BORDER BULL

The furor over the Arizona bill that says it will enforce America's border laws to keep illegal immigrants out of the country, something the Obama people don't want to do, reveals the depth of America's political and moral decay.

We have laws on the books. Enforce them or move to repeal them. There is nothing in our Constitution that gives any person, including the President, the right to decide which laws to enforce and which to ignore...or what portions of the Constitution are still relevant and which aren't, or who should get favored government treatment and who shouldn't.

There are vital reasons for our immigration laws, including:

* health reasons to keep contagion out of our country
* security reasons to keep terrorists out
* police reasons to keep criminals out
* educational reasons to keep our schools open to our citizens who pay for them

There is one reason not to enforce our immigration laws: to curry the favor of voters of Latin American, Spanish or Mexican heritage...the same heritage of most illegal immigrants...most of whom vote Democratic.

The argument that the new Arizona law will allow Arizona police to engage in racial profiling, is specious. Nothing in the law permits it, and any law can be enforced improperly. If police are found to be engaging in racial profiling, or any other misconduct, they ought be appropriately punished. It is ludicrous to argue that our welfare and security are threatened more by the possibility of police misconduct than by the documented illegal activities of illegal immigrants. People here legally will not be bothered to be asked for papers, they will be happy the gendarmes are doing their job and helping to keep them safe. Only the illegals will be bothered...and they should be!

So, Pres. Obama, do the job we are paying you to do, or vamoose, take a trip...perhaps to Mexico. But be sure to bring your papers, Mexico is one of those foolish countries that won't let you in without them.

OUT AND STAY OUT!

Years and years ago, a group of friends and friends of friends met at my home each week to have a roundtable discussion of some political, social, ethical issue. The issue one week was this: If you were in pressing financial need of funds and you saw some of my money or jewelry on a table, would you take it? Most said they would, with arguments like "You are doing well. you have more than you need, you won't miss it". I immediately told all those who would steal my property to leave and that they were no longer welcome in my home. Some thought I was overreacting.

Does the story sound familiar? It should, because that is precisely what the present Administration and their supporters are doing now: taking away my money without my consent, and using it as they see fit for themselves or for those they claim are in need. And it is not just my money they are stealing, but my life and my freedom to live it as I choose. And those rights the Constitution recognized and confirmed, what about them? "Hey," they say, "the Constitution is out of date, we will decide what rights you have or haven't". I guess "unalienable" meant aliens can't take them from you, but other Americans can.

So, here we go again. All of you who support the idea that my life, my property, my spirit, are yours to control to any extent, are not welcome in my home. I will treat you as I would any other criminal. Out and stay out! My friendship, my hospitality, my trust, are reserved for those who respect my freedom and my life.

I was right years ago, and I am right now. It's not a game we're playing.

199-1, NOT GOOD ENOUGH?

There are about 200 countries in the world. Every one of them...whether socialist, fascist, communist, monarchy, dictatorship, religious...is based to one extent or the other on the premise that each individual life is indebted, obliged, duty-bound, mortgaged, to the needs, welfare and benefit of the collective, the group, the group's leader.

Except one. America was founded on the idea that each of us has an inalienable right to our own life, that we have an inalienable right to pursue OUR OWN HAPPINESS, that we are serfs of none, masters of none.

So, to all those who think America is based on the wrong premises, who would like to conform it to the other 200, I say this:

Pick out one of those other countries...England, France, Switzerland, China, India, Chile, Argentina, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...pack up your political philosophies AND MOVE THERE. Is it too much to ask that we who know the Founders were enlightened have ONE country to live in? You can have the other 200...200!... and you ought be happy with that since you obviously do not see the connection between America's ideals and why your soul longs to live here.

LISTEN, IT IS YOUR SOUL

The full grandeur of living an independent life, in freedom, is seemingly beyond the vision and sensation of most.

The butterfly is free and even the infant smiles at the beauty of its unrestrained flight. But we disdain unrestrained flight for ourselves, we do not comprehend the purity, the treasure, of total independence, total freedom.

We mouth the words (equality, freedom, liberty) but know them not. We refuse to blow with the carefree wind, or be swept by the free flowing stream.

Do we shackle ourselves with social restraints because of a dread of self-responsibility? Or the fear of the full illumination of our own true identity, which total freedom brings? Or is it because we have accepted our role as pawns of greater authority, as children forever?

