America _ Liberally Conservative

Americans are sometimes said to be conservative, but I don't think that is exactly accurate. I find us to be liberally conservative and that is not as contradictory as it sounds. We are more than willing to change, we simply want a good reason to do so.

We are certainly not reactionary. I know few who want a return to gas lights and horse drawn carriages. No one in their right mind wants a return to the days of unfetterd capitalism and the days of the great Robber Barons, the days of no labor laws and guys who would not hesitate to have a few heads broken if you objected to their policies. Having written that, I realize that there are  a few who do want that, but they are blessedly a minority and definitely not in their right minds.

Socially, we have become very tolerant and, again with some exceptions, we have no desire to return to the days of Jim Crow laws and no desire to heap abuse on gay people. And, again, blessedly, the days when men wanted women, as the old saying went, 'pregnant, barefoot and in the kitchen' are gone. If there are still any males looking for that, they are apt to be quite lonely because women will not put up with it.

On the other hand, we like our change slow and will reject anything that makes no sense. We insist on having a bit of time to adjust and think things through and we always reserve the right to change back to old ways if the evidence begins to show that the change was a bad idea.

This is why I think we have to have some knowledge of the past. This gives some grounding, a way to compare old and new. I will give a simple example, something silly. Years ago, Coke came out with a new version, which was awful, and folks rejected it. Coke brought back the old version, calling it 'Classic Coke' and we responded well. Something new was tried and we chose the old. However, had the new been better, we would have readily embraced the change. This is what I mean by liberally conservative; we will change,but with a good reason.

I find myself leaning toward older music, books and movies. This is not because I am a dinosaur stuck in the past. It is just because I find little of worth in the modern popular arts. I am of the belief that this is because artists no longer bother to learn the basics, the old styles, and have nothing to build on. As a result, the arts of today, for the most part, are just airy fluff, no substance, no depth. I wish I was wrong about this and I do try listening to current music, reading new authors, and watching current movies and, with a rare exception here and there, I find nothing of value.

Again, change is great, but one thing you learn with age is that you simply cannot build something unique and new. All that we are, all that we create or build carries the past with it, the countless years of work and study and experiment. It is useless to ignore that framework. It is equally useless to try to cling to that past. Grow by building on the foundations of the old. Remember Isaac Newton's great line, "I stand on the shoulders of giants." Also remember that the past didn't hold Newton captive. Move forward with the help of those past giants.

American Sundays

Sunday morning is no time for such nonsense as politics and wars, so I just want to write about being human. At one time in this Country, Sundays were a special day, a day just to relax and be the wonderful human being that you are. We have lost something great in the last 40 years or so.

Few will believe this, except those of us who are old enough (I refuse to use the phrase 'baby boomers.' I loathe that phrase.), but there was a time when darn near everything was closed on Sunday. Grocery stores, gas stations and every sort of department store simply closed on Sunday. Most restaurants closed and the few that opened were open for only a few hours. Movies and golf courses were open , but not only were there no bars open, you could not find a place open to buy any alcohol. Even the local drug store was closed. The pharmacist did post an emergency number in the window, but anyone who called that number knew they had best be near death's door when they called.

Now, of course, this was a throw back to the old Blue Laws that attempted to legislate morality down to the least deed. They were absurd; it was surprising the Churches even let us go to the bathroom on Sunday, but by the time I am speaking of, while some of those laws were still on the books, no one paid attention to that. People just took Sundays off because it was a valued tradition.

We did, and still do, need a day off, a time to do just whatever we want to, even if that is sitting there staring off into space. In fact, that is sometimes a great idea. My Dad worked himself silly; 12 hour days, six days a week were not unheard of, 5 and a half days were usual, yet, nothing could keep him from his Sunday off and that was the attitude of most everyone I knew. It was a tradition, a wonderful one.

What did we do? Lots and nothing. Big breakfasts and hours of sipping coffee and reading the big, thick Sunday paper were frequent pastimes. Golf was a favorite recreation, or sometimes a movie. A huge Sunday dinner was a constant, as was visits to relatives, where hours were spent talking about nothing, just hanging out and enjoying being together. Ball games of various sorts were watched by most and kids gathered outside to play their own, scaled down versions of the Big Time games, (ever try playing baseball with 4 man teams; it will definitely keep you on your toes).

Rainy days were sometimes the best. There were still the big meals and visits to friends and family, but, rain gave everyone a good excuse to, at least for awhile, sit back, put their feet up and do as close to nothing as possible. Books were read, movies watched on TV, board games and card decks came out, and, more often that not, naps were taken. It was wonderful.

What of Church? Well, what of it? Some went, some didn't. Among those who went, I knew few who went out of any religious fervor. To most, it was a social event, sort of like a club meeting, and that's fine. Many who never attended Church had beliefs, they just didn't like the Churches. Again, that was and is fine. Everyone relates to what they consider the sacred in their own way.

I believe that the very act of taking a day and devoting it to remembering humanity, yours and that of others, is. in itself, a sacred act.

Today, it is a rarity to find a store closed on Sunday. Many, many people are out working as I write this and I sympathize with them, especially if they are old enough to remember the days when Sunday was something special.

America Loves Experts

I have touched on this before, but I can't get it off my mind. Day after day, as you watch news programming, you are confronted with an array of experts. They pose and pontificate and sagely nod at the cameras as they talk to the hosts about the woes of the world. Only one problem, they don't have a clue what they are talking about.

What proof do I have of that? Simple. They seldom get anything right Remember back to the days of George W. Bush, henceforth to be known in this blog as the Shrub. As he launched the attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, talking head after talking head appeared to assure the American people that we would prevail and banish the evil doers in short order. 15 years later, we are still there, still fighting and watching lives destroyed by bombs and insurgency. The only difference is that we now are also involved in Syria.

We were told by countless medical experts a few years ago to get ready for a pandemic of H1N1 flu. A few cases showed up and proved to a very mild strain. Ebola was to be a scourge that would wipe out large chunks of Africa before turning to the US. It killed for a brief while and died out. More die in Africa from hideous tribal warfare than from disease. Sars was poised to spread from Asia to the west; it didn't.

On a less dire note, what we are supposed to eat and the foods we are to avoid changes on a regular basis. Coffee, alcohol, butter, milk, and red meat were all declared only slightly less toxic than arsenic; now, they are considered okay, at least until next weeks study. Water was declared the key and folks became obsessed with remaining hydrated, giving rise to the bizarre sight of people constantly strolling around with plastic water bottles. When I was young, we just had a drink before we left home and I don't recall to many people dying of dehydration. Now, the consensus is that too much water has become a real problem. Salt, which I truly thought would be banned, is now considered a necessity.

When we began to experience our deep economic collapse, back in the Shrub's day, financial experts said that while we were in a rough time, we certainly were not in a recession. They kept saying that, quite literally until the day the government said we were in a recession. "Hang onto your investments," they cried, as people lost their retirement funds. "The banks are sound," they assured, until said banks began whining for bailouts. When we bailed them out we were told that they would start immediately lending money and that would jump start the recovery. Instead they sat on the money and gave themselves enormous bonuses. (how you can get a bonus when your business almost failed is beyond me).We were assured that the housing bubble collapse was brief, as it kept worsening. "The economy has turned the corner," we were told, as unemployment continued to rise. The economy was declared sound even though jobs refused to reappear.

