Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election by convincing people he and HE alone could "Make America Great Again". Ridiculous. We haven't heard such a patently ludicrous thing since Pres. George W. Bush said we needed to invade Iraq and why, and not as such a narcissistic thing has been said by an American president, perhaps ever.
By the way, remind me of when exactly we were so great, as great as some curious conservatives wish to believe we have been? To be sure, to outsiders wanting in, to those going up against America, we do seem great and we are the world's biggest economy and only and remaining superpower.
However, from within it all seems quite different.
Different again depending on if you are that 1% elite, wealthy, powerful, or if you are of the 99% trying to live beneath the weight of them above, those many below, suffering. All while the rich get more tax breaks for apparently magical reasons, again and again. Why, many ask? Why not, ask the many fewer, the even more powerful?
What is the fundamental difference between those two groups and why some ask, can't they just get along? In a country where there is so very much, why can't there be enough for everyone? How can there be when one group of a few wants so much leaving so little for the many?
After all, when one has more money then they could ever need to spend in a lifetime to live comfortably, Not to mention at all. Why then do they continue always too want, to need, ever more? Especially when so many can barely make it through the day, or year. And while so very many do not, and have not.
I was at the grocery store recently and saw something I think is endemic and part of the problem today in American politics, and even culture. A problem with for the most part the right wing, conservatives and the Republican party overall.
A couple in the story were in the check out line with a full grocery cart. The store was quite busy. at the time They, he really, was in one line with his wife in the line right next to him for another checker. The counters were such that the running track holding groceries moving toward the cashier checker were opposed to one another with no barrier between the check out stands.
It was obvious what the couple were doing. Gaming the system. They were playing one line against the other and whichever of them in line got to the sliding belt first, was where the guy with the cart would hasten to go.
I was tempted myself in another line next to (both of) theirs. But I was curious how this would play out. Another guy then came up behind the wife and it was was obvious he was confused as she had no groceries.
I wanted to walk over and ask if they realized what a kind of unfair, it not a rather slimy thing it was that they were doing. Now you may have done this kind of thing too and as they probably felt, it was being very clever in saving (what turned out in the end to be maybe a whole entire minute, sixty seconds in all) in waiting time.
This is not unlike that driver on the freeway, jumping from lane back to lane then back again over and over and in the end you frequently find you have passed them by staying in your own lane. Of course as in gambling theory, that works out for them just enough that they remain addicted to the behavior. And yet research proves out, it's typically best to pick a lane in stay with it.
At one point the new shopper in line started to move forward, thinking he was next up as the woman in front of him after all, had no groceries. Perhaps, she just had a question? She was now at the end of the grocery track. With, of course, nothing to put on it.
It was about right then that the guy with the cart pushed pushed it over in front of the other new guy to join his wife. That was not obvious however until he cut off the guy who thought he was the next one with groceries. And that they were also gaming not on the system but the guy who was in line thinking he was next up. He said nothing, but glared at them with a reasonable amount of disdain. .
It's a thing in Seattle with our large ferry system that this kind of behavior has been made illegal. From past and unhappy experiences. If you were driving a car waiting in life at the ferry and pulled this kind of cutting over, it could not only get you ticketed, but possibly killed by another and irate driver. It is after all, rather unfair. Which is why the state has made it a ticketing offense. Cutting line, CAN get you killed.
From a 2010 article in the Kitsap Sun newspaper:
Ferry line-cutters will join high-occupancy vehicle lane cheaters in the state Department of Transportation’s HERO program. It encourages people to report violators’ license plate numbers by calling (877) 764-HERO.
After the first call, the cutter (or at least the registered owner of the car doing the cutting) will be mailed an educational brochure from Washington State Ferries. The second call brings a warning letter from the Washington State Patrol. The third elicits a $124 ticket.
My point of course in bringing this up is this. I wanted badly to walk over and ask the couple at the grocery store if they were politically conservative and mostly likely, Republican.
Because this is what I see with that party so very much. That mentality in their realm of if not cutting in on influence, at times even of offense. That belief that they are so much cleverer than others. Of making progress even at the expense of others.
This, is a smart person, as they see it. While others just see them as assholes.
Which are they? It really depends upon your orientation. And level lf laziness, greed and lack of compassion for others.
But, there is much more to this. To all of this, really.
We have long heard the lament of the conservative about the young, about the "Me" generation, about the selfish desires of the irresponsible young. It began actually at the dawn of time (see ancient graffiti even from Rome 2000 years ago, or even thousands of years before that). More recently the most rampant and newsworthy example may have begun with the Hippies of the 1960s. But the beatniks in the Beat Generation before them really started it for them. Something that seemed to evolve out of the duration but mostly the end of the Second World War.
It was the realization by an entire generation that we can live in America as we like. It was a natural outgrowth of the American ideal of individuality. Autonomy. Even, superiority. Of every man (or woman, a more recent concept it would seem) being king (or Queen?) of one's own castle. Of one's owned property, a somewhat new invention in the history of humanity, being of one's domain and not that of the ruling family. It it noticeable as an orientation many share on the Gadsden Flag wherein a coiled rattlesnake is situated above the words "Don't Tread On Me".
An orientation first put into worlds and came onto the scene at the dawn of this country:
The first Marines enlisted in the city of Philadelphia, and they carried drums painted yellow, depicting a coiled rattlesnake with thirteen rattles, and the motto "Don't Tread on Me." This is the first recorded mention of the future Gadsden flag's symbolism. The flag is named after American general and politician Christopher Gadsden (1724–1805), who designed it in 1775 during the American Revolution. It was used by the Continental Marines as an early motto flag, along with the Moultrie flag.- Wikipedia
See, it is in our nature as Americans.
