THE SAME BATTLES BEING FOUGHT REPETITIOUSLY AND SEQUENTIALLY

People come in two flavors; those who are tunneled visioned and see only one focus at a time, and those of us who are multi-taskers and systems oriented while taking in a complete context.

Michael Bloomberg is like a parent trying to control the food intake and outgo of a purging anorexic-bulimic.  He will be fought all the way by people who are intent on having their 'rights' even if it kills others.He is clear that he is denying people nothing.  They may order seconds if they so choose but he is trying to limit the first serving of the over sugared soda, knowing that people tend to finish the whole drink.

On the Martin Bashir show, Friday afternoon, a young man whose name I caught only as Ari, told the audience he is a non-smoker but his girlfriend is a smoker.  He objected to the fact that she is not being permitted to smoke in an outdoor food garden.  If this man thinks for one moment that smoke only circles the smoker, he is wrong!  Outdoors, the breezes carry the smoke so that many are subjected to it in the air they breathe while they are eating.  Perhaps this Ari is sympathetic to his girlfriend but unsympathetic to the people who are allergic to smoke or asthmatic or have COPD  (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) who are out to eat in the open air garden to breathe clean air, as well. 

The current war against women is being raised by equally insensitive people.  I would not want to live in a society that forced a woman to be considered a criminal if she has 6 daughters and wants her husband to be made happy with having a son to do the manly things with, to provide an heir to the family name, or whatever personal reason they may have.  We are not talking about a pervasive trend.  We are seeing only a very rare event as our statistics show in the USA.

Gentlemen, keep the law out of our wombs and stop denying that you are making war on women...you are, without any doubt!  We can only hope you will forfeit your political positions in November for it.

PARENTS' IRRESPONSIBILITY PLACES A VERY HEAVY BURDEN ON A CHILD

Most often I agree and truly respect Howard Fineman when I see him in MSNBC.  However, today I took issue with an opinion that I thought lacked his usual sensitivity.  His remarks on the statement made by John Edwards after the verdict freed him (at least temporarily and hopefully permanently) and Mr. Edwards spoke about his love for his mother, father and his children.  He made a particular, teary specific mention of the little girl, Quinn, who was the result of his extra-marital affair that has brought down his political career.  

ohn Edwards said he loved all his children and this was not criticized but when he mentioned his little girl from the affair so fondly, he was criticized.  Howard Fineman

thought it was appropriate during that statement as it was presented.  That little girl will one day grow up totally aware that she is 'different' than her half-sibs.  I believe John Edwards made his shame that his own immoral, unacceptable behavior was his own responsibility.  What he will have to live with is the visible, tangible product inf this little human who will grow up knowing that her parents weren't married at her birth.  She will hear that the mother of her half-sibs was dying while he was creating Quinn.  She will undoubtedly feel hostility from those who believe they are so moral they must look down on those whom chance of birth dealt with differently as in color of skin, gender identity as in homosexuality, as well as propriety of birth.

This child was not aborted.  She was brought into this world for whatever reasons those who created her made the choice that she should.  She was innocent of her own conception.  She does not deserve to be sentenced to a world in which she must be made to feel lesser because of the actions of her parents  .I think it will be therapeutic for her to see a video of her father's speech, at some later time, and see and hear him proclaim his  love for her.

In this, the 21st C, some seem to be holding onto values of two centuries ago.  This child should have as much potential as has been given her by her biology and, hopefully, her nurturing should advance her success. The sins of the parents (her mother and father knew they were in an immoral relationship while her father's wife, Elizabeth, was dying. Nevertheless, none of that can be changed now.  However, Quinn can be loves and accepted for the innocent child that she is and was.

We have no right to speculate or judge what any of them were thinking or feeling.  We can certainly make a choice that we would not want a President who, we believe, does not demonstrate the character we know is needed in the job as President of the United States,  We do not have a right to judge this child's worth, character, or judge her as less by reason of the actions of her parents .  I will only hope for her that the ones who think they know what behavior God wants will steer clear of her with their opinions. 

WILL THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTIVE CAVALRY REACH THE DROPPED VOTERS IN TIME?

The media said tonight that 70% of presidential votes come from 10 states.  It should come as no surprise that these are the states where the Republican voter laws have been newly changed to make it impossible for many legal voters to be be registered.

Rachel Maddow does a wonderful job of discussing this problem.  To view this clip, click here. 

The Brennan Center for Justice (New York University School of Law) has a site on voting rights and elections.  It starts off with a sentence: "Voting is the heart of democracy "  That sentence alone tells us at what peril our country and its democracy stands.  It is being threatened by a few who choose to stay in the background and remain nameless now that they can move with anonymity and no transparency of the money they wield. Do follow the link if you have not been following this major problem in our democracy.

Ed Schultz stated last evening that there are only 16 billionaires who are behind all the major donations to the Republican campaigns.

We do not need another round of the handlers of G.W. Bush pulling Mitt Romney's strings as it is clear that they intend to do.  Grover Norquist made that very clear when he said all they need in for the President to be able to sign his name.  Oh really?  Can we stand for this blatant bragging of the cancer that has invaded or system of democracy that has worked well for so many years?

WHEN BEING FIRST DOES NOT MAKE YOU A WINNER

Win some; lose some.  Gamblers exist everywhere but as with horse races pyramid schemes, casinos  and so many other 'games' in our lives,  the players have few 'winners'.

The greater tragedy is, how many 'high rollers' in the investment field lost money?  Were there an equal amount as the poor who saw this as a chance to make the same 'killing' as with Apple shares, or Google and Yahoo when they first came out?

Apparently the Russians have watched us and, were able to protect their people by holding back on putting their shares up for purchase.  Breakout has an interesting video as to what is happening with FB shares.  Click here.

