LEFTY LOONY LIBERALS

Lightning in a Jar

2010-06-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

[Note to reader: The following came to me as a PowerPoint slideshow attachment forwarded by my pal Darcey Bellington. The slideshow features some haunting background music, and some gorgeous graphics. Since I am PowerPoint-illiterate, I have chosen to re-type the powerful message so that I can share it with a wide audience. If you would like to get the slideshow, send me an email or a private message, and I will forward it to you.]

If you could fit the entire population of the world into a village consisting of 100 people, maintaining the proportions of all the people living on Earth, that village would consist of:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 Americans (North, Central and South)
8 Africans

There would be

52 women
48 men
30 Caucasians
70 non-Caucasians
30 Christians
70 non-Christians
89 heterosexuals
11 homosexuals

Six people would possess 59% of the wealth, and they would all come from the USA.

80 would live in poverty
70 would be illiterate
50 would suffer from hunger and malnutrition
1 would be dying
1 would be being born
1 would own a computer
1 would have a university degree

If we looked at the world this way, the need for acceptance and understanding would be obvious. But consider again the following:

If you woke up this morning in good health, you have more luck than one million people, who won't live through the week.

If you have never experienced the horror of war, the solitude of prison, the pain of torture, or were not close to death from starvation, then you are better off than 500 million people.

If you can go to your place of worship without fear that someone will assault or kill you, then you are luckier than 3 billion people.

If you have a full fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are wealthier than 75% of the world's population.

If you currently have money in the bank, in your wallet, and a few coins in your purse, you are one of 8 of the privileged few amongst the 100 people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married, you are a rare individual.

If someone sent you this message, you're extremely lucky, because someone is thinking of you, and because you don't comprise one of those 2 billion people who cannot read.

And so?

Work like you don't need the money.

Love like nobody has ever hurt you.

Dance like nobody is watching.

Sing like nobody is listening.

Live as if this was paradise on Earth.

Send this message to your friends.

Bypass those who are determined to see the worst in the world, no matter what.

If you don't send it, nothing will happen.

If you do send it, someone might smile while they are reading it, and that will be a positive.

Apart from that, simply have a nice day.

-- Author unknown, circa June 15, 2010.

Rand Paul attacking us

2010-05-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

It’s the favorite tactic of the right-wing, find a popular figure with progressive leaning and claim they are attacking you, it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. Thursday, Rand Paul used this tactic with me.

"I've never really favored any change in the Civil Rights Act," Paul said. "They seem to have unleashed some of the loony left (liberals) on me." Laura Ingraham’s Radio Show.

Well, Rand I write for the blog “Lefty Loony Liberals” which you claim was unleashed on you. It’s true that I’ve written about the how the Rightwing has been taken over by crybabies and whiners so I can see how you would think that was about you, but get over yourself in the Kentucky Primaries you came in third as far the amount of votes received. You came in lower in vote count than Lt. Dan who in his attempt to explain the importance of family values told everyone that he and his 18-year-old girlfriend had been in a committed relationship “for years”.

Yes, Rand you lost in the vote count to an admitted pedophile. So I can see how you think you’re only shot at election is to claim that you are being oppressed by me and that I make you look stupid, but trust me I can claim no credit for that.

What makes you look stupid is your views on government. That a private company can do what ever the hell it feels like, Discriminate against people, poison their customers, release billions of tons of oil into the gulf, kill their employees all that is fine and the government should stay out of it.

After your dismal showing in the polls clearly showed you were out of touch with Kentucky voters, I was willing to stand aside and watch you crash and burn in your campaign. Quite frankly you weren’t worth my time. But when you go on a national radio show (that until the national media picked up on because you mentioned the site “Lefty Loony Liberals” most people thought had been canceled) and use the name of a site I write for to get airtime I have to get involved.

So since you have gone on the national media clearly asking for my opinion I will give it to you. When you first started running I thought you were a loon, but at least a loon with principles. I thought that at least you would stick to guns and not bow to pressure like every other politician. But instead when you said something bone-headed, not only did you bow to pressure you immediately blamed me for your caving in.

I can see if you are sent to Washington you will immediately abandon your principles and blame whatever person your paranoid fantasies come up with. This time it was me that you thought was to blame for your bone-head statements, who knows who it will be next.

Kentucky is looking replace the Senator that thinks that, “little green doctors” are after him. We don’t need to replace him with a Senator who will abandon any principle because in his paranoid fantasies he thinks a real person has been unleashed on him.

So say anything you want about me, my readers, unlike your 10 followers who try to disrupt demonstrations, know the difference between fantasy and reality.

Darrell B. Nelson proud contributor to “Lefty Loony Liberals”

Talking to the kitchen table

2009-09-10T10:20:00.001-07:00

Joe Wilson (R-SC) talking with him is less productive than talking to the kitchen table

I was recently accused of being anti-Christian by the Ed Wood of Star Trek critics for pointing out the stupidity of a tea-bagger who called a Jew a Nazi at a town hall meeting.

Apparently, in his warped mind pointing out the stupidity of tea-baggers who call Jews Nazis is calling the tea-baggers Nazis and therefore it calls the Christian minority in this country (he seems to believe over half the country is anti-Christian) Nazis.

Naturally I was too busy giggling over that logic to reply.

Then I got to witness a similar form of debate on House Floor. The Republican response to President Obama’s speech on Healthcare.

The President spoke about the Healthcare crisis in this country and how bipartisan efforts are being thwarted by people that don’t bring anything constructive to the table, just scream out bullshit in order to confuse and scare people. (I’m paraphrasing)

Joe Wilson (R-SC) delivered the republican response by yelling out “You Lie”.

Right now the country is in the biggest mess in my lifetime and in trying to move forward we have two camps those who are trying to fix the country (some of the ways are obviously debatable), and those who think the best course of action is to is to yell and scream and be cry-babies.

If you disagree with him he’ll cry

The Republicans, my apologies to Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and the few other sane Republicans out there who aren’t allowed to speak on Conservative talk shows, have adopted their debating style from 2-year olds. I wonder how long it will be before a Republican Senator uses the clever rebuttal of, “I’ll hold my breath until I turn blue”.

We’ve let the crybabies and whinners have their little temper tantrums, now it’s time to let the adults get to work.

I would suggest a good spanking for the crybabies and their corporate sponsors, but it appears one “family values” Republican has already taken on that mission:

Lawmaker Denies Affairs

When one side of a debate only rebuttal is yell at a Jew that he’s a Nazi then the only response is exactly what Barney Frank told her. "Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table.” “I have no interest in doing it.”

Unlike the Healthcare Opponents this has a leg to stand on.

Killing Grandma while eating fetuses with Hitler

2009-08-17T08:39:00.001-07:00

Is there any group out there that the Republican’s aren’t trying to offend?

The wild accusations are crazy, letting an individual have the power over end of life care decisions is turned into Government wants to kill Grandma. That really shows you care about Grandma don’t let her be in control of important decisions about her life.

Holocaust Deniers are comparing Obama to Hitler. A great way to honor the vets who fought against tyranny, claim they fought and died so that people could be denied healthcare.

Anti-Vaxers are upping their claim from the totally debunked link between Vaccines and Autism to Vaccines will contain Nano-probes so the government can track all citizens movements. Great way to gain sympathy, try to block access so babies will die horrible deaths from easily treatable diseases.

The birthers, people who claim that Obama isn’t a citizen, are against the treatment for mental illness. Fill in your own joke.

Its easy to understand their fear, the main thing Obama is shooting for is more individual options in healthcare choices for them having to make their own decisions means putting those decisions in the hands of the most stupid and incompetent person they know, themselves.

The GOP’s 5 stages of Grief

2009-08-11T10:29:00.001-07:00

It’s easy to pick on the teabaggers.

That’s not the start of a joke, just a statement of fact.

Looking at the crowds of people who are protesting their own self-interest, what they are saying makes no sense.

The people who got a real tax break are protesting taxes.

Medicaid beneficiaries are protesting Government Run Healthcare.

A guy who got in a fight while protesting healthcare options, has to beg for money because he has no healthcare.

And of course the Birthers.

An intellectually lazy person that is unwilling or unable to give up their preconceived notions could call these people “Stupid” Like this:

Teabaggers real Fear

The Truthiness is out There

Squirrels have a liberal bias

Clarifying Stupid

Against Stupidity the Gods themselves Struggle in Vain

Watching these Conservatives is like watching Wheelchair Basketball, for the first ten minutes it’s the funniest thing in the world until it dawns on you that these are people who are suffering that are trying to regain a sense of normality. After realizing that you kind of feel like an asshole for picking on them.

It’s the same thing with the Conservatives, sure they are funny to watch then you realize what is driving them and it’s not quite as funny.

Conservatives (by definition) don’t want change. Underneath the offensive language they believe that things are good enough now so change will probably make it worse.

So what happens when change is needed because our present course is leading to total destruction? They see the end of the old world and react like they would to the death of a loved one and go through the 5 stages of grief.

Stage 1: Denial

“Denial is usually only a temporary defense for the individual. This feeling is generally replaced with heightened awareness of situations and individuals that will be left behind after death.”

The Birthers are the best example of this, the total refusal to believe that America elected someone who wanted change. (The racism that comes up is just another aspect of the denial, some members of the birthers would rather be considered racist than face the fact that change is necessary).

Other examples are the Conservatives that believe George W. Bush was too liberal, or that the New Deal extended the Great Depression.

The evidence of Peak Oil and the collapse of our Debt Driven Economic Structure is too much for them to deal with so they simply try to ignore those facts.

Going through this stage doesn’t mean they are mentally deficient in any way, it just means they are human.

Stage 2: Anger

“Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue. Because of anger, the person is very difficult to care for due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy. Any individual that symbolizes life or energy is subject to projected resentment and jealousy.”

This is the stage that the Teabaggers and the Healthcare Reform Protesters are going through now. Looking on from the outside it’s hard to fathom what was going on in the mind of the guy who was angry because he lost his healthcare benefits so he got in a fight protesting healthcare options. This is like the dying patient that lashes out against their nurse, or the loved one who gets angry at the doctor treating the patient.

The teabaggers aren’t really angry at getting a tax cut, the people who lost their healthcare aren’t mad at the Senators who are trying to get them more options. They are mad at the people who are embracing change and look on this crisis to build something better. They are mad at the people who look to a better tomorrow without fear, as they can’t get rid of that fear themselves.

Stage 3: Bargaining

The third stage involves the hope that the individual can somehow postpone or delay death. Usually, the negotiation for an extended life is made with a higher power in exchange for a reformed lifestyle. Psychologically, the person is saying, "I understand I will die, but if I could just have more time..."

People are wondering how Sarah Palin could in the course of a few days could go from unfounded anger, talking about “Death Panels” and killing babies, to calling for civility. I am hoping she has entered the Bargaining stage of grief.

She might be the start of Conservatives saying, “Hey, I understand the world has to change, but if we can just go a little slower…”

Stage 4: Depression

During the fourth stage, the dying person begins to understand the certainty of death. Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time crying and grieving. This process allows the dying person to disconnect themselves from things of love and affection. It is not recommended to attempt to cheer an individual up that is in this stage. It is an important time for grieving that must be processed.

Kramer’s ratings are slipping, conservative investors are throwing in the towel. Soon Fox’s ratings will plummet as conservatives give up hope that they can stand in the way of progress.

This will unfortunately be a dangerous time for America, as during this period of depression we will effectively have a one-party system, as the conservatives will completely withdraw from politics.

It will be up to the progressives to police themselves, and political parties have shown they are lousy at that.

Stage 5: Acceptance

This final stage comes with peace and understanding of the death that is approaching. Generally, the person in the fifth stage will want to be left alone. Additionally, feelings and physical pain may be non-existent. This stage has also been described as the end of the dying struggle.

When conservatives reach this stage they will accept the old world is gone and throw out the things that aren’t working.

“Drill, Baby, Drill” will turn into discussions of large “Wind Farms” vs. “Personal Solar Panels”. “No to Socialized Healthcare” will turn to what is a basic healthcare right to be covered by the Government, and what is a luxury covered by insurance. The anti-intellectual movement will move from “A war on Science” to trying to determine the point of diminishing returns of science investment.

In a few years Conservatives will forget they were ever against Alternative Fuels, Healthcare Reform, and Science and embrace these things that they are attacking now and defend them against any change.

Recognizing that the teabaggers and healthcare protesters aren’t idiots, just people going through the stages of grief, it would take a real big asshole to pick on them.

For regular readers of my posts I want to reassure you, if you hadn’t guessed by now, I am a real asshole and I will continue to pick on them.

The Teabaggers real fear

2009-08-10T10:30:00.001-07:00

Paula Abdul Appointed to Obama Death Panel. The latest rightwing rumor.

Many are worried that the right-wing appeals to idiots is running out things to make up to try and scare people with. Sarah Palin’s attempt to link counseling on living wills to “Death Panels” would seem to be the bottom of the barrel, but I’m sure the Republicans can dip farther into the crazy bucket.

They have already tapped the Anti-Vaxers telling them the Government plan would mean forced Vaccinations (It doesn’t but it should), and the people who don’t get irony by telling them it would mean a government take-over of Medicaid, Medicare, and the National Institute of Health (You know the guys who do the drug research). Why not take it farther.

Bobby Jindal could tell everyone that under the government plan exorcisms wouldn’t be considered a medical treatment (oops that one is true).

How about appealing to the homeless crazies by saying the government plan will outlaw tinfoil hats, that should get their base riled up.

Maybe Sarah could repeat the line she used about how the Federal Government will spend money on research to find cures instead of treating people. Because everyone (at least her followers) knows that we can’t have science in medicine.

She could tie the two things she is against together, government provided rape kits and allowing the elderly to go to the emergency room and say how the government plan would allow police to gather evidence against rapists, and not allow the elderly to die while waiting for simple procedures (oops that one is true as well).

Maybe they can roll everything together and go for the sum of the fears that frighten their base.

The Ultimate Republican Fear

Government Healthcare will turn people gay, if you ask how you are picking on them for being Christians (even though there are many gay Christians), this will lead to homosexuals breeding out the Nordic bloodlines (‘cause them homosexuals breed like bunnies), since only white people can be Protestants this will incur the Protestant God’s anger.

He will lash out against the US by causing the Large Hadron Supercollider to spew out mini-black holes that will destroy American cities in the south as judgment on their sinful ways.

This will lead to mass immigration of non-English speaking people to our country and history shows that America can’t survive waves of immigration.

This immigration will allow al-Qaida to acquire suitcase nukes that weigh 5lbs and can’t be detected by simple Geiger Counters (these only exist in TV series 24, but al-Qaida is relentless in seeking fictional weapons) that they will deploy against the US for its insult to the Protestant God.

This would cause the France to make a new World Currency making the US dollar worthless.

This makes China repossess all our oil drilling rigs so we can no longer tap the totally infinite amounts of oil under US soil and we have to turn to drilling for geothermal power, which will cause massive earthquakes because God does not like people using alternative energy sources.

The earthquakes lead to massive media piracy making content generators to ask their fans to support them through advertising or direct donations cutting RIAA out of their fair share of $23.85 out of every $24 CD. Without Sony and EMI controlling the music industry American culture can’t dominate the world and Japanese and European companies will control culture.

With people living longer under a government run system, social security will run out of money and gangs of Elderly Citizens (Gray Panthers) will roam the streets attacking the young and fit members of society for money.

In order to appease these Gray Panthers the government will start printing money leading to hyperinflation and it will take a wheel barrel of cash to buy a loaf of bread.

Finally the combination of all these things will make Americans turn away from watching TV and will go out and talk to their friends and neighbors and realize that they don’t have to live locked up inside their homes afraid of the outside world and let corporations to take away their civil liberties one by one.

And having citizens that aren’t afraid is the Republicans ultimate fear.

Somebody I missed, or no fun at funerals.

2009-08-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

I have to thank Teresa over at teresamerica for pointing out a really stupid group I’ve forgotten to make fun of.

No, Not them. Fred Phelp’s group is so idiotic that any attempt to make fun of them would give them more credit than they deserve.

Nope, it’s the conservatives that troll the Internet and say that somehow this group is a bunch of liberals.

Now I do understand how conservatives would want to distance themselves from Phelps even those that believe 9/11 and Katrina were God’s punishment for Gays and Short Skirts, have to look at Phelps and say, “Dude, you’re an idiot.”

But trying to pin that group onto liberals takes a feat of mental contortion that I can’t even begin fathom.

If you want to do some strange mental contortions try equating Kittens to Hitler:

Thanks “Cats That Look Like Hitler” for that image.

Or, try to imply that Hollywood is against guns.

I wonder you would try to imply that?

At least then we can see that the alternate reality you live in intersects the real world at some small point and is merely a tangent existence to our own, that could possibly be calculated using differential geometry in n-dimensional Euclidian space.

But trying to pin Fred Phelps to liberals puts your reality somewhere out there that is beyond the edge of the observable universe.

Against Stupidity The Gods Themselves Struggle in Vain

2009-07-30T04:24:00.001-07:00

I was reminded of the above Freidrich von Schiller quote from 18th century when I was blog walking and read an attack on Bill Maher on Eye of Polyphemus.

Eye of Polyphemus is one of the few conservative blogs I can read. The author Jamie Jeffords does know how to use the shift key instead of writing in all caps unlike most of the other conservative sites I’ve visited and he does actually try to make sense out of the Republican talking points. But there is only so far you can polish a turd.

Plus he puts lots of pictures of scantily clad starlets on his blog.

The post was about if the United States is a stupid country, so I responded with a few examples of stupid political movements that highlight the stupid.

1) Birthers.

People who don’t believe that President Obama was born. These people make up nearly a third of the Republicans and they are bat-shit crazy. In an earlier post I compared them to both the Moon Hoax people and the South Park Underwear Gnomes.

Basically they have a lot in common with the Moon Hoax people in that they will ignore any and all evidence presented to them.

2) Tea-Baggers

The Fox News sponsored Tea-Bagging Movement is a great place for nut-jobs to meet.

The premise behind the Tea-Bagging movement is they are protesting the fact that President Obama is shifting the $900 Billion that the Republicans had been giving out to corporations in no-bid contracts for non-existent services, into things like job programs and healthcare.

The idea seems to be that government should only rob the poor to help the wealthy, not help citizens for the common good.

Naturally when you get a group of people together to support such a wacky idea you are going to attract the super crazies, like the Neo-Nazis who look at these events as recruiting grounds and the people who want to burn books because they contain liberal things like facts.

3) Intelligent Design Supporters.

These are people that think schools should throw out hundreds of years of logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence in favor of a scientific theory that relies on “Because I say so.” As its major point.

Confronted with overwhelming observable evidence of evolution isn’t a problem for these people they simply make up a different enemy, “Darwinists”.

They claim only Darwinists are allowed to teach in Universities, which is odd considering no Biology Professor that I’ve ever met has called themselves a “Darwinist”. One would think if Universities only hire “Darwinists” that you could find a “Darwinist” University Professor.

Now, if you want to claim that Universities hire science Professors that teach theories based on hundreds of years of logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence like, gravity, entropy, and evolution then they have a point as that is what science is.

4) Climate Change Deniers

These are people that think just because the world burns enough oil every day that if it were put into barrels and they were laid end to end they would circle the globe 2 and half times, it can’t have any impact on the environment.

They simply ignore the observable facts about climate change.
A. The troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere is getting warmer, while the Stratosphere, the atmospheric layer above it is getting colder.

This is because carbon dioxide in the troposphere traps the heat and doesn’t allow it to rise into the stratosphere and then be dissipated into space.

B. The temperature is rising at the poles.
As air warms at the equator it spreads out across the planet, as it does this the troposphere loses heat to the stratosphere making the temperature at the poles much cooler. (This is a gross simplification of the process but it illustrates the concept). Carbon Dioxide traps this heat so it transfers more efficiently to the poles.

On the planet and Moon in the solar system that have a runaway greenhouse effect, Venus and Titan there is little change in temperature from the equator to the poles. This is the tell-tale sign of the greenhouse effect.

Now as to the effects that Global Warming will bring to the planet there is a lot of room for debate. In fact I’ve written a post on it. “3 of the greatest imaginary threats to our Nation.”

At the time I wrote that the data showing that the poles are warming up faster than predicted was classified for National Security under the Bush Administration so I will raise my prediction to a 4-degree change over the next 100 years.

The fact that climate change is happening is impossible to deny.

It’s pretty clear what these groups all have in common, the ability to deny overwhelming evidence that is right in front of their face and claim any evidence is part of a liberal conspiracy, or as Stephen Colbert put it, “Part of the liberal bias of reality”.

The worst part of the stupidity of these groups is not that they are stupid in the sense of diminished mental capacity, but that they are stupid by choice. And since they are stupid by choice they feel that everyone around them should make the same choice and embrace the stupid.

The weird thing is they are against the “Intellectual elite” which should mean they would think being called the opposite “Stupid” is a compliment, but they get mad at being called that.

The Soviet plot to turn the country Socialist and let Osama bin Laden sell yellow-cake uranium to unwed teen-age mothers while baby raping with Hitler

2009-07-23T10:53:00.001-07:00

Conservative Objections to Healthcare Reform

In order to be objective I’ve scoured the blogosphere looking for objections to Healthcare Reform and here is what I’ve come up with. I present them here in their best possible light.

Obama isn’t an American citizen.

Apparently, in a trial run of their scheme to fake the Moon Landings, NASA and the Illuminati faked Obama’s birth. Birthers claim Obama was born on a soundstage made to look like the Moon. As evidence they point to how his birth certificate clearly moves like a breeze is catching it.

NASA and the Illuminati faked this evidence 47 years ago so that in 2009 he would push through legislation to make healthcare affordable, which leads to step four: World Domination. As the bullet points below clearly illustrate.

Step 1: Fake Barack Obama’s birth.

Step 2: Have him win US Presidency in 2008 with the pledge to reform healthcare.

Step 3: ?

Step 4: World Domination.

It’s all so obvious.

If there is a Government Option, 119 Million people will leave bad private insurance plans.

This will happen because Private Industry is completely defenseless against the Free Market. There is no way for Private Insurers to stop denying people coverage and not allowing them to keep their coverage when they switch jobs. Of course there is no way for Private Insurers to cut costs in their billing procedures.

The idea of making the Health insurance companies compete is totally anti-free market.

Doctor’s offices will be like going to the DMV, giving the Milkman time to score with your wife.

Everyone knows the horror of having their drivers license renewed, having to go up to the counter, give them your old license and having your picture taken, then paying them.