There is a part of each of us that cannot be but free. It is our soul.

“Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.” Sexton

“Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be...Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you'll live as you've never lived before.” Fromm

MUSINGS IV

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" is nonsense. It may be the way to his money, it may be the way to your being named spouse on a wedding certificate, and he may love the herring you made him for dinner...but it has no relevance to his loving you.
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Isn't the first thing we ought teach every child is that his or her mind has the power to choose, and that when it is up against something it cannot control, it may become frustrated and anxious..and what serves best is for the child to remember that it can still choose how it relates to and will respond to that lack of control?
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The notion that everyone needs a 4-year college degree, or more, is a commercial written by those who run colleges and graduate schools...and you know how reliable commercials are.
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It seems like that must have been a much more crowded closet than was generally thought.
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Shouldn't the U.S. Constitution be amended to allow for recall votes of all politicians after half their term?
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Is the reason we love animals so much that:
(a) we were once animals
(b) it is hard to find humans to love
(c) we don't really know what love is
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Can I please see a list of Democrats in office, including Pres. Obama, showing how much of their wealth they redistributed last year.
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Why don't we start school later in the morning and invoke double daylight savings time year round?
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Who really cares what O'Reilly, Hannity, Maddow, Limbaugh, Olberman and the rest of those pundits feel about an issue, if they do not prove they are right...which they never do?
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If the average grade nationwide on the S.A.T. exam is equivalent to 50%, isn't public education failing horribly?
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Considering the obesity level in America, wouldn't eating only two meals a day help?
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VERY GOOD

We are under siege by negativity in our country. Every human activity is seen to contain an insolvable problem rather than an anticipated hurdle to get over and past. Mayhem, mischief and madness dominate the media. Politicians see war lurking around every corner. The Earth itself is trembling.

We are in urgent need of positivity...and so I have invented a game. Here is the background of the game:

GENESIS 1:31 "And the Lord saw all that He had made and behold it was VERY GOOD"

The words VERY GOOD have a combined 8 letters. The number 8 has different meanings in different cultures around the world, and, interestingly, they all relate to the elements of a good life, including:

Perfection
Infinity
Love
Friendship
Prosperity
To the Chinese, double fortune
To the Buddhists, long life
To the Egyptians, cosmic order.

The name of my game is VERY GOOD...what else?. Each time during the day that you recognize and acknowledge something very good in your life, you earn a letter. For the first one, you earn a V, for the second an E, for the third an R...and so on. Do it 8 times in one day, spell out VERY GOOD, and you're a winner! Your prize: the difficulty you will have the rest of the day saying anything negative, listening to anything negative...borderline impossible.

Good game, yes?

You have a V.

SHUT UP

Talk, talk, talk, talk. 21st centurions love to talk...can't walk to the 7-11 without getting on that cell phone. Can't wait 'till they get home, have to have to have to talk now...and later. Radio and tv talk shows abound, blaring in homes, cars, elevators, offices. Can't even wait for my telephone call to be picked up...someone yakking in my ear "Your call is important to us...a representative will be with you shortly... your estimated wait time is 5 minutes...would you care to complete a short survey after your call is completed?...please don't hang up, your call is important to us".

Our tongue is king...but here come our fingers. We let our digits do the walking and the talking in 1,000,000,000 daily text messages, and on over 1,000,000,000 internet devices spewing out over 50,000,000,000 daily e-mails. We sure must have a lot to say!

Or do we? Tell me one memorable, historically important, statement by one renowned person during the past 50 years...other than Rosa Parks', "I will not move to the back of the bus". One?

Even the fiercest animals sit quietly and peacefully, their babies nestled against them, and savor the silence.

LOST TREASURE

They represent 12% of our population;
10 million of them are veterans;
20% of them have college degrees;
73,000 are now enrolled in college;
80,000 are over 100 years old;
5 million of them are 95 or older;
36 million of them are 65 or older;
72% of those aged 65-74 voted in recent political elections, representing the highest percentage of any group.

Who are they?

They are our seniors.

They are the group of people Americans pejoratively call feeble, doddering, rickety, senile, anile, decrepit, old geezers, old codgers.

They are the group heavily responsible for bringing America to its state of preeminence in the world, yet are forced to retire from work though they remain productive.

They are the group from which inclusive Pres. Obama chose but one to be in his Cabinet and to give him advice.

