It is about 6:30 Christmas morning and the house of adults is waking up. Bustling is the theme as a warm wind blows outside. I do appreciate the reason for the season, and this is why.
Ideally, Christmas is a loving time. A time of giving and sharing. When you are poor as i am this season perhaps all you can give is your time to (in my case) do home repairs and remodels. Others may be able to baby sit or do something else that is hopefully meaningful in their loved ones lives.
I accept that Jesus is the reason for the season because of the simple fact that many "pagan" beliefs and rituals were borrowed to form what we today call Christmas. Santa Claus is a combination of the Dutch Sinter Klaas, and St. Nicholas - who had a sort of demon following him to deal with the bad children. We know Jesus was not born on December the 25th or it's equivalent. That was political expediency in the days of the early church when they decided not to rock the boat of the Roman's. They changed the Sabbath (remember it and keep it holy) from Saturday as the Jews continue to follow, to Sunday. They also started celebrating Jesus birth on the 25th of December which was the Roman holiday of Saturnalia.
We also know that Mary was not a sexual virgin but a young woman. The intentional mistranslation from the Alexandria Codex of the early NT was keeping up with the neighbors. That is how Krishna, and several other divinities were born, so early attempts to make Jesus the "only begotten Son of God" needed to meet the ante as it were.
Yet despite this mishmash of ideas influences, (lighted coniferous trees from pagan Germanic celebrations) and the pressures of crass commercialization, we still find a way to love and care for each other in this season regardless of our understandings regarding the preceding items.
So this to wish anyone who reads this now or in the future a happy and blessed Christmas season, and a wish that their new year will be a better year for you in whichever way is significant for you.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
The other Idiots in government
Whether one is one party or the other two things at least, should be self evident. One item is that any party wants you to drop some of your ideas to accomodate their agenda. The second item is that no single party has an exclusive grasp of good ideas, bad ideas, morality or lack thereof, etc.
As you probably know the fools in congress and senate have voted theirselves the legal ability to indulge in insider trading. Thus when the FDA or USDA for example approve or disprove some substance these amoral people use their knowledge to increase their personal income. The problem is vastly deeper than just personal greed however. This activity makes these lawmakers ALWAYS give the corporation precedence over your interests. They may choose not to vote against every bill that may help you, but in large, they will vote for the corporation.
Perhaps i should have titled this installment "Why the U.S. is inevitably going to fail in the next two years and the world will also do so." I am not an economist and therefore not under the illusion that i understand what is happening in the world economic arena. The reason an economist doesn't have a grasp of the economy is that his training is totally flawed. The markets are controlled by the super wealthy and economic theory ignores their control of the money. Two percent of the population which controls the 96% of the world's economy. Note that word control. It is not my line, it is the official line.
If they want the housing market to crash then regulations are put in place, advertisements are presented and the sheeple follow into the pen. What is the benefit of the crash? The entire economy becomes a buyer's market. The billionaires now have picked up companies on the cheap. The working population has become desperate for work so are now not going to demand a fair wage. Many will not insist on the whole spectrum of benefits. Kaching.
Let's look at the wealth of the world. The super rich people have their money because they control money and leverage deals, laws, regulations and whatever they can to maximize their personal profit at the expense of the worker. Some say that is the free market. Let's use a hypothetical example to show where people have lost track of the reality of wealth. Assume that this group of super wealthy have made much of their money from a group of technical objects and the knowledge and industry to support them. Something like cars, or computers, papers or chemicals. All of these substances must be manufactured from raw materials. All of the materials must be removed from the earth or harvested from biota. Not one person on the planet has placed these materials on the planet. It starts out as a planetary resource. So how does one person to the exclusion of billions of other people deserve virtually all of the wealth that derives from that resource? I see no logical explanation.
Next realize that worker bees like you and i have the job of pulling out the materials. We, the working man and woman, transport, process, transport, design, manufacture, transport, sell, maintain, etc. We the people of the world in essence have had stolen a common property gifted by the planet, we have placed every bit of value on the product throughout every step of the process, and then (drum roll) we, the common person, purchase the product for our personal benefit. At no stage in the process did the billionaire do any actual work. They did not purchase _____ number of units which brought the wealth and value into the company. Now they may have financed the means to get this product rolling through the process, but does that entitle them to 98% of the wealth (and power which wealth represents) when you and i have done over 99% of the work with the gift of planetary material?