Why do we do it? Why do we sit and watch these idiots parade across the screen, day after day, spouting nonsense? Either these fools are deluded to the point of near psychosis or they are lying to push a point that they think will benefit themselves. Day after day, the news channels drag these numbskulls out and solemnly ask their expert opinions when, again, they are either compulsive liars or lost in Wonderland with Alice. These are people who have years of experience on top of years of study. How can they be so consistently wrong? And, more to the point, why do we Americans who have more good common sense in their little toes than these pundits do in their entire body, keep listening. Turn on the news, get the headlines, and if nothing of earth-shaking importance is going on, turn the news off. Play with the dog, read a book, go for a walk, just turn off the news. If you must keep the TV on, watch something more intellectual; I recommend SpongeBob Square Pants.

America and Donald Trump

I have recently been noticing a strange trend on the news. I really need to get away from watching the news, it is very bad for the psychic health, but I think this is both interesting and important. It seems that many in the media are daring to bring out the big guns and call Donald Trump a fascist. Now, the Donald is not my favorite person, but fascist is a) going too far and b) an incorrect use of the word. The word 'racist' is also showing up and one and two of our pompous pundits are cautiously using the word 'Nazi.'

Fascism is a specific ideology that places the entire function of the nation under the control of the state and corporations. All of the important aspects of life are controlled by the  industrial/government complex. To implement this policy, strict, very strict control is necessary, often including extreme surveillance, harsh punishment for dissenters, and strict education/indoctrination into the state agenda. Trump, to my knowledge has advocated none of these. He is pushing for surveillance of Muslims and mosques. Given the expansion of terrorism, this is just good sense; it would not seem useful to spy on Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. In addition, does any one believe for one moment that this is not being done already? Trump is simply saying what everyone is thinking.

Economically, Trump is not suggesting the state control of the economy. In fact, I have never heard him be anything but supportive of properly run small business. Socially, I have never heard him moralize, unless you call advocating the punishment of the violent and the criminal, moralizing. He does not seem to me to be especially bigoted. Yes, he has attacked the illegal Latin immigrants, but has spoke admirably of Latins who are here legally and are productive members of society. Honestly, I have never heard him make disparaging comments about Black people who are law abiding and hard working, although, like any sane person, he dislikes those who are destructive and parasitic.

Trump is a loud-mouth and a bit of a bully, of that I am convinced, but that is a far cry from being a racist, fascist, Nazi. He is certainly not politically correct, but neither am I. There is one aspect of his candidacy that I do find distressing. His populism could easily morph into demagoguery which can lead to disaster. First, the demagogue may become so enamored with his power that he seeks to expand into a sort of dictator. Second, those around the demagogue may, behind the scenes, co-opt his power and put it to their own use, leaving him as the figurehead for an agenda he had no intention of developing. So the candidacy of the Donald does have risks, but look at the alternative.

Hillary Clinton is an extension of old President Willie Clinton who was a forerunner of our current dunce, Barak Obama. This sleazy trio make a great pretense of being liberal but, if you look at their deeds and policies, you see a clear attempt to turn this Nation into a State and Corporate controlled  economy with all of us marching in lock step as good little cogs in the machine. Left in their hands, the Country will rapidly turn into an Orwellian nightmare, or will become a hotbed of revolution that would make our Founding Fathers take notice and while revolution always sounds grand and romantic, it is not. Necessary on occasion, but definitely to be avoided if possible. Do not allow that woman in the White House. For a detailed and frightening look at the history of the Liberal/Progressive agenda, I urge you to read Jonah Goldberg's book "Liberal Fascism."

Will I vote for Trump? Maybe, but not enthusiastically, and if he is elected I believe we will have to keep a very sharp eye on his actions. I would rather see a saner, calmer voice step forward, but I really don't see much hope of that and I, without exaggeration, would vote for Homer Simpson before I voted for Hillary.  

Be Thankful America

We all love Thanksgiving with all of the good food and relaxing pastimes, football, parades, and just plain laziness and I would wager that most of us do remember to offer a word of thanks for the people that make our lives worth living, but I would like to say 'thanks' to this weird country we live in,

I am thankful I grew up in the 50s, when America's middle class was booming and building this science fiction fantasy we live in. I am thankful I was around in the 60s, when we (well at least a good number of us) had a whole lot of fun pushing the limits of freedom and exploring the nature of consciousness. We have to be thankful for the sheer goofiness of the 70s and the return to serious work in the 80s. And of course, we must give thanks for the amazingly rapid development of high technology in the 90s.

However, we must not forget the downsides. If we do, we lose perspective and have learned nothing. The 50s were filled with the tension of the Cold War, the 60s erupted into horrible violence, the 70s gave us cocaine, Quaaludes and disco, the 80s morphed into pure greed and the 90s tech bubble burst almost as quickly as in grew (plus, the 90s gave us the despicable Clintons). Of all of these negatives, I believe disco, an insult to 1000s of years of Western music, was the greatest evil.

I still have little idea how I should view the last 15 years. On a National and World wide level, I don't see a whole lot to cheer about and I see little sign that things are getting better. There are a few good omens. There seem to be some young folks who are learning and eager to move us out of this deep rut we seem to be stuck in. There are some older folks who seem willing to give council to those younger without resorting to preaching, lecturing and moralizing. On the other hand, you still have kids who can't stop texting long enough to hold a conversation or eat a meal and a bunch of older folks who just want to sink away into a world of cocktails, hours at casinos, overpriced dinners and poorly played rounds of golf. It's a tough time to get a grip on.

But, no matter what else is happening, people still fall in love, raise families, have some fun and generally enjoy as much as their life as they can, so things are not all that dire. Just a few adjustments, a minor tweak here and there, and we can get things rolling again. So, hang in there. Things could be worse and, odds are, fairly soon, they will get a lot better.

American Energy Needs and Climate Change

Our President seems to have decided that the possible, future problem of climate change is more important than the immanent danger of terrorism. So be it. The man is decidedly bullheaded and will not be swayed from his chosen course.

The rest of us have the need for energy and there is no reason to deny that or to do without. Climate change is real and always has been. The climate this morning is different from last night and will change again tonight. On a long term scale, we simply don't know. We only have details for recent history and only vague ideas from distant history. When it comes to ancient times, it seems that we have gone through many cycles. Why? No one knows. There are theories aplenty, but they are just that theories, and are only good until the next one comes along. Even those doing the theorizing have reached no agreement, not even tentatively.

In the meantime, politically and economically, we have to tread softly, lest we offend some of the countries that are pumping the stuff like water(which, by the way, will soon be a real problem. More on that in a future post). We do not need their oil. We have vast reservoirs of oil and even larger ones of natural gas. We still have mountains of coal. Lands stripped of coal have been successfully reclaimed and we know how to pump and transport petroleum safely. If you stop and think, all of the horrific oil well accidents and tanker crashes have involved equipment operated by non-Americans. We are very, very good at what we do, so. until we get a few kinks worked out in alternative sources, get the mines and pumps working.

I really do not believe that what we burn affects the climate that much and here is why. Cows, in herds, emit, by their flatulence, a whole lot of a major greenhouse gas, methane. Now, long ago, there were herds of dinosaurs. Just imagine the amount of gas emitted by dinosaur farts. And yet, the Earth is still here and still bursting with life.

Still, no one really wants the air filled with smog, so we need to use other sources. Sun, wind, geothermal all are effective in some areas to some degree. Maybe that can be improved and we should work on that. Hydrogen has been mentioned as a possibility but it is very volatile. We would need to figure out how to tone that down a bit. Some places are using garbage to use as fuel. Rotting organic matter emits methane which can be captured and used. All of these methods should be streamlined and improved. They can help.