Many Americans have shamelessly bought into Art Linkletter's identification of the four stages of man: infancy, childhood, adolescence and obsolescence. He may have said it jokingly, though it is by no means a joke. They best be careful for it is not just the aged that are the victims of this depraved perception.

There are tribes and cultures in the world today, some as ancient as life itself, in which those with extensive life experience are not shuffled off to lifeless old age homes, but are revered and honored and respected and cherished and treasured, and beseeched for guidance and insight and enlightenment. Those are the more spiritual tribes and cultures, the ones who see beyond the physical constraints of aging to inner wisdom. They are the ones that value ideas and those who can gift them to you.

It is them we ought emulate as we remember the ancient teaching that the price of wisdom is above rubies.

FROM VICTORY

August 1, 1945
Pres. Truman: We have an A Bomb, the most devastating weapon ever built. I will blow one up on a Pacific atoll, if you wish to see its power. Do you wish to see it?
Emperor Hirohito: No.

August 6, 1945 "Little Boy" A-Bomb dropped on Hiroshima, 140,000 dead

August 7, 1945
Pres. Truman: Do you surrender?
Emperor Hirohito: No

August 9, 1945 "Fat Man" A-Bomb dropped on Nagasaki, 80,000 dead

August 10, 1945
Pres. Truman: Do you surrender?
Emperor Hirohito: Yes, provided...
Pres. Truman: No provideds. Do you unconditionally surrender?
Emperor Hirohito: Yes.

April 6, 2010
Pres. Obama: We will not use a nuclear weapon in our defense against a country that does not have a nuclear weapon, even if it engages in chemical or biological warfare against us. We shall respond to such warfare (after thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of our people have been killed) with traditional warfare (provided, of course, we will not drop any bomb if there is a civilian in the neighborhood).

WHEN AND WHY DID AMERICA LOSE ITS BACKBONE, ITS GRIT, ITS WILL?

A confluence of events within 25 years after America's victory in WW II, set the stage:

1. The leaders of the victorious Allied forces...including Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin ...died
2. The United States found itself in a war in Vietnam that it did not wish to be in, did not know how to win, and after a decade of fighting it with one hand tied behind its back, left in defeat
3. The baby boomers born after WWII reached maturity...and 400,000 of them congregated at a rock and roll festival in Woodstock, NY wallowing in mind bending drugs and alcohol and wanton sex under the banner "Peace and Love".

What was critical about that slogan was that it was freewheeling and unprincipled. All standards were trashed. We were urged to be at peace with everyone and anyone regardless of their moral qualities ...and we were implored to love everyone and anyone regardless of their beliefs, attitudes, actions. The slogan explicitly evolved into "Make Love (Sex) not War"..and the moral principles that had fueled our country to unprecedented heights crumbled.

The extent of the crumbling is evident in five subsequent events which originated in the White House:

1. Watergate: the criminal break-in of the Democratic headquarters, orchestrated by or done with the approval of Pres. Nixon...and his subsequent shameful resignation
2. The Lewinski Affair: the adulterous sexual relations by Pres. Clinton in the Oval Office, demeaning both himself and his office, and his lying about it to the Senate Committee
3. The failure on the part of Pres. Bush Sr. to pursue Saddam Hussein into Baghdad during the First Gulf War
4. The failure of Pres. Clinton to order the bombing of the cave in Afghanistan in which Bin Laden was trapped, allowing the terrorist leader to escape
5. The apparent deception by Pres. Bush Jr. with regard to wmd's in Iraq for the purpose of gaining public support for the Second Gulf War.

We are now an unprincipled nation with no standards of morality or decency. The Constitution is treated by many as an out of date relic expressing ideals that no longer apply. Pres. Obama meets with and is willing to deal with rogue nations as if they are trustworthy and honorable, completely ignoring their announced political objectives. He disgracefully bows in deference to tyrannical leaders...including the King of Saudi Arabia and the President of China. He does not see money as a reward of production but as an entitlement, and has moved to forcibly redistribute our nation's wealth. He does not take pride in America's preeminence in the world, he disdains it.

America stood very tall
America had a great fall
All the King's horses and all the King's men
( )could ( )couldn't put America together again

THE MONEY GUN

I am declaring Economic War on those who are enemies of America's fundamental principles as expressed by our Founding Fathers and ingrained in our Constitution.