Believe it or not, i am not advocating communism. i am looking at a big picture here and saying something is drastically wrong. Someone smarter than i will have to figure out where the fair compensation for work and financing should lie, but it is more likely that in a system that is forced to go through change, a sense of values which are not easy to articulate would form .
Now what do we know about the incredibly wealthy? Little. We do know that in the U.S. where the Jewish population makes up less than 10% of the general populace, approximately two thirds of the billionaires are Jewish. Is this a cultural thing? Is this a support group? I do know that while colleges were having to recruit students based on population percentages that Harvard was attacked by a Jewish group for cutting it's percentage of Jewish freshmen and accused of being anti-semitic. Somehow nobody understood reality and was able to point out that the number of Jewish freshmen being admitted was higher than the general population percentile of their race. Since money talks and leverage moves things, the freshman class that year was made up of about 30% Jewish people.
Now had the Hispanic community tried anything like that there would have been an incredible amount of screaming about how the Jewish people were being discriminated against. We do not hear the anti-defamation league screaming about how the Jewish people have been discriminated for. I don't know how to make this last bit sound non-racist. Do i have anything against any race? No. We all have our percentage of jerks and heroes. Do i believe that a huge percentage of any one race controlling huge portions of wealth (and therefore everybody's lives) is coincidental? Of course not. Conspiracy theory is one thing, but when (for example) the same political mistakes are made for over 70 years to benefit one segment of the population, perhaps there is something going on since it would be mathematically improbable to not have random benefit and non-benefit activity if something were not controlling the political outcome.
It has to be asked, if there were not such a huge percentage of Jewish billionaires in this country would we be supporting Israel the way we do? Personally i do not see Lebanon and Syria walling off portions of other countries and destroying local living conditions. I do not see Arabia and Egypt taking tanks and running over the houses of people where an enemy may have hidden from line of sight of my soldiers. Why not run over the evil trees, bushes, and ditches where enemy may hide? Because that would not cause hardship on the population whose land you are trying to steal and would not intimidate them.
Yes, this is a harsh assessment, but the things i see are harsh. Which Middle East country has nukes, wmd's and has invaded other countries multiple times, occupies another country's land, and claims the moral high ground? It looks like the biggest terrorist state in the world, now that George Bubbleyou Douche is no longer running us into personal wars.
Gotta stop for a bit. Just so painful, the idiocy of our world because of the leaders we have chosen. It is truly frightening to believe that this is our karma.
As you probably know the fools in congress and senate have voted theirselves the legal ability to indulge in insider trading. Thus when the FDA or USDA for example approve or disprove some substance these amoral people use their knowledge to increase their personal income. The problem is vastly deeper than just personal greed however. This activity makes these lawmakers ALWAYS give the corporation precedence over your interests. They may choose not to vote against every bill that may help you, but in large, they will vote for the corporation.
Perhaps i should have titled this installment "Why the U.S. is inevitably going to fail in the next two years and the world will also do so." I am not an economist and therefore not under the illusion that i understand what is happening in the world economic arena. The reason an economist doesn't have a grasp of the economy is that his training is totally flawed. The markets are controlled by the super wealthy and economic theory ignores their control of the money. Two percent of the population which controls the 96% of the world's economy. Note that word control. It is not my line, it is the official line.
If they want the housing market to crash then regulations are put in place, advertisements are presented and the sheeple follow into the pen. What is the benefit of the crash? The entire economy becomes a buyer's market. The billionaires now have picked up companies on the cheap. The working population has become desperate for work so are now not going to demand a fair wage. Many will not insist on the whole spectrum of benefits. Kaching.
Let's look at the wealth of the world. The super rich people have their money because they control money and leverage deals, laws, regulations and whatever they can to maximize their personal profit at the expense of the worker. Some say that is the free market. Let's use a hypothetical example to show where people have lost track of the reality of wealth. Assume that this group of super wealthy have made much of their money from a group of technical objects and the knowledge and industry to support them. Something like cars, or computers, papers or chemicals. All of these substances must be manufactured from raw materials. All of the materials must be removed from the earth or harvested from biota. Not one person on the planet has placed these materials on the planet. It starts out as a planetary resource. So how does one person to the exclusion of billions of other people deserve virtually all of the wealth that derives from that resource? I see no logical explanation.
