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14 May 2008
John Edwards Endorses Barack Obama
This afternoon I decided to stop complaining about the Democratic primary. Whatever we focus on tends to expand. Instead of following every nuance of a subject that bothers me, I want to focus on something that makes me feel good about the future. I took off all my complaining rants about Hillary Clinton and will now focus in a new direction. To that end, I made a new logo for this page, using a more recent picture of my yard. My neighbor bought a boat, so we went out on it tonight. However, the battery for the power steering did not work, so we were lucky to land safely!
11 May 2008
Did Anybody Honor Mother Earth Today?
Dear Mother, how we have loved you, yet how we have hurt you. We have blasted, drilled, burned, paved, and clear-cut you. You must have withdrawn into your little cottage, far, far from the abuse, because you are still of clear heart and sound mind, and you seem willing to forgive humankind over and over. You still show the beauty of youth in some places, while you suffer a spreading blight in others. Please show us who populate your continents how to care for you and how to bring your dear nature back into balance. You are our mother and you are a goddess. Please be kind to us and let us commence the process of caring for you properly, as you have cared for us over many centuries.
Three Things That Won't Help the Foreclosure Crisis
10 May 2008
Senator Obama - Please Try My Favorite Church
I would like to invite Barack Obama to visit the Delta Queen Steamboat on a Sunday morning. It is a non-denominational gathering to sing hymns, hear Bible readings, and listen to a few words of wisdom and contemplation from the ship's crew. It is a humble service, but among the most spiritual of experiences I've had in my life. I wish the same for everyone, especially Barack Obama, after he was more or less betrayed by his former pastor. I was in a cult, which hid its crimes pretty well. Even my father could not see what was going on behind closed doors. We started to find out toward the end, then later I wrote a book about my experiences.
Maybe some other churches could invite Barack Obama to experience their worship services too, anyways, it is all Christianity, right? He might find that he likes all of the churches he visits.
10 May 2008
Are all Moslems Imperialists?
The other day, one of my real estate associates told me that she thinks Moslems as a whole want to take over the world, because their religion demands it. Do they not want the rest of us to bow to Allah? We had a little chat about the possibility. It was shocking to her to hear that Moslems are just like the rest of us. Some are not religious at all, while on the other extreme, some are fanatical. She also had to hear that the Christian religion has its fanatics, as well: Jim Jones, David Koresh, Rev. Moon, etc.
The many Moslem people I have met seem to be intelligent, kind, and friendly people. I have enjoyed all my associations with Moslem friends and people I have met while traveling, attending a gathering, or on the Internet. Can we all get along? In my experience, it is not only possible, but interesting and fun.
If you have any doubt about the state of civilization outside the fifty states, then listen to contemporary world music. You will hear the tones of their way of life. Let's face it, most of the rest of the world has been here longer than we have. After traveling all over the world, I have concluded that many places are more civilized than here. You can tell in the polite way they try to help strangers to their land.
As to whether "they" are out to get us. I do believe there is an international element operating outside the law, who staged 9/11, who still lurk. My same real estate associate asked me who I believe did 9/11, so I said, Larry Silverstein, the New York mayor, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and a host of ignorant lemmings, headed by George Bush. Of course, that was when she brought up her theory that it is really the entire Moslem faith united in jihad to overthrow the world. Oh, that would be a shame if the world was that bad. It seems like it is the Bush people who want to make it more war-like. They're working hard at that, for sure.
09 May 2008
More Predictions from Surrealist.org
I bet in the future, universities will offer "20th Century Studies" as an elective. Now that the 1900-1999 era is over, it is available for scholars to pick apart from now until eternity. So feast away 20th Century scholars. This leaves me out because I prefer to study the cusp of the centuries. the period from about 1880 - 1940 is fascinating to me. It was the era of the first big wave of the new age in America and Europe, especially in Florida. In the art world it was the era of change - from portraits, landscapes, and religious illustrations to modern art. The invention of the camera caused that paradigm shift. The 1950s and 1960s were the tail end of the modern art era. Nowadays, modern art is the norm.
