THE FISCAL CLIFF IS NOT ONLY AMERICAN, IT IS GLOBAL .

Christine Lagrande, IMF chief

A few, shortsighted, controlling, power-hungry Teapartiers are holding the world's economic system hostage, not just that of the US.  The financial stability of the world rests on the US economy since the US has about 20% of the global economy.   Christine Lagrande, head of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) is concerned that if the US goes off the fiscal cliff the repercussions will not be felt by the US alone but by the entire world economy.   She believes if the US has a 2% growth, it will make many other countries have less growth than that.  The interview of Lagrande by  BBC's Katty Kay can be viewed on video by clicking here.

One has to wonder whether the Republicans holding up their vote (in favor of playing brinksmanship) about the tax cut given the rich by G W Bush being allowed to drop as was assumed to be when the cut was made by Bush.  It is scheduled to run out the end of this year.  Republicans would rather destroy the world's economy than have the richest 2% pay their fair share. 

There has to be something stronger for these self;identified Christians allowing the poverty and pain many in our country have suffered under their refusal to act as representatives of their people.  They call it 'having to follow their conscience and ideology'.  From where does that ideology spring?  We have never had an adequate answer other than from Grover Norquist who accuses those who wish to violate their pledge to him as having 'impure thought',  That sounds like some code.  Does it mean we will see you out of office if you do that.  At least that is what seems to be the not so hidden message.

How sad that it must keep a whole world so tense and concerned at the holiest of times for most of the world's religions.  Whoever says our government is broken has been correct.  There should not be this possibility of so few to have such power simply by being passive aggressive.

PEOPLE EVERYWHERE LOVE TO SPECULATE

The media is more than ever full of speculation.  We hear speculation about who will run for the presidency in 2016, what will happen to our economy if x, y or z happens, and there is little actual news reported.  My favorite channel, MSNBC is often being tuned out for other channels because I, for one, want to here what is actually happening, not what a few think might happen.

BBC News ran an interesting article on 12/6/12.  It was written for the magazine by Kate Dailey and asks whether  the US birthrate suggests we are becoming another Europe.  There are five myths stated.  
1.  The decline is sustained and serious
2.  The American economy will be crippled
3.  Working women are to blame
4.   The US has become too comfortable
5.  The US is turning into Europe

Once again, these are guesses.  Clearly this is not the result of careful research.  There are so many parameters not tested, just assumed, that it is somewhat ludicrous.  Nevertheless the whole concept it of interest just as conspiracy theories are worth listening to if for no more than a good laugh.

To read the whole article, click here..



 

GET SOMETHING BANNED IF YOU WANT TO MAKE IT SELL

Ever since the book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was banned in 1943, I knew that banning something made it sell well.  Everyone wanted a copy and they must have been pretty easy to get because many people brought them back to Massachusetts from places they were not banned.  Apparently that conclusion was confirmed with the SodaStream ad was recently banned.,  Watch the banned ad here.

When will churches and lawmakers understand that forbidding people their own choice only makes most people want to find out why it is being forbidden them and why their choice is being taken away from them.  It is why kids get older kids or siblings to buy cigarettes and alcohol.  It is why kids find ways to get into Adult movies.

Clergy seems not to understand that people nowadays take little on faith and want reasons for every decision made which diminishes their choices.  The Republicans seem not to have learned that their platform turned many people away from voting for them because it was an autocratic, paternalistic platform.  Nevertheless, all we here from today only convinces me that they have learned nothing about how little the majority of people share their values.  However, since most of the Republicans seem to be stuck like Velcro to the 2%, the wealthy who do not want their taxes raised, they cannot do the math.

FISCAL CLIFF AWAITS

We keep talking about the 'fiscal cliff' but the explanations are complex and varied.  This is one of the simplest I have found.  Click here.   It is agonizing to watch the Republicans in the House playing political games with the lives of the middle class.  For the sake of the country, the Teaparty ought not to be part of the Republican party.  They should be a third, stand alone, party of themselves.  They have been allowed to infiltrate the GOP gradually  and now seem to hold control, having had money poured into their campaigns to rid the country of the less partisan representatives of the past.  Anyone who could compromise has been ousted, with few exceptions.

Boehner is a joke.  He does not deserve the office to which he was elected.  He has no control over his caucus and seems to be having his strings pulled from somewhere outside of the House.  Over and over I am hearing it said, "This is not about ideology, it is about history".   If the house were doing its job, there would be working days until the job is done.  Instead, a normal 5 cay work week with a month off would have 240 working days.  They all have staff members working for them so it is not as though they work alone.  However, they will not be working 240 days, they will be working only 126 days,  Click here for more explanation.They are supposed to be there representing the country, 98% who are middle class.  Yet they seem to be in there representing only 2%.  It is difficult to fathom where the voters got the idea that they represent our country's interests. I don't understand what part of represent in Representatives they have missed.  It is though they believe they have been anointed by God, not the public who voted for them.

