Yiayia Online

DO AMERICANS WHO DISREPECT THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT DESERVE RESPECT FROM THE REST OF US?

2012-01-31T00:03:00.001-05:00

Reince Priebus has just demonstrated how this country has turned to showing little respect for the office of the President and the choice of the majority of Americans in 2008.. That Reince Priebus, on video now, has accused President Obama of being analogous to Capt. Francesco Schettino, the Captain of the Costa Concordia ship, now in jail, who ran his ship aground and ignored those whose lives were subsequently lost. He compared President Obama within running the ship aground in his Presidency and suggested that he take his policies and get them the Hell out of this country. For more on this story, click here. He was criticized both by Michael Steele, past RNC chair and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, DNC chair for making this analogy and being totally disrespectful to the office of the President and grossly inappropriate.

Bob Schieffer interviewed Mr. Priebus on Face the Nation on Sunday. Priebus gave the Republican part line, "We want to make this president a one-term President. That's what this is all about." His claim is that Obama has stopped doing his job and is devoting himself only to campaigning. I'd like to tell him that he knows nothing about the job of the presidency and that is why is only the chair of a losing political party which should be ashamed of itself.

How I wish we could bring pride, honesty, integrity, loyalty and the love of American democracy back to our people. It seems too much to hope for until we can get the "Greedy Bastards" out of our midst as Dylan Ratigan. It is good that we have several more months to try to make the point that Obama needs to be able to continue with the changes he has already put into motion.

20th C MOVIES COMPARED TO HISTORIC ERA MOVIES

2012-01-30T01:21:00.000-05:00

My response to movies about ancient times is quite different than movies made during my long lifetime, most of which are now referred to as classics. The classics often tinkle some little bell in my mind which says I never looked as good, wore such great clothes and make-up, or had as much opportunity for everything (especially a social life) as in those movies.

The movies from the forties through the eighties strike a chord too familiar to me, For some people it is nostalgic. I'm missing something genetic, I guess. They don't make me nostalgic. Those about the war make me sad or angry that our country no longer works together or respects the flag and our President. The romantic ones make me chuckle at .the romantic hero who was by then in his forties or fifties to be seen as a screen idol. ( Warner Brothers made a movie of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in 1940 with Greer Garson (as Elizabeth Bennet who was supposed to be 20) and Laurence Olivier.who was supposed to be 28) At the time, Greer Garson was 36 and Olivier was 33.) Granted it ws supposed to have been set in England in the early 1800s but looked like USA in a fantasy of land,time , and costume. It was as grating to my senses as Lulu, produced on stage in the 80s in Cambridge MA, a play set in Hitler's Berlin with a black woman playing Lulu. Some things are just too incongruent for me to allow myself to get into the story.

1957, An Affair to Remember, A couple falls in love and agrees to meet in six months at the Empire State Building - which doesn't happen. It featured Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. I suppose love knows no age but as handsome as he was, he was 53 by then. Ms Kerr was 36. In 1942, Ronald Colman, then aged 51 was still playing handsome lover parts.

I guess I look back at all those movies until recently that gave a view of life as must be the picture in the minds of the current Republican Presidential candidates. Any similarity to reality is missing from them all.

POLITICAL BRAINWASHING

2012-01-29T00:02:00.001-05:00

If people want to believe the worst, they will find a way because there will always be people ready to oblige them. For example, the nonsense that President Obama has no proper birth certificate to qualify him as a citizen and that he is an avowed Muslim that persists so strongly with so many.. Even someone like Donald Trump has either been brainwashed or is trying to brainwash others with that nonsense.

Conspiracy theorists are masters at this brainwashing. They sound rational about things they know nothing about and convince people that our government is hiding things from them, lies to them, and has secret intentions not to be shared with the average citizen. Indeed, not everything the government does (like planning the Seal mission to take out Osama bin Laden) will nor should be made available to the public. If all the citizens had equal say in how the government is managed, we wouldn't need elections for the Legislative and the Executive Branch.

The Merriam Webster dictionary definition of brainwashing

1: a forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas

2: persuasion by propaganda or salesmanship

The first definition is more sinister, but the second fits what I am describing to put it in a category of brainwashing. If you believe conspiracy theories in the face of proof otherwise, you are likely easily brainwashed and campaign aides, con men, and marketers will love you. Those who are paid enough will say anything to fool the public to their way of thinking. Think of the 'Swift Boat' campaign ads. Right now, only rigid Republicans can hear no thought of a real democratic society. They will continue to project and displace on everyone who doesn't think their way. All the faults of the Nation fake courtesies. How pitiful that they are teaching their children to hate as these parents represent divisiveness in our society today.

BRAINWASHING STARTS EARLY , AND NOT USUALLY BY 'EVIL' PEOPLE

2012-01-28T00:02:00.002-05:00

Ir shocked me to learn how deeply my toilet training (over 2 decades at the time) was ingrained when I was giving birth to my first child. If the nurse who was attending me had any sensitivity to my pleas to get up (from the huge prison in the form of crib in which I was confined) she might have told me I was catheterized and would make no mess from my painful bladder being assaulted by a little being kicking to get out. In that era, I had been given what was called 'twilight sleep', a concoction which included scopolamine (which allows the person to be awake, respond to commands, hurt, and later remember nothing about it).

The scopolamine did its job because I have no memory of the delivery room or the delivery. I only remember what happened after I was handled this little bundle of life to whom it was difficult to relate as coming from me or belonging to me. All I could remember was the nurse telling me to 'do it in the bed'.and how that horrified me. I can only imagine what my Kegel muscles.were trying to accomplish, in vain.

Then, in the Greek Orthodox church, priests spoke in a pure Greek which was like Latin is to modern Italian. Thus, whatever I was learning about God and Jesus came from my mother. I ceased believing in a God and the rest of what came out of church between the ages of five and ten as it made no sense to me. My mother's admonition that one must not be flatulent in the face of God (that is with your posterior pointing to Heaven) as it was a sign of sinful disrespect. Many decades later, that bodily function never happens while I am lying on my stomach despite often difficult gyrations to get there...a totally unconscious movement..

Having grammar drummed into me in.grade school is another example. I am totally unable to read a book without correcting the grammar, particular the use of 'I,me, and myself'. "It is 'me'" absolutely grates so much I have taken to correcting it in books I read to 'It is I" When I say that to other people I am sure they think I am grammatically incorrect is is so commonly misspoken . Nevertheless, I will continue to follow the edicts placed in my brain so long ago. It is painful to listen to the media and journalists who so frequently demonstrate they either didn't have grammar training or slept through the exercises I endured because I had not yet learned to dissociate in class. 'Who' and 'whom' are more of the same..
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ROMNEY WINS; GINGRICH LOSES

2012-01-27T00:02:00.007-05:00

Even BBC saw the obvious tonight. It was Romney at his best. I'm not ready for a Romney presidency, I disagree with a lot of what he says, but it did my heart good to see him put some holes in Gingrich's sails. Later, on the Lawrence O'Donnell show, listening to Elizabeth Warren spoke more of her just plain good sense, clearly articulated with her characteristic enthusiasm. She contrasted what Romney is saying about his business and the small business owners.

For once, Obama was only slightly criticized as most of the reciprocal spitball throwing was between Romney and Gingrich with Santorum getting an occasional pat top his own back while lobbing a few 'facts' back at the others.

Wolf Blitzer did an excellent job moderating without being a part of a team. He actually kept them on task and the questions from the audience were good ones. I felt sorry for the woman who said she was out of a job and, thus, unable to pay for health insurance and asked for suggestions. None of the gentlemen offered anything useful other than sympathy and implying they would fix her problem if the one speaking at the time got elected. To the Palestinian-American who asked whether they felt any support o the Palestinians,, all he got was a justification for why America will support Israel forever.

WHICH PLANET IS SPEAKING TO ROMNEY AND GINGRICH ABOUT THE MIDDLE CLASS?

2012-01-26T00:02:00.001-05:00

Romney has finally gone over the top! When he states his opinion that President Obama knows nothing about the middle class 9but that he, Romney, does) is not only Romney's fabrication but probably a projection because he is clueless about them. Most of us learn a lot about the times from our children as they are a generation behind our own life cycle, but his sons seem to all have over 100 million in their trust funds. That hardly qualifies them to identify with the poor.

Romney claimed that the Republicans are for the Middle Class. Check this article at the Fact Checker for more detail.

Nancy Pelosi opined that Gingrich will never be president, sharing that she knew something without explaining what that is.. Speculations can run rampant. My guess is that it has to do with his claim that he was a historian, not a lobbyist, for Freddie Mack..Somehow it has to be tied in with his ethics violations which cost him the Speakership. If we all wait patiently and live long enough, answers often come forward.

SANTORUM COWARDICE A SYMPTOM OF OUR SOCIETY

2012-01-25T01:47:00.003-05:00

When a woman approached Rick Santorum at his campaign appearance and she spoke of Obama as not being a legitimate president of the US because he was an avowed Mormon and not a citizen of the US, Santorum did nothing to correct her. For shame on any American who would allow their President to be lied about that way and not trying to defend him. Santorum, who will never be President anyway for many other reasons, certainly cooked his own political goose with that gaff.

Santorum is obviously to young to have known the feelings of loyalty to an elected president even if the person was not your choice. Once elected, everyone backed him and accepted him as this nation's leader. One was always free to express a differing opinion, but lies and insults were just not tolerated; people knew that so the president was treated and referred to with respect.

Our President and Commander in Chief

Aside from the disrespect shown President Obama by Mr. Santorum, his lack of attempt to defend his President shows him to lack ability to be loyal to the United States and the man who stands as its leader.To me, he not only blew any chance of winning the nomination, but gave up any hope to be selected as a running mate..

THE DIZZYING TIME WE LIVE IN

2012-01-24T00:35:00.000-05:00

What in the world was going on in the Christian mind of Rick Santorum to not correct the woman who assumes Obama is a devout Muslim and not a legal president by virtue of his birthplace. His character profile certainly crumbled on that one. If he can't defend a competitor, he certainly didn't learn anything that competitive school sports try to teach.

If he remembers that McCain did the honorable thing and corrected a lady on Obama being a strong Christian, he certainly should not have connected that with McCain's ultimate defeat in the presidential campaign. Mr. Santorum, I had little respect for you before as you certainly weren't showing any exceptional intelligence but you seemed to have some values sticking out about morality and integrity.

While I might disagree with Mr. Santorum's stance on religion, when life/personhood actually starts, whether abortion should be controlled by the government, having contradicted in most of his speeches in which he has talked about getting government out of, not into, our lives, He has talked about having government get out of our lives,

That a woman could get up and state those feelings and erroneous impressions of Obama to the millions watching, really makes one wonder where she gets her information. Is she the American so many of our servicemen have died for? Ugh!

SUPER BOWL FEVER

2012-01-23T00:02:00.003-05:00

While not ordinarily a couch potato or sedentary sports fan, when games get to playoffs and championship games, my interest peaks. Visiting the new wing of the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum in the morning and walking further than I do in my usual day, my friend and I were hungry as we left. I had to decide whether to go to a restaurant with my friend and miss the first part of the game between the Ravens and the Patriots or choose to eat and miss the beginning of the game. Our very kind and sympathetic waitress kept us posted on the score. It is amazing how friendly people are who have to work during these games when they find that someone else is missing it and that they can, at least, keep track of the score through their co-workers..

At one point a massive howl went up behind the swinging doors in the kitchen. It had to be one for our side as, indeed, it turned out to be. We ate and I was home before half time, during which I ran to my office door and shoveled the snow off the walk; light snow that only took me ten minutes to clear. I had heard it was going to rain and freeze by morning and is on the North side which gets no warm sun.

The rest of the game had me picking up a book when it looked as though my team was losing. I don't like watching and experiencing the loss as though it really matters to me. It doesn't. There are so many more important things in life, yet the emotions on that field touch me deeply. It is unfathomable to me that someone would pay $6000 for a ticket to watch a bowl game when there are so many starving children around us and so many homeless people. It makes the disparity of classes and incomes greater than ever, does it not?

Nevertheless, we take heart where we can find it. The joy exuded by the winners and their supporters has to be uplifting to even the dourest among us. I number myself among those dour people when it comes to pro sports, most of the time.

Now I must wait for two weeks to go through the angst and suspense for the final game, the SUPER BOWL OF 2012.

THE WAY TO EAT AN ELEPHANT IS ONE BITE AT A TIME

2012-01-22T00:02:00.002-05:00

One bite at a time is the way the Republicans should be picked off in this election. Recalls are a one bite. Wisconsin has experienced that with more to come soon. If a Republican wins the presidency it could mean a country totally controlled behind the scenes by greedy money grabbers who care nothing for the end results to our society. Children will grow up unschooled to their potential as the country will gradually lose its potential, as well.

Times are desperate. Those people who will vote for Mickey Mouse (or worse still, Gingrich or Romney) have no real thought to the good of the country. They do not see the overall picture and are the same ones who were swayed to vote for GW with his back yard barbecues and 'folksy' touch. This year it is no longer a reason. Knowledge and understanding of the problems the nation faces has little value. It is that the candidate must have 'fire in his belly', not to be confused with indigestion. (It is sad that the only woman running was experienced by most women as a disgrace to her gender.) .Fire in the belly is not determination but seems to be outrage and anger, such as Gingrich displayed in the last debate. However, one might hope the outrage is not personal narcissistic defensive reaction to injury and pure bullying.

Meanwhile, one of the bites is an attempt to get rid of Citizens United. Admittedly, that is a very large bite. The Occupy movement is another bite which may be bigger than it seems because so many people are behind it. Many organizations are taking bites as well, Move On has been active as one of many groups trying to promote action by strength in numbers. People do not like what has been going on throughout the country within states as well as on a national level. Unfortunately, the many Republican debates have focused only on supportive Republicans to the Republican party. Soon the rest of the country will have their moment in the sun when the media realizes the Republican campaign for candidacy is not the only game in town.

CHRISTIAN SEX GUIDES

2012-01-21T00:50:00.001-05:00

If the Teaparty can advocate to get the government out of our lives, I feel entitled to ask that the Christians get our of my sex life. "The second Christian “sex advice” book to be lavished with attention this month for allegedly being edgy and oh so sexy. “Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together,” written by pastor Mark Driscoll of Seattle’s Mars Hill Church and wife Grace Driscoll, similarly sings the praises of sex as a form of communion with God." Read more by clicking here

The Driscolls wrote a first book: “Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy With Your Spouse.” I, for one., would like to know where their authority (other than their own copulations) give them the authority to give such advice?