Next realize that worker bees like you and i have the job of pulling out the materials. We, the working man and woman, transport, process, transport, design, manufacture, transport, sell, maintain, etc. We the people of the world in essence have had stolen a common property gifted by the planet, we have placed every bit of value on the product throughout every step of the process, and then (drum roll) we, the common person, purchase the product for our personal benefit. At no stage in the process did the billionaire do any actual work. They did not purchase _____ number of units which brought the wealth and value into the company. Now they may have financed the means to get this product rolling through the process, but does that entitle them to 98% of the wealth (and power which wealth represents) when you and i have done over 99% of the work with the gift of planetary material?
Believe it or not, i am not advocating communism. i am looking at a big picture here and saying something is drastically wrong. Someone smarter than i will have to figure out where the fair compensation for work and financing should lie, but it is more likely that in a system that is forced to go through change, a sense of values which are not easy to articulate would form .
Now what do we know about the incredibly wealthy? Little. We do know that in the U.S. where the Jewish population makes up less than 10% of the general populace, approximately two thirds of the billionaires are Jewish. Is this a cultural thing? Is this a support group? I do know that while colleges were having to recruit students based on population percentages that Harvard was attacked by a Jewish group for cutting it's percentage of Jewish freshmen and accused of being anti-semitic. Somehow nobody understood reality and was able to point out that the number of Jewish freshmen being admitted was higher than the general population percentile of their race. Since money talks and leverage moves things, the freshman class that year was made up of about 30% Jewish people.
Now had the Hispanic community tried anything like that there would have been an incredible amount of screaming about how the Jewish people were being discriminated against. We do not hear the anti-defamation league screaming about how the Jewish people have been discriminated for. I don't know how to make this last bit sound non-racist. Do i have anything against any race? No. We all have our percentage of jerks and heroes. Do i believe that a huge percentage of any one race controlling huge portions of wealth (and therefore everybody's lives) is coincidental? Of course not. Conspiracy theory is one thing, but when (for example) the same political mistakes are made for over 70 years to benefit one segment of the population, perhaps there is something going on since it would be mathematically improbable to not have random benefit and non-benefit activity if something were not controlling the political outcome.
It has to be asked, if there were not such a huge percentage of Jewish billionaires in this country would we be supporting Israel the way we do? Personally i do not see Lebanon and Syria walling off portions of other countries and destroying local living conditions. I do not see Arabia and Egypt taking tanks and running over the houses of people where an enemy may have hidden from line of sight of my soldiers. Why not run over the evil trees, bushes, and ditches where enemy may hide? Because that would not cause hardship on the population whose land you are trying to steal and would not intimidate them.
Yes, this is a harsh assessment, but the things i see are harsh. Which Middle East country has nukes, wmd's and has invaded other countries multiple times, occupies another country's land, and claims the moral high ground? It looks like the biggest terrorist state in the world, now that George Bubbleyou Douche is no longer running us into personal wars.
Gotta stop for a bit. Just so painful, the idiocy of our world because of the leaders we have chosen. It is truly frightening to believe that this is our karma.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Stupid republicans
Coming soon, the rest of the idiots in the political spectrum.
I am so sick of seeing that glory hound Sarah Palin on tv. I don't need to hear her stupid stridency every day or so when i happen to see the tv. How can the republicans actually see this pretty piece of image as being intelligent enough to be pres? Maybe they figure with her lack of intelligence she will be easy enough to manipulate. Her views are rather draconian sometimes.
Notice how recently she actually claimed that she was able to get the courts to stop people from pirating her book (it is still being done, so she is kind of wrong) yet they seem to be unable to stop Julian Assange from committing treason by publishing state secrets. Two things wrong with her take on this.
First: in order to commit treason to the U.S., Mr Assange would have to be an american citizen - which he is not.
Second: His release has helped ease world tension. How? When King S'aud was asked for his reaction regarding his asking the U.S. to bomb Iran, his reply was in essence, "So?" He really didn't care if Iran knew his wishes and he didn't deny them. What nobody else seems to report on is that on the next day Iran started making overtures to resolve fears. So truth walks over diplomacy and has people talking and sharing inspection intentions? Amazing.
