Category Archives: Getting Serious

Just Another Obsession???

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ob⋅ses⋅sion /əbseʃən/  –  noun

an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone

syn: fixation

Kids with GunsStoryline:

The gun was small and light, the training wheels of firearms. The .22-caliber, single-shot Crickett rifle turned deadly on Tuesday, officials in Kentucky said, when a 5-year-old Cumberland County boy shot and killed his 2-year-old sister in what the coroner described to a local paper as “just one of those crazy accidents.”

Source: Guns made for kids: How young is too young to shoot? – U.S. News.

The above definition of obsession is a pretty simple yet accurate one. Are guns an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with some of us, particularly in the U.S.? I think the parents who gave a five-year old a loaded gun definitely fit that definition!  Like Newton, sadly there is a two-year old life that was extinguished as a result and an innocent five-year old who will have to live with that for the rest of his life.  I wonder if that tragic loss of life changed those parents views of guns?  I kind of doubt it because if they buy a gun for their five-year old  their guns are probably a very deep-rooted compulsion. I hope that they at least suffer some legal consequences for this death but since Kentucky is a pretty NRA leading red State I doubt that there will be any action taken against them.  As the coroner said “just a crazy accident”. The Crickett rifle did not turn deadly; it was deadly to start with!

I know I will get a healthy share of flamers with this post but again but I just can’t understand how something whose sole purpose is to kill became so endemic in our society. Guns, besides death and inflating egos has little or no purpose. But, shamefully it has become so engrained that even classrooms of kids dying and a five-year old killing a two-year old has no effect on the  ”protecting my guns at all cost” mentality.

A five-year old killing his two-year old sister with a gun given to him by his parents! How sad and tragic is that. That is probably one of the saddest parts of the twenty-first century for me. Thirty-five thousand Americans will die as a result of guns in our country this coming year. Why can’t we find a less deadly toy to occupy our weekends?

Fixations…. 3

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PrintWHY??   I ask that a lot, especially when it comes to how we choose to live our lives.

I simply can’t understand how we Americans are so fixated on flexing our muscle throughout the world when we have so many thing that need repair in our own country. It is almost as if we are willing to sacrifice our own well being in order to exercise our power. We must realize that the world didn’t assign us to be policemen of the world, that was a choice we made, often times much to our own detriment.

Since I hold on to Quaker roots I understand that I am more averse to aggression than many in my homeland. I understand that much of our culture is based upon violence and domination. I understand that this type of a world view dictates an overwhelming military superiority. I understand these things but I just don’t accept them as the way they have to be.

We claim to be a nation based on Christian principles. When I read the Bible Jesus tells me very clearly that means we are to love God and love our fellow man. These are the two foundational laws of that religion.  God did not put nation barriers on that list. Our fellow man is a worldwide concept; maybe even beyond our little globe? The dichotomy of being an aggressor vs a Christian is troubling to me.

If only we could take some advice from one of my heroes Will Rogers and tend to our own business instead of poking our guns and military might in the rest of the world we might just be able to fix some of our own problems.  Why do we need to continually make enemies of the rest of the world in order to give ourselves some sense of security? When will we understand that often times flexing our muscles in the world is a cause not a cure for our insecurity?

If we must be fixated why can’t we fixate on curing our own ills. We let many of our citizens go through life without sufficient healthcare because we have not figured out how to dispense it efficiently. We have more of our citizens under lock and key than any country in the world.  Why can’t we figure out the root causes of that?  In order to maintain overwhelming military superiority we let our education system fall behind much of the world.  Why do we allow guns to destroy much of our society?   Thousands die every years due to suicides with guns. Thousands die because of random violence with guns. Thousands die due to gun accidents. It just makes no sense to me that we continue to ignore simple solutions to this problem.

Why are we so fixated on solving the  world’s problems when we have so many of our own to look after?

But I’m just a simple guy so what do I know…..

Innocent Until Proven Guilty…. Or Is It The Other Way Around??

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Be forewarned that I am getting on my soapbox now.

ConstitutionI know there are numerous times in our history where civil liberties have been severely threatened. Various groups and individuals have been attacked by our government without due process. One glaring recent example is putting Japanese-Americans in prison camps during World War II simply because of their heritage. But it seems like this is almost becoming common place in our country today.  Mr. Obama’s kill list is one example.  It sounds as if one or two high-ranking officials think that any person, including a U.S. citizen, is a threat to our country they can ask the president to take them out via a drone attack and surprisingly he is reported to often make that call. I don’t think, or at least I pray, that they don’t do that while the person is on U.S. soil yet but then of course since the process is so secretive we have no way of even knowing that.

And then there are guys like Chris Kyle who we know had assassinated over 180 people on orders from military or other government officials. Now don’t get me wrong here, I imagine that most of these people on these kill lists were “bad guys” who the world is better off without but are we really sure that some were not innocent of these cloaked charges against them?  Were they killed by bullet or bomb before they were really proven guilty? They certainly did not get a judge or a jury.  I can’t help but think that if George Bush had the same policies on drone attacks as President Obama the Democrats would be screaming right now but the current silence on this topic is deafening (and I know what I am talking about in that area).

I’m probably be in the minority (wouldn’t be the first time) here but I believe we must protect our civil liberties at all costs and that even includes letting some bad guys live another day. That is what makes us a stand out country in the world.  The idea of “Innocent until proven guilty” has a long history in our country. I also hope that we don’t believe that civil liberties are an exclusive property of U.S. citizens and shouldn’t apply to people in the rest of the world.

Are we headed toward a time when our civil rights are at serious risk yet again? The right to vote is one of the most basic forms of civil rights. Until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 African-Americans were basically denied that right by one scheme or another throughout the South. That basic right seems under attack once again in some Republican controlled States including Ohio and Florida.  Some also say our right to bear arms is under attack.

We must always do whatever is necessary to protect the civil rights of all our citizens and to make sure the principle itself is propagated throughout the world. Our founding fathers believed that if necessary eleven guilty men should be freed in order to insure one innocent person was not punished.  These “kill lists” without any check and balances even though they are not being issued on U.S. soil (or at least I pray they aren’t) are a definite threat to all our civil liberties.   I am totally disappointed that President Obama is apparently signing off on assassinations without due process. I expected better from him.

Using Drugs…. 2

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Source:  Whitney Houston’s mom ‘angry’ the star died alone – TODAY Entertainment.

HoustonThe Grammy-winning singer was found dead, face down in her bathtub, at the Beverly Hills Hilton on Feb. 11, 2012, the night before the Grammy Awards. The final coroner’s report listed the cause of death as accidental drowning and “effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use.” The document also indicated that Houston had cocaine, marijuana, Xanax, Benadryl and muscle relaxants in her system when she passed away.

I know Whitney Houston’s death is old news but when I started to putting down some thoughts on drug use in the U.S. she came to mind. Of course I never heard her voice but I did see a couple of movies that she starred in. She was generally thought of as the “girl next door”. That is she was very approachable and down to earth.  I was surprised to learn that the autopsy report showed she was filled with many drugs the night she died. Another young talented life destroyed by drugs. More…

Studying the DNA of Newtown Shooter – A Double Edged Sword… 2

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Source:  DNA of Newtown Shooter Adam Lanza to Be Studied by Geneticists – ABC News.

LanzaBeaudet noted