Allowing the Kittens and the Chicks in the Henhouse

Conventional wisdom is that you never want to allow the cat in the hen house if you want the hens to continue laying eggs. But think about this scenario. Put the kitten and chicks together in the hen house and allow them to get acquainted as they mature into grown hens and cats. My hunch is that they will become friends and learn to accept one another peacefully, if not collaboratively.

The Obama-Warren controversy can be likened to the scenario above. Is it to Obama's advantage to corral Warren in the hen house early so that later he will moderate his appetite for gay/lesbian bashing when Obama acts on his promises to promote equality for all, including gays and lesbians.

Obama is a very smart politician and he understands the value of putting the chicks and kittens in the hen house together. Both may learn to purr and cackle a more harmonious tune later as the golden eggs begin hatching.

Bush Gets the Boot and so Should We

An Iraqi reporter removed both of his shoes and threw them at President Bush as he was making his farewell speech to Iraqi government leaders and invited reporters in Iraq. The Iraqi reporter missed his target. Throwing shoes is the most demeaning insult one can imagine. He, the reporter stated that here is what Bush deserved for leaving Iraq with so many orphans caused by Bush's war. The reporter was arrested by the Iraqi government amidst swelling popular demonstrations demanding his release and supportive of his shoe-throwing action, displaying the distrust and anger against our country. Bush literally got the boot from the Iraqi people who have sustained hundreds of thousands of civilian war deaths (some estimates put the number over one million), and caused untold suffering and deaths from diseases caused by contaminated water and foods. Thousands of equally innocent American lives have been lost and tens of thousands have suffered debilitating life-long injuries because of this war based upon lies, and still supported by our current President.

We, the American people collectively deserve kicking ourselves with our own shoes for submitting to Bush war-mongering tactics for nearly 6 years. Why were we so paralyzed to accept Bush's actions without much opposition. Simple folks--the Iraqis and only a few American military volunteers were dying as a result. We were separated from the deadly havoc that reigned death daily upon the people of Iraq.

Throwing two shoes at a man, who may be considered as the first American President who could be accused as a "War Criminal", is but a minor incident. Yet the reporter was accused by the puppet American Iraqi Government of a "barbaric act" potentially subject to a death penalty by the " Democratic Iraqi Government" we have structured.

Will we ever learn from the past? Will we ever tame the wild beast that seems to inflame us during times of stress and learn to "count to ten" before reacting with a knee-jerk, go-to-war reaction? The world's innocent peoples have suffered because of compulsions to strike back even if the perceived enemy is totally innocent.

Perhaps the two shoes thrown at President Bush is symbolic of the fact that there are some among us who are sick of war for the sake of war. Let's throw our shoes instead at any boneheaded leader who believes that so-called "preventive war" is justified. Maybe the stench from our sweaty feet will make him or her think twice.

President-Elect Obama's Future Pathway--More or Less Military Actions?

Today we hear rumbles of spending hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to spur our economy. Additional hundreds of billions are being spent to salvage failing banks and investment companies. More billions will focus upon helping homeowners prevent foreclosure of their homes. Finally we are paying the piper for past corporate and individual indulgences and greed-induced behavior.

Yet, despite the social need for these expenditures we still blindly allow two wars to suck up our tax dollars at the rate of at least $500 billion dollars a year, and swallow at least another $600 billion dollars for worldwide military expenditures. Our taxes pay for about 800 to 1,000 military bases that are manned by nearly 300,000 military personnel. Many hundreds of billions of dollars are spent for CIA operations, the Pentagon and other covert purposes. Military equipment contracts for new and replacement equipment accounts for hundreds of billions of tax dollars every year spent by military contractors. Para military corporations are hired by our government as unofficial military combatants to do dirty wok in such locations as Iraq and Afghanistan. These contracts are often masked in secrecy and their costs are unknown. Adding to this gargantuan military bounty are billions if not trillions of dollars required to provide veteran benefits and health care for years to come. It is virtually impossible to value human lives lost, so the total annual cost is beyond accurate estimation. If an accurate accounting of all military-related expenses were available the estimate of the total annual tax cost would easily exceed 2,000 billion dollars (2 trillion dollars for those of you who can visualize such a large number).

How, you may ask, can we spend about 15% of the US gross national product (US GNP) on military expenses. The world's GNP is about 63 trillion dollars, so we are essentially spending about 3% of the total world's GNP for military purposes, and virtually half of the world's total military expenses. The answer is that we borrow from counties such as China and Japan with what amounts to promissory notes to pay back, with interest, in the future. Just how much debt is really incurred annually is undoubtedly a well hidden secret, and is virtually never discussed in "polite circles" unless you want to be accused of "not putting your country first".

Well risking that association, may I ask whether we are getting our bang for the bucks spent for military? Our Constitution clearly specifies that we will maintain an army for national defense. Can we possibly justify the trillions of tax dollars and lives lost during the last eight years as spent for our country's national defense? Clearly, attacking Iraq and mounting ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan have neither improved the defense of our country against invading enemies (the 9/11 terror attack was not an act of war against our country by either Iraq or Afghanistan, but the nation less terrorist organization, Al Queda), nor helped our stature in the world. Yet our present government seems intent upon following the same path regardless of the consequences.

I hope that the the new Obama administration will take a distinctly different track, and not only stop our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but also reduce our military presence world wide. This could demonstrate to the world that we will foster peaceful approaches to world conflict rather than knee-jerk military responses. We would be able to divert trillions of dollars to health care, education and peaceful job creation instead of the abyss of endless military actions, loss of life, and bottomless expenses.

