A post script to what are our priorities

I was reading George Orwell’s Animal Farm again. I say again, but it has been decades since I last read it. It is that damn library card acting up again.

The book I got though had some commentary on the story, the times, and background on the story.  You might recall it was written at the end of WWII so according to the commentary I am reading there was some effort in getting the book published since the story was very anti Stalin/USSR. The war was winding down and there was still wartime censorship going on and the commenter discussed this in detail before and after the actual story.

A couple of sentences though can be applied to today’s world: “If publishers and editors exert themselves to keep certain topics out of print, it is not because they are frightened of prosecution, but because they are frightened of public opinion. In this country (remember England) intellectual cowardice is the worst enemy a writer or journalist has to face, and that fact does not seem to me to have had the discussion it deserves.” *

Now indirectly apply it to our modern press. The corporations that own “the press” seem bent on making sure there is no real discussion on how bad the establishments of the democrats and republicans have failed their constituencies. Occasionally you might see an article from a news site blog, but a real discussion on what they haven’t done for this country is very absent. This isn’t cowardice of public opinion though (read Trump and Sanders’ campaigns) but cowardice to their masters yet still advertising we have freedom of the press.

It is not the government censoring our press such as wartime England, it is the cowardice of our writers and journalists to attack the very people they should be the most wary which unfortunately has become the people writing their checks and buying our elections.  Self-censorship by omission is as dangerous or more so than what made it difficult for George Orwell to get Animal Farm published.  “….intellectual cowardice is the worst enemy a writer or journalist has to face..” says much

* Appendix 1 from Animal Farm with introduction by Julian Symons

What are our priorities

It is becoming harder and harder to determine where we stand as a people.

It is even hard to determine where to begin.

Here is a headline for you: "Ex-congressman send letters asking for leniency for Hastert". In case you have forgotten Mr. Hastert use to be Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He is now being sentenced for some violations of bank fraud. Now did Mr Hastert get busted for accepting bribes? Actually no, he was the one bribing people to cover up heinous actions in his past. The back story is the real issue, but he may go to jail for the follow up crime. This story from the headlines about all the people who wrote letters to the Judge asking for leniency for Mr. Hastert. Reads quite the who's who in Republican politicians. They had written before, but the Judge said he would not read them unless the letters were made public. On a side note some of the people that wrote letters pulled 'em back when they had to make it public.

History is rife with stories of the abuse of ethics and in many cases serious abuse of people of lower economic classes by the sons and daughters (mainly sons) of elitists when there is no curb on power in a society. Basically our Constitution has been a fair check on elitists rum amuck. I won't say a complete check, but does allow the people a chance to keep an attempt at balance. As history has shown over time; the less the ruling class has to answer for their actions, the more heinous they act.

Distractions are wonderful. If you can keep people occupied with trivial matters they tend to ignore or forget what is important. Or they may just not realize what is important anymore. So let's pretend something called freedom of the press exists. And that freedom though is owned by the same group of elitists that want you to be distracted. What do you think you are going to get?

Now tell me; what is more important, the values that eminate from our leaders or the sixth round draft pick of your favorite football team or exactly what did so and so wear on the "red carpet"?  And if you believe actions speak louder than words....hmmmmm.....

It is hard. Everyone has a right to pursue what makes them happy.  Or do they? Huge question. Do you draw hypothetical lines?  Well.. as long as no one gets hurt.... Or well we can just move these lines around as we see fit because well you know...we need to make sure no one is offended.     So what does it mean no one is offended? Quite frankly I am offended by a few things which may be different from what offends you. I think child abuse at all levels is pretty damn offensive, or rape even date rape is horrendous and you may also.  Just what upsets our little apple cart of pursuing our happiness. I like football. I have lifelong favorite team yet I do not have a need to become obsessed with 48,000 mock drafts. Yet some people love doing this. Is it wrong?

And who am I to judge? So, how do we, as a people a society balance pursuit of happiness versus a responsibility to each other in society. I think it shows we are evolving as a species when we make those incremental steps in doing what is right overall and still being able to enjoy our lives. My fear that even with our technological achievements we still are lagging in our social evolution. Again yet who am I to judge.