To indicate the game being played, listen to the experts who are unconcerned with the fact that the stock price dropped and talk about 'selling short', volatility,  global-x funds. The 'heavy rollers' of the stock market will not 'lose their shirts.'but the poor of the middle class who took the gamble will dos so.  Some will panic and take the loss for fear that they will only lose it all.  The vultures will sit back and play their games, wait for the poor to lose all their money one way or another and buy when the panic is over and the stock begins to get its real value or begin to rise. The temporary winners here are the cheaters as they are in so many places today.  We need the Justice Department to take a more active role, do we not?

EXTENDING THE LIFE OF JAZZ or LIVE MUSIC OR CANNED?

Whenever I fear that classic and modern jazz will fade from our lives, I think of how long the classic Masters have endured. In every age there are really talented musicians and composers.  Some of these in every genre will continue to live now that we have YouTube and aren't counting on radio disc jockeys to decide what we all should want to hear.Last evening I was privileged to be a part of a suburban library sponsorship of a Jazz Club.  This is now starting its fourth decade.CJALL (Classic Jazz at Lincoln Library) was started by a group who listened to early recordings of New Orleans and Dixieland Jazz.They called the music they listened to, and especially themselves, the 'Mouldy Figs'. But, as with all births, Dixieland and New Orleans Jazz grew up and recently, I was engaged in a lively debate on what constituted jazz.  Jazz, like love, has no specific definition.  Poets, philosophers and music historians will argue over it forever.

Almost 30 years ago, each meeting had a speaker who had researched a musician, group, or something pertaining to jazz.  The presentation and the recordings used to illustrate the lecture were recorded on cassettes and sold for $3 to be donated to the Friends of the Library.Eventually, only the recordings went on the cassettes to allow the whole program of music to be fitted to one cassette. As cassettes began to cede to CDs, the price went up a bit to $5 (all monies collected go to the Friends of Lincoln Library to support , primarily their annual live concert in May, free o the public.

This year the Wolverine Jazz Band headed by John Clark performed at Bemis Hall in Lincoln to a standing room only crowd. Its members are John Clark, leader and all reed instruments; Jeff Hughes, cornet and flugelhorn; Tom Boates, trombone and vocals; Jimmy Mazzey, vocals and banjo; Rick McWilliams, tuba, Ross Petot, piano; Dave Didricksen, drums.

It should not come as a surprise that our seniors who started CJALL did not have another 30 years, so many have gone beyond to sing in the Heavenly Choir.This evening it was gratifying to watch some young and middle aged couples dancing to thus music in a small space behind the audience.

Recently we have seen a rise in many local venues,  Check out the site kept current by Marce .The thrill of treating your ears to live music will never be matched by the best stereo or surround system every invented.

21ST C ISAAC NEWTON

An article in the Raw Story, bu Muriel Kane, tells about a boy in Germany who has solved what was previously presumed to be insoluble. She wrote:  "Sixteen year old Shouryya Ray denies being a genius, but he’s being haled in news reports for having come up with the solution to a problem that has baffled mathematicians ever since Sir Isaac Newton first posed it over 300 years ago.
The problem involved calculating the path of a projectile that is subject to both gravity and air resistance. Ray also solved a second problem, involving a body colliding with a wall, as part of a school project.
Ray says his chief motivation was curiosity. “When it was explained to us that the problems had no solutions, I thought to myself: well, there’s no harm in trying,” he explained.
Ray, who was born in Kolkata, India, moved to Germany four years ago when his engineer father got a job teaching at a technical college in Dresden. He says that he acquired his “hunger for mathematics” when he learned calculus from his father at the age of six — but now the son has outstripped the father’s ability to follow.
“He never discussed his project with me before it was finished and the mathematics he used are far beyond my reach,” Subhashis Ray admits."

Geniuses are few but they do exist in our world.  Had this father not introduced him to mathematics; had he been stuck in a class with a very incompetent teacher who lacked the capacity to make children enthusiastic about learning, or worse, a teacher who totally took away initiative and quelled curiosity, it would be a worse waste of potential than the unborn potential genius who never saw life due an abortion.  Those who turn out to become a genius randomly happen.  The combination of sperm meeting ovum also happens randomly to produce any living child.  Think of all the combinations that will never happen and didn't happen even before contraceptives and abortion.  The figure is astronomical and beyond our ability to even speculate.

ELIMINATING TAX CUTS DOES NOT MEAN RAISING TAXES, JUST PUTTING THEM BACK WHERE THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALL ALONG.

Even some Democrats has been fooled into thinking that eliminating the tax cuts is 'raising taxes'.   If they are that far off in their thinking, it is questionable in my mind as to whether they should be re-elected.

After all, there has been enough talk about eliminating the tax cuts for the good of the overall budget and to take some of the pressure off the poor so that basic programs they need won't get eliminated.

Are there Democrats who are that unintelligent or are they being paid off in promises by the ones who are buying the Republicans.  Does anyone know whether Democrats are in office who have also signed the Grover Norquist pledge for no raising taxes?    (Norquist is the equivalent of the Sheriff of Nottingham.)   If Democrats habe joined int he signing, they should be fingered.

What happened to the people who used to run for the House and Senate because they wanted to of help to the people?  When did there stop being 'people' beyond the Legislature?  There really is a world out there, don't they remember that?

Katharine Q Seelye has written an article for THE CAUCUS which indicates that polls show that Romney appears to be losing Massachusetts to President Obama.  That should not be a surprise to many who were here during his tenure in Massachusetts and listen to his values today.  His brain today does not seem to be the one he was using here.as Governor.  Click here.   He is now against everything he was 'for', then.  He is even in favor of maintaining the tax cuts.