As our country awaits the new administration, let us all contact President-Elect Obama and urge him to fundamentally change our addiction to military solutions to ameliorate world conflict.This would not only create the possibility of an era of global peace, but would also provide some of the revenue to pay off our country's debt and to fund essential health care, educational improvements, and massive job creation. These must become the cornerstones of our true national purpose, beyond the military dominance that now prevails. Let us turn back to the principles of our Constitution and rebuild our country as "One Nation Indivisible With Liberty and Justice for All". Help us regain our way, President-Elect Obama. The American people are counting on you to help create an era of peace and humanity-driven purposes.

The Difference That Makes No Difference Makes No Difference

If you were asked what single life factor is most important to you and your loved ones, what would you answer? Think about this before you reply. How many of you would answer,"good health"? Without good health most everything else would be burdensome if not impossible regardless of how much money you have. Whoops what did I write? Money enables you to get whatever you want or need. Or does it? Ask a multi millionaire who is dying from an incurable cancer and do you believe he will answer "money"?

Ask the nearly 50 million Americans who have no health care because they cannot afford the typical $12,000 insurance policy. They may die even though no medical care at all is available. Or they may suffer from diseases that they cannot afford to have treated. Money in their cases can make a difference. But should money determine whether or not health care is available to all, regardless of your ability to pay?

Most civilized countries in the world have nationalized health care for every citizen regardless of ability to pay. Social tax provides the cost of equal access to health care independent of one's income. Our country is the only civilized country that does not assure every citizen equal access to health care for rich and poor alike. In this respect we live in the dark ages.Will we emerge soon or will we continue to disregard the right to health care even as we proclaim that the right to life is paramount. How can we be so adamant about the right to life without being equally demanding for equal health care for all? Is it alright for a child to be born into a world where health care is only the right for the privileged who can afford it?

As a new President is about to lead our country we must all voice our demand for universal health care based upon a single payer Insurance companies and HMO's and their executives must not be enriched by a new, slightly tweaked, health care policy. The working people, and the poor and needy must be included amongst the recipients of the benefits, without assuring the financial well being or bailout of more business moguls and corporations as we already have with the financial conglomerate bailouts in affect and pending. The medical practitioners must also be assured fair pay as they are in civilized countries where their people are covered by single-payer, universal health care.

If we are served another ploy, that pretends to provide universal health care under the guise of protecting the medical insurance companies, we will once again abandon the people who not only deserve equal health care, but posses the the fundamental right to such care. We cannot pretend that some minuscule variation on the current corporate medicine, managed by insurance companies, is all that is needed.

The "difference that makes no difference makes no difference". Please President-Elect Obama make a difference for all citizens. Help lead the way to universal, single-payer health care.

The Missing Word--Greed

The world's economic turmoil is incessantly discussed in terms of a host of economic and financial terms such as derivatives, liquidity, sub prime, hedge funds, supply and demand, elasticity of demand, etc. One word is virtually invisible and inaudible and is never even whispered in polite society-greed.

Although seemingly lost in all languages, the word "greed", and all that it conveys is the root cause of the failure of any economic system. Capitalism, socialism, communism, fascism, etc. are all susceptible to self-destruction caused by the insidious manifestation of the world's oldest viral disease--greed. All these socio-economic systems fail when the elected or proclaimed leaders view success in terms of "a little is good and more is better". Society takes up their leader's mantra, and soon everyone becomes part of the greed pack. We become delusional as a society, truly believing that more is always better. This stupefying condition is exactly what the leaders want so that they can maintain adherence to their own greed-driven ambitions.

All of the "isms" generate a ruling class that seeks more and more power. Absolute control is the focus of greed in the leader classes of essentially all social and economic systems, no matter how "advanced" or "primitive" they are. The more greedy the leader the more power becomes concentrated in a small group. Capitalism breeds the economic monopolistic concentration of power, rendering society completely dependent upon their leaders' economic and civil control, while they, the leaders, become evermore controlling and dominant.

Communism creates a similar ruling class that dominates in a very similar manner, concentrating control with more arbitrary force. Leaders in both systems generally promote their artificial benevolence while greedily assimilating more power for themselves at the expense of freedom, liberty, and economic parity for their subservient citizen class. No form of governance or economic system is immune to greed and the concentrated power it potentially breeds.

Greed is the root cause, except for natural upheavals, of societal failure in the 21st century just as it has been since Adam and Eve. We are entrapped within our own appetites for more stuff, more pleasure, more dominance, more of everything. The poorest members of any society are trapped by the greedy actions of the most powerful. The poorest tend to become poorer at the expense of the most greedy and powerful. We blindly become encircled by a spiral of greed sucking us into the vortex without being aware of our eventual pathway to self destruction.

There are no economic "bailouts" or euphemistic "rescue plans" that can have lasting beneficial societal outcomes unless we tame, and eventually overcome, the world's most deadly poison-greed. The so-called post industrial world is as sick as ever. Greed infects every form of government and virtually all societal groups. We are all vulnerable to the deadly outcome of its unlimited destructive reach.

The "missing word", greed must be recognized as the contagious disease that it is. We cannot overcome the consequences of its destructive power until we recognize it in ourselves and leaders. We can only become civilized and peaceful in this technologically unstable world if we can truly eliminate mankind's plague--greed, not from our vocabulary but from all of our actions.