If you want to know what people who thought the world was flat thought about sex and the Bible, the Holman Bible Dictionary offers an interesting perspective. There is no indication that, if the majority rules on it, it is likely to get laughed out of the 21st century..Oddly, there are still many people, mostly men, who are trying to keep the 10th C values on sex alive. That was when women were chattel and the law required that they submit to their husband's 'pleasure' and demands..

A vestigial left-over of that view can be found today in FDLS (The Fundamentist Church of the Latter Day Saints). Preserving a series of compounds where a madman, now in prison, is still trying to control his leadership of polygamous communities. Here women are brainwashed, have no say about to whom they are married or even and what underage they marry. They are there to breed more females for the community. Male children don't seem to be encouraged to stick around there long. I suppose these virile, young men are too threatening to the old geezers who pick off the twelve and thirteen year old virgins.

If anyone thinks that Christian sex is 'doing it' in the missionary position, perhaps they might buy one of the Christian sex books, or better yet, find themselves some of the literature on sex from India where they were far more creative and rumor has it that both partners enjoyed the act more.

THE CNN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE:1/1912

2012-01-20T00:02:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I wonder at my willingness to endure experiences similar to a chalk squeaking across a blackboard. I'm not really sure I could locate my hackles but I am sure they go up when I listen to these four left standing. The group seems like they're playing musical chairs.

From a much lager group, all of who were sure (and many wrote books about their future presidencies) they would build a better world for us in the US. The major problem is that none of them really had any concept of what the majority of US citizens want or need. They were biased by the people who were invited or made an attempt to get out to hear them. With such a self-selected audience you might not get to hear the broader views.

During this debate, Gingrich said Planned Parenthood was the biggest abortion provider and no one contradicted him though the facts are that abortion is only 3% of what Planned Parenthood does. For anyone who checks out facts and knows the truth, it is terribly frightening to realize how little these candidates know about any of the things they talk about. They all know what should happen but few have come up with realistic solutions. The major imperative is to defeat Barack Obama, only. Otherwise, to have students clean the bathrooms and firing the union janitors as though that is their only job is insulting to janitors and should be embarrassing to Gingrich who attempts to belittle every group, depending on when he is speaking to another group with different values.

After my flesh stops crawling, I want to yell, "Liar, Liar, pants on fire!" (Though I never called anyone that even when I was a kid.) Actually, when I talk to myself in my brain, it is usually in English but I like the few profanities I know in Greek and those are the real messages running around in my brain as I hear them, the liars, the hypocrites, the zealots, the self-servers, (these are the nicer English names I can come up with).

It ended with Gingrich in a snit saying he is tired of the elite media attacking Republicans for Obama....not the exact words but pretty close. Santorum began smelling rosy because he made a case for why he is the best contrast to Obama.

HOBBY: GROWING AFRICAN VIOLETS

2012-01-19T00:27:00.000-05:00

In the 50s, suffering abject poverty, I discovered a free hobby. I took dirt from the yard, cuttings from my friends' plants, and containers from the attic (my father-in-law never threw ANYTHING away). I found no use for the little paper rolls of salt and pepper left over from his American Airlines meals, nor for his cigar bands, but his topless sugar bowls, creamers, gravy boats and teapots were great for growing the plants that those cuttings grew into. I had very simple horticultural rules which worked for me for many years. (keep the leaves clean so the plant can breathe, keep it watered with occasional added nutrients like calcium from egg shells or a bit of tea or coffee, and appropriate natural lighting). All this worked for me for many years. Joining an African Violet club convinced me I was an inadequate parent for African Violets.

There are no animals in my house because having raised several children I wanted nothing that would take too much of my time. I learned that I mustn't use yard soil but must have a proper balance of organic soil, perlite, charcoal, sphagnum moss, fertilizer, and a lot of other things I had never known existed. I had managed without pests and viruses, other than spider mites (which I discovered should make one avoid bringing in Impatiens from the yard at the end of the growing season), I now have found that I must learn to treat my plants with the equivalent of a PhD degree in plant medical care if I expect to have them live through a season. Fungus gnats, thrips, mites, are but the tip of the iceberg of microscopic monsters I must learn to avoid.

My house has been turned into a plant hospital, complete with intensive care and isolation units. No longer is ignorance bliss. Straying from The African Violet Commandments kills plants. It is frightening, but the aesthetic results and gratification of success cannot be equaled by other hobbies, and I have tried many.

INACCURATE HOSPITAL BILLS CAN BE TERRIFYING

2012-01-18T00:02:00.002-05:00

I'm not known for reading fine print or pages of disclaimers and legalese because too much of it is put before our eyes in our world today. Service is denied us if we don't click an OK. I believe I have more agreeable ways to spend whatever is left of my life. (I don't do well with manuals, either, and wonder often how people can be paid for such undecipherable explanations).

I have had an American named electronic piano, owned by an Italian company, built in Japan...or the reverse of that, I've never been sure. The person who wrote the manual clearly did not have English as a first language. Thus my fourteen year old piano has seldom been touched as I could never master more than about 2% of its astronomical number of functions.

A few years ago, shortly after my husband died, I received a bill from the hospital he had been in briefly, for $28,000 dollars with a note as to where I could send the check. Not being in the top 1% of income earners, that was not an amount I retained in my checking account. Since insurance companies are known by their shortened version of initials, it took careful study (not my usual style in reading bills) to see that they had billed the wrong medical insurance company (same initials in different order). I checked dates carefully to see that he had been properly covered when in hospital and after much angst and time spent, (cursing the unknown clerk who had made the error) it was finally straightened out. My spiked cortisol level probably took as many years off my life as I would have had I been a smoker.

Thus, when I saw this article, my empathy level blew the top off its gauge. When the bill should have been $300, this unemployed man received a bill for $45,000,000. (Yes, the zeros number accurately.) He understandably later cautioned that bills of that size could cause someone to have a heart attack. Apologies and corrections can never undo what the body has experienced in those brief first moments. Fortunately, the stress undergone by those experiencing these 'human' errors usually blamed as computer glitches.cannot compare to military service in combat zones. Those of us who have used computers for years remember the old saying, GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). Computers don't yet think for themselves. It would be desirable to have data entry personnel who do.

THEY EAT THEIR OWN AND OUR OWN

2012-01-17T00:02:00.001-05:00

The Republicans candidates have sunk to a new low which I wouldn't have thought possible a few days ago. Remarkably, they talk about running positive, not negative campaigns after which they immediate say the worst about their fellow candidates; Most of the pundits, as I do also, cheer as these candidates are doing Obama's job for him.

Rachel Maddow brought up that Romney was beaten in 2008 by McCain and McCain was beaten by Obama. It does make one wonder, doesn't it. Is there a reason really capable people aren't running in the Republican party this year?

Emergency Financial Managers new law, for example in Michigan, has governor Snyder functioning as though the state is his autocracy. Doesn't that make us all want more Republican governors? Not hardly! He now wants to take over Detroit. Shall we all wave a hearty goodbye to American Democracy? Reverend David Bullock called the law odious and draconian. I would say that he was being overly tactful.

Where are our citizen groups with some legal clout? How can our Constitution be violated so blatantly and leave poor people believing their vote has no meaning? Who appointed Governor Snyder God of Michigan?

Indiana Lunch Pail Republicans say we should not have to choose between our party, our right to work and our guns. Watch this video fighting the right to work campaign.in Indiana led by Governor Mitch Daniels.

WHEN WILL PEOPLE LEARN THAT LAWS AND RULES DON'T STOP BEHAVIORS?

2012-01-16T00:02:00.001-05:00

Melissa Gina Grant wrote an article on one of the dumfounding ways that police deal with prostitution. They take away condoms.! That is as sensible as taking away food to take care of malnutrition. Pay attention. If you starve someone they cannot suffer malnutrition any longer, right? We all know that laws are only as good as their enforcement and you don't live on this planet if you don't know that very few countries can afford to strictly enforce all their laws. Drive through you nearest city and see how many people go through traffic red light with no consequences.

Taking away condoms will just create more babies, AIDS, STD's, and (collateral damage) wives with vaginal infections.. Man has always had an urge to plant his 'seed', hasn't he?. We read about it all the time. I'm not speaking of farmers in the fields.

The Teaparty wants to get government out of our lives. This does not strike me as a particularly good start but those who keep protesting that government is too much in our lives refuse to stop working for the government and taking their living from the rest of us. This particular group in power not only takes their pay and all they can squeeze out of us, they are also dedicated to serve us by not paying attention to anything we want. There go the 'jog creators'? I think rather not. They are taking away jobs for those have little to sell but their bodies, for the most part because the cream of the crop does not take to the street.

WATCHING FOOTBALL OCCASIONALLY

2012-01-15T00:29:00.000-05:00

I watch football coward-style. What I mean is, as long as my team is ahead, I watch. When the game is tight, I may nail bite while hiding out in the other room, listening, then peek when the decibels rise. I love watching it when it is going well for my team. You might guess accurately, I watch very few games. Playoff games usually attract me because they are the games most talked about (at least around me, it seems...or maybe I just listen more carefully). They are also a short commitment. (I am TV commitment phobic and don't like long series.)

My use of spectator sports comes out of my determination to live the rest of my life as stress-free as possible. I have a choice as to whether I want to be stressed, at least in recreational choices. I am an emotional sponge and identify with emotions emanating from the field. Naturally the vibes I pick up are more often from my team since they are the ones I watch most closely.

1/14/2012: Bronchos vs Patriots. I have been hearing about religious Tim Tebow as though God was watching out for him alone. I believe, if God is watching over any of us, it would be all of us because we are equally created in his image, right? Thus, I believe God uses the law of averages and parcels things out randomly. I doubt if God wants to be accused of playing favorites, even if they don't pray to him today but might tomorrow. Even Newt Gingrich got religion, after all.. It wouldn't look good for God to have pets, now would it?

Tonight, Brady broke records, and his whole team broke a record for most points in a playoff game. There were other records out of that game, as well. The truth of it, as I see football, is like Hillary Clinton had written about It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a whole team to win games.. A team is like a chain and includes all the players and the coaches. One weak link and the chain breaks. As Tom Brady quotes his coach, "It's all about winning." They did: 45 to 10, another record for most point spread in a playoff.

BIG BROTHER IS ALMOST THERE: NO PLACE TO HIDE

2012-01-14T00:02:00.005-05:00

Apparently the FBI has built the most massive data base in the world. An AlterNet article by Tana Ganeva writes: The FBI claims its database (IAFIS) is the largest in the world. There are 70 million subjects in the master criminal file, 31 million civil prints, as well as 73,000 known and suspected terrorists by the U.S.or by international saw enforcement agencies who work with the U.S. For more detail, click here.

When we were able to trust law enforcement, all of us who knew we were doing nothing illegal felt safe. After hearing all the false accusations, people illegally moved out of the U.S. by mistaken identity, none of this should feel entirely comfortable to any of us. I have little fear of the database but tremendous fear of the people who run it. Since the human hand is required in everything, the possibility of human error looms high. There are none of us who haven't had our medical records show up with errors, billings inaccurate, charges inaccurate, and almost anything that can go wrong, at some time doing just that when a human has had a hand in it.

"The agency's plans for Next Generation Identification (NGI), a massive, billion-dollar upgrade that will hold iris scans, photos searchable with face recognition technology, palm prints, and measures of gait and voice recordings alongside records of fingerprints, scars, and tattoos. :writes Ms Ganeva

Soon the saying, "You can run but you can't hide " will have us all running back to read the writing of the psychotic author of 1984. We will watch movies like Vendetta and Matrix, and search ways to find freedom from this perpetual scrutiny.

ACCEPT REALITY; LEARN WHEN IT IS FIXED AND CAN'T BE CHANGED

2012-01-13T03:10:00.001-05:00

I've heard lots of inspirational talks but haD never heard this woman before. Most of them substitute the concept ,usually in religion, of faith. Instead of faith in Christ, Allah, God, Rush Limbaugh or Timothy Leary, you are simply asked to have faith in yourself. You are preached to by many sources that you first have to 'love yourself' and have 'faith in yourself'. The only faith I have ever had in myself is faith in my abilities: to think quickly, consider my options, then check out my resources, In this sense, faith is: knowing that there is no free lunch and that if there is to be a solution to the problem, you will have to work it out for yourself.

A friend sent me a YouTube link which I found delightful. The secret to success, as she tells it, will be explained at a later lecture. She debunks all the usual pleas to love yourself, etc. and all the ridiculous 'faith' requests which are impossible for most of us to plug into. Thespians can easily bring on tears and portray all kinds of instant emotion. They get paid for doing it and it is not attached to their 'real' lives. The operational word most important to our lives is reality. Reality can be changed under some circumstances but an important skill to have been learned before maturation is that reality cannot always be changed and one must learn the difference in that particular reality. A skill that should be gained in the maturation process is how to discern reality. A process of elimination and some empirical thinking is good here. One must never fuss and waste time and energy trying to change that which cannot be changed. Generations of scientists tried to change iron into gold. They wasted a great deal of both time and energy before accepting that it can't be done.

It makes me wonder how I ever got along before Google and YouTube. The biggest danger in life has gotten to be that my Internet connection will fail or my computer will lose stored data.

TRY TO REACH THE TECH: FUN AT COMCAST

2012-01-12T00:02:00.001-05:00

Happily at my computer,paying a bill online, an error message indicated the site I was on was either too busy to accept my payment or was having a problem. "please call back later" When the same error message was repeated too many times, I tried another site and found I could not get on the Internet. Since Comcast also has my phone service (*!@# these 'package deals') my phone was not working, though my cable TV was still speaking to no one in another room.

A trip to another room for my cell phone, rarely used,meant this call ate up whatever minutes I have for the year on this and the last service call to Comcast. I by now am feeling the steam level in my head building. Through the usual phone maze, I finally got to a very nice technician barely still in the USA he was so far away., This gentleman told me he had endless patience. I'm sure I used up his endless supply in the next several minutes though he remained through the next many frustrating minutes..