The real key is nuclear. Nuclear power is clean, relatively cheap, and, with proper plant maintenance, safe. The only problem is disposal of the spent, but still highly radioactive fuel rods, and critics are correct when they say that burying them in caves and abandoned mines is unacceptable. But, there is a solution. Physicists report that those rods can be recycled, the physics to do that works out nicely. All they need to do is sit down with engineers and a fair amount of money and work out the details.

In other words, instead of running around the world, trying to promote draconian environmental laws, our President could be doing something useful. Instead of crippling a shaky economy and putting more of a  strain on the American middle class (what little bit is left of it) he could be convening conferences with leading scientists, engineers and businessmen and trying to find a workable solution.

As far as the climate goes, just remember this; if a herd of farting stegosaurs could not wipe out life, it is unlikely that your KIA will.

Is Paris Burning - Part 5

Confused? So am I. Just remember a song title from the 80s, Tears for Fears' Everybody Wants to Rule the World. That sums up our problems. Why that is, I can't imagine. since I can barely rule myself.

What can we do? Experts say this will be a long, long fight. Only if we lack will. Remember, we beat Germany and Japan in WW2 in only 4 years. There is no reason we can't beat an army of an estimated 30000, quickly. We know that they are headquartered on the northern Syria-Iraq border. Seal their supply routes from the south, east and west using a combination of bombing and ground troops/ Allow no one in or out. Much of their money comes from black market oil. Destroy the oil fields. Place ships off the coast and allow no one out. Then, bomb the cities to oblivion. Then send in ground troops to clean out any surviving ISIL fighters. Job done. Then let the world know that this is how we will deal with things in the future.

Will we do this? Probably not. We  seem to have forgotten that in war, people, including civilians, die. This is a nightmarish scenario, but it works, and we have done it before. Folks today don't know history. In WW2, we demolished Dresden, Germany and Tokyo, Japan with conventional bombs and Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomics. We ended the war. Again, this was brutal, bur war is ugly. The idea is to win and win quickly. However, our current administration lacks the will to win. The good news? Russia is now angry and seems willing to do the job.

To stop terrorism in individual countries, there must be intelligence cooperation and, for good or ill, certain groups and individuals must be targeted. Let's be honest. An 80 year old Irish-American Granny is far, far less likely to be a danger than an 18 year old Arab. Fair? No, of course not, but the world is simply not fair. Any one caught planning or attempting to carry out any act of terror must be stopped, terminated if need be. If not a citizen, deport them immediately.

Much of the funding for terrorism comes from drug trafficking. Burn the poppy field in Afghanistan and the heroin trade will be greatly damaged. If they plant again, spray the land with defoliants. They will soon get the idea and, at home, we can begin to get a grip an what has become a horrible problem.

As far as refugees are concerned, I have no idea what Europe can do. I believe that at least some will defy the EU position and close their borders. With winter coming on, they had best do something quick or there will be disaster.

In the US, we should not allow them in. We, by current estimates have 500000 homeless in our land, 1/4 of those are children and many are veterans we promised to take care of. We cannot even agree on funding health care for the 9/11 first responders. We cannot take in more. In addition, entering under such conditions would be the perfect avenue for those of evil intent to disappear from intelligence surveillance, enabling them to plot and to recruit those already disaffected. If we wish to help, we could, with cooperation from the Saudis and the UAE (who, by the way refuse to take in refugees), set up temporary tent communities, supplying the poor with food, water and sanitation.

As far as the Global Elite are concerned, their power is often overrated. You will read, on the Internet and in various books, that the game is over, that the Powers that Be, run everything. Far from it. They have never achieved their goal of total domination and they have just lost control again. Power is back in the grasp of common people. We just need to grasp it.

The PTB will not give up, such is the nature of their sickness, but they likely will step back into the shadows for awhile and wait for another opening. Or, they may turn their attention to another region. If I were in India or South America or South Africa, I would watch my back.

The PTB will not win. Even if they get close to their goal, they will rapidly degenerate into factions and they will implode. In addition, there will always be ordinary folks who will only be pushed so far and the American common man is about as stubborn and ornery as any can imagine. No, the elite will not win, nor will they lose. They will rise and fall, always coming back, like a bad yeast infection, and we must always be vigilant. Such is the way of the World.

You may think I have forgotten Israel Not at all. Israel has served the purpose of the elite in their push for domination and they are no longer of interest to the Powers that Be. The power game is over for now, and Israel will have to sink or swim on its own. Let's be honest, the only real concern for Israel in this country comes from the Jewish community, a significant minority of the population, and the Evangelical Christian, a rapidly diminishing minority. The Evangelicals are only interested because Israel plays a significant role in their demented Apocalyptic world view. However, they are still a wild card in the terrorist game because, God knows when they will take a notion to attack Iran. Desperate people, and Netanyahu seems desperate to me. are unpredictable.

Two last points. We have a President, for the next year, who cannot be trusted. He threatens to govern not by cooperating with Congress, but by Executive Order. The House has passed a bill rescinding the law that allow him to bring in the refugees. If the Senate does the same, he will veto it. You must let your Congressmen know that if they do not get together enough votes to override that veto, that they have served their last term in Congress. He is still pushing draconian climate laws and a terrible trade pact with Pacific countries and he must not be allowed to do so. He, from time to time, threatens to enforce gun control and possibly confiscation, by Executive Order. If he does so, the case must be taken into the Courts immediately. He has no Constitutional right to do that. Yes, other Presidents have used Executive Orders, but far less than he has. The issue has never been taken to the courts and it is time that it was. And, if you think Obama has been a disaster, you had best try to keep Hillary as far as possible from the White House.

Is Paris Burning? - Part 4

Why? Why does this madness continue? On and on, bombings, beheadings, hostages and secret cells dominate the news. The answer is simple, one word, Power. Power is to some, more addictive than heroin, more addictive than sex, more addictive than wealth. Why that should be is beyond the scope of this series; it is sufficient to understand that  there are many in this world who seek domination of everything. As I said in Part 1, it has been this way at least since the rise of the Sumerian city-state, probably much longer.

That last statement has led people to some peculiar notions. As you search books and the Internet, you find quite a few claiming that the current search for control is a direct continuation of the Egyptian Empire, that the current global elite is a continuation of the Egyptian Pharaohs and priests and their Mystery cults, proving that such folks know nothing about Egypt or the mysteries. Others claim the elite are the old Illuminati. No. Yes, there was an Illuminati and they fell apart long ago. Now, it is sure that our present would-be rulers share some Illuminati beliefs and use some of their tactics, but they are not a continuation of that group that has hidden underground.

That brings us to the much loathed Freemasons, the scourge of humanity, some would have you believe. The Freemasons are simply a quasi-mystical social club that does an incredible amount of great charitable work. My Grandfather was a Mason and I can promise you that the only thing he tried to dominate was a bottle of Bacardi. Now, there are some very wealthy, powerful men in the Masons and I am sure that they have discussed a few shady doings while hanging out together but, the same can be said of any such group, be it Government, Social, Political or Religious.

Finally, we are not in the midst of a great Satanic conspiracy. The powerful in  the world are not gathering in board rooms to chant Black Masses and sacrifice virgins. It is possible and maybe even likely, that some of these folks do have a belief in older pagan religions. This is not uncommon, even among professed Christians, but that doesn't mean that they are lopping off heads or constructing giant Wicker Men. There is a chance that a few might hope to appease the Old Ones with sacrifice but, if that is so, the myriad wars we fight certainly provide enough blood.