Can Energy Conservation Matter? The Coming Renewable Energy Boom.

During the just completed political campaign season the Republican mantra "drill, drill, drill" echoed loudly as their solution to the high oil and gasoline prices. Whenever the notion of conservation was mentioned the Republicans assaulted the obvious with ridicule and defiance. It is their ignorance that shows now. During the last few months we have witnessed the price of oil fall from over $140 to under $65 a barrel and gasoline prices have declined by more than $1.50 per gallon, without an ounce of new oil drilled. Why, you ask? Conservation is the answer. Conservation is not always welcome, and this recent conservation has some negative aspects. The world demand for energy has declined as economic woes have worsened worldwide. The decline in energy demand has resulted in a temporary oil glut, and the market prices have dropped in direct proportion. This is direct evidence that conservation can and will have a very significant effect in the long range as well. But, conservation of fossil fuels on the short term cannot solve our long term energy needs and control prices.

The development and implementation of alternative energy sources and associated new technology will assuredly reduce the demand for fossil fuels to zero. The eventual substitution of innovative energy alternatives based upon renewable sources such as wind, solar, and biological-conversion, and other new technologies have the potential to eliminate demand for all fossil fuels.

An Apollo-type program like that President John Kennedy initiated in the 1960's, stimulated the space race, put our astronauts into space and on the moon, and spawned the technological benefits that created the computer age, is a good example of what is attainable in a relatively short period of time, if we commit ourselves as a country.

President Elect Obama is committed to development and implementation of alternative energy sources. We must support his programs and help create a new era where conservation and elimination of fossil fuel demand will come in the form of renewable energy sources. We will break the chains of fossil fuel dependency while creating a world wide opportunity for environmental harmony and economic growth-- a double win for the USA and the world. We accomplished what was considered impossible once before, and we can do it again. Belief, inspiration, persistence and perspiration will help create a world that provides sufficient living standards for all. Let's all get aboard Obama's train into the future.

Requisites for One Country, With Liberty, and Justice for All

When we vote for someone to represent us in any government body we believe that the individual is at least as intelligent as we. Why would we want to vote for someone who is less intelligent? When we vote we also expect that the individual we select will be as wise as we, otherwise why would we select the individual? Whomever we decide to vote for should be more informed as we on matters that are relevant. Should we ever ever vote for someone who is less informed? When we vote for someone we expect that individual to honor all laws and the U.S. Constitution. Would you do otherwise? When we vote we expect the individual we select to represent all of the people and lead with objective analysis and vision based upon their intelligence and wisdom. Otherwise we could vote for anyone regardless of their leadership qualities and honesty. Would you? We expect that the individuals that we vote for are better educated than we and have the intelligence to apply their knowledge to wisely guide and benefit the people. Otherwise we would become leaderless, or be led into chaos. Would you want "that"? Have we had "that"? Will we prevent that from happening again?

Our form of government, erroneously called a democracy, is a Constitutional Republic governed by a basic set of principles spelled out in our constitution. How many of us have read and studied our Constitution? It is the essence of our legal system and basis of all governance. It also descibes our individual responsibilities. Our Constitution was developed by educated and wise immigrant leaders who engaged in rigorous debate and discussion and compromised to establish our country's bedrock foundation. The foundation that they built was not perfect, and over the two plus centuries that have elapsed since its adoption many amendments have been made to provide more rights for all the people, and to right wrongs. All of us are the beneficiaries of the wise actions of our founders. As beneficiaries we are also obliged to protect and support our constitution. This responsibility is not a passive duty. We must be proactive and demand and vote for leadership that will continue our Constitutional heritage that provides liberty and justice for all. Being proactive means that we must constantly educate ourselves and become fully aware of national and world events. We must actively engage in the political discourse that determines our future. We must dedicate some time every day to self education and study so that we become better informed voters.

Many politicians who we have voted into office lacked the intelligence, wisdom, and vision to provide needed leadership. We, as a society bound together by the easily torn fabric of our Constitution, cannot fall into a state of apathy and ignorance. Instead we must dedicate ourselves to the renewal of faith in the words and inferred actions that our Constitution demands. Read our Constitution again and discuss it with your friends and neighbors. Any reasonably intelligent person can do this. Having a degree in law is not only unnecessary, but also potentially blinding.

Dedicate yourself to spending more time to become better informed and educated. You may be surprised what you can learn and apply, at any age. Consider the questions in the first paragraph of this blog when you vote; again, and again, and again. The requisite for being citizens of a Constitutional Republic are simple yet demanding. We must all apply our intelligence to become better educated and more visionary so that we are better able to  make wise decisions about our Country's future, and to become  responsible citizens of "One Country, With Liberty, and Justice for All".

 

Vote For Your Grand Children and Children--Vote for Obama

Last nights debate clearly demonstrated clear differences between Sen. Obama and McCain and their respective party's policies. McCain and the Republicans represent avid partisanship, and McCain never acknowledged any common ground with Senator Obama. Obama clearly reaches out to find common ground, and will if he becomes our next president. McCain persistently attacked Obama with fearful associative connections, some beginning when Obama was 8 years old. McCain somehow felt that Obama  was nonetheless coddling "terrorists" when he was on an educational board with "his childhood terrorist by association" that actually was bipartisan, and organized by a life long Republican. McCain's aggressive attacks on the "Ayer's fairy tale" clearly shows that McCain is not able or interested in dealing truthfully with the issues, and would be reluctant to consider any compromises. Obama clearly demonstrated that although he has clear policies and goals for our country he will be open to bipartisan compromise for the sake of our country. McCain's angry attitude and unwillingness to acknowledge Sen. Obama as another human being , let alone a fellow Senator in the highest legislative body in the U.S., portrays a man whose ego is so great that neither Obama or anyone else is his equal, and is instead considered by McCain as an inferior human.

