HI GANG!

    WELCOME!  I hope everyone is going to feel welcome to comment, discuss, and argue, etc., here.  I just reread all my old posts, and decided to leave them up for you all to assess.  They are still relevant in my view, and certainly reflect how I still feel.  But I want ANY of you to feel free to 'pick apart' anything, Or add to it.  
    This is for ALL of us, and a semi-private way to talk about OUR agenda.

Apologies!

  I have to apologize for not posting much of anything regarding my favorite women authors yet.  Especially Dorothy Parker!  However, I keep getting bogged down by the high-drama, low-brow condition of the political scene.  We have entered an 'alternate' universe, where Lies are news fodder, and truth isn't transmitted at ALL unless it is 'starving children, cute kittens, or Lindsays' story.  I am considering leaving the country and giving up on seeing intellectual honesty in the 'ascendant' position.  We have gone beyond just pandering to the lowest common denominator, and have erased the value of intelligent discourse in the name of ideology.  The FACTS are no longer enough.  We have been swallowed up in the 'MAW' of noisy stupidity of those who are simply 'losing it' because we have a president who is not WHITE.  Not to mention, smarter than the 'average'.  Of course, considering how successfully our public education system has been GUTTED by the right, that may not be saying much.  When a man with the ability to think in the long term, and speak proper English shows up, these mobs of hate-filled racists start screaming about  'socialism, Islamic, SIMIAN, foreign-born, fascist, take-over by those DAMN LIBRULS!  This is just another version of the KKK, and skin-head militia crew who are REALLY afraid they have lost their POWER.  Of course, They don't realize, they lost it a long time ago.  They lost it to the European bankers, as did we ALL.  We should finally face the truth that our banking system, based on the British model, which was begun by the money lenders, who invented 'fractional lending' have enslaved us ALL.  Every mortgage, every credit card, every tax we pay enslaves us because it makes DEBT inescapable.  The World Bank does not want us to pay OFF our debt.  A country who does not OWE, creates their own prosperity.   So, I say to anyone who reads this.  We should nationalize the Federal Reserve, send the board packing, PRINT OUR OWN MONEY, and pay OFF the debt.  Kick out any bank that charges interest.  Enact a law that OUTLAWS USURY.  By The Way, THAT will eliminate the need for war, and we could greatly reduce our Pentagon, its' contractors, and bring our boys home.  We could then fund our Social Security, Single Payer Health Care, Rebuild our infrastructure, and our educational system, and just closing all those FOREIGN BASES would save enough to pay China EVERY PENNY we owe.  A Simple income tax structure, a strong regulatory bureaucracy, and manufacturing would double in ten years, because people would have real freedom to create, to work, and instantly see the fruits of their labors.  We did this under Andy Jackson, and again under Lincoln.  We need to do it again.

Teabaggers, republicans, and other obstructionism

  I, like many others observed the recent public display at the capitol, and like many others, was ashamed and appalled at behavior that would surely cause public outcry for discipline if it was a group of three year-olds.  This is surely the low point of public discourse (we can only hope), and shows the world  just how stupid we can be.  I am very concerned that this behavior will be seen as proof of our illegitimacy on the world stage.  If all we have left is 'might', then we have lost everything we were after WWII, and can have nothing more to contribute to solutions of the worlds problems.  How can those people be proud of themselves, let alone arrogant about their reptile-brain, knee-jerk response to right-wing controllers?  I am at a loss to explain this, and am in despair when I see this immediately after seeing the Texas school board try to rewrite American History.  Our textbooks have always had strange filters in them (like the roles of minorities in all our conflicts, as well as our roles in other countries' conflicts), but no one else has ever tried to eliminate the most important (arguably) founding father of our country.  I believe that this is the result of a concerted effort of the GOP to defund public education and complete the dumbing-down of the majority of citizens, and they have been joined by corporate media.  We must fight on many fronts simultaneously if we are to step back from the precipice and return critical thinking to the political platforms.  These positions have been filled by simple-minded idealogues for too long now, or attractive, but stupid talking heads and robots that don't look beyond their own self-interest.  November is an opportunity to replace those individuals who no longer even try to hide their disdain for the electorate.  Those who quit working at 2:00 every day the Senate is in session are a good place to start, but we musn't stop there.  Insist that our reps. hear from us.  Most of them want to hear from us.  It helps them get out of the automatic cocoon of the political arena, and helps them stay aware of everyday problems all the rest of us face.  Sometimes I get angry and wish these recalcitrants would all just move south so we can force them to secede, cancel their citizenship, invite Mexico to take them back, etc.  But in the end, we allowed these creatures to become what they are, and must take responsibility for the virus they carry and try to spread.  Nothing Breeds Faster Than Stupid.