In that 3-minute time span the Milkman will teleport through time from 1950 and seduce your wife into an afternoon quickie.

The whole Healthcare thing is just a rouse by the Milkman’s Union to score with your wife.

The horror.

There are 47 million crazy liberals wandering around.

The people who don’t have healthcare are just bums living off the backs of hard working people. The self-employed aren’t being turned away from Healthcare, it’s all in their heads. Why these people probably have health insurance right now but are too delusional to know it.

Betsy McCaughey, a Republican former lieutenant governor of New York, claims that the bill creates a "new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology." That will tell doctors what treatments to give patients.

It will do this by mandating Congress to build a time machine and send thugs back in time to the year 2004 and they will force President Bush to create that office. It’s true that the office was created by Bush in 2004 to help the health IT system to transmit information by updating hospital’s computer systems, but with the Democratic Congress having access to a time machine who knows what other sinister purposes they might use it for.

It’s a Soviet plot to turn the country Socialist and let Osama bin Laden sell yellow-cake uranium to unwed teen-age mothers while baby raping with Hitler and eating puppies.

It’s a threat so huge that we must all go to tea-bagging rallies and burn books.

Ben Franklin and the single payer healthcare plan

2009-07-22T07:37:00.000-07:00

In the Healthcare “Debate” conservatives like to use an appeal to authority saying that the founding fathers would want us to have a system where only those working for large corporations can receive healthcare.

Being a Progressive I decided to look at the history of one of our founding fathers. (I realize a Progressive’s view on history, that history is a bunch of stuff that actually happened and was recorded at the time, and a Conservative’s view on history, that history is stuff they pull out of their ass to justify whatever nonsense they are spouting off at the time, are different but I’ll go with the actual truth just for the hell of it.)

As far as Ben Franklin’s views on medicine I’d have to say that as founder of the Pennsylvania Hospital that was established by the Pennsylvania Legislature to care for the sick-poor and insane who wander the streets of Philadelphia. He might be a little inclined to disagree that only people who work for large corporations are entitled to healthcare.

The quote he helped pick for the official seal “Take Care of Him and I will repay Thee” might give a clue as to his feeling on social responsibility.

But what can you expect from the founder of such socialist concepts as “The Post Office” and founded “Penn State” a state run university.

Looking at the history of the founding fathers it’s very hard to see how any of them would be for a system where a person’s healthcare makes them a slave to large corporations and denies healthcare to the self-employed and workers of small companies.

It’s even harder to see where any of them would favor a system that forces even those who have health insurance, to have everything they have worked for all their lives taken away with one bad illness.

Shut up and put your mouth to a better use.

2009-07-15T03:06:00.001-07:00

Talking is something she shouldn’t use her mouth for

Beauty and Brains don’t have to be incompatible, and I do appreciate when a female uses her natural beauty to attain celebrity status and then carefully researches an issue and uses her status to raise awareness on an issue. Look at Angelina Jolie:

Ok, that was a pleasant 5 minutes, and a great excuse to stare at Angelina. Oh, and her work on raising awareness on refugees is admirable.

But then there are woman that use their celebrity status and looks to espouse the silliest ideas that if it weren’t for the fact that most of the people talking to them are too busy staring at their breasts they would be laughed off the stage. The number one chick who should shut up and put her mouth to a better use is Jenny McCarthy:

In the early stages of her career she was determined to give all males who were between the ages of 12 and 123 stronger forearm muscles. A noble goal in itself, I know she strengthened my left forearm considerably.

She moved on to show the world her range of funny faces:

Then she took on a cause, Autism. That seems like a laudable cause and would be if she took the time to research what the hell she was talking about, but instead she plunged head-first into it giving out advise that is actually more dangerous for kids than the chances of getting Autism.

For those of you that don’t know Autism is a mental condition makes the person’s brain tune to a completely different reality, in mild forms it can make a person totally unable to recognize social patterns, in severe forms it will leave the person unable to speak.

The causes of Autism is unknown but extensive research has shown that there is no link between Autism and Vaccines, Center for Disease Control

But that doesn’t stop Jenny from going on all the media outlets and saying that vaccines cause Autism. The worst part is people who listen to Jenny’s advice might end up aggravating a mild case of Autism into a full-blown case.

PERTUSSIS (WHOOPING COUGH) is a nasty disease that leaves the victim coughing out all the air in their lungs; it can go on for weeks. The victim can turn blue from lack of oxygen and pass out.

Vaccines have nearly wiped out this disease so emergency room doctors rarely see it and aren’t trained to deal with it.

If a parent follows Jenny’s advice and doesn’t have their child vaccinated they can get this disease and the lack of oxygen can cause brain damage, aggravating a mild form of Autism into a crippling one. And chances are the Emergency Room techs won’t have a clue as to what it is since vaccines have made it a very rare disease.

So Jenny please shut the fuck up! If you need something else to do with your mouth I can think of something, I’ll even dress up like Santa.

The next group of chicks that should do something better with their mouths, are the actresses that support PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), not People Eating Tasty Animals.

PETA sounds like a good cause, end killing animals for their fur and treat them as humanely. But the PETA people have taken it way to far, like this quote:

"Pet ownership is an abysmal situation brought about by human manipulation."

-Ingrid Newkirk, President, PETA, Washingtonian, August 1986

No it’s not. Cats have evolved with humans, as we starting gathering food and storing it in a permanent place, rats took advantage of that. Then Cats took advantage of having the Rats in a convenient place.

As we evolved together cats and humans developed a symbiotic relationship and cats even developed a language that humans react to. That’s why a purring cat puts people at ease.

The cat has evolved to experience a greater emotional bond with humans than with other cats, it’s stray cats that get emotionally deprived.

It’s a similar situation with dogs.

They also want to end ALL laboratory use of animals.

I agree with the Humane Society that their should be standards to keep pain and suffering of lab animals down to a minimum and oversight to see if a test needs to be done on an lab animal, but in the end animal testing is necessary to help both humans and animals.

So for the PETA celebrities that go nude rather than wear fur, while you’re nude I’ll put something in your mouth to keep you from repeating the propaganda from these misguided fucks.

BTW: If you are legitimately concerned about animal welfare the ASPCA and Humane Society are good organizations with rational thinking.

Finally Gwyneth Paltrow, claims that Shampoo Causes Cancer.

At least not using shampoo will only hurt someone’s social life and not their actual life, but it’s a dumb comment and her mouth could be put to better uses.

Stuff I missed, I've been busy. Sorry

2009-07-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

It’s been a few days since I posted as I have been dealing with Bank of America trying to get my house out of foreclosure.

I’ve racked up a total of 6 hours on the phone with them trying to get them to answer 3 very simple questions.
1) Why didn’t they fulfill their obligations under the Mortgage Agreement?
2) Why are they lying to me?
3) Why are they breaking the law?

For some reason they don’t seem to want to answer these questions. They just keep passing me off to someone else. Their lawyer is supposed to call me maybe she can answer my questions.

But enough about those evil scum-sucking bastards.

Great News:

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)'s Falcon I successfully launched a satellite into orbit. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090714/sc_nm/us_space_business;_ylt=Aj0DwK8Vtrb3h5xDsTDzr0QPLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJra203ZXJkBGFzc2V0Ay9ubS8yMDA5MDcxNC9

Even though the Falcon I isn’t technologically superior to the Atlas V it does offer a competing way to get objects into space. At $8 million per ½ ton flight it is the cheapest way to get into space.

Also SpaceX can start making these expendable rocket launches on a semi-routine basis freeing up resources for their work on the Falcon 9 and Falcon 9 heavy. These are the rockets that SpaceX hopes to use to take over the servicing of the ISS after the Shuttle is discontinued.

If the Falcon 9 is successful it will free up NASA to work on the Orion/Constellation Project and return humans to Moon.

Hopefully NASA can contract out all their Low Earth Orbit duties to private companies like SpaceX and turn their energies back to what they are good at pushing the envelope of space technology and expand the human frontier.

Bad News:

The International Space Station the massive spacecraft that is as big as a football field, cost $100 billion to build and is a key component to many private space companies long term plans, is scheduled to be scrapped in 2016.

It took over a decade to build the thing and now it’s going to be junked in less than half that time. That doesn’t make much sense to me.

Good News:

Obama proposes $12 Billion in Community College Funding.

Finally a good proposal to get some long-term benefit out of the Great Depression 2.0.

With unemployment nearing 10% it is damn near impossible for someone fresh out of high school to get a job. Let’s face it if you were the manager of a restaurant and you had two applicants for a waiter. One fresh out of high school with no work experience and one former Securities Broker who ran a multi-million company who would you hire?

By sending as many high school graduates through community college as possible right now it will ease the demand for entry level jobs giving the vastly over qualified workers a way to survive until the economy picks back up.

In 2 years when these students come out of college with their Associates Degrees, America will have better skilled workforce that can seriously compete with other nations.

It’s a solution that gives both short term relief and long term benefit.

Bad News:

This proposal doesn’t do anything to fix the Educational/Banking Complex that has turned into a vampire sucking the benefits of higher education out of the average American worker.

Nothing is being done about the fact that the Higher Education System rewards banks that default graduates on their student loans, even if the graduate is paying back the loan as promised.

Good News:

Healthcare reform with a public option, which 72% of Americans want, is moving forward.

Bad News:

7 Democrats, Max Baucus, Ben Nelson, Kent Conrad, Mary Landrieu, Dianne Feinstein, Jeff Bingaman, and Blanche Lincoln, are gladly taking some of the $1.4 million a day that Insurance companies are using to fight the public option.

The stupidest argument against the public option (you are welcome to disagree as there are a lot of stupid arguments against it) is that if people making more than $500,000 a year are taxed 1% to cover the cost they will take their ball and leave the country.

Oh no, What will America do without the people who gave us invaluable products like Default Credit Swaps, and Sub-prime Mortgage Backed Securities?

Good News:

Sarah Palin resigned as Governor so she can help candidates that share her lunatic vision for America. Now we have a quick way to Identify the wackos.

Bad News:

see more Political Pictures

The poster pretty much says it all.

Republicans: Fighting Back against Reality

2009-07-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

The Republicans have come up with a new strategy recently, and that is to try and get their supporters to avoid the US Census.

On many Progressive Blogs the question has come up, Why?

Why would they pursue a strategy that gets them purposely underrepresented?

It’s all about having something to explain why their views still get airtime.

They are currently the small minority party, 58-40 in the Senate, and only 20% of the American people identify themselves as Republican, yet they get 8 times as much airtime as the Democrats on TV.

Their main newspaper the Weekly Standard has a readership of 80,000 as opposed to The Huffington Post with a viewership of millions. Yet the views expressed in the Weekly Standard get more coverage in the Mainstream Media.

Their big fear is the census will show that their base the WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) are now a minority in the country.

Back in the 80s they had some claim that evangelicals like the Moral Majority should have some say in the country as some 60% of America belonged to White Protestant Churches. (Of course the evangelicals only made up a small percentage of that group, but why let the truth get in the way of a silly argument.)

The latest Poll numbers have Protestants making up approximately 51% of America. 10% of that is made up of Black Churches and for some reason Black tend not to support policies that legalize discrimination.

These poll numbers have been pretty consistent and the number of Protestants in America has been dropping at a rate of almost 1% per year over the last decade.

No one has a crystal ball and can say exactly what percentage the 2010 census will show but even if the amount of Protestants hasn’t slid and the 2010 census shows that the number is 50% plus a small fraction of a percent the Argument that “Christian” policies should be put into effect to please the majority becomes silly when the “majority” is a majority by less than 1%.

It also makes it hard for people like Dobson to demand something because Christians “Meaning only Protestants” are the majority when some branches of Protestants like Unitarians are 100% opposed to what he says. If you take their 2% out of the Protestant mix you are left with 48-49% (not a majority).

After the next census the argument that the Protestant 10 commandments should be taught in school to please the majority won’t hold up as less than 49% of Americans are part of a religion that recognizes the Protestant version. (Catholics and Jews have their own and Unitarians don’t believe god takes time out of his busy schedule to have individual talks with people, therefore no personal delivery of the 10 commandments).

Likewise, Prayer in school is a dead issue.

To counter the fact that the reality is that America no longer has a Protestant majority, they will try to get their base to not be part of the census, that way they can say they were underrepresented.

It’s all a strategy so they can hold their fingers in their ears and say “La-La-La-La I can’t hear you.” For the next 10 years. Instead of adapting to the new reality and embracing the separation of church and state mentioned in the 1st amendment.

I can’t wait to see the strategy for ignoring reality after the 2020 census, when Protestants are expected to be less than 40%.

Some thoughts from People that don’t think, but are against Healthcare Choice.

2009-06-26T10:48:00.001-07:00

Karl Rove:
“The first is it's unnecessary. Advocates say a government-run insurance program is needed to provide competition for private health insurance. But 1,300 companies sell health insurance plans.”

There may be 1,300 companies, but the simple truth is if your employer doesn’t offer health insurance, you can’t get a real plan. I’ve tried as a self-employed person to get Health Insurance and went to several legitimate companies filled out the forms and never heard back from them.

Looking at the other Insurance Companies, I did a simple test I called around to see if doctors, dentists and optometrists took their Insurance. Turned out my only options were Insurance companies that offered policies that no one in the healthcare industry would take.

That is not competition when your choice is only companies that are offering coverage that is worthless.

“Second, a public option will undercut private insurers and pass the tab to taxpayers and health providers just as it does in existing government-run programs.”

We currently pay 6 times per capita what other industrialized countries pay for healthcare and are near the bottom of list as far as effectiveness. So what Karl is saying here is there is no way private industry can compete with the Federal Government especially if the Government has to take all the sick people that the Private Insurance Companies refuse to take. Because obviously there is no room to save money by being more efficient, like only spending 5 times per capita what other nations spend.

Oh, and my heart just goes out to all those private insurance companies that refuse to cover me.

“Third, government-run health insurance would crater the private insurance market, forcing most Americans onto the government plan.”

Yes, The Americans who are self-employed that the private insurance companies won’t cover, the Americans who work at small companies where one employee with an expensive illness makes insurance too expensive for the rest of the workers, The 1.5 million Americans a year who lose their homes because their insurance companies won’t cover their medical bills, the 20,000 people a year that die because their insurance companies deny them life saving treatments.

Yes, those people will be forced onto the government plan because Private Insurance Companies won’t cover them.

“Fourth, the public option is far too expensive”

Compared to what? Compared to the fact that Factories will not open up in America because healthcare costs make it too expensive to operate here in America.

Compared to the loss to the economy that 1.5 million foreclosed homes causes when they drag down the housing market?

Compared to the number of small businesses that are being crushed as healthcare costs overtake profits.

Compared to the loss of spending capital that someone making $30,000 a year loses when they are spending $12,000 on health insurance?

What exactly is it too expensive in comparison to, Karl never does explain.

“Fifth, the public option puts government firmly in the middle of the relationship between patients and their doctors”

Just like how the Government is firmly in the middle of my relationship with my mom, because we send letters through the mail.

Look everyone has had to deal with government red tape, and everyone has had to deal with private industry red tape. The difference is when dealing with the government the person at the bottom will try and help you the best they can then switch you up to the next rung on the ladder. It’s irritating but when dealing with the government you can at least make some headway if you have the patience.

When dealing with a large private institution (like the bank that holds my mortgage), the person on the bottom will tell you what is on their computers screen and if it doesn’t help refuse to let you speak to anyone higher up.

The Government is required to be transparent with their decisions, they aren’t always, but at least they need to go through the motions and if enough people demand that they show the reason for their decision they will eventually.

Private Companies have no such requirement when they get in the middle of your relationship with your doctor.

Karl Rove’s arguments are just stupid, but to really delve into the mouth of idioticy I must turn to someone I can always count on to be a total idiot but at least knows the basic rules of grammar (unlike Ann Coulter), Larry Elder

“What about personal behavior? Obesity leads to serious health problems, including heart disease. One-third of Americans are obese — almost 50 percent more than the British and Australians, over 100 percent more than the Canadians and Germans, about 250 percent more than the French and 1,000 percent more than the Japanese.

“So don't blame the "broken health care system" for lower life expectancies. American health care actually helps us cope with the consequences of unhealthy lifestyles, keeping our ranking from being even lower.”

So are healthcare costs are high because Americans are denied access to preventative care (like nutritionists and real weight-loss doctors) so therefore we shouldn’t blame the system that denies preventative care to Americans for high costs.

You can’t argue with that logic, you can only shake your head and back away slowly, taking care not to make any sudden moves.

The reason that opponents of giving Americans a choice in healthcare sound like idiots is that they are totally in the wrong.

The simple fact is, if an invading Army came in and killed 20,000 Americans, forced 1.5 Million people out of their homes and stole 2.5 Trillion Dollars of America’s wealth, we would demand action. Any Politician who helped them would be found guilty of treason and hanged in a public square. Yet we allow the healthcare industry to do that every year.

Rodney Dangerfield and Healthcare.

2009-06-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

Listening to the healthcare “debate” reminds me of the one scene in “Back to School” where the professor accused Rodney of cheating and the Dean responded “I don’t think you appreciate exactly how big the check he gave us was.”

You can easily imagine that same argument floating around the halls of the Senate.

“80% of Americans want a public choice in their healthcare.” The Progressive Senator says.

“True, but I don’t think you realize exactly how much money the Medical Industry contributes to my campaign.” The Conservative Responds.

“20,000 People are die each year because the Insurance Companies deny them treatment.” The Progressive Senator continues.

“True, but you need to understand that the health Insurance Companies donate quite a bit to my campaign.” The Conservative tries to strengthen his argument.

“In the United States we spend roughly 6 times the amount per person as other industrialized countries, yet we rank near the bottom as far as overall health.” The Progressive Senator tells him.

“Isn’t that great, It gives them plenty of money to support my campaign.” The Conservative Senator states.

“For employers Health Insurance is the fastest growing cost, it rapidly taking overtaking profits.” The Progressive Senator hammers on.

“Well, the Insurance companies have to get money to give to my campaign from somewhere.” The Conservative Senator says condescendingly.

“One and a Half Million people were forced out of their homes last year due to foreclosure because of unaffordable medical costs, greatly contributing to the housing crisis.” The Progressive Senator tells him.

“That’s OK, we can bail out the banks that lost money because of that, after all they still have plenty of money to fund my campaign.” The Conservative Senator responds.

I could go on but it is obvious that those members of the Senate that are against giving people the choice of a public option in their healthcare have just formed a wall built out of the money given to them by the Insurance Companies and will refuse to listen to the will of the people.

There is one thing that these Conservative Senators should take in mind, during the reign of George W. Bush many Progressives became Pro-Gun for some reason. So while they help their buddies divide up the spoils of their robbery of the American Citizens and call it Democracy, they might want to remember the words of Benjamin Franklin:

Democracy is two Wolves and a Lamb voting on what to have for Dinner; Freedom is an Armed Lamb contesting the Vote.

How to Save 60% on your Auto Insurance

2009-06-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

Everyone is talking about how much single payer healthcare will cost, but very few people, at least in the mainstream media have mentioned how much it would save the average American.

Believe it or not you probably do have a form of health insurance, it just doesn’t cover you, it covers other people.

This insurance is your auto insurance.

The largest part of a typical auto liability policy is covering someone else’s healthcare costs. The reason is if you lose control of your car and hit someone, it isn’t fair that they should have to pay the medical bills for your mistake.

Naturally (if you aren’t a totally cold-hearted person) you would want to see them made whole and that’s why you have insurance in the first place, that and of course because the state forces you to.

You also have medical insurance for yourself and the passengers in your car, it is filed under PIP, Personal Injury Protection, or just Personal Medical.

PIP is necessary under our current Medical System even if you have regular health insurance because if you get into an accident and need to be taken to the emergency room and the police have to call your insurance company and find out which hospital they will pay for and the ER doctors have to find out what procedures are covered and what ones aren’t, your odds of dieing would shoot up significantly.

To cut through this red tape Auto Insurance Companies have PIP so that the Ambulance ride, the Emergency Room visit and all the things to keep you from dieing immediately are covered. The amount of minimum coverage varies by state.

If single payer healthcare became reality in the US, PIP and Personal Medical would become totally unnecessary, as the Ambulance ride and the Emergency Room visit would be free.

In my case, that would save me $77.23 every six months.

The second place it would save is in the BI, or Bodily Injury, part of my insurance. Under a single payer plan this part of my insurance would be significantly reduced but not completely eliminated.

The Bodily Injury portion of auto insurance covers the other person’s medical bills, pain and suffering, and lost wages.

Even under a single payer system you will have to pay the family the lost wages if you kill someone and you’ll be responsible for someone’s pain and suffering but the biggest part of Bodily Injury is the other person’s medical expenses. You can expect those costs to go down about the same amount as the PIP.

The third place on you insurance bill that you will save is on your uninsured/underinsured Motorist coverage. The uninsured motorist coverage covers your medical bills if someone with no insurance (or a hit and run) injures you. Obviously under a single payer system these bills wouldn’t exist.

After getting rid of all these medical costs from your insurance all that is left is coverage for pain and suffering, lost wages and property damage. So you could be looking at a savings of 60% on you auto insurance.

As well as lowering your Auto Insurance, your employer would save on workers comp, the vast majority of that is for medical bills. If you’re a homeowner your homeowners insurance would go down as most of your liability coverage is for medical bills as well as all of your guest medical coverage.

Taken altogether a single payer healthcare plan will save the vast majority of Americans a great deal on the non-healthcare insurance they are already carrying.

Open letter: If You're a Conservative...Maybe You NEED to Be Offended.

2009-06-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

You people just wouldn't fucking listen.

Like schoolyard bullies with a parent as a chaperon, you thought you would never be sent to the principal's office. Your political irrelevance would be funny, except...you dragged all of us down with you.

If we questioned YOUR president, WE were unpatriotic. If we questioned YOUR facts, we didn't know enough to follow a real news source and were 'Victims' of the liberal media. Oh, we withstood your condescension, even all the while knowing that you could barely spell; that your lack of a worldly or human perspective was the main reason you believed as you did; that your innate laziness led you to inquire no farther than the level at which your pre-supposed views were validated, and no deeper.

You watched Fox News and read Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter; you made cracks about niggers being lazy and Jews needing to be 'perfected'; you agreed when it was promulgated that 'Non-Christians' were aggressive and inferior; and you questioned not once the fuzzy math or the slanted slop that passed for journalism in the intellectual hovels you frequented.

Well, you weren't the only ones. You have had lots of company at this particular trough. Ignorance has run rampant for far too long. Now people are dying. All that hate from the 2008 presidential campaign- you know the one; the one wherein people at Republican rallies chanted 'KILL HIM' about Barack Obama and NONE of you spoke up- is coming home to roost.