So when I read a story that has many of our countries leaders asking for leniency for someone who for the majority of us has done horrendously despicable acts and only caught because of the follow up crime, what am I to think? Especially when there are more stories about the football draft or the red carpet or some other trivial matter that well can be fun or entertaining, yet pull us away from the deeper issues of our world. Where do we make the determinations to decide when I pursue happiness and when I wear the cloak of responsibility and address what is wrong in our world?

Obviously my fear is we are more obsessed with the trivial than what is happening in our world. If we can spend hours worried about a draft pick for something that is only entertainment why can't we spend hours drafting better people to run our country. Funny thing about it is; no matter who we want for our team we have virtually no impact on who the team selects yet if we exercise it we would have direct impact on who we choose to be our leaders. Irony? Or worse?

We are close to having two presidential candidates from the two parties that according to most polls are more despised than liked by the majority of the people. How on Earth does this happen?  And on top of this insanity you read leaking through the news of a constant stream of misbehavior at all levels of government. We know more why Jennifer Aniston is on the cover of People than knowing the people spending our tax dollars.


It is a beautiful spring night here in North Texas. I wish the thoughts in my head were just as beautiful.

Trying to stay within context

On the edge of the abyss.

I woke up this morning planning on finishing up my Social Security posts. I have a nice neat quick package on how to pull together the concept of the welfare aspect of the preamble and fix our useless bureaucratic way we are going about trying to solve real problems. I am going to come back to it again.

I got up ate breakfast etc and starting reading the news first. Oops.  This sent my brain sideways after reading a couple of different articles and I am still debating internally if I want to say which articles slapped me upside the head.

The issue is one that is hard to discuss. If you read my blog regularly you know I can get on a semi high horse and be a bit moralistic. Or I will say go look at yourself in the mirror and think about it. Well today I have to tell myself to look in the mirror and am still struggling with it. Yet the insanity is crawling up the spine and will not rest until I at least make the attempt to rectify what I read, what people were commenting, and just what does it all mean.

And even though I can get up on that high horse, I do try to temper myself because none of us really know any absolute truths. And in some ways trying to at least learn what they might be is one we way we, as humans, evolve.

And I hate moral absolutes, does as much damage as having no morals. Well maybe not that bad, but it ain’t good.  Think about it, there seems to be some moral high ground or utopian moral society that everyone should grow up, go to college, get a job and after a year find someone to marry with both of you being virgins. Oh yeah and live happily ever after. And if you have ever been 16 years old, you tend to think of this as being a bunch of crap. And as I have also mentioned in previous posts, there is no utopian society and that goes at any level. Yet having no moral compass or set of values leaves us in a vacuum that honestly does destroy us at many levels of society and us as people.

People do not want to talk about this topic and if you have gotten this far I commend your bravery or at least your curiosity. At some point though what do we do to define ourselves?

Catholics are told when they go to confession to do an examination of conscience. And Catholics are given all sorts of literature and instruction as to what that means.  Try it sometime, like most of us you will probably find it very difficult, impossible, or phooey. Yet we fail to examine ourselves in any light with our relationships, our interactions with society, a value system, our family, and whatever else you might indulge.  If I say, you must go to church and become right with God. It turns people off. Or you will get up and say exactly how a person is to get right with God. Both ways fail you.

So where am I going with this. The two articles were about sex. Sex in the news and yep there were thousands of little posts to those stories. And the gambit was run, everywhere from the moral extremes to people saying sexual repression needs to be eliminated and we should all just leave each other alone and everyone has the right to do what they want.

Well……..       let’s take the practical immediate problem with doing what we want. Both in moral and the secular world we tend to have some agreement that doing harm to another person is wrong. Defining that harm in our sexual relationships becomes real tricky or some people tend to think it is. Is it okay to view pornography, or is it okay to view some types of pornography, should a 16 year be allowed to date a 26 year old, when does the age difference become pedophilia, where is the intent, how much sex is healthy and how much is promiscuity, and what is acceptable behavior just among a normal married couple?  And when do we as a society jump in and say enough is enough?

