Trump This!
The Donald may be as smart as he claims he is. Consider the fact that he's been a registered Democrat most of his life. Running as a Republican gives him a chance to trash the other Republican candidates in ways that no Democrat would dare do. The Democrats should start funding a Political Action Committee for "The Donald". By the time the Republican Primary season starts there won't be a single viable Republican candidate that he hasn't shot down. He's a one man political drone systematically destroying one Republican candidate after another. Well done Donald! Well Done!
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Friday, July 17, 2015
IS RELIGION HUMANITY'S MOST DEADLY INVENTION?
When we think about all the religious based hatred that's tearing nations and people apart around the world today it's hard not to notice how frequently we use religion as an excuse to murder, maim, torture, jail or judge one another. Ironically some of the most violent hatred and intolerance often occurs within the various sects of any given religion.
The history of "Religion" is a long and brutal story- marked by a trail of blood, torture, sacrifices, and intolerance. Territorial wars are common among many of life's species but we humans appear to be the only species which justifies territorial expansion in the name of a God. Most species have inborn norms for social behavior and cooperation which we sometimes find repulsive. Many of our modern religions were initially designed to mute and moderate those raw brutal basic instincts. The name we have given to the ideal behavior preached by our "sacred texts" and religious leaders is called "Humane Behavior". The term derives obviously from the name we call ourselves.We arrogantly think and speak of ourselves as being "humane" and compassionate in spite of considerable evidence to the contrary.
It's time for our religious leaders and followers to remember the real purpose of religion and end the global religious based deadly brutality that's quickly spreading around the globe like a virus.
When we think about all the religious based hatred that's tearing nations and people apart around the world today it's hard not to notice how frequently we use religion as an excuse to murder, maim, torture, jail or judge one another. Ironically some of the most violent hatred and intolerance often occurs within the various sects of any given religion.
The history of "Religion" is a long and brutal story- marked by a trail of blood, torture, sacrifices, and intolerance. Territorial wars are common among many of life's species but we humans appear to be the only species which justifies territorial expansion in the name of a God. Most species have inborn norms for social behavior and cooperation which we sometimes find repulsive. Many of our modern religions were initially designed to mute and moderate those raw brutal basic instincts. The name we have given to the ideal behavior preached by our "sacred texts" and religious leaders is called "Humane Behavior". The term derives obviously from the name we call ourselves.We arrogantly think and speak of ourselves as being "humane" and compassionate in spite of considerable evidence to the contrary.
It's time for our religious leaders and followers to remember the real purpose of religion and end the global religious based deadly brutality that's quickly spreading around the globe like a virus.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
When are we going to finally stop identifying and classifying people by the color of their skin? We're all Homo Sapiens no matter what color our skin is. Our species originated in Africa thus technically we're all African Americans. The color of our skin was determined by how close our ancestors lived to the equator. People exposed to a lot of sunlight have brown skin for protection from solar radiation. People in Northern climates where there is limited sunlight have lighter skin which allows them to absorb more solar radiation thus preventing vitamin "D" deficiencies. It's a simple as that. A person's skin color has no bearing on their intelligence, ability, or compassion. America's history of slavery has never been fully acknowledged nor atoned for. It's long past time for America to publicly apologize for the way we've treated people of various colors and physical features over the years and even still do so today. There are no African- Americans, Asian- Americans, Hispanic -Americans. It's time to remove the hyphens. There are only Americans. End of story!
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Police Brutality
You'd think that the police would know by now that they're going to be on National TV every time they use force but it doesn't seem to have sunk in yet. To be fair the police have an extremely dangerous job. Every time they pull someone over for a broken tail light or expired tags they run the risk of being shot or assaulted . The constant stress of dealing with people who are angry, drunk, pugnacious, and carrying weapons builds up over time making it difficult for them to maintain their composer in situations where they have to make split second life or death decisions. It's not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination.
The recent surge of videos showing police violence indicates that some of our law enforcement officers are losing control of their emotions during periods of stress.There are lessons to be learned.
It's clear that more time needs to be spent training the police on how to defuse situations that are getting out of control. Issuing threats, ordering people to obey, raising voices, pushing or shoving, all serve to make the situation worse. In many cases it is probably better to allow a petty criminal to escape rather than use a taser of gun. Additionally, the members of a police force should be rotated every three to six months to less stressful work in order to gain some emotional balance and perspective. Officers should be required to get emotional and stress counseling at least twice a year.