I was asked to reset my cable modem ( I had to get a flashlight and stand on my head to do that). The reset did not solve my problem. I pulled the AC off the modem. Rebooted my computer (which went psychotic and played the Windows startup sound as in an endless loop. I shut off the computer, also disconnected, waited and reconnected the AC, and still could not get on the Internet. Another reboot of the computer which definitely had a problem (which had not existed before loss of the Internet and phone.) was dinally seemingly back as before the glitch and loss of contact with cyber world.

All of this is another household chore like preparing meals, cleaning house, washing clothes, etc. Life is full to time consuming tasks. Just as I would lose all my teeth if I didn't tip, floss and brush them, so I will lost all my data, photographs, and things I have written if I don't keep my computer healthy, a task which would br easier if I didn' have to rely and on an impersonal corporation spread all over the world...

NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY

2012-01-11T00:02:00.000-05:00

Mitt Romney has won but none of the other candidates got out of the race.

The candidates are now bordering on mealymouthed ridiculousness. Santorum claims he was out there to talk about 'faith and family'. Why am I not surprised that he is a loser?

Gingrich commended the Speaker in New Hampshire for having been able to cut 11% out of their budget. He spoke a bit more to the goal of most Americans, jobs, economic growth, and interesting new programs. He claims to understand the principles and the practice of Washington business. He said it would be wonderful what could get done with a Republican Congress and Gingrich as the president. Then he started to criticize
Obama as having no ideas then went on to give a speech about less government, no regulations, and the rest of the Republican mantra.

The Republican turnout of voters was significantly less than the turnout in 2008.

Tom Brokaw thought the Romney win was evidence that he is being charged to straighten out the economy and change the lack of jobs. There is still a very long road for them to travel until voting day in November. Will we survive the campaign?

NO WONDER WALL ST AND MAJOR REPUBLICANS WANT ROMNEY

2012-01-10T02:29:00.000-05:00

One can no longer be surprised why the Republican old guard wants Romney to be President. One needs only to listen to former employees of companies bought out by Bain or to watch this video.

Peter Grier of the Christian Science Monitor writes an interesting article about the negative ads about Romney and Bain, In true 'all-or-nothing' form many seem to want to blame him for the financial collapse. It would be naive to think this one man could have done all the damage. However, neither does it mean he didn't play a significant role since he cannot really count as a job creator.

If Romney gets the Republican nomination it will be for all the wrong reasons. Ron Paul is just too old to be starting a job that would not end for him until 5 years from now. Huntsman looked pretty good until I heard him say he thinks we should follow the Paul Ryan plan; Huntsman has no desire to support social security or Medicare. Gingrich was sent away in shame once for his ethics violations. Has anyone seen evidence that he is to be the first leopard to have changed his spots? Buddy Roemer, really???? Rick Perry wants to considered as President after he was videotaped supporting his state of Texas in seceding from the USA/

Soon we will learn more meaningless poll numbers. Ho-hum!

WHERE IS OUR FOCUS THESE DAYS?

2012-01-09T01:25:00.000-05:00

Unless one looks at news sources from other countries, it could be easily assumed that nothing of interest happened in the world today beyond the NH primary debate, following the same people debating last night as well in New Hampshire.

At least Al Jazeera covered the Occupy Wall St. protests.
Homeless are occupying abandoned homes through many states.

An Italian Newspaper reports that a Senate Stenographer receives as much salary as the Spanish King.

The Athens News writes the media and politics are tied up; that freedom of the press comes only if you own one.

Meanwhile, back at the USA ranch, we are at the mercy of Murdoch controlled media as well as other conglomerates and entertainment companies who own the media pretty much. People will vote our next president on his 'truth'...laughable if he is a Republican from what I am seeing and hearing.

USA, A LAUGHING STOCK FOR THE WORLD

2012-01-08T00:02:00.001-05:00

We used to be hated by the world during GW Bush era; presently with the Republicans in the Congress obstructing everything that Obama suggests (that they used to believe in) Now, with the blatancy with which the Republicans in Congress are obstructing any thing that they used to believe in or have brought forward. This is not behavior for which politicians can claim pride. It explains why the polls show them in single digits of favor.

An American Marine, now in Canada, suggests on YouTube that we become part of Canada as they are far ahead of us for their people. Ber sure to scroll down until you see the picture shown above and click on the arrow to play the video. Comedians take the pulse of the American people far more accurately than the politicians do. Naturally the video is tongue in cheek but the maxim 'out of the mouths of babes' can be substituted here in the form of 'out of the mouths of the comedians...'..

Our Republican candidates put on a great show on Saturday evening, debating in New Hampshire. Lies, history re-writes, were but a few elements of the reflected idiocy. and lack of awareness of the real and most prioritized issues which the citizens of this country plead to have heard rather than as they are now ignored. I do not consider going back to Iraq (though the Iragis do not want us there) to presumably preempt Iran from taking Iraq over, taking their treasures, etc.

To date during the debates, they offer no positive solutions other than to take back anything that has passed during the Obama administration. They seem to want to get rid of "Obamacare' as they call it, get government out of our lives by eliminating Roe vs Wade, disallowing all contraceptives, and bringing out where it mimics the naive values of Regency England before doctors realized first cousins should not marry.

Equally amazing is that they all speak with the same forked tongue...get rid of Obama and go back to the Bush era of war and the skid down to a recession/depression where the middle class is as 'under water' as are many house mortgages. The candidates must forget that not everyone who goes to hear them will vote for any of them and that when they deny that they said what everyone heard them say, the media plays the clips disproving their denial, over and over. It is as though they forget that TV allows their viewers to hear these things while they are being said, repeatedly, so they are difficult to miss. This way, those who weren't old enough to have heard them the first time gets the archived tapes played ad nauseam.

VOTERS: BE CAREFUL FOR WHOM YOU WISH

2012-01-07T04:14:00.006-05:00

The Republican presidential candidates are looking and acting as un-presidentially as anyone could imagine. BBC News had a headline: Republican rivals' race gets ugly.
This is somewhat amusing as it has been ugly all along.

The debate circus will continue with the next one this evening. The comedians, who can say what most people think but don't feel comfortable speaking and are delightfully verbal. Many are picked up by MSNBC evening political shows

Al Jazeera writes that US politicians are getting richer despite the recession. Cliff Schecter writes the question as to whether the XX factor (gender issue) is what forced Michele Bachmann's backers to drop. It is, perhaps an interesting question as we are seeing so much misogyny in our country today from politicians, but we need also to make the candidate, herself, responsible for presenting as incompetent presidential material by her many gaffes and her positions that would put us back several years. She would undo everything Obama has achieved and says she would waterboard detainees (found to be torture and unacceptable by the Geneva convention..

Without question, all candidates make promises that are impossible for them to achieve but are bought by the naive as appealing. The candidates are acting like the children in Lord of the Flies. None of them seem to understand the Constitution nor what the majority of American people want and need.

SANTORUM'S EPIPHANY DOESN'T WORK FOR ME

2012-01-06T12:02:00.001-05:00

Rick Santorum

Every once in a while someone like Rick Santorum comes to our attention because people believe that this person is right because of his religious beliefs. For those of us to whom no God has spoken directly, it should not come as a surprise that we believe we must be in control of our own lives and in the maxim: "God helps those who help themselves."

Apparently, after losing a 20 week old male fetus, (I presume by natural causes) he has turned zealously against anyone having an abortion. An article on Santorum by Sheryl Gay Stolberg (click here) discusses his religious reasons for the political positions he takes. Having lived through the Joe McCarthy era of anti-communism furor and seen the devastation of so many lives because of his fanaticism, I does not make me rush to support Santorum. He would do away with contraception and abortion, he promises. This from a man in a party that claims that government is too involved in our lives.

I consider reproduction a pretty personal choice and also believe that orgasm as a stress reliever because it delivers endorphin kick ( shot from your natural body opiate) and should pose no problem in consensual sex. While Santorum believes in marriage, there are not even compatible partners in our society to balance the sexes. Therefore people not wishing to have children or an incompatible marital relationship generally find that there are others of the opposite gender who feel similarly, thus the term 'friends with benefits' has been part of our vocabulary for some time.

Santorum would violate the Constitution by forcing his religious beliefs on all of those of use who are not of his religion and beliefs. If he chooses to follow the dictates of celibate men on the subject, that sex is not only for procreation, Nature wouldn't have it feel so good regardless of the intent. A man who believes that his values should be those of everyone is a danger to our Democracy. I sincerely hope he cannot convince a majority to deviate from our Constitution.

STRANGE QUESTS

2012-01-05T00:02:00.003-05:00

People develop very interesting 'quests' in life. One may wonder why someone wants to risk life to climb the sheer face of a precipice, ski down the 18 degree face of a mountain, or try to fly a balloon around the world. However,The Huffington Post ran an article about Mr. Pee-Pee, a serial masturbater, this particular feat seems more pointless than most others because any male (or female for that matter) could achieve it if they so chose. I'm not sure the whole quest would really 'grab' a woman anyway. I'm not even sure why a male chose to do it, for that matter. While a picture of a male's achievement might confirm each destination and proof of goal, the picture would probably not be effective for a woman. So be it.

John Gray

John Gray and Will Self come to the RSA (Rhetoric Society of America) to discuss the great implication of Darwin's ideas - that natural selection makes humans into animals like any other. The Talk is:Science and the Strange Quest to Cheat Death

Listen to this YouTube talk. This is a full lecture and may be too long and heavy for some who prefer spending less time on a subject, however, it will be fascinating for those readers who want a challenge to their thinking. This English author (not to be confused with the John Gray who wrote Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus.) deals with Darwinism, Huxley, Wells, and many philosophers and great thinkers.

MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLE HILL: IOWA CAUCUS

2012-01-04T00:02:00.002-05:00

The different conclusions people can draw from the same data always amazes me. If one looks at the voter maker-up of Iowa, the millions spent to get people to vote for a specific candidate, and how-in-the-world any of this can relate to the National elections is beyond me totally.

In the event you have not turned your TV on for several weeks, have been hibernating in a cave since November, or spending your time giving your self a visual colonoscopy, you need to know the unique qualities of voters in Iowa. In this case the unique refers to unique for Iowa only. There are few states who have so little relevance to the entire country.

The exclusive school for Presidential candidates only requires that they all claim to be sure that they will be the next pre4sident, do not look at polls, and know they are more qualified than any other candidate, especially Obama. Logically, since each says the same thing, that suggests they are in denial, having a weird delusion, or are just liars, Obviously they all can't win and a very real question is whether any of them should.

The fact that Iowa chose Huckabee in 2008 should tell us an important bit of information about the political intelligence of the voters there. It seems they vote for a single issue that touches them and little else matters in terms of what the actual job of President of the United States requires, in fact demands. That The Daily Show chose to talk sports while the vote was going on and MSNBC had all the 'Bigus Dickuses' on camera, as Monty Python might have said, is also a sign of the importance (or lack as it seems more likely ) of the coverage of the Iowa Caucus and its voting.

Just think of how we can look forward to this happening in all the rest of the states that vote in this ridiculous fashion.

BEYOND IOWA: TWIN INSTRUMENTS ORBITING THE MOON

2012-01-03T00:02:00.001-05:00

Nasa's 'gravity twins' are now circling the moon.
A BBC science reporter, Jonathan Amos, writes:: "This will help scientists refine our theories for how the Moon formed.
It will also enable them to test new ideas, such as the provocative suggestion made earlier this year that there were probably two moons in the sky above Earth billions of years ago". The twins have been named the Grail Twins.

"Grail is a journey to the centre of the Moon and it will use exceedingly precise measurements of gravity to reveal what the inside of the Moon is like," the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researcher said.
"This information will be combined with the plethora of remarkable observations of the Moon that have been taken by other satellites before, and together they will enable us to reconstruct the Moon's early evolution.""...gravity differences are the result of an uneven distribution of mass. Obvious examples at the Moon's surface include big mountain ranges or deep impact basins, but even inside the lunar body the rock will be arranged in an irregular fashion, with some regions being denser than others.
All this will have a subtle influence on the pull of gravity sensed by the over-flying spacecraft.
The Grail twins will make their measurements by carrying out a carefully calibrated pursuit of each other." For the entire article, click here

There are many who believe we should put all funds into holding onto what we have now and see no reason for space research. However, they are very short sighted. To understand why space exploration is so important, I suggest you read this article by NASA. This from the text: "For its part, the United States has much at stake. Pulitzer Prize winning historian William Goetzmann saw the history of the United States as inextricably linked with exploration. "America has indeed been 'exploration's nation,'" he wrote, "a culture of endless possibilities that, in the spirit of both science and its component, exploration, continually looks forward in the direction of the new." The space exploration vision must be seen in that context."

AT LAST I UNDERSTAND THE ALLURE OF PRO FOOTBALL

2012-01-02T01:44:00.000-05:00

Football has its pundits as does politics. However, you don't have to wait long to find out about football results and the interest is overtly based on winning bets and earning money on the play. (The operative word here is overtly). Political battles end up somewhat similarly (big money dropped in a gamble) but it never looks the same, does it?

We will all have to wait until the fat lady finally sings and we have a President for another four years, with Representatives and Senators for whatever length their term offers. We can only hope that we don't have to start all over again by voting away the last four years. It is nerve- racking to hear the Republican candidates all promising to undo everything good that Obama has achieved in the last four years. The only thing they can't do is bring Osama bin Laden back to life .

People criticize that Obama has not done everything he had promised, taking nothing about the obstructive House and Senate whose stated main goal is to make him a one-term President at the expense of the middle and poor class and all the unemployed, malnourished, homeless people they continue to hurt. Even more startling are the people who can't see what is keeping them falling non-stop in the terrible place they are in...they will vote some of the same perpetrators of their misery back into office.

Oh, well, as they lead us into temptation they do not deliver us from evil! 2012, please save us.

HAVE A WONDERFUL 2012

2012-01-01T01:31:00.001-05:00

Watching the count down of the ball in Times Square, in the warmth, safety and peace and quiet of my living room, I thought of so many good things that transpired in 2011. While some people immediately drop any memories of wrongdoing in the deceased, I have no such direction. I am relieved that Osama bin Laden is no longer alive. While the head of Al Qaeda was made inoperable, neurologically the body continued some thrashing.