My new favorite period to study is the era from about 1976 - 2020. That will be my favorite era. However, everyone picks their favorites in life. The Internet will be the driving force behind the changes we will see until approximately 2020. People will decide to care for each other, their own bodies, and the environment. That is how we will get through this. We will evolve into something better, as long as we learn our own history. The truth is difficult to accept sometimes, and it is very very unpopular. It gets a bad rap. But open your mind up to it, even if "nobody else" will do it.
Since all comedy comes from deep wounding (which I could debate), we must look to the years 1976 - present for where our future humor will come from. We have had a deep wounding, which will only become apparent later. Some people suffered worse than others. If you lost a loved one in Iraq or 9/11, then history has impacted you directly.
Congratulations to Barack Obama for the great showing in the North Carolina and Indiana primaries May 6.
05 May 2008
Cinco de Mayo
Went around looking at houses today in the Encanto-Palmcroft historic district, then helped my friend put down some new rugs and move around a little furniture. It turned out to be a nice day, even though I woke up angry again about all the things busted up by the Bush people. In particular, I felt frustrated at what they have done to the public school system. I went through the Los Angeles Public Schools in the 1960s and had a great education. It was a good foundation. We had art class every day, and construction. One year we created the L.A. Harbor and the old Los Angeles pueblo on our school blacktop using chalk, plus buildings and boats we built. We had small class sizes with well-trained and well-prepared teachers. It was a blessing. However, I worry about what people are getting now. So many problems, and isn't education of our children basic planning for the future?
We have a chance to start to repair the damage from the political tsunami that hit our nation, but we have to begin by acknowledging what was done. We must analyze back to the late 1990s, or whenever this plot was hatched to start wars in the Middle East, funnel billions of dollars into shell companies to run the wars, and then . . . wherever the path leads. There are so many loose threads, where to begin? We are at a cross roads, but luckily honest people are in the majority (including many in other nations, "ROW" - Rest of World).
It will soon be accepted as being self-evident that the only ones still supporting Bush are the people who have a financial, legal, or political stake in it, i.e., media people who make their living off supporting him, contractors or people who got a financial windfall from Bush & Co., and finally, people who have committed illegal acts who will more likely be exposed if the executive branch changes hands. This election will be like gold mining. We will find some of the big chunks of exploitation trying to hide behind a tiny little old man.
If we could mend our ways, love ourselves and treat others as we would like to be treated, then maybe this crazy making will stop. Let's reach out to each other and be kind. Of course you get in a hurry, and whatnot - we are all traumatized - so let's also forgive our fellows for their shortcomings. It is the big nuggets of bad we're looking for - people who rob us, exploit us, torture, etc. We sales people are good at this, sometimes we just have to absorb someone else's bad vibes, then let them go.
Last time I worked at the mall, a man came up and started looking through the listings book. I went up to give him my spiel ("Having a Realtor saves you time and money," etc.). He was so gloomy. I said, "I get it. You are here with your kids and they are in the play area, right?" He said, "Right." "And they're driving you crazy, right?" He said, "Right." I said, okay, go ahead and look through the listings. I will be over there if you need me." Never take the small stuff personal - you never know what another person is going through!
04 May 2008
Jimmy Carter 4 Peace
You would probably never find out from watching TV news, since they are obsessed with one topic (the "Democrat party" primary), but there are other things happening in the world. President Jimmy Carter just spent eight days in the Middle East last week listening to people's problems. Specifically, he visited Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Jordan. The Israelis threatened him, stating that that they could not guarantee his safety while there. Kudos to President Carter for going there to talk about life and peace. You can find out more about it, but you will have to look for alternative news sources. Never-mind the TV - relevant news does not come out of that box anymore.
Hint: humanity can come together. We need to rock 'n roll.
03 May 2008
Florida Election System
The people in Florida first have to tell us what they did with all the ballots in 2000. They were supposed to recount those and tell us what the voters wanted. It has been nearly eight years and they are still hiding the results. Gore won, didn't he?
