CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL, REGARDLESS OF THE REASONS

One of the global changes is the shrinking of glaciers.  People who do not see beyond one step fear nothing as long as they see nothing touching their lives.  However, this is not true of losses which threaten water sources like the Ganges that will effect millions of people.

PBS has a wonderful filming and program on just that concern.  Click here to watch it if you missed it.  In February 2010, Rohit Honawar wrote an article about the dying process of that mighty river that supports 400 million people with the life necessity of water.  He writes:  "There is no stretch of the river which does not in some way form an integral part of the Indian psyche and sense of identity. However, it is at these very same locations that a combination of human negligence and climatic factors has prompted the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to list the Ganges as one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the world."

There are undoubtedly many people who feel no connection to those facts.  After all, much of the world does not rely on the Ganges.  However, we must  picture a world with 400 million people begging for water.  California is troublesome enough for us as Americans.  We believe there is a vast supply elsewhere in the US which can sustain the population there if necessary...or so we hope.  We need to get over our tendency to put problems aside as being NMP (not my problem).  People who can shrug off, easily, with a simple 'NMP' will one day find a world shrugging off their unanticipated problems...we all seem to get to that place eventually.  We can be like the Republicans in the Senate and Congress and simply cling together with refusal to accept any suggestions or ideas for solutions by denying that there are problems other than those the Democrats are inventing, or we can accept that problems exist and support or join those trying to solve them.  The inventor of the expression "Denial is not a river in Egypt" was quite succinct.  Denial may help those who can't deal with reality survive temporarily, but it is like a vacation...nice for a bit but you wouldn't want to live there.

NEWS MADE PALATABLE

America's News has been rather depressing lately...actually lately refers to many years...so I thought a pleasant change would be found in the British newspaper, The Daily Mash.  It is refreshing to have a website that lists all the feature sections to save the reader browsing tine, generally considered a waste of time.  It show HOME, NEWS,SPORT, POLITICS, OPINION, AGONY AUNT, HOROSCOPES, SHOPPING AND HUMPING.  It bears a scent similar to the American publication, The Onion.

So. no longer do people have to put up with Fox Noise, MSNBeSeeing. and Sea of NN and the likes.  The news in these two papers is deeper, more carefully thought out, and definitely more positively received.  Do have a look throughout both of these fine purveyors of what is really going on in the world today.  See things through eyes that smile.

WHY DO PEOPLE THINK IT IS EASIER TO DUMP THINGS AND START OVER?

It has taken 17 years to start over with a HealthCare plan.  Why do people say that it is easier to start over if they really want to change health care.  It is not easier !  Unlike the Republicans, Kucinich's reason to dislike the current bill are shared by many, though perhaps not quite so cogently.  To read what he is thinking and saying, click here. He simply misses the length of time it will take to start a new bill, a point not at all missed by the 'say no' Republicans.

Misunderstandings as to what the bill contains or does not contain continue to run rampant, thanks to the lies being spread about it from rumors, not  usually from those who have read it.  The Republicans, the Democrat Anti-Abortionists, and a few mavericks send out negative signals .  It is hard to know how the insurance companies are swaying towards negativity, as well.

Having seen the effect of ground swell energies in the past, one has to wonder what is happening to the voice of the people which has been clearly overshadowed by the politicians.  It seems that the media has gotten very lazy about reporting what the people are saying unless they think that reporting bloated polls from sources not trustworthy of being called scientific, is sufficient.  It isn't.

President Obama has finally gotten a voice to the public about it, having given bipartisanship more than a fair opportunity to start helping the people of this country rather than playing politics.  It seems to make sense to start with a template that can e adjusted; that is how I see this bill.  There are many more issues stirring to be heard for the American people to survive. Let's, at least, start a process of finding relief for the millions who need it now.

WHAT PAPERLESS OFFICE REALLY MEANS

If anyone has ever had a computer crash and lost irreplaceable (at least without half a life time expenditure for recreating) date, pictures, etc, they will understand that there is no such thing as paperless for those of us at home or office.  Having had three sets of backups fail me on electronic media, I now resort to paper backups on most things ...especially online payments.  If the bank no longer sends your checks back, how will you know what you are paying, have paid, or doing?

This brings up that paperless means that the sender makes it paperless.  If you want a copy, you are free to print it out on your own paper and printing cost.  This saves money...to the company's profits and out of your pocket.  Additionally, like all collateral damage, the post office doesn't get their cut for a mailing, not that there are not a bunch of 'Willie Huttons of the Internet' polishing their teeth to get a bite of profit out of you for themselves.  Have you noticed that service charges, though there may be little or no cost to them, go up.  An EFT transfer of your money from one bank to another (just a few taps on a keyboard taking seconds) is in double digits and going up yearly though the action remains as simple.

Some companies are fairly reliable in their billing but there are others (like Verizon) who throw all kinds of little extras on your bill if you don't take precious time to go over each item of each bill  with a fine tooth comb.  This is why I have not gone completely paperless and allowed companies that get regular payments, (like utilities and credit cards), to just help themselves to my bank account 'to save me time and trouble'.  It takes me back to the childhood poem, ' "Come into my parlor," said the spider to the fly'.  .In this world of greed, hypocrisy in religion, corruption in politics, with all the deceit, violence and thievery that goes on...it is hard to trust anyone or anything any longer.  There is not a paranoid bone in my body but I was taught that paranoid defenses are only wise when one has learned the need to protection from experience.