The many revelations about the state of our country, its finances, and those who run it and put politics before the welfare of their countrymen remains a shocking truth. Once again, lies permeate the campaigning, leaving we common folk to wonder how our country was hijacked by those amassing great fortunes at the expense of others.

Elizabeth Warren stated it clearly when she said, speaking to the corporations, how much they owe to all the workers, services and taxpayers who worked to get then there....only she told it in a more passionate and interesting way. Scroll down to the video.

We can only hope that Occupy Wall Street (our version of the Hobbits) will find the one ring that controls all and throw it back into the molten pool. It would be nice if all the self-serving politicians could be thrown is, as well, but that is a lot to hope for come November. Harry Potter did it all using magic but we all know that if we had the use of it today, we wouldn't have gotten into this mess int he first place. Frodo (Lord of the Rings) did it with some Elfen assistance and lots of dedicated warriors to a certain point. The last part of the quest to destroy the ring, after many obstacles which mirror pepper spray and police brutality (Saluman troops).

GROUCHO MARX HAD IT RIGHT

2011-12-31T00:03:00.004-05:00

Alter-Net's Sarah Jaffe picked 10 Ultra-Rich Congress-people who are in financially poorly working districts. Nine of these are Republican and Jay Rockefeller is the only Democrat. The article will give you the names of more detail about these 10 self-serving political elected persons.

However, I really wanted this blog to be a question. It is beyond me as to what the purpose is of the media having made a tradition of asking pundits to predict the future. They are no better at it than the Yankee Almanac was good at predicting the weather 40 years ago. Watching this annual charade makes me wonder at how wrong most of them will turn out to be when those who heard it will have forgotten what was said, even if they saw and heard it, several moths forward. Being wrong does not seem to eliminate any of them from being om any of the political shows.

On 1/3/12, the Republicans will start working towards picking a candidate. Rick Santorum is the only candidate who has not, at some point, reached the top of the Iowa poll. Each of the other candidates has had their being crowned King/Queen for a day (and in some cases, several days).

They should all take the position Groucho Marx did when he was told he had been accepted as a member of the Friar's Club. He immediately sent a resignation letter as follows: "Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member." Wouldn't it be better for our country if some of the incompetent candidates said the same thing?

THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT DO NOT SEE WATERBOARDING AS TORTURE

2011-12-30T00:48:00.000-05:00

Scott Horton of The Daily Beast and article titled Torture Prosecution Turnaround?
Horton believes the Attorney General is leaning towards an appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the Bush-era torture policy. His article discusses why Ho9lder might be considering the problem with new logic (Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod had advised against it initially as it would be a distraction to the major issues that Obama's administration held as priority issues, such as health care when he first took office). It would seem that

Eric Holder, Attorney General

He writes: "But, then, Holder decided to take a close, personal look at the issues, and his perspective began to change. Holder is said to have been closely engaged with three sets of documents—a group of memoranda from the Bush-era Office of Legal Counsel, since repudiated by the Justice Department; the report of the Office of Professional Responsibility on these memoranda, which has been on his desk, awaiting review and release for months; and the report of the CIA’s inspector general reviewing in great detail the actual techniques used, guidance given by the Justice Department, and results or lack of results obtained. "

To read the entire article,click here.

ATTACK ADS TOUTED TO WORK

2011-12-29T00:34:00.000-05:00

It has recently been said by many pundits that the reason attack ads are used is because they work. Thus continue the rationalizations. The assumption is that they work, as though the candidates themselves have no part in their own success.. One must ask how? Do they work because they attack, or do they work because the attacker has done homework and is exposing another candidate. The use of attack is to obfuscate that the attacker hasn't a clue how to run the country or straighten out the mess GW left us in.

A BBC News headline is: Republicans attack rival Ron Paul in Iowa. Under a heading of 'serial hypocrites' The article goes on to say: "Former Massachusetts Governor Romney said on Wednesday in Muscatine, Iowa: "One of the people running for president thinks it's okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don't." Another statement: "You don't have to vote for a candidate who will allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth," Mr Perry said. "Because America will be next."

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, joined the onslaught.l
"Ron Paul would be a dangerous president," she said. "He would have us ignore all of the warning signs of another brutal dictator who wants to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. I won't."

The Los Angeles Times accused the candidates for threatening Democracy by bashing judges. The article by Erwin Chemerinsky

Some of the candidates are really frightening with clear promises to circumvent the Constitution and decisions by the judicial appointees.

HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE NEWS

2011-12-28T00:02:00.001-05:00

The outstanding stories of today, non-political, are tragedies of people being killed in fires, A Santa killing five family members then himself, a grandfather dying of smoke inhalation trying to rescue a grandchild in a fire (who also perished) and missing or murdered babies.

A thief caught on surveillance camera was attacked and knocked out by a fist to the jaw as the cashier leaped over the counter at him. It WAS nice to hear something positive though most police will tell you not to risk your life, just hand the thief the money. Does it suggest that all convenience store cashiers should be ex-Marines strong, smart and daring?

When the major stories in politics are a useless primary (in Iowa in a WEEK!), the pundits are hurting for something to talk about. Their audience is also waiting for something worth hearing!

Some sad news today. Democratic Senator Ben Nelson is not seeking re-election. This may lessen chances for a Democrat majority even further.

Stratfor's website has been down since it was apparently hit by the hacker group Anonymous on Christmas Eve. The Anonymous hackers monitor Facebook and threaten to repeat attacks on those who support Stratfor.

THE RELIGIOUS SPECIALIZE IN RATIONALIZATIONS

2011-12-27T00:02:00.000-05:00

In Iraq, Christians are being killed. If they believe God and Christ are their protectors, how is that explained., Christian Scientists would say they hadn't believed enough. This is, of course, based on an erroneous assumption which victimizes the victim, not particularly Christian nor charitable. In Iraq, I suppose they are considered 'infidels' for being outside the Moslem faith and, as we have come to know, all not Moslems are infidels and deserve to die in some eyes..

Books are written, WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE'.. What is never mentioned is that 'good and bad things happen to all people '. There is a Law of Averages and Randomness which governs us, even the non-religious. Rationalization is not limited to Christians but can be seen in every religion.

How else could we explain things for which we can never have proof. We are told (in all religions) that you must believe and have 'faith'. This concept is as ludicrous to me as the Catholic Church telling parishioners they should not have bad thoughts. Tell an obsessional, or paranoid, or extremely cautious person that they must learn to control their thoughts to only pure ones and see how far they can get with it.

Many of these rationalizations are destructive. People not able to lire up to what is preached by religious leaders leaving them feeling 'wicked' and fearful because they can't control their thoughts; others live in fear of afterlife because they cannot meet the standards set by their clergy. The reasons that so many people are injured psychologically from clerical edicts is they feel unclean, impure, and like failures in life as humans when they can't do the impossible that is demanded of them.

More people, though they may claim a church affiliation, attend church rarely. If the US would tax religious groups as businesses, (and profit making colleges, as well) we would have a far more stable economy.

CRUCIAL ADVANCES IN "BRAIN READING"

2011-12-26T01:52:00.000-05:00

"UCLA's Laboratory of Integrative Neuroimaging Technology, researchers use functional MRI brain scans to observe brain signal changes that take place during mental activity. They then employ computerized machine learning (ML) methods to study these patterns and identify the cognitive state -- or sometimes the thought process -- of human subjects. The technique is called "brain reading" or "brain decoding." "-from Science Daily (12/21/11)

This particular study focuses on the brains of addicts and smokers. For those of us who are not researchers in this field, we can only welcome any t4chnique that gets closer to understanding what is different that is happening in the brains of addicts and smokers.

The article further writes: "In this study on addiction and cravings, the team classified data taken from cigarette smokers who were scanned while watching videos meant to induce nicotine cravings. The aim was to understand in detail which regions of the brain and which neural networks are responsible for resisting nicotine addiction specifically, and cravings in general, said Dr. Ariana Anderson, a postdoctoral fellow in the Integrative Neuroimaging Technology lab and the study's lead author." For the entire article, click here:

CHRISTMAS IS NOT ONLY FOR KIDS OR CHRISTIANS

2011-12-25T00:42:00.000-05:00

Hoping that your Christmas is memorable and happy with friends and family and followed by a wonderful 2012.

Christmas may mean happy memories to people of their childhood, parents, and a safe and happy time in families. Those people look to hold onto those nice feelings. If it means sadness and never having been loved or given to, people try to make Christmas into something it had never before been for them. Channukah is very similar in activity to Christmas though the history and symbolism are totally different. It is a time of tradition, family closeness and gift giving.

Atheists celebrate Christmas as a time when work stops, days are free to meet with family and friends, to make people happy with gifts that show thoughtfulness and love. (That it makes merchants happy for other reasons is allowable.) When the economy is busier, taxes are raised, town and state budgets allow people more services, the government gets more revenue and infrastructure is renewed and kept up. (Well, it used to be...) When Teapartiers cry that $40 for a person is nothing, they make the error of assuming that it is only one $40 and not the whole community with $40 spent by hundreds of people whose influence is felt widely.

Have we forgotten the stories from our past? The Gift of the Magi, The Little Match Girl, what happened to our inspirational stories? They have been taken over by ad men who aren't always truthful and the spirit has been lost for persuasive and commercial reasons. Let us bring back or hold onto what we wish our lives to be.

THERE MAY BE A PAUCITY OF JOY IN THE WORLD, BUT HOPE IS ONCE AGAIN RISING

2011-12-24T00:08:00.000-05:00

It has been many years since there feeling of hope and shared commitment for bettering the world has flourished as currently. There are grass roots springing up to pull together to fight the 1 % that has taken over our country with the cold, cruel and rigid hands of a dictator. There will be politically elected recalls, people getting signatures for petitions to get referendums on ballots,and the birth of more groups like No-Labels. Energy is revving palpably.

On this Christmas Eve, as some are still celebrating Chanukah and all the other celebrations that pull people together for whatever their belief or reasoning, we universally look hopefully to the future. Will the day come when the rich will let the drawbridge down and see that there are starving children out there while they buy Swarovski studded toilets for $128,000?. Do these people forget the French Revolution or the Russian revolution and subsequent swing to Communism? That kind of blatant wealth in the face of poverty should be seen as fragile if one is to have learned anything from history.

Christians should not fool themselves into believing that the USA is a Christian nation. It is not. Yes, there are some Christians here but if a true count is taken, among those listed as such are many Atheists. They are the ones who have learned that religion does not create integrity nor morality. Living with integrity and morality comes from within. There are many religious people in prisons and there are many immoral people preaching religion,

Whoever wrote "You can't judge a book by its cover." was metaphorically speaking about the cover of religion as much as anything else. Zealots are not more religious, only more convinced they (and only they) are right and among the 'chosen' few. Like all addictions and bad habits, religion will have its fantasies gradually fade in the eyes of the majority. Religion is, indeed, an opiate of the people as Karl Marx wrote in the 19th C . His views did not convert the world but they didn't die, either. Just as it took 400 years for the Catholic church to recognize the genius of Galileo, (who said the earth was round). The concept was ridiculed by ignorant people making similar judgments today from the pulpit, TV evangelism and the Vatican.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER FOR MIDDLES CLASS; POLITICAL DISASTER FOR BOEHNER

2011-12-23T00:02:00.002-05:00

Picture of a one-term Speaker of the House

Boehner finally caved in , saying that they had to do the 'right' thing for the people. The Washington Post had an interesting view of the cave-in Jonathan Capehart wrote:: "Boehner’s colossal cave comes after three days of being pummeled by Senate Republicans, President Obama and the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the latter being the equivalent of the Republican principal’s office."

We can't even blame Grover Norquist for the resistance, since it was resisting a tax cut for which they had previously been in favor, not a tax raise.: Rachel Maddow described his handling of this crisis as a career killer. Mitch McConnell, made it clear 30 minutes after Boehner said he would not cave-in, that he was on his own! Maddow made it imminently clear that he just was not good at his job with a lovely comparison to Nancy Pelosi
Capehart went on to say: "The American people are the winners in this latest bit of Washington craziness. But Boehner comes out the biggest loser. The man from Ohio has little to no control over his recalcitrant caucus. The inmates are running the asylum. If we didn’t appreciate it during the debt-ceiling crisis last August we most certainly do now.".

BOEHNER: BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD TEABAG

2011-12-22T00:02:00.001-05:00

Today I've heard the current House of Representatives called everything from the Kamikaze House to the party seizing defeat from the jaws of victory It is said that Boehner has painted himself into a corner because he is so inept at his job. Rove advises they can wait until Obama goes away on holiday to meet his family and then the House can say that the Democrats have once again walked away from the middle class.

It is felt by staffers that a lifeline was tossed to the House Republicans and they tossed it away. It appears that McConnell finally realized just how much they have all lost with the stance they have taken for three years. One who spoke to many Republicans all week said none of them can see a path to victory for themselves. Brian Beutlera reporter for TPM (Talking Points Memo) talked about some of what was pushing the Republicans who didn't give the ramifications a thought. (This speaks to their inability to see beyond one issue and thus they can only see their own goal and not what they are doing to the American middle class or their own chances for re-election). After that, there was a "Where-do-we-go-from-here moment." Another comment, "It will be another Ground Hog Day tomorrow in Washington".

Meanwhile, Romney's whole campaign is to criticize Gingrich and President Obama and ride on his own tooting of horn over his past accomplishments. When one thinks of the millions of dollars spent on this circus, and how many hungry children would be fed and allowed to be healthier for it, it is a very sad situation that any sane person would see was brought on by the single minded Republicans who do not 'compromise'. To them, it can only be 'my way', even if millions of American citizens are desperate for food, housing , health care and jobs..

Do not look to Obama to save us all. Vote for him so he can continue fighting for the middle class as he has tried to do since he came into office. We are too easily influenced by the media who, much of the time, do not know the rules under which he is controlled.

DEMONSTRATING MY SIMPLE MIND

2011-12-21T00:02:00.001-05:00

If the rich are 1%, then the 99% mathematically should have more votes, collectively. What the Republican House has been doing (letting aside McConnell and his control of the Senate in the past three years) are there so many foolish people in the 99% who will vote for more of the same. The thought of that is shocking. I would assume it is not from understanding the candidates, their real goals and positions which basically do not aim for the better life for the 99% and their descendants. Added to my conjecture is a Gallup poll that says only 39% say they would re-elect the person they had chosen to represent them in the last election. The Congress should now be proud of the fact that they have the lowest approval vote since the Gallup Poll was started in the 70s.