Furthermore, FL jumped the gun on their primary, knowing that it would disqualify their delegates. Then they tried to have a mail-in primary, but it was ruled illegal. Now, who is causing Florida's election problems? It is whoever controls Florida's election system that should be held responsible.
Florida, please snap out of it. Stop this assault on your forty-nine associate sates. You knew your delegates would not count, you discouraged candidates from campaigning, and the candidates all signed an acknowledgment / pledge to observe the rules.
02 May 2008
"Low Information Voters"
On the news just now, Jonathan Alter used the phrase "low information voters," in the context of who Hillary is trying to talk to in her "gas tax holiday." That is who she thinks she is talking to, perhaps, since she thinks we are all stupid uninformed people. But is her stereotype justified? Are we a nation of idiots, who can be duped with keywords like "gas tax" and "holiday." Politics is a complex and depressing subject. Good things seem rare and we fail to appreciate the minute steps of the process, since the whole thing happens on a grand scale of centuries, social geology.
Many countries have a higher percentage of college educated people than we have here. College has become much more expensive in the new century. More people would go to college if they could afford it. Probably eighty percent of Americans would love to go to college if they or their families could pay for it, or if they could get grants. The financial institutions are happy to give out loans for college, but then the graduate comes out with a huge mountain of debt to work off. The most fortunate people whose families saved for their college education. The state colleges were dirt cheap when I grew up and many offered inexpensive housing.
If only more Americans could get a decent education, then we would all have better jobs, we could solve our problems better, and we would naturally behave in a more mature way toward each other. We would understand that honesty is the best policy and we would learn better ways to communicate. We would become a more unified country. Right now maybe there are low information voters, but that is a symptom, rather than a cause of our problems.
02 May 2008
More Picky Writer Stuff
As a writer, I choose my words carefully. So little phrases sometimes get into my ear and frustrate me. Consider the difference between these two statements: "We must stop relying on foreign oil" compared to "We must stop relying on oil." They mean two different things, don't they? It seems there are many middle of the road liberals who think we only need to stop using foreign oil.
If we say, "We must reduce our dependence on oil," it means the same thing as "We need to find good sources of renewable, green energy." If we say, "We need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," it means that we must desecrate the last sanctuary in ANWAR, as well as in our national parks.
We need to think more carefully about what we say. As a writer, I usually edit my words before I share them with you. But we need to think about the words we use. Instead of using the double negative, "We need to reduce our dependence on oil," we could say the same thing in a positive way: "We need stronger alternatives for our energy." Right now, people say, "Your alternative energies won't work," but how do they know? If we had put our full effort into solar energy research and development since the presidency of Jimmy Carter, we would have solved our problems by now. So let's get started right now, looking for stronger alternatives.
01 May 2008
Excerpts from Recent Editorials
Bill Press (week of April 16): [Republicans] are correct, I believe, in advocating smaller, more efficient government; fiscal responsibility; balanced budgets; a non-interventionist foreign policy; and a constitutionally limited chief executive. [Editor's Note: I agree, these are the good things Republicans stand for and I support these ideas too.]
Bill Press: The problem is - and I document in my new book, Trainwreck* - once conservatives came to power [in 2000], they delivered just the opposite: a bloated federal government; out-of-control federal spending; record budget deficits; a trigger-happy foreign policy; and a president who thumbs his nose at the law and Constitution. . . . From the beginning, they have operated as if they are above the law. By refusing to reveal the names of oil executives on Cheney's Energy Task Force, tapping phones without a warrant, or authorizing the use of torture.
Editor's Note: The next excerpt is from Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, a project of the University of Maryland. This is from the L.A. Times - Washington Post news service on April 4.
Steven Kull: In a recent interview with Vice President Dick Cheney, ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz presented polling data showing that most Americans are critical of the Iraq war. Cheney responded cryptically, "So?" Raddatz then asked, "So - you don't care what the American people think?" Cheney replied, "No," explaining, "I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls."