Difficult = Miasma

  Sorry I haven't written in a couple of weeks, but I try to be disciplined in my responses to events, and while I'm not really very patient, I want my blog to reflect something more than a simple rant.  One conclusion I have come to is that we are embroiled in a gourdian knot of issues that cannot be addressed individually with any great effectiveness.  We know the health care crisis is very real, and we know we need a strong public option which will take a large initial outlay of real money.  We also know there is great waste in healthcare from inflated drug prices, to treatments that are in place to protect doctors and hospitals from mistakes and negligence.  There is also a ton of duplication in medical records because there is little communication between facilities and professionals, and patients are not better educated in regards to their 'ownership' of their medical records, or what their treatment options actually are.  These issues will take time and expertise to address, and of course they are affected by the general economic crisis affecting jobs all over the world.  New industries must be created, and that involves education and that all involves a huge initial investment by our governments that must be sensibly addressed by sensible tax increases in order to fund education and research and development.  It seems to me that the senior working class, who will soon retire (whether willing or not) will free up a large portion of the job market, but will put a strain on Social Security and Medicare.  If we move quickly to upgrade record keeping and education investment, I believe we can shorten the painful process we are facing dramatically.  If we use interest-free student loans and grants, we can support the best and brightest into the transition to productivity we need, and we need to drop off the radar all the politically damaging side issues like immigration reform (we need smart people from everywhere), abortion (like we haven't already dealt with that, thanks to feminists everywhere), religion in government(no, thank you), and our support of fascist regimes for private industry advantage (the high road pays huge dividends down the road, and will have a huge immediate impact in our foreign policy success to failure ratio), and the last two issues which are critical to our legislature functioning more effectively...campaign finance reform, and the restoration of authentic news reportage by breaking up the huge conglomerates that control our MSM and returning to 'news as a source of real information" and forcing the pundits to self-identify as opinion spouters.  We must force these media outlets to give equal time to candidates, and open their channels to ALL candidates from ALL parties.  We deserve to be treated like we are part of the process, and in fact are the driving force of the process.  It MUST start with us.  In the midst of all this upheaval, we have wonderful opportunities to restyle ourselves politically, economically, and on a global scale.  It means getting off our lazy butts and taking a few minutes every day to question the rhetoric we hear.  Look up your reps. voting record, do you agree with it?  Why?  Can we be adult about our expectations?  Can we drop our 'short-term-thinking' disease and opt for long-term success?  CAN WE OUT THAT NEXT PIECE OF PIE BACK IN THE KITCHEN?  Perhaps to enjoy tomorrow...

Hell in a Hand Basket

We can no longer assume that the elections we vote in or the people we elect are necessarily going to give us the changes we seek.  The hands that hold power over us are too large, to gripping, to let go easily or at all.  I am not advocating violence, but very little else has worked other than direct revolution.  People in the streets demanding that our govt' respond to our requests or get out of the way.  Of course they won't move willingly, but if there are enough of us, we can force the issues to the forefront and while the internet is still free, force the MSM to recognize the reality of our demands.  We did it in the 60's with civil rights and the war in Viet Nam, and we are doing it regarding gay rights.  Hammer on and take the safety off!  We want health care - single payer preferred, we want an intelligent end to the wars, without input from the military-industrial complex, we want regulations for Wall street, Banks, Food and Drug safety, clean air and water and preservation of those things that money alone cannot replace.  Most of us are willing to work towards those ends.  Stop NAFTA or regulate it sensibly.  Join forces with other true democracies and we can find our way back to our own.  There are too many countries that are doing a better job for their citizens than we are.  Take the blind greed and profit-only out of the equation and you are left with moral certainty or NOT.  We have very little time left.  I am 63 and I remember a time of opportunity, work, good educational choices in public education and I remember the first time I saw a homeless person in my community.  I was shocked.  It was like seeing a zebra on Market St. in San Francisco.  Now this abomination is common and of no particular note.  What have we become?  Where are we going?  Why are we here?  Just to consume.