FANATICS RUNNING WILD

What is it about Utah that they think that they own another's body in their zeal to punish pregnant women they think are not taking care of the fetus?  Recently there was a firestorm of protest over a bill submitted in Utah which would have allowed prison sentences up to life for women who experienced miscarriage or a stillbirth as a result of her 'reckless behavior'.    The article by Lynn Paltrow for RHRealityCheck.org (News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice) points out:  "Almost immediately, however, Utah legislators revised the bill to exempt women who commit reckless acts but to permit the prosecution of women who commit “knowing” acts that may result in stillbirths and miscarriages from the earliest stages of pregnancy."

"What does this mean? Under this bill, pregnant women who “know” that their cancer medications or other prescription medications could risk harm or cause pregnancy loss could still be arrested. Pregnant women who stay with abusive husbands who they “know” to be angry about the pregnancy could still be arrested under this law. Pregnant women who continue working in jobs they “know” pose hazards to their pregnancies could still be arrested under the law. And even pregnant women who “know” from reading the side of their cigarette packages that smoking is hazardous to their pregnancies could be arrested under this law."

Of particular amusement was the suggestion the writer had for the perpetrators and backers of the bill.  "The Utah bill should be overturned by the Federal Supreme Court as soon as possible. Then, every single judge, legislator, minister, and pornographer in Utah should be immediately put into one of the FEMA concentration camps with scarlet letters on their foreheads and then put the serial killers, Pagan and Hell’s Angels motorcycle gangs in charge of these “fine” men and women. If these upstanding citizens get raped by the guards, men or women, then these judges, legislators, ministers, and pornographers should be put to death by stoning. That makes as much sense at Utah’s “bill”, but seems much more fair to me."  To me, too, Ms Paltrow.  It almost seems to good for this bunch of misogynists.  If you would like to read the whole article, click here.

THE AD HOMINEM APPROACH OF THE REPUBLICANS

Ad hominem:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem    appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect
 When dirty politics is at play. it may be Republican against Republican before the primary.  The closed force of Republicans who are 'against' HealthCare is a wonderful example of the ad hominem actions...they have seniors feeling that they are considered worthless and will be allowed to just die (the fictitious death panel).  Threats against budget is a frequent one, knowing that the majority of Americans fall in the 98% who are not wealthy, having difficulty paying their bills, and financially needy.  The threat is 'insurance premiums will rise with this plan.'

On YouTube, you will find a discussion about and video of an ad called the most despicable yet, from Elizabeth Dole.  Check it out.  Without the following discussion one would not imagine the untruths to it all.

However, the best illustration if in humor.  Check this out on How to Speak Republican.  Satire right on!

ANOTHER MORALISTIC WRITER WHO DOESN'T UNDERSTAND ENDORPHINS

I have no idea who Raymond J Lawrence, the man who wrote an article for CounterPunch on 3/6, is nor how he comes to his simplistic conclusions.  Sex is not addictive to most people as alcohol imbibed is not addictive universally.  However, no one can dispute the fact that body chemistry determines one's libido.  One only has to see a bi-polar patient in a hypermanic state to realize the strength of his/her libido has ridden off the charts.

We can talk about medications and how they are useful and I would be the first to state that medication has totally changed the need for patients to have years of incarceration in mental hospitals as in the past.  Many, who would otherwise need medication for depression, can control their lives with stress exercise and kicking in their endorphins (the body's brand of morphine), which is why it is often referred to as 'jogger's high'.

Before this phenomenon was understood, marriages broke up and many people suffered needlessly.  This is in no way a validation that unbalanced chemistry can be used as an excuse for need for sex thus rape, extra-marital affairs, multiple partners or any of the deviant behavior we have all heard about or seen.  However, it does spread the responsibility for those observing the behavior to give some thought to it.  I recall a woman, admitting her husband to a mental hospital, saying, "Thank God,  I've been flat on my back for three days.  I can get some sleep tonight."  Nor can I forget a woman who, after being properly medicated and feeling herself normal, expressed shame that she could not control her sexual desires while manic and had sex with her brother-in-law.

This is the reversal of a man who was depressed, medicated, but had a retroactive, very painful ejaculation while having sex (one of the rare but true side effects of the medication he was prescribed) with his wife in attempting to start a family.  He was able to stabilize his chemistry through stress exercise and when I saw him much later he introduced his infant son with pride.

As a society, we are filled with people who make assumptions on little knowledge, are too quick to moralize rather than understand the dynamics of chemistry imbalance and other forces at work for the deviant behavior.  When I say that others bear some of the responsibility, the manic person sees nothing wrong with his/her thinking which they almost believable rationalize,  However, those around them see that something is wrong and fear or are unable to confront or set limits on that person's behavior.  Just as AA suggests an intervention, so does the unacceptable behavior of the teenager courting death, the bully, the abuser, and the irrational behavior of the manic person who is acting out sexually, or the clinically depressed person trying to manage anxiety and the crippling, energy robbing depression..