So far, we who value the ideals of our country have done little to counter the liberal, progressive onslaught but talk, talk, talk...on the air, in newspapers and magazines, on blogs...all hot air that hasn't worked. Oh, yes...we have also "talked" a bit with our votes, but that hasn't turned the tide either.

I speak here solely to comrades in ideas. We have failed to remember a basic fact of life: Money Talks! There is a reason why it is called "the Almighty dollar": we worship it. We will do just about anything for it, never have enough of it. It is time to unveil and to fire our most potent weapon.

Here is the opening salvo in the Economic War.

1. We will spend our money only toward the purchase of necessities...goodbye sales and value added taxes.

2. We will not buy the products of any companies that run commercials on talk shows that promote anti-American ideas.

3. We will not purchase the products of any company that outsources the production of its goods, or otherwise deals in any way with our country's enemies, including China, North Korea, Iran, Nicaragua, Syria, Russia.

4. We will not travel to, spend money in, buy products from companies headquartered in, any state whose Congressional representatives do not verbally and actively support:

(a)an immediate vote in Congress on the fighting of the undeclared illegal wars we are fighting in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan; and if that vote is Aye,

(b)the immediate withdrawal of our ground forces and the ruthless fighting of those wars solely with the superiority and devastation of our air power, and

(c)the physical closing of all border entrances into our country from Mexico...to stop the unceasing flow of drugs, crime and violence from that country into ours, and

(d)the stopping of the financing of countries around the globe, and spending whatever funds we have to help our own citizens, first and last.

5. We will restructure the jobs of employees so that they are classified as independent contractors, whose pay is not subject to withholding taxes.

Money talks,loudly. If even only 5% of the population join in the Economic War, their voices will be clearly heard. If 10% join,, it will be like roaring thunder, and just as threatening.

Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?

GIDDYAP!

2010 life is too complex...for me.

X wants a new car. Here is what X, typically, will do:

*check newspapers for sales and prices;

*check internet for sales and prices;

*discuss with friends their experience with different brands, different models;

*visit several dealerships to talk about cars, special features, styles (coupe, sedan, hatchback, convertible, van, wagon, SUV), horsepower, number of cylinders, manual &/or automatic, front/rear/all wheel drive, sunroof, miles per gallon, colors, prices, warranties, trade-in values of both new and presently-owned cars....and if buying used, year of manufacture, motor and body condition, prior ownership and usage and mileage and repairs;

*calculate costs in addition to sales price, including sales tax, value added tax, prep charges, registration and license fees, extended warranty fees;

*test drive a few models;

*review bank, union, credit card and other financing options, interest rates, term, prepayment options, guarantors;

*rate dealer's reputation, reliability, quality of service;

*consider insurance coverage, premiums, discounts;

*compare cost of retaining and repairing presently-owned car.

In olden days, X wanted a new horse, went to the nearest horse farm, picked one, rode it once around the corral, checked its hooves, patted its rump, whispered "Hi, Big Beauty" in its ear, paid cash and galloped off.

Technology, ain't it wonderful?

PLANTING TIME

It is planting time.

The bad seeds of hatred, distrust, deception, violence are mushrooming all about us. They are ever present in our lives, in what we talk about, what we worry about. They influence the choices we make, our psychological health, our sense of life. Our country's news media feed off them by feeding them to us in a continuous streaming deluge.

It is time to counter and assuage the poisonous effects of the bad seeds with a fertile harvest of healthy goodness. And the quickest, easiest and most expeditious way of doing that is on the tip of my tongue, and the tip of yours: the compliment.

Plant a seed of goodness by complimenting someone you don't normally do, or compliment someone you normally do in a way you normally don't. The personal, beneath the surface, compliment, or praise, is best.

"There is a mystery about you that is so interesting."

"You always make me feel good about myself."

"You are one of a kind."

Plant one good seed today, one tomorrow, one every day. Then double the harvest. Plant two each day. You have an endless supply, they cost nothing to plant, and take but a moment to do so...but their fruit is sweet and enduring and priceless.

It is planting time.

Praise is the best diet for us, after all. Sydney Smith

GRRRRR!

I don't know if the problem is we humans too often improperly compare ourselves to animals...or that we do not properly compare ourselves to animals in a most important regard.

At one time or another, we have been called a rat, an ape, a gorilla, a baboon, a laughing hyena, a jackass, a snake. We have been described as being "as sly as a fox", "as strong as an ox", "as wise as an owl", "as cool as a cat", "as busy as a beaver". We call ourselves "rational animals", "political animals", "tool-making animals", "the only animal that blushes, or needs to".