Of course we can't forget Sarah's international relationship experience with Russia. At least she hasn't shot them after mistaking them for a moose. Heck, i was in the infantry in Alaska (Co A 4th Bn/23rd Inf) and had the Byelorussian Dance Troupe stay in my northern Minnesota house twice. We also put up a British guy who was hitching around the world (Europe, Siberia, China, Tibet, Australia, Korea, U.S. etc.) and his Korean partner. I have personally travelled in Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas, & St. Maarten without causing international incident so my belief is that i am more qualified for president than she is.
The repubs have been spending the whole of the Obama administration trying to stop anything they can. Now they scream that he doesn't get anything done. That loud and firm thud you should feel would be your forehead getting slapped by the heel of your palm. At least Obama is better than George Bubble You Douche. Way better. One way to judge a government is (in my opinion) how well it takes care of it's general populace. Don't give everyone a handout, but when they are unable to climb out of a difficult situation for crying out loud don't make it harder or impossible. Dumbleyew never made a decision that would benefit a person if he could make one that would help a corporation or it's officers instead. Not once.
Now i'm hearing the faint rumblings from the repubs about family values. Oh my God, not again you hypocrites you. After the Reagan era (the man who brought you the homeless population, thank you RR) the three men pounding the family values table were Gingrich, Dole, and Limbaugh. Now between them they averaged (at the time) two point three wives. That means that to keep our morals up i not only need to divorce the first time, but i need to do it again! Maybe i can do it like Gingrich did; break her the news that she is out of here while she is fighting for her life in the hospital. (what would you rather have in your house, a cancer or Gingrich?) I would prefer a cancer, at least in the house of representatives.
Of course the only way to clean up congress is with a strong voting change, but people are generally dumb enough to believe what they are told on the tv. Who pays for the messages on the tv? The rich companies who want you to keep doing what you are doing, voting the way you are voting, not thinking the way you refuse to critically think, so that they can increase their wealth and power at your expense. This is inarguably being done right now.
I have some really radical ideas about the fixing of the economy to share some time. Soon, the other congressional and senatorial fools.
I am so sick of seeing that glory hound Sarah Palin on tv. I don't need to hear her stupid stridency every day or so when i happen to see the tv. How can the republicans actually see this pretty piece of image as being intelligent enough to be pres? Maybe they figure with her lack of intelligence she will be easy enough to manipulate. Her views are rather draconian sometimes.
Notice how recently she actually claimed that she was able to get the courts to stop people from pirating her book (it is still being done, so she is kind of wrong) yet they seem to be unable to stop Julian Assange from committing treason by publishing state secrets. Two things wrong with her take on this.
First: in order to commit treason to the U.S., Mr Assange would have to be an american citizen - which he is not.
Second: His release has helped ease world tension. How? When King S'aud was asked for his reaction regarding his asking the U.S. to bomb Iran, his reply was in essence, "So?" He really didn't care if Iran knew his wishes and he didn't deny them. What nobody else seems to report on is that on the next day Iran started making overtures to resolve fears. So truth walks over diplomacy and has people talking and sharing inspection intentions? Amazing.
Of course we can't forget Sarah's international relationship experience with Russia. At least she hasn't shot them after mistaking them for a moose. Heck, i was in the infantry in Alaska (Co A 4th Bn/23rd Inf) and had the Byelorussian Dance Troupe stay in my northern Minnesota house twice. We also put up a British guy who was hitching around the world (Europe, Siberia, China, Tibet, Australia, Korea, U.S. etc.) and his Korean partner. I have personally travelled in Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas, & St. Maarten without causing international incident so my belief is that i am more qualified for president than she is.
The repubs have been spending the whole of the Obama administration trying to stop anything they can. Now they scream that he doesn't get anything done. That loud and firm thud you should feel would be your forehead getting slapped by the heel of your palm. At least Obama is better than George Bubble You Douche. Way better. One way to judge a government is (in my opinion) how well it takes care of it's general populace. Don't give everyone a handout, but when they are unable to climb out of a difficult situation for crying out loud don't make it harder or impossible. Dumbleyew never made a decision that would benefit a person if he could make one that would help a corporation or it's officers instead. Not once.