I of course recognize my own culpability here. I wanted this particular Helter Skelter to occur, because it had been a long time coming, and it was needed to thin out your particular herd. I liked Barack Obama from the outset- he is smart, and funny, and articulate and that was a whole new reality after eight years of having a president who truly was dumber than a third-grader- but first and foremost, I wanted him to win, because I knew that the knuckle-dragging Right Wingers would lose their fucking minds. And they have. For all the piss and vinegar I can muster towards conservatives in general, that are mind-numbingly predictable, and they never let you down when there is a chance for them to be vocal, violent, and ignorant.

A doctor was killed- IN A CHURCH. A security guard was killed, doing his job protecting people at a HOLOCAUST museum. Had the Conservative movement looked inward? No, they can't. Deep down- on a level that can't reach and would never admit to- they know that they all had a hand in this.

Bill O'Reilly now claims- after 28 mentions of 'Tiller the Baby Killer' that he had anything to do with encouraging his listeners to violence against the doctor. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have tried to spin the the von Brunn museum shooting was an isolated LEFTIST incident. They are indignant and insulted that anyone would associate them with those bad anti-abortion zealots or white-supremacists.

Even after such a series of events, Sarah Palin is mad again, because the world knows that she is both the joke and the punchline, and she is too pig-ignorant to accept as much and kindly go away. She lives in her own little world where nothing matters but her, and she's mad because David Letterman made a few jokes at her expense, and some of that comedic jizz spilled over onto her lovely daughter. You know, the lovely daughter no one in America knew about until Palin herself shoved her down our throats. No, not that one- the OTHER daughter. You know. Whats-her-face. Trick? Trogg? Trip-Trap? Oh, it will come to me.

Sarah Palin is a media whore. She is a demonstrably ignorant bumblefuck hillbilly, and she paraded her kids on the political stage during the campaign and put her unmarried, pregnant teenage daughter out there to be gawked at and commented on.

So now what the hell is her problem when someone makes a comment? Dave has always been a smart-ass and makes fun of everything with a tongue in cheek sort of humor, so she needs to get over herself. That mama bear act ain't working! She won't go on Letterman because she couldn't handle his quick wit and snarky comments. She wouldn't be a very good guest anyway because she doesn't have a high enough IQ to give Dave any sort of snappy reparte. Palin dragged baby Trig, the one with Down's syndrome, all over the stage during the campaign, as if he were some rag doll. I have no respect at all for that woman.

If what I've said offends you...Maybe you NEED to be offended.

If You're a Conservative at all...maybe you NEED to be offended. You need to be shocked out of your complacency. You need to take a good look at the people you've chosen to believe, support, emulate and parrot. You need to look inward, and question whether or not you want o carry on in this way. The People spewing hate and nonsense- YOU gave them their voice. You made Fascistic policy acceptable. YOU did this to US.

WE are sick of YOU.
Yes, YOU- Joe Six-Pack. Yeah, the Nascar-watching brother-fucker (entranced with cars driving in a circle) who becomes a political powerhouse on a level with Benjamin Disraeli whenever he clicks onto the Fox News channel. The guy who insists upon having that dreck playing in every bar, every barbershop, every airport lounge. We're onto you. We are NOT happy, we will NOT be nice. We will NOT apologize. We will NOT stop.

We will ask you why your political views are more suited to the backwaters of Alabama in the 1950's as opposed to the fluoridated present day. When you get your facts wrong, we will NOT allow you to continue on blithely spilling your ignorance. We will call you out for your stupidity, and we will not longer pretend- for your benefit alone- that you're alternative world-view is relevant. It's not.
It never fucking was.

A Brighter Tomorrow

2009-06-09T17:38:00.001-07:00

Some of my earliest memories are of sitting in front of the TV at my Grandparents house watching the Moon Landings. Even as a five year old seeing those 12 astronauts walking on an alien world filled my young brain with hope for the future.

I thought I would get a chance to walk on the Moon as well, because just like when my mom was growing up Jets were a new technology that only a few people could travel in, but by the time I was growing up they were commonplace. Taking it back further when my Grandmother was growing up Lindbergh’s non-stop solo flight to Europe was a technological feat.

Now my wife and I are thinking of having a kid, I call this Project Scion, and even though I look forward to watching Moon Landings with the kid, this was not supposed to be a generational event.

Looking at the world today with the total economic collapse, the fact that last year demand for oil (the life blood of our industrial civilization) outpaced oil production, the fact that the largest climate shift in human history is looming, and thousands of other signs of doom and despair you might wonder why we have chosen this time to raise a child. The answer is simple for the first time since I was a kid growing up I feel optimistic about the future.

Over the course of my life I have watched science, research and development budgets being slashed. I was a kid when Nixon cut the last three Moon Missions, but the Skylab missions still had me hopeful of the future.

I was old enough to know that the Apollo-Soyuz was the last mission for the indefinite future I lowered my expectations. Even with NASA boasting of how the Shuttle would be all things to all people and would cost only pennies a day to operate it was obvious that it wouldn’t be the spacecraft to return us to the Moon and I’d have to wait for space technology to advance.

While that was happening I did have a glimmer of hope, Jimmy Carter announced that freeing us from our dependence on foreign oil would be the moral equivalent of war. I imagined a brave new world, where we could use our brains to advance as a people and put the vast scientific know how that allowed men to walk on the Moon to solve the problems that plagued mankind and in the pursuit of those goals we would make discoveries that would let us once more go into that final frontier.

Then he was laughed out of office.

I watched as Reagan and Bush slashed not only NASA’s budget but all funding towards Science and Technology even as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were putting some of the space technology (microchips) to use in the hands of the public.

If it wasn’t bad enough that they slashed Science budgets, the whole tone of the nation started vilifying science and by extension intelligence. Being intelligent in America became a curse.

When Bill was elected I thought things would change, clearly an intelligent person would recognize the importance of inspiring other intelligent people to succeed instead of having to hide, but instead he put on an “aw shucks” routine and played dumb while slashing scientific research in this country to the bare bones.

By the time Bush came through and declared war on science and the “Intellectual elite” it didn’t mean much as even when discoveries were made they wouldn’t be developed. Bucky Tubes and nano-technology have been around for a couple of decades now. If they had been funded so they could develop into mature technologies we could have cars that weighed hundreds of pounds instead of thousands, as well as planes and of course spacecraft.

Seeing policy makers turn public opinion into down right hostility against anyone who could think for themselves made me decide against having a child that, if genetics is any indication, should be a super-genius.

But now it seems that people are looking around and noticing what 30 years of embracing stupid and rejecting science has led to.

No new innovations in science has led to innovations in money making like Default Credit Swaps, and Mortgage Backed Derivatives.

Not inspiring our children to wonder “What if” has meant all our industrial products come from overseas as Japanese and Korean’s wondered “What if we did this to improve a car?”

In times of great crisis there is great opportunity. To overcome the challenges that are in front of us we will need to once again foster an environment where an interest in science is considered something to be praised not scorned. Where critical thinking is seen as the solution to a problem and not “the problem”.

After watching a country’s Science policy go from science and research being a source of strength for our nation to something that should be despised, I wouldn’t have a genius kid while our leaders considered logic a menace and truth the enemy.

We’ve seen what happens when we embrace the stupid; Peak Oil, Financial Ruin, Death and Destruction on a massive scale.

It’s time to put intelligence back to work, and that is why I am hopeful for the future.

It will be a long time before we can forget what embracing stupid does. 60 years if history is any guide. So that gives my kid plenty of time to grow up in a world that values intelligence, honesty and a strong work ethic.

So America I am putting you on notice, I will watch the Moon Landings with my kid but I will not sit by and let the world make it an event to have me watch the Moon Landing with my Grandchild.

You’ve got 60 to 80 years to make sure that a Moon Landing is no more eventful than a plane crossing the Atlantic.

A response to Michael Moore from a former Oilman

2009-06-03T08:34:00.001-07:00

In his recent post “Goodbye GM” Michael Moore compared the current financial meltdown (the Great Recession, The Great Depression 2.0, or whatever you what to call it) to a war, and he pointed his finger at the bad guys.

“The other front in this war is being waged by the oil companies against you and me. They are committed to fleecing us whenever they can, and they have been reckless stewards of the finite amount of oil that is located under the surface of the earth. They know they are sucking it bone dry. And like the lumber tycoons of the early 20th century who didn't give a damn about future generations as they tore down every forest they could get their hands on, these oil barons are not telling the public what they know to be true -- that there are only a few more decades of useable oil on this planet. And as the end days of oil approach us, get ready for some very desperate people willing to kill and be killed just to get their hands on a gallon can of gasoline.”

As the former Vice-President of an oil company, I can say with authority that the characterization he paints of the oil barons deceiving the public about the amount of oil left on the planet is totally false.

As the oil prices started going through the roof, I responded to critics who were saying that it was all a ploy by oil companies with my article “Why are gas prices so high?” Where I outlined the fact that we as a society have known for over 30 years that we were living on borrowed time as far as having an energy policy that was dependent on oil but instead of addressing the problem we just elected leader like Clinton and Bush who would rather squander away the nations wealth on the useless “War on Drugs” than address the looming crisis of peak oil.

Now Michael, you might say that I am the exception to the rule, the lone whistle-blower in the crowd but I am not.

Matt Simmons of Simmons & Company has been saying for decades that not only are we running out of oil but we have much less than is being reported.

T. Boone Pickens has been running countless ads pushing to reduce oil dependence.

Dave O’Reilly CEO of Chevron said in 2005 “It took us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil. We’ll use the next trillion in 30.“

The heads of oil companies both big and small have been warning the public that demand will outstrip supply but the public has just been putting their fingers in their ears and saying “Na – Na – Na – Na, I can’t hear you.”

So why have oil companies been letting the delusional masses lead them into a policy that we knew was destructive? It was our legal duty.

In order to raise money for an oil project an oilman has to pass the same tests a stockbroker does. You can’t pass those tests without some knowledge of economics, so when you see the investment banks playing games with peoples retirement funds so that long-term growth is sacrificed for short-term gain. It is our fiduciary duty to try to do the best thing we can with our investors money.

If Wall Street is turning its back on long-term growth, we have to offer a course that will maximize short-term gain and that course is to drill like crazy so that we can sell oil when supply out-strips demand like it did last summer our investors can get some quick cash in their pockets to help them survive when Wall Street inevitably crashes.

Michael, it wasn’t that the oil companies were withholding information on peak oil, it was that the message wasn’t getting out to the public. So I ask you: Where were you during this run up to disaster?

Peak oil and the Financial markets sacrificing Long-Term Growth for Short-Term Gain are tough topics for the Mainstream Media to deal with it would need an independent documentary maker with some clout to raise public awareness, but instead of examining the start of the biggest crisis in our lifetimes you were busy examining the role of guns in our society and how roughly 900 people die a year from guns, when I can guarantee you more people will die from having the Investment Banks piss away their life savings than that.

So Michael you can point your finger at me and other oilmen all you want, but remember when you point your finger, your other three fingers are pointing back at you.

Darrell Nelson, former Vice-President of Mountainview Petroleum.

Beavis and Butt-Head, the Model for Bush’s DHS.

2009-06-02T03:58:00.001-07:00

Last night I watched Beavis and Butt-Head do America. Back in 1996 when it was made the Portrayal of the total incompetence of the ATF was laughable. The idea of the ATF and FBI doing an all out manhunt for Beavis and Butt-Head with the result being little more than giving all of Beavis and Butt-Head’s neighbors “full cavity searches” was so unrealistic it was funny.

Now, 13 years later the actions of the AFT in the film seem like a plausible scenario for the Department of Homeland Security.

Having Robert Stack being the lead agent who thought the only way to get information from people: suspects, witnesses, associates, etc. was to use full cavity searches doesn’t seem so out of place now that we have Cheney making the rounds on the news saying how having CIA agents have sex with teenage boys was the only way to keep the country safe.

Labeling two teenage boys as the most dangerous men in America seems a little less absurd after Homeland Security spent millions to round up a home grown terrorist cell, were during an interview the leader of the cell pointed to head and said, “We aren’t just acting Physically…”. Or how the CIA uncovered a plot to fly an airplane into the Sands Resort in Las Vegas only to find out it was a clip from “Con Air”.

When the Department of Homeland Security is restructured, and it needs to be I hope it uses Tommy Lee Jones’s portrayal of the US Marshals in Fugitive, who used all the powers within the law to find their man as a model rather than Robert Stack’s portrayal of the ATF.

Why should we go to the Moon?

2009-05-08T05:21:00.001-07:00

If you’ve followed Project Savior Reborn for any length of time you will know I’m a space geek, it’s rare that I go a week with out writing something about space or a month when I don’t have a link to Bad Astronomy in one of my posts.

I hang out at a lot of sites where stating the idea of going to the Moon is singing to the choir, the idea is so ingrained that we should go to the Moon is so obvious that there is no need discussing it.

Then a wonderful thing happened at Space.com someone broke in a said going to the Moon was a waste of time and it is mankind’s destiny to be confined to the planet Earth.

Naturally I launched a bunch of ad hominem attacks against him and called him a stupid idiot, even though I feel that people who use ad hominem attacks are gay. However I know that some bright people do feel the same way, they just don’t say it on message boards about space.

So I will point out some of the reason that humans should and even have to return to the Moon.

Short-Term:

Technological and Engineering challenge: Tomorrow’s Aerospace Industries rely on the challenges we put today’s students and interns through today. Back in the 80s Ronald Reagan talked about an Asian Express Aircraft.

An Aircraft that could travel at hypersonic speeds from the US to Japan, cutting the transport time from the better part of a day to a few hours.

Now, over twenty years later, we are no closer to building a commercial hypersonic airplane than we were then. The reason: NASA hasn’t been building new rockets, just maintaining the old ones. Rocket configurations need to be tested in the upper atmosphere to see how their thrust adapts up there. Hypersonic jets need to have their thrust adapted to the conditions up there.

A commercial aircraft builder isn’t going to do the extensive testing needed, which because of the engineering challenges would need to have the students from a lot of universities working on it. This open structured research makes it possible to test a lot of variables quickly but means that the results from the tests are pretty much open to everyone. No commercial aircraft builder is going to put forth the billions of dollars needed to do the testing, knowing a rival aircraft builder could use their results to get a plane to the market faster.

NASA is in the reverse position. If they do the upper atmosphere testing and an aircraft maker makes a hypersonic craft they can buy the hypersonic craft to continue research. Plus if they open a new industry in the US it is easier for them to get a larger budget.

New Industries:

The big short-term benefit of going to the Moon is the opening up of new industries. When we first went to the Moon whole new products needed to be produced.

Computers needed to be sped up by several orders on magnitude, parts needed to be put together with unprecedented precision, leading to ISO9000 standards. Even tailoring needed to have a scientific approach in order to assure safety standards on the spacesuits.

In order to return to the Moon and stay there, we will need new industries as well.

Since at optimum every pound of material put into Low Earth Orbit needs to use 24 pounds of fuel to get it there (In reality this is much higher) the quest for lighter materials for space operations is a must.

Research is being done in to Buckypaper (Carbon Nanotubes in a polymer) that is as strong as steel but so light that you could cover an entire football field with it and it would weigh less than a gram.

Transparent Aluminum, something that has only existed in Star Trek and in the form of Emeralds, is now being produced.

Both of these industries are in there infant stages, and at the moment it is cost prohibitive to use these materials in cars or planes, but a robust space program would need these as every pound of steel replaced by these products saves at minimum 24 pounds of fuel, a lot more if it is used in something that is repeatedly sent into space.

With a market for these products, private industry has an incentive to do more research into bringing the costs down, making these products available for more uses, giving more incentive to research more until these products become commonplace.

This will give us more fuel-efficient cars and planes, and lead to new products that can only be dreamt about now. Just as when Aluminum was as expensive as silver, I doubt anyone dreamt of using it for a soda container.

Another industry that will receive a boost from a robust space program would be small scale recycling.

On the Moon (at first) anything brought from Earth would cost literally millions of dollars per pound. You don’t want to bring something all that way just to throw it out. Making a Lunar Outpost will require Extreme Recycling. Everything sent up there will need its entire lifecycle planed out.
After this extreme recycling style is made, few on Earth will take it as far as the Astronauts on the Moon, but some aspects will trickle into the market place, conserving resources here on Earth.

Education:

While the Space Race was going on, millions of American students were inspired to become scientist and engineers. As it became obvious that America was abandoning the great plans NASA had for space, the students in the 70’s and 80’s took down their model of Skylab, took Neil Armstrong’s picture off the wall. Stopped working out orbital mechanics of the planets and turned their energies towards developing the most awesome mullet that anyone had ever seen. (OK maybe that was just me.)

While girls would sleep with me just because of my awesome mullet, part of me will always wonder, if I had spent the energy that I put into developing my mullet and put it into designing a new spacecraft, would humans be colonizing the rest of the solar system by now? We will never know the answer to that, but if we can inspire a generation of youth to master the solar system, it might stop the 30% dropout rate among students.

Medium Term (The next 50 years)

He3:

Helium 3 has the potential to make fusion power a reality. He3 extremely rare here on Earth, but plentiful on the Moon. Fusion Power could not only free us from fossil fuels, but it would open up the rest of the solar system.

It is no secret that oil has peaked, it took us 125 years to burn through our first trillion barrels of oil, we will go through the next trillion in 25 years. At the current rate of growth in consumption we would need an addition 3 trillion barrels of oil to get through the next 50 years. No estimates, no matter how optimistic, assume the Earth has that much oil.

Not only do we need to conserve as much energy as we can and use renewable sources whenever possible but we will need a true replacement for fossil fuels, only fusion offers to be that replacement for the next millennia.

Fusion from He3 hasn’t been proven yet, but if we don’t have access to an abundant supply we can’t even do the necessary testing to see if it He3 fusion can give off more energy than it uses. The longer we wait to do the groundwork the longer it will be until we get results.

Space Infrastructure:

One argument against NASA going to the Moon is that with the success of Virgin Galactic and SpaceX, space should be left to private industries. This is a false dichotomy, as NASA operates a Lunar Colony it opens up opportunities for private space industry.

The ISS will need to be a stepping-stone for the initial lunar operations. It is too small to do this alone and NASA will need to use its rockets for the actual Lunar Colony. This gives private industries an opportunity to contract some of the launches to the ISS and beyond.

NASA will need to train its astronauts in low and zero gee, Virgin Galactic is in a perfect position to contract some of these training flights both in its version of the vomit comet and in SpaceShip Two. Having a full 7 minutes of weightlessness is the best training for long-term weightlessness.

NASA will also need to have more astronauts in Low Earth Orbit, If Bigelow Aerospace knows it will have a contract for hosting a few astronauts in its space hotel it will have incentive to build more.

As private industry steps up to fill NASA’s needs in Low Earth Orbit, NASA can contract that work out. Just like the Federal Government uses commercial airlines for flying even though it has a huge fleet of its own jets.

With a robust space program mining the Moon private industry can take over Low Earth Orbit operation until companies are ready to set up their own bases on the Moon.

Long-Term

The Earth is not going to be perfect for humans forever. A huge solar flare could set the atmosphere on fire, a large comet could send the ecosystem out of whack. In 5 billion years the Sun will turn into a Red Dwarf consuming our humble planet.

Humans will perish if we don’t go into space. By spreading out throughout the Solar System it will take more than one of these events to completely destroy humanity. Space is humanities destiny, if we stay only on Earth we shall die.

2009-05-02T19:12:00.001-07:00

The Dalai Lama: A Good Showman but an Empty Robe

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

Audience member: “Can you give us an example of a leader we should look up to as a positive influence?”

Dalai Lama (after thinking for a few seconds): “President Bush. I met him personally and liked him very much. He was honest and straightforward, and that is very important. I may not have agreed with all his policies, but I thought he was very honest and a very good leader.”

The Dalai Lama has been shown to be something of a showman and a likely CIA stooge. He has previously gone on record supporting "just" wars like the one in Iraq and the War on Terror.

Unfortunately the Dalai Lama has put his own cause above the cause of humanity. The Dalai gets a great deal of US support (likely financial) for his continued discrediting of the Chinese government on the issues of Tibet. In 2007, Bush presented the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Medal of Freedom for his support of US policies around the world.

The people of Tibet and their treatment are an important issue. However, the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, and all of those countries suffering under the policies of Global Empire (globalization) are no less important.

The Dalai Lama's words are beautiful and his smile is pleasant, but his moral character is lacking. The Dalai Lama writes (if in fact he writes all of his books) about the need for compassion and the negation of selfishness. However, the Dalai Lama has demonstrated an inability to feel or care for other oppressed peoples besides Tibetans.

Real compassion for all people would have meant that the Dalai Lama would have made strong statements against aggressive wars for resources and strategic positioning for empire. Abandoning selflessness would have meant that the Dalai Lama would recognize that the struggles of the Tibetan people should be aligned with the struggles of all oppressed peoples.

One could argue that the Dalai Lama is goofy and incapable of understanding the massive evil of the military industrial complex. But the Dalai Lama is astute at promoting himself and his cause, therefore it is highly unlikely that the Dalai is a fool. Rather his survival and that of his particular branch of Buddhism has much to do with his intelligence and abilities.

Humanity is in dire need of real moral courage and compassion. Sadly the Dalai Lama has shown himself to be a better showman than person. His words and actions at such a critical time in human history will likely create an unhelpful Karma for himself (if you believe in what he preaches). But more importantly for the world, the Dalai Lama is promoting a Karma (war) that will likely mean that many continue to suffer around the world.

The Dalai Lama has a great Karmic responsibility for his actions.

2009-04-28T14:58:00.001-07:00

Specter's Move to Democrats: So What?

Image by Dom Dada via Flickr

By Grant Lawrence

"I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."
Republican, er I mean, Democratic Senator Arlen Specter regarding his reason for leaving the GOP.

Senator Specter is a man of principle or rather principally a political opportunist. Like every politician, Specter is concerned about keeping his political position. So not being a particularly stupid person, Specter obviously looked around, saw the collapse of the Republican Party in the Northeast , and thought that it might be a good idea for him to get on a life boat before the GOP Titanic sinks further into the deep waters of public outrage and animosity.

Specter also would have faced a difficult Republican primary in 2010 because he is seen as too moderate by the glassy eyed religious fanatics and the Teabaggers that still make up of what is left of a dying Republican Party in the United States.

So what does Specter's move to the Democratic Party mean for America?

Not much.