Please excuse this brief aside:
George Mason has said:
"All men are born equally free and possess certain inherent natural rights.", And that "governments ought to produce the greatest degree of happiness and safety for the people."
He also said in a newspaper just about the time Jefferson was about to write something similar and foundational to this country, perhaps using Mason as a template, these words:
"Life, Liberty and property."
While Thomas Jefferson instead used the far superior phrasing:
"...Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
It's interesting to note that with the advent of republicanism (small "r" wherein the people are represented by the government and not a king, queen or other such entity), which Paine had also helped bring to France as well as later in America, that this is NOT the Republican party of today.
NOT by a long shot.
It is also interesting that today's #GOP has gone with Mason over Jefferson. On as it is now, a rather unAmerican path. Which as we're seeing is siding many of them with Russian Oligarchs in the pursuit of individual wealth over that of the People.
They have taken the path where the almighty pursuit of property, and for those few who can deal at that level to acquire vast properties pursuing the almighty dollar perhaps at any or all costs, as we're now seeing from the criminals in the Trump crowd (or swamp) and perhaps Trump himself (which to most intelligent people seems a real no brainer), are ideals far more important to Republicans today than the pursuit of happiness for all of the American people... as originally intended, fought for, and died to bring to fruition.
It is odd therefore to hear Republicans today who claim to be constitutional originalists.
When the are so very much not.
The problem?
The problem comes up when the ignorant try to take an idea and run with it. It has lead to some bad things. Like the election of one Donald Trump as president. America's most likely top candidate for our biggest electoral mistake and worst president in US history.
We have bastardized that well defined sense of freedom and independence and brought forward some of the worst of those sensibilities. Like the sense of entitlement that comes with the "Me" orientation, the "me first" orientation, the "America First" orientation.
Why is it bad? Because as we've seen it leads to abusing others out of un unwieldy desire for oneself. From that comes wanting more until you have rationalized yourself into outright abuse of others standing in your way to wealth and success. All in the name of what?
"Me!" Freedom! Even, Patriotism!
Combine that with American capitalism and politics, and the post industrial age and what have we come up with? Profit engines, Profit margins. Quantifications of product and profit over the concerns of others.
Stockholders. Corporations. Business first. America first. The two together, globe trotted where business went hand in hand with government, in one of those thinking the other to be the reason for successes until finally one day each thought they were the reasons for the other's successes.
A polarizing consideration to say the least. Yet they continue to this day to work hand in hand. And so we have the warnings of the those famous and powerful ones who do have a sense of history and compassion for the American people. Some of them are even of the rich. They warn us to, "Beware the military / industrial complex". And, "Beware the corporate / industrial complex."
What they were saying is we need as citizens to protect ourselves against these vast fundamental interests so that they do not overtake the reason for America existing.
The Citizens. The possibilities of better lives. But not just for the few.
And yet, that is where we are at today. The GOP has lost control of all this in treading a dangerous path for decades now. The Democrats never really had control of it but they guided it much better. They try repeatedly and fail with some successes and wonder why.
All while Republicans have pushed and pushed some of the most ridiculous agendas, stunning even themselves of what they have worked toward, until now they too have lost control of their own pursuits.
Some say Donald Trump is merely a symptom. But he is an arm of that paradigm, set up by those forces, put in power by confusion, ignorance, greed and foreign powers. He saw his opportunity, and took it. A way to increase his wealth and power, and to protect himself. In a way not that different from what Vladimir Putin is doing in Russia.
This is not complex, until you delve into it. It is so obvious from the outside no one believes it. And yet, it is here.
It goes also back to the concept of the legal contract.
What was once a replacement of the handshake to seal a deal, especially with those you have and will never meet, the items of protection naturally included in a contract was originally there to protect both parties involved. But as the contract has been around nearly since the written word began its own purchase on humanity, time has served it up an immense learning ground until today it has become, weaponized.
Just as saggy drooping pants back in the 90s came from prison culture as it seeped out onto the city streets and then into fashion, so too the contract's format and nuances has found its way into our every day culture. We have found illiberal use in those protections so that once we have been protected by the contract, we have gone all the way further to reap whatever benefit we could. Even to leaving the spirit of the contract, to rape the economic interests of another for that of one's own benefit.
From that it was only a small leap, a shuffle sideways really, to where we are today. It has infected our culture, our work place, our entertainment, our interpersonal lives. Like a disease no one has ever noticed, it has infected an entire culture and has worked its way worldwide.
What have we lost?
Decency. Manners. Pleasantries without a forked tongue hiding behind them.
We no longer look at the whole situation when a contract is in place. We follow it to the letter of the law and the contract. Even when we know it is wrong, IF we can reap a benefit, a reward, a profit. And unforeseen, all the better. Even if it destroys the other person. Because why? Because THEY should have known better, we rationalize to ourselves. Because after all, IT'S IN THE CONTRACT.
This has disaffected us even in our police work, and of course our legal and judicial system, also our politicians so very badly, as well as many of our social structures. It has made us into not human beings, but machines of profit. And not always of monetary profit. We don't get interest on a loan if we can avoid it, we get a "vig", or "vigorish". The payment for the loan of the money.
When a better calls a bookie and places a bet, until that bet pays off or fails to and the money is paid, it is a loan between the time the bet is made to the time the payoff is made, or the vig becomes due. Historically a vig is much more than a traditional loan payback percentage, because when you cannot get a loan from a reputable lender, you go to someone not so reputable.