Now i'm hearing the faint rumblings from the repubs about family values. Oh my God, not again you hypocrites you. After the Reagan era (the man who brought you the homeless population, thank you RR) the three men pounding the family values table were Gingrich, Dole, and Limbaugh. Now between them they averaged (at the time) two point three wives. That means that to keep our morals up i not only need to divorce the first time, but i need to do it again! Maybe i can do it like Gingrich did; break her the news that she is out of here while she is fighting for her life in the hospital. (what would you rather have in your house, a cancer or Gingrich?) I would prefer a cancer, at least in the house of representatives.
Of course the only way to clean up congress is with a strong voting change, but people are generally dumb enough to believe what they are told on the tv. Who pays for the messages on the tv? The rich companies who want you to keep doing what you are doing, voting the way you are voting, not thinking the way you refuse to critically think, so that they can increase their wealth and power at your expense. This is inarguably being done right now.
I have some really radical ideas about the fixing of the economy to share some time. Soon, the other congressional and senatorial fools.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
let's think it over
I've been told i need to do this since some of the thoughts which assault this particular mind are apparently not of the typical, sheep-like sort of fodder one usually sees. Some probably are.
In this discourse i will attempt to keep somewhat grammatical, and try for coherence. Please let me know when i have failed in this. One of my communication problems is that even when conversing with other people i may be discussing the plans for the afternoon while my mind is either simultaneously dealing with multiple thought trains or flashing between various subjects. This may include things such as how to frame the wall correctly (to fix the architect's error) and what i am intending to eat for lunch along with why i usually don't like jazz very much. this makes for disjointed trains of thought at times, so please keep me in line.
The advantage to the written word is i do not have to search for that elusive starting point in the ether - it is hanging further up the page. So without further preamble; a blog is born. Hopefully it will connect with someone.
In this blog i truly intend to go just about anywhere as life is a collage, not a file with every subject in separate little space which shall not impinge on anything else. Politics meshes with and sometimes mashes with and is mashed by religion, culture, time, personalities, etc. One simple example yet it just brushes a small part of the spectrum of interconnection we live in and must process through.
My background, temperament, experience, associations and goals flavor my interpretation of life as do yours. Since we are obviously not the same being, there will be times and places in which you may disagree with me. Perhaps vociferously. Please explain your rationale and i will make a true effort to understand your viewpoint. One cannot know everything and therefore there are going to be aspects of which i know little or nothing which impinge on that which i think and write. To be aware of these aspects may change my thinking or the flavor of my understanding. Hopefully i will graciously correct "myself."
Next blog i am going to start on our political situation and how it has impacted you and i.
thanks.
In this discourse i will attempt to keep somewhat grammatical, and try for coherence. Please let me know when i have failed in this. One of my communication problems is that even when conversing with other people i may be discussing the plans for the afternoon while my mind is either simultaneously dealing with multiple thought trains or flashing between various subjects. This may include things such as how to frame the wall correctly (to fix the architect's error) and what i am intending to eat for lunch along with why i usually don't like jazz very much. this makes for disjointed trains of thought at times, so please keep me in line.
The advantage to the written word is i do not have to search for that elusive starting point in the ether - it is hanging further up the page. So without further preamble; a blog is born. Hopefully it will connect with someone.
In this blog i truly intend to go just about anywhere as life is a collage, not a file with every subject in separate little space which shall not impinge on anything else. Politics meshes with and sometimes mashes with and is mashed by religion, culture, time, personalities, etc. One simple example yet it just brushes a small part of the spectrum of interconnection we live in and must process through.
My background, temperament, experience, associations and goals flavor my interpretation of life as do yours. Since we are obviously not the same being, there will be times and places in which you may disagree with me. Perhaps vociferously. Please explain your rationale and i will make a true effort to understand your viewpoint. One cannot know everything and therefore there are going to be aspects of which i know little or nothing which impinge on that which i think and write. To be aware of these aspects may change my thinking or the flavor of my understanding. Hopefully i will graciously correct "myself."
Next blog i am going to start on our political situation and how it has impacted you and i.
thanks.
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