And, arguably, we are all of those things.

And, arguably, they indirectly reference our animal ancestry.

But, I wonder, do they subliminally lay the foundation for the belief that we are incapable of rising to a higher, more noble, more spiritual, way of life? Do they enhance or diminish our image of the human race, our self-esteem? Are we stuck in the moral mud, so to speak, with the pigs?

Or do we not go far enough? Do we fail to recognize that like our animal brethren...who are naturally and strikingly wonderfully programmed for survival, as witness the defiance of extinction by inch-long life forms through the millennia...we, too, have an exquisitely powerful nature that, though not programmed in us, can lift us to the highest reaches of human glory and grandeur if we but choose (choice being part of that nature) to abide by it. Are not feelings of sadness, regret, jealousy, anger, rage, anxiety, depression, etc., important positive, survival-helping features of that nature, to be understood and treated as such, rather than as mental or emotional disorders and diseases?

Ultimately, the standard for all proper human conduct is our nature...and it is there for us to see, to learn, to know. Our natural inquisitiveness has triggered our study of animals and how and why they behave the way they do. Time for us to study and master and teach what this animal is all about.

CLASH OF GIANTS

Years and years and years ago, man made a mistake…a mistake so monumental that it has haunted him ever since…a mistake so ingrained in his mind that he now thinks that nature, not he, implanted it there.

Man set up the psychologically deadly war between success and failure. Success was not merely attaining a goal, reaching a destination…pleasurable things to happen…it took on the banner of necessity. Even deeper. It took on the role as the identifier, the standard, the measurement, of the value of one’s life. Biblical David is considered a hero, someone to admire, not because he could distinguish between good and evil, not because he had the courage and integrity to fight the giant destroyer, but because he…won. He was successful.

Every activity, every day, has since become not a life-living joy, an adventure, but a critical battle of giants…success and failure… struggling to win the coveted prize: money, position, power, recognition, love. Success seen as the fuel of self-esteem and pride and happiness, and failure as the curse, the anathema, the abomination. Considering the fact that virtually all success, as presently perceived, depends to some extent on what others do or think, man has become a dependent being, taking him further and further away from his independent natural state.

The indoctrination of new warriors begins early. Elementary schools paint the dreaded “F” on the forehead of those who don’t meet the standards for success set by others. “Failure,” it screams, "you are beneath, below, what WE demand…you are not one of us…you are not worthy of life’s bounties."

With that definition, failure hurts. Deeply. We have come to fear it. And with that fear comes doubt, uncertainty, hesitation. About ourselves, about our future. The mere possibility of failure, which is almost always present, has become for many an inhibitor of action...better not to try than to fall short, to flunk.

The mountain of evidence…the unhappiness of so many who have achieved “success”, the unfulfilled deep-rooted longing of so many for spiritual exaltation, the soundless screams of so many for life’s true meaning and value...that reveals that the clash of giants is misguided, lays buried beneath the mindless refrain that “Winning isn’t Everything…it’s the Only Thing” (meant to imply that unless you win, you have nothing).

The ultimate failure is to not realize that life is the ultimate success. Those who are blessed with that wisdom have an impenetrable shield against the "F" word...and are enduringly happy. They know that when they awaken to each new day, they hold the grand prize in their hands...as you do in yours!

ARE YOU HAPPY?

Are you happy that we are fighting and dying in Wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq that have not been declared by Congress, as our Constitution requires...Wars our President promised to end?

Are you happy that we do not use the full power of our Air Force and go all out in that War because, apparently, our government officials value the life of foreign civilian nationals more than the lives of American soldiers?

Are you happy that we are spending godzillions of dollars to build up foreign countries and their corrupt governments while our economy suffers and millions of our countrymen are unemployed and need money to live?

Are you happy that we are being told that our national security depends on corrupt foreign governments and their fledgling loyalty-questionable military?

Are you happy that the undefined change campaigner Obama promised has been identified as swift moves toward a domineering, in your face, intrusive, socialist, freedom-less, government?

Are you happy that our leader plays basketball at the White House while my neighbor's body was being torn to shreds by a roadside bomb?

Are you happy to be told that foreign terrorists have rights they haven't earned, while you do not have the right to spend as you see fit the money you have earned?