Although the Democrats will soon have enough votes to break a Republican filibuster with 60 seats in the Senate (after Senator Al Franken comes aboard), the difference between both parties are little more than cosmetic. Especially in the Senate, there is not much difference between the agendas of the Republicrat parties. Sure the Democrats will make legislative moves that will give the appearance of populism and change (like the Bill of Rights for Credit Card Holders legislation which merely gives consumers a little more information and notice before they get screwed), but it will be business as usual for the bankers and corporate power interests that actually run America.

Senator Arlen Specter becoming a Democrat, a Green, or resigning will not change the power dynamics in Washington.

In fact, Specter's move from Democrat (in his early career) to Republican and now back to Democrat is representative of power politics in Washington. The Military Industrial Complex power structure merely uses both parties for power and position. They pretend to endorse whichever party has some popularity and momentum, but the power structure always make sure both parties endorse their agenda. Arlen Specter is representative of this process.

2009-04-27T22:02:00.001-07:00

The Global Pandemic Coincidence

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

Now the world seems to be in a grip of a pandemic. I find it somewhat coincidental that the swine flu pandemic would arise just as the world is in the grip of a fantastic economic downturn that economists used to call depression.

At this point, know one knows for sure if the flu will be somewhat tame or kill millions of people.

But there are a couple of points worth noting.

In the future, it will be very difficult for the world to sustain a growing human population that is already approaching 7 billion people. To our present global power structure, people are looked upon as resources, just like minerals, plants, and animals. That means that to the global elite that control much of the world, people are not looked upon in terms of caring and human feeling. Rather, decisions are made in terms of costs and benefits.

The global power elite surely has done a cost-benefit analysis on the benefit of keeping so many people around and they have likely come to some understanding that there is no longer the need for that much cheap labor. The downturn in the economy means that there will no longer be a great demand for sweat shop and near slave labor, even when that labor comes at such a small cost.

In fact, a large pool of global labor will no longer be needed to be exploited now or in the long term future when there is such a decline in economic consumption. The cost-benefit analysis has likely shown the owners of the world that a large mass of people are eating more than they are worth. Or to borrow a phrase from Henry Kissinger, billions of people in an economic downturn means that we have a lot of "useless eaters" in the eyes of the global power structure.

Also technology means that less workers are needed for manufacturing, farming, and other formerly labor intensive enterprises. With a bit more ingenuity, technology can be used to make many occupations all but obsolete. This point, I am sure, has not gone unnoticed to the globalists that have mapped out their New World Order.

The solution.

I think that like any good businessmen, the power structure will follow their own cost-benefit analysis and act to reduce the human population.

Now if humanity had a somewhat enlightened and humane leadership, the masters of our world would enact certain governmental policies to help reduce human numbers. An enlightened world elite would enact sweeping social and political agendas to gradually and humanely reduce the numbers of people on the planet. Propaganda techniques would be employed to condition people to act in their own self interest and have less children. The media as well as our so-called religious leaders could be made to join in the movement for greater birth control. The power elite could make it economically difficult for people to have more than a few children. The owners of the world could enact massive education and cultural programs to demonstrate the dangers of a large human population to human survival.

Unfortunately, humanity has a ruthless, greedy, and malevolent leadership that is likely looking to gain greater power, meet their objections in a brutish way, and profit from a crisis.

That is why I am a little suspicious of this likely pandemic. It comes at a time when the world doesn't need the labor and the environmental stress of human activity is degrading the possibilities of planetary survival.

As we have seen for nearly a century, human suffering is big business and there is always a lot of money to be made in it. We have seen how our own military industrial complex has made obscene fortunes off war and war preparation. Nearly half of all of American tax dollars go to pay for past, present, and future wars, war industry, and war readiness. That is a lot of money going into the hands of the bankers and the war profiteers that run the economic machine of globalization or global empire. We have seen an intentional policy of creating and encouraging enemies so that an endless game of war and war preparedness can continue to build a vast wealth for those in power.

It is this same power structure, the military industrial complex, that controls the pharmaceutical and medical establishment. A good pandemic could not only help to reduce the population a bit but it would also be good for the bottom line. The people of the world would be needing vaccines, medicines, supplies, and medical technology to help ease the crisis. All of this would mean more profit for a very limited few.

Nearly a decade ago, a number of microbiologists began dying at an alarming rate and under strange circumstances. This could have all been coincidence, but it could have had something to do with their level of expertise and knowledge. They might have known too much and for that they may have paid for their knowledge with their lives. Perhaps their skill and knowledge would have been greatly needed during a pandemic or perhaps some helped to develop a strain of virus that could kill millions.

Of course, some of this is conjecture. But what isn't conjecture is that there is a systematic policy by world leaders to exploit and kill for profit. That is what we have seen happening to humanity through our present New World Empire and its economic arm globalization.

During the last century, we have seen around 70 million people killed in wars. Most of this massive human suffering tremendously profited those in positions of power such as the capitalist robber barons and bankers. This power structure has controlled much of human activity and affairs of state for centuries.

I don't think it is too much of stretch to think that the world's power elite would like to see a good pandemic to go with their murderous wars, their exploitive labor, and their environmental degradation for maximum profit.

I guess I am cynical or a bit conspiratorial but when there is money to be made, goals to be met, and greater power to be gained then I have little trust in the present killing machine that runs much of the world. A pandemic might be highly useful to them and they may someday help initiate one. Maybe they did just that down in Mexico City.

2009-04-18T22:01:00.001-07:00

The Flow of Life is Found in the Truth of Life

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

We have all experienced it. The times life seems to go in a certain flow. We seem to be moving in the right direction effortlessly. At other times, life seems a terrible struggle. Surely, we would all like to spend more time in that Flow of life that makes us feel so good and so whole.

We exist in a sea of energy. In modern physics there is the understanding that all quantum mechanical systems have a zero point energy or energy that exists in vacuum state. It is believed that the vacuum or ground state is loaded with particles and energy. It is estimated that there is enough zero point energy existing in a cubic centimeter to boil away all of the earth's oceans entirely.

In Asia there is a general understanding of this energy and it is called by some cultures as Qi or Prana. It is a flow of energy that sustains all of life. There is the belief that a blocking of this energy is the source of disease. In fact, in traditional Chinese medicine there is the concept that the human body is a small universe composed of interconnected systems. When there is an imbalance (yin/yang) with respect to the life force or Qi then there will not be healthy functioning.

As a mental health professional, I witness daily the damage that the blocking of emotional energy causes to mental and emotional functioning. After establishing trust with the client, it is imperative that therapist facilitate a re-connection to the client's inner and outer world. Often, in an attempt to avoid pain, a client will block certain thoughts and feelings. But there is generally a big price to be paid for this lack of inner awareness and understanding. The psyche finds a way to manifest that which is being blocked and that can result in depression, addictions, dysfunctional behaviors, and breaks with reality.

Clearly, a blocking of this powerful life energy is experienced by living energy systems as pain, discomfort, suffering or some sort of dysfunction. However the opposite is also true. The free flow of Qi, Prana, or life energy is experienced by living systems as happiness, well being, peace, and proper functioning.

So then, this feeling of being in the Flow is actually something that captures the essence of health of body, mind, and spirit. The blocking of the Flow is something that can have deleterious consequences to the total being of a living system.

How is it that we can spend more time in "the Flow" and less time in the struggle of life?

The answer can be found in an understanding of systems. A system is "a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole." Our body is a system that operates from elements working in harmony and balance with each other. The body works in various stages of homeostasis or stability but it functions in some sort of balance until it is overcome with disease or dies. Life is composed of an infinite number of systems.

Systems function as either, more or less, closed or open energy systems. A closed energy system is more isolated from its environment and more constricted from environmental interactions.
A closed system contains limited energies and will run down. In contrast, a more open energy system is an interacting system that is able to gain a potentially unlimited supply of energy from its surrounding environment.

The key to living more of life in the Flow can be found in applying the principles of openness in our own lives. When we are constricted, we have shut down much of our communication and interaction with the rest of life around us. We constrict ourselves by limiting our awareness, our focus, and our feelings to a very narrow range of energies that exist within and without us. But when we are open we have a great interest, care, and feeling for life. We are aware of the life that is going on all around us and we feel energized by it and motivated to share in the life process with other living beings.

Again as energy systems, we cannot be completely open or closed but we can become more or less open or closed. The choice is ours. What type of life do we want to live and how much joy do we wish to have in our own life. We can shut down to much of the energy that Flows as life and become a more closed energy system. Or, we can open up to life's energy Flow by living in greater Awareness and we can experience life as more Loving and complete.

Many believe that Love is impossible to maintain or even have. But that is because there is a blocking of Awareness of the basic principle of life. When we maintain Awareness we come to understand the principle that we could not exist without the rest of life. When we understand that we have our life because of other living beings then we develop a great appreciation and care for that which gives life. This awareness of the truth of our existence opens our minds and hearts to the energy Flow of life (Qi, Prana) and it also heals us. It brings us greater joy and happiness in our lives.

So an Awareness of the reality of our lives will open our hearts and minds and will be felt as the power of Love. What will flower in us will be a great and powerful Love because we will now be a more open system. We will experience the Flow of life that is really nothing more than a restoring or healing energy that allows us to live in a healthy balance within and without ourselves. The blocking of awareness of the Truth of life is constricting and it leads to all manner of physical, emotional, and societal ills.

To live Life more fully and in greater Love then there has to be an openness that arises with awareness of the Truth.

The Truth is simple but hard to comprehend. There is no separation and we all depend on each other for life. Love arises from an understanding and a practice of this Truth in our own life. An understanding and a practice of this will open us to the healing energy of life and make life more happy and joyful. Love is the flowering that comes from a practice and an understanding of Truth. As we become a more open energy system through an Awareness of Truth, the Love will grow in an unlimited blooming that is healing to ourselves and others.

The Flow is found in being open to the Truth of Existence. That nothing can exist on its own and we are all a part of each other. Once we realize that Life is divisible only in our minds then we come to an understanding that in reality there is only Life and we are all that Life. With Understanding arises a great Love for all of life that transfroms us into a more open energy system. That transformation into Openness, we experience as the Flow of Life.

2009-04-18T19:02:00.001-07:00

All is Well for the Owners of the Country

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

....Unemployment rose in 46 states during the month, and 12 states plus the District of Columbia posted unemployment rates in March that were significantly higher than the 8.5% nationwide figure the government released earlier this month....

Things are better for the banks so All is Well. In the meantime the rest of the American public are facing an economic catastrophe.
But the good news is that the banks are doing better. In our corporatist system when the banks are in trouble the economy is doing bad and when the banks are making big money the economy is good. It doesn't matter if you have a job or even a way to feed your family.
If you ever wondered who actually controlled the country then just look at where the trillions of dollars went.
All is Well. The banks are doing better.

Grant Lawrence

2009-04-16T19:07:00.001-07:00

Obama Practicing P.T. Barnum Politics--A Carnival of Deceit

Image by jmtimages via Flickr

By Grant Lawrence

"There is a sucker born every minute" Attributed to P.T. Barnum

"Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past." President Obama on why he will not prosecute CIA officers for torture.

This argument makes no sense.

If someone were to shoot or to rob someone then the victims and their families would demand justice.

But the victims and their families, according to President Obama, would be wrong because under Obama's ethical framework there is no sense spending time or energy trying to find blame in wrongdoing.

No, instead all those that commit illegal acts or atrocities should not have to face prosecution or imprisonment for those acts. It just doesn't do any good.

So my suggestion is that all of those in prison for crimes should be let go right now. Prisoners are paying a heavy penalty for something that happened in the past. It doesn't do anyone any good to have them locked in an attempt to place blame. No, the nation needs to move on and all prisoners and those awaiting trial should be free of the "blame game." It is time to move forward and to focus on making things better, so we need to let every prisoner free to move on with their lives so America can move on.

Obama has applied the same twisted reasoning with the economic crisis. The Banksters, according to President Obama, should not be held accountable because that is trying to revisit past errors and that is living in the past. No, the Banksters should be given huge bonuses and bailed out for trillions of dollars so that the financial con people can move on with their lives and so can the nation.

Obama is playing the American people and the world for suckers. He knows he can get by with applying this nonsense because most people don't like to think. Instead they like "Change they can believe in" and "Yes, we can" slogans while they are being lied to and ripped off.

Obama has transformed from a symbol of hope to a type of carnival huckster. The American people and the world are being played by a masterful con man in a carnival of deceit.

2009-04-15T19:15:00.001-07:00

If You Are Not on a Terrorist Watch List--Just Wait

By Grant Lawrence

"Let me be very clear: we monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States," Homeland Security Secretary Ms. Napolitano said regarding a recent government report that states Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan need to be watched as possible homegrown terrorists.

Ms. Napolitano, let me be very clear.

What you are saying is that it is OK for Americans to fight and Die for this country but when they return then they have to be watched as possible terror suspects.

This is some way to treat the veterans that your military industrial complex repeatedly tells us are responsible for preserving our "supposed" freedoms.

Now let' s see. We have possible home grown terrorists of all types here in the US.

Environmental, Religious, Ron Paul Supporters, Veterans, Anti-War, Animal Activists, Anti Abortion, Anti-Immigration, terrorist suspects are just a few of the homegrowns we need to watch.

What about the rest of Americans. Are they possible Homegrown Terrorists that needs to be watched?

If you aren't on a list already, just wait.

2009-04-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

Yea, Things are Hopeful: Sales a Big Unexpected Drop

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

"Recently we have seen tentative signs that the sharp decline in economic activity may be slowing," Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke on the hopeful signs in a housing, credit, and financial crisis the worst since the Great Depression.

Things are hopeful so don't let the collapse of the American auto market or the deflation reported for the first time in a half century bother you.

Oh, and don't let this other piece of news interfere with the economic rebound we are all beginning to experience.

Stores Suffer Big Drop in March Sales

CNNMoney.com -- Retail sales suffered an unexpected big decline in March which broke two straight months of improving sales, the government reported Tuesday.

The Commerce Department said total retail sales fell 1.1% last month, compared with February's revised gain of 0.3%. Sales in February were originally reported to have dipped 0.1%....

The economy stinks, people are jobless, but Economic Propaganda is working.

2009-04-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

How Social Darwinism and Fundamental Christianity Brought about the Collapse of the American Economy

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

"Decisions on compensation and other actions taken and not taken, particularly at banks that rapidly lost a lot of shareholder value, look self-serving and greedy in hindsight".
Goldman Sachs Chairman Lloyd C. Blankfein recently stating that that the "appearance" of greed and self serving may not have been good. It is, however, just the "appearance" of greed and self serving that Chairman Blankfein sees as the problem. The Chairman of Goldman Sachs knows that it was the love of money that made this country what it is today.

It was Ronald Reagan, Milton Freedman, and TV Evangelists like Pat Robertson, Tammy Fae and Jim Baker, and Jimmy Swaggert that taught Americans to really Love Money. It was a marriage made in hell. Free Market big business, or modern day Social Darwinians, and Fundamentalist Christians joined forces in one common interest--money. Together they helped bring about another terrible event in disaster capitalism.

Wait a minute.

You might be wondering how it is that the Social Darwinians and Fundamentalist Christians joined forces to bring about our present calamity.

Americans have always loved money but over the last several decades it became an all consuming desire brought on by something seemingly more powerful than God--Greed. Or in the view of Fundamentalist Christians, it was the power of greed that served God.

Americans were taught that acting in self serving ways was what nature or God intended us to do. That was the message of our modern day Social Darwinians (Bankers, CEOs, and Market Capitalists) and their partners the Fundamentalist Christians.

Of course, the marriage might seem a bit odd since Social Darwinism believes in Evolution and the Bible believing Christians think that God created everything in 7 days or 6 or 7000 years (I guess we have a choice here).

It all gets confusing, I know. But let me try to explain.

Social Darwinian Big Business believe that humanity improves when there is less charity and only the strong are able to survive. They believe that our government actually interferes with human evolution by setting up welfare and governmental social programs because it allows the weak to live. To Social Darwinians giving to the poor is seen as a bad thing since it goes against competition, takes money away from corporate welfare, and negates the urge to accumulate vast amounts of wealth. The Love of Money is seen as a good thing because it makes people do anything to get it, which is of course a good thing (circular reasoning but it seemed to make sense to Americans).

Greed, according to the Social Darwinians, is what makes the economy and humanity work so well. It is important to note here that Social Darwinians do believe in charitable giving but only when it comes to bailing themselves and their business enterprises out. Still they can argue that they must be bailed out because they are greedy and that makes them special. Also Social Darwinians would like to help evolution along by getting rid of a few billion of the weak but that is another story.

The Bible believing Christians joined forces with the Social Darwinian business interests because they also think that social programs destroy society and they really love money. They don't like the idea of the government helping people survive because "God helps those that help themselves." God is the go to guy when it comes to getting all of the things needed for survival and much more. The Fundamentalists like the idea of the super rich getting super richer because they believe that the obscene rich deserve their fabulous wealth or "God would not have blessed them." To the Fundamentalists, God really likes you if you have a big house and lots of cars. In fact, God really loves your church if it is as big as a Wal-Mart Super Center. They firmly believe that God loves those that really Love money or else he wouldn't have blessed our "Christian Nation."

Now true Bible believing Christians want to make sure God is getting help in getting his "Will" done, so they do everything they can to make sure that the poor remain poor. They will be happy to offer a prayer for the poor (that doesn't cost anything). But when it comes to actually supporting a just society, Fundamentalist Christians will curse those that promote such anti-Christian views.

Fundamentalists see Greed as God ordained. They believe that God made man greedy and that is why we need capitalism. I guess they don't have much faith in Jesus saving anyone or they might be thinking people could respond to something besides greed. They also believe that if you interfere with man's God given right to be Greedy then you interfere with God's chosen economy--Capitalism. God developed capitalism because Jesus died for our sins. Or something like that. I guess it is all right there in the Bible or at least that is what I am told.

However, there is one thing that Fundamentalist Christians don't like and that is to be poor. So they love it when they themselves or members of their immediate family collect their social security or disability checks. But they get awfully unhappy when someone else collects a social security or disability check. That is because fundamentalist Christians are greedy and they see that as a good thing.

The only thing a Fundamentalist Christian loves as much as Jesus is money. Or at least if you really love Jesus then you will get lots and lots of money, they believe.

That is how the Fundamentalists fell in love with Big Business and the Free Market. They all Love Money and they think Greed is good.

Fundamentalist Christians and Social Darwinians had to bless their marriage so they had a baby, so to speak, and that was George W. Bush.

Bush was a man of God and a greedy creep so he was perfect in the eyes of his parents, the Fundamentalists and the Social Darwinians. They were happy to see him doing the work of God or nature (depending on which way you look at it) by making the super rich super richer, by killing a million or so Non Christians along with thousands of American soldiers, and by making sure the poor and the working poor had a tough time of it.

It was all going so well. But there was one problem. It turns out that the Love of Money is the root of all evil (where did I read that?).

So just as you might expect, the system began collapsing because of Greed. The Fundamentalist Christians began to disown their "Christian President" and the forces of Social Darwinism began looking for another "creature of Nature" to carry out their social engineering. The 2 parents of this evolutionary throwback Bush began questioning the diabolical work that resulted in our present economic collapse. The 2 Lovers of Money began to fall out of love for each other and they disowned their marriage and its progeny.

Today, the 2 former lovers are looking for a new relationship but they will not abandon their great Love--The Love of Money. The Fundamentalist Christians and the Big Business Social Darwinians have abandoned each other but they will not abandon the fundamental principle that united them in the past and that is that Greed is ultimately good. Or, the Love of Money is a rising tide that lifts all boats or something like that.

Perhaps it is a bit confusing this former marriage of Christian Fundamentalism and Social Darwinism, but it could be a bit clearer if you only had more faith....in money that is.

Teabagging for Change

2009-04-11T05:02:00.001-07:00

Conservative women are taking are adopting a new strategy to protest Obama’s tax increase on the top 1% of earners. They are teabagging liberals.

Fox news is urging everyone to attend these teabagging parties. At the teabagging parties the organizers promise a surprise, I’m wondering if that means Lady Liberty will get teabagged on stage?

Image courteously of Confined Space.

Surprisingly women of all walks of life are getting into this movement. I went out to check peoples reaction to the teabagging parties and interview people on the street. I was running a little late and didn’t do my interviews until 2am, but I did find a few women on the street corners.

I approached them and asked them this question. “Could you help me with my poll? I’m wondering if you would teabag for change?”

The answers ranged from $10 to $25. I’m considering those as yeses.

I have asked the organizers to turn it into a contest and have women compete to see who can teabag the most liberals. The top teabagger could get some sort of award and be given the title “Best Teabagger”.

If enough people ask them to run this contest I’m sure it will get national news attention.
Put your request here. http://newamericanteaparty.com/2009/02/26/a-few-updates/comment-page-1/#comment-3259

2009-04-05T14:24:00.001-07:00

Why American Workers Remain Docile

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Chris Martinson.com

By Russ B

...Taken together, guilt, shame and individualism undercut any impulse to collective action, then as now, Professor Kennedy said. Noting that Americans felt stunned and desperately insecure during the Depression's early years, he wrote: "What struck most observers, and mystified them, was the eerie docility of the American people, their stoic passivity as the Depression grindstone rolled over them..."

Today the NYT has an article exploring why American workers are so docile in the face of such abusive treatment as they've recieved from the system.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/weekinreview/05greenhouse.html?ref=todayspaper

I agree with the basic analysis that it's a combination of top-down suppression and bottom-up character failings endemic to America. Here's a few thoughts on the piece:

Quote:

But in recent decades, American workers have increasingly steered clear of such militancy, for reasons that range from fear of having their jobs shipped overseas to their self-image as full-fledged members of the middle class, with all its trappings and aspirations.

This sums up the comprehensive carrot/stick social control plan:

1. Seduce the American with get-rich propaganda and visions of materialist hedonism, and actually make alot of this worthless junk "affordable" if you go deep into consumer debt. This is the core of the consumerist ideology.

2. Under globalization (which also is based on and enables the explosion of debt), hold a gun to every worker's head, since almost no one's job isn't offshorable.

3. Now he's afraid to get uppity. He's deeply in debt on account of his SUV, McMansion, and plasma TV, and he trembles for his job.

Certainly no one in such a conformist, self-enslaved position should be called an "individualist". And yet:

Quote:

David Kennedy, a Stanford historian and author of "Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945," says that America's individualist streak is a major reason for this reluctance to take to the streets. Citing a 1940 study by the social psychologist Mirra Komarovsky, he said her interviews of the Depression-era unemployed found "the psychological reaction was to feel guilty and ashamed, that they had failed personally."