I think many of us would agree that our most of our own experiences with law enforcement officers have been fair and reasonably pleasant. However every once in awhile we encounter a police officer who appears to be tightly wound and a bit scary. It's the job of the supervisors to identify these rouge officers as quickly as possible and take them off the streets before they kill or injure someone. There definitely are some bad cops on the streets but we shouldn't allow the actions of the minority to paint all of the men and women we hire to protect us.
You'd think that the police would know by now that they're going to be on National TV every time they use force but it doesn't seem to have sunk in yet. To be fair the police have an extremely dangerous job. Every time they pull someone over for a broken tail light or expired tags they run the risk of being shot or assaulted . The constant stress of dealing with people who are angry, drunk, pugnacious, and carrying weapons builds up over time making it difficult for them to maintain their composer in situations where they have to make split second life or death decisions. It's not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination.
The recent surge of videos showing police violence indicates that some of our law enforcement officers are losing control of their emotions during periods of stress.There are lessons to be learned.
It's clear that more time needs to be spent training the police on how to defuse situations that are getting out of control. Issuing threats, ordering people to obey, raising voices, pushing or shoving, all serve to make the situation worse. In many cases it is probably better to allow a petty criminal to escape rather than use a taser of gun. Additionally, the members of a police force should be rotated every three to six months to less stressful work in order to gain some emotional balance and perspective. Officers should be required to get emotional and stress counseling at least twice a year.
I think many of us would agree that our most of our own experiences with law enforcement officers have been fair and reasonably pleasant. However every once in awhile we encounter a police officer who appears to be tightly wound and a bit scary. It's the job of the supervisors to identify these rouge officers as quickly as possible and take them off the streets before they kill or injure someone. There definitely are some bad cops on the streets but we shouldn't allow the actions of the minority to paint all of the men and women we hire to protect us.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
DAVIS- MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE
At a time when our National defense spending is eating up a major portion of our budget, it seems a shame to try to prevent the Department of Defense from saving millions of dollars of tax payer money by closing Davis-Monthan. If the primary mission of the base is to support the A-10 "Wart Hog" surely that mission could be moved to another base. It's probable that the major contribution the base makes to our local economy is the hiring of local contractors for maintenance work on the base. It's doubtful that the limited number of Air Force personnel on the base with their relatively low salaries contribute that much to the local economy. Surely the land could be put to a higher and more profitable use. How about converting the land to a solar farm for the generation of clean electricity? More work for local contractors and improve the air we breath at the same time. There are lots of innovative things we could do with that land which would provide high paying jobs and contribute to the improvement of our crowded city and culture at the same time. Environmentally friendly jobs - and no more noise or exhaust fumes from the A-10s.
At a time when our National defense spending is eating up a major portion of our budget, it seems a shame to try to prevent the Department of Defense from saving millions of dollars of tax payer money by closing Davis-Monthan. If the primary mission of the base is to support the A-10 "Wart Hog" surely that mission could be moved to another base. It's probable that the major contribution the base makes to our local economy is the hiring of local contractors for maintenance work on the base. It's doubtful that the limited number of Air Force personnel on the base with their relatively low salaries contribute that much to the local economy. Surely the land could be put to a higher and more profitable use. How about converting the land to a solar farm for the generation of clean electricity? More work for local contractors and improve the air we breath at the same time. There are lots of innovative things we could do with that land which would provide high paying jobs and contribute to the improvement of our crowded city and culture at the same time. Environmentally friendly jobs - and no more noise or exhaust fumes from the A-10s.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
WHAT WE KNEW THEN
Even before the tragic attack of 9/11 on the World Trade Center in New York we knew that Bin Ladin's primary goal was to bleed our economy dry by provoking us into an expensive long drawn out war in the Middle East. We eventually found and killed Bin Ladin but not before he "accomplished" his mission. Immediately after 9/11 we had the entire civilized world on our side. For that brief moment in history it was within our power to set an enduring example of how to defeat terrorism -because the only weapon that will ever truly defeat terrorism is public opinion. Had we simply turned the other cheek, buried our dead, and gone about the business of rebuilding -Osama Bin Ladin's strategy would have backfired and he would have become an International outcast.
Prior to our invasion of Iraq in the "Second" Gulf War we already knew from our prior experience in Afghanistan the utter futility of attempting to convert an ancient Middle Eastern style tribal society into a modern Western style democracy.
Terrorism shares certain characteristics with Ebola and other viruses. It erupts in conditions of poverty and lack of opportunity . It only ends when it burns itself out and there are no more bodies or minds to infect, or when public opinion finally turns against it.