It is unlikely they will be in Washington after or even before Christmas.  In the past, the President has been able to take action  through that office when the Congress is unavailable.  No one has brought that up here.  Being unfamiliar with the intricacies of the governmental workings I would like to understand more about the independent powers of the President. 

EPICUREAN PLEASURES GET FEWER AND FEWER

Eating should be a pleasure, I was always taught.  It no longer seems that way.  We now know that meat is rarely in its original form.  Once I was talked into eating Tilapia.  I ate it but didn't particularly care for the taste.  At home, I Googled it and decided I definitely didn't want to eat it again. Whatever I had seen at that time suggested it was a bottom feeder which just didn't sound appetizing to me (though I like lobsters). The trouble is that food is not grown in the same organic conditions as when our forefathers were around nor as it was on the farm on which I grew up.  Today I read an article by Jill Richardson.  It was sharing a picture determined to to alter our cravings.  To see what we are served without our awareness, click here.  When eating today, I keep remembering the saying, "You are what you eat."  The thought of fecal matter being fed to food I am later expected to eat somehow is a picture I find offensive and were I called that, I would be highly insulted.

Scuba divers are describing what they are seeing in oceans; the accumulation of decades of trash being dumped, it shames  me to think of our human footprint  Our footprint (or would that be our 'fin print') is pretty disgusting.  Plastic accounts for approximately 61% of the ocean litter. Click here.  Over 80% of marine pollution comes from land-based activities.  Click here.

Whatever looks good may be off your diet for one reason or another.  Naive doctors say that we do not need additives, we should just eat well.  To eat well, one should eat organically but since most of the organic foods are found only in chain grocery stores with warehouses before the produce gets to the local superstore and reaches you, the consumer, it is not quite what it was.  At least some of the things like spraying with sulfites to preserve the food longer have bee outlawed.

Lastly, if you are not with allergies which forbid many foods, you can eat meat.  That is, if you can tolerate the 'slime that is added to it. The makers of this additive make healthy claims for it.  It makes hamburgers in fast food restaurants cheaper is that makes you want them more.  Read here to get a description of the process.

A STRESS FREE LIFE IS HARD TO FIND

     I've come to believe there is no such thing as a stress free life no matter how hard one tries to achieve it.  If you are pat of a family, things happen which, though you may have no responsibility, empathy and sympathy  rule the day.

     Having lived in my house for 46 years, I've watched a neighborhood grow up. When I first came here and saw ambulances, they were in front of houses, the residents whom I did not know.  However, after so many years, People have sold houses and moved, divorced have grown children and grandchildren living with them, some houses are now occupied by their children, and some have died.  

     Today as I looked out my front windows I saw two police cars, 3 ambulances and a couple of fire department vehicles.  They were in front of my house but, it was clear, they were not for me.  However, I assumed, correctly, they were for my next door neighbor.  Until I am ready for the world to see me, I will just have to remain curious as I watched people go in and out of the house.  No one came out, which seemed a bit ominous.  I am left wondering.  Did my neighbor, in her late eighties, expire or the elderly woman who lived with her?

     It reminded me of a house down the street which I passed on my way to a doctor';s appointment so that I couldn't stop.  I saw his front door propped open and an ambulance out front.  On my return I tried to find out what had happened but it was not until almost twelve hours later that that I learned he had died in hospital; a few hours later.  When neighbors have been friends, it disallows an existence without pain.

     Thus I assume a stress free life  is one in which there may be a lot of emotion, but if it is not laughter freedom from fear and anxiety, it can never be stress fear and can just be termed a normal life.

    

SECEDING TO GET SMALLER GOVERNMENT...IS FOLLOWED BY POVERTY AND STARVATION

     There is nothing new on this earth.  I've often heard it said and have lived long enough to realize the truth in this.  During the late 60s and early 70s, most teenagers considered their parents' the establishment' and wanted nothing to do with them.  The 'flower' children thought government was unnecessary just as the tea party does today.  The GOP wants to get rid of government.  One way people think they can get rid of government is to secede fro the United States. that resolution is not shared by systems thinkers who can realize the total effects of such a move.  Gary Younge, writing for THE NATION sees the total picture.  If you'd like to see it too, click here. 
     The flower children didn't wear shoes because they didn't see the need for them; they cost money and were often uncomfortable.  They knew nothing about hygienist and horrible things you can pick up from the street with bare feet.  When they were cut, to where did they run as they were running away from the establishment...you guessed it, to the government funded free medical clinics.
     The difference today is that it not the naivete of teenagers, it is the ignorance of our elected lawmakers who are saying get rid of the government.  Economists predict these states cannot afford to secede,  As a couples therapist, I heard many who said they would get a divorce.  When I asked what that would change for them, the answer was I will be free.  That is about as sure as convincing yourself that you will go to a better world when you are dead.  For those who tested it, none have come back to say that it is the truth...death is better than life.