Taken together, guilt, shame and individualism undercut any impulse to collective action, then as now, Professor Kennedy said. Noting that Americans felt stunned and desperately insecure during the Depression's early years, he wrote: "What struck most observers, and mystified them, was the eerie docility of the American people, their stoic passivity as the Depression grindstone rolled over them."

Can we please stop tarnishing the term and concept "individualism" by applying it to conformist louts? An individualist is someone who strikes out on his own path. That he doesn't readily collectivize is on account of his innate divergence from the norm and from material shackles.

But someone who abjectly conforms with every social and materialistic orthodoxy, who is the least self-reliant, most inherently dependent person imaginable, but who is also a jerk who doesn't work well with others and sneers at collective action because that's what pinkos and tree-huggers do, is the radical opposite of an "individualist".

Quote:

Today, American workers, even those earning $20,000 a year, tend to view themselves as part of an upwardly mobile middle class. In contrast, European workers often still see themselves as proletarians in an enduring class struggle.

Historically, this is the socioeconomic base for fascism - those who are in fact downwardly mobile, but who are indoctrinated into the ideology of middle-class upward mobility and desperately cling to this ideal in the face of reality, and who fear and loathe the notion of "proletarianization". (This class status ideal also contributes to the dynamic I described above, anti-individualist but also anti-collective. Really just confused loutism.)

Quote:

And American labor leaders, once up-from-the-street rabble-rousers, now often work hand-in-hand with C.E.O.'s to improve corporate competitiveness to protect jobs and pensions, and try to sideline activists who support a hard line.

All too true. We see this in the environmental movement as well. (There have been incidents of it among Peak Oilers too.)

All War is a Crime and There are No "Good Wars"

All beings tremble before danger, all fear death. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill.
All beings fear before danger, life is dear to all. When a man considers this, he does not kill or cause to kill.

-The Buddha--Dhammapada 54

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

It is strange how humanity has been conditioned to accept the idea that there are only certain acts of war that are criminal. When in fact, the act of war is itself is a crime.

Now some may argue that there are good wars and therefore it is important that we accept the term "war crime" to acknowledge the claim that certain acts of state sponsored killing are needed and other acts are too horrific. They usually point to World War 2 as being a good war because ultimately it brought down that mad man Hitler.

The "good war" argument has been used to justify the killing and maiming of tens of millions of people since World War 2. The good war paradigm has brought us the Cold War, the Korean War, Vietnam, the endless wars south of our border, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the War in Afghanistan. The good war argument is also used around the world to justify the mass killing of people for the sake of humanity.

But war is inhumane and that is all there is to it. Now the fact that a government sanctions the killing of millions doesn't make it a good war.

But what about World War 2, wasn't that a necessary war?

In the case of Germany, the war didn't just spring from a mad man's mind. But it had it roots in another event of economic "disaster capitalism" called the Great Depression and a punitive Treaty of Versailles leveled against the Germans by the Allied powers. It is not too surprising that a suffering German people would lose their heads and abandon humane principles in an effort to find a solution. Still Hitler never had more than 37% of support among the German people in honest elections. The real support that Hitler had came from corporations in Germany and around the world. Germany was a monster created from disaster capitalism and the leaders of that system. When we look at the rise of fascism in Italy we see similar forces at work.

But what about the Japanese and their attack on Pearl Harbor?

Japan was a colonial power and that was something it learned from Europe. Still, even after a US steel and oil embargo that was crippling the island:

....Prime Minister Konoye called in Ambassador Joseph Grew and secretly offered to meet FDR in Juneau or anywhere in the Pacific. According to Grew, Konoye was willing to give up Indochina and China, except a buffer region in the north to protect her from Stalin, in return for the U.S. brokering a peace with China and opening up the oil pipeline. Konoye told Grew that Emperor Hirohito knew of his initiative and was ready to give the order for Japan's retreat.

Fearful of a "second Munich," America spurned the offer. Konoye fell from power and was replaced by Hideki Tojo. Still, war was not inevitable. U.S. diplomats prepared to offer Japan a "modus vivendi." If Japan withdrew from southern Indochina, the United States would partially lift the oil embargo. But Chiang Kai-shek became "hysterical," and his American adviser, one Owen Lattimore, intervened to abort the proposal....From the American Cause, Founder Patrick Buchanon

So Japan chose to attack the United States rather than face a brutal economic end to empire from a US oil embargo.

As we can see, if we decide to look with open eyes, wars don't just arise from nothing or even the mind of a mad man. Even if we examine supposedly good wars, we see that they arise from acts of injustice, dehumanization, and intransigence from all sides. Wars have roots and if we were to strike at the roots we could avoid even supposedly "good wars."

The truth about war is much as the Nazi General Hermann Goering Declared it.

"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. quote verified at snopes.com"

As long as people believe in "good wars" then they will be doomed to face the evils of war. There are no good wars and all war is a crime. Unless most of the world's population begin to look at war itself as a crime against humanity, we will be doomed to continue in an endless round of wars for good causes.

Today, Americans are once again being fed a heavy dose of lies that we have finally gotten it right. We are now fighting the good war. All of the past wars, except for World War 2, were not the really good wars. But now Americans and our European allies have finally found a war that we know is good.

How do we know it is good?

Well we have a new President. He proclaims to be a man of the people and he is telling us that we finally have the right war.

But in the end, our Afghanistan war will be like all of the rest. Just a vicious killing spree that will cause a great deal of suffering to a large number of people. It won't be a good war for the people because there is no such thing as a good war. There won't be some incidences of war crimes because all war is a crime.

This Afghanistan war will, however, continue grow vast fortunes and increase power for a very few war profiteers that actually run much of the world. That makes it a good war for them and that is why we will continue to fight it.

Living in a place I was taught didn’t exist in America

2009-04-05T04:28:00.001-07:00

I just got my taxes back; I had a badly paying job where I earned a whopping $2,469 for the year. Included in that was two months of unpaid training 100 miles away, it cost me roughly $1,000 in gas and a few hundred in maintenance on my car. So according to the tax tables I had over $5,000 in deductions or more than what I earned so my taxable income was $0.00.

I filed (even though I was below the reporting threshold) to get my stimulus check and earned income credit. Money I desperately need as on my current job I am called in when needed and because of the recession they haven’t needed me for more than a couple days a month.

According to the IRS I didn’t make enough money last year to qualify for help and I owe them $186.14. If I had made $531 more last year I would have been entitled to a rebate but because my income was so low ($0.00 taxable income) I owe them money.

If they had given me the rebate and I could count it on my gross income it would have put me over the threshold.

Growing up I had been taught that in America we had a safety net, so that if someone is hit with a string a bad luck they won’t be tossed out on the street. Now that I’ve been hit by two years of incredibly bad luck I’ve found out that it isn’t true.

In the past two years I had my good paying Securities Broker job disappear when the owner of the company disappeared with the all the companies money, only to read in the paper a few weeks later that he was arrested for selling Crystal Meth to a minor.

I went to work for a competing business that was in bad shape and after a few months things were picking up and it looked like the company would be stable. Then the owner of that business disappeared with my commission check.

After those great experiences I went to work for an Insurance company, for that I needed to go through two months unpaid training and I miscalculated my money (my bad this time), and after all the hard work and expense going to training I didn’t have money to make the 30 mile drive to work every day leaving me in a dire financial position.

Going to the various government agencies I found out that the only government assistance available was food stamps. It helps but it’s not enough to feed me and my wife, we’ve lost over 20 lbs each.

I found out that the energy assistance program through our local utility company, that I had been giving money to for the last 10 years, doesn’t help people pay their electric bill. I’ve got no clue where that money I sent went.

To try and survive, I donated plasma and delivered pizzas. The pizza place could only use me a couple days a week until sales dropped and now they only call me in when someone is sick. The machine broke at the donor center while I was donating, making me unable to give for 3 months. So my luck continues.

Now the IRS wants $186.14; that is not the idea of a safety net that I had learned about growing up. Taxing someone more because they are broke isn’t a safety net, it is down right cruel.

The worst part about being in my current situation is that I’ve always considered myself a charitable person, when I had a decent salary I would give a few thousand a year to different charities. If I had known how little support there actually was in this country for people who have a turn of bad luck I would have given more.

In a shameless attempt to raise money to pay my phone bill so I can continue posting I’m asking everyone to click here Associated Content to help me out.

100 Hours of Astronomy

2009-04-02T02:22:00.001-07:00

2009 is the International year of Astronomy, so what better way to kick it off than with 100 Hours of Astronomy.

For three days from April 2-5 astronomers around the world will be reaching out to the public to in an effort to get people interested in the Universe.

To find an event near you check out 100 Hours of Astronomy.

2009-04-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

Ants and Bees Too Advanced--No Politicians, Bankers, or Lawyers

Image by Colin Purrington via Flickr

Ants and bees have long been recognized as tireless workers, but now new research suggests they behave like model citizens, too.
Recent News that certain animals and insects really do have the interests of the group at heart.

By Grant Lawrence

Maybe it is just me. I would like to think that human evolution is progressing. But then I get a bit down when I read that ants and bees have done a really great job learning to cooperate and we humans are still wanting to blow each other up, steal from each other, and exploit each other.

But our chaotic human selfishness isn't what it is like in a beehive. "In a beehive, the workers are happy to help the community, even to die, because the queen carries and passes on their genes," according to Science Daily

Maybe things are so great in a beehive because the Queen bee is an enlightened monarch who really cares about her subjects. Maybe all the bees are working together and cooperating because they understand that the survival of the hive and future generations depend on them cooperating with each other. Maybe humans could someday learn from the bees.

Maybe, but not likely.

When I consider the ants and the bees, I think that we must be dealing with an enlightened bunch. But then I think about humans and it all goes down hill from there. Human beings are always looking to get one over on each other. Worse, humans don't like to give resources to the poor and needy because they call that socialism. Humans think the poor and needy are lazy and don't deserve to survive. It isn't the way of freedom. Instead humans like to give their resources to the super rich because they call that a free market.

Now human wealth distribution may not make sense to bees and ants, but somehow it sure makes sense to humans. Just look at America and the recent giving of trillions of dollars to the banksters which does little but to protect the wealth of the super wealthy. At the same time, millions of workers depend on the auto industry and government leaders don't want to support that industry and plans to let it go bankrupt.

But it gets worse, worldwide there are a billion people underfed or starving but nearly half of the wealth of the planet is controlled by 2% of the population.

Now the human defense industry wouldn't make a lot of sense to ants and bees either. Humans think that only the "lazy" poor and needy should die defending their countries. Of course, it is the super rich that actually benefit from the human wealth distribution system so you would think that very rich would be the first in line to protect their system. But a defense system in which everyone actually fights to protect the group evidently would only work for bees and ants.

Not only do the human rich never fight in the wars. They are the ones that actually start them and then get rich off of them. In the human way of freedom, it is the rich that own the guns and bombs that blow up all the rest of the people. The human super rich then make vast fortunes watching the poor and needy fight and die for them.

So the human way wouldn't make much sense to a bee or an ant. If a couple bees or ants tried to take advantage of the rest of their group. If they were cowardly, greedy, and wouldn't fight in the defense of the group, well you could imagine what the bees and ants would do. They would probably all ban together and eat the greedy ones for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Now I don't advocate bee and ant justice but then again I am not a bee or an ant. We humans are more evolved than that.

Humans are the most highly advanced of the earth's creatures. Or at least that is what we are told. Humans don't think a system of exploitation and environmental destruction for the wealthy is a bad idea. Instead, advanced humanity likes to support a destructive system so a very few humans can have it all.

You see humans have this idea that only a very few humans deserve decent lives. They also have this idea that only a very few humans are loved by their God. That is why it is that humans see the suffering and exploitation of so many billions of humans as freedom and progress.

I know a lot of you are going to call me a human hater or worse but I do see a certain beauty and harmony to the way of the bee and the ant. Maybe some of you will even label me a communist or a freedom hater. But somehow I think the ants and the bees have the better idea. They built their society on cooperation and caring for all of their members. That to me just makes good sense.

But then maybe I haven't evolved enough to understand the human way of freedom and progress. Or maybe long after the humans have blown themselves up or choked to death on their own filth and pollution, there will be ants and bees or some other cooperative animals sharing and surviving on a revived, lush planet earth.

Congressman DeFazio OH! WHAT A SURPRISE!

2009-03-31T11:52:00.000-07:00

2009-03-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

The Great Peacemaker's Thunder Message

Image by mdprovost via Flickr

....The air is foul, the waters poisoned, the trees dying, the animals are disappearing. We think even the systems of weather are changing. Our ancient teaching warned us that if Man interfered with the Natural Laws, these things would come to be. When the last of the Natural Way of Life is gone, all hope for human survival will be gone with it. And our Way of Life is fast disappearing, a victim of the destructive processes....

...The people who are living on this planet need to break with the narrow concept of human liberation, and begin to see liberation as something which needs to be extended to the whole of the Natural World. What is needed is the liberation of all the things that support Life -- the air, the waters, the trees -- all the things which support the sacred web of Life....

From "A Basic Call to Consciousness" The Hau de no sau nee Address to the Western World, Geneva Switzerland 1977

By Grant Lawrence

Around the 15th century in the land of great lakes and rivers in North America there lived a Great Peacemaker named Dekanawida ('two river-currents flowing together.'—Hewitt). He was said to to be born of virgin birth from a Huron mother. The Great Peacemaker, along with Hiawatha, would later go on to unite the Iroquois tribes in a confederation that lasts to this day. That confederation was used as a model by Benjamin Franklin and many of the American founding fathers when considering how to establish a government in the United States.

The Great Peacemaker taught a powerful spiritual message which can be summed up as peace, unity, and the power of a good mind. To the Iroquois, peace is more than just an absence of war. "In the Iroquoian mind, peace is a state of mind. Power, which can easily be thought of as military strength, but more appropriately, it means that one heart, one mind, one head, and one body allowed the Confederacy to remain united in the face of many enemies," according to Shelley Brant of Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario, Canada.

Dekanawida has passed on but his spirit remains in this great land. We are now living in troubled times and the message of the Great Peacemaker is more important than ever.

In the Thunder realm the Great Peacemaker resides with the Holy Ones. His personality is no longer Dekanawida but his love for all of humanity is great. Once this beautiful and holy man had spent his life in loving service. Dekanawida had graced his people with his peaceful and inspiring presence in a beautiful land. Now the Great Peacemaker has a Thunder message from his Thunder family and it is time for us to listen.

In honor of the Great Peacemaker, I write these words.

"Brothers and Sisters of the human family. Your minds are sick and the earth is sickened from your sick mind. I have been chosen to once again deliver a message from the Thunder Beings that love and care for all of you.

It is time for you to consider your sickness and seek healing medicine.

Most of the human family is crazed with wanting and having. That has made your hearts very cold and has confused your minds. There is now very little feeling for life or understanding of the spirit that lives in all. You can no longer see the beauty of the spirit and the truth of Love. It has been blocked by a craziness from a sick mind that clouds your seeing and deadens your feeling.

So it is that the world's sickness arises from a sickness of the mind. Unfortunately, it is likely that a great storm must cleanse the earth. After which life will prosper, but not all life. Humanity doesn't see the connection between the mind and the spirits of the world. How your minds can heal or cause so much suffering. Humanity doesn't see this because you are dead to a great part of your life. That is why you worship so much death and destruction. It allows you to feel something even though you are mostly dead to the spirit. Being dead to the spirit makes beings want more and more because they are afraid to feel their own empty dead selves.

That is the sickness of this age. A people that worships the power of death and destruction. A people that has lost touch with the spirits.

To the people of this age all seems dead and all seems without spirit. Things have become just bits of other things to be manipulated and used. There is no reverence for the beauty and the spirits in all things. People too have become just things to the leaders of this earth, to be used and manipulated. The powers of the earth have lost touch with the spirit of their people and they have no love for them. The leaders of this world are motivated only by fear and power and thus they think that is the only thing that can motivate all of humanity. They create disunity and disharmony and they believe that this is what will give them the power to continue to rule. They have become disciples of death and by them the thunder power will be brought to this earth to cleanse it.

But know this. You can choose on what path to walk this very day. Do you choose to walk in Love and Reasoning or do you choose to walk in hatred and fear? If you choose Love and Reason then you will honor yourself and the people of the world. If you choose anger and fear then you will continue to feed a disease that must be cleansed. You also will continue to be manipulated and used as followers of fear and death.

Humanity is presently very sick but you don't have to be sick. Once you have chosen to live in Love and to use your mind then you have chosen to be well. Healing can spread just as easily as disease. It is your path to choose.

Know this too. That the path you choose effects all of life in some way. The path of healing medicine will arise from choosing that which unites and brings peace. The spirit of the earth and all of the spirits of life feel a kinship with those that choose the great healing medicine that comes from a healthy mind.

A healthy mind will do much to help you and the world. There is no mental sickness in Love and Reasoning. That is the healing medicine that will unite and help do so much good in life.

The Thunder family hopes that all will listen to wise elders of the past and walk in a healthy heart and mind. We will work with those that choose to live in Love and use their Reason. We will be there for them on the other side of their consciousness to encourage them and to help protect them. There are also other numerous great spiritual "tribes" of Loving beings that will assist humanity in a move toward healing. We will all help you to do wonderful things for yourselves and others if you will open to healing medicine and choose to walk the path of a Good Mind and a Good Heart."

And So it is written in Honor of the Great Peacemaker and our Thunder Family.

Something is Wrong With Michele Bachmann

2009-03-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

Republican Michele Bachmann has become the lead conspiracy theorist in the U.S. Congress. She has always been flakey (God talking directly to her and telling her to run for Congress is a good example) and her judgment always questionable (calling Obama anti-American was pretty hard to beat) but lately she is becoming completely irresponsible. Some of us are wondering if she might have some type of medical problem. (hint: mental) Her latest calls for the people of Minnesota to become “armed and dangerous” on opposing cap and trade is way over the top. It does seem like there should be some basic limitations to what members of Congress can call for, and calling for an armed revolution is a strange thing for the rest of Congress to tolerate from any member. I mean, they’re members of the government themselves, so they should understand the need for the law they represent to be obeyed, at least.

But not Ms. Bachmann. Bachmann’s latest conspiracy theory is two-pronged. Conspiracy One: President Obama is trying to destroy America by going along with a one-world currency, and/or destroying the dollar despite that he has denied this and said he has no intention of going along with China’s suggestion– which wasn’t about what she says it was about to begin with. (See China suggests switch from dollar). This sort of deliberate misunderstanding of a simple event, and then twisting the facts to present it as anti-American behavior from a “Democrat” is the hallmark of how Bachmann operates. It’s her standard MO. This is not something anyone in Minnesota should tolerate.

Conspiracy Two: Global warming is caused by solar flares and other natural things (like the voices in her head); not by people at all, and her deliberate false statements that President Obama will use the global warming issue to set up the one-world currency, or to tax us all to death, or some such other ridiculous thing to “destroy our country”. Direct quote from last week:

“I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us, “Having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,” and the people – we the people – are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States.”

Ridiculous and dishonest and deliberately misleading. She actually feels that doing something about climate change, by limiting and eventually ending greenhouse gas emissions, is some sort of conspiracy to destroy America.

It might even be understandable, (from a right-wing point of view), if her conspiracy theories made sense or were based on reality, but that’s not the case.

I should also add that (due to no fault of my own) she is my Congressman, which really pisses me off. On April 9th, she is going to hold what she is calling a “climate forum” in my city. This will amount to a skeptics forum where she will present her disbelief of global warming as a fact. That also really pisses me off. (I’ll write about that later after it takes place.)

The following is a great description of her current madness, completely with Updates, from Think Progress. Keep in mind that nothing she said in this exchange is true, or could be imagined as true, in the mind of anyone who is considered honest.

Earlier this week, right-wing fanatic Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) started peddling false conspiracy theories that the world was moving toward a unified global currency — and that the U.S. might join in as early as next week’s G-20 conference. The myth was started when China’s central bank governor suggested replacing the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Though the suggestion has nothing to do with a unified global currency, Fox News’ Major Garrett decided to ask President Obama whether he supported the fictional prospect of such a move. (Obama, for the record, does not.)

Today on Glenn Beck’s radio show, Bachmann declared that the U.S. will soon be moving to “give up the dollar as our currency and we would just go with a One World currency.” Such action, she warned, would mean the U.S. as a country would be “no more”:

BACHMANN: As you know, Russia, China, Brazil, India, South Africa, many nations have lined up now and have called for an international global currency, a One World currency and they want to get off of the dollar as the reserve currency.

BECK: Most people don’t understand, Michele, what that means.

BACHMANN: What that means is all of the countries in the world would have a single currency. We would give up the dollar as our currency and we would just go with a One World currency. … If we give up the dollar as our standard, and co-mingle the value of the dollar with the value of coinage in Zimbabwe, that dilutes our money supply. We lose control over our economy. And economic liberty is inextricably entwined with political liberty. Once you lose your economic freedom, you lose your political freedom. And then we are no more, as an exceptional nation, as we always have been. So this is imperative.

Bachmann claimed that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he was “open” to the One World currency. (In reality, he only said he was open to changes in the IMF special drawing rights, and reaffirmed his commitment to the dollar.) Beck warned that speaking out about the global currency gets one labeled a “kook,” but Bachmann brushed off such concerns, saying she’s been called that “throughout [her] political career”:

BACHMANN: Well, Glenn, I have experienced that throughout my political career, being labeled a kook. It just happened again in a big story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. But all we have to do is point to the treasury secretary on tape, on camera. This is not Michele Bachmann being a kook. This is our treasury secretary on tape and on camera.

BACHMANN: But let me tell you, there’s something that’s happening this week in congress that could be the eventual unraveling for our freedom and it was this. I have also asked the treasury secretary and Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chair, if they would categorically denounce taking the United States off of the dollar and putting us on an international global currency because as you know, Russia, China, Brazil, India, South Africa, many nations have lined up now and have called for an international global currency, a one world currency and they want to get off of the dollar as the reserve currency.

BECK: Most people don’t understand, Michele, what that means.