Now the powerful, Global Elite have been around for as long as we have been on this Earth and what they say they believe, what past cults and philosophies they claim allegiance to, whatever deities they bow to, they are just sick, twisted individuals who want total control over everything.

They are excellent at maneuvering, plotting, and dividing. They divide to conquer. In the Middle East, they have met their nightmare, a group dominated by a religion that insists on world domination. Make no mistake, do not fall for gentle rhetoric, Islam, in its sacred teachings, makes clear that it believe Allah has given them a command, to convert the entire world and destroy all opposition. Now, there are Moslems who say that is symbolic, that they are to conquer the world with clever argument and by living exemplary lives. I will take them at their word, although I have my doubts because, their Holy Book is filled with calls to battle and speaks freely of death to infidels.

The Global Elite has hoped to keep them from uniting. They put Israel in there to spy and keep the region upset. They armed them to the teeth, finally giving them nuclear weapons as a way of rubbing salt in Moslem wounds. They knew that the Islamic world would not unite because they hate each other as much as they hate the West. There are tribal conflicts in that region that far predate the Bible. They led coups against moderate leaders and replaced them with monsters and it worked. The region was dominated but, the monsters became to enamored with their own power and had to be replaced by 'reasonable' men who would play ball with the West. There is where things got sticky. We created groups like al-Qaida to help oust the monsters, but they thought the game was real and began a push to unite Islam and toss out the West.

The global Elite wants a New World Order, a One World Government, terms I am sure you have heard. That is real. The Bushes have tossed this term around, as has Carter, Clinton and Obama. British leaders have done the same. Top Presidential advisors such as Kissinger and Brzezinski, have pushed for this. This is the goal of ridiculously powerful groups like the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg's, and the Council on Foreign Relations. A man influential in all 3 of those groups is David Rockefeller. He has stated in no uncertain terms that their goal is the diminishing of national sovereignty, and the establishment of a one world government.

This is nothing new. We should remember that the Catholic Church long held such a vision and that the secular powers that be, the predecessors of our current Globalists, foiled that dream. It seems that in Islam, they have met a much more difficult foe.

The forces that the Powers created to mold the world to their liking have morphed into a hydra, a many-headed monster bent on destroying them, and the rest of us Westerners in the process. They think nothing of killing any Moslem who dares to disagree with them and they have no fear of death and they are masterful at recruiting young, poor, hopeless youth from around the world, especially in Europe and the USA. Their recent activity has undone one of the Globalists great works, the creation of the European Union, which cannot withstand the influx of countless dirt poor refuges especially when any number of them may be plotting to kill their hosts. Either Europe gets a grip on this immediately, or the Home of Western Civilization will fall.

In the fifth, and final part of this series, I will look at what can be done and what is likely to happen.

Is Paris Burning - Part 3

9/11 changed everything, but we need to remember its roots. Step back to the days of the Carter White House when the Soviet Union did something that I still don't understand, they invaded Afghanistan. The reason I always have heard is that they wished to build and control an oil pipeline across that poor country. That would make sense except that Russia has fine ports on the Black Sea and can move all the oil it wants through there. But, whether it makes sense or not, they did it. We, of course were upset, but we had no intention of starting WW3 over this so we used an old tactic. We got another group to do our fighting.

Our CIA began financing and training the Afghani Mujahedeen, which later became known as the Taliban. However, they were woefully outmanned so we got them help. Remember earlier, I mentioned Egypt's Moslem Brotherhood. After WW2, we took over the Nazi intelligence network. This is not 'conspiracy theory,' our government acknowledges this. They hated us and we hated them, but that never stopped groups from working together, so we armed and trained them and sent them to Afghanistan. One particular recruit stood out, a Saudi named Osama ben Lauden. We did get them to change their name, since the Moslem Brotherhood was not much loved. They became al-Qaida. They did the impossible, they fought and finally ousted the Soviet troops. We were thrilled with this and offered to help modernize that backward country. They said, no thanks and told us to leave and told us that while we were at it, we should just get out of every Islamic nation. It seems that while they love some modern appliances, they want to keep their people's minds back in the 10th century. We, of course disagreed and here is where things got really weird.

Kuwait owed Sadam money and Iraq was broke, so he decided to use force to get his cash, not a surprising tactic for a thug. Bush 1, himself a CIA man, invaded, showed the world our muscle, and left. I think that was the only point, a display of power. At least he then pulled out, but the damage was done.

In the meantime, Israel was still fighting with the Palestinians, Iran began working on its nuclear program, and throughout the rest of the Islamic world, leaders still lived high and seemed to delight in brutalizing their people. Libya funded some terrorist activities, as did the Saudis and the UAE. Then, while Clinton was in office, a plot to bomb the World Trade Towers was foiled. Of course the would be bombers were Islamic and tensions just kept climbing. Then, shortly after Bush 2 took over, the planes hit the Twin Towers.

We likely will never know exactly what happened on that day, but no one in their right mind buys the official story. We know that a lot of good intelligence was ignored, or at least down played. Some suggest that there was more going than this obvious incompetence. Were there US Government officials involved in this attack? I don't think so, not in the way most think of the government, but we have long known that there are people who function in a shadow world behind the Government and they believe that the ends justify the means. They will advance their agenda at any cost and they seem to be able to stop the overt government from exposing them, probably through bribes, blackmail and just plain threats. Remember, and these are things we know, not suspicions, that certain elements in the CIA ran heroin from SE Asia to fund Cuban exiles opposing Castro and we know Ollie North and his merry band flew mountains of cocaine into Mena, Arkansas to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. We also know that, in violation of International Treaties, these same folks have sponsored coups and carried out assassination's in countries such as Guatemala, the Congo, and Chile. I am not saying that all of the CIA or all of Military Intelligence are involved in black ops, but there is a certain rogue faction.

However, because we just don't know enough, let's pretend to believe the official story of 9/11.  Responsibility was claimed by al-Qaida. After a brief period of negotiation with the Taliban, who turned down our request for them to turn over ben Lauden, we invaded, and have been there ever since. We are still fighting against a determined group of Afghanis, forgetting how much these folks love to fight. So far, we have gained only one thing, cheap heroin.

When the Taliban threw out the Soviets, they destroyed the poppy fields, wanting nothing to do with the heroin trade. When we invaded, they replanted, understandable since they had to fund the fight somehow. At the same time, drug manufacturers in this country began pushing a new pain killer, OxyContin, saying that is was nor only effective, it had almost no risk of addiction. They knew that was nonsense since, in fact, it was an old drug, invented by the Germans in the 30s. It was then called Eukodol and it was known to be horribly addictive. Oddly enough, when the cheap heroin started hitting American streets, doctors suddenly realized that Oxy was awful and cut way back on prescriptions, leaving a lot of strung out citizens hunting relief. Well, there it was cheap, easily available heroin and it is a seldom mentioned, but extremely serious problem. Junkies are no longer ghetto dwellers and old hippies, Grandma and Grandpa and suburban parents are often strung out and, again, this nightmare is pretty much ignored by our news media.