Another distinct difference surfaced when McCain introduced "Joe the Plumber", and stated that he, McCain, and Joe the Plumber are opposed to Obama's tax policy plans and he , McCain, admonished Obama for "spreading the wealth", by increasing taxes for the wealthiest 5% of our country's tax payers and reducing them for the other 95%. McCain's opposition to "spreading the wealth" is typical of the Bush/Republican Party and their avid attachment to the richest power brokers who want to dominate the rest of the citizens of our country including "Joe the Plumber" Fortunately, their are many very rich supporters of Sen. Obama, like Warren Buffet, who support Obama's tax plan and, and support tax balance that lowers taxes for the middle class. Why should McCain be opposed to "spreading the wealth"? He and his heiress wife will still be very wealthy even if they have to pay more taxes on their approximately $10 million dollar annual income, as will many others who earn more than $250,000 annually, including Barack Obama and his wife.

A third clear difference pertains to our national health care crisis. John McCain states that health care is a "privilege", while Barack Obama believes that affordable, quality health care is a "right" for every citizen of our country. This distinct difference drives McCain to keep a sick system and to assure insurance companys abilities to increase costs and decrease care. Sen. Obama aims to provide affordable health care, equal to what all federal employees get (including Senators McCain and Obama), for all citizens. McCain calls this government bureaucracy and socialism. If McCain doesn't like his tax-paid medical coverage supplied by our taxes, why does he accept it as a Senator? Why, Sen. McCain should you, and other privileged government employees (state and federal), get tax-subsidized health care while over 47 million American have nothing, and millions of unemployed Americans have suffered a similar fate after losing their jobs. Sen. Obama's plan will provide affordable health care for all who do not have it or cannot afford the insurance premiums. This includes all children who Sen. McCain waved off when he voted against poor children's health coverage during this current session of Congress.

Education is at best a second thought with John McCain who seems to think that college education is a privilege for the richest children, or those who are burdened with huge debt after graduation. McCain blithely ignores this crucial issue, and seems to believe that the status quo is just fine. Obama plans to aid all college-eligible students with a $4,ooo grant per year in exchange for service to our country (including the Peace Corp or military service).

Finally, McCain clearly enunciates his support of the worn and failed "trickle-down" Republican/Bush policy that states that lowering taxes for the rich and the multinational corporations will trickle down jobs and money to the rest of us by some form of osmosis. Just the opposite has occurred, as the current economic and housing crisis clearly proves. The trickle, if there ever was one, is now a loud reverse suction draining even bare necessities from the typical middle class workers and families. And what is McCain';s solution--more of the same kind of tax and regulatory policies that McCain has supported with the Bush administration. Obama clearly supports the necessity for massive job creation in our country, and states that implementation of energy-independence technology, and rebuilding infrastructure are necessary to help create jobs for the middle class, and young people entering the job market for the first time. 

The debates are over. Slightly more than three weeks remain before we make the most important decision for us and particularly our grand children who cannot vote. Their future is in our hands. Do you want a President who will work for us to create a better future? Or, do you want to continue the policies that caused the present whirlpool of problems engulfing us? Obama is the leader for our time, and for your children's and grand children's future. A vote for Barack Obama is a vote for them. Vote for Sen. Barack Obama.

Importance of the Liberal Mind in the Quest for Progress and Peace

Petrification is a phenomena that occurs when organic material slowly become rock or mineral in consistency. The current presidential election suggest that the same process occurs in voters as we age. We tend to become frozen in time and more rock-like in consistency. Notably, this seems to occur in our grey matter in our brains. We often accept deception for truth and the past as irrevocable. A recent survey by The Annenberg Center for Public Policy stated the following. " Young adults 18 to 29 years of age are more likely to describe themselves as liberal in comparison to other age groups, according to recent data collected by the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s National Annenberg Election Survey. Thirty-four percent of 18- to 29-year-olds called themselves “liberal” or “very liberal,” while only 27 percent of 30- to 44-year-olds, 25 percent of 45- to 64-year-olds, and 18 percent of those 65 years and older described themselves the same way." The word "liberal" can be interpreted differently depending upon your slant. However, generally the word connotes a leaning toward contemporary thought and action as opposed to dogma.

Our society seems to cling stubbornly to the "past", although the past is never "now". The older we become , the more attached we become to the past and the more petrified we become. We become less able to accept change and hearken back to "the time when". We seem to sink further into rigid thinking established during some period of our lives when we were "satisfied" with the status quo. As we age we seem to lose our ability to think more "liberally". We tend to hold on to our ingrained beliefs that began petrifying years ago. This explains in part why we as society seem to repeat the mistakes made in the past since we cannot let loose of experiences that have shaped our thinking and frozen our ability to expand our reasoning. Cubic inch by cubic inch our brains seem to lose their "elasticity" and we gradually become mummified in a live body.