BACHMANN: What that means is all of the countries in the world would have a single currency. We would give up the dollar as our currency and we would just go with a one world currency and now for the first time we’re seeing major countries like China, India, Russia, countries like that calling for a one world currency and they want this discussion to occur at the G20. So I asked both the treasury secretary and the Federal Reserve chair if they would categorically denounce this. The reason why is because if we give up the dollar as our standard and commingle the value of a dollar with the value of coinage in Zimbabwe, that dilutes our money supply. We lose control over our economy and economic liberty is inextricably entwined with political liberty. Once you lose your economic freedom, you’ve lost your political freedom and then we are no more as an exceptional nation as we always have been. So this is imperative. Well, what happened, the day after I asked that question for the treasury secretary, secretary Geithner went before the council on foreign relations and the same subject came up. After that meeting after he categorically denounced it to me, he said to the council on foreign relations he would be open to this proposal of a single currency, of expanding the international monetary funds’ special drawing down rates. That’s what they’re called. And this created a huge firestorm which the value of the dollar literally tumbled upon his words when he said that.

BECK: Right. And then somebody said, “I think you want to revisit that again.” And he did and he said, “Well, no, I don’t mean…”

[…]

BECK: And what’s going to happen is if you start to talk about a global currency which I’m telling you there’s no way out of what we’re doing now besides devaluing the dollar to pay off our debt and then have a new currency. There’s just no other way.

BACHMANN: But we can stop that.

BECK: Wait a minute. Congresswoman, what happens is when you stand up and when you say those things, then you’re deemed a kook. Then you’re deemed a militia member. And there are too many people in America that will still listen to the mainstream media. They will still listen to, you know, to those in Washington on both sides of the aisle that say, “Oh, no, well, that’s never going to happen.” And so they sit there and do nothing. And those who do want to do something are afraid because they don’t want to be deemed a kook. And they also are tired of being played by politicians in Washington.

BACHMANN: Well, Glenn, I have experienced that throughout my political career being labeled a kook. It just happened again in a big story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. But all we have to do is point to the treasury secretary on tape, on camera. This is not Michele Bachmann being a kook. This is our treasury secretary on tape and on camera. And also we now have countries across the world asking for this. That’s why I went to my fellow colleagues and I dropped a bill day before yesterday that would bind the president’s hands, that wouldn’t allow him to enter into a treaty or an international agreement to take us off the dollar and put us on an international currency.

SOURCE: CIVILIANISM

Obama Hits the AIG Spot: Supernews

2009-03-29T05:05:00.001-07:00

The financial meltdown as explained by Sean Penn

2009-03-28T04:23:00.000-07:00

In the last eight years the economy was driven by “Trickle Down” theory which means that bankers and the smarmy pundits in the Bush Adminstrations pocket – those who bathe in the moisture of his soiled and blood-soaked underwear, would shake off the moisture on the rest of us.

As the investors turned their backs on the manufacturers whose hard work, sweat and tears bathed the nation in the cleaning purity of American pride and allowed everyone to eat from the fruits of their labors, and instead embraced the bankers and smarmy pundits so they could lick their butts to receive the drops of moisture left over from Bush’s soiled and blood-soaked underwear.

After eight years of squeezing the American Workers to gain more blood for the soiled and blood-soaked underwear at the cost of their jobs making the fruits of American labor rot on the vine as the American sweat dried up and was replaced by the moisture of soiled and blood-soaked underwear.

With no fruit the American Workers blood became thick no longer supplying enough moisture to allow the bankers and smarmy pundits to bathe in the moisture of Bush’s soiled and blood-soaked underwear.

Investors continued try to lick off the moisture from the bankers and smarmy pundits butts, however their asses were dry as they got no American Workers Blood to moisten their soiled and blood-soaked underwear.

Now it is urgent we return to eating the fruit that has been grown from the sweat of American labor and no longer rely on the moisture of Bush’s soiled and blood-soaked underwear.

http://projectsaviorreborn.blogspot.com/2009/03/financial-meltdown-as-explained-by-sean.html

Reality Fights Back

2009-03-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

Down in Texas there was a bitter fight to shield kids from the reality.

From Bad Astronomy:

The State Board of Education voted on the science standards — the list of basic scientific knowledge students should have at various grade levels, like knowing that atoms are the basic building blocks of matter, the Earth goes around the Sun, and — say — evolution is the basic and most fundamental aspect upon which all of modern biology is based.
Creationists on the board (and there are many) tried to water down the standards by creating a phony baloney "strengths and weaknesses" amendment, a totally bogus and arbitrary rule that says that teachers have to point out where a theory has faults. They did this specifically to weaken the teaching of evolution in biology classes. They don’t actually care if the students get a solid education on the fact of evolution, they only care to tear down real science and replace it with Biblical literalism.
Science wins in Texas.

The Texas School Board voted 7-7 on the amendment, it needed a clear majority to win.

For those who think that teaching the “Strengths and Weaknesses” of a basic scientific theory can’t do much harm, here is a few scientific theories that have some Weaknesses:

Gravity
Gravity is a fundamental force of the universe. However like all theories it has some “flaws”.

Although we can observe the effects of gravity, if you drop something it will fall. We have no clue as to what gravity (as a fundamental force) is.

It current approach to account is to treat it as a form of energy couples with spacetime to create the geometries that cause gravity. This is wrong, scientist know it is wrong but until a less wrong theory comes along this explanation works (mostly).

This weakness in the Theory of Gravity shouldn’t stop kids from being taught about Gravity because these weaknesses don’t come into play until you are studying relativity/quantum mechanics and you have plenty of time learn about it in your first few years of college.

If the 7 Texas school board members still want to see if a theory that has weaknesses should be taught, they can go to the top of a high bridge and step off. I will use the “flawed” Theory of Gravity to predict the exact second they will land.

Matter and Energy

“Matter and Energy can neither be created or destroyed. Merely transformed into a different state.”
Is something I had to learn in 8th grade, it holds up in most cases until the very small. It runs into problems at the very smallest scale. Max Planck observed that energy acts like integers 1,2,3,4 and so on. So it is not a straight line. In photoelectric cells atoms happily sit there absorbing less than 1 unit of energy until they reach that magical 1unit and then they release it.

While the atom is absorbing the energy, it is gone from the universe only to reappear when it is released.

Should students be taught that it is fine to work on a perpetual motion machine because of this one little loophole in Spacetime?

For the 7 Texas school board members I’ll be happy to rig up a series of photoelectric cells and attach the electrodes to their private areas and they can tell me if they believe in matter and energy.

Naturally I could go on thinking up ways to torture the 7 Texas school board members with Theories that have “Weaknesses” in them but I think it they read this they will get my point.

2009-03-25T18:40:00.001-07:00

How Much Does it Take to be Happy?

Image by sayheypatrick via Flickr

By Grant Lawrence

How much does it take to be happy?

Well here in the United States we have been programmed to think it takes quite a lot. We see on television and in advertisements people happy only when they get exactly what they want. According to the Madison Avenue mind manipulators, people will only find happiness when they purchase this or that product or own this or that thing.

Everyone buys into the belief that happiness can only come with more and more. Even the wealthiest of the planet never seem satisfied. They have numerous mansions, many motor vehicles, and all of the finest of everything. These wealthy people, with everything, are the heroes of the common people. Nearly everyone in our country aspires to be like the super rich and to have it all.

But I am going to shock a lot of Americans.

The truth is that you can be happy with less.

I realize telling people that they can be happy with less will likely get me cursed or something worse here in this wonderful capitalist utopia of consumerism known as America. But I risk being ridiculed and condemned as Anti-American for letting people know that they can be happy without the large houses, the newest clothes, the finest cars, boats, and recreational vehicles, and the fine dining.

In fact, there is something called the Happy Planet Index (HPI) which was designed to show that happiness can be achieved with greater efficiency so that people can live long and happy lives without excessive consumption of the earth's resources.

As you can probably guess, Americans require a lot to be happy and yet they are not that happy. But other countries and regions don't require a lot and are as happy or happier. For instance, Germany and the United States roughly have about the same life expectancy and are about as satisfied but Germans do this using half as much of the world's resources as Americans. So Germany is "twice as efficient as Americans in generating long and happy lives based on the resources they consume," according to the Happy Planet Index.

I know that a lot of people here in America, especially fundamentalist Christians, believe that since they can't have everything they want then the world has to somehow come to an end. They wait for "end times" or an "apocalypse" to come and destroy everything because they think people can't live in balance with the life of the earth. They believe that because they are a part of so much greed and imbalance then that must be the way it has to be for the world to function.

But the good news is that we can live long and satisfied lives without destroying the planet. Other countries are living happier on much less.

We don't have to destroy the planet out of greed and stupidity. This may be bad news to some Christian fundamentalists and others who look forward to enjoying their "end times" destruction.

I have faith that God loves us or that we should at least love ourselves, so I suggest we all opt for trying to live in harmony with mother earth and to do our best to live simply and in serenity. Or we can just give up and say that humanity is not good enough to survive. But as the Happy Planet Index indicates, we have examples of people living in greater health and in a happier mind while using a lot less of the earth's resources.

Living happier lives on less can be done but we do have to open our minds to the possibility of living a life that cares for the earth and its beings. Then we won't have to worry about God, or even ourselves, destroying this beautiful planet.

2009-03-23T17:22:00.001-07:00

Military Industrial "War" Consciousness Responsible for Economic and Social Collapse

Image via Wikipedia Eisenhower Warned of the Military Industrial Complex

By Grant Lawrence

As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama called Afghanistan ''the war we must win.'' He was absolutely right. Now it is time to win it...
Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman calling for an expanded war in Afghanistan

"How true it is that war can destroy everything of value."
Pope Benedict XVI decrying the suffering of Africa

Where troops have been quartered, brambles and thorns spring up. In the track of great armies there must follow lean years.
Lao Tzu on War

As Americans we are raised on the utility of war to conquer every problem. We have a drug problem so we wage war on it. We have a cancer problem so we wage war on it. We have a crime problem so we wage war on it. Poverty cannot be dealt with but it has to be warred against. Terror is another problem that must be warred against.

In the United States, solutions can only be found in terms of wars.

In a society that functions to support a massive military industrial war machine and empire, it is important that the terms promoted support the conditioning of its citizens. We are conditioned to see war as the solution to major social ills and major political disagreements. That way when we see so much of our resources devoted to war then we don't question the utility of it.

The term "war" excites mind and body and creates a fear mentality that looks at life in terms of attack. In war, there has to be an attack and a must win attitude to carry us to victory.

But is this war mentality working for us?

In an age when nearly half of our tax money goes to support the war machine and a good deal of the rest is going to support the elite that control the war machine, we can see that our present war mentality is not working.

Our values have been so perverted by our war mentality that we see sex as sinful but killing as entertainment.

Our society is dripping violence. The violence is fed by poverty, social injustice, the break down of family and community that also arises from economic injustice, and by the managed media.
The cycle of violence that exists in our society exists because it is useful to those that control society.

It is easier to sell the war machine when your population is conditioned to violence. Our military industrial consciousness may not be working for nearly all of the life of the planet but it does work for the very few that are the master manipulators of our values and our consciousness.

Rupert Murdoch, the media monopoly man that runs the "Fair and Balanced" Fox Network, Sky Television, and News Corp just to name a few, had all of his 175 newspapers editorialize in favor of the Iraq war. Murdoch snickers when he says "we tried" to manipulate public opinion." The Iraq war was a good war to Murdoch because, "The death toll, certainly of Americans there, by the terms of any previous war are quite minute."

But, to the media manipulators, the phony politicos, the military industrial elite, a million dead Iraqis are not to be considered. War is big business and it is supported by a war consciousness that allows it to prosper. That is why more war in Afghanistan, the war on Palestinians, and the other wars around the planet in which the military industrial complex builds massive wealth and power will continue.

The military industrial war mentality is not only killing, maiming, and destroying but it is also contributing to the present social and economic collapse. As mentioned previously, the massive wealth transfer that occurs when the American people give half of their money to support death and destruction is money that could have gone to support a just society.

It is no accident that after years of war and preparing for war, our society is crumbling. Science and technological resources along with economic and natural resources have been squandered in the never ending pursuit of enemies. All of that energy could have been utilized for the good of humanity, instead of maintaining the power positions of the very few super wealthy.

So the suffering that we give is ultimately the suffering we get. Humans want to believe that they can escape the consciousness that they live in. But that consciousness determines what we experience and how we live. As long as we choose to live in "War" in our minds then we will continue to get "War" in our lives.

When humanity chooses to wage peace on the world then there will be a flowering of life. But until then we will be forced to live the life our present war consciousness is creating.

CANNED PEACHES IN HEAVY SYRUP

2009-03-21T23:08:00.000-07:00

2009-03-21T15:14:00.001-07:00

Taxpayers Should Reward Gaming Industries--Win or Lose

By Grant Lawrence

Image via Wikipedia

Recently it was reported that casinos may not be allowed to use any of the federal stimulus money. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has asked for clarification of the Casino ban by pointing out that casinos are often the only suitable place for conferences and workshops.

I support Senator Reid on this.

I do believe that the federal government should be doing more to help the casinos. After all, look at what the federal government has done to help other institutions that engage in gambling.

For instance the government has pumped billions into AIG, a gambling operation that pretended to be an insurance company. Now the casinos make sure that they come out the winners in their gambling transactions but AIG must have been fairly unschooled in gaming so they lost big on their bets.

So here we have a case where the federal government is rewarding inefficiencies and bad business practices by giving hundreds of billions to AIG but not allowing successful casinos to get a little of that stimulus money.

But is that the message we want to send our young people. That you can be too rich too fail so we want to make sure that you are covered in your gaming practices. But if you are a successful gamer then you get nothing from the taxpayers. Or do we want to send the message that whether you win or lose, if you are a super wealthy gambler, we will reward your success as well as your failures.

AIG is only one example of gaming gone bad. Trillions are now being pumped into the hands of the Wall Street and banking gamblers that made their bets on "toxic assets," credit default swaps, off balance sheet dirivatives, and whatever other gaming that seemed a good bet at the time.

Some say that when it all said and done that there may be 5 to 10 trillion dollars that will have been used to save the losers in the Wall Street gaming industry. But casinos are an example of successful gaming and therefore they should also be rewarded with their fair share.

If we make sure all big time gaming is rewarded our young people will continue to have faith in the American system. A system that rewards success as well as failure as long as you are a part of the elite wealthy that control the country and the world.

So I stand with Senator Harry Reid in asking that all gaming be rewarded and not just the failed operations. We must reinforce American values here.

An America that values the failed rich and the successful rich and will continue to make sure that the super rich get to enjoy the fruits of the people's labors. An America where the people support their super wealthy with pride. An America where the super rich know that they have the full faith and support of the people as well as their government. An America that is also willing to do what it can to help cover the gaming of the super wealthy around the world. An America that puts their dollars into action by making sure that super wealthy gamers around the world know that they are loved and cared for by the taxpayers in this country.

I join with Senator Reid in asking for an America with deep pockets for those that need it most.
The super wealthy gaming industries.

2009-03-20T19:28:00.001-07:00

"US Already Bankrupt"

Image via Wikipedia

What Professionals Are Saying

Source: CNBC

Global stocks traded higher, as did the dollar against the euro, Thursday after the Federal Reserve's surprise announcement it would buy $300 billion in US Treasurys in order to help the ailing economy.

But experts tell CNBC they have concerns over the Fed's latest move and that the current national balance sheet is a disaster.

US is Already 'Bankrupt'

Technically, the U.S. is already "bankrupt" because it has a debt that is almost four times the size of its economy, says Puru Saxena, CEO of Puru Saxena Wealth Management. He tells CNBC that the U.S. is at risk of hyperinflation.

Fed to Buy Treasurys is Not a Good Sign

Stephen Roach, chairman for Asia at Morgan Stanley does not view the Fed's plan to buy $300 billion worth of long-dated government debt as a constructive sign for prospects going forward.

Fed's Move Unlikely to Help Economy

The Fed pumping money into Treasurys won't help, says Martin Weiss, president of Weiss Research. He also discusses what can be done to turn the US economy around.

The US Stuck in Zero-Rate Mode?

America is arrogant to deny their similarity to Japan's economy, says Stephen Roach, chairman for Asia at Morgan Stanley. He tells CNBC that the US economy is in a "zero-interest rate" mode, like Japan.

Quantitative Easing & the Fed's Balance Sheet

Thomas Lam, vice president and senior treasury economist at UOB, says the Fed's latest moves such as to buy long-dated Treasurys will stretch its balance sheet and pump more liquidity into economy.

The Fed's Recent Moves are Right

"This decision to purchase long-term assets, mortgages, long-term treasury securities, is the right thing to do. The Fed would clearly rather err on the side of inflation rather then depression," said Dennis Gartman from the Gartman Letter. He also touches on the housing market in the US as well as the TALF.

Tackling US Economy

Housing problems need to be tackled before the U.S. economy can pick up, according to Adam Carr, senior economist at ICAP.

2010: 'Real Peak of the Crisis'

"We are going to see real problems in 2010 when the Fed and all the other governments which issued stimulus packages are going to try to reabsorb some of that liquidity," Nicu Harajchi, CEO & Founder of N1 Asset Management, said Thursday. He considers whether the Fed's latest move will work.

Fed's Actions Bode Well for Asia

The Fed's bold moves to support the U.S. economy is good news for Asia, believes Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic advisor at MasterCard Worldwide.

Redirecting China's Foreign Investments

China is unlikely to unload their dollar-denominated reserve as such a move will only hurt themselves at this point, says Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic advisor at MasterCard Worldwide. He tells CNBC how its foreign investment strategy may change.

China Needs Internal Demand

China needs to change its structure to an internal demand driven economy, says Stephen Roach, chairman for Asia at Morgan Stanley. He tells CNBC that China is hugely dependent on external demand as a major source of economic growth.

ECB in "Splendid Isolation"

The ECB should be out there pumping money into the system, says Paul Donovan, MD & head of global economics at UBS. He tells CNBC that the central bank is sitting in "splendid isolation".

More Pain Ahead for Europe

There is no cause for optimism in the medium term, despite the better-than-expected data from the ZEW survey, says Par Magnusson, senior analyst at Danske Bank.

UK Due for Inflation Spike?

The UK economy is facing higher inflation down the road, Andy Hartwill from Quasar told CNBC, as Britain posted its highest ever budget deficit Thursday.

Deflation Will Hit Mid-Year

Deflation is a near-term risk that may hit global economies in the middle of the year, warns Paul Donovan, MD & head of global economics at UBS.

Preventing Runaway Inflation

When liquidity floodgates open, global central banks will have to sterilize very aggressively and in time to prevent runaway inflation. Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic advisor at MasterCard Worldwide tells CNBC how this can be resolved quickly.

Selling Off America--Hot Debate on Corporatization of Assets

Image via Wikipedia

By James B. Kelleher

Source Reuters

CHICAGO (Reuters) - As they struggle to close ballooning budget deficits amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, many U.S. state and local governments will be tempted to follow the example of Chicago.

The third-largest U.S. city has raised billions of dollars in recent years turning public assets over to private businesses that then run them as for-profit enterprises.

The early success of those transactions, as well a much-longer track record overseas, has stoked an interest in these "public-private partnerships" -- or P3s for short.

So, too, has the growth of funds focused on P3 investing. In recent years, they've raised money from pension funds and other big investors faster than assets have hit the market, creating a demand for deals that has only gained strength as Wall Street melted down and triggered a flight to safety.

"These things give investors steady earnings over a long period of time," said James McKinney, head of debt capital markets at William Blair & Co, a lead adviser to Chicago when the city leased 36,000 parking meters to a private consortium.

But critics warn the push to lease toll roads, airports, parking meters and other public assets to corporate concessionaires is not the painless panacea backers claim.

They say the deals, especially when asset values are depressed across the board, are myopic moves that elevate private profit over public good, entail long-term costs and risks, and could trigger a financial crisis of their own.

"The devil is in the details -- as future generations to come will learn," said Pat Andrews, editor of Alltolled.com, a Web site dedicated to preventing more highway privatizations in the state of Indiana, another pioneer of such transactions.

"That's the most irritating thing about this -- the sheer shortsightedness of it. It's money now and who the hell cares about three generations from now. And that's not right."

But backers say a reluctance to tax, coupled with chronic underinvestment in public services for decades, has left many city and state financial managers little choice.

"There needs to be an introduction of private sector capital to help deal with the legacy of underinvestment and, frankly, undercharging for infrastructure that has gone on in this country for a very long time," said Tom Osborne, head of Americas Infrastructure/Privatization at UBS.

But McKinney at William Blair & Co admits the current downturn is focusing policy-makers' minds.

"There are a lot of municipalities that are suddenly open to discussions on the topic, that's for sure," McKinney said.

EYE-POPPING MULTIPLES

In the deal William Blair brokered last year, a Morgan Stanley infrastructure investment fund paid Chicago nearly $1.2 billion up front to operate the parking meters for 75 years -- or more than 60 times the system's annual operating profit of about $19 million.

That eye-popping multiple generated lots of buzz and interest among cash-strapped municipal officials nationwide.

"We've got guys marketing coast to coast right now, talking to people, introducing them to the concept, and going through the math on it and the economics of it," McKinney said.

Adding to the P3 push: Massive liquidity sitting on the sidelines. In recent years, billions of dollars have flooded into so-called infrastructure investment funds.

But with so much interest and so much money at stake, it's no surprise that public asset privatization has sharp critics.

Indeed, an effort by the state of Pennsylvania last year to lease its turnpike to private investors came to nothing amid legislative opposition to the plan.

Elliot Sclar, a professor at Columbia University in New York, sees the P3s as just the latest product Wall Street bankers have dreamt up to make a buck - and one taxpayers will pay to clean up.

"Just watch," Sclar said. "This is going to be the subprime mortgage scandal for the next generation."

With too much money chasing too few good deals, Sclar says, the transactions will get riskier. When a private operator eventually hits trouble, states and municipalities that saw the long-term leases as free money will find themselves involved in complex and costly litigation and unknown liabilities.

But opponents also include bankers like Dennis Enright, a principal at NW Financial Group, a regional investment banking group in New Jersey involved in municipal underwriting.

Enright's objection is simple and compelling.

If private investment funds are willing to buy the bonded debt of a decaying road like the Chicago Skyway based on the expected cash it will generate over the next 99 years, then doesn't it makes more sense --- from a strictly financial standpoint -- for government to do the deal itself?

By including private concessionaires, Enright says, states and municipalities are essentially leaving billions of dollars on the table and subjecting users and taxpayers to higher costs - and greater risks - down the road.

"What we tried to bring to it was some rational analysis to this," he said. "It was curiosity that drove us to analyze them and when we did the math we said: 'Oh my God, this is crazy."

Enright says he's also concerned about the length of the concession periods involved in U.S. deals. Although backers of the deals often point to the long track record of P3 success in Europe, South America and Asia, there are some significant differences. In almost all the overseas deals, the assets were roads newly built by the concessionaire, not existing ones originally built by the public. And concession period was typically much shorter and usually no more than 30 years.