Are you happy to know that Mao Tse-Tung and his tyrranical communist philosophy have been praised by two high ranking Obama officials, including Marketing Czar Ron Bloom who says "We know the free enterprise system is nonsense" and Communications Director Anita Dunn, who says Mao is her favorite philosopher?

Are you happy that most of mainstream media would answer "Yes"?

KING OPINION

It is a sad time in America...for we are saying goodbye to our dearest friend, the one that has sustained us a nation for 200 years: the distinction between right and wrong.

It is a time of peril in the world...for we have said adieu to our dearest friend, the one that has sustained humanity and civilization from the beginning: the distinction between right and wrong.

That distinction is rooted in actuality It is determined not by mere opinion, conjecture, unsubstantiated belief, whim, caprice, fancy...but by objective fact. An idea, a thought, a principle, an ideology, is right or wrong because it provably conforms to reality; it is true. Absent that proof, it is but a subjective feeling and wish residing only in one's mind.

"Who's to say what is right or wrong? I can decide that for myself." That is today's mantra. Truth has been dethroned and Opinion (subjective belief) reigns supreme.

I heard a tv commercial yesterday calling for the governor of a state to raise taxes on the rich to pay for additional school costs. In a country that honors equality under the law, is it right that some should have to pay more simply because they have more? No discussion.

I heard an interview in which a law school professor was asked whether a law that requires everyone in the country to have health insurance violates the Constitution. No, he answered, because if the Supreme Court so rules, it would have to overturn 90 years of their prior case Opinions. Well, if those Opinions are shown to be wrong, ought they not gleefully be corrected? No discussion.

There was good reason for the Founders to reject democracy and its reliance on majority rule. They knew that because an Opinion is held by most does not make it right. "We hold these truths (not Opinions) to be self evident," they proclaimed. They appealed to the Supreme Judge of the World "for the Rectitude of our Intentions" ....rectitude, as in correctness, rightness. I wonder whether they intentionally referred to our freedoms as "rights" to connote their objective certitude.

Truth, dear friend, do not stray too far.

THE NEW COLONY

I was watching the NCAA semi finals yesterday and I began to think how intelligently top teams are put together...ten or so players trying to win by combining their various individual skills in different parts of the game: driving and long-range shooting, rebounding, defense, playmaking, dribbling. It was like looking at the inside of a beautiful watch. It made me think about the popular structure of the team that society promotes as best for the game of life, and wonder it is still a winner.

That structure is the Family...meaning parents and their natural or adopted children. In olden days, when life may have been harder but simpler, that team generally did alright. The man hunted and carried a weapon to protect the family, the mother raised, often educated, the children, cleaned the house and cooked, and the children helped by feeding the animals and doing other odd chores.

I wonder if that family team structure is still the best today. I wonder whether the complexities and the pace of modern day life, plus the ever burgeoning array of necessary chores, can in fact be well handled by two adults and some children.

A partial list of today's chores:

Earning an ever growing quantity of money to pay for an ever growing flood of new goods and services, expanding government taxes, auto, home, life, health and drug insurance, college and graduate school education, and the weekly new technological toys that seem to convert last week's toys into antiques;

Detailed bookkeeping, record keeping, of a wide variety of financial and family activities;

Investments of family funds, including potential retirement income;

Maintenance of property and an array of machinery;

Teaching teenagers how to survive and succeed in a fast paced, brutally competitive world.

How many Moms and Dads can do all that well? And if one or both of them should leave or get ill or die, havoc in the family!

I wonder if the Colony (formerly Family), taking account of modern day life and conditions, ought ideally and sensibly consist of:

3 wage earners
1 shopping expert
1 mechanic
1 dietician/physical therapist
1 psychologist/philosopher idea person
1 accountant/investment money specialist
1 spiritual/art person
2-3 "anxious to help in any way we can" children

At least 2 of the adults in the Colony to be women. Colonists who do not play the game well or do not get along with other members of the Colony would be released and replaced. The sole object of the Colony? To win.

And, of course, there would be the Colony Coach...who has no chores other than to see to it that everybody else does theirs. Sounds like a job for you know who.

BLAME AND SHAME

The Superintendent of the Boston high school 16 year old Phoebe Prince attended before bullying and harassment by classmates resulted in her suicide, claims "we are not to blame".

But they are...