Pat Robertson reacted with much scorn and Bible thumping about the SNL(Saturday Night Live) skit which had Christ come into the locker room and talk to Tim Tebow and the Brochos Team. Robertson was scandalized that someone dared to have Christ come in and talk as any responsible Atheist might have challenged the scenario in which Tebow thought that his success was due to Christ. (Robertson must have missed the very funny South Park episodes with Jesus.) The challenge was whether Christ would favor this team over all others who pray to him. It challenges those who truly believe that God listens to them totally. They forget that God (and probably his son) helps those who help themselves and that was much of his message. Robertson forgets the right to free speech and the freedom of religion we are supposed to have in our country.

When will the voters. who put this totally incompetent group of Norquist robots into one of the most important offices we have in government, realize we need government and we need people representing us who are not guided by pledges to fast talking con men and the naive who think government should not play a major role in our lives?

GAINS AND LOSSES

2011-12-20T00:02:00.002-05:00

Christopher Hitchens

Steve Jobs

Natural law tells us 'You win some; you lose some.'. Among the gains and losses, all of which must be seen as relative, We have recently lost Steve Jobs and Christopher Hitchens. Both creative in their own way. Jobs in the ingenuity behind Apple and Mac computers and all the peripheral products.Christopher Hitchens for his insightful writing and his justification for thinking as an Atheist, which may be a far more popular view in our world than any religious leaders would have us think.

Michelle Bachman initially barely won the Iowa primary. Not too far behind her, which most media glossed over, was Ron Paul who is currently coming up in the polls and seems quite competitive to win the primary in Iowa. The Republican candidates have all been up and then down in the polls. Count these as swift gains and losses.

Biggest and most significant loss, our Democracy and the democratic process. Our Washington governing is critically ill. The virus killing it may be called 'Republican politicians' whose single purpose is to make Obama a one-term president at the the expense of the poorest people in our country, stunting the mental and physical growth of our young, the hope of our future.There are too many gains and losses to list here today. A list of the lies being told by our candidates might be a more important priority, in fact. At least it would be a first in any presidential campaign, would it not? Next a list of lies perpetuated by some in media, especially those pretty, brainless blondes who think that Pepper Spray is harmless because it is made from a natural product, pepper.

MORE THOUGHTS ON UNITED HEALTH CARE AD

2011-12-19T00:26:00.001-05:00

The most recent UnitedHealthCare ad talked about a man who was prescribed two different prescriptions in two different places. In the ad, he says:' United Health Care caught the error and said I would have been in trouble if I had taken them both.' I deplore this man's lack of attention to his own health care.

Recently I had written a blog with some aspects of the ad that bothered me. However, I continued to think about the ad and finally connected some dots for myself. For years as a therapist, I have been telling patients they should not rely on their doctors to keep all their information and urged them to ask questions so they could understand what was prescribed and what it was supposed to do.If this man had talked to his doctor and asked more questions he might have caught the error himself, which would have been safer than taking a chance someone else might find it.

My last blog on the ad commented that the likelihood of catching that prescription error by the insurance company was slim. While I might be wrong, the ad bothers me because it fosters the illusion that people need not should assume their need to understand their condition and the medicines prescribed for it. They cannot rely on being protected from doctor's errors by insurance clerks. Anything which encourages a false dependence troubles me.

Politics seem to be influencing products not approved by the FDA, even when they are natural products which have been sold for years with no complaints, A company was forced to stop selling a product because it was advertised as being good for health but had not been researched and pulled through the FDA sphincter. All of us need to understand our bodies, what we feed them, and what we ingest to stay healthy.

OUR UNEVEN SOCIETY TODAY

2011-12-18T01:44:00.000-05:00

There are many beautiful women, but not all can capitalize on their beauty and acting talent (as some refer to as 'the ability to fake it') as Dame Elizabeth Taylor did. While we read that 40% of American children are currently homeless, Taylor's jewelry sold at auction for 150 million dollars.

There is something wrong with a system that allows CEOs to cream off the top of profits, 300 times what they earned a generation ago when shareholders had an opportunity to benefit from their investments (they see little of the profits today with all the tax loopholes and whatever else gets withheld from the public).

That athletes and entertainers earn so much money says something about our system as well. There are many people with talents and skills who cannot compete with those salaries. Brilliant researchers, physicians, surgeons, medical engineers, too name just a few of the unsung heroes in our workers in medical and many other fields. The people who are figuring out how to make paraplegics walk again are, in my mind, far greater heroes than the guy who breaks a record for touchdowns..

When one hears Romney willing to bet $10,000 on a ridiculous point, Trump bragging about his money, Gingrich letting everyone know how much fools pay him to hear him talk (bragging about getting $60,000 for a talk), and football players (the equivalent of human bulldozers) winning games through brawn and the expertise of the coach and other team players, it is a script for grave political unrest.. We are now seeing it in the Occupy groups but there are people who feel as strongly but are unable to march. They will fight with other means. The sad part of it all is that it will take a full generation before we can be brought back into some balance..

PARENTS AND OFFSPRING NEVER ACHIEVE ROLE REVERSAL

2011-12-17T00:05:00.000-05:00

Difficulties when getting older are mentioned too often by too many. Less often mentioned is: there are good things about getting old, as compared to aging. When you’re ‘old’ you have lived longer than people around you. Your past experiences are more varied. You have had more failures and more successes; more time to figure out what works for you..

Despite your priority on things you choose to store in your brain, it will be filled with trivia, some new and useful, some outdated. However, not everything new is better, including everything most expensive as some assume..

Another good thing about old is that you no longer have to climb real of virtual mountains (assuming that you might have when you were younger. Personally, if I ever had the urge, I used to lie down until it passed). Some people stress about not having been able to cram in everything they think they must see, own, or do, to have lived a full life. Whether one travels to see more poverty than right here now, miss experiencing Machu Pichu in situ, while gasping to breathe, or don’t catch every latest movie, play, museum offering, most people will never get it all and feel complete. Stress is relieved when one can say, I’ve had a full life and now I’d like some time to digest it all.

We all reach our senior status differently. It is a time when we can say, ‘been there, did that, gave at the office’ and as a remarkable one once wrote, ‘I shall wear purple’. It is a time when you know yourself and do not care if people judge you as eccentric when you do as you please. Truth can be told, opinions given, whether people listen or not, .because we now know that we all live in our skin only. Regardless of what we might say or advise, we know that we have lived our lives, made our mistakes, and must allow others to do the same. We should have, by now, set our own boundaries. If we have not, we will remain unhappy campers who feel intruded upon constantly. This assertiveness and lessened desire to deal with ideas that we know are ill conceived often rankles youth.. Joy is experienced in our old age when we are immune to what the young like to think as a role reversal. They think it is now their time to make decisions for their parents as they have raised children themselves.

However, there is no such thing as role reversal. Parents will always remain older and their adult children will never see them revert to infancy. Those adult children will never become parents to their parents, only caretakers (should they love their parents enough and have the time and energy to do that).

DEFINING PERSONHOOD AND ITS RAMIFICATIONS FOR WOMEN

2011-12-16T02:28:00.000-05:00

Some conniving Republican ProLifer is fighting to get around that right to abortion by redefining personhood by reinterpreting the 14th amendment. Mississippi residents rejected a similar proposal in their last election by a very wide margin.

By defining life as a person at the moment of conception, it makes it impossible to use contraceptive pills, or the morning after pill. In Texas, Rick Perry proudly announced that he has been able to shut down 12 Planned Parenthood Clinics by simply defunding them. The results to thousands of women are devastating. Their resource for cancer screening has been made unavailable to them by this so-called 'right-to-life' goal. The hypocrisy of allowing no value to all women from conception to death escapes me. I thought life began with birth and remained life to death. Apparently there are misogynist people out there who disagree.

With 40% of our living children homeless, many suffering malnutrition and some schools feeding children who can't pay a cheese sandwich while those who can pay have pizza, makes me doubt the sanity or humanity. With the number of jobless parents, mortgage foreclosures, desperate poverty, it is difficult to comprehend how these people are listened to anyone who had compassion for fellow humans.

Governor Rick Perry, with this budgetary cut, simply points out yet another reason demonstrating his incompetence for having control over other people's lives. He also proudly counts the prisoners he has had executed as though it is goal for which others should reach.

The law proposed with the new personhood definition would also forbid in vitro fertilization. For people who value life,this seems somewhat contrary to their purpose. Apparently wanted children are irrelevant. Unwanted children should be brought into the world. Where is my ability to comprehend this logic going amiss?

This inhuman philosophy is burgeoning under the term 'biopolitics'. Now there is an oxymoron in the making!

RESULTS WHEN THOUGHTS GO RANDOM

2011-12-15T01:17:00.000-05:00

Statistic given out today: 11% of Americans will do their shopping online this season.
What is going on in the minds of voters who plan to support Gingrich for President when he violated ethics, paid a very large fine and left his post as Speaker of the House?
Christine O'Donnell's endorsement of Romney is a kiss of political death.
Why does the media allow Cheney to speak on Iraq? He lied to get us there. Why would he be truthful in giving credit to Obama for mopping up the detritus he was the primary cause of it being there.
Romney keeps saying we need a leader for President. Obama, despite the obstructionism of the Republicans has accomplished more positive changes than for which he is credited.
In the race for greatness of Chutzpah: Donald Trump should get a first prize. He refuses to say he won't run for President and intimates he will run as an Independent candidate if he doesn't approve the one chosen by the Republicans.
Why do people ask what your favorite anything is? Perfection cannot be compared to perfection. Can one say one prefers one orange to another or an apple to an orange?
Why do people pay so much attention to the polls other than it give media pundits a crutch to make them look as though they are up-to-date on the status of every changing minds. The system of taking polls is as relevant to today's world as horse and buggies are in urban areas.
Sorry, dear readers, my mind is as cluttered as my blivet of a house right now. Tomorrow should be a better day. Hopefully you will have a great one as well.

RIGID RIGHT FORCING WOMEN TO HAVE UNWANTED BABIES BUT OFFER NO CARE FOR CHILDREN AFTERWARDS

2011-12-14T00:02:00.001-05:00

The hypocrisy of the people who refuse to allow women to have abortions at any stage, or to even have the 'morning after' pill are without conscience. Today the statistic was offered that 1 out of every 45 American children is homeless. Is there logic to bringing children into the world by force then abandoning them or call the helpless mothers who may even have been raped to raise the raper's child, while denigrating them as 'welfare mothers'.

Armanda Marcotte has written on 8 Right-Wing Groups Practicing Scorched-Earth Anti-Choice Nuttery Against Women. "They’ve sent a strong message to Republicans: It’s not enough to be “pro-life” anymore. They want full-on war on women and sex." Who are some of these absolutists? Click here to read the Marcotte article.

The 8 groups are:Personhood USA. an umbrella group for various state activist groups pushing to get “personhood amendments” onto the ballot "Personhood USA has only one ostensible goal, to amend state constitutions to get fertilized eggs defined as legal “persons”"
Live Action Their agenda controls the Republican Party. Live Action openly supports the absolutist agenda, putting their support behind personhood initiatives and attacking Planned Parenthood not just for providing abortion, but because the organization is willing to provide STD and contraception information to minors and self-identified sex workers. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. A large wing of the organization is devoted to lobbying for extremist anti-choice policies that are often far beyond anything being asked by incrementalist anti-choice activists. While the group fights the label, they are, in fact, lobbyists. Ohio ProLife Action. They would ban all abortions after a heart beat is detected.
Susan B. Anthony List They are anti-choicers fallaciously claiming to be supportive of some “older” form of feminism. Leslee Unruh with the Alpha Center. Leslee Unruh is a one-woman machine of anti-choice extremism in South Dakota.who seems to have the ears of many of the state's legislators and has been successful in getting her agenda on the ballots but has been voted down. American Life League. Before personhood amendments were even on the anti-choice radar, ALL was demanding not just an overturn of Roe, but also an overturn of Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 Supreme Court decision that legalized contraception for married couples.

A fertilized egg is seen as a person for whom these groups will fight to birth only. Abandonment follows. How can these people believe they are ProLife. They are only ProBirth. The majority of births produce living children and the necessity for their survival is no less than it might have been to those who were passing judgment that they should be born to suffer whether there is anyone to love or care for them, feed them, help to mold their characters, and so much more. To my view, people who call themselves ProLife are the worst Christians I can imagine if they, in fact, have read about Christ's life and works.

ZOOLOGIC STUDY CONTINUES TO LEARN HOW SPECIES MATE

2011-12-13T03:34:00.000-05:00

Reflective of man's tendency to anthropomorphous has been the belief that the erection of an ostrich penis is by blood. Recent scientific study (Yale University) reveals it is from lymph fluid and leaves another puzzle for those interested in how that evolved. All other birds with a penis achieve erections in this way, leading scientists to believe the mechanism evolved in their ancient ancestors. For more detail, click here

Earth News reports:"The mating habits of deep-sea squid have been revealed for the first time, after the discovery of a male squid with a huge elongated and erect penis."

"The male squid's sexual organ is almost as long as its whole body, including the squid's mantle, head and arms.
That shows how male deep-sea squid inseminate females; they use their huge penis to shoot out packages of sperm, injecting them into the female's body. The discovery may also help explain how giant squid mate in the ocean depths." For more of the article, click here.

For an interesting treatise on creatures with a penis ( I had never much thought about the subject before reading some of these sites, I find that either Mother Evolution has a weird sense of humor or our scientific research into evolution of other species is a long way from being completed. Click here for 5 unusual mating habits.

THE MUPPETS (2011)

2011-12-12T01:52:00.001-05:00

Pursuant to my life quest to make my remaining existence on this earth as stress free as possible, I went to see the Muppet Movie. While on a Sunday afternoon, I expected to see a theater full of children. However, I had forgotten that today's children wouldn't remember the Muppets. Of course, I realized that it was yesterday's children who remembered them and cared to spend a nostalgic afternoon with the Muppets on a big screen.