Subsequently, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, fielding questions about Cheney's comments, was asked whether the public should have "input" on decisions about Iraq. She replied, "You had your input. The American people have input every four years, and that's the way our system is set up."
However, the views of Cheney and Perino are roundly rejected by the American people, according to a new poll by WorldPublicOpinion.org . . . Asked whether "elections are the only time when the views of the people should have influence, or that also between elections leaders should consider the views of the people as they make decisions," an extraordinary 94 percent say that government leaders should pay attention to the views of the public between elections.
Americans unequivocally endorse the principle expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "The will of the people should be the basis of the authority of government." Eighty-seven percent of Americans say they agree with it. . . . A leader should explain his or her position in a manner that signals respect and deference to the public.
Editor's Note: Finally, we have proof that people get it. Now how do we get out of mass denial? The final excerpt from today's reading is E.J. Dionne Jr., from a Washington Post editorial from the week of April 23.
E.J. Dionne Jr.: From the death of John F. Kennedy in November of 1963 until the congressional elections of November 1966, liberals were triumphant, and what they did changed the world. Civil rights and voting rights, Medicare and Medicaid, clean air and clean water legislation, Head Start, the Job Corps and federal aid to schools had their roots in the liberal wave that began to ebb when Lyndon Johnson's Democrats suffered broad losses in the 1966 voting. The decline that 1966 signaled was sealed after April 4, 1968. . . .
The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the ensuing riots that engulfed the nation's capital and big cities across the country signaled the collapse of liberal hopes in a smoky haze of self-doubt and despair. Conservatives, on the run through much of the decade, found a broad new audience for their warnings against the disorders and disruptions bred by reform. . . . Nixon . . . urged "retaliation" . . .
It is easy to forget that the core themes of contemporary conservatism were born in response to the events of 1968. The attacks on "big government," the defense of states' rights, the scorn for "liberal judicial activism," "liberal do-gooders," "liberal elitists," "liberal guilt," and "liberal permissiveness" were rooted in the reaction that gathered force as liberal optimism receded.
"For those who had dreamed the dreams of the New Frontier, and shared the hopes of a Great Society, this was perhaps the darkest moment of the entire decade," wrote Godfrey Hodgson, a British journalist who stands alone as one of the wisest chroniclers of the 1960s. . . .
Forty years on, it is possible to recapture the hope and energy of the days and years before that April 4th? Has liberalism spent enough time in purgatory for the country to revisit how much was accomplished in its name and to acknowledge that the nation is better off for what the liberals did?
. . . Now is the moment to put an end to our contempt for liberalism. There was business left unfinished on that fateful day in 1968, and it is time to take it up again.
01 May 2008
Evil Forces Fulfill Their Desires
Why is it that Americans as a whole may want one thing, but evil forces who act as our overlords seem to have the final say in all decisions? Want food for the hungry? Go to hell! Rebuild American infrastructure? Sorry, that's a low priority. Settle things in the Middle East and come home? Impossible - we are on to bomb Iran!
Why is it that these dark forces always seem to get what they want? Something to think about. Sorry, don't have the answers for you yet.
Editor's Note: After thinking about this for the last few hours, I have a metaphor to share by you. Of course, feel free to write in with your own thoughts. However, the tyrannical control of America, as I see it, is just like the ring inside your toilet bowl. If you clean it real good, then it goes away. If you let things slide - time passes - you get a ring in your toilet bowl. What is in that ring? Bacteria, mold, fungus, and an assortment of other poisons. It is the same with the U.S. government. That ring does not have to be there, but we let it be there.
Further Note: If we had thoroughly investigated Iran-Contra and punished those who perpetrated that set of crimes, we could have avoided nearly all the dishonesty in leadership we are experiencing now. We need to expose and punish the people responsible for the current set of crimes, or you can be sure they and their followers will be back for more.
Let us learn from history! It pays to expose and punish perpetrators! If you forgive them, it only makes them stronger. Remember the metaphor - clean it out and flush it! Learning from history, we decide to create a better world.
Photos from March Obama Rally click here.
Postings from April 2008 click here.