Public school curriculums fail to prepare students for life. Following century old traditions, schools teach students the Pythagorean Theorem, the date the Erie Canal was opened, factoring binomial equations etc etc etc (none of which 99% of them will ever need to know). They choose to have students read Moby Dick, Jane Eyre and Catcher in the Rye without showing them the relevance and utility of those stories to their lives. They choose to teach them the symbols for chemical compounds, how to dissect a frog, and what our ape-like ancestor may have looked like 4 million years ago, nothing of which gave Miss Prince a defense to the verbal and physical abuse leveled against her.

Phoebe's school failed to teach her basic and critical subjects about life and living, including:

Psychology...how to find happiness (something we all seek), developing self-esteem, dealing with life's stresses and failures...and where to go for assistance when they become overwhelming; and

Morality...the standard to use for a pro-life code of conduct, what specifically and provably are the virtues of life, why it is in one's interest to act morally, and the unavoidable punishments reality inflicts on the immoral.

There are others, but those two might have saved Phoebe's life.

The answer to the chaos in the world begins with education. There is an urgent need of a major overhaul of antiquated, irrelevant, school curriculums in our country. Teachers must be retrained and requalified. School administrators must implement better procedures to monitor what is happening at the school, both inside and outside the classroom.

During the hours a student spends at school, the school has two functions: education and safety. Phoebe's school flunked on both counts.

A CASTLE OF LIES

"You're my one and only true love."

That's where the lie begins. There is no one true love. There are millions of them spread all over the globe. There are a few up at the North Pole, a few at the South Pole...and hordes of them in between. There are some within walking distance of where you are right now.

From that lie mushrooms the tenuous ideas of marriage and exclusivity (monogamy). When I speak of marriage, I am not speaking of setting up a home, a shelter, a family. Those are treasures. I am speaking of the legal and social "binding" that marriage has come to entail. The subliminal sense of ownership found in the words "my wife", "my husband" as in the words "my house", "my car". It is abhorrent to imply in the slightest that we own another human life.

From that lie mushrooms the idea of exclusivity, sexual monogamy. You can't legally drive my car without my permission, can you? Only I may physically express my love for her (him). Only I may copulate, cohabit, bill and coo, sweet talk with my baby doll, my honey bunch, my chickabiddy, my buttercup, my snookums. And when that one true love leaves or dies, emptiness, loneliness, a void. Aaaaaaaaaagh!

Some religions, perhaps to promote the world as black with only they to light the way, have cast sex, other than for child bearing, to be ungodly, evil, wayward and wanton, and those who engage in it to be in a fallen state. They have convinced some that the price of physical pleasure is guilt...and that only they can expunge it. Was that the reason for denying the reality of their God's creation?

M-o-n-o-g-a-m-y is not normal. Human nature is benefitted in many ways from sexual activity. 85% of the world's cultures endorse sexually polygamous relationships. Adultery universally abounds. Virtually all animals (from whence we mushroomed) are sexually promiscuous. Even birds, once thought to be the paradigm of monogamy, have been shown via new DNA testing, to enjoy a bit of concubinage (hanky panky).

And why not? Loving and lovemaking are lovely experiences... enjoyable, delightful, gratifying, titillating, exultant, human activities. Why should they be restrained, restricted, limited, curtailed? Why are we ashamed to openly admit and acknowledge our sexual desires? Why do we publicly treat sex as something indecent to have attention on, when privately we have a heap of attention on it? What psychological disturbances does that attempted secrecy and masquerade create? What psychological weakness is revealed by our prevailing refrain, "All or nothing at all"? Why not "the more, the merrier"?

The ancients, including Biblical heroes, engaged in polygamy. It is said that King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines...and his name is synonymous with Wise Man, is it not? We've come a long way, baby...and it is time to head home.

SING ALONG

You child.

Our family is bankrupt and will be in debt for decades. You are dependent on me. I will decide who can and cannot lend money to you for education, what insurance you must carry, whether you are entitled to medical care or not, where you may outsource the production of your products, the minimum and maximum amounts you may pay workers, the amount, if any, of the income you will receive after retirement, what portion of your wages you must give to me, the amount our family gives away to our neighbors, the wars we must fight, the type and amount of weapons we will have to fight them.

Sing, Sing, my children!

This is the dawning of the Age of Nefarius, Nefarius
When the goons are in control of the House
And deals and schemes align with votes
Then I will guide the planet
And Freakin' Joe will steer the dotes
Contemptuous, Supercilious, Contumelious, Nefarious