Terrorism comes in many forms and flavors- all of them cruel. From cowardly school yard and social media bullying to the use of bombs and guns to kill and maim innocent men, women,and children- no matter what its form- people and groups who commits acts of hatred and intolerance violate every value that we hold dear as a species. We call ourselves "humans" and we define compassionate behavior by members of our species and being "humane". Terrorists actions are not "humane" and the people who commit acts of terrorism, in any form, forfeit their right to live among us. Military action,
retribution, and confinement, while necessary and justifiable, are only temporary fixes and will never put an end to terrorism because they don't address the root causes of the problem. Clearly we need a planet wide public conversation about the types of environments - be they poverty, religious oppression, political oppression, intolerance, lack of opportunity, or prejudice, which provide an atmosphere that promotes and encourages people to hate and mistreat one another. We humans pride ourselves on being above all other animals in terms of intelligence, social empathy, and conscience -yet we continue to commit acts as brutal as any other species on the planet. If our incredible intelligence and creativity only lead to more deadly brutality, violence, and intolerance how can we claim to be superior to species with lesser intelligence?

It's hard to know which is more toxic these days -  Religion or Politics. Every single day people all around the planet are killing and beheading each other in the name of their Gods and if that's not bad enough -religion has crept into politics making politics even more toxic that it already was. When are we going to stop judging one another and trying to impose our views on each other? What ever happened to "live and let live'? Where is the compassion and respect? Where is the "do unto others.....?"  We don't need to search scripture to know how to act. We don't need pass laws to know how to be honest and act properly. We teach our children to be nice to each other and to be polite and then we do just the opposite What kind of examples are setting for our children if we attack and insult one another? Religion and Politics are not contact sports. If you want to argue join a debate team. If you can't get along then move along. If you want to believe in a God - do so- but don't insist that everyone else believe in your God and don't pre-judge people who don't believe any God. Judge people by their actions not their beliefs.  Every living human soul who has resided on this continent was a migrant or descendent of a migrant from another continent. You and I don't have any more right to live on this continent than anyone else does. We're merely the most recent in a long line of previous members of our species who have occupied this drifting ice and water covered continent for the past 10,000 years or more. We're all short term tenants without ownership and the terms of our lease require that when our lease expires we leave the land in better condition than we found it. This amazing lush bountiful continent is home to thousands of species with whom we share its natural resources. Waste not want not. The choice is ours. We can leave this garden of Eden better than we found it or we can leave it worse than we found it. The choice is ours and it is ours alone. No other species has that privilege or responsibility.

Debates

The presidential debates on both sides of the aisle seem more like High School personality contests rather than policy discussions. Other than random broad statements from a few of the candidates, we've heard hardly any details about economic issues, health care, jobs, foreign policy, trade, defense, etc. When we do hear  details it's primarily in the area of social issues. It's fascinating to see how much the candidates are starting to rely on "social media" to connect with potential voters instead of expensive traditional Television advertising.  Whether that's good or bad is hard to know. At least we know what lies they are spreading when they advertise on TV. When they spread lies on the social media it's harder for the public and the press to hold them accountable.

The emphasis on "family values" and the frantic courting of "evangelicals" while mentioning the Constitution in the same breath is somewhat disturbing  - given the fact that the Constitution expressly provides for freedom "of "religion and thus implies freedom "from" religion as well.

Candidates on both sides of the aisle are still using the tried and true method of appealing to our worst fears and anger as they try to get our votes. We're not hearing the voices of "healers" - even from the evangelicals who seem to have forgotten the words of their original spiritual "healer". 

The recent Fox debate exposed the flaws with our two party system and our approach to problem solving. Candidates from both parties, urged on by the Press in an attempt to improve ratings, spend the majority of their time either attacking the other party or attacking each other. These kind of debates only serve to paralyze and harden opinions. Opinions, once formed, are very difficult to change.

We've allowed politics to become a sporting contest, pitting two sides against each other with the goal of "winning" instead of the goal being to actually solve the problems. Some problems are real and others are  merely philosophical. When we try to solve a real problem with a philosophical solution it never ends well. The debate about Global warming is an excellent example of philosophy trying to solve a scientific problem. Deficits and income inequality are examples of philosophical attempts to solve the practicality of poverty while preserving a free enterprise economy. The clash between those who object to abortions and object to birth control at the same time is an example of common sense conflicting with philosophy and religion. Clearly one of the best ways to avoid abortions is to provide ways for women to avoid becoming pregnant. Arguing for abstinence is idealistic from a religious standpoint but unrealistic from a practical standpoint. Its a waste of breath. The high level of dissatisfaction with the performance of Congress, and the resulting low approval ratings, largely result from the fact that many of our problems and challenges can not be solved with these types of debates and arguments. We can take steps to change the approach we require our leaders to use when solving our  practical problems  if we stop requiring them to solve the problems within the narrow parameters of any particular religion or belief system. Religion, philosophy, money, laws and social contracts are extremely useful human inventions- as long as they don't stifle our incredible ability to find creative solutions to all of our challenges.

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!

                 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 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!

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.

                                               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.