The Disney Studios did a lovely job bringing back the characters of the 70's. We were treated to many songs but most poignant was The Rainbow Connection sun by Kermit and Miss Piggy. The plot saw the decaying studio that used to be the platform for the Muppet shows. It was a metaphor of what happens to anyone aging or anything no longer wanted by the public (no longer eliciting the devotion and respect of previous audiences). The story is of a struggle.to keep a corporate villain from destroying the museum was meant to allow the memory of the Muppets to live on.

The cast is a delight, made even more so by cameo appearances, all great and least expected in this particular movie. This movie is doubtful to be Academy Award fodder.
Co-written directed and acted in by Jason Segal, his face offers the plasticity for all the many emotions required. Amy Adams is beautiful, loving, patient, and becomes the fiancee to her non-Muppet boyfriend as the wonderful happy ending breaks through. If you can avoid violence, heavy drama and reality, and enjoy being brought back to when you watched the Muppets as a grandparent, parent or child, you will enjoy this movie.

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES DEBATE OF BULLIES, LIARS, MUJDSLINGERS, AND OBAMA HATERS

2011-12-11T00:37:00.001-05:00

Tonight, the debate occurred in Iowa. Since i rarely look at ads or the TV guide, I might have missed it if one of my neighbors hadn't clued me in that it was on and even told me the channel. How could I then resist?

George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer moderated. Diane kept reminding them on the rules they had agreed to follow which they were constantly violating. Most often they turned the expected answer to a question into a totally unrelated campaign speech. Michelle Bachmann didn't answer the question that was asked: "When was the last time you could not afford something you needed." The absence of relevant responses made it very clear, even if some had known some poverty as children, none o them wee children any longer and certainly did not know it at this time. Mitt Romney was blatant in his monied position, as well, when he stated his challenge willingness to bet Rick Perry $10,000 on some trivial point of pride.
Gingrich keeps to his story with a smooth grin, especially when the subject of a marital oath to God and a question raised, How I you can break an oath with God (relating to violating a marriage vow,, what does that purport about breaking the oath of office?’
In all, besides taking pot shots at each other (with a smiley face), lots of accusation were rephrased but nothing was really changed through the seemingly interminable evening. The group continued to give criticism to Obama but obviously had no knowledge of what he has truly done since he was president nor how much they, as a group, persisted in denying him any of the changes that would be helpful to this country
On the issue of morality, trust and fidelity of marriage vows, “Gov. Perry, who has been running ads in Iowa touting his family values and long-time marriage, took a veiled jab at Gingrich, telling the audience, "If you cheat on your wife, you'll cheat on your business partner, so I think that issue of fidelity is important.". (ABC NEWS) :

WHAT CRITERIA DO YOU CHOOSE TO EVALUATE TRUTH IN TV, NEWS, AND OTHER MEDIA?

2011-12-10T03:37:00.001-05:00

Trying to figure out what to believe is difficult these days. The man or woman staring at you from the TV screen is speaking. Is he telling truth? Who can tell? He is reading from a prompter.

Do we believe because more sources think the same way that the fewer sources on the opposite side of this 'fact'. If numbers alone decided what is right, we would fall for all the fads, con men, politicians, and religious zealots who talk directly to God. Being asked to put our faith and trust in God has a random chance of working out. Since no one talks to us and God chooses not to show a form, a voice, a being of some sort, it makes God difficult to trust since we have no evidence God has agreed to anything for which people pray.

Obama made some promises during his presidential campaign for his 2008 election. He was honest that his promises would be attempted but h did not count on a Legislature whose stated only mission was to see him a a one-term president and shot down everything he proposed. I( particularly like the sign to the right of this at all,

Whom are we to not stop believing? The answer is, of course, "Trust only that which lies beneath your fingers within your own control," Even that trust doesn't mean you can't err in judgement, make mistakes, or be wrong. Even our own senses of touch, smell, sight, hearing, and taste can be mistaken. It should prove beyond a doubt that, if we cannot trust our own senses and judgment,

Needless, we have to hone our sleuthing skills, behave as though we are constantly paranoid, and follow the maxim: "If it is too good to be true, it is." Remember, promises don't always come true, no matter how well intended.

UNITEDHEALTHCARE AD

2011-12-09T01:01:00.001-05:00

It may be that I am confused, but the current ad on TV by UnitedHealthCare does not seem possible. The content is that a man (I think he is riding a motorcycle) states he was given two different prescriptions by two different doctors, but thanks to UnitedHealthCare he was told not to take them both as it would hurt him.

Usually, it is an office worker at a for profit medical plan that would see prescriptions after they have been filled and billed for reimbursement. It is the pharmacist, assuming that the patient goes to one pharmacy (or at least lets the pharmacist knows all meds he is taking) who has references that let him know combinations which fight one another. Contact with hospitals in my work in the last few years has taught me that, logically, it would be the pharmacist, not the physician who would note the interaction

Since I do not know all the facts of how UnitedHealthCare works, the message should not have been to urge people to buy health insurance but to properly use the resources of their pharmacy. It seems that many ad people are getting as sloppy about facts as many reporters or media people are these days. How sad for the rest of us. Small wonder that my mute button is getting overworked these days.

WASHINGTON, THE MODERN BABYLON

2011-12-08T00:41:00.000-05:00

Washington DC can now be known as the Babylon of the USA

**Babylon noun: A place of great luxury and extravagance, usually accompanied with vice and corruption.**

ETYMOLOGY: After Babylon, an ancient city of southwestern Asia, on the Euphrates River, now the site of Al Hillah city. It was the capital of Babylonia and known for its opulence and culture. It was the site of the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Earliest documented use: around 1225.

Democratic Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo reached a deal in Albany with top legislators to raise taxes on the most wealthy and lower them for many of the millions of middle class. At last, someone who dares do the right thing rather than pay homage to Grover Norquist
or believe the need to serve those who put them in office, regardless of the cost to American citizens. Read more here.

DESPERATION IS RAMPING UP

2011-12-07T01:47:00.000-05:00

The 99% are getting more desperate. A woman from Ohio and moved to CA with her two children, 10 and 12, shot herself and the two children in the office where she was denied food stamps. To see the Reuters article by Jim Forsyth, click here.

For an interesting discussion on the Occupy movement, listen to Ex Post Facto Episode 2.

Along with Occupy Wall St...an article about people occupying their homes. Americans stood up and said, "We have a right to shelter. No one can take that right from us." Today we re-occupied our homes.

In East New York, Brooklyn - a foreclosed home is being reclaimed today by a local homeless family. #OWS, along with local neighbors and community groups, has pledged to stay with the family and defend them from eviction. Kendall Jacklman from Picture The Homeless spoke to the housing crisis ongoing in New York City, saying, "There is enough housing in this city to shut down the Department of Homeless Services and offer everyone decent, affordable housing based on our real wages." Read more,

REPUBLICANS TRUMPED AGAIN

2011-12-06T00:02:00.001-05:00

While Karl Rove has never been an idol of mine, it is odd to see Donald Trump trying to replace him and seemingly succeeding as manipulating the elections.. Today's Republican race betrays the flimsiness of criteria the majority of voters use to select their candidates. The election process is currently being compared to a circus, not unjustly. Nevertheless there is no denial that Rove has been evilly successful in running politics for too many years.

Now it seems that Donald Trump is trying to take over. Trump and he plan to go to an inner city school and take 10 kids as 'apprenti'....is the new Republican jobs program. This is not to suggest that any of his actions of staying front and center in public view is for personal gain or to promote his show or book.

I have decided that (in my own simplistic way) there is little choice to be made in 2012. Question #1 to be asked is: Would McCain have made a better President than Obama?. The answer is unquestionably a resounding NO. McCain has been a tired old man who seems dissatisfied with even his own party. Question #2 is: Would any of the current candidates be better equipped to be President than Obama? Once again, whether you think Obama has done a good job or not, he is brighter, better trained and fulfills more requirements for handling the country (especially after four years of on-the-job-training) than any of the current Republican candidates.

INSTEAD OF PROMISES, WHY DON'T POLITICIANS JUST STATE THEIR PROPOSALS AND SOLUTIONS

2011-12-05T00:02:00.001-05:00

The childish Republicans are citing the promises that Obama made during his campaign. They forget to mention that they also are voting 'no' to anything he proposes as they make clear they want him to be a one-term president rather than try to make the unemployed, disabled, foreclosed on, hungry and broke people live more improved existences.

Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, speaks Republicanese, little truth, all problems started when Obama was elected, and we must all vote for a Republican to take the government back.The man was safe from me as long as hje was on TV and I cannot give the evil eye as my European ancestors believed they could. He called Obama 'the Great Divider'! So much for any pretense of bipartisanship. The man was also living proof that you can make the statistics mean whatever you wish them to mean.

You can hear him as he gave the same talk to CBS News. The man sounds like he truly believes (at least he can say it with a straight face) that the Republican candidates are strong choices! He believe Obama would have been fired if he was in a corporation. If he were evaluated for truth Reince should probably be fired, but he won't. He wants someone real and authentic back in the White House. I wonder which one of that bunch of current Republican candidates he thinks would qualify for that label. Now I can see why so much money gets lost in gambling. He is certainly backing the wrong stable.

THE ECONOMIC FUTURE OF THE US

2011-12-04T00:02:00.008-05:00

Like something which has shattered on the floor containing glass shards, toxic substances, too many pieces of gold to be thrown out (as well as fecal matter and garbage), our economic system has to be carefully sorted to see what can be saved , carefully washed, or thrown out.. It amazes me that so many people are disappointed in Obama because he promised change yet has been beating his head against the Republican wall to make that happen. How can they not be aware of his successes and mighty attempts to right the wrongs they fail to see are against them..

It doesn't matter to the Republicans that the unemployment rate dropped a significant amount. They believe people are stupid enough to believe,whatever is at fault with the world is not Bush's fault but Obama's. Or, at least, their denial allows them to.try to convince us all of that truth. Children will suffer malnutrition and many people will suicide in frustration of their life circumstances. Returning servicemen must ask the question, "For what did we suffer.these debilitating and disabling injuries?" As long as banks continue without regulation, they will continue the atrocities of foreclosures on returning (and still fighting) servicemen and their dependents

What is it that allows the right wing hypocrisy to continue to claim that the unemployed just need to go out and get jobs (when there are not enough to go around), get rid of child labor laws (put there to protect children from being abused and not having enough opportunity for proper child development), and stop asking the government for help. This position from people who are legislators who can vote themselves raises with no performance evaluation, get the best medical insurance available, and even are exempt from insider training rules, and are getting a disproportionate amount of help from the government. The Occupy Movement representing the 99% are out their asking to be heard as to the unfairness in our current society.

Money alone will not solve these problems. We need some additional positive role models mentioned by the media rather than just the violence, thefts, accidents and murders. Obama is correct in saying that we need better education for our children. Education, coping and employment skills, a view of the future that allows them to see hope that they might be able to see their American Dream possible, Right now, those who could well use education are being pushed out of it by the big banks who have taken over control of colleges and pushed tuition up and out of the reach of average people.

When will people stop listening to the snake oil salesmen and see reality, not on TV reality , highly produced shows, but around them in their own real lives? We need to start teaching everyone the importance of their one vote now so they can be prepared to cast their vote with real knowledge of the capabilities of their candidate.

OUR WORLD HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY PRE-PUBESCENTS

2011-12-03T01:10:00.000-05:00

For years I have watched as the humor has been slowly leaving our country. It is as though a huge vacuum has sucked it out of our world. Comedians have lowered the bar so far I can no longer watch 'roasts' as I used to enjoy when they were first started on TV. It is pitiful to watch people laughing at themselves being destroyed by gutter humor.

Once we were proud of our Presidents whether we voted for them or not. We had pictures of them in our home or office. We honored the flag and didn't burn it, toss it on the ground nor make briefs out of it. Today we are subjected (by Amazon, no less) to Chia Obama. It makes a mockery of growing green, Nature and plant life to say nothing of our President.

The humor doesn't stop with Obama. The Clintons were not neglected with insults, presumably passing as a joke. Two Amazon offerings were annoying, at least to me. I find no humor whatsoever in the insults implied by the products bearing the Clintons' names. I am not prudish and accept the right of individuals to make and sell tasteless products. However, I abhor the people who would buy them and believe them to be acceptable to display or to give as gifts. It makes me cringe to think that, as a country, we have stopped honoring the people who served and continue to serve in public service with such disrespect..

Demonstrating the middle school humor, we have an offering of a toilet bowl brush. Not to be partisan, we have a companion item.

I have enjoyed the prepubescent humor of my several grandsons but none were ever personalized. I can understand the toys that make flatulent sounds as relevant to that age. I find it hard to believe my fellow Americans have replaced the naive child's humor when accepting their bodies and learning to be appropriate with adults. Bur taking over the attitude and personalizing it in such unacceptable objects seems to reflect a disregard and disdain for the office of the American President..

THE FIRST WORDS FROM GINGER WHITE AND LAST WORD: LAWRENCE O'DONNELL

2011-12-02T01:18:00.000-05:00

Ginger White gave a very poignant interview to Lawrence O'Donnell on 12/1 on MSNBC.
The whole reason for which she I speaking out and describing their 13 years in the relationship with Herman Cain which she says was never a love relationship but, rather, a sexual one.

Pundits had been saying that she had first spoken out because he was ridiculing the others who had accused him of sexual misconduct. She claims it has never been political. She further says that word of their relationship had leaked out to local press and local media was closing in on her with questions. The local media planned to go with it it as a story whether she cooperated or not. She decided it best, after talking to her 20 year old daughter and 18 year old son, and sharing the truth with them. The family remains supportive to her.

She says she has not received any money for speaking out. Neither of them ever told the other they were in love. She says it was totally a sexual relationship with someone who was a friend, fun to be with, but that she was intrigued with him. She was offered a getaway from her every day life.

Listening to the very sensitive interview conducted by O'Donnell, it was difficult to understand what this all meant to Ms. White during the 13 years with her 'friend'. She speaks without a great deal of emotion about an affair she describes lacked a great deal of emotion. Nothing she said was particularly contradictory. She answered candidly, taking a few seconds to think before she answered..In summary, she made it sound not unlike what many single parents have done...that is, leap at kindness and financial help from a rich man offering fun and sex and relief from the tedium of life. She apologizes to his wife and children (more than he has done so far) and one is left wondering what he told her about the wife she never met or why he entered into the relationship for all those years as he did with her.