We can not force our values and ways of governing on other Nations but we can provide an example of a better way to deal with the complexities of governing. Ways that treat every citizen fairly while providing opportunities to all. Now is the time to end these wars which we can not win and start setting an example for all the world to see. We must first look inward and re-discover some of the democratic values which we've lost sight of recently. A good way to start would be to clean up our own elective process which has become far too ugly and too contaminated by big money.
Even before the tragic attack of 9/11 on the World Trade Center in New York we knew that Bin Ladin's primary goal was to bleed our economy dry by provoking us into an expensive long drawn out war in the Middle East. We eventually found and killed Bin Ladin but not before he "accomplished" his mission. Immediately after 9/11 we had the entire civilized world on our side. For that brief moment in history it was within our power to set an enduring example of how to defeat terrorism -because the only weapon that will ever truly defeat terrorism is public opinion. Had we simply turned the other cheek, buried our dead, and gone about the business of rebuilding -Osama Bin Ladin's strategy would have backfired and he would have become an International outcast.
Prior to our invasion of Iraq in the "Second" Gulf War we already knew from our prior experience in Afghanistan the utter futility of attempting to convert an ancient Middle Eastern style tribal society into a modern Western style democracy.
Terrorism shares certain characteristics with Ebola and other viruses. It erupts in conditions of poverty and lack of opportunity . It only ends when it burns itself out and there are no more bodies or minds to infect, or when public opinion finally turns against it.
We can not force our values and ways of governing on other Nations but we can provide an example of a better way to deal with the complexities of governing. Ways that treat every citizen fairly while providing opportunities to all. Now is the time to end these wars which we can not win and start setting an example for all the world to see. We must first look inward and re-discover some of the democratic values which we've lost sight of recently. A good way to start would be to clean up our own elective process which has become far too ugly and too contaminated by big money.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
May God Strike Me Dead?
I'll deny I ever said this in the unlikely event that it ever goes viral but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that religion and the concept of Gods are nothing more than the relics of human superstitions. Unlike most of our fellow species on this planet we humans are an extremely curious species - always looking for explanations and seeking understanding of our surroundings. Long before we even knew what the Sun and the Moon and the planets were -let alone the nature of the galaxies and the Universe , we attributed the daily "rising" of the Sun and the changing seasons to imaginary Gods in the Heavens. After all what else could possibly be the cause of all of these amazing events other than some all powerful deity? As we became more and more dependent on accurate weather forecasting for planting crops and seasonal migration, and as we sought explanations for the strange events and objects we were witnessing in the skies it seemed like a excellent idea to try to keep those Gods in a really good mood. Even today with all the progress we have made learning about the nature of the Universe there are few among us who are free from superstitions.
Our ancestors quickly learned that seeds wouldn't grow when the Sun retreated below the horizon. It couldn't have been easy in those days having to worry whether the Sun would return overhead every year and allow crops to grow again. Someone must be in charge of all of these events. Someone behind the scenes who can't be seen. Best to get on his good side and not upset the big guy up there in the sky.
Gradually the Gods became so abundant that it was hard to keep track of them all. It became difficult to know who to worship in any particular situation. Worship finally became so complex that the Gods even began to fight among themselves. Fortunately several efficiency experts finally stepped forward and did us all a big a favor by consolidating all of the Gods into one all seeing all knowing single entity. Thus was born monotheism. This greatly simplified the acts of worshiping and playing the "blame game" when things went against us. But no amount of simplification and efficiency changed the fact that Gods were and still are nothing more than human superstitions that we use to explain what we do not understand and attempts to rig the outcomes in our favor. No matter how we dress it up we're basically still relying on ignorance and superstition to guide us through our daily lives. There's nothing wrong with that as long as we don't allow these superstitions to set us against one another in such a deadly and hateful manner as we have been doing ever since the time that we first invented the concept Gods to conceal our ignorance about the true nature of the Universe and ourselves. When we finally understand something it become science -until then it remains ignorance cloaked in superstition. Either condition can be deadly for ourselves and our fellow species. As I said at the top of the page-please don't tell anyone I said this. I have no desire to spend eternity in Hell! Step on a crack and break your mother's back! Break a Leg when going on Stage!
I'll deny I ever said this in the unlikely event that it ever goes viral but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that religion and the concept of Gods are nothing more than the relics of human superstitions. Unlike most of our fellow species on this planet we humans are an extremely curious species - always looking for explanations and seeking understanding of our surroundings. Long before we even knew what the Sun and the Moon and the planets were -let alone the nature of the galaxies and the Universe , we attributed the daily "rising" of the Sun and the changing seasons to imaginary Gods in the Heavens. After all what else could possibly be the cause of all of these amazing events other than some all powerful deity? As we became more and more dependent on accurate weather forecasting for planting crops and seasonal migration, and as we sought explanations for the strange events and objects we were witnessing in the skies it seemed like a excellent idea to try to keep those Gods in a really good mood. Even today with all the progress we have made learning about the nature of the Universe there are few among us who are free from superstitions.
