FAT CATS (1%). REPUIBLCAN LEGISLATORS, AND THOSE WHO FORGOT THE ONES WHO SERVED: SHAME ON YOU

The number of active duty service deaths have now exceeded the rate of those killed in action.  There is one suicide a day on average as reported in BBC News

 "While the reasons for the increase are not entirely understood, the army's own data suggest soldiers with multiple combat tours are at greater risk. But a portion of those taking their own life have never deployed, the figures show.
Suicide among troops had leveled off during 2010 and 2011, but 2012 has seen the fastest pace since the US war in Afghanistan began in 2001".

 We have Cheney and Rumsfeld who never served; who put us in Iraq and kept us there without a budget to pay for it.  We have McCain today criticizing President Obama for not getting us involved in a war of some sort to strop the atrocities in Syria.  We have candidate Romney who spouts off about what he would do when he knows nothing about war, directly or indirectly.  What is more surprising is that people listen to these buffoons.

When will our politicians realize that the United States is no longer what it used to be.  We do not have enough money to handle our own country, our returning servicemen who gave so much even if it wasn't their life (just limbs, brain, eyesight, sanity, etc) but they are expected to come home and wait several months for any medical or other assistance.  Where is the therapy to families to help them reintegrate with wives, husbands, or children?  It absolutely screams in my brain when I hear people planning to vote for Romney.  Do most of them not notice that they once were middle class but that is mostly a class of the past.  Now there is only the poor, jobless, under water on mortgage, sick or dying from lack of medical care or money to pay for service, malnourished children, failing infrastructure..Where are the brains that used to live in their heads  (assuming they once could spot stupidity and lies?

Wake up America, while you still can.

SOME PRODUCTS CHANGE MODELS ALMOST HOURLY WHILE OTHERS CHANGE EVERY CENTURY

If they can digitize Elvis and make you think he is real, they should be able to simulate the retina of a human eye so that I will be able to see a whole face again some day, can't they?  With science moving exponentially, we are seeing marvelous things coming out of research and entrepreneurship (anything  the suckered public will fall for and pay well).

Years ago,  paid the price for not applying the best oral health care possible, I learned that it was useful to have an electric toothbrush.  I tried a well-known brand but as I'm frequently told, "{for a big-mouth, you certainly have a small mouth!"  Next, following a short trial and error method, I bought a Braun Electric Toothbrush. an almost exact duplicate of my current one  which has lasted for about  eight years beyond warranty.  However, the rechargeable battery finally slowed down.  Apparently each year of human life is equal  to10 years of toothbrush life. 

It became more than clear that it was time for a new one, I looked at Costco and B.J's.  They sold models for very large families without having to get people to use each other's brush.  Finding two models that looked close to what I want, online, free shipping, it was  tie whether I would buy the $284.99 model on sale from formerly a $389.99 model.  I read the specs and found a really close replacement for the one I have which was only $129.99. formerly $179.99  I couldn't really tell the difference in models which warranted such a gap in price so I, undaunted, went through the phone maze for a human. I asked if I ordered whether I would have to pay more than if I ordered online.  I was assured that I would not pay a difference and would probably receive the product sooner..  I asked for the differences in the two models.  I learned that people who sell online must have many products they represent because the person I spoke with was courteous but did not know the difference.  We finally concluded that for the $150 difference, you had two more speeds of brushing.  I decided to buy the budget priced sports model  which I could downshift myself, which I have used happily for over ten years, than the NASCAR model .
For all the new products and changes, it was nice to see some things stay the same (more or less).  Like the paper clip. patented over several hundred years ago, some things are great the first time and don't require fancy additions.. 

THE DAY AFTER SO MANY HOPES WERE SHATTERED AS WELL AS MYTHS WE HAVE LIVED BY: OR, OUR CONSITUTION NEEDS TO BE CHANGED

To listen to the pundits today, denial had set in, Republicans have found a way to live forever in our political system which is no longer a two-party system (thank the Supreme Court), Walker retained his governorship but exit polls proved that Obama would have won if the ballot was for him, and all sorts of guesses that fill the air space but are really pretty meaningless.

We are only subjected to part of what is really going on and inundated with everyone's opinion that they really know what is going on in politics.  The truth is, voters are fickle and often easily conned and others really stupid.

Many have begun writing that our Constitution no longer serves us.  Why should it be a surprise that a 300 year old document works no better than one can trust the Bible which is even more outdated.  Archeologists have discovered evidence of a buried a site known as Globekli Tepe.  The structures on this site were built about 12,000 years ago (10,000 BC) and intentionally buried with sand about 8,000 years ago. No one knows who these people were, what the massive buildings were for, or why they were buried. Just for reference, these massive structures were built during the last ice age and are more than 7,000 years older than any other structure we have yet discovered on our planet. As I watched this I was in awe of what is shown and discussed, 13 years of work and only an estimated 5% had been uncovered! This would truly be amazing beyond words to see.

Constitution Signing

We are constantly learning things which contradict what we thought we knew.  The problem of our day is that so many cannot change what they have been told in the past.  Ergo, those who cannot believe in evolution or believe what is written in the Bible that no longer works in our modern world.  Unfortunately, out Constitution is one of those formulas that worked well for a long time but needs to be totally reviewed for our current world.