Since they aren't reputable they are most likely illegal and so the reassurance on the loan can go to illegal extremes. A "beat down", breaking legs, or even murder if the loan is big enough and payback is obvious not to happen. After all, one has to make an example so others won't try the same thing.
The point in all this is we have gotten way off track from being decent human beings to one another. Of course we need protection. But we have let that shade our minds merely because of greed. To get, or take, all we can.
Why? Because it has been so hard to get anywhere?
Why? Because the powers that be, those with wealth and/or power at the top have made it so. Eventually that gives us a mindset where it is okay to harm others, in order to get ahead. We don't seem to look at why things are that way, or who did it. To us. In fact we see many supporting through elections, voting again and again for those very same people who are the most abusive in a modern form of societal self flagellation. "It is OUR fault you did this to us, so beat us and please do it to us again!" Really?
"Please sir, may I have another?"
It makes no sense. But it comes out of ignorance. Out of struggling to make ends meet. And all the distractions thrown at us by those in power. Their tools? Wage control. Consumerism. Planned obsolescence. Marketing. Political spin and lies. Governmental or political tools to abuse us such as Gerrymandering, voter suppression.
Other legal abuses like keeping cannabis illegal. Refusing to have "free" healthcare. The vast sums made off of cannabis remaining illegal alone are astounding and go into so very many different businesses and government departments. A huge waste of money that could be doing real good elsewhere.
To end, we have been put into a mindset by others and ourselves, to diminish ourselves as people and as a nation. We can be, America a Great Nation. But we have to start at home. We have to start with ourselves, our family, our children. Our future. We have to start with our orientation, our mindset.
America...is hurting.
We have been wondering why Pres. Trump, why Congressional Republicans keep doing such stupid things. Passing bad laws. Removing good laws now on the books.
But are they really stupid? It depends on what your goal is.
In their case it is winning at all costs, where the ends justifies the means, and the victims don't matter, only the perpetrators do. The president. The #GOP. #Conservatives.
"Factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA or FDIoA), also known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSbP), is a condition where a caregiver develops a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and ..." so on and so forth.
We are victims of #realDonaldTrump and the #Republican party who are and have been creating these many problems, and then sometimes..."fixing" them. Of late, they have been getting caught at it and under popular outcry have fixed them or tried to look like they were and weren't.
Here's another angle, same story.
But what about the victims of MSbP? What about...US?
Well? This, for one...
"Victims of MBP may suffer from fear, pain, and loss of normal attachment, and from delayed development, growth, social functioning, and/or academic progression. They may develop physical and psychiatric problems due to being persistently regarded as ill; from deprivation; from unneeded assessments, medications, procedures, or surgeries; and/or from iatrogenic complications."
America is crying. We are in pain. It is being done to us. On purpose. And not just by our own leaders.
We have to realize the answer to life is not constant excess and taking all you can get, but in solid work as well as expectations and moderation in all things. Feel free to be excessive once in a while. It's also healthy to do nothing at times as well as to go to great excess...sometimes. But as one should moderate one's life, one too should moderate those peaks and valleys.
Always remember, in what you take for yourself, someone else somewhere is losing for your benefit.
We have now a very petty man as US President in Donald Trump. Poor example of a father, husband and world leader. We can do better. So very easily.
That does indeed, matter. It also makes you who you are. And so you have to ask yourself, who do you want to be? More importantly, who do you want others to see you being? Who do you want your children seeing you be and who... do you want them to grow up to be?
Donald Trump? I seriously hope not. For your sake. For their sake.
For all our sake.
Now just for fun....a serious Tweet and a silly Tweet.
Showing posts with label Poverty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poverty. Show all posts
Monday, August 20, 2018
Monday, July 9, 2018
Food Stamps?
I wrote this blog back in 2011 I think.
I guess to follow up my Fat man comment yesterday about sideshows, the AMA has labeled Obesity a disease now. Really. Is it a disease? Or is it just (for 99% of people) a matter of priorities, discipline, education? Is it more of a last ditch effort to get a handle on this national tragedy?
The more you look into the common diet in the US the more you begin to distrust corporations. Michael Pollan in his new book "Cooked" has said that people who eat food cooked by people and not corporations are showing to be healthier.
"Congressman Steve Stockman (R-TX) released a statement on Tuesday arguing that food stamps provide a good life for people as long as they use them wisely. Donny Ferguson, who serves as Congressman Stockman’s communications director and agriculture policy advisor, was able to buy enough food to eat well for a week on just $27.58, almost four dollars less than the $31.50 “SNAP Challenge” figure." [from "Continuing the Tradition of Black Intellectual Thought"]
For $21.55 Ferguson purchased at Dollar Tree:
Two boxes of Honeycomb cereal
Three cans of red beans and rice
Jar of peanut butter
Bottle of grape jelly
Loaf of whole wheat bread
Two cans of refried beans
Box of spaghetti
Large can of pasta sauce
Two liters of root beer
Large box of popsicles
24 servings of Wyler’s fruit drink mix
Eight cups of applesauce
Bag of pinto beans
Bag of rice
Bag of cookies
But the food he bought had very little protein and was not the most healthy of choices. I'd like to see this guy actually eat that food for a week, or live on it for months or years and see what it does to his body and mind. Look at the sugars (Honeycomb, Peanut Butter, Grape Jelly, Root Beer, popsicles, fruit drink mix, applesauce, cookies - a plethora of corn syrup products). You may be able to eat on that amount of money, but you are not going to be as healthy as you could if you have more money to spend on food.