At about the same time, we blamed Sadam for the attacks. This must have surprised him, since he hated ben Lauden. We also swore that he had the infamous weapons-of-mass-destruction. Setting aside the fact that we gave him those weapons, we knew that he had used up his supply in the attacks on the Iranians and the Kurds. He allowed UN inspectors in, they said that there were no such weapons present. Bush 2 said that he just didn't believe that and in we went. We seemed to have won until a strange thing happened. Our old buddies al-Qaida set up shop in Iraq and started a seemingly endless string of bombings. We finally were asked by the Iraqi government to leave and we did, sort of, and it seemed that maybe things would die down.

Across the Islamic world, things were not calm. In Africa, Boko Haram reared its head. However, this area has seen so much horrific tribal conflict, that their activities probably seemed like business as usual, and, to be blunt, Americans are not much concerned with Africa. Arab countries, oddly, all seemed to, at the same time, rose up and threw out old dictators. I am sure al-Qaida had a large hand in this, and the people were successful. However, they had not thought past revolution and these countries are all now chaotic messes. The Saudis and the UAE have held on by continuing to brutalize their population and Iran, while beset with internal conflict, has kept a lid on their simmering citizens. In Syria, however, Assad has hung tough. And then, up popped the Devil.

While al-Qaida still was effective in pulling off small actions, it was fading a bit. Since their glory days of 9/11, the Madrid train bombings and the London attacks, they had done nothing spectacular. The came ISIL, a fresh, young and, to give the Devil his due, very effective group of brutal psychopaths. They know how to use social media to recruit, how to rapidly train and deploy those recruits and they can really make videos that appeal to budding, murderous creeps. They have taken large chunks of Iraq, even larger chunks of Syria and have extended their reach into Europe. This brings us up to the current attack on Paris.

There are those who say that we control al-Qaida and ISIL, that this is all a set up by US intelligence to justify military action and foment terror in the land. I don't believe this. For sure, we created al-Qaida, just as Victor Frankenstein created his monster. Like the doctor, we have lost control of our monster, don't know how to kill it, and it wants to kill its creator. There may be, in fact it is likely that, there are a few deep black ops people who have a hand in this, but I don't think you can lay this madness at the feet of the CIA or Military Intelligence. You can however deplore their lack of any ability to get a grip on this nightmare.

We are learning that ISIL has operatives in much of the Middle East, Europe, and SW Asia. They are responsible for bringing down a Russian airliner, and there is no doubt that they are recruiting in the lands south of Russia, countries like Chechnya, where there is long standing animosity toward the Russians. There is also no doubt that they are in America and that they are coming after us.

In the next part, we will look at the deep reasons why all of this mess has gone on so long and why it keeps getting worse, but I have to make one comment first. If you look around the Internet, you will see the term 'false flag' tossed around. This means that the event in question was phony, that it was just a sham to scare people, or that the accusing party actually did the deed and is framing the other group. Do not fall for that. These attacks are real, people were slaughtered. Are there phony events? Occasionally, sure, but rarely, because if they are ever exposed, the parties responsible lose the power to shock and remember, this is all about power. Besides, it is easier to let a bunch of psychos carry out a real attack than it is to stage a fake, especially when you have no qualms about letting a bunch of folks get killed. Plus, there are plenty of murderous lunatics ready to kill.

Is Paris Burning? Part 2

Before I continue with history, I must comment on the Presidential news conference I just saw. The definition of insanity, someone once said, is to continue doing the same thing and expect different results. Yet, that is Obama's plan. I will return to this lunacy later.

After WW2, Israel was created out of Palestine and the seeds of our current series of disasters were sown. To keep things brief, just know that wars were fought with their neighbors and refugees flooded Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. The Palestinians who did not leave were finally shoved into tiny areas and Israel has been squeezing them tighter and tighter ever since. The Palestinians live in a desperate, near hopeless situation and do what most any of us would do, they fight. There have been countless uprisings, each doomed before it started. This did, however prompt the formation of the PLO, and thus began the rise of terrorist organizations. The PLO has since given way to Hezbollah and the madness continues.

After continuous squabbling, Israel and Egypt reached an understanding and very quickly the 2 leaders who signed the treaty were shot. The Palestinians in Lebanon kept attacking Israel and, while unsuccessful, did manage to form a party, Hamas, which took  over the Lebanese government in reasonably free elections and The US has been upset about that ever since.

We have been upset before. At one time, Iran was led by a monster, the Shah. He was deposed and, again in fair elections, Iran chose a leader,  Mosaddegh. He demanded better pay from England for Iranian oil and when told no, nationalized their oil. This did not sit well with the US or Britain, so we called him a Communist and British intelligence, with the CIA, organized a coup, ousted him and put back the Shah. We didn't count on the stubbornness of the Iranians however and they again ousted the Shah and brought in the Ayatollah Khomeini, threw all Westerners out and have been a mortal enemy ever since.

We did get our way in Iraq, a state created when we broke up the Ottoman state after WW!. After a series of useless monarchs, we got our boy, Sadam Hussein, in power, and he did his job. He went to war with Iran. He didn't win, nor did he lose. The war just sort of petered out, but not before he used the chemical weapons we gave him on the Iranians killing 1000s. Just for good measure, he used them on some of his own people, the troublesome Kurds. By the way, we have admitted we gave these weapons to him, a violation of several International treaties, not to mention all standards of human decency.

As to the rest of the Middle East, things sort of drifted along. Jordan tried to be neutral, Syria's own monster, Assad, played both sides. Saudi Arabia , whose leaders had at least had sense enough to keep control of their own oil, grew rich and fat, and in support of their radically conservative Wahabbist beliefs, poured fortunes into various terrorist groups.

Of course, Libya had as its leader, one of the world's true lunatics, Moammar Gadhafi, who also supported terrorism. Yemen was little known and under the thumb of, yes, another brutal dictator. Qatar was of no importance, neither was Morocco and Algeria ( they seemingly had used all of their energy throwing the French out). The UAE, like Saudi Arabia, grew rich on oil and stayed quiet. Yes, they too have a brutally repressive regime. However, they do build awesome resorts. There has always been a Moslem presence in Africa and, slowly, it gained more and more power.

Further East, we have Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan, since it was created as a place for Moslems to go when India gained independence from India, has spent most of its existence quarreling with the Hindus and oppressing its own people. In this case, that oppression may have been a good idea because their people are very hostile tribesmen who just love fighting, as do their brothers in Afghanistan. This is understandable since there isn't much to do in either country. They are so strictly Islamic that they are forbidden almost anything created after the Stone Age. Those lands are barren stretches of rock, mountains and sand and are worthless, unless you are a goat herder. Well, actually not worthless. Afghanistan, at one time, produced some very fine hashish. I have no idea if they still do that, but they definitely have one other domestic product, opium, and this, we will see in the next installment, is one of the keys to the present problems.

Thus you have a thumbnail sketch of the events leading up to our current environment of terror. Next stop, 9/11 and after.  
 

Is Paris Burning? and is America Next

Is Paris burning is the question Hitler asked after the Nazi invasion of France and the question is now relevant again. For the first time since WW2, the borders of France were closed and the country is all but under military rule. This is perfectly understandable in the wake of the most recent nightmare of terror.

I was going to write about business in America, but that can wait. Americans need to come to grips with the world's reality. To do that we need to understand history.

The world has been a bloody mess since, well, the beginning of the human race. Wars of conquest have been the rule since a few men decided that they should take charge of the tribes they lived in. Why? Power, something far more addictive than heroin.  Why should that be? I am sure Freudians would search personal histories for clues, while Jungians would cite over identification with archetypes. Hindus would say that some people get stuck in a lower chakra and Eric von Danikkan would blame Ancient Aliens. David Ickes and his ilk would say that power mad rulers carry alien blood and are really Reptilian Shape-shifters. Staunch Christians would blame the Prince of Darkness and tell tales of Satanic rites. Personally, I do believe dark spirits are influencing the power mad, but we, for now at least, stay on the Earth and in the four dimensions of space and time.