The liberal mind retains elasticity and is able to see new horizons and analyze them without being burdened by stultifying rigidity caused by aging. The liberal mind, however, also tends to age and often becomes inflicted with the same malaise that has already overtaken older, partially petrified, minds. Overall societal progress is slowed because each generation starts clunking along and the previously liberal mind slowly tends to become rigid. The journey of a society is analogous to climbing a ladder that has broken rungs that impedes our escalation and finally limits our advance. We become stuck. We must overcome the impediments that are always in our way.

Our challenge as individuals and society is to recognize petrification before it take over. We must always seek the better pathway, the more human way, the more peaceful approach. This can only be achieved if we allow our minds to expand as we age. We must retain the liberal elasticity in our brains that we posses as youths, and tend to lose later. Each generation starts anew on a new rung on the ladder to the future. We can make the future better for all of us and future generations if we resist the petrification of our minds and welcome the liberal thoughts of youth rather than condemning any deviation from what you consider to be "wrong". The liberal mind sorts our self-destructive and harmful actions and will reject them on their own. But instant condemnation and negative judgemental  reactions of the partially petrified mind cannot help guide those who are seeking progress in a partially stultified society. 

We owe a debt of gratitude to all the liberal minds who helped provide societal improvement. We must show gratitude and support those who retain their liberal minds as they age and encourage the younger members of society to seek more knowledge to held solve mankind's relentless and often repetitive backward steps. We must all retain our "liberal minds" to assure a future society and a world that eventually achieves progress and and peace for all.

The Reborn Nazi Movement Under John McCain and Sarah Palin

Within the last several days the McCain campaign has become a Hitler-like Nazi propaganda machine. They have resorted to lies and distortions just like the Hitler propaganda machine did under Goering to incite hatred against Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals. Palin and McCain both incited recent gatherings to shout out "terrorist" and "kill him" in reference to Sen. Obama. Neither McCain nor Palin rebuked their supporters for their hateful responses to their implications that Obama is an"terrorist". How low can the McCain hate machine reach in their desperate attempt to tar and feather Obama? This paranoiac Nazi-like behavior proves, if any more hateful attacks were needed for proof, that a possible McCain-Palin administration could never "reach across the aisles" to achieve partisan solutions to our critical economic and war issues. As a veteran of the Koren war I am totally dismayed how McCain, veteran of the Vietnam war, can completely forget why he served our country. He should have learned that hateful propaganda does nothing for the propagandist, other than deep revulsion. Palin and McCain must immediately stop their Nazi-like propaganda and apologize for the hateful lies that they have already spread. Otherwise, we can only conclude that McCain endorses Nazi tactics and is the leader of the "Reborn McCain-Palin Nazi Movement."

Shed The Plagues of Bigotry

Hang the white witch! Off with his white head! Kill the Whigger! Where have you heard similar words? George Fox University, a Christian college in Oregon is investigating the hanging in effigy of Barack Obama. The bigots lead the bigots! Stay away from that whigger red neck! Hang him with his whigger lover. We are demeaned by all acts of bigotry. 

The black infantry women who died in combat in Iraq died atop a whigger whose blood and body fluids intermixed as their body parts intermingled and decomposed. Their sexual organs were spewed upon one another as they embraced in violent war-wrought death. Neither recognized the color of each others skin a second before they were blown to bits.

When will the Bigotry Plagues end? Now is the time to see each other as God sees and accepts us. Embrace His view and shed the Plagues of Bigotry forever. 

Who Bails US Out John McCain?

Today we await the biggest tax giveaway to private corporations that has ever occurred in any capitalistic country in modern times (other than as war reconstruction). This economic cesspool is the result of nearly three decades of unrestrained deregulation of corporations and financial organizations in the name of progress. The Republican Party has led the charge always advocating less regulation claiming that the benefits would trickle down to the working people in our country. For a short while this sleight of hand seemed to work. But greed begets more greed and the corporate masters saw that more deregulation would be even better. So the next big wave took place as millions of American workers were displaced and lost their jobs in the USA by workers in Mexico, China, Japan, Malaysia, Chile, India, etc. as American Companies moved factories and jobs overseas where regulations were virtually non existent and wages almost the same. Once again the Republicans led the charge and many equally greedy Democrats followed as the mantra of 'Free Trade" was used to justify their betrayal of the American People. 

Deregulation of banks and savings and loans began to take off with John McCain and his followers soon after he became a Senator about 26 years ago. He helped arrange special legislation for Lincoln Savings and Loan and was caught with his hands in the cookie jar. For this he received a slight reprimand and continued to foster and support more deregulation and encouraged shipping jobs over seas where regulations and wages were minimal. To this very date his Presidential Campaign is managed almost exclusively by lobbyists who are beholden to financial and corporate interests. His campaign manager has been continually paid by his own lobbying firm while he has run the McCain campaign. Yet McCain calls himself the "Maverick Reformer". Maverick maybe, since he is an unabashed hip shooter who doesn't seem to know the difference between the BS he slings and the truth. Unless just like a real maverick he is unloading it wherever he goes. 

Let's wake up America. We have been fed so much BS for so long that we are now drowning in it and don't seem to care. How can we consider the election of an admitted Maverick who cares more for the lobbyists and corporate interests while pretending he is a straight shooter. Lets shoot straight John McCain and tell the American people how you are going to bail US out of the mess that you helped get US into. Squish!

Has John McCain Become Detached From Reality?

John McCain once was a level headed individual who, if you disagreed with, you could nonetheless understand where he was coming from. That attribute has disappeared from his character and he seems to be totally detached from reality. 