I would never have bought those things when I was on food stamps, which I was for a while just after I got out of the military and before I got into college. I used to dream about buying meat and proteins. Maybe I could afford eggs for my Top Ramen (a fabulous cheap product you can throw anything into for a meal that differs day to day). But not the healthiest noodles to eat. One of the things about my post military and later on in college diet was that I got sick of eating the same things day in and day out.
Finally I discovered as many have that Top Ramen rocks.
You may be able to eat on that amount of money but you are not going to be as healthy as you could if you have enough money to spend on healthier food and can afford real proteins (no, vegetarians, we're not looking here for your input, even though you may be right because many people do not see a vegetarian lifestyle as a viable choice for them, even though it may work to their benefit). Baby steps, okay?
When I got out of the military I had a rough time. I was on food stamps for a while until I got into college and could use my Vietnam Era VA benefits. The work I did in the Air Force just didn't translate well back then to a job. I had to take a string of rather demeaning jobs until I simply couldn't take it anymore and gave up. It took me about a year to heal up and get things together.
My then ex wife, as our marriage didn't survive the military years, was a vegetarian and I had eaten well for years. To then go down to what I did after leaving the military was both enlightening and disconcerting. I finally got a job and got off food stamps, and thank God they were there when I needed them.
When I was in my third year at University, after moving to a different city where jobs were few in being available to students, I did't have and luckily didn't really need a job (and frankly I really needed to be a full time student, working day and night on my studies) and so I had very little money.
Both times what I found was that protein is very expensive and you either can't afford it or very much of it. Lots of carbs were cheap and I became more and more disgusted on what I could afford. This wasn't on food stamps because I felt I shouldn't dive into that since I was surviving and others needed it more than I did. Like I had earlier for a while after leaving the service. Others who couldn't attend college at all. But then, thank God for local food banks.
Still, foods you might prefer not to eat are far more affordable on a low income. I realized back then for the first time that you cannot live very healthy on the types of foods affordable at that economic level. There is a lot of talk about alternative lifestyles and how cheap it can be to grow your own, etc, but once again, that's not viable for many people.
TODAY (7/8/2018)
And now Republicans want to cut food stamps, end programs necessary to people's lives and continue to discredit citizens, humans in America, because they are "too lazy to become rich." That is such a stupid statement only an asinine person would even consider saying it and no decent person would.
We need to end this stupidity ASAP with due prejudice and far more than any of the programs these Republican want to end.
I guess to follow up my Fat man comment yesterday about sideshows, the AMA has labeled Obesity a disease now. Really. Is it a disease? Or is it just (for 99% of people) a matter of priorities, discipline, education? Is it more of a last ditch effort to get a handle on this national tragedy?
The more you look into the common diet in the US the more you begin to distrust corporations. Michael Pollan in his new book "Cooked" has said that people who eat food cooked by people and not corporations are showing to be healthier.
"Congressman Steve Stockman (R-TX) released a statement on Tuesday arguing that food stamps provide a good life for people as long as they use them wisely. Donny Ferguson, who serves as Congressman Stockman’s communications director and agriculture policy advisor, was able to buy enough food to eat well for a week on just $27.58, almost four dollars less than the $31.50 “SNAP Challenge” figure." [from "Continuing the Tradition of Black Intellectual Thought"]
For $21.55 Ferguson purchased at Dollar Tree:
Two boxes of Honeycomb cereal
Three cans of red beans and rice
Jar of peanut butter
Bottle of grape jelly
Loaf of whole wheat bread
Two cans of refried beans
Box of spaghetti
Large can of pasta sauce
Two liters of root beer
Large box of popsicles
24 servings of Wyler’s fruit drink mix
Eight cups of applesauce
Bag of pinto beans
Bag of rice
Bag of cookies
But the food he bought had very little protein and was not the most healthy of choices. I'd like to see this guy actually eat that food for a week, or live on it for months or years and see what it does to his body and mind. Look at the sugars (Honeycomb, Peanut Butter, Grape Jelly, Root Beer, popsicles, fruit drink mix, applesauce, cookies - a plethora of corn syrup products). You may be able to eat on that amount of money, but you are not going to be as healthy as you could if you have more money to spend on food.
I would never have bought those things when I was on food stamps, which I was for a while just after I got out of the military and before I got into college. I used to dream about buying meat and proteins. Maybe I could afford eggs for my Top Ramen (a fabulous cheap product you can throw anything into for a meal that differs day to day). But not the healthiest noodles to eat. One of the things about my post military and later on in college diet was that I got sick of eating the same things day in and day out.
Finally I discovered as many have that Top Ramen rocks.
You may be able to eat on that amount of money but you are not going to be as healthy as you could if you have enough money to spend on healthier food and can afford real proteins (no, vegetarians, we're not looking here for your input, even though you may be right because many people do not see a vegetarian lifestyle as a viable choice for them, even though it may work to their benefit). Baby steps, okay?
When I got out of the military I had a rough time. I was on food stamps for a while until I got into college and could use my Vietnam Era VA benefits. The work I did in the Air Force just didn't translate well back then to a job. I had to take a string of rather demeaning jobs until I simply couldn't take it anymore and gave up. It took me about a year to heal up and get things together.
My then ex wife, as our marriage didn't survive the military years, was a vegetarian and I had eaten well for years. To then go down to what I did after leaving the military was both enlightening and disconcerting. I finally got a job and got off food stamps, and thank God they were there when I needed them.