Osborne at UBS acknowledged that tax-exempt municipal bonds are a cheaper way to raise money than the equity and corporate debt private firms rely on. But like all the bankers involved in the deals, he said the bottom line is more complex.

Too Funny for words

2009-03-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

When English Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to visit President Obama he choose his gifts wisely.

The Prime Minister gave Mr Obama an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet.

In return President Obama gave him a set of 25 DVDs.

This would be a bad enough exchange of gifts but the DVDs had the DRM region coding for North America so they won’t even play in England. Engadet reports.

That is just too funny to think up a punchline.

File this under “Shut Up” Stewart vs. CNBC Round 4

2009-03-20T15:14:00.001-07:00

In the “Art of War” Sun Tzu says the most important thing is to know when to fight and when not to fight. I guess CNBC doesn’t follow the Art of War any more than they follow the rules to good journalism.

For those of you who haven’t been following the latest media war, about a month ago CNBC commentator Rick Santelli had an on-air rant where he asked why the stock traders who made huge amounts of money under the deregulation of the markets should pay for the “Loser’s” mortgages.

That same week he was scheduled to appear on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”. Someone must have warned him that Stewart would use that rant against him so he canceled.

The Daily Show went ahead and ran that clip as well as some great clips from CNBC where their commentators made wildly bad stock picks, like Jim Cramer recommending people hold on to Bear Stearns stock three days before it went from over $60 a share to $2.

If CNBC had left it at that they would have had to eat some humble pie, and the whole thing would have been forgotten about. But Jim Cramer decided to make it personal. He went every NBC show he could, including Martha Stewart, saying how Jon Stewart was being unfair to him. (Just a tip if you are being accused of playing dirty tricks with stocks, hanging out publicly with someone who went to jail for Insider Trading is not a smart play.)

Naturally The Daily Show had to hit back and did an entire segment on bad advice given by Cramer. For some reason Jim Cramer decided to answer those allegations and agreed to appear on The Daily Show.

To be kind to Jim Cramer I will just say that he got his ass handed to him, after Jon put it through a meat grinder, handed off to Emeril Lagasse who fried it up Creole style with special seasoning and onions and “Bam, just like that” Cramer was humiliated. Other commentators haven’t been as nice to Cramer in their description of that interview.

Stewart was hitting him with things that no one could justify like: "Listen, you knew what the banks were doing, yet were touting it for months and months," Stewart said during his March 12 show. "The entire network was. Now to pretend that this was some sort of crazy, once-in-a-lifetime tsunami that nobody could have seen coming is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst."

The beat down was so bad that Cramer canceled all his post Daily Show interviews.

If CNBC had left it at that they would be able to slowly shift the blame of their bad journalism to the entire news industry. CNBC turned into cheerleaders for the financial industry just like the rest of the news had been cheerleaders for Bush when we rushed to war with Iraq.

Instead of quietly trying to smother the flames, NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker has decided to grab the nearest Gasoline tanker and pour its contents on the embers. At the McGraw-Hill Media Summit in New York, he said that Stewart was being “Unfair” and “…to suggest that the business media or CNBC was responsible for what is going on now is absurd."

To say that reporters should ask follow up questions and not just serve as PR flackys for companies when they are lying is absurd? I can’t wait until Monday to see Jon Stewart’s response.

Although CNBC is being incredibly stupid in their handling of this, they may be doing the nation a great service by inviting Stewart to look over the network news practices with a magnifying glass. If this war keeps on long enough maybe the entire news industry will see why people no longer find them credible and that is why the whole journalism industry has gone into the tank financially and some mainstream outlet might just start reporting the truth instead of just repeating whatever their sponsors tell them.

Original Story Here.

2009-03-19T18:03:00.001-07:00

Former President Bush Faces One of His Toughest Challenges

Bush has often gotten out of jams by dint of personal charm, and he’s trying that once again...
From a recent news story on the struggle that the Former President now faces.

Image by danny.hammontree via Flickr

By Grant Lawrence

Times are tough for the country and the world but it seems that
things aren't so great for former President George W. Bush.

Bush now faces one of his toughest challenges.

He has to convince the wealthy of the world to contribute 300 million to his library. At first thought, you would think that it would be quite easy for the former President to gather 300 million from wealthy donors.

After all, the super rich owe their President a lot. They were able to profit handsomely from America's wars. They were able to amass greater fortunes because of Bush's support for economic globalization and an American economy that made Reagan's "trickle down" seem somehow progressive. But most importantly when there was a possibility that the super rich might lose some of those super riches, Bush stepped in and in a matter of a week or so he came up with a trillion or 2 to help out.

So what's the problem?

Well there is some complaining at Southern Methodist University in Dallas about the President having his library there. Also, the economic depression and the endless wars has made the former President awfully unpopular among common Americans. I guess the super rich don't want to make the rabble any more upset then they already are.

But Bush is a fighter. He has faced tough challenges in the past and if anyone can build himself a library worth hundreds of millions of dollars, it is our former Commander-in-Chief.

But I do hate to see the former President have to interrupt his biking, speaking engagements, golfing (oh, I guess he gave that up because he says he felt sorry for all of the people he killed), writing of his memoirs, fine dining, parties, and social fun by having to worry about his library.

But I have a plan that I think could help out the former President.

I believe that Bush needs to do more than offer to build the library. If he were to offer to create a memorial within the library for the tens of thousands of dead and wounded American soldiers, the millions of war torn Iraqis and Afghans, and even the tens of millions of Americans ravaged by Bush economics then I am sure he could gain a lot more support for the project. If he offered to build this memorial along with his library then it might create a groundswell of support for the work to proceed.

Come to think of it, Bush could also include sections in the memorial to those tortured, enemy combatants, assassinations authorized by the Administration, illegal wiretapping, the shredding of the constitution, and the art of propaganda and the big lie. I am sure those additions to the library/memorial would really build some excitement among progressives and liberals in the country.

I know I am missing some things that could be included in the library/memorial. But the former President should ultimately be the one to decide on what he wants to add. Or he can do like he did during his Presidency, and turn everything over to the Head of Assassinations, former Vice President Cheney. Then Bush could just do what he does best.

Enjoy himself.

Rooting for Rush

2009-03-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

2009-03-16T18:00:00.001-07:00

We Gave Billions to the Banksters and all we Got where these Cheap Tennis Shoes

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

Americans are upset about the recent news that insurance giant AIG will be paying $165 Million in executive bonuses.

President Obama has called the bonus payout to the AIG executive derivative traders an "outrage."

Well I think it is probably good to be outraged over millions of dollars of American taxpayer money going to greedy executives that don't know how to speculate.

But let's face it. The executives at AIG had a rough year last year. They lost big and they need a little something to help them forget about the past. I know a lot of liberal types are calling for an intervention in the freedom of executives to make fabulous fortunes at the expense of the American people. But I am more concerned about the "American Way" and that is the ability of the super wealthy to stay super wealthy even during tough economic times.

But in this new globalized world we live in, American taxpayers have to do more than support the super wealthy in America. We now have to support many of the big banks of Europe.

According to a recent news report, "The documents AIG released account for some of the more than $180 billion in aid that AIG has received, and they detailed for the first time which financial firms are benefitting from the federal handout. In all, AIG disclosed payments of $105.3 billion between September and December 2008. And some of the biggest recipients were European banks. Societe Generale, based in France, was the top foreign recipient at $11.9 billion, Deutsche Bank of Germany got $11.8 billion and Barclays, based in England, was paid $8.5 billion...."

So when you have the wonders of a Globalized economy that supports transnational financial and corporate interests then you have to take the good with the bad.

The bad news is that Globalization shipped most of America's good paying jobs to sweat shop labor. Globalization also brought about a US economy built on credit because the working Americans lost income year after year.

The good news is that Globalization created a great disparity of wealth around the world, which meant that the super rich could gain super riches without much regulation or tax problems. Also, Globalization meant that I could buy my tennis shoes cheaper. Well maybe not.

So I guess it is only fitting that after raping the average American worker in the name of Globalization that our government took whatever was left and bailed out wealthy executives and the big banks around the world.

Under Globalization the rich got richer and all we got was a Wal-Mart economy.

2009-03-15T14:05:00.003-07:00

Cheney: Too Busy with Assassinations to Worry about the Economy

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

According to a recent AP story, Cheney says you can't blame the Bush Administration for the economy in America.

The economy is a global problem and it isn't Bush's fault, according to Cheney.

But I believe that Darth Cheney and the Bush gang might have done better with the economy. But it seems that they were too busy working with assassination squads, torturing, and planning on how to blow up Iran.

All of this takes a lot of time and mental effort. The economy, according to Cheney, is something the Administration has little or no control over. Besides, helping Americans have jobs and health care is not as much fun as planning your next assassination.

So if Administrations have no control over the economy of the
nation then why are we handing trillions over to the banksters to save the economy?

But the economy is a question that is not much fun to ponder.

Instead it seems it is better to think about ways to kill people and destroy countries. Or at least that is what the Bush/Cheney team has been doing for the last 8 years.

2009-03-15T14:05:00.001-07:00

2012-- A Shift Away from Reptilian Consciousness?

Image via Wikipedia

By Grant Lawrence

Unfortunately there is little conjecture about the cause(s) of the world's present state of crisis. Sure there is a lot of talk about the economy, the wars, the environment, and societal dysfunction but there is little talk of of how all of these problems are interrelated.

So how does the war in Afghanistan or the brutalization that occurs in Burma relate to the world's economy and eco-disasters? How are all of humanity's dysfunctional choices and behaviors interconnected?

Humans operate from a certain level of consciousness. It is from a certain level of being that we perceive our reality, make our choices, and act accordingly.

Currently human consciousness is being ruled by our reptilian brain. But that is nothing new. For much of human history, humanity has chosen to let the reptilian part of their brain rule their consciousness. That is the most primitive part of our brains that has a central focus--survival.
According to progressive writer and commentator Thom Hartman, the reptilian brain "doesn't think in abstract terms, and doesn't feel complex emotions. Instead, it's responsible for fight-or-flight, hunger and fear, attack or run. It's also non-verbal - you can stimulate it with the right words, but it operates purely at the level of visceral stimulus-response."

In fact it is the reptilian brain that propagandists, advertisers, politicians, militarists, and the rest of societal mind manipulators speak to when they want to motivate the masses of people.
The fear response is powerful manipulator and as Nazi General Herman Goering noted:

“Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
In nearly every place and time in recorded history, humanity has been motivated by danger to do the bidding of their leaders. Danger activates the reptilian brain and fear is the motivator. The fight or flight response is what has driven human consciousness for ages.

We are in our present fix because of human consciousness.

Humanity has allowed itself to become prisoners of its primitive brain. The passion and the automatic responses of emotions have been fueled by a consciousness of danger and fear. The Reptilian brain of humanity responds to what it is being fed. It produces powerful emotions that color our consciousness and create a certain vibrational state of being or a certain level of consciousness.

We are all being manipulated like puppets and that manipulation is destroying us and our world.
That manipulation is creating a certain consciousness ruled by reptilian passions that has created so much harm to life. We wonder why the economy has collapsed. We wonder why there are wars. We wonder why cancer is growing and the environment is dangerously polluted. We wonder why the climate is changing.

Western science has taught humanity to look at problems and specialize in their understanding. The world is too big and complex and we need to specialize in this or that discipline, or so we are told. But all of this specialization has made us lose track of the big picture. We have trained our minds not to see the connections that exist and to make conclusions from them. We have blinded ourselves to what is right in front of us. The truth that we exist in relationships and all of these relationships have their foundations in consciousness.

Humanity has to understand that we cannot tackle our present problems from the same consciousness that created them.

If we continue to operate from our Reptilian brain then we will continue to follow the same path of brutality, death, and destruction. We will continue to see a world based on greed and the lust for power fueled by fear arising from ignorance. We will continue to see a world that is in the midst of catastrophic collapse.

Many believe that 2012 will magically usher in a new consciousness for humanity. But I see 2012 as a turning point for humanity. A time when the mass of humanity could decide to take that that next step in evolutionary consciousness toward a more reality based existence. Or humanity could continue to operate from its primitive reptilian brain, manipulated by the mind benders that presently run the world's military industrial complex.

In the future, humans can continue to feed social and environmental degradation by continuing to react from the conditioning that they have been exposed to from birth. Or we can choose to break out of the chains of a limited reptilian consciousness and into a world of life. A world in which we recognize how important all of life is to our own life and we recognize that we cannot separate ourselves from the suffering we inflict on others.

So the world we are seeing is the world we have all created from our own consciousness. Our rapid advance in technology can mean a better world for humanity or a living hell nightmare for all. Our future, like our present and past, is arising from our own level of being which has arisen from an eternity of relationships.

Just what type of world will arise is only as certain as what type of people we are. Unless we reconnect with the world and the rest of life from an understanding of our relationship with it, there will be some very difficult times for all of the world's life. If we open our hearts and minds to another level of reality we can support a better world in which future generations will someday thank us. Or we can continue in our reptilian consciousness and future generations will curse us and despise us. That is if there will be any future generations left.

We are choosing our future from our present level of consciousness.

What consciousness are you choosing?

X-Box Live Taking the World of Discrimination Further.

2009-03-14T09:50:00.001-07:00

I’ve gotten some interesting comments on my blog when I commented on a story published in the Consumerist.com.

For those who haven’t read it, X-Box live is actively discriminating against people who identify themselves as Gay or Lesbian (or who have the word Gay in their name. So people with the last name Gaywood or Gaylord can’t use the service).

This is blatant discrimination against 10% of the population, but as a private company Microsoft does have the right to discriminate when they offer services to the public. However it is a really bad business decision.

So I’d like to talk about the economics of discrimination. In sales discrimination can help or hurt a company. When a company targets groups with their products it is a form of soft discrimination. Apple designs and advertises their products aimed at two groups of people, the non-techie creative type and the Super Hardcore Techie (Those who skip the GUI interface and use the UNIX core of the Mac). This allows Apple to charge a higher margin for their machines than other computer makers.

This works for Apple because they tap into a more affluent (generally) segment of the population and they have built their entire company around making computers for that segment of the population. As a result that segment of the population is more loyal to the company.

X-Box Live on the other hand is a service designed for individuals who have some free discretionary income, have free time, and like to interact with other live people while playing games (16-30 year olds).

It’s a fact that Gays and Lesbians tend to have fewer children and have them later in life than straights. This means when they are in their early adult years they have more discretionary income and more free time as they don’t have to spend it all on children.

On the other side of the scale are the homophobes, who like companies that discriminate against gays. On paper they make up about 20% of the population although I’ve found that a lot of people who fit the profile of a homophobe (Belong to an Evangelical Church or are Mormon, republican, ect.) have gay friends and have no problem with their lifestyle.

Even if they were the actual 20% amount that wouldn’t translate into larger profits for Microsoft as they tend to have children earlier thus having less discretionary income and less free time, plus the conversations they like to have like potty training, their kids marks at school ect. Don’t really fit into the X-Box Live’s chat system. “Take out that monster, BTW my kid got an A in Basket Weaving.” As a result easily half these people (the 22-30 year olds) would never become X-Box Live members anyway.

That leaves two more groups 16-18 year olds and 18-22 year olds. For the 18-22 most of them are either in college or the military, odds are they know quite a few openly gay people already and will just avoid openly gay players like they do with openly gay people in life.

That leaves the 16-18 years olds. They are too happy to be playing the game to worry about the other players life outside the game, so it’s their parents who would determine if they could keep their X-Box Live account. Any parent who thinks that the Gayness can be spread over the Internet probably thinks that violence can be spread that way too and won’t let their kid have an X-Box Live account to begin with.

Microsoft’s policy is to actively turn away 10% of the population that are prime targets for it’s services to appease a group of people that will probably not be their customers anyway. This is especially surprising coming from Microsoft since it knows it would be costly if they tried the same thing with their hiring policy it would make the labor costs to high for even them to afford.

Those of you who know me, might be wondering how any of this effect’s me?

It doesn’t directly as I own a Playstation 3 and I’m married to a wonderful woman. However I do like to have a choice, if they don’t start releasing games that can use the power of the PS3, I may have to switch to the X-Box 4 in 10 years or so. If Microsoft continues this policy then their Live service will be very slow to improve, forcing Apple to come out with a similar service to grab the 10% of the population Microsoft is abandoning.

Although I love the power of my Mac, I would hate to try and play an online game surrounded by Fanboys.

2009-03-13T18:34:00.000-07:00

CIA Report: Likely Fall of Israel in 20 Years--One State Solution

It seems the CIA agrees with my previous assessment of the need for a One State Solution with all peoples living peacefully in historic Palestine.
Grant Lawrence

Source: Press TV

Study conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has cast doubt over Israel's survival beyond the next 20 years.

International lawyer Franklin Lamb

The CIA report predicts "an inexorable movement away from a two-state to a one-state solution, as the most viable model based on democratic principles of full equality that sheds the looming specter of colonial Apartheid while allowing for the return of the 1947/1948 and 1967 refugees. The latter being the precondition for sustainable peace in the region."

The study, which has been made available only to a certain number of individuals, further forecasts the return of all Palestinian refugees to the occupied territories, and the exodus of two million Israeli - who would move to the US in the next fifteen years.

"There is over 500,000 Israelis with American passports and more than 300,000 living in the area of just California," International lawyer Franklin Lamb said in an interview with Press TV on Friday, adding that those who do not have American or western passport, have already applied for them.

"So I think the handwriting at least among the public in Israel is on the wall...[which] suggests history will reject the colonial enterprise sooner or later," Lamb stressed.

He said CIA, in its report, alludes to the unexpectedly quick fall of the apartheid government in South Africa and recalls the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, suggesting the end to the dream of an 'Israeli land' would happen 'way sooner' than later.

The study further predicts the return of over one and a half million Israelis to Russia and other parts of Europe, and denotes a decline in Israeli births whereas a rise in the Palestinian population.

Lamb said given the Israeli conduct toward the Palestinians and the Gaza strip in particular, the American public -- which has been voicing its protest against Tel Aviv's measures in the last 25 years -- may 'not take it anymore'.

Some members of the US Senate Intelligence Committee have been informed of the report.

The Man Who Sold The World - Ronald Reagan

2009-03-12T16:31:00.001-07:00

2009-03-12T15:54:00.001-07:00

Oil Price Manipulation: A Weapon for the "Prevailing World Order"

Pic Source: goatmilk

By Grant Lawrence

"However, it is not all bad news, because the major oil producing countries have been the enemies of the prevailing world order. Venezuela, Iran, Russia and it is not so easy to finance a Bolivarian Revolution with $40 oil. So I think Venezuela, Chavez, probably his days are numbered. In Iran probably he won't last a year." Global Financier George Soros in Davos Switzerland at the World Economic Forum, on why lower prices for oil is not all bad news.

As Soros alludes to, oil is not only the reason wars are fought but it is also used as a weapon against those that are not in line with the "Prevailing World Order." Before the crash of oil prices, not only were average Americans suffering, but China and India were the big losers in the oil price war.

But then something curious happened. Georgia invaded S. Ossetia and Russia took action against that New World Order push by bombing a major pipeline in Georgia that supplied the west with oil. Russia gave a clear signal that it would not allow the globalists to do as it pleases in a former part of the Soviet Union. Coincidentally after Russia signaled its intentions with bombs, oil prices began to take a drastic decline.

But was this all a coincidence or a conspiracy to use the oil weapon against Russia?

Some still believe the price of oil is based on the demand for oil. But that is not true. Oil prices are controlled by oil speculation.

"Approximately 60 to 70 percent of the oil contracts in the futures markets are now held by speculative entities. Not by companies that need oil, not by the airlines, not by the oil companies. But by investors that are looking to make money from their speculative positions....All they do is buy the paper, and hope that they can sell it for more than they paid for it. Before they have to take delivery,"according to Dan Gilligan, President of the Oil Marketers Association.

Who is buying all this paper oil?

"I tease people sometimes that, you know, people say, 'Well, who's the largest oil company in America?' And they'll always say, 'Well, Exxon Mobil or Chevron, or BP.' But I'll say, 'No. Morgan Stanley,'" said Gilligan.

Hedge fund manager Michael Masters explains that that there are a lot of interests in paper oil. "The California pension fund. Harvard Endowment. Lots of large institutional investors. And, by the way, other investors, hedge funds, Wall Street trading desks were following right behind them, putting money - sovereign wealth funds were putting money in the futures markets as well. So you had all these investors putting money in the futures markets. And that was driving the price up," he said.

So when the economy was in a recession all last year and the demand for world oil was actually low, it was paper oil that was driving the record highs in oil prices. Paper oil that was being speculated on by hedge funds and various institutional investors.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last year that oil was abundant and that the high oil prices were "fake."

"At a time when the growth of consumption is lower than the growth of production and the market is full of oil, prices are rising, and this trend is completely fake and imposed," Ahmadinejad declared.

So oil prices are being manipulated outside of market forces for the demand for oil. But how do we know that it is being used as a weapon?

Some may recall that the Soviet economy was bolstered in the 70s because of high oil prices. But, later in the 80s, the price of oil was cheap. Those low oil prices helped bring about the fall of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Empire collapsed not because of Star Wars or the arms race but because of a hidden oil war in which the "Prevailing World Order" destroyed a supposedly evil empire by manipulating oil prices.

Thus we come to a major reason the "Prevailing World Order" has hesitated to move to a Green Economy and use available technology to leave the age of fossil fuels behind. The oil weapon is one of the most powerful weapons the globalists have at their disposal. It helped bring down a competing Soviet Empire, it is wielded against China and India at times, and it is being used presently to keep the Russian Bear in line, and to fight against "Bolivarian Revolutions" in South America.

An understanding of the oil weapon also brings to light one other dark and murky subject.

For years, it has been a mystery to many why hedge funds are allowed to operate with little financial oversight from regulators. Some in Congress have repeatedly called on the President and the Federal Reserve to encourage major legislation to regulate hedge funds and other financial instruments. But even after a world economic collapse, there has been little in the way of new regulation of these financial instruments.

Obviously, the "Prevailing World Order" may not like regulation because unregulated hedge funds allows certain elites to grow even larger fortunes. But regulation would likely shine a light into the workings of paper oil and the forces behind oil pricing. It would go against national security to expose a black operation like oil price fixing. After all, it is all for the good of humanity to combat forces that operate against the "Prevailing World Order."

But the interests of humanity may in fact not be the interests of the "Prevailing World Order." Right now we are seeing climate change being worsened by the use of oil and coal technology. Not only is fossil fuel pollution contributing to the destruction of the ecosystem of the planet but it is also killing and sickening millions of the world's people.

