I used to think "Of course,not everything those in political office are doing need be revealed to the American people, that there is a greater, more pressing, need for top secret and 'need to know' classifications...to keep our country's enemies from knowing everything we are doing".
Wrong! First, our enemies likely already know pretty much everything important we are doing...and if they don't they will soon find out. In the modern technologically-based world, secrets are not easily, if at all, kept from those trained to unearth them.
But secrets, lies, half-truths, and feigned ignorance, can and have covered up truths from the American people and have created a political dictatorship by those in key offices that rival the oppressive, ugly classic dictatorships found in other countries. Our dictatorship may in fact be worse, for it's existence is hidden behind historic slogans of equality, fairness, morality, justice, freedom and individual rights...slogans we grew up learning identified the American spirit and the American way. They don't anymore.
The first step to ousting our dictatorship? Open truth, revelation, to the American people. Total. Let our enemies hear it all. Let them know full well the country they confront, the strength and will and consequences they face. We can handle and survive our enemies...but we need to know the total, unrestricted, truth of everything being done by our political leaders, our guardians, on our behalf. We are not the enemy, although at times we are treated as such. The potential damage to our not knowing is infinitely greater than the potential disadvantage of our enemies knowing. Our need to know far outweighs our need for the enemy not to know.
And that's the truth.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
NEXT!
Time for another war (Libya):
* Gaddafi, a bad dude, poses no threat to the U.S.
* We haven't the money, the resources, the personnel, to fight another war
* The war has not been officially declared, as required, by Congress
* We don't know, or won't admit knowing, the make-up of the "rebels and protesters" we are supporting...they are incited, led, financed, by Al Qaeda and Muslim fundamentalists and terrorists, Gaddafi's sworn enemies, who seek to impose sharia law in Libya
* Americans are still seriously hurting economically, and if "humanitarian aid" (a euphemism for unauthorized foreign involvement) is to be doled out again, it ought first be doled out to the needy, the deserving, here at home
* Libya has Africa's largest oil reserves
* Our involvement in the war is being claimed to be legitimate by the State Department due to its initiation by an international community. Without a functioning President, we do need someone to call the shots, don't we?
Ready or not, wise or not, legal or not, bang, bang.
* Gaddafi, a bad dude, poses no threat to the U.S.
* We haven't the money, the resources, the personnel, to fight another war
* The war has not been officially declared, as required, by Congress
* We don't know, or won't admit knowing, the make-up of the "rebels and protesters" we are supporting...they are incited, led, financed, by Al Qaeda and Muslim fundamentalists and terrorists, Gaddafi's sworn enemies, who seek to impose sharia law in Libya
* Americans are still seriously hurting economically, and if "humanitarian aid" (a euphemism for unauthorized foreign involvement) is to be doled out again, it ought first be doled out to the needy, the deserving, here at home
* Libya has Africa's largest oil reserves
* Our involvement in the war is being claimed to be legitimate by the State Department due to its initiation by an international community. Without a functioning President, we do need someone to call the shots, don't we?
Ready or not, wise or not, legal or not, bang, bang.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
LOFTY ART
What is Art?
"Treating the commonplace with the feeling of the sublime"
"The conveyance of spirit"
"The expression of one soul talking to another"
"An instant arrested in eternity"
"Life upon the larger scale"
"The perfection of nature"
"The wine of life"
"A shadow of divine perfection"
Now you know why I don't watch reality shows.
"Treating the commonplace with the feeling of the sublime"
"The conveyance of spirit"
"The expression of one soul talking to another"
"An instant arrested in eternity"
"Life upon the larger scale"
"The perfection of nature"
"The wine of life"
"A shadow of divine perfection"
Now you know why I don't watch reality shows.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
LIFE'S BIG 3
Most of my expertise in psychological matters comes from fortune cookies.
It is commonly presented as a life and death battle: the past versus the present versus the future.
"Don't live in the past, it's over and done with"
"Live in the present, that's all we have"
"Prepare for the future, it'll be here before you know it"
One critical thing I noticed recently is that living in the present, today's dominant advice, has a generally unrecognized downside: the short life it gives happiness. It is generally accepted that the lion's share of happiness comes from
the attainment of desired values, the achievement of desired goals, and it ought be easy to recognize, too, that they were garnered in the past, and that failing to think about, harbor specific memories of, and relish the past, is probably happy's deadliest enemy.