When I was in my third year at University, after moving to a different city where jobs were few in being available to students, I did't have and luckily didn't really need a job (and frankly I really needed to be a full time student, working day and night on my studies) and so I had very little money.
Both times what I found was that protein is very expensive and you either can't afford it or very much of it. Lots of carbs were cheap and I became more and more disgusted on what I could afford. This wasn't on food stamps because I felt I shouldn't dive into that since I was surviving and others needed it more than I did. Like I had earlier for a while after leaving the service. Others who couldn't attend college at all. But then, thank God for local food banks.
Still, foods you might prefer not to eat are far more affordable on a low income. I realized back then for the first time that you cannot live very healthy on the types of foods affordable at that economic level. There is a lot of talk about alternative lifestyles and how cheap it can be to grow your own, etc, but once again, that's not viable for many people.
TODAY (7/8/2018)
And now Republicans want to cut food stamps, end programs necessary to people's lives and continue to discredit citizens, humans in America, because they are "too lazy to become rich." That is such a stupid statement only an asinine person would even consider saying it and no decent person would.
We need to end this stupidity ASAP with due prejudice and far more than any of the programs these Republican want to end.
Monday, April 30, 2018
Socialism of the New American Republican Right
I keep hearing from the right how the Mueller investigation is off the rails, going on a fishing expedition, how it's not doing what was initially intended and...it should be stopped.
Uh huh, right. Seriously?
Remember Ken Starr and Bill Clinton? Went after him for everything and anything, never got anywhere, kept shifting, pleasuring and satiating conservatives, horrifying progressives, until finally settling on getting Clinton to lie under oath about a sex act between consenting adults? Even if she was an intern.
HOW off the rails was that? Republicans didn't seem to have a problem with it THAT time. Why is now different? It's not. Unless...oh yeah, now it's they who are on the hotseat. And I've (so many of us in America) have been waiting decades for this turnabout. And it was only a matter of time considering the path the Republican party has been on. Each president they give us is lower and lower on the political evolutionary scale if not, as with Donald Trump, the cultural and actual evolutionary scale itself.
I don't care what Mueller gets Donald Trump on, just that he does it, does it soon, and removes him from office, and hopefully finds away to imprison him . Sooner than later. But why doesn't it matter?
Because of what the GOP has done to America overall and most specifically with this current nightmare example of someone who should never even have been allowed to be invited to the White House, and certainly not to reside there.
Get this POTUS on cheating at golf. I really don't care. Get him for lying to America about his weight and health, and take down with him, the White House doctor Ronny Jackson if he indeed lied to America about the president's health. Whatever works. Clinton wasn't even this much of an issue or a problem. There was so much conflation involved in the long enduring "Clinton scandals," the right wing's dream crimes, that it's ludicrous.
And yet, this time we actually do have a real and substantive problem in Mr. Trump and Republicans can and do actually even SEE it. Many are even quitting over it.
Whatever it takes to end this mess and punch the Republican party and supporters in the face, knocking a few teeth out along the way so that in going forward both they, we and others like Russia and Putin will constantly be reminded about all this so that they can and will continually remember that... we don't stand for this in our country!
We NOW do have a call to arms to "Make America Great Again". But it took putting someone, another questionable person, another Republican in the oval office. Someone who first had to tear our nation down both domestically and on the world stage for the need to Make It Great Again, because they stopped it from being great in the first place.
And frankly, I don't care if Mr. Trump's supporters ever get out of this trick and their one trick pony in Donald Trump, or not.
You see, you may call someone in to fix your job or career in order to raise your wages, to save your family... but if in the process that "fixer" rapes your wife and daughters and cages or kills your sons and grandparents and friends, destroying your family's reputation, their physical and mental health, but hey, out of all that now you have $10 more in your paycheck...just how badly again did you need that job fixed in the first place?
That's an excessive statement, but it makes the point. Like Michelle Wolf at the Correspondents Dinner, it's appropriate considering the disgusting man Donald Trump is and the moral ineptitude he's brought into the White House.
After all, this is the destructive Donald Trump administration, with a man who is a vulgarian who doesn't care WHO he harms, who he denigrates, who he offends. I fully 100% supported Michelle on her Correspondents dinner delivery. Her joke on Kellyanne Conway and on Sarah Sanders were spot on. Her jokes on the Trump as POTUS could have gone further, but she only had so much time.
There are indeed some things one shouldn't do to get out of a situation. You don't ask the Mafia (certainly not the Russian Mafia, or Putin, or a foreign country like Russia) to help your finances unless you want to ruin your reputation, your family life, or your life itself. Or as in this case, our country.
There are reasons for morality and ethical behavior and there are some lines, certainly for a POTUS, that shouldn't be crossed. The ends do not always justify the means. Something the Republican party seems to fail to even recognize anymore. In that, they have seemed more and more Russian day by day.
Rather than bringing in a criminal to fix your career, try getting another job. Broaden horizons. and remember that one's old reality isn't always sane in a new environment.
There is a Russian proverb appropriate here about the Trump Administration and Donald Trump himself:
Simplicity is worse than thievery (crime). That is... A fool can do more damage than an enemy or criminal. Yes, that is the concern with Donald Trump. Not to mention with Putin in the backdrough dabbling in our culture and government, all to disrupt and damage us, which Trump seemingly smiles and enjoys the chaos as he is so very fond of it since it opens doors for him to continue his questionable practices and potentially, criminal behaviors.
Bringing back coal miners? How stupid an idea was that? But then, the question really is was, how stupid are Trump supporters? Because it worked for him.