First he proclaimed that he puts his service to our country above politics and even this election. Then he selects Sarah Palin who has virtually no credentials for his running mate. This is totally contrary to his "service Mantra".

Then he attacks Sen. Obama with bald faced lies and the lies about his lies concerning tax cuts, lipstick on pigs, and proclaims that "our economy is fundamentally strong". This while banks and investment/insurance giants are failing, nearly one million jobs have been lost this year alone, gasoline prices are going sky high even as oil prices decline, and General Petraeus states that the Iraq War cannot be won as John McCain chants "Bomb, Bomb,Iran", threatens Russia, and insists that we cannot leave Iraq until we win the war.

Our country is inflicted with the disease of corporate greed that John McCain has supported during his entire 26 years in the senate. He continuously provided tax breaks for corporation that closed manufacturing plants in the USA only to reopen them in foreign countries where the wages paid were minuscule compared to what was paid to the workers who lost their jobs in the USA. Now John wants us to believe that he has changed his stripes and is a reformer. He must think that we are all stupid and believes that he should never give we suckers an even break.

He deserted his seriously injured first wife and their children and became involved in an adulterous affair with a young model and beer baron heiress who is now his wife. Despite this evil act he cozies up to the Evangelical Christians proclaiming his allegiance to their causes. Does this include John McCain's adherence to the Ten Commandments. His actions prove that his words are hollow.

His decision to make Sarah Palin his VP is perhaps the most detached act that John McCain has made. He perpetually showers himself with accolades about his military and Senate services and extols the importance of his service and experience. Why then did he select a virtually inexperienced VP when the USA is midst the worst economic crisis since the great depression, and we are in the midst of a wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. How can such a person be trusted as the President if John McCain were elected and subsequently was unable to serve because of illness or disability? He knows that the melanoma cancers that inflict him could metastasize at any time and become fatal. Yet he ignores this reality and selects a VP running mate who is totally unqualified and could be one cancer cell away from the Presidency. 

Sarah Palin has further degraded both herself and John McCain by labelling herself as a "hockey mom", a term that is analogous to "soccer mom", (and was code for white, suburban moms),a term that surfaced during George Bush Sr's. campaigns as and was intendedas a way to demean anyone who was not white. Why did Palin not simply state that she is a "top" mom, or a football mom, or a basketball mom as a piece of levity? This is worst than detachment. John McCain is in effect telling all non-white Americans who have served our country and died in wars protecting our country from harm that they are still second class citizens. A new web site, hockeymoms.com, has surfaced that is supportive of Palin's petty politics. 

John McCain's' actions prove that he is either totally detached from reality and, hence, is unqualified a to be President or that he has become a right-wing ideologue and cannot represent our country despite his laughable claims to be a reformer. In either case he has disqualified himself as our next President.

Peace- The Vital Objective of Leadership

As most of you probably know the father of the "Theory of Relativity", Albert Einstein, advised President Roosevelt to develop the atom bomb soon after World War II began. Having left Germany to preserve his life, Einstein came to the United States where he continued to pursue his theoretical studies at Princeton University. But he recognized that his theory was being applied by the Nazi war machine to develop the deadly atom bomb as well. He believed that the USA had to develop the bomb first to prevent the Nazi's from using the weapon to control the world. Roosevelt responded by initiating a secret program and Einstein's objective was achieved. The atom bomb was used by the USA in 1945 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Second World War ended shortly thereafter. But Einstein, although recognizing that the development of the atom bomb by the USA may have averted Nazi domination had they developed the bomb first he deeply regretted that his theory and admonitions to Roosevelt caused so much death and destruction in the two Japanese cities that were destroyed, and where hundreds of thousands were killed outright or died slowly from radiation poisoning or induced cancers. Einstein, acknowledged as the most brilliant thinker and physicist of modern times, became one of the most passionate pacifists after his theory of relativity was reduced to reality by the development and use of the atom bomb.

We now live during a time when many thousands of atom bombs exist throughout the world with each one possessing more destructive and life-destroying power than those used to destroy Nagasaki and Hiroshima. They are in place , ready to launch by rockets, throughout Europe (France,England Russia), USA, Central Asia (India, Pakistan, Russia,China, and Israel. One erratic leader could set off a chain reaction that could actually destroy most life on earth in one massive tit for tat reaction by all nations that have A-Bombs. We truly live on a precipice where another world war would probably be that last world war for a millennium or longer. Any life that initially survives a world nuclear war would face devastation and horror of such scale that long-term survival would be doubtful. Thousands of atom bombs would ultimately spew radioactive fall out world wide, causing slow death from radiation poisoning and make virtually all water and food sources inedible and deadly. The scenario of survival after such an event is unimaginable. I suggest that you all read, "Hiroshima Diary-The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6- September 30, 1945" to partially grasp the reality of nuclear warfare. It is impossible to realize the horror unless you lived through it yourself, but reading this very objective journal by a physician who tended the survivors and witnessed the devastation is necessary to accept the futility and senselessness of war to the victor or to the vanquished. A nuclear world war will equate all--survivors will all be of one type--the vanquished of the world.

The world today is led by political leaders who seem to have forgotten or never learned any lasting lessons from World War II or from the nuclear devastation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Most of the leaders today seem to think that war is the essence of real leadership. "Peace" is viewed as an aberrational disease possessing those who are unpatriotic or traitors.