For this discussion we will stick to the Middle East. Long ago, city states formed and quickly began to fight over territory, eventually evolving into Empires. Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Hittites, all rose and fell. What is seldom mentioned is the continuing quarrelling among the smaller tribes. The large Empires cared little about internal fighting as long as they got their taxes. All of these smaller groups fought frequently, among them the Hebrews, Edomites, Moabites, Canaanites. All of the battles covered in the Bible were simply minor spats among neighboring tribes.

This idiotic fighting was not just restricted to the Levant. All through an area stretching from Mediterranean to Kashmir and north to Southern Russia. Greece, Persia and Rome conquered the whole mess and imposed a very uneasy peace. However, no empire lasts and after the slow fall of Rome, Islam took control. As to be expected, all sides in this never ending tribal conflict jockeyed for position, factions rose and fell, and eventually, as we entered the modern era, the Ottoman Empire took over the region. Yes, I know this is a very simple view of a massively complex history, but I do not intend to spend the rest of my life on this, and to be honest, this sketchy background is enough to set the stage for more modern developments.

Oil has been the king of commodities for well over a century and for some reason, millions of years ago, many dinosaurs very courteously decided to die in the Middle East and leave an ocean of oil under the sand. The British quite kindly offered to start removing it and in the ancient land of Persia, started drilling. A few years later, WW1 broke out and here is where things started getting weird.

Germany was kicking English rear end and England wanted the US to bail them out, however, President Wilson had twice promised to keep us out. The German House of Rothschild Bank contacted a British leader and said, hey, we know a close advisor of Wilson who will change his mind if you English will promise to create a Jewish state in Palestine. Thus was born the Balfour resolution.

After the war, which the US did enter and win, the world descended into the Great Depression and the resolution was put on hold. Germany found out what Rothschild had pulled and, understandably upset, started restricting Jewish financial activity. Jews responded by instigating a world wide boycott of German products, which was very effective and hurt the already crippled German economy. This fed the fire that was being set by one of histories true madmen, Adolf Hitler, who played the German people like a fine violin and WW2 and the Holocaust followed.

Oddly enough, during WW2, a group of Muslims, the Muslim Brotherhood, fell in love with der Fuhrer, and the first of the radical Islamic groups was born.

There you have a basic and overly simple view of what started our current wave of madness, In the next installment, we will look at the rise of extremism and the role the US played in all of this. We are certainly not blameless.

American Television - A Wasteland the size of the Gobi Desert

 

Like many of you, I watch a lot of TV, too much, way too much. I am of the first generation to grow up with TV. My folks enjoyed it, but watched very little. Actually, I watched very little, but not by my choice. As I grew, I watched more and more, until, with the exception of my wild days in the '60s, I just seemed to automatically turn the set on when I entered the house. I still do that and recently have begun to ask just what is wrong with me.                                    

I get up in the morning to the news and usually within 20 minutes I have absorbed the days doings, at least all they are going to explain. For reasons I do not understand, I leave it on for hours of analysis that explains nothing. The rest of the day is spent turning from one ancient rerun to another. Blessedly, I get the Golf Channel and four days a week I can watch a tournament or two.                                                                                                                                                              

Now I execpt full responsibilty for my addiction and I am going to work on that, but I sometimes wonder what the various networks are thinking. For example, the USA network shows Law and Order SVU, NCIS, Modern Family, and occasionally CSI. That, plus a few movies, is their lineup. And when I say a few movies, I mean a few. They have a handful of second rate movies they show repeatedly. TNT shows Charmed, Supernatural, Bones and Castle, day in, day out, again broken by a scattering of movies.  

 At one time, i could count on Discover, National Geographic, and the History Channel for some decent programming, but no more. Now, Discover is dominated by shows about commercial fisherman, Nat Geo is obsessed with Alaskan Law enforcement and History is a blend of Pawn Stars, American Pickers, and Ancient Aliens. Yes, sometimes those things are interesting and they do, here and there, throw in a few other features, but they do not vary things a lot.  There used to be The Learning Channel, TLC, that did a lot of fascinating, educational programs, but last time I checked, they seemed to show little but wedding and party planning. Bravo used to have some great cutting edge programs about the Arts, now all they show is Real Housewives. Anyway, you get my point.     

Again, this idiotic addiction is my fault and I am writing this because I imagine that many others out there are suffering the same hang up. There is more, however. All of the networks make huge money by selling advertising on these shows. If we do not watch them, their revenue would drop, and they would either go broke or get better programs to regain their viewers, that is how our economic system works, supposedly. I would be curious to see if that really would happen. I suspect not. I think that many businesses are not concerned with making money. If you own a huge conglomerate of businesses, it is often uselful to set one or two up to lose money. This allows you to manipulate your corporate taxes. It also may be a sign of something even shadier, something very sinister. That will be the topic of my next post. In the meantime, just say no to Pawn Stars.

Our American Obsession with Health

The world, and this country, gets weirder and weirder. Now, I have no problem with weird, but I cannot quite wrap my brain around our current dementia.       

We seem to have no soul, no heart, left. Sure, people, some, here and there, display a bit of courage and kindness, but we have become so timid, so frightened. I suppose that is somewhat understandable, we have been through some rough spots, but come on, folks. What we have seen is nothing compared to what my folks saw. They went through World War 2, after scuffling through the Depression, and came through it all ready to roll. To prove it, they built this techno-wonderland we now live in.                                                                                        

We are besieged with advice from our government about our lifestyles. Every week we are told new things from our ever vigilant food fascists. No meat, especially no processed meat. No butter, no margarine, now no vegetable oils at all. Fried foods are a near sin. Eggs may be okay, but no more than one or two a week. Maybe. They'll get back to us on that one. Milk, well maybe, but you really should stick to soy or rice milk. And on and on it goes.               

To make things worse, the restrictions are changed at an ever increasing  rate. Two weeks ago, an announcement came out proclaiming red meat to be perfectly safe, this after years of declaring it a near poison. But, before you can grab a burger, they tell us that it likely causes kidney cancer. For years we were warned off whole milk, now they say that skim and lo-fat are no better. Butter was akin to cyanide for a long time, now it is said to be safer that the once touted margarines. Fry in vegetable oils, not animal fats, was once the word from on high. Now, we have just been told, avoid all vegetable oils.                                                                     

My folks and all the parents of every kid I knew, lived on bacon, eggs, sausage, steaks, and butter. They smoked, drank gallons of coffee and most consumed a fair amount of alcohol. They worked hard, so hard that there was no need to work out in gyms. Even if they worked in offices, taking care of their property and keeping up with their kids kept them in perfectly acceptable shape.                                                                                                                                               

Again, without all the fuss and without the advice from our meddlesome government and the busy- body researchers who are trying to justify the grant money they scammed out of foundations, they built the most amazing civilization the planet has ever seen. And here we sit, whining because that donut we snuck the other day may take ten minutes off our life (it likely will not hurt you half as much as worrying about it).                                                  

Admittedly, they may (emphasis on may) have lived a year or two longer if they had cut back a bit on a few things, but what good is that if you are not productive, if you are just worrying about lasting a while longer. I worked for years around old folks and now that I am getting there myself I can tell you that being old in this country is no picnic. I refuse to be shoved aside and ignored and I definitely refuse to try and eke out an extra year or two by watching every morsel I eat, or by spending hours tormenting my already much worn body in a gym. I have too much to do to worry about stretching out my final years. I love life too much to waste it by clinging to it.