Sometimes you just have to alter your status quo and move on... potentially to an even better one. But it can hurt for a while in the transition. And America has been in transition for some years now. You may even have to learn something new. Oh, my God, educate yourself? Say it's not so! And therein lay the problem.
Rather than educate the America people through this period of transition, Republicans have chosen instead (and Putin) to play the fear cards in order to gain and retain as much power (and money) as possible. Regardless the destruction and misery it is causing nationwide.
We actually are in a transitional phase and perhaps we should consider making more money available to more or simply redistributing it, even paying those who do not have jobs available any longer.
THAT may be our new reality. What IF there simply are not enough jobs for everyone? Then what? Let them starve? Because that seems to be the conservative mantra.
Instead the Republican party denigrates those citizens who are suffering because of those destructive conscious Republican actions in the first place. Their allergy to anything that smacks of being a social program, so often necessary because of their actions to move money away from those whose money it was in the first place, who need it the most, are actually the "social programs" of the right and the entitlements they give instead to the rich and the corporate.
Something conservative types cannot fathom, is that their holy status quo of bigotry and ignorance should remain the same just so they feel comfortable and can continue complaining about how bad things are, when it is they who are the ones who are so dysfunctional in the first place and have made them bad, or made them seem bad, to begin with.
This, is not the America we were intended to be.
We just need to find our dignity once again, reorient what is real and what is propaganda, and put down this destructive Republican style, old Soviet and new Russian style, ways of thinking.
Make America Great Again, indeed.
Uh huh, right. Seriously?
Remember Ken Starr and Bill Clinton? Went after him for everything and anything, never got anywhere, kept shifting, pleasuring and satiating conservatives, horrifying progressives, until finally settling on getting Clinton to lie under oath about a sex act between consenting adults? Even if she was an intern.
HOW off the rails was that? Republicans didn't seem to have a problem with it THAT time. Why is now different? It's not. Unless...oh yeah, now it's they who are on the hotseat. And I've (so many of us in America) have been waiting decades for this turnabout. And it was only a matter of time considering the path the Republican party has been on. Each president they give us is lower and lower on the political evolutionary scale if not, as with Donald Trump, the cultural and actual evolutionary scale itself.
I don't care what Mueller gets Donald Trump on, just that he does it, does it soon, and removes him from office, and hopefully finds away to imprison him . Sooner than later. But why doesn't it matter?
Because of what the GOP has done to America overall and most specifically with this current nightmare example of someone who should never even have been allowed to be invited to the White House, and certainly not to reside there.
Get this POTUS on cheating at golf. I really don't care. Get him for lying to America about his weight and health, and take down with him, the White House doctor Ronny Jackson if he indeed lied to America about the president's health. Whatever works. Clinton wasn't even this much of an issue or a problem. There was so much conflation involved in the long enduring "Clinton scandals," the right wing's dream crimes, that it's ludicrous.
And yet, this time we actually do have a real and substantive problem in Mr. Trump and Republicans can and do actually even SEE it. Many are even quitting over it.
Whatever it takes to end this mess and punch the Republican party and supporters in the face, knocking a few teeth out along the way so that in going forward both they, we and others like Russia and Putin will constantly be reminded about all this so that they can and will continually remember that... we don't stand for this in our country!
We NOW do have a call to arms to "Make America Great Again". But it took putting someone, another questionable person, another Republican in the oval office. Someone who first had to tear our nation down both domestically and on the world stage for the need to Make It Great Again, because they stopped it from being great in the first place.
And frankly, I don't care if Mr. Trump's supporters ever get out of this trick and their one trick pony in Donald Trump, or not.
You see, you may call someone in to fix your job or career in order to raise your wages, to save your family... but if in the process that "fixer" rapes your wife and daughters and cages or kills your sons and grandparents and friends, destroying your family's reputation, their physical and mental health, but hey, out of all that now you have $10 more in your paycheck...just how badly again did you need that job fixed in the first place?
That's an excessive statement, but it makes the point. Like Michelle Wolf at the Correspondents Dinner, it's appropriate considering the disgusting man Donald Trump is and the moral ineptitude he's brought into the White House.
After all, this is the destructive Donald Trump administration, with a man who is a vulgarian who doesn't care WHO he harms, who he denigrates, who he offends. I fully 100% supported Michelle on her Correspondents dinner delivery. Her joke on Kellyanne Conway and on Sarah Sanders were spot on. Her jokes on the Trump as POTUS could have gone further, but she only had so much time.
There are indeed some things one shouldn't do to get out of a situation. You don't ask the Mafia (certainly not the Russian Mafia, or Putin, or a foreign country like Russia) to help your finances unless you want to ruin your reputation, your family life, or your life itself. Or as in this case, our country.
There are reasons for morality and ethical behavior and there are some lines, certainly for a POTUS, that shouldn't be crossed. The ends do not always justify the means. Something the Republican party seems to fail to even recognize anymore. In that, they have seemed more and more Russian day by day.
Rather than bringing in a criminal to fix your career, try getting another job. Broaden horizons. and remember that one's old reality isn't always sane in a new environment.
There is a Russian proverb appropriate here about the Trump Administration and Donald Trump himself:
Simplicity is worse than thievery (crime). That is... A fool can do more damage than an enemy or criminal. Yes, that is the concern with Donald Trump. Not to mention with Putin in the backdrough dabbling in our culture and government, all to disrupt and damage us, which Trump seemingly smiles and enjoys the chaos as he is so very fond of it since it opens doors for him to continue his questionable practices and potentially, criminal behaviors.