On 11/29, I wrote a blog expressing similarities to the extramarital relationships Tiger Woods had, each of the many knowing that h was married but not bothered by that fact. They got angry and spiteful only after they learned that they were not singularly his love but rather, the affair du jour.

Whatever the explanations are, the way Cain has handled the allegations of sexual harassment and his campaign in general, does not commend him to me as a man I could respect as President of the USA. For me, it is not a moral issue but rather as issue of his poor judgement and choices, lack of qualifications for the Presidency, lack of understanding foreign relations, the Constitution and what he would need to know to run the country..

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE SEQUELS ONLY GET MORE INTERESTING

2011-12-01T01:26:00.000-05:00

Incredibly. I have read 116 Pride and Prejudice sequels and that covers a fraction of all that have been written. It fascinates me to share the 'what if' plots that good writers (and some not so good) imagine.. The range is from bland, utterly boring, exciting, loving, 'feel good' reading, violent, suspenseful, supernatural (I've avoided these), taking place in the 1800s and the 2000s.

There have been so many versions of the Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy story that I could spend the rest of my life re-reading them and they would always seem as though it is a first read. The fact that the major players remain the same and the authors stick roughly to the original script, I never know which way this story will be going. For example, Mr. Bennet has out-lived his wife, been killed in a duel, shot and killed in a hunting accident, died of a heart attack, or, in some stories, is still alive at the end of the book. Mrs. Bennet has fallen backwards off a cliff and been killed, been just a silly, loud, tactless woman, violent, vicious, a loving mother, likable. unlikable, even totally ostracized by her community.

Caroline Bingley has been hateful, mercenary, jealous, intelligent, efficient and helpful, dead by her own hand, and even became a mother. I could go on and on with the differences and likenesses to the original by Austen.

Clearly, the men and women who write them are genuinely creative They use Austen as one might a Rorschach test. Each author, through Elizabeth and Darcy, lets the reader know a great deal about how the author sees the world and people in it. Some are even based on the movie versions rather than Austen herself. Others are well researched historic novels.

Among my many addictions, reading these sequels remains one of my most indulged.

iT IS NOT OFTEN i GET ASKED TO DO A POLL...BUT....

2011-11-30T02:00:00.000-05:00

It is not easy for me to ignore being asked to participate in a poll. Thus when asked to do one about Obama, I clicked and got on the Internet page. I went to it and found it to be questionable as to whether it was a legitimate poll. It reminded me too much of corporate phone mazes designed to get you to spend money or be totally confused. Just as the telephone robots never ask the questions you want answered....namely , "How do I get to talk to a real, live, human who .might understand my question?"

Below is the questionnaire I could not fill out as I didn't like any of the choices.

The questions do not strike me as allowing the responder to adequately answer. For example, I was unaware that Obama has a plan to give 12 million illegal aliens amnesty. Since very few voters have seen or read all of Obama's healthcare plan, the question to repeal it in entirety, some of it or none of it also seems loaded. While I support Obama, I did not answer this poll and wonder if it was actually put out by someone wanting real answers of support to Obama or they are questions to fool the responder into thinking that these are Obama positions. If so, it seems like 'dirty pool' to me.

WHEN THE WRAPPER COMES OFF AND REALITY APPEARS

2011-11-29T00:02:00.003-05:00

Herman Cain can no longer hide his hypocrisy. This egotistic man finally has others showing the world all the reasons some of us guessed at why we could never vote for him as President, beyond the fact that he was so unprepared for the job. The final thrust that pierced his armor came today when a woman claims to have had a 13 affair with him. It is unlikely that he would understand her reason for going public at this point. She says it was because he ridiculed the other women and she couldn't stand it. It is just like the daughters of incest who keep their mouths shut for years until the next daughter gets tapped. Then they 'sing' to save the younger sister but also because they are the cheated on one.

Clearly, the others happened while he was having his affair with Ginger White, as she claims. It has similarity to the women who came out en masse about Tiger Woods.They knew he was cheating on his wife, unbothered, but became furious and ratted him out as soon as they heard they were one of many. One can only assume men continue to give the story that their wife doesn't understand them and they are staying together for the children's and family's sake. The feel no guilt that he is cheating on his wife because she 'deserves' it. But when they find out he has cheated on them, they do not feel they deserved it, not giving a thought to the fact they were being lied to as much as the the wife has been. However, when the break up comes, it is the wife who leaves, broken hearted but wealthy, while they are left broken hearted alone with no alimony claims. Women like Sugar Daddies and are even willing not to question their lies.

MORE GOVERNMENTAL AND POLITICAL HYPOCRISY

2011-11-28T00:02:00.001-05:00

In Ohio, an eight year, old third grader, was removed from his parents hoe and sent to foster care because it was decided his parents weren't doing enough to maintain his weight and, thus, his health. The boy weights 218 pounds. "A spokeswoman says the county removed the child because caseworkers saw his mother's inability to reduce his weight as medical neglect." The mother blames the ads for fast food and says she tries to control his eating. No mention was made about the weight of the parents or any other household members.

Strangely, it is difficult to believe that a parent do more to limit the child's intake. They need not take him to fast food restaurants nor buy fattening food.However, when we hear the potato lobby is powerful enough to get schools serve French Fries with every meal. it does take some of the responsibility away from the parent if he receives school meals. Further, since the food growing lobbyists have also forced the non-medical, dietary challenged Congress to claim tomato sauce on pizza as a vegetable and proper meal for children, one has to wonder why the authorities take it on themselves to assume the parents are totally to blame.

Obesity in children has become a far greater problem than this child or just a few children. It is of epidemic proportions in the US today. A local paper writes: "Last year, the boy lost weight but in recent months began to gain it back rapidly. That's when the county moved to take the child, records show.

The mother said that when she found out that other kids and a sibling might be giving her son extra food, she tried to put a stop to it and explain to him that he could eat only certain foods.

She tried to follow the recommendations of the doctors, such as getting him a bike and encouraging him to get exercise. The mother wonders what role genetics plays in the boy's condition -- both she and his father and some other family members are overweight, she said. However, she also has a 16-year-old son who is tall and thin."

It amazes me that people are so uncreative in their solutions to a problem. It would appear that there are probably about 1385 children in that area who are obese. There aren't enough foster home so there needs to be a program that offers healthy, low caloric food for children, exercise programs, such as many other cities and towns have begun to use.

If Ohio had politicians running the state that cared about its children, better solutions would be found for all the children, not just foster homes for a few. Children should be offered more real-world activities and fewer virtual ones.

GIVING THANKS DOES NOT REQUIRE A TURKEY

2011-11-27T00:02:00.002-05:00

More of my friends have no time for the exhausting preparations for Thanksgiving dinner which were only normal for all of my long life. First of all, people used to like turkey when it tasted good. Today's turkeys have been raised to be big (probably on hormones), juicy (by injecting lots of fluid), so that the meat is tasteless to me. I stuff myself with stuffing which I far prefer to turkey meat. More people give up the cooking and go to a restaurant where people can choose their own meal...at not an insignificant price for it all.

It has become clear to me, where once the meal was important and to which I looked forward, that it is no longer of interest to me. What represents the day is not taste but feeling. A feeling of togetherness with loved people counts for so much. No longer is it possible to have all of family together; there are too many in-laws pulling them away. Others who matter to me are an ocean away.

It makes me realize that I spent the day with people I can see anytime but the busyness of our lives doesn't make it happen unless a special day is set aside. It finally makes clear why there have to be some holidays. It forces people to retain some sort of direct contact, take a few pictures, eat a complete meal without rushing, and take a day off from the usual employment chores. That in itself should be enough for which to be thankful.

The global economy, politics, terrorism, wars, protests, police brutality, murders, thefts, violent crimes, and all the many other negative things in our society leave little for which to be thankful from our world. However, it is easy to be thankful for loved ones: relatives and friends, good health, and enough money for a roof overhead. It is more than so many of the 99% can claim to have these days.

THE REPUBLICANS ARE MAKING A JOKE OF OUR FOREFATHERS WANTING TO KEEP RELIGION OUT OF POLITICS

2011-11-26T01:29:00.000-05:00

Laurie Goldstein, writing for the New York Times: "A poll by the Pew Research Center, examined the impact of religion on the 2012 election in light of claims by some analysts that a Mormon stigma is significant enough to impede Mr. Romney’s run for president." The Christian right seems to mistakenly assume that our country is Christian. Even as Christian as Catholicism is, it isn't the 'right' Christian belief for many who seem to think Christianity was properly defined before the Bible was written and before God hadn't stopped talking directly to properly anointed and psychotic people to tell them what is acceptable behavior and belief for them.

While we have come to know some imposters in our present world, all the people who wrote in the Bible were clearly not, though there is no real proof that anything the Bible says has actually been tested or proven. Their information, guidance and logic, came straight from God and, later, in the New Testament, straight from Jesus, or someone who should be believed over all others regardless of facts.

As is always the case, we have a plethora of non-believers. Many of them think that the Mormon church should not be allowed to have a member as its President as the wealthy church has become too powerful and our country will then be leaning too far towards Mormonism and Mormons controlling us all. For someone's documentation of that belief, click here.

Meanwhile, most of us know that we defy our Constitution since our leaders signed a Bill of Rights to go with it which tells us 'All men are created equal' However, since that was only as recently as a little more than a couple o hundred years ago, definitive word on that hasn't gotten around yet..

Of course we all know that our modern day churches are well-run businesses. The real purpose behind most religious groups is to gain power. The power may be big enough to sway the congregation or even big enough to control whole countries of people.

2011: THINGS FOR WHICH WE ALL HAVE TO BE THANKFUL

2011-11-25T00:21:00.000-05:00

Strength in numbers has been often proved. I believe that to be true and I am thankful that the American middle class has finally joined forces and is fighting back the rich and power hungry who had decided to make our country a slave state. Occupy Everywhere is a good start and even the Republicans would do well to listen if they consider their re-elections are no longer a shoo-in.

We should all be grateful for the Internet and the way that the world is able to freely share information so quickly. Without it, we would have to rely on the Rush Limbaughs of the world and Fox News. Interesting research by Fairley Dickenson showed that people who watched Fox News were 18% less informed even than those who watched no TV news. It is nice to have many sources for finding what is really going on in the world since the world's major newspapers have an English page online which is globally shared.

It is good, after all the lies the Republicans have given us and continue to do through its candidates for President, we are being shown how inadequate the Republican party is to govern America, Not a single Republican candidate is sufficiently prepared to be President and keeps proving it as the debates go on so endlessly.

The Teapartiers claimed to want to take their government back. Nevertheless they did nothing to take us back to anything vaguely resembling our government working at its best. It is pure folly to think that our country could be run without the support, checks and balances our government offers us. Headless organizations have not a track record to prove they work.

THANKSGVING TRADITIONS

2011-11-24T00:56:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all

None of us were at the first American Thanksgiving Day celebration. We can only suspect those present at the time would feel surprise at the way (and reasons) for giving thanks has changed. History tells us that the first Thanksgiving was shared with Indians who helped the colonists survive

Today, thanks is mostly for the fact that it is a day off from school or work. While no Indians grace any table at which I am at, many of the people seated at the table are there to eat, not work, and thankful they did not have to shop and cook the meal. Many seem to feel that having a blood and genetic tie gives them license to grace a table on all holidays and express their disapproval for the personal and political views of all others at the table. It was always fun when the Yankee and Greek relatives met and mixed. The closest description of it is 'when oil meets water'. My in-laws were always polite, arrived when the meal was said to be served, ate quietly and mentioned only totally benign subjects, excusing themselves to leave when the meal was finally over.

The Greek side came 'whenever', known as Greek time.They expected a cocktail hour and lots of hors d'ouevres. I always knew the meal would never be served for at least a couple of hours after the 'eta' (expected time of arrival). The most sober of the men was asked to carve the turkey while the women hustled to get food onto the table. Despite the amount of food being eaten, the Greeks managed to talk all the way through the meal, acting like the 'insinkerator'. The Yankees ate quietly, speaking little, and shuddering at the topics being discussed. Every Emily Post rule would be broken as far as topics to be discussed was concerned. Religion, politics, bad food, illnesses, arguments, personal details (of others, not the speaker) were all heard with no reaction from the Greek side and shock on the faces of the Yankee side. Described differently, the meal was a 'reality show' for the Greeks and a 'horror show' for the Yankees.

People were forced together who neither understood nor particularly cared for one another. The best thing that happened was they all liked the food and after a few years of these obligatory events, most got to like and respect one another for their similarities and differences.

2011-11-23T00:37:00.000-05:00

I'm shocked that being put on administrative leave is a solution for the outrage of pepper spray on these young people at UC Davis, though the police chief was 'suspended.. To subject them to respiratory damage, damage to their immune systems and neurological difficulties is unconscionable. Nothing is being mentioned about the training these police staffs need to have, will receive, not how pepper spray should be removed as a tool available to them.

Pepper spray is not a benign deterrent. It has neurological consequences; no one is clear on the length symptoms remain after being a recipient. People into manipulating pictures have already started having fun with this subject. The little girl running naked down the street in Viet Nam graphically demonstrates the torture to an already sensitive skin this substance can produce.

In the last few years our country has become terribly insensitive to cruelty that is inflicted constantly both physically, emotionally, and by denying people those rights which have come to be a part of life in this USA and what used to be a democracy.

Pulitzer Prize Winning Science Writer, Deborah Blum, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, described pepper spray on the Rachel Maddow Show , MSNBC, 11/22. She said it was above the Scoville Scale of 'heat' by its pure capsaicin composition.

While it may take a long time for cases to go through trial on this subject, Jonathan Turley law professor,said on an interview that he is heading a case that has been in the courts for ten years already.

WHERE DID OUR DEMOCRACY GO?

2011-11-22T00:02:00.000-05:00

Is there no one who goes to the Internet to re-read the Constitution any more? What has happened to free speech? Who allows police brutality to unarmed students and protesters? Pepper spraying unarmed students lined up facing the firing squad of police emptying can upon can of pepper spray on them seems to have little is being said by anyone other than the victims.