Sports in America - the Farce Continues

Americans worship sports, not God, not Jesus, not Allah, nor any other deity. In small towns, throughout the heartland of the Nation, parents gather to adore their fledgling gods as they beat the snot out of each other on the gridiron, ignoring the countless concussions, broken bones, and occasional deaths that befall these wee warriors. When old enough, if blessed with the speed of a cheetah and the power of a raging hippopotamus, they take the National stage of college football. Oddly, they are given full scholarships. The word scholarship, containing the root word scholar, seems to indicate an academic slant to the whole thing, but, I swear, it is an absolute miracle that some of these guys even find the football field. Why don't they just create a minor league for pro football and let the universities get back to their stated business, education, something they do a dreadful job of.

Those Titans who survive college ball earn the right to play in the big time, the NFL, where, according to statistics, 93% will wind up with CTE, a devastating brain condition. Still, America demands entertainment, even if it requires large dumb men to beat each other senseless.

Baseball is less violent, but just as inane. I used to love baseball, but now the game is badly played by guys who, in days past, would not have advance past Double A ball. At one point, MLB had 2 players making $100000, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. The great Stan Musial had to beg the Cardinals to pay him the same, even after long years of brilliant play. Now, .240 hitters who can barely field their position make 7 figure salaries. Pitchers, at one time, were expected to go 9 innings and called it a bad outing if they didn't make it at least 7. Now, a starter goes 5 innings, gives up 4 runs and says he had a good outing. Yet, still, we pack the stadiums.

Basketball has degenerated to a bunch of near giants lumbering up and down the court, slamming the ball through the net, and picking up huge checks. Boxing now has the credibility of pro wrestling. I watch horse racing, because I think there is little as beautiful as a thoroughbred in full stride, and golf because I take a sadistic glee in watching highly paid athletes struggle to make sense of a silly, frustrating game, while strolling around a beautiful park.

I have a proposal. Why don't we just finally admit that mentally we have not grown a bit since the days of the Roman Empire? Let's just throw a bunch of poor folks into the middle of an arena and let them pound on each other, with no rules and no referees. Last man standing wins a fortune and the right to come back until some other guy beats him half to death. It would be wonderfully entertaining. The networks would be wild over the ratings and perhaps our National lust for blood and heroes would at last be satisfied.

The Debates, Part 2, or the Continuing Search for a Marginally Competent President

I really find politics terminally boring, but today I have to write about the debates again. This morning, I turned on the news, never a great idea, and was greeted with Donald Trump ranting about how strange this years elections are. He seemed amazed that Carson keeps claiming he once stabbed someone while authorities keep saying 'no, he didn't.' In other words, a Presidential candidate is being defensive about the commission of a felony. Normally, the commission of said felony would be the issue, but Ben is upset because others say he didn't do it. Let's be clear. The felonious act isn't the problem, the false claim of guilt is. This is totally upside down.

 

The even stranger thing is that 'The Donald' is acting as the voice of reason. Why is this buffoon even running? And how, in the name of all that is Holy, is he near the top of the polls. This is a man who is most famous for yelling 'you're fired' on his idiotic TV show. This supposed business genius has, here and there, gone bankrupt, yet we are to trust him with the management of the country. I can just imagine him in a high level conference with Vladimir Putin. Imagine the reaction when he screams, 'Vlad, you're a loser. You're fired.' Putin is not known for his sense of humor and Russia does still have a nuclear arsenal.

 

Then we have the rest of the pact. Jeb Bush has turned on his former protégé and dear friend Marco Rubio in hopes of grabbing enough points to save his failing campaign. Mike Huckabee is whining that he doesn't get enough time in the debates which is true and not surprising, given his miniscule poll numbers. Then we have Ted Cruze who seemingly is loathed by other politicians who are forced to work with him. He is polling fairly well, probably because voters remember his stirring reading of Green Eggs and Ham during a Senate Filibuster.

 

On the Democratic side, things are even stranger. Bernie Sanders is still polling well and still refuses to go after his opponent, leading me to believe that the American public just likes him because he looks like a kindly Grandpa. And in Ms. Clinton we have a candidate who quite possibly will have to campaign while occasionally making court appearances to defend herself against multiple felony charges.

 

People, there has to be a better way to pick the man or woman who will, at least in theory, be the most powerful person on Earth. Either that or we just admit the whole thing is a dog and pony show and that we are run by a few corporate heads. The latter is the truth but, we are a Nation that clings to past illusions like Linus clings to his security blanket in the old Peanuts comic strip. Oh well, at least I got that out of my system. Next time, I'll write about something of interest. I'll try to leave politics alone for a while. Promise.                                                                            

The Presidential Debates, or the Great American Follies

 We are currently being overwhelmed by political debates, or so we are told. Let us be clear about something. Two people, taking opposing sides, in a formal discussion of an issue, is a debate. What we are getting is a bulk rate press conference. Get a bunch of candidates, most of whom have less chance than Homer Simpson of being elected President, put them at the mercy of some network reporter, and let them have at it. That seems the plan.                                  

In such a format, there is no time for anyone to say anything of substance, not that anyone of the group was going to do that. All you wind up with is a bunch of sound bites and a lot of sniping and grandstanding. The moderator has little chance of maintaining control and they generally seem to have little interest in getting down to matters that really concern the potential voters. Instead, they pick up on small points that can be inflated into controversy and seem to goad the participants into getting down to personal attacks. No one comes out looking good and usually the person with the biggest mouth is considered the winner. Thus we have the specter of Donald Trump continuing his reality TV show in the White House. At least the show would be guaranteed a four year run.    

On the Democratic side, well, why are they even wasting their time? Does anyone in their right mind really believe that Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed Socialist, can beat Hillary Clinton? The Democratic Party might well win the election if they just announced that since Hillary was a done deal, they were going to forego the debates. Maybe they could fill the time that has been allotted those debates still scheduled by agreeing to air episodes of the Flintstones. It would be a lot more entertaining and just as informative.                                                                      

The debates are not something that we have to have. The Constitution (does anyone still remember that document?) does not demand them and not every election has seen them. The first I remember was between Kennedy and Nixon and it was fascinating. Both men were knowledgeable. neither engaged in personal sniping, and important issues were discussed in some detail. Now we have twelve on a stage and not a one of them is able to present a coherent discussion of any issue. America, is this really the best we can do?

American Religion - No Longer That Old Time Religion

When I was growing up, we were told that religion was not to be discussed in public. Well, who cares? Let's talk. Many say that we are a Judeo-Christian culture. That is, at best, partly true.                                                                              

Few, in the country, practice Old Testament Judaism. Sit down some rainy afternoon and read the Book of Leviticus, or try to. It is amazingly boring. But if you can manage it, you will discover a world of insane laws, violent, misogynistic nonsense. We don't practice these beliefs because we are sane. In fact, most Jews don't practice these laws to their fullest, not even the Orthodox.                                                                    

 As far as the Christian part goes. it depends on which Christian you ask. To me anyone who is kind, forgiving and not overly judgmental is Christian, I don't care if they say the believe in the Great Pumpkin. Yet, we have a plethora of different sects, all calling themselves Christian, who can barely agree on the time of day. Fortunately, most American Christians just seem to give a nod and a wink to the theology and attend only to socialize, which is just fine.                 
                                                                                                                                                                      However, there are the hard core believers in each group and they are a source of great annoyance. They argue over the tiniest points and scorn those who disagree with them. Actually scorn is often too mild a term, they are generally ready to assign everyone else to Hell.                            