Bringing back coal miners? How stupid an idea was that? But then, the question really is was, how stupid are Trump supporters? Because it worked for him.
Sometimes you just have to alter your status quo and move on... potentially to an even better one. But it can hurt for a while in the transition. And America has been in transition for some years now. You may even have to learn something new. Oh, my God, educate yourself? Say it's not so! And therein lay the problem.
Rather than educate the America people through this period of transition, Republicans have chosen instead (and Putin) to play the fear cards in order to gain and retain as much power (and money) as possible. Regardless the destruction and misery it is causing nationwide.
We actually are in a transitional phase and perhaps we should consider making more money available to more or simply redistributing it, even paying those who do not have jobs available any longer.
THAT may be our new reality. What IF there simply are not enough jobs for everyone? Then what? Let them starve? Because that seems to be the conservative mantra.
Instead the Republican party denigrates those citizens who are suffering because of those destructive conscious Republican actions in the first place. Their allergy to anything that smacks of being a social program, so often necessary because of their actions to move money away from those whose money it was in the first place, who need it the most, are actually the "social programs" of the right and the entitlements they give instead to the rich and the corporate.
Something conservative types cannot fathom, is that their holy status quo of bigotry and ignorance should remain the same just so they feel comfortable and can continue complaining about how bad things are, when it is they who are the ones who are so dysfunctional in the first place and have made them bad, or made them seem bad, to begin with.
This, is not the America we were intended to be.
We just need to find our dignity once again, reorient what is real and what is propaganda, and put down this destructive Republican style, old Soviet and new Russian style, ways of thinking.
Make America Great Again, indeed.
Monday, February 18, 2013
How about some positive news?
Happy President's Day! I hope you got the day off today.
First, I received some good news over the weekend. My short Sci Fi story, "Expedition of the Arcturus" will be published on 3/12/2013 on PerihelionSF.com. It couldn't be more timely considering our concern over meteorites and asteroids recently. And if I might make the bold suggestion, drop by their web site any time. It's a great "hard" Science Fiction magazine.
Now for the news....
We have gotten hammered with negative news for years now. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of it. Sick and tired of it.
Isn't there anything going well anymore? Anywhere?
Bill Gates of Microsoft fame, has released his Annual Letter to the world and it contains some insight as to how things are really going overall, and world wide. And nationwide here at home, because we do have some very good things going on right here. We just haven't noticed them because of the economic situation and political gridlock.
You should notice that political gridlock tends to occur during times of there being confusion about what to do in order to fix problems. The lack of ability to affect positive changes has come from, in my opinion, poor education of the leaders of our constituents and their polarized political agendas (basically, the GOP is stuck in their right wing, excessively conservative rhetoric).
Bill Gates in his letter points out that the Millennium Development, which was agreed to by all countries and leading development institutions back in 2000, have helped the world make substantial progress to improve the lives of its poorest people in these areas:
He has pointed out a few things we do need to do. One I'd like to mention here, is about teachers.
Teachers are a group that have taken a lot of flak and undeservedly so. They are underpaid and overworked. As Mr. Gates pointed out recently, they have not been given the same tools business has given to its employees. Rather than testing the teachers, why not give them feedback? Rather than berate and attempt to remove those who are there (and if they are truly incompetent, they should be removed, but they should never have been there to begin with), they need access to how to deal with problems they are having. They need our support, not our recriminations. They need information, not just a pink slip.
How do those teachers who are successfulat dealing with trouble students deal with the situation. Or in teaching a difficult or complex subject, how do the successfulteachers, teach it? Let's share that. Let's stand up and take responsibility for getting teachers the tools and methods they need to affect positive change in their environment, because their environment is particularly important to us as parents, as a nation. And as a world.
Another measurement for progress worldwide, is about children under age five dying. They are dying now less than before, the numbers are dropping. In 1960 twenty million children under age five were dying each year. Within the next few years, that will be down to three million.
Polio is down to just over a couple of hundred cases worldwide and may soon be eradicated.
Mr. Gates also pointed out things like the ability to have information at the touch of your fingers. Being able to sit with your child in your home and explore the world online. Think about that for a moment. Appreciate some of the things you now take for granted. The technologies and devices we have that make our lives easier every day have changed how we do business, how we live and how we interact with one another. Has technology closed us off from one another, or brought us closer?
Yes, I do see people I know less now a days, and we live further apart than when I was younger and I mostly knew people within a close physical distance from me. But technology has brought us closer together, in some ways removing that distance. I know more now about what my kids, family, friends, and new long distance friends and acquaintancesare doing, than I ever knew in the past before these technologies.
The wealth we as Americans experience and live with every day, as opposed to those around the world who are starving or dying daily, can be invisible to us. Yet, even those people's lives around the world are getting better. They are starving and dying less. Yes, there is still much to do, but we are making pathways to success.
For those who think the world is a horrible place, Mr. Gates has pointed out that things are getting better all the time, and are markedly better than only a few years ago.
To support his contentions, last year the Dalai Lama, as another world traveler who should know, has been saying this same things. That violence worldwide is actually down from years ago, even though it doesn't look to us that way in media and news. Which points out that we need to carefully watch where we get our news and information from, because media has become oriented through entertainment more than journalism.
The bottom dollar has become more important than the accurate, neutral delivery of real news. News departments should not be attached to a profit margin. It used to be that other departments covered that for them. That is one change that has certainly denigrated our news and information. But believe it or not, the new injection of Al Jazeera buying Current TV, which Al Gore just sold to them, might be just the sort of catalyst we need. Regardless of where they come from, I have to say I would trust news from them over Fox News (after their recent, horrible showing, in their consistent inaccuracies, during our last Presidential election), any day of the week.