Yet we do nothing/very little about even the horrible aspects of these questions. Why isn’t the sex slave trade more of an issue than the immigration question? This is significantly worse. The level of harm being done to people sold into slavery and especially for sex purposes is one of the worst crimes against humanity there is and it never makes the news nor our politicians to do lists. Why are we afraid to tackle something that if presented the problem most rational people would agree this needs to stop?

Or pedophilia? Or even child abuse? The harm to young children is unimaginable, yet we assign the task to agencies that are under-funded or given no clear mandates or public power to truly fight the problem.  We make a headline every now and then catching some ring of child pornography, but large scale public commitment to fight something most people say is horrible is very lacking. Who are we afraid? And for both, there are serious issues that need to be addressed. Is this mental illness? Is this just a pervert? Is this a deviation from the human norm? Can anyone actually answer these questions and yet we need to know so we can actually combat the problem and hopefully end these horrors.

If we cannot muster up the public will to fight the worse of our atrocities how are we to define what is a normal relationship? This is a problem. What is a healthy relationship? I am betting most people cannot truly answer the question. And this is not your fault. We, as society, just do not try. Some people hide behind a moralistic truth, but that fails because we, as humans, are given hormones and a brain that can go in an awful direction in a heartbeat. Is this a free will argument? In some ways, yes. That is a different argument for now though.  The real concern is we just do not teach healthy relationships. You can read volumes of literature on the subject and do you have an answer. No. The experts all have their theories.

You gotta love the word “theory”.

Some you can mesh around and come up with a working definition of a healthy relationship, but something we instill in our young generation after generation is not happening. And somehow we need to begin this process. And as you are guessing how can you begin without a starting point? I say that without an immediate answer, but I think most of us agree there are some parameters that apply.

Example, does a 16 year old girl need an IUD? (calm down this is an example)

First of all, if she feels she is going to be having sex enough to need an IUD does anyone take the time just to talk about the physiological abuse her body is going to go through. Having a ton of sex may sound like fun, but it takes a toll on your body. And I am not talking about the physical disease problem, I am just talking about the abuse of the body. And why does she feel she needs to protect herself from getting pregnant. Is this because of one relationship? Or what? And the same does apply for males, you cannot have excessive sex without something being amiss.

Forget the moral aspect. Folks when children are exploring this much sex there are some underlying issues that need to be addressed. It is not healthy for children to be abusing their bodies without being fully mature emotionally and mentally. Heck it is not good for adults. The need to satisfy oneself with excessive sexual relationships means other aspects of your psyche are wanting.  We can’t say, oh you are inhibiting his or her free expression because you feel it is wrong for this person to explore their sexuality. The difference is knowing when some young person may have made a mistake and letting their hormones take over (and we all have and it will continue generation to generation so I do not want to sound like a hypocrite, but it is so easy) versus what is this child doing and what are the expectations of a person. We fail our children when we do not define for them what are healthy relationships and helping children when they are substituting sex or drugs or whatever for the lack of a healthy relationship in their lives.

So is this what it is all about? Maybe, we need to learn how to define what is a healthy relationship amongst us all so we can learn to discuss when a child may need help or when an adult may need help. The stories both dealt with young people making poor decisions about relationships and unfortunately it appeared in both stories and in the comments by the thousands that no one seemed to address what was causing the problem. Sex sounds wonderful, and it is, yet it can become a horror when misapplied and we have to accept that truth also. This is more about helping children become healthy adults but since the stories were bad relationship or bad encounters with tons of sexual interaction I jumped too much on that part of the topic.  I hope though you see both points, that we do not need to define ourselves by sex or some type of fairy tale aspect of sexual freedom or social acceptance because of a “liberal” view of sex and it isn’t just something that is okay in all its components and second to truly enjoy each other we have to have a healthy mature relationship with an understanding that our relationships are defined by who we are and what we do; not by an inherent need in our DNA that is necessary for survival. And there is the flip side, its true enjoyment can be wonderful for us in our relationships.

