated with muscle, the injuries started, and with each injury he spent more and more time in the gym. Finally, almost inevitably, he tore up his back. After surgery? Back to the gym, back to the course, and back to surgery, twice, and now, possibly through with the game. You can overdo exercise, and, unless you are planning a career as a power lifter, you need to use great care in the drive for power. Golf, like many other sports, is more that power.

Why this emphasis in Golf. Simple. They want to be as noticed and make as much money as other sports figures. Baseball and football, have over the years, placed more and more stress on power. The results? Season ending injuries in football  have become common. In the past, football players got beat up a lot but most made it through at least most of the year without catastrophic injury. Now, it is quite common for player to be out for the year before pre-season is over.

Same with baseball. Pitchers are constantly dealing with bad arms when in the old days, they pitched often, went deeper into the game (yes, they used to pitch the whole 9 innings, frequently). Position players got banged up and pulled muscles but missing months at a time was unheard of. Too much muscle is not a good idea. The building of unnatural muscle mass does not make you a lot stronger and those muscles are easy to tear. Also, in baseball, like golf, the drive for power causes other skills to falter.

Remember, in any sport, power is nice, to a limited degree, but how strong you are is not the issue. The important thing in any game of skill, especially at the professional level, is who wins.