Einstein, the "father of the A-Bomb" knew very well what his genius wrought. He lived the balance of his life suffering for the harm done by the weapon he promoted. Yet we know, and he too knew, that such a weapon would have been developed by the Nazis or another nation had we not been first. Yet we are the only nation in the world to have used the A-Bomb to destroy life. We must reflect upon this reality. We must work for world peace. We must live in Einstein's shadow as he recognized the folly of war. War cannot solve mankind's problems. War only magnifies the problems and always results in the death and maiming of innocent people, and those sent to war by leaders who have failed to seek other peaceful pathways. The time has come to change our ways. Global warming pales by comparison.

Albert Einstein, after seeing the devastation caused by wars and the nuclear bomb that his Theory of Relativity launched, offered his wisdom with the following words: "May the conscience and the common sense of the peoples be awakened, so that we may reach a new stage in the life of nations, where people will look back on war as an incomprehensible aberration of their forefathers!" The future of earth depends more upon our attainment of Einstein's visionary wisdom than anything else that confronts mankind today. We must embrace his words and seek leaders who place the attainment of peace in the world as the most vital objective of national and world leadership.

Our Beacon of Liberty and Justice for All Must Shine Again

Our Country is in the midst of a moral leadership breakdown. Throughout first two thirds of the 20th century the USA was generally respected and followed as the beacon of freedom and human progress. From Theodore Roosevelt to Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt to Dwight Eisenhower we were regarded as liberators in a often turbulent world. The Statue of liberty represented hope and freedom to most of the world. We began to overcome our heritage of slavery and gender discrimination. Our people came together and sacrificed millions of lives to help protect the world and ourselves from Nazi domination in Wold War II. Our leaders than got off track and wove a rocky paths through two ill-founded wars; Korea and Vietnam in which millions of innocent Korean and Vietnamese civilians, and about 150,000 of US military perished.Through this period we started to become a fractured country.The fractures have deepened and spread like a thunderous earthquake that sucks innocent live into the bowels of our earth.

The Second World War followed the great Depression and yet through all this turmoil our country became unified under sometimes opposing forces, but always able to serve the common purpose of our people. That unified period has been shattered by political partisanship and misguided policies that have cause hate and distrust,at worst, and endless political and international actions that have worked against the unification of our country and reconciliation with hostile countries and people. Our leaders,and others leaders in the world have become part of a seemingly increasingly inhospitable world intent upon self destruction.

Our country must regain cohesion and our sense of purpose as enunciated by our founding fathers. We must spread these enduring ideas into purposeful actions to heal our country and aid the world by setting an example.There are many examples of US policies that have fostered more distrust and antagonism rather than promoting understanding and diplomatic reconciliation. We have acted time and again to inflame wounds rather than heal them. We now exist in a quagmire of festering hate and mistrust than can never cause anything but more of the same.

For nearly two generations the USA has enforced trade embargoes and travel restrictions against Cuba for their governments human rights violations. Yet Cuba's human rights violations are a pittance compared to those that the world's biggest importer to the USA, China, has committed against their own people. Chinese atrocities in Tibet are destroying lives of Buddhist monks and civilians who are protesting China's enslavement of Tibet, and demonstrating for the independence that they are entitled to. The Communist Chinese dictatorship treats their own people as disposable pawns in their quest for world domination. The USA and most of the world seems to shut their collective senses off when they effortlessly dismiss the ongoing Chinese government's atrocities committed against their own people and others they dominate by force.Our government placates the communist dictators in charge of the Chinese government with meaningless words and platitudes instead of real actions.

Why do we continue to import from China? Why do we give China the most favored trade status? Why do we continue to allow USA companies to establish factories in China as the same companies shutter factories in the USA and fire their employees? Is our government conspiring, albeit unwittingly, to make the USA a Chinese colony, eventually as dominated by the Chinese communist government as is Tibet? These are simple examples of immoral response by our leaders to other leaders immoral actions. Such responses allow more restrictions rather than fewer and our country's moral authority is eroded.

The leaders of our country claim that we are the world's bastion of freedom, liberty, and humanity. Yet our Federal government, that is suppose to represent we, the people, seems to pick and choose our world partners and co-supporters on some other bases; clearly not to foster freedom, humanity, and liberty. We have reacted to madness with more madness instead of calibrated actions based upon rational thought. As a result we have splintered our own country and turned many nations in the world against us. Nearly half the world's people are deeply mistrustful of our policies and actions. We seem incapable of developing any consistent morally guided pathway and instead react to every incident with a knee-jerk reaction. Unlike our founding fathers we have become mired in pragmatic responses that are molded at the spur of the moment or based upon a policy of instant retaliation--an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We have been stuck on and endless treadmill that constantly engenders hate, mistrust, and hostility for each other.

We embargo trade and prevent travel to a minuscule country such as Cuba; we attack Iraq on the basis of false intelligence and are responsible for the many thousands of needless deaths and injuries sustained by our own military forces, while being directly or indirectly responsible for untold thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children.We ignore genocide in many African countries and often support the perpetrators of the atrocities.

We splinter our own country by politicizing every one and everything. We have lost our common purpose.

We think of ourselves as the moral magnet of the world, but what do we practice? As genocide runs rampant in African countries our government prefers to call the slaughter "ethnic war" and thus avoid responsibility for the same kind of hate that led to the Holocaust. As Tibetans, Pakistani, Chinese, and Chechnyan Russians civilians are murdered by their own governments, we close our minds to such atrocities, as long as their government leaders are willing to serve our economic, political, and military interests.