Remember Crosby Stills and Nash… Teach your children    Why is this so hard?

And I apologize for this being all over the map. I fought against writing about this topic all morning and so by the time I did the right thing and stepped up to the keyboard I had battered this around in my head so much I couldn’t recreate all the thoughts that fired off in those synapses inside my head.

So love your family, hug your children if you have any, and remember to love yourself first for this will make loving someone else so much better.

I do promise to finally tie a bow around Social Security with two more posts, one to address the welfare aspect and one to inspire us to proceed with tackling the problem.

Our world folks, it is wonderful when we make it wonderful. Or days like today that were made for us, wonderful warm spring day with a chance of rain here in North Texas

And if you believe in miracles… GO MAVS

A bit about business

Have you ever read the comments on the stories anytime something happens in Las Vegas? Inevitably someone says it ain’t like it use to be when the mob ran Vegas. Or something similar.

I get amused when I read these comments because how many people are still alive from then that write comments trolling news stories.  According to popular folklore it has been quite a while since a syndicate family owned interests in Las Vegas. Yet someone makes the comment.

And the comments all espouse the theme; the Mob knew how to treat customers, people were taken care of, and everything was better. It is somewhat legendary in history if you read these comments. So what gives?

And I do not want to say anything that someone might take as being supportive of organized crime and yet: are there some truths to these comments? And at what point does fact get separated from fiction?

And what does this have to do with the price of tea in China? EVERYTHING

People do want to be treated well. People including “frugal” people like myself will spend money if we feel we are getting real value.  There seems to be a customer value component the mob had in Las Vegas compared to the current corporate mentality. And this means something. It means something to me, it probably means something to you every time you go out to shop, eat, travel, heck even pay bills.

And in this mixed up scenario you can see another example of how large corporate America is failing us as customers and our Country.

Business is good when business is the key factor behind the company. If you make/manufacture/build something with the intent of selling a good product, good things can happen. It can happen for you, it can happen for the customer, and it can happen for the overall aspect of society. It may specifically benefit the business owner, yet a well-run business does bring benefit to the whole.

Some of the obvious benefits are more successful businesses means more wealth generation; good, productive and paying jobs, dollars circulating through a local economy offering opportunities for other businesses, taxes being paid so governments at all levels can provide the services they should; many times either through community efforts or just charity in general successful businesses will give back to the community such as supporting schools, arts, libraries, and a host of other civic endeavors.  If the owners of the business focus more on the business; they tend to be more involved in the community since they realize how much the community is giving back to them by supporting their business.

And of course we come back to the customer. Where this infamous mob legend seems to receive its’ mythical status. Whatever the product or service it doesn’t matter, as long as the business puts the customer first most of the time the business does well. And we actually want this to happen.

Instead we receive in the modern business world a litany of craziness that does nothing for the business, customer, employees, community and for the country. Large multi-national corporations spend more time trying to meet Wall Street expectations on a quarterly basis, consolidate and merge to create shareholder value, avoid taxes at all costs to the point of spending small fortunes to sway elections in their favor, yet adding no value to anything except a paper bottom line that eventually becomes a merger target and any hard assets (including people) get wacked off in the context of creating efficiencies to make the merger work. All under the guise of another myth:  this is good for business.

And most of you dear readers are pretty attune to the problem described in the last paragraph. There are many articles to literature to pundits that know we have this problem and yet…….

It can be so strange. To go 180° on the mob example. Have you ever eaten at a Chick Fil A? You walk in and the sweetness overwhelms you. It is like all the employees are given the infamous Arnold Palmer drink as a transfusion into their blood stream. You are greeted pleasantly and treated with respect. It is the place with the perpetual morning people. You know the type, the person at your work who never drinks coffee and never has a bad word for anyone and you want to strangle them. I jest and the people are great though. It is a well-run company. Many if not most are franchises and everyone I have seen is doing well. I like the food (the product is good). It is basically run (at least in my eyes) the way a business should be run.