  I have a thing about using words correctly. We usually call the strictly religious, "fundamentalists." This is a misuse of the word. Fundamental means basic. In other words, if you believe the Bible is basically true, then you are fundamentalist. These people believe the Bible is literally true, that every word is straight from the mouth of God. How they reconcile all of the Bible's many contradictions is beyond me. For example, Kings and Chronicles tell of the same period in Israel's history, yet they tell very, very different stories, and that is just one example. Oh well, that is just my hang up. I like the language to be used properly.
                                                                                                                    
That aside, the literalists are a small minority, but they have big mouths and the media love them because they stir up the bread and butter of news, controversy. They refuse to admit all of America's other influences. We are just as much a product of Greek thought, the philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, have always been a key source of Western ideas, Their influence was felt all through the era of the Roman Empire and from there, after being lost through much of the Middle Ages, was again vital in the thinking of the Renaissance.                                                          

 We are also a product of the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, when man began to seriously study the world. Many who claim deep religious beliefs do not recognize the validity of the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers but they surely do enjoy the fruits of the research, computers, TV, air conditioners, washing machines, cars and all of the wonderful conveniences we have.
                                                                                                                                         
Americans also have a long heritage of openess to Eastern ideas. The Transcendentalists included a simplistic version of Hindu beliefs in their mystical view of life. Hawthorne, Emerson, Melville, Thoreau, all came, to some degree or another, from this school of thought and have deeply influenced the ideas of many of the best Americans.                           

So, are we a Judeo-Christian culture. Yes, but we are so much more and we are the better for that. But, there is still more to come. Science is a great influence, a lousy religion, but deeply important in how we understand the Universe and our place in it. Its discoveries have to be included into any belief system that is going to be valid as we move forward. Oddly, the farther science goes, the more it resembles a sort of deep mysticism, and that mysticism has to be put into a spiritual context. There are those who tout Eastern Beliefs, others push a kind of New Age shamanism. Neither will ever be dominant in this country. Eastern thought is too impersonal and doesn't endorse the pursuit of fun and pleasure, so it will really never fully catch on here. Shamanism is just too darn weird and we are at heart a practical folk. My personal hope is that we follow three simple rules. Forgive, be kind, and don't judge. Do those three things and we can go far.

America on the Edge of a Strange Future

 America stands on the edge. Of what? Who knows, but that is what I am going to try to figure out. We are now far enough into the 21st Century that a few patterns should be developing, but that just does not seem to be the case. Instead, the fractiousness of the last Millennia seems to be deepening.                                                                                                                           

What we half laughingly, half mournfully refer to as the news media has become an inane parade of semi-intelligent talking heads, spewing disinformation interspersed with celebrity gossip and mind-numbing analysis of trivial nonsense. With the election over a year off, we are faced each day with new poll numbers and detailed discussion of the implications of these trends, only to be told the next day of conflicting numbers and new trends. On and on it goes and we have not even reached the actual election year.                                                                                                                            

In the meantime, Russia is flexing its considerable muscle all over the world, China is openly declaring its ownership of the China Sea by building island bases in International waters, journalists are being held hostage throughout the Middle East, and the European Union is being swamped with fleeing refugees. These issues are mentioned only in passing and when there is actual discussion of them, the same tired old men and women who staffed the  Clinton, Bush and Obama  administrations, the same ones whose policies set the stage for these potential disasters, are trotted out, spouting rhetoric that will do nothing but exacerbate the situation.                                                                                                                                        

As I write this, Israel is going at it with the Palestinians again, and we of course are sending our top diplomat, John Kerry, to broker a deal. We have been at this for 70 years with no success, and any deal he makes will last for a very short time, yet we keep sticking our nose where it does not belong. This, by the way, is the same John Kerry who made the Iranian nuclear deal in which we gained nothing. He did not even get an agreement to get the  journalists that are being held captive, out.                                                                                                                                        

Closer to home, the media recently went hysterical as a massive hurricane headed toward the East Coast. The storm stalled over the Bahama's where it sat with 135mph winds and torrential rains for 36 hours. The storm then went out to sea. Okay, we were fortunate, but I found it very odd that we were given no reports, none, about what must have been the devastation of one of our closest neighbors, a favorite vacation spot of many Americans. On the other hand, we have received in depth coverage of an ex-basketball player's idiotic decision to hunker down in a whorehouse and eat a handful of a Viagra-like substance on top of cocaine and alcohol. We are still receiving reports of his reconciliation with his ex-wife who just happens to have her own TV reality show.                                                                                                                                      

The Pope recently visited and the services were truly beautiful and were, rightly, covered extensively. However, as well meaning as I am sure he is, he still has not done anywhere near enough to remove the stain of the vast and unthinkably horrible issue of kids being abused by priests. He has also scarcely touched the Vatican banking scandal. Yes, he has fired some Vatican officials but he really needs to come clean and tell us why the Church was allowing their investments to be used as a way of laundering vast sums of money tainted with heroin. He might also find it a good idea to really address the whole issue of poverty in the world. Oh sure he talks of the need to help the poor but never addresses the hypocrisy of a small group of  men, many of whom have taken vows of poverty, and who control more money than most countries, lecturing the rest of us about helping the poor. If the Church liquidated its holdings and gave the wealth to those who need it, then maybe, his words would mean something. As a side issue, how can the Church, in good conscience, continue to forbid dirt poor followers the right to use birth control. Oh well, no big deal. Polls show that most American Catholics pay little attention to anything the Church says, they just like to turn out for a big show.                                                                                                                                    

 We have a President who lies repeatedly . In this, he is no different from all the Presidents within my memory (that would go back to Eisenhower) and yet, when interviewed, is never called on those lies. When will any journalist push him to explain himself. We are told that you have to respect the Office of the Presidency. Well, when the hell is the President going to show some respect for the American people, when will we be dealt with straight up? We are not children, we can take it.                                                                                                                                                            

As I write that last line, I realize that maybe I am wrong. Maybe we have become a Nation of overgrown kids who just want to watch football and the Kardashians, who cannot handle anything more taxing than beer, video gaming and porn. Oh well, maybe there are a few left who can think, who can look at the situation without batting an eye and say, "okay, let's fix it." That is what Americans have always done.             

To see where we are going, we must look at the past, not just the facts of history and politics, that is boring. We must look at the culture, books, movies, TV, music and at beliefs, philosophical and religious. Then we need to look at where we are, the current cultural climate. Not everything is doom and gloom. A lot of good things still go on and they need to be highlighted and applauded.                                             

I want to hear from people, to know what you are thinking. I want to know what you like and dislike. Heck, I even want to know your favorite recipes, what you grow in your gardens and any good home improvement tips. If you are part of what you consider a real community, I especially want to hear from you, to find out how your community developed and how you stay close.. And if you feel isolated, alone  and frustrated, I want to hear from you. You are as important as anyone else  and I want to know your story.                                                              

It may not seem like it from my opening tirade, but I want this site to be a place where we can have some fun, but we also have to be honest and, on occasion, serious. Somehow, the American people have let control of the Nation slip from their grasp but, by working together, we can take back our land and prosper, so let's get to it.