Our country's government cannot proclaim itself to be the world's "greatest" power when such power ignores the human atrocities that we, and many of the countries who support us, commit in the name of democracy, freedom, and liberty. Nor can we respond to every atrocity with military power. Power is achieved by demonstrating intelligent, considered actions always based upon a moral foundation.

Our country was founded when a small group of British colonists who voyaged to this new land under the authority of Royal British Crown subsequently became rebellious against their own British government because these colonists became the "tax" slaves of their own government. They lost their rights and liberty and were ruled by force imposed by the King of Great Britain. The American Revolution and our Declaration of Independence ensued, and soon thereafter our Constitution was enacted by the former thirteen colonies to create the Union of the United States of America.

Our Union was formed to support the BELIEF that: We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Everyone who believes this must read the entire Declaration of Independence again, and while at it our Constitution also. We must once again dedicate ourselves to the roots of our very existence as a nation.

Our nation became the beacon for freedom and liberty, and we progressed for many years since 1776 to build upon the precepts at the time of our birth as an infant union of thirteen colonies. We have had severe shocks along the way. And amendments were added over the years to our Constitution that included Articles that: abolished slavery, allowed the right to vote to all citizens including women, and the right to vote to anyone attaining the age of 18 years. We have progressed to create a more perfect union based up expanded freedom and rights. We have indeed been the torch bearer of real Democracy until comparatively recent times.

But we have lost our way as a nation. We are slipping back into the Colonial era when our 13 colonies were enslaved by their own British Crown. We are becoming enslaved by our own government that seems to have forgotten why our Country was created in the fist place. We cannot live up to our heritage as a nation if we forget our roots. We must return to the ideas that spawned our nation and once again become the "GREAT POWER" we once were. We must again promote the unifying concept of our founders: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".

The moment is upon us to restore the faith and beliefs of our founders and become the voice for freedom and liberty for all. Let us find our moral compass and strive to become "One Nation,Indivisible,With Liberty and Justice for All." Let our beacon of hope and freedom shine for all the world to emulate again.

The Generation Gaps

Todays political gab often uses the term "the generation gap" to partition groups of voters by age classification. Age is not the factor, but our ability as humans to think and act for the longer term is a major factor that curtails our ability to grasp the significance of real changes that dominate this planet called Earth. We tend to simplify problems and cast the solutions, as we see them, in very short term fixes. Therein lies the real "Generation Gaps." Are we able to look beyond a few years to extrapolate solutions for today's problems? We foster a political system that treats every issue as the recipe of the day. News media get bored after a few days on virtually any issue regardless of how significant it may be. Politicians ramble on about yesterdays problems and issues and generally fail to discuss the long term issues and solutions that seem to be beyond their intellectual capacity. We seem to be limited by a vision and capacity to act only for the short term.

Hence, issues like universal health care are debated while nearly 50 million Americans do without any care. We debate environmental pollution while carcinogenic toxins stream into water supplies and air causing millions of cancer deaths while we collectively allow elected politicians to dilly dally and piecemeal todays favorite environmental hot topic. We talk about peace while politicians that we select arm our country to the teeth to fight nearly perpetual wars. We jockey for our pet energy project and politicians are wined and dined by petrochemical corporations to retain the status of our energy dependence on foreign oil supplies.

As our planet's population grows from the present level of about 6 billion humans to an estimated 10 billion during the next ten years, and as we deplete the natural resources that we have depended on, and as we continue to contaminate earth and its atmosphere with toxins and global climate-changing pollutants that cause disease, death, and chaos we will still be debating these politically charged issues while descending into greater and more intractable problems unless we become less generational and more inspirational.

We must inspire ourselves and the politicians that we elect to become visionary leaders who grasp the long term meaning of today's life and death issues and work on visionary solutions that provide long term benefits that span the generation gaps and reach out to all generation present and future.

The Beauty of Nature

As we awake in the early morning we are sometimes greeted by the most remarkable view imaginable. We may view the sunrise slowly emerging from below the distant horizon and casting brilliant orange-red rays through barren trees and glistening off crystalline specks of dazzling snow flakes. This virtually indescribable sight flashes by so quickly that unless we are a the right place at the right moment this gift from nature is like an empty trick or treat bag at Halloween.The child in us suffers a huge disappointment when that occurs, but if we miss the spectacular gift that nature offers as the sun rises we seldom give it a second thought.

Natures gifts are free and available to us wherever we live. Sometimes they require special effort to realize. Sometimes we must make an effort to invite them into our lives. But they are always beckoning us and awaiting our appreciation and awe.

Nature's gifts are given with only one simple caveat. We the caretaker's of our planet are asked by nature to really care. We are on Earth to propagate and foster life , but unless we care about the gifts from nature we are bound to destroy them. We have a choice. Live in harmony with nature and be blessed by the gifts bestowed, or disregard our mutually inter and intra-dependent relationships and suffer the consequences of a deteriorating environment and resource wars. We have the choice to embrace and sustain our planets gifts to us for all life or to use them for our self fulfillment and greed.

If we allow our senses to accept the gifts from nature while recognizing and acknowledging our obligation to sustain and share them with all life on the planet Earth then we shall make a huge step forward towards peace and harmony on Earth. May the New Year allow each of us to join nature in harmony and each other in peace.