Three very basic components of the Mob myth and the actual Chick Fil A are very similar. It is accepted it is a business that wants to make money by treating the customer as the priority for the purpose of the business. Profit by selling a good product or service that treats everyone well in the process including the owner, employee and customer. And in doing so people talk well of the business which creates the best advertising on the planet hence the mob myth and Chick Fil A reality.

So on a wonderful Saturday afternoon, what is the point you ask.

This is what we need to help turn around our country. It is not a total answer. We need businesses to step up and be businesses. The best business comes from small and medium size companies whether they be sole proprietaries, partnerships, corporations, or how ever styled it is the business that is close to the customer that we need back.  We can rant about large multi-national corporate greed being evil (and it is with some exceptions) and we need to do something.

I do not know specifically how we turn the tables on the current situation. We do need to find ways to bring back to our communities businesses that are viable. The more the merrier. I have a host of ideas in mind so not to overwhelm you, the main idea is how do we reinvest in business throughout our country. My brain turns to the cliché thinking we need to get away from Wall Street and back to main street yet this is so true.

Do you really enjoy spending your money right now? Even if it is something you want, do you feel comfortable buying clothes, electronics, furniture, household goods, and everything else in our modern world? Unless you are super rich and can afford well-crafted items, what is your impression of quality and value for the dollar? Heck I spend thirty minutes trying to decide on what iron to buy, not because I am comparing quality, but because I can’t trust any of them. I have spent good money on an iron before and it didn’t last longer than an inexpensive one. And going back to the store to return something unless it has been like 2 days is impossible to get help. AND THIS IS NOT THE FAULT OF THE EMPLOYEE. They are getting screwed as workers as bad as we are getting screwed as customers.

Corporations are so large they have no feeling for what you want and need. Quality is an afterthought. Customer service is a training video done so badly the employees sleep through it. Heck customer service is a lip service myth by the multinationals bigger than the mob myth. Again not the employees fault. They too, an afterthought, an expense that needs to be reduced.

Corporations spend fortunes to try and herd their customers to behave in ways that help them improve their fictitious bottom line. Corporate reward programs that are a maze and keep changing are not the mob myth of hey you’re my customer let me take care of you.

Am I dreaming of a time gone by, something that will never be. This better not be a dream; for realistically changing the complexion of our lives in many ways should be our priorities or we will lose a war that no one ever fought in.

And to remain cliché and valid for the time being: Support small businesses!; to help us get together and develop the real reinvestment we need in our country to truly thrive and continue our wonderful experiment called American Democracy and keep our humanity at a high level. 

It’s not that difficult folks,

It’s just not that difficult.

Let’s start with some premises.

It is okay to be rewarded for hard work, to gain from effort even if at a point you have more than others. In general, that is not a problem.

There is no utopian society, nor will there ever be one.

So what does all this mean. It means we make it much more difficult than it should be.  The real premise is simple. If you respect your fellow man first everything else should follow. No one person is going to solve all our problems yet if we pull together we can solve the ones we need to.

Yet in so many ways we hide from ourselves.  We hide behind God, we hide behind heroes real and imagined, we hide behind monsters. We will run to hell and back to avoid doing what is right. People will try to legislate morality. You cannot legislate morality. Morality is already engrained into our psyche or at least most of ours. Morality needs to be taught not in the same way we teach math and science, but taught, give people the chance to bring out the best in themselves. Legislating morality is hiding behind God and shirking your responsibility to God. God gave us the tools to do what is right. We fail to use them.

Now in solving problems; there will be hard work. Sacrifices will need to be made. Resources will need to be committed. It is the approach to solving them that leaves us lacking.  We can solve them. We let others run away with what is ours and accept the lies because we are afraid.

Our forefathers created a government that allows us to do best for ourselves and our fellow man. It accepted that some people will have more than others, this was inevitable in life. The idea was to let the rule of man make the best decisions for all or at least the majority without infringing on the lives of others. No one is to have a hold on another person’s life, their freedoms, their right to continue to be treated with respect even if their beliefs were different than others. This was not perfect, yet it was designed to allow us to evolve to do more each generation to move man further in our day to day world.