I have too often seen a truckload of happiness, loaded with dear relationships, laughter and good fortune from the past, skid and crash on a few drops of spilt milk in the present. Haven't you?
They say that the failure to remember the failures of the past dooms man to repeat them. Perhaps so. But the failure to savor the glories of the past costs even more.
Of course we should delight in where we are walking, but we ought treasure where we've come from and dream of what's ahead.
Past, Present, Future are not enemies of each other. They are reflections of each other, each contributing to the enjoyment of the other.
Anyone got another cookie?
It is commonly presented as a life and death battle: the past versus the present versus the future.
"Don't live in the past, it's over and done with"
"Live in the present, that's all we have"
"Prepare for the future, it'll be here before you know it"
One critical thing I noticed recently is that living in the present, today's dominant advice, has a generally unrecognized downside: the short life it gives happiness. It is generally accepted that the lion's share of happiness comes from
the attainment of desired values, the achievement of desired goals, and it ought be easy to recognize, too, that they were garnered in the past, and that failing to think about, harbor specific memories of, and relish the past, is probably happy's deadliest enemy.
I have too often seen a truckload of happiness, loaded with dear relationships, laughter and good fortune from the past, skid and crash on a few drops of spilt milk in the present. Haven't you?
They say that the failure to remember the failures of the past dooms man to repeat them. Perhaps so. But the failure to savor the glories of the past costs even more.
Of course we should delight in where we are walking, but we ought treasure where we've come from and dream of what's ahead.
Past, Present, Future are not enemies of each other. They are reflections of each other, each contributing to the enjoyment of the other.
Anyone got another cookie?
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
MISSING: ONE FIBRE
The world has changed dramatically in a number of ways since I was a teenager, and perhaps the change with the greatest impact has been the loss of our country's moral underpinning.
Morality ran high during WWII. The world consisted of the good guys and the bad guys...the line of delineation was clear...and the bad guys had to be beaten down at all costs. It is not to say everyone was honest and moral. I am saying that there was a pervasive feeling that one ought to be honest and moral...and that those who weren't were failing to live in accordance with the proper standard. That was the dominant moral fibre in the country.
It was exemplified in the 1952 movie, High Noon. The sheriff stays to fight the bad guys, although his new wife pleads with him to leave when the townspeople refuse to fight with him to protect their homes, their lives. because he had given his word to do so when he put on the badge. (Over 400,000 American military men and women died protecting our homes and our lives in WWII.) Perhaps, as John Wayne suggested, the first crack in our country's moral fibre showed up at the end of the movie when, after having killed the bad guys, the sheriff takes off his badge, throws it to the ground, and stomps on it. Wayne called it "unAmerican", and in the way I see it, it was...a change in our moral outlook.
Shortly afterward, the moral unraveling sped up, spearheaded by our political leaders and by events involving our country's leaders.
1963: the assassination of JFK, America's perceived prince
1963-75: the questionable reports by President Johnson on which our involvement in the Vietnam War was sustained
1968: the assassination of Martin Luther King, one of America's outstanding moral leaders
1968: the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
1972: the break-in at Watergate, orchestrated by President Nixon
1974: the resignation of President Nixon
1998: the impeachment of President Clinton on grounds of perjury and obstruction of justice arising from the Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones affairs, though subsequently acquitted by an essentially political vote (were there any who thought Clinton had not lied?)
2003: our invasion of Iraq and the prevalent belief today that the George W. Bush administration had lied to us about Hussein's having weapons of mass destruction to support that invasion
Today: President Obama refuses to live up to his oath to enforce our laws, who treats the Constitution as a piece of political trash
I could cite other triggers to our loss of moral standards...such as the scandals unveiled in the Catholic Church, formerly accepted as a moral voice in the world, and wanton promotion by political hacks of the immorally applied concept of "entitlements". One is entitled to what one earns and to be left free to earn it. Period. Every other so-called "entitlement" involves the taking of something...property, rights...from A and immorally giving it to B. And, if I am entitled to something, then morality be damned. I will lie to get it, steal it, or kill for it if I have to.