It is incredible that Chancellor Linda Katehi has such little wisdom as to think that she can stay on her job with any respect for her decision making. She has irrevocably tarnished the image of the school to say nothing for student and staff morale. While she immediately called for a task force for an investigation, no one is looking back historically. Why is it that people allow emotions to steer them from learning from history to prevent repeating the same mistakes which inevitably have the same consequences?

An Opinion article written in the Los Angeles Times says: "Even if the last major waves of campus protests were a couple of decades ago, quelling student demonstrations without harm and with a minimum of residual outrage should be at the top of university training programs for police staff."

The Chancellor gave a speech of apology and said she was as unhappy with the University that day as were the victims. However, she did not give anything but lip service to the fact that she was where the buck stopped. Her people were not well trained nor was she visible while the violation to the students with the pepper spray was going on. One unarmed student was actually hospitalized. While I heard some people defending Chancellor Katehi, there were more who seemed to be calling for her resignation with rather compelling reasons. I guess we will have to stay tuned just as we are regarding the boycott in Congress's attempts to avoid makimg America a better place to hope for a better future and jobs for people.

LEAVING HOME FOR A FEW DAYS

2011-11-21T00:02:00.004-05:00

It is hard to remember that there were times in my life I looked forward to leaving home for long periods. Now, I do everything possible to stay at home. I need only to look in the mirror to know I have changed places with my deceased mother. This shift is simply evidence of how one changes as life is lived. Some people want to see every continent; they live to travel. All but travel is simply existing for them. That gene missed me as I recognize my parents didn't have it to pass on to me.

Preparation for a trip sucks away much of the joy of anticipation. " How will I have to dress for a different climate?" Thankfully, the Internet provides long term predictions (at least five or so days) on the weather anywhere in the world. My answer was to be prepared for rain a couple of days and temperatures 10 degrees colder than home. No doubt the weather pattern where I am going will change as soon as I leave my computer behind.

Most past trips have been two to three weeks, requiring larger suitcases than what I need for four days. Furthermore, most short trips have been by car so I was free to dump anything into the car, when in doubt, . Since you have to carry and pay for what you take, it requires judicious planning.. Extra caution is needed not to forget essentials. I have dreaded visions of my luggage being lost (as it once was) and having no change of underwear and no way of buying any! Even worse is no toothbrush and deodorant. Ah, is that carrying the concept of clean air too far?:

No access to a computer is anxiety producing. I will be staying with relatives who have not yet arrived into the 21st C: I will be armed with lots of notebooks. I know there will be much I will want to look up on return. My cousins are not particularly interested in US politics and have little awareness of things which interest me. I will not bore them with my silence because they entertain themselves easily with recipes, health, and gossip, especially about people I don't know. I understand their language but speak only a kitchen version of it so I am constantly a source of amusement to them as I butcher their native tongue.

If Air Canada does not fail, I will be so happy to be back home; I will wonder why I let myself be talked into going away; my explanation to myself will be that I love my relatives and we are of an age that we may never meet again; I will continue to rant while taking every advantage possible to hang on to connectedness to my origins even though I have to fly there actually rather than virtually. Home is indeed where your heart is, even though you sometimes have to travel to connect the parts.

THE COUNTRY IN MIDDLE SCHOOL BEHAVIOR

2011-11-20T00:02:00.001-05:00

Too often we hear people threatening to not vote for Obama if he doesn'[t give in to their demands. The most recent that caught my eye was Gene Karpinski from the League of Conservation Voters, Without question air quality is an important issue, but with the Republican Congress saying "NO!" to everything raised by the President, I readily understand why Karpinski was told that Obama would take it up if he was elected to a second term but could not do it now. The top priority right now has to be economics and jobs. The greatest country in the free world is hardly living up to that label these days yet many in the USA have not caught on to that and are living with the past way of doing things.

In March, one survey found that Education was a top priority. Read more.

For CEOs it was 'how to promote creativity within their organization'. Read more

With Christmas approaching as well as the end of the year for people to offset taxes by gifting to charity, 'our mail cup runneth over. We mourn the waste of resources trying to squeak out more money than we have to give. Everyone but the top 1% seems to be suffering, clamoring for assistance, and it all seems to be as basic as survival. For this country to have so many people on the verge of malnutrition and starvation, homeless who are living exposed to the elements, returned war veterans left bereft of acknowledgement for what their service cost them and their families and jobless, it is not a pretty sight and a real blemish on the face of the United States of America.

Is it any wonder people are resorting to protesting in the streets. How do the police justify their brutality for peaceful protesting and the right to free speech when the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are individuals and that obscenely generous campaign contributions are protected by the right to free speech. People may not complain of the injustice to our democracy while the Supreme Court justifies changing the reading and meaning of the first amendment which has stood for

The amendment reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." It does not limit as to how that speech can be delivered but peaceful protest has always been acceptable. Even in the Colonial days, the soap box became the stage for citizens to speak out in the town parks. Why are we allowing these values to dissipate?

DEFINING YOURSELF Part 2

2011-11-19T00:02:00.003-05:00

Part 1 did not discuss the degree of effect other people influence how we define ourselves. Parents who continually call their kids 'stupid' or other pejorative names, teachers who do nothing positive to support a child, persons of authority neither protecting a child against sexual abuse not refrain from committing it themselves, and those who do not listen to children and try to determine how they see themselves contribute to negative self-images.

When children have low self-esteem, they do not work toward goals for which they get no positive reinforcement. They may get stomach aches,m head aches and, without question, live under great psychic stress manifesting itself in illnesses, lethargy, depression, acting out and dangerous behavior to mention a few.

Children may not have the words to describe how they feel about themselves but they give off clues that tell a great deal. Most children may become shy and 'internalize' the negatives they feel about themselves. In households where the adults do not share much about themselves, children may feel responsible for the unhappiness, illness, death, or divorce in the family.

Until a person can develop a strong sense of self, they are dependent on the feedback they get from others. If they have previously been traumatized, have PTSD, a visible disability for which their mobility, intellectual capacity, or appearance is compromised, they do not have a fertile foundation in which to grow a good sense of self without a great deal of external support If they are clinically depressed, that empty feeling in the pit of their stomach that never goes away, makes it impossible for them to accept that people are being sincere when giving compliments.

Children who have low esteem grow up to be adults with low self-esteem unless they have had a great deal of help to see themselves differently. However, even when grows up with self-confidence it can be lost in adulthood by negative and unfair work evaluations, firing off a job, divorce, false arrest, and so many other unpleasant life experiences.

The bumper sticker which suggests committing a random act of kindness would make all our lives far more pleasant.

DEFINING YOURSELF

2011-11-18T00:02:00.004-05:00

We are not born as a finished product. Not to many years ago it was thought that all humans were born with equal potential. We have now learned that is not true. For years, people toyed with the question of whether we are the product of Nature or Nurture. The answer is that we are both. When people claim to be self-made, they are talking nonsense. We do not develop in a vacuum.

Ask yourself what comes into your head. Do you hear voices from a parent, a mentor, a priest or pastor, quotes you have heard, or a bit of all the above and more? Most of us have forgotten the sources which have provided us with a code we have adopted as our own. For example, long before alcoholics had developed the Serenity Prayer as though it was their invention, life had taught me not to waste time worrying about things over which I have no control. That alone makes ordering the priorities in your head so much more efficient.

Individual chemistry as well as past experiences determine whether we feel safe, capable, or can think of choices of behavior to deal with situations. In a plane, why make yourself ill from fear of its crashing. If you die suddenly you have no need to worry about whom or what you have left behind.if you live each day as though it might be your last by having an intact will and no secrets from your loved ones, financial planner, lawyer or anyone who will need to deal in some way with your death. Leaving little uncovered or unsaid is important.

The kind of person we believe ourselves to be is also important. Do we behave as we see ourselves by others? Tomorrow's blog speak to this in a part 2.

REGULATION

2011-11-17T00:02:00.010-05:00

Wikipedia defines regulation. It begins: "Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. "For more from Wikipedia, click here. Someone on MSNBC said It is regulation when they are looking out for us". It should always be looking out for us. However, it cannot be apparent to us when it is in an unfamiliar area and we get inundated by lies from ads and lobbyists against what is best for the people but good for banks, corporations and others not looking out for the people but for themselves.

We know how gullible a great portion of the public is. It's is not a part of their day to listen to news and read politics all day. Most rely on the evening news or what the hear from others who may or may not be more knowledgeable than they abut only more opinionated and vocal.

A country without regulations is as reliable as a ship without a rudder or an automobile without breaks. If the country is seen as a family model, it would be a family with no contact with what the children are doing, though they have not the maturity to make their own decisions with objectivity. Anyone who says we should have no regulations is clearly speaking from a self-serving position. We ought not to listen to them and, certainly, we ought not to vote them into office.

Imagine a hospital with no regulations. The doctors could revert to blood-letting as a treatment for all illnesses, no training to do their job, not collect CMEs to keep up with changing and new treatments, charge whatever they want for doing guess work, and lots of people would die. The analogy is not different when we are talking finance houses. People are risking other people's money and have lost too much of it because they have dealt with it in self-serving choices rather than what might be best for the investor. The Attorney General and his staff have been looking into Wall St for the past few years. We stay hopeful that they will take some action soon on all the evidence they have been acquiring.

ANOTHER STEP TO ECONOMIC RELIEF

2011-11-16T00:02:00.002-05:00

The country is now in the process of cleaning up the deposits on figurative lawns made by dogs without leashes For those who like to stay informed, another site to be added to you review is OpenSecrets.org, (The Center for Responsive Politics).

Today's article was about most members of Congress enjoying a robust financial status, despite the nation's sluggish economic recovery. Small wonder that Congress hears none of the voices from Occupy Wall St. It is time that a citizen push be made to take all decisions of self-interest our of the hands of the Congress. If ever there was a conflict of interest that is a blatant one.

Raises and perks over and above the flat salary of all Representatives and Senators should be subject to the same procedures that corporations and other employers follow. An evaluation of the work, stated goals and to what degree they were met, and financial decisions made on the basis of what is happening with the rest of the country's workers some of whom are as unskilled as many Representatives who do not know their job, the Constitution, do not follow the world situation or much else they should know..

Nov 15 - "As the deadline approaches for the supercommittee to agree on $1.2 trillion in cuts to the federal budget, the influence of one unelected player may make the difference, the Wall Street Journal reported. Antitax advocate Grover Norquist could be a big reason for the supercommittee’s stalemate, thanks in part to his nonprofit’s deep pockets." -(Opensecrets.org).

Tonight, Lawrence O'Donnell on his re-write segment showed that Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey, pointed out that it will not violate the Grover Norquist pledge if the Bush lowered taxes revert to what they were in the Clinton era when the time limit runs out and they just are not renewed..

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES PLAYING MUSICAL CHAIRS BUT SEEM NOT TO KNOW WHEN THE MUSIC HAS STOPPED.

2011-11-15T00:02:00.001-05:00

How are we to interpret the swiftly moving poll scores? Conservatives don't like Mitt Romney though most Republicans seem to think his choice will be inevitable.

The money being bet is probably enough to lower our National debt but that won't happen. My guess is that little money obtained from gambling gets to the general economy. Gamblers just keep recycling it, except for the jewelry high rollers fund for their wives, mistresses or girlfriends.

It would seem that even some of the Republicans are smart enough to see they are in trouble. It makes me wonder what Grover Norquist holds over the signers of the pledge that makes them so fearful to defy it.

Several, which included Cain, Bachmann, do not think waterboarding is torture and would willing bring it back. Cain, however, said additionally that he would go along with the military in this, not realizing that it was the CIA who thought to use it while the military is against it.

We who are older all feeling sorry for Perry's brain freeze but Cain has even topped him on that. Cain had a total brain freeze that lasted several minutes about Libya. He started to infer that he disagreed with Obama's handling but, then, it appeared that he realized he didn't know anything about it and didn't know whether Obama handled it well or not.

That there is not one strong Republican candidate says something (I'm not sure what but it does say something) about the lack of credible candidates for the office. Not one of them, after all this time and talk and hoo-hah campaigning has indicated readiness for prime time in the Oval office. .

WHEN FREE ISN'T CHEAP ENOUGH AND DOESN'T GIVE AWAY ENOUGH....

2011-11-14T00:02:00.001-05:00

There is a great site called the Newseum. It gives a map and allows you to click on a dot in any number of areas and get the front page of the local newspaper. Their disclaimer reads:
"Through a special agreement with more than 800 newspapers worldwide, the Newseum displays these front pages each day on its website. The front pages are in their original, unedited form, and some may contain material that is deemed objectionable to some visitors. Discretion is advised.
Anyone seeking permission to use a front page must credit the Newseum and contact the newspaper directly for permission. U.S. copyright laws apply."

Does 'use a front page' mean reading it, copying it in total, or using information from it to discuss a topic as long as credit is given to the source. Once a newspaper is published the information becomes public. Copy-write laws apply and plagiarism is frowned upon. However, the content, which is intellectual and may or may not be fatual, then should be available to anyone to comment, dissect, opine on, or whate4ver else we all do when we read a newspaper. I understand the spirit of the message but I wish it were worded in a less off-putting fashion.

LIFE, CLOTHING, AND MAKEUP ARE MORE CASUAL THAN THEY HAVE BEEN IN MANY DECADES

2011-11-13T02:18:00.000-05:00

Years ago, someone who owned a successful cosmetics company said that research showed that cosmetics and clothing sales held up even during depressed times. Appearance seemed more important a few decades ago than it is today. Rather,. it seems that, while these comments are completely anecdotal, it makes me wonder if the experience of the couple's business in past decades is holding up today.

When those comments were made to me, women tried to do it all at home, whereas today they are trying to do it all at the workplace as well as home They certainly never wore running shoes to work and rarely wore pants or dungarees. Today people do not stress 'dressing up' for work, eating out, or evening entertainments venues, and I've even seen people dressed in jeans at Symphony. Few restaurants today keep neck ties and jackets oir men in all sizes for those not considered ‘properly’ dressed for fine dining.

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wonder at the degree where those things have seemed to change today. Certainly standards of perfection have shifted. Women no longer look like professional actresses with their faces painted on. A natural look prevails on their faces as does a casual look in clothing. There is more attention paid to health, exercise, and not smoking. Cocktail parties are fewer, in fact almost non-existent in today’s world where people are cautioned not to drink and drive.

Is the impetus economic or a response to the environment and wish to conserve resources?