Our ancestors quickly learned that seeds wouldn't grow when the Sun retreated below the horizon. It couldn't have been easy in those days having to worry whether the Sun would return overhead every year and allow crops to grow again. Someone must be in charge of all of these events. Someone behind the scenes who can't be seen. Best to get on his good side and not upset the big guy up there in the sky.
Gradually the Gods became so abundant that it was hard to keep track of them all. It became difficult to know who to worship in any particular situation. Worship finally became so complex that the Gods even began to fight among themselves. Fortunately several efficiency experts finally stepped forward and did us all a big a favor by consolidating all of the Gods into one all seeing all knowing single entity. Thus was born monotheism. This greatly simplified the acts of worshiping and playing the "blame game" when things went against us. But no amount of simplification and efficiency changed the fact that Gods were and still are nothing more than human superstitions that we use to explain what we do not understand and attempts to rig the outcomes in our favor. No matter how we dress it up we're basically still relying on ignorance and superstition to guide us through our daily lives. There's nothing wrong with that as long as we don't allow these superstitions to set us against one another in such a deadly and hateful manner as we have been doing ever since the time that we first invented the concept Gods to conceal our ignorance about the true nature of the Universe and ourselves. When we finally understand something it become science -until then it remains ignorance cloaked in superstition. Either condition can be deadly for ourselves and our fellow species. As I said at the top of the page-please don't tell anyone I said this. I have no desire to spend eternity in Hell! Step on a crack and break your mother's back! Break a Leg when going on Stage!
Monday, April 27, 2015
Strange Bed Fellows;
It's fascinating to hear Germany condemning the Armenian blood shed during World War One when we consider that it wasn't long ago when Germany committed their own war crimes during World War Two. How quickly we forget. Our deadly enemies (Japan and Germany) during the Second World War are now our strongest allies -while our former allies (Russia and China) are now are now our opponents. We change lovers faster than High School teenagers.
It's fascinating to hear Germany condemning the Armenian blood shed during World War One when we consider that it wasn't long ago when Germany committed their own war crimes during World War Two. How quickly we forget. Our deadly enemies (Japan and Germany) during the Second World War are now our strongest allies -while our former allies (Russia and China) are now are now our opponents. We change lovers faster than High School teenagers.
Hillary Gate
Are we really ready for 18 months of concentrated attacks on Hillary as the Conservatives fire salvo after salvo in an attempt to shoot her down. It will be interesting to see how she holds up and whether the strategy will work for the R's, or back fire. Unfortunately pre-election propaganda is more about personal attacks on individuals than ration policy policy positions these days. The only people who are going to profit from all of the negative ads are the members of the media who condemn the ads on the one hand while gleefully collecting money from both parties. The media are like "enablers" who encourage bad behavior for their own financial benefit.
Are we really ready for 18 months of concentrated attacks on Hillary as the Conservatives fire salvo after salvo in an attempt to shoot her down. It will be interesting to see how she holds up and whether the strategy will work for the R's, or back fire. Unfortunately pre-election propaganda is more about personal attacks on individuals than ration policy policy positions these days. The only people who are going to profit from all of the negative ads are the members of the media who condemn the ads on the one hand while gleefully collecting money from both parties. The media are like "enablers" who encourage bad behavior for their own financial benefit.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Enough Already!
Enough already with all of these murderous religious and political wars! Sunnis fighting Shiites. Muslims fighting Christians and Jews. Conservatives fighting Liberals. It's hard to find a place on the globe where there is not some kind of deadly conflict. For a species as intelligent as we are we're acting extremely stupid. We can invent incredibly complex technology- wireless communication devices, cars that drive themselves, rockets that explore the heavens- but we can't even learn how to get along with each other. Go Figure!
Enough already with all of these murderous religious and political wars! Sunnis fighting Shiites. Muslims fighting Christians and Jews. Conservatives fighting Liberals. It's hard to find a place on the globe where there is not some kind of deadly conflict. For a species as intelligent as we are we're acting extremely stupid. We can invent incredibly complex technology- wireless communication devices, cars that drive themselves, rockets that explore the heavens- but we can't even learn how to get along with each other. Go Figure!
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