Last year my own daughter returned from backpacking all over Europe, going to Eastern Europe to places I was afraid for her to go. Yet she returned safely and said those scary places were where she met some of the nicest people she came in contact with on her travels, and she felt the safest there. The most dangerous place she went to, turned out to be Athens, Greece during their riots with mobs and cars on fire and angry people hurting and getting hurt.
So don't feel too depressed about "Today" because apparently, beyond our vision, out of our line of sight, just outside of our available information, and in many cases even right in front of us, in our own homes, there really are good things happening. The world is having a difficult time, but not in every area.
Overall it would seem that efforts really are paying off and turning the planet into a better world. In many cases, without our even recognizing it.
First, I received some good news over the weekend. My short Sci Fi story, "Expedition of the Arcturus" will be published on 3/12/2013 on PerihelionSF.com. It couldn't be more timely considering our concern over meteorites and asteroids recently. And if I might make the bold suggestion, drop by their web site any time. It's a great "hard" Science Fiction magazine.
Now for the news....
We have gotten hammered with negative news for years now. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of it. Sick and tired of it.
Isn't there anything going well anymore? Anywhere?
Bill Gates of Microsoft fame, has released his Annual Letter to the world and it contains some insight as to how things are really going overall, and world wide. And nationwide here at home, because we do have some very good things going on right here. We just haven't noticed them because of the economic situation and political gridlock.
You should notice that political gridlock tends to occur during times of there being confusion about what to do in order to fix problems. The lack of ability to affect positive changes has come from, in my opinion, poor education of the leaders of our constituents and their polarized political agendas (basically, the GOP is stuck in their right wing, excessively conservative rhetoric).
Bill Gates in his letter points out that the Millennium Development, which was agreed to by all countries and leading development institutions back in 2000, have helped the world make substantial progress to improve the lives of its poorest people in these areas:
- Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- A global partnership for development
He has pointed out a few things we do need to do. One I'd like to mention here, is about teachers.
Teachers are a group that have taken a lot of flak and undeservedly so. They are underpaid and overworked. As Mr. Gates pointed out recently, they have not been given the same tools business has given to its employees. Rather than testing the teachers, why not give them feedback? Rather than berate and attempt to remove those who are there (and if they are truly incompetent, they should be removed, but they should never have been there to begin with), they need access to how to deal with problems they are having. They need our support, not our recriminations. They need information, not just a pink slip.
How do those teachers who are successfulat dealing with trouble students deal with the situation. Or in teaching a difficult or complex subject, how do the successfulteachers, teach it? Let's share that. Let's stand up and take responsibility for getting teachers the tools and methods they need to affect positive change in their environment, because their environment is particularly important to us as parents, as a nation. And as a world.
Another measurement for progress worldwide, is about children under age five dying. They are dying now less than before, the numbers are dropping. In 1960 twenty million children under age five were dying each year. Within the next few years, that will be down to three million.
Polio is down to just over a couple of hundred cases worldwide and may soon be eradicated.
Mr. Gates also pointed out things like the ability to have information at the touch of your fingers. Being able to sit with your child in your home and explore the world online. Think about that for a moment. Appreciate some of the things you now take for granted. The technologies and devices we have that make our lives easier every day have changed how we do business, how we live and how we interact with one another. Has technology closed us off from one another, or brought us closer?
Yes, I do see people I know less now a days, and we live further apart than when I was younger and I mostly knew people within a close physical distance from me. But technology has brought us closer together, in some ways removing that distance. I know more now about what my kids, family, friends, and new long distance friends and acquaintancesare doing, than I ever knew in the past before these technologies.
The wealth we as Americans experience and live with every day, as opposed to those around the world who are starving or dying daily, can be invisible to us. Yet, even those people's lives around the world are getting better. They are starving and dying less. Yes, there is still much to do, but we are making pathways to success.
For those who think the world is a horrible place, Mr. Gates has pointed out that things are getting better all the time, and are markedly better than only a few years ago.
To support his contentions, last year the Dalai Lama, as another world traveler who should know, has been saying this same things. That violence worldwide is actually down from years ago, even though it doesn't look to us that way in media and news. Which points out that we need to carefully watch where we get our news and information from, because media has become oriented through entertainment more than journalism.
The bottom dollar has become more important than the accurate, neutral delivery of real news. News departments should not be attached to a profit margin. It used to be that other departments covered that for them. That is one change that has certainly denigrated our news and information. But believe it or not, the new injection of Al Jazeera buying Current TV, which Al Gore just sold to them, might be just the sort of catalyst we need. Regardless of where they come from, I have to say I would trust news from them over Fox News (after their recent, horrible showing, in their consistent inaccuracies, during our last Presidential election), any day of the week.
Last year my own daughter returned from backpacking all over Europe, going to Eastern Europe to places I was afraid for her to go. Yet she returned safely and said those scary places were where she met some of the nicest people she came in contact with on her travels, and she felt the safest there. The most dangerous place she went to, turned out to be Athens, Greece during their riots with mobs and cars on fire and angry people hurting and getting hurt.
So don't feel too depressed about "Today" because apparently, beyond our vision, out of our line of sight, just outside of our available information, and in many cases even right in front of us, in our own homes, there really are good things happening. The world is having a difficult time, but not in every area.
Overall it would seem that efforts really are paying off and turning the planet into a better world. In many cases, without our even recognizing it.
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