Here's the real killer though about the missing fibre: no one seems to be looking for it.
Morality ran high during WWII. The world consisted of the good guys and the bad guys...the line of delineation was clear...and the bad guys had to be beaten down at all costs. It is not to say everyone was honest and moral. I am saying that there was a pervasive feeling that one ought to be honest and moral...and that those who weren't were failing to live in accordance with the proper standard. That was the dominant moral fibre in the country.
It was exemplified in the 1952 movie, High Noon. The sheriff stays to fight the bad guys, although his new wife pleads with him to leave when the townspeople refuse to fight with him to protect their homes, their lives. because he had given his word to do so when he put on the badge. (Over 400,000 American military men and women died protecting our homes and our lives in WWII.) Perhaps, as John Wayne suggested, the first crack in our country's moral fibre showed up at the end of the movie when, after having killed the bad guys, the sheriff takes off his badge, throws it to the ground, and stomps on it. Wayne called it "unAmerican", and in the way I see it, it was...a change in our moral outlook.
Shortly afterward, the moral unraveling sped up, spearheaded by our political leaders and by events involving our country's leaders.
1963: the assassination of JFK, America's perceived prince
1963-75: the questionable reports by President Johnson on which our involvement in the Vietnam War was sustained
1968: the assassination of Martin Luther King, one of America's outstanding moral leaders
1968: the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
1972: the break-in at Watergate, orchestrated by President Nixon
1974: the resignation of President Nixon
1998: the impeachment of President Clinton on grounds of perjury and obstruction of justice arising from the Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones affairs, though subsequently acquitted by an essentially political vote (were there any who thought Clinton had not lied?)
2003: our invasion of Iraq and the prevalent belief today that the George W. Bush administration had lied to us about Hussein's having weapons of mass destruction to support that invasion
Today: President Obama refuses to live up to his oath to enforce our laws, who treats the Constitution as a piece of political trash
I could cite other triggers to our loss of moral standards...such as the scandals unveiled in the Catholic Church, formerly accepted as a moral voice in the world, and wanton promotion by political hacks of the immorally applied concept of "entitlements". One is entitled to what one earns and to be left free to earn it. Period. Every other so-called "entitlement" involves the taking of something...property, rights...from A and immorally giving it to B. And, if I am entitled to something, then morality be damned. I will lie to get it, steal it, or kill for it if I have to.
Here's the real killer though about the missing fibre: no one seems to be looking for it.
Friday, March 11, 2011
IF WHAT?
I was talking with a friend yesterday and three times in our short conversation, he said “You should…” do this, do that. He said it as if it were a given how I should live my life.
But “Should” is not a given. It is always conditional on an If. “If you desire this, then you should do that.” There are no automatic Shoulds. Should is a cause, the If is the effect. If you don’t want the effect, don’t implement the cause.
There are a number of common If-Should errors:
* Voicing a Should with no If stated.
* Assuming an If that isn’t or may not be true.
You should not steal.
Assuming what If?
If you want to be moral.
Maybe I don’t.
* Advising an erroneous Should.
If you want to be rich, you should work hard.
Not necessarily so. You can become rich by being smart, not
working hard.
When I was talking with my friend, I thought of some of the words from Frankie Laine’s popular hit song, “Rawhide”:
“Don’t try to understand ‘em,
Just rope and throw and brand ‘em”.
Laine was singing about cattle. But that is what the human version is designed to do.
“Do all the Shoulds and be branded and accepted by society as a part of the stampeding herd...or be branded a maverick, an outcast”
We should all want that, shouldn’t we?
But “Should” is not a given. It is always conditional on an If. “If you desire this, then you should do that.” There are no automatic Shoulds. Should is a cause, the If is the effect. If you don’t want the effect, don’t implement the cause.
There are a number of common If-Should errors:
* Voicing a Should with no If stated.
* Assuming an If that isn’t or may not be true.
You should not steal.
Assuming what If?
If you want to be moral.
Maybe I don’t.
* Advising an erroneous Should.
If you want to be rich, you should work hard.
Not necessarily so. You can become rich by being smart, not
working hard.