LET US ALL GRIEVE FOR OUR COUNTRY TOGETHER: DIVIDE AND CONQUER WAS JUST PROVEN TO WORK, AGAIN

While I really would just like to go to bed and pull the covers over my head until after November, it just is not possible.  Instead, this blog will be brief and all should watch some research out of Lincoln, Nebraska on how people vote. 
From an article in BBC News:  "Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are studying liberals' and conservatives' reactions to happy or pleasant photographs and scary or sad ones in an effort to learn more about the cognitive underpinnings of political preference.

From the researchers:  click here.  

The findings? Conservatives tend to concentrate more on images considered to be negative, while liberals' eyes tend to linger on positive images, says political science professor John Hibbing. 

Instead of political opponents thinking the opposite party are being wilfully bull-headed, you can say 'well ok, they see the world differently than I do'

John Hibbing

I will go back into mourning for our country and the loss of my respect for the Roberts Supreme Court.

EVEN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS AGAINST THE RYAN BUDGET

When politicians invoke the Catholic church to support their arguments and reasoning and the church denies them, there really has to be something blatantly wrong with the Ryan plan.  (As if that was not readily seen by any intelligent, non-Republic biased human).  Too many people are using religion to justify their wishes for this country.  However, they do not want the Muslim holy buildings near ground zero.  No, we are not talking about all churches, only the Christian churches of their choice.  Click here for an interesting article on the stand of the church and the Ryan plan.

Another interesting reaction of the Catholic church is the Vatican's negative response towards a book written by nuns on sexual ethics."The Vatican has sharply criticised a book written by a US nun and theologian on sexual ethics.",  an article on BBC news writes.

Click here for the link to the full report.  It says:  "The Holy See's orthodoxy office said the 2005 book, Just Love, by Sister Margaret Farley posed "grave harm" to the faithful.
It said her ideas on masturbation, homosexual acts, homosexual unions and remarriage were in "direct contradiction" with Catholic teaching".

There seems to be no hope for a church that turned a blind eye to their own priests who committed homosexual and pedophilic ac congregants but it will censure women who understand the needs of people who want to stay in the church.  Instead, the church will continue to lose nuns and flock of their faith as they persist in living back in the years of Christ's birth rather than in the 21st Century.  They are illustrating their lack of caring for the people and wish to maintain power of=ver them just as the Republicans currently are doing.

PARANOID DEFENSES VERSUS NEGATIVITY

Recently an acquaintance said that a lesson learned many years ago was 'to protect yourself' by 'thinking paranoid'..  Knowing this person for a long time, we talked about paranoid defenses (an older psychoanalytic concept seldom heard today) as, indeed, being not unwise.  If you were mugged walking alone at night, you might find it hard to ever walk down that street again without being anxious and watching your back.. However, I believe anxiety is confused with defense.  When the stock market did a big drop, this person impulsively sold a major holding which has since showed evidence of being more valuable and secure.  This was pure anxiety, not paranoia, that forced that panic and sale.

Many people often mistake anxiety for clairvoyance, as from a dream; or thinking that the distress is an omen of some sort. That by today's understanding is unlikely more than wishful thinking.  Anxiety, which leads to impulsive decisions, does not make one's life run smoothly.  Worse yet is that a mistake once made should be forgotten, other than the lesson learned not to repeat it.  Unfortunately too many people ruminate over their mistake and can't move forward to try to compensate or make moves ahead instead of dwelling in the past.

Anxiety and panic produce cortisol in our system.  People with clinical depression usually have an overload of cortisol.  Researchers strongly belief too much cortisol over long periods of time contributes to earlier death.

Alcoholics do not own the Serenity Prayer.  Not worrying about things over which you have no control will raise your comfort level and lower your cortisol level.  Relax and live longer; unrelieved stress will only shorten your life.

SENIORS SOMETIMES HAVE NOT CHANGED WITH THE TIMES

In a discussion the other day with someone who rarely views the world as I do , I was told that 'black people' are having far more children out of wedlock than anyone else.  I pointed out that the Republicans would not allow abortions, that does not help unwanted pregnancies..  He told me they wouldn't get them anyway because they just wanted to get on the welfare rolls.  I asked if he realized how welfare criteria had changed since Clinton was president.  He knew nothing about that.  I wondered just who was being included in his statistics.  It was clear that only African Americans were included in his reading of the statistic

 I suggested  many business women, professionals, and others who wanted a child, but not a husband, were having children (out of wedlock, as he defined them).  I said that lots of people lived together and did not bother to get married because of tax laws. He started to talk about entertainers who had lived together for years but now wanted a divorce.  I reminded him that, if you are not married, you don't need a divorce. This confused him.  It confirmed for how facts have a difficult time intruding into prejudices and false beliefs.  It reminded me of an in-law years ago who used to say, "Just give me Monday and Tuesday, I'll fill in the rest."  Unfortunately too many are doing just that today.

This person also talked about John Edwards and was shocked that I didn't agree he was guilty and that he 'got away with 'it' '.  I told him I think Edwards is an immoral snake but that didn't mean he had violated a law..  Since my discussion was with a Gingrich fan and had wanted him to be President, I asked how he thought Gingrich any different since he was adulterous while his first wife was dying of cancer..  He changed the subject.

To me, the most important group of voters that need to be addressed directly by Obama, are those seniors who still live with values in their heads of the 30s and 40's which have long since been changed for most of the rest of us. These folk are often racially and morally prejudiced, know little about mental health, can't keep up with the shattering pace as news are presented today on TV, still prefer to read newspapers at their own pace but absorb few balanced facts.

The tragedy is that many of them will vote for the candidate with the most appealing lies and promises!!!!