   Well, I'm back again, and I really don't now what to think!  The Federal Supreme Court has done something so egregious, so mind-boggling, that I truly don't know how to describe the state of my emotional response.   They overturned 103 years of judicial opinion and law and decided that corporations were not only 'persons', but that they had even more rights than individuals like us.  They removed spending caps for political advertising which will create a Tsunami of political advertising that has the potential to eliminate our choices in candidates even more than already exists.  Not to mention the now legal bribery of all elected public servants.  In fact it will eliminate the term 'public servant' from common usage.  The few honest public servants that exist in office will quickly be eliminated by the power of advertising dollars that will surely be directed at these people through control of media which is already a recognized problem in our culture.  Rupert Murdoch will surely snap up this golden opportunity to profit from this while furthering his own political agenda.  After all, he controls tons of media outlets and IS a corporation .  The answer is surely obvious to anyone else who is feeling despair at this moment.  And that is a bipartisan, grassroots movement that tells Congress to completely circumvent the Courts' Activism by enacting campaign finance reform, shutting down the money flowing from K Street and prohibiting bribery in all its' forms. (Trips, promises of jobs in the private sector, actual cash donations over and above 2,500.00 from any individual)  This would mean that corporations,(which the court recognizes as 'person') would be limited to a single 2,500 dollar donation as well.  All lobbyists would work for salaries and actually have to persuade legislators by the logic in their arguments.  In other words, is the current position fair to the general public?  Does it treat the lobbyists' client fairly?  Would a change in position mean greater good or harm?  Would the current or considered position violate constitutional law?     There are many laws on state and federal books that are obvious violations of constitutional law and a glaring example is the battle currently being fought for Gay rights.  But there are many others that are difficult to wrestle with simply because the subject may need to strike a balance between competing interests (like the pro-abortion-pro-life debate, when is a woman recognized as a person, when is she just a container?).  But first and foremost is the basic tenet of Public Safety and Welfare.  That is why we have Health and Safety codes, building codes, consumer protection laws, etc.  When Democrats swept into office one year ago, those of us who are progressives thought we would finally be addressing the obvious inequities in our society.  Doing the right thing for us all was finally getting a seat in the front of the bus.  Well, what I soon realized was there are millions of people who consistently vote against their own best interests because they are quick to believe in the rhetoric they are being fed.  We are all susceptible of course, but much of this is simple laziness.  Especially now in the 'Age Of Internet'.  The truth in all its forms is available and all you need is the ability to read and the conviction that you must not casually give away your vote to the 'sweetest singer' you hear.

The Evil Of Short-Term Thinking

  This nation has a huge problem, and it may not be what comes immediately to mind like Wall Street bailouts, bankruptcies, housing crash, or climate change and unemployment.    I sincerely believe it is a problem that is essentially universal, although rampant in America, and it is the Crime of Short-Term Thinking.  We are, collectively, like three year olds who want every glittery thing we see NOW!  We are victims of massive cultural and media-induced ADD.  We have, collectively, lost our ability to concentrate, to explore issues with depth, to seek to understand the long-term effects of the decisions we make, and in fact, many times the decisions are made FOR us without our knowledge or permission by people whose motives are unknown and/or misunderstood.        When truths surface, we have tantrums, overreact, cut off our noses in defiance, etc, (Teabagger, anyone?)  My fear is that we will take too long to grow up.  Biologically, we have a built-in excuse for this behavior, after all, we ARE predators, although that was an evolution in itself.  Initially we were gatherers and scavengers and then we developed weapons and went from prey animals to animals who could defend themselves, to predators.  When we discovered what 'fire' could do for us, things ramped up big time.  The next step was, of course, to alter our environment and enhance our ability to survive, thrive, and evolve.  This gave us time to think, to invent, to create societal rituals, ethics, and cultures.  Then we got too big for our britches and thought we could control everything.  And we have been banging our heads against that wall for at least 20,000 years.    THIS IS WHERE I LOSE HEART.  Isn't it time for us to make that next big transition?  There are many individual examples of this sort of evolutionary growth, but if the "hundredth monkey" theory is valid, we are not the smartest monkey on the planet.  Simply by being impatient for results we almost 'guarantee' failure and disappointment.    Now things are truly catching up with us.  If the growth in the economies of third-world countries doesn't bury us under piles of our own egos, the planetary illness surely will.  And the worst news is we created this crisis pretty much by ourselves.  Not JUST America, but us mainly, simply by creating the world's largest military power.  We have completely forsaken the high moral ground that was intended by our founding documents in the name of access to the worlds' resources.  Nearly every country who we get oil from is a tyranny, or an aristocracy, and we support them uncritically while we spout platitudes on civil rights, human rights, the evils of genocide, and the rape of the planet.