When I was talking with my friend, I thought of some of the words from Frankie Laine’s popular hit song, “Rawhide”:
“Don’t try to understand ‘em,
Just rope and throw and brand ‘em”.
Laine was singing about cattle. But that is what the human version is designed to do.
“Do all the Shoulds and be branded and accepted by society as a part of the stampeding herd...or be branded a maverick, an outcast”
We should all want that, shouldn’t we?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
NEW HOLIDAY
I think one of man's biggest mistakes, maybe his biggest, was assigning names to the days (Monday, Tuesday, etc.). The values of having named days sequentially repeating themselves ad infinitum...and there are a few, I reckon, though I don't know what they are...were highlighted and promoted. The downsides...and there are many...were ignored.
Including the biggest one: man's supreme attribute is thinking, and naming the days sets uo mindless cyclicalness and squelches spontaneity.
"It's Monday, HAVE TO go to work."
"Would love a burger today, but ALWAYS eat fish on Tuesdays, so I guess it'll be salmon or such"
"Mom EXPECTS me to call every Wednesday, even if I have nothing to say"
"I'm tired, but its Thursday, GOTTA watch The Rutherfords"
"FINALLY, it's Friday"
"Why MUST it forever rain on my day off?"
"Why AREN'T the stores open on Sundays?"
The Earth rotates around the Sun, mindlessly. The groundhog emerges from the ground every February 2nd, choicelessly. The computer responds to your click, automatically.
The nature of man is opposed to mindless order. We are the species of choice, constant, unrelenting, unsurrendered, choice. I am an ardent advocate of nameless days. But since I know that will not likely happen, I propose a new national holiday: SPUR OF THE MOMENT DAY...do whatever you wish, eat what you wish, call whom you wish, regardless of what day it is, or isn't.
Maybe this new holiday will get us refocused on the joy of choice and spontaneity. Did I hear you ask on what day we will celebrate the new holiday?
Tsk, tsk.
ON WHATEVER DAY YOU WISH!
Including the biggest one: man's supreme attribute is thinking, and naming the days sets uo mindless cyclicalness and squelches spontaneity.
"It's Monday, HAVE TO go to work."
"Would love a burger today, but ALWAYS eat fish on Tuesdays, so I guess it'll be salmon or such"
"Mom EXPECTS me to call every Wednesday, even if I have nothing to say"
"I'm tired, but its Thursday, GOTTA watch The Rutherfords"
"FINALLY, it's Friday"
"Why MUST it forever rain on my day off?"
"Why AREN'T the stores open on Sundays?"
The Earth rotates around the Sun, mindlessly. The groundhog emerges from the ground every February 2nd, choicelessly. The computer responds to your click, automatically.
The nature of man is opposed to mindless order. We are the species of choice, constant, unrelenting, unsurrendered, choice. I am an ardent advocate of nameless days. But since I know that will not likely happen, I propose a new national holiday: SPUR OF THE MOMENT DAY...do whatever you wish, eat what you wish, call whom you wish, regardless of what day it is, or isn't.
Maybe this new holiday will get us refocused on the joy of choice and spontaneity. Did I hear you ask on what day we will celebrate the new holiday?
Tsk, tsk.
ON WHATEVER DAY YOU WISH!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
ANCIENT WISDOM
Charlie Sheen may be ill. Leave him alone. Stop relishing, highlighting, publicizing, his escapades. Stop laughing at him, stop talking about his possible mental condition (you haven't a clue). Stop hurting his family..
And stop helping those who seek to make money by intruding into his personal life...you know, the entertainment and gossip shows, talk shows, news shows, and their advertisers, who feed off the higher ratings, advertising fees and sales generated by the public;s mindless Sheen frenzy.
You who claim to be of higher moral character than Sheen, start acting like it. Show your compassion, rather than your derision, for a possibly troubled human being.
Ancient Jewish tradition says "B'dickas Cholim"...caring for the ill...is the greatest human mitzvah (good deed).
We can learn from the ancients.
And stop helping those who seek to make money by intruding into his personal life...you know, the entertainment and gossip shows, talk shows, news shows, and their advertisers, who feed off the higher ratings, advertising fees and sales generated by the public;s mindless Sheen frenzy.