We, as individuals, can be successful and it is not bad. We, as people, can govern ourselves so we can make decisions to benefit the whole of society. Our forefathers gave us the instrument to do both. We fail in our endeavors. It is okay to be successful as long as we do not leave others behind or in need. We have a right to succeed, even if on some days we fail. No one is above another. It is not about sharing or socialism. It is about using our resources to continually give one and all a fighting chance and then helping those truly in need. We are not all born equal, yet we are all equal.

We have been given life to live. It is a gift. Along with this life we have been given resources all the way from our brains to our planet. Why do we let everything that interferes with what we have been given be taken away from us? Why do we make this so difficult?

There are hundreds of good answers to our problems today here and all over the world. So why do the problems persist?  ………………………..Yep, I do not know.

The madness inside today has been strong. What with the choice of candidates, the Panama papers, the greed overrunning our Congress, ISIS, the hate shown by my fellow citizens, and much more has permeated every synopsis in my brain? What foolishness does my mind play on me today? (Fighting the madness I did get a bunch of work completed)

When this next thought is running rampant like a bad hit on AM radio over and over again inside your head you know it is time to find respite.

I tried googling or searching to see if a similar quote has been made, this thought sounded so familiar. A cursory search produced nothing. It did produce quite a few bible verses that were not close which threw me off. Also quite a variety of other insanity, but nothing that had similar verbiage. I apologize if this is a quote and I do not give it proper credit, yet I feel maybe not too many people have been this overcome so today:

They are going to crucify me for I have the innocence of a child and yet I know all too well the ways of the devil.

Strange and true, so if you know of a similar quote or thought, would you please forward it to me. I am trying to make heads and tails of all this madness.

And yet it is not that difficult. We can do what is right. It was one simple commandment, one simple piece of information, one simple thought and if we just begin to implement it in our world we can make our day to day lives a joy, an internalized joy, not just the fleeting moments of happiness, true internal joy. “Love your brother as you love yourself.”

This does not take away from success or riches or being the champion of a sport. It only adds to the wealth of us has humans. A wealth not measured in numbers, but in ourselves.

It just isn’t that difficult folks

Confessions of a Nuked brain

"Watch out, you might get what you're after

Cool babies, strange but not a stranger

I'm an ordinary guy

Burning down the house".     Talking Heads

So let's back up a few days. I was shopping at Barnes and Noble. I had been saving an old gift card that had a little over ten dollars on it. I wasn't sure what I really wanted so I was wandering aimlessly about the store. I just couldn't convince myself to buy anything. There was much I wanted and yet I couldn't part with the ten. I am that way, you know frugal...kids read as cheap. So I thought I'll go to Half Price Books. Still no wallet opening inspiration.

A day or so later and now my wife wants a book. I mention the gift card. Now contrary to me and my frugalness my wife will buy if she has a need. As much as I say I believe in Capitalism I do not do businesses any favors too often. We buy the book she wants and also stay to look around. Again there are hundreds of books I could buy. I just can't settle on anything.

Then out of the blue..an epiphanical light slams me upside the head. There was this great socialist plot created. Created pre Marx. And it is one of the most dangerous ideas ever created if you are any and/or all of a fascist, tyrant, right wing fanatic, religious extremist, elitist, and many names or labels of people that do not want the peasants rising up and taking their place in the world.

I could go to the public library. Yes, free books. A government sponsored institution that only some radical free thinker might create. Yes, the biggest weapon against oppression ever invented. I am going to be a taker. A person who will enhance his education at the expense of the taxpayers.  Feel the Bern baby.  And it ain't the books burning.

Who am I kidding? As cheap as I am and I haven't thought of using a library in decades is definite proof positive the neurons in my brain are long since fried beyond burnt bacon in texture. I couldn't believe how simple the solution. It has been decades. I am now the proud owner of a new library card.