Oil may be a valuable weapon for the globalists but it contributing to a great deal of economic suffering of the world's population. Energy is the source for the world's economic engine and the price of oil means a great deal to the economic health of the world's population. When the globalists play oil wars to destroy or to keep a competing powers in check, it is the people of the world that must pay the price for that war.

Perhaps someday the governments of the world will align themselves with the interests of the people of the world. But until then look for more oil wars, environmental catastrophes, pollution, and economic collapses.

You may not know exactly what is going on but be assured that it is not happening by accident.

Video of the George Soros Interview Below

'Executive Assassination Ring' Reported Directly to Cheney Office

2009-03-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

"After 9/11, I haven't written about this yet, but the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven’t been called on it yet. That does happen.

"Right now, today, there was a story in the New York Times that if you read it carefully mentioned something known as the Joint Special Operations Command -- JSOC it’s called. It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office. They did not report to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff or to Mr. [Robert] Gates, the secretary of defense. They reported directly to him. ...

"Congress has no oversight of it. It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on. Just today in the Times there was a story that its leaders, a three star admiral named [William H.] McRaven, ordered a stop to it because there were so many collateral deaths.

"Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us.

"It’s complicated because the guys doing it are not murderers, and yet they are committing what we would normally call murder. It’s a very complicated issue. Because they are young men that went into the Special Forces. The Delta Forces you’ve heard about. Navy Seal teams. Highly specialized.

"In many cases, they were the best and the brightest. Really, no exaggerations. Really fine guys that went in to do the kind of necessary jobs that they think you need to do to protect America. And then they find themselves torturing people.

"I’ve had people say to me -- five years ago, I had one say: ‘What do you call it when you interrogate somebody and you leave them bleeding and they don’t get any medical committee and two days later he dies. Is that murder? What happens if I get before a committee.?’

"But they’re not gonna get before a committee.”

Source: Alternet

2009-03-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

Americans are Mentally Goosestepping to another War

By Grant Lawrence

"You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it."
General William Tecumseh Sherman

"Just wage total war -- Children will sing great songs about us"

Oct. 29, 2001

Michael Leeden, American Enterprise Institute, research fellow

"Liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk"

Feb. 13, 02

Ken Adelman

"Nearly 70 percent of Iraqis who said they suffer from mental disorders have contemplated suicide but only a fraction have sought treatment, according to a nationwide study....

From a recent study conducted by the World Health Organization about Iraqi mental health.

Many Iraqis, like many of the soldiers America sent to liberate Iraqi Oil, now suffer from mental disorders.

It is not surprising.

Recently there was an Army report of an alarming rise in the number of suicides among American soldiers. The stress of " repeated combat deployments" was seen as a major problem, according to the Army.

So it is with those that inflict suffering on others. Not only does the victim suffer but those that have inflicted the harm must also lose a bit of their humanity in the process. American soldiers, like all soldiers of war, have to cope with the brutality and dehumanization of war. American soldiers, like all soldiers, don't get to choose their wars or their battles. They only pay the price with their lives, health, and sanity.

For the most part, Americans waved their flags, supported their President, and went mentally goosestepping in an orgy of patriotism for a hopeful "Mission Accomplished" in the months before the Iraq war. By all accounts, it was to be a good war--"a cake walk".

As an American, I witnessed the ignorance and the cold blooded lack of caring among most of my countryman. This is a trauma that I share today with many Americans that had raised objections to the mental goosestepping and the blind patriotism that would eventually bring about so much suffering and destruction.

I remember watching films of Adolf Hitler when I was young and seeing the German army goosestepping and the overjoyed Germans worshiping their Fuhrer. I remember thinking "how could people be like that stupid?"

I now have that answer. I have witnessed America's own psychotic war fever.

We were a people caught up in the glory of ourselves. A people caught up in lies. A people caught up in the thirst for the blood of their enemies. A people living in an unreality of a "cake walk" war and "weapons of mass destruction."

So the Iraqi war has cost Americans nearly a trillion dollars. Of course, the war will cost a lot more money when it is all done. As an American, I know that it is the bottom line that we are mostly concerned with here in this country. "What is it going to cost me" is an expression commonly heard in America. But the Iraqi war has taken a toll that will cost more than just dollars for many decades to come.

I can never feel the same way that I once did about my country before the war. I had a picture of my country painted for me by years of propaganda and conditioning courtesy of my government, media, and other societal structures. I thought in a democracy, the truth would eventually save the day. Unfortunately I was wrong. The country is not a democracy and the truth is not presented in the managed media.

Now the war drums are beating again for another war in Iran. It is no longer "weapons of mass destruction" but Iranian nuclear weapons that we must fear. It is no longer a tyrant "Hitler" in Iraq but now it is a "Lunatic Madman" in Iran that is seeking to destroy my country.

So the media and the American Military industrial Complex is trying to get Americans to mentally goosestep into another war. We already have wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but that is not enough. There needs to be more wars to protect the future of America.

America is a psychotic place where bankers can economically destroy a country, get trillions, and demand more. A place where people are afraid of socialism but don't recognize the fascism that they must live with. A place that loves violence and sees it as a solution to all of the social ills of the world. A place where people can be made to hate easily.

America is a place that suffers from a great affliction. In the same way Germans went goosestepping into World War 2 motivated by ignorance of the truth. Americans today easily go goosestepping in their minds, motivated by the ignorance that our empire has to fear enemies from the outside.

It is not enemies from the outside that will eventually destroy America but it is the enemy of ignorance that is destroying us NOW.

An ignorance that is feeding the goosestepping in our minds.

Hey, Jim Cramer

2009-03-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

For anyone who hasn’t been following the diatribe of a madman, when the Dow went down after Obama’s first budget bill passed congress, Jim Cramer and most of CNBC went crazy(er) and started screaming that that was Wall Street reacting badly to the bill.

Jon Stewart gave him a lovely tribute by showing some of Cramer’s great advise, like to hold on to Bear-Sterns days before it tanked and to buy it seven weeks before it tanked.

Today Obama signed that budget bill and the Stock Market went up.

Is Jim Cramer going to use his previous logic and say that Wall Street now likes Obama’s budget?

Or is he going to admit that the Dow is just an arbitrary sampling of a few random companies and its day-to-day fluctuations don’t mean anything about the direction of the economy, it’s only a useful indicator over the long term?

I would like to see he spins this, but that would mean I’d have to watch his show.

To Serve Man, or Maggots. The Importance of the Federal Science Policy.

2009-03-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

With the latest media fad controversy about Obama’s reversal of Bush’s ban on using federal money for Stem Cell Research I’ve noticed an interesting change in tone. The arguments are no longer about the whether it is more ethical to use these embryos (that are made up of roughly 150 cells) for research that could lead to the great advancements in the medical field and save many lives, or if they should be thrown out in the trash where the maggots can feast on them. The new argument is aimed at the entire role of science in government and society.

The big question is why should the Government pay for Scientific Research?

The simple answer is it pays. Every time the Government puts money into research that money comes back many times over.

During the Great Depression and World War II the federal government poured vast sums of money into Nuclear Physics, Aeronautics, Electronics, and Chemistry research. From this whole new industries spawned, Nuclear Medicine, the Airline Industry, Radar, Televisions, Computers, and Plastic. The change that this investment in science spawned gave Americans a lifestyle that was envied around the world.

The Soviet Union looked at how the US and the Nazis used government funded research and took that idea to go from a feudal state to a Superpower.

Where the United States got the surprise advantage over the Nazis and Soviets was using the idea of Big Science, not only for Military applications but for consumer goods as well.

Developing the science and engineering for the Jet Engine had huge military advantages of course, but giving that technology to commercial airlines opened up the entire country to air travel while the Soviets were still building their rail system.

The idea of building an indestructible communication system was a Big Science idea for the Cold War, then some guys thought up the idea piggybacking communication between computers on it and the DARPAnet became the Internet.

Faster computers were needed for the military and NASA so they invested in silicon chip research and Steve Wozniak figured out that the new chips were powerful and cheap enough to build a computer the average person could afford, and the personal computer industry was born.

In the 70s Japan took this idea of Big Science and skipped the military and put it straight into consumer goods. Knowing they couldn’t grow a company that could compete with Bell Labs and IBM they built a government run electronics research lab and turned the science over to the likes of Sony, Nintendo, and other Japanese companies as well as American companies that agreed to employ Japanese workers like Saga and Samsung (The agreement worked out so well those two companies moved to Japan).

The Japanese took their idea to all industries including the car industry. Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi couldn’t compete with America’s big three even with a trimmer management structure and (at the time) lower wages, so the Japanese Government invested in automotive science, engineering and manufacturing techniques so that Japanese car companies could have better engineered cars at a lower cost in factories that could retool in three years instead of five, making them more responsive to customer needs.

All of this brings me back to the original question of this article, if scientific research is so profitable, why should the Government pay for it?

For some of it the projects are simply too large for individual companies to do it alone, like the beginnings of the Internet. It was started in 1957 and wasn’t commercialized until the late 1980s that’s a thirty-year lead time, most managers are reluctant to take on a project early in their career that won’t pay of until after they retire.
NASA has an even larger lead time, manned space exploration started in the early sixties and private space trips are just now starting, a large profitable manned space industry is still decades away.

Some projects the scientific process works against individual profit margins. The pharmaceutical industry for example: Research into groups of drugs (like heart medicine) needs vigorous scientific debate so it is done openly by the National Institute of Health. Those findings (after 20 to 40 years of research and debate) are turned over to the Pharmaceutical Companies who spend 8 to 10 years researching the individual drugs. There is no profit for an individual company to do the groundwork, but the whole industry rises from the government research.

Finally some scientific projects benefit thousands or even millions of people but there is no way to make a profit from them.

In Bobby Jindal’s response to President Obama he railed against federal money being spent on Volcano Monitoring. The federal government monitors active Volcanoes in order predict when they will erupt. Before they erupt warnings are given out so that people can evacuate the area.

This has saved thousands of people and countless billions of dollars but there is no way that any individual could make a profit from it.

Federal money spent on scientific research is a good investment. So when Bobby Jindal makes fun of Volcano Monitoring, the people whose lives are saved aren’t laughing. When John McCain jokes about Grisly Bear DNA testing, research to determine the exact numbers of endangered Grisly Bear vs Common Bears, the ranchers who will have their land opened up because of this research aren’t laughing.

And finally when Eric Cantor says, "Why are we going and distracting ourselves from the economy? This is job No. 1. Let's focus on what needs to be done." The thousands of people with spinal injuries who will able to be productive members of society again, as well as all the specialists who will make a boatload of money from the research won’t see it as a distraction.

Many Thanks to ChristinaTM for asking that question; She is obviously not alone in not understanding why the anti-science policies of the last 30 years have destroyed the engine of our economy.

2009-03-08T16:58:00.001-07:00

Reverend Dollars Explains Why Christians Condemn Socialism

Visit The Church of Stop Shopping for More of the Light

By Grant Lawrence

Lately, I have heard a lot of radio and TV preachers warn their flock that Americans are turning to Socialism. I have thought about it a bit and I just don't know why Christians should be against helping their fellow man and supporting a just society.

So I admit, often I miss the big picture. That is why I turn to experts for answers on subjects that are confusing to me.

In this case, I headed down to my local big box church to see if I could find a pastor to help clear up the issue on the dangers of a just society and social programs.

I entered the church but I must admit, it looked more like a retail store with nice carpet and some fine furnishings. I walked over to the office and I asked to see the head pastor of the church. I was told by the church secretaries that the Pastor is a mighty busy man with his TV, radio shows, and doing the Lord's work.

But surprisingly I was able to get a few moments of the Reverend's time. The Reverend came out with a big smile on his face and greeted me.

"Reverend Dollars," I said, "I am confused about a few things and I need some answers."

"Sure," he responded, "How can I be of service to you?"

"Well Reverend, I don't understand why it is bad for the government to help people?" I asked.

"Are you talking about Socialism?" he replied.

"I don't know Reverend. I don't know if it is Socialism, or if it is just helping people, or what. I am really confused about it all." I said.

"You are confused because I can tell you don't have a relationship with Jesus. You get right with Jesus and you will get the answers that you need. Jesus will get you straight. Then you won't need to know anything but the Lord and you will be happy," Reverend Dollars smiled.

"But Reverend, why do people go to church to listen to you when they have the Lord?" I asked.

"All right, I am going to try to help clear things up for you. Christians are against Socialism because they are for a free market. God in his infinite wisdom created a free market so that people could get rich and be free to fail. Now that means there is going to be a lot of poor people but that is fine with God because he wants all of us free. It is up to people to give to help the poor and no one should be forced into doing what is right," he said.

"But why does God punish people if they do bad, isn't that forcing them to do good?" I asked.

"Brother, God is the one in charge of doing good. It is not up to you and me to force people to do good?" he said.

"Now I am really confused Reverend," I confessed. "If we shouldn't force people to do good then why do Christians want jails and police? Why do Christians think people should be arrested for drugs and prostitution. Why do Christians want just wars? Why can't we bring about a society in which there is health care for everyone and more help for people in need?"

"Brother, you are asking too many questions and if you had faith it would be clear to you. Christians know that it is all part of God's plan and that people shouldn't go changing things that God has ordained. That is why there is always going to be sick people, poverty, wars, and criminals. You or I or anyone is not going to change that," the reverend said. He definitely seemed pleased with his answer.

"But Reverend, if we can't change things or society then why why do Christians go see doctors, go to hospitals, support schools, use technology, and support a lot of things that help people? If we can't change things then why do you preach on your TV show about the the evils of homosexuality, atheism, and big government?" I asked.

"It is clear you are a sinner and that is all I can say. But I am telling you that God doesn't want us to share our wealth unless we want to. God wants a free market because he wants everyone to benefit," he angrily said. "Read the bible!" The reverend was now shouting.

"Reverend, didn't the early Christians live in communes?" I inquired.

"That's it. I knew it. You are a communist. The Devil is bending your mind, brother. The early Christians were communists because God hadn't yet revealed free markets to them. So they had to share. But God has created America and freedom so that is why Christians are no longer practicing communists," he said.

"So the early Christians were practicing communists?" I was surprised to know that .

Then a disturbing thought came to me. Perhaps Jesus was promoting a type of communism when he talked about people selling everything and giving it to the poor. Serving God may have been the same as serving people to Jesus. Serving people and helping people is pretty much what Socialists talk about, I thought.

I couldn't say anything more to Reverend Dollars.

I now felt very guilty. I didn't want the Reverend to know this deep dark thought about Jesus being a practicing communist so I didn't say anything. If I said anything about Jesus promoting a type of social welfare then I am sure he would tell me that I was damned for all of eternity.

I excused myself and told the Reverend goodbye. I think the Reverend was happy to see me go but happy to show me the light.

But since my talk with the Reverend, I have been riddled with guilt. I have resolved not ever to think such thoughts again about Jesus advocating sharing, helping, and giving to the poor.

Since my talk, I block all thoughts about a just society from my mind. But once in awhile these crazy, sinful thoughts come to me about socialism and even communism. But I wipe it all from my mind by clicking on the remote and watching the Reverend Dollars condemn people and ask for money on his TV show.

The Reverend may not have answered my questions but he did show me that my questions were dirty and wrong.

A Must See Video: Iraqi Police Get Motivational Speech

2009-03-08T14:02:00.001-07:00

2009-03-07T19:34:00.001-08:00

Who Killed More?

Who Killed More? Bosnia's Karadzic or Myanmar's Than Shwe

Source: Ashin Mettacara

Karadzic was one of the world's most wanted war crimes fugitives. He is a former Bosnian Serb president and a masterminded man of the ethnic cleansing .

More than 8000 Muslims were killed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. But the latest research says about 100,000 people were killed in this war. Karadzic was arrested on early Tuesday morning in a sweep by Serbian security forces. After Karadzic, Myanmar military leader Than Shwe should be considered and included in the list of world’s most wanted because he masterminded to kill the Buddhist monks and people during September uprising , 2007. He can also be accused of masterminding "ethnic cleansing" killings of Sham , Kayin and its own citizens. The Army and Senior General Than Shwe had committed similar crimes of killing NLD members and students on many occasions. The major massacre is in Depe Yin town , 30th May 2003, hundreds of NLD members led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, were killed. The intention of Depe Yin massacre was to assassinate Daw Aung San Kyi, but she fortunately released with the help of people and pro-democracy members. Recently Nargis cyclone hit many parts of Myanmar , more than 138000 people were killed and more than 2 million people are helpless, homeless and hopeless. Nargis killed less, but Myanmar military government killed more with the failures to rescue, food supplies and medical supplies. All the cruelties of life in Myanmar are masterminded by Senior General Than Shwe.

2009-03-07T19:33:00.001-08:00

Gorbachev and the Buddha--A Middle Way for Humanity

By Grant Lawrence

Gorbachev on the worldwide economic meltdown:

Gorbachev seemed to view the global meltdown as partly the result of years of Western hubris and excess. "The American media trumpeted ... about the victory in the Cold War, that socialism is down. This disease of extreme self-confidence led to it -- the [belief] that things would always go on this way. ... I think that now everyone is learning a hard lesson. ... It is necessary to overcome these mistakes of super-consumerism, of super-profits." The answer? A composite system that incorporates "the past experience of all that the capitalist system brings, like competitiveness, and what socialism gives -- especially a social safety net."

Mikhail Gorbachev, 78, the last leader of the Soviet Union, was interviewed recently by Associated Press reporter Dan Perry

Before the fall of the Soviet Union, Michail Gorbachev tried to remake the Soviet System into something humane, resembling the Nordic model of Socialism. Unfortunately, it didn't work and the Soviet Empire crumbled just as it seems our Globalist Empire is about to collapse.

After the Soviet collapse, Russia was left with a wrecked economy in which the Oligarchs made their move to take total control. Eastern Europe was united around the false promise of capitalism and is presently suffering for their delusions.

I think Gorbachev's vision for a workable economy and society presently has much to offer mankind. A society in which there are social safety nets and worker protections but that still allows for some competition and wealth creation. This is a middle way that avoids the extremes of fantastic wealth creation for a very tiny few and the exploitation of billions. It is also a middle way that avoids total state control and suppression of individuals and their human economic activity.

The "Middle Way" is something the Buddha endorsed well over 2000 years ago. He talked about avoiding the extremes of sensuality and austerities when it comes to human development, attaining wisdom, and enlightenment.

Societies as well as individual beings are systems.

It makes perfect sense to apply Gorbachev's economic "Middle Way" philosophy for the benefit and well being of a societal system just as it makes perfect sense to apply the Buddha's "Middle Way" path for the benefit and well being of a system known as an individual person.

A systemic approach to human development and activities offers us greater understanding of the way things actually function and in what way they function for the best. Following the Middle Way path of avoiding extremes doesn't mean that there will never be imbalances in a system, but it does mean that one part of that system will not be allowed to totally exploit and abuse the rest of the system until that system collapses. Instead, a Middle Way Path allows for a system, human or societal, to live in some sort of homeostasis.

Both the Gorbachev and the Buddha have mapped out a Middle Way that can be be applied to human development and human relationships for the benefit of humanity.

2009-03-07T19:31:00.000-08:00

A Great Opportunity?

By Grant Lawrence

I am all for being positive. But at first glance President Obama's remarks in his weekly radio address that we can "discover great opportunity in the midst of great crisis" seems that he is something of a Pollyanna.

After all we are getting news of growing tent cities, the stock market collapse,troubled banks, massive unemployment, and then there is the recent story of 700 applicants applying for one school janitor's job in Ohio.

But if we really consider what the President is saying, he is right. There can be tremendous opportunity for a real change in this country in the midst of the massive collapse. But, unfortunately, the President has decided to adopt Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also decided to adopt the strategy of continuing bailing out a failed banking system.

If the President is really serious about finding opportunity in a crisis then he will need to do more than tweak a failed economic and war policy. He will need to do more than give hopeful speeches.

Instead it is time for bold moves to come from the President and Congress on health care, the economy, and on foreign policy. The President is obviously a good speaker and a very intelligent person. But unless the President really does capture this "Great Opportunity" for real change the force of events will make him powerless and virtually meaningless.

LOL Frist Family

2009-03-07T11:50:00.001-08:00

They say the first family is off limits to humor, but I feel they brought it on themselves by being so damn cute.

So if cute and adorable kittens aren't spared then neither are Malia and Sasha.

And the kids might have actually been thinking this:

2009-03-06T18:24:00.001-08:00

A Health Care Plan that can Offset "Astounding" Job Losses

By Grant Lawrence

President Obama was in Columbus Ohio recently to celebrate the creation of 25 jobs at the police academy that he says is directly related to the 787 billion dollar stimulus package.

Well I am in favor of any jobs that can be created. However, the President's remarks at the academy that the lost jobs in February were "Astounding," describes an economy that is in need of profound changes. The stimulus package may be able to offset some of the 651,000 job losses that occurred last month. But it if 25 jobs is all the President has to show for it so far, then it is likely going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Still, I am not one to complain unless I can point to something that can make things better.

There is a realistic plan that would:

1. Create 2,613,495 million new permanent good-paying jobs (slightly exceeding the number of jobs lost in 2008) -- and jobs that are not easily shipped overseas

2. Boost the economy with $317 billion in increased business and public revenues

3. Add $100 billion in employee compensation

4. Infuse public budgets with $44 billion in new tax revenues

All of this according to a study done by the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association

But the plan gets even better, if you can believe it. The plan would help all Americans live longer and healthier lives. The plan would mean that millions of Americans wouldn't have to go bankrupt because of no health coverage or inadequate health insurance.

This plan is so beautiful in its simplicity that English logician and Franciscan friar, William of Ockham would certainly be touting it as the best plan. Now I know Occom's razor should be applied to competing theories but I think it can also be useful when we examine plans. A plan that calls for single payer universal health care that would simply apply the medicare program to all Americans is sound, reasonable, and parsimonious. Competing programs are too complicated and generally involve large corporations sucking the resources away from the patients.

Applying the Medicare program to all Americans would help Obama create millions of good paying jobs, boost the economy, and contribute to all Americans living healthier and longer lives.

Now there is one word of warning. This simple plan would mean that the managed health care bandits and the insurance fraudsters would not be able to make any money off it. That would mean cries of socialism from those that only want socialism for themselves in the form of government bailouts.

But if the public were to apply some reasoning to the economy and to their own health then I think William of Ockham would be proud to see that the simplest, job creating, budget building health care plan was the one that was chosen.