You who claim to be of higher moral character than Sheen, start acting like it. Show your compassion, rather than your derision, for a possibly troubled human being.
Ancient Jewish tradition says "B'dickas Cholim"...caring for the ill...is the greatest human mitzvah (good deed).
We can learn from the ancients.
Friday, March 4, 2011
REMEMBERING OLD SONGS
Remember the old song?: "Here we go again, it's like an old familiar song again"
Meeting with Mexican President Calderon, Obama vowed to speed up (aka increase) US aid to Mexico to help Mexico fight its war against violent drug cartels. "It's not just his battle, it's ours, too. He (Calderon) has taken responsibility and so must we." You know Calderon...the one who last week blamed us for what is going on in his country.
Please! Mexico's problems are not ours to fight, to spend the money we don't have on. It is our problems that are our problems, Obama...you know the ones you don't know how to deal with, the ones you choose not to deal with.
Like keeping our southern border secure from illegal traffic: people, drugs, guns, violence and crime. Like bankrupting us. Like sucking up to our enemies. Like ignoring our country's values of justice and equality. Them's problems.
Our problems, Obama, are not (remember the old song?): "South of the border, down Mexico way".
They are in Washington, DC.
Meeting with Mexican President Calderon, Obama vowed to speed up (aka increase) US aid to Mexico to help Mexico fight its war against violent drug cartels. "It's not just his battle, it's ours, too. He (Calderon) has taken responsibility and so must we." You know Calderon...the one who last week blamed us for what is going on in his country.
Please! Mexico's problems are not ours to fight, to spend the money we don't have on. It is our problems that are our problems, Obama...you know the ones you don't know how to deal with, the ones you choose not to deal with.
Like keeping our southern border secure from illegal traffic: people, drugs, guns, violence and crime. Like bankrupting us. Like sucking up to our enemies. Like ignoring our country's values of justice and equality. Them's problems.
Our problems, Obama, are not (remember the old song?): "South of the border, down Mexico way".
They are in Washington, DC.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
BF
We know what BO is...body odor, and
BA...bachelor of arts degree
BB...rifle pellets
BC...before Christ
BG...great singing group
BT...bacon and tomato sandwich
BW...beautiful wife
Time now to learn a new one...BF
It is the only response...the only one...that can ever work to stop those who have chosen to initiate physical violence against others...those who have abandoned civility for terror...they who have chosen to live as rabid, wild, frothing animals. BF...brute force.
Check history. Nothing else works. And that's no BS. Whether the enemy of life are mad dictators seeking to expand their ruthless domination, or religious suicide bombers, or Somalian pirates hijacking and killing innocents exploring the seas, brute force is civilization's sole effective weapon. Talk, trade and temperance not only don't work, they encourage and embolden evil.
Some will say our use of BF will lower our moral standing in the world. Only in a world that has no moral standing. Some will say our use of BF will lower us to the level of the thugs. Not true...the thugs BF innocents, we BF the guilty.
Want to live in peace? Don't threaten 'em, don't talk with 'em, don't turn the other cheek to 'em. BF 'em!
BA...bachelor of arts degree
BB...rifle pellets
BC...before Christ
BG...great singing group
BT...bacon and tomato sandwich
BW...beautiful wife
Time now to learn a new one...BF
It is the only response...the only one...that can ever work to stop those who have chosen to initiate physical violence against others...those who have abandoned civility for terror...they who have chosen to live as rabid, wild, frothing animals. BF...brute force.
Check history. Nothing else works. And that's no BS. Whether the enemy of life are mad dictators seeking to expand their ruthless domination, or religious suicide bombers, or Somalian pirates hijacking and killing innocents exploring the seas, brute force is civilization's sole effective weapon. Talk, trade and temperance not only don't work, they encourage and embolden evil.
Some will say our use of BF will lower our moral standing in the world. Only in a world that has no moral standing. Some will say our use of BF will lower us to the level of the thugs. Not true...the thugs BF innocents, we BF the guilty.
Want to live in peace? Don't threaten 'em, don't talk with 'em, don't turn the other cheek to 'em. BF 'em!
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