So what do I go and do. I check out GENERATION OF SWINE. GONZO PAPERS VOLUME 2:  TALES OF SHAME AND DEGRADATION IN THE 80's.

Now this may not be the best first book to attach to your name when you are already known for espousing the complete dismantling of our two major political parties.  Oh yes all us paranoid political junkies know the NSA has our permanent record kept somewhere. And I am checking out material written by the virtual king of political junkies and habitual craziness.

Top it off this particular book was kept back in a special room, supposedly to protect it since it was older. You had to request it. The man at the counter was very helpful. I had other questions. He was the one who explained the need for protection. "Putting books on the shelves was very hard on the books" I had to go with it. He knew his stuff for my other inquiries.

Now though, they have this on my record. I am sure an older NSA computer was trying to kick out an alert to someone. It was mid Saturday afternoon. Let's hope the staff on duty was asleep at the wheel. Libraries are dangerous instruments of the people. We cannot up the ante with the NSA. They will report this activity; to whom it doesn't matter. It has been reported. And if to the DNC and RNC all hades could break loose.

Another problem with the two parties is they feel they are a branch of the government. They may be smart enough not to admit it if an inquiring mind were to ask yet their actions reek of bureaucratic indulgence. They will try to stop someone usurping their hold on power. This would be un-American in their eyes.

Quite frankly their forced demise would be the most American thing to do. They have no clue to the damage they have done to this country and the middle class. We, the people, want to keep the Constitution, it is the jackals that are usurping it that need to go. The DNC and RNC are high on the list.

Well I have digressed. Wasn't this supposed to be a simple post about a good idea and a trip down nostalgia lane. I enjoy reading the good doctor and there is much of his writing I still need to explore especially his later stuff. The problem is I have read much of his material sporadically so when you read a compilation you have that vague memory of some of the articles. I haven't finished the book yet. I will quickly. When you are out feeding your mind and causing great concern to the far right that you might learn something you need to get the book back on time. You do not want to attract any more attention as a taker and incur a fine.

And speaking of nostalgia just got around to seeing STAR WARS The Force Awakens on the same night I took on the evil empire and got my library card. And so what happened to "resistance is futile"???. As with everyone I have parts I liked and parts I didn't. It is Star Wars so there is much that has to be taken as is. Hopefully there will be some tie in to the next episode that flows a bit better. If you actually haven't seen it by now like me then spoiler alert:   I am going to miss Han Solo. I have actually stayed completely away from any info on the movie so I was completely caught off guard. So you ask why did you wait so long to see it.  I say think about it for a second....yep..dollar movie.

So I go back to reading the good doctor and yes I still hold some anger towards him for his final decision yet I am just a fan. I hope his family got the closure or understanding they need and deserve. Which leads me to a curiosity about Mr. Thompson

First off as you know he sprinkled his material liberally with quotes and references of his favorite works and authors. In many of his articles he uses quotes from The Book of Revelation. He states he uses Revelation because "I love the wild power of the language and the purity of the madness that governs it and makes it music." He goes on to describe that at times being on the road it is the only resource available and has an interesting nod towards the Gideons. This maybe a reference some of you younger travelers and empire fighters may not get.    Go get a library card and learn. We must continue the fight.  I digress again.

So for all of Mr. Thompson's availing himself of religious knowledge he never categorically denies God on anything I have seen. And yes he mentioned in some articles the demise of Swaggart and Bakker he seemed to enjoy their downfall not in a sense of hatred but some sense of morality. For all his talk, shenanigans, crazed behavior he seemed to think underneath it all there should be something better. His support of Democrats or certain aspects of what Democrats want us to believe they represent or at least writings in somewhat of a positive light gives this reader a pause for reflection. Did he mask a very strong moral compass? And if so it makes the end even more maddening. I do not know. I try to find the best in people and somewhere in him he fought the fight because it meant something to him. Too bad the crazed masses we have now are just crazed. I may be taking some liberty with this next thought yet here I go:

For the myths of religious extremists and fanatics we dispel;

And look for God's true and real love to reveal

On many levels and in part for his memory we must keep up the good fight or why was man ever created in the first place. We need to quit hiding from the truth.

"Long live the Constitution, the Constitution is dying."

PS. I seriously thought about trying to write this in his style, but there are two flaws to that thought. He is much better of a writer than I and then there would have to be confessions of a nuked brain. 

Part 3 tackling Social Security (the damning of the problem)

When I first started thinking about writing about Social Security I had some ideas. And one of them was to suggest some ways to consolidate the social welfare aspect of what the Preamble stated.

The first problem in trying to rectify the issues is there is so much hyperbole stated about takers from the government. And quite frankly there are takers. They come in all shapes forms colors and sizes. And these takers are mythical in numbers.

When Mitt Romney made his little 47% of the people take from the government in a fund raiser to try and scare rich donors into giving him money, he did the country a great disservice at many levels. This number is tossed around like a Frisbee on internet posting sights as some hard fact that is irrefutable. Throw in racist undertones and no one can get a real handle on what is the real problem in an honest discussion.

Now look at some of the real problems such as our government trying to truly help the people that should be helped with an over grown bureaucracy covering multitude of different departments that creates more problems generation after generation. If you really want to help someone, you have to help them become self-sufficient. Not everyone can become self-sufficient and you have to help those people also. You just have to identify the truly needy, ie disabled people versus the people who the political system and parties use to create a cause to rally around come election time to sway their bases either through fear mongering or we are the only people who care. All along neither side really wants to address solving the problem. It would get in the way of calling the other side wrong or evil or bad or whatever name works at the moment.

You cannot offer an opinion to work toward solving issues in this country about social welfare anymore. You can research all sorts of ideas to overcome what we face, however, trying to offer this as policy brings out the extremes in both sides of the arguments. Great for Congressman who want to stay elected, not so great for the truly needy.

So the best start is to ignore the noise and plow forward. Hopefully rational people prevail.

The size of the bureaucracy of our country for any issue, problem, policy is overwhelming.  One consideration to start to successfully be able to address an issue we need to determine exactly what resources we can use. And simultaneously we need to make determinations of who we should help.  And then work towards finding where the two ends meet. And there is no middle in this scenario. You will have to determine what we can do as a society.

And then some of you may ask why should we do anything?

Primarily if we choose to believe in Capitalism, the rat race, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness we have to conversely make sure everyone has the same opportunities. The ideal is: all men are created equal, the practical reality is: all men have equal opportunity. If we accept our forefathers wanted to give the people of our country the best chance to succeed you have to understand not everyone will be able to succeed or what has become more important in the modern world: win (at all costs). So lets accept that notion. It does not automatically mean the people who didn’t win are lesser people or do not have a chance to win the next time around. We have to leave that door open. Closing it hurts us.

Currently there are people who control Congress who do not see this as an advantage for our country to open up opportunity, be inclusive, and give everyone the respect they only expect for themselves. This is fundamentally a flawed way at looking at governing a people. And since I write opinions not research papers I do not use tons of footnotes, however, for this last statement I could just put a #1 above for the footnote and then at the bottom of the page just write the word “history”. Anytime a ruling class becomes so entrenched and ignores the will of the people they eventually are replaced. And in doing so many times even much of the good of the country is destroyed in the process. Upheaval is not productive.

We do not have a duty to help everyone, help is not a right, however, as humans who must share the world, resources, and each other, we have a responsibility to take care of our own. This is how we, as humans, should be growing and evolving. Sometimes I wonder how much we have evolved over the last two thousand years.

Creating a social welfare system is not socialism if done right, but focuses like I mentioned earlier on defining exactly who should be helped and within a budget. A budget that reflects resources we can bring to bear.

So I will finish up part three in the near future with what I consider some practical applications of some of what we already do; new or regenerated ideas and hopefully show that the goal is to lend a hand to someone who has fallen down to pick them up and get them started again and other than seriously disabled people this is all we need to do.  

And yes other policies would need to change also so the above will work. One step at a time, one step at a time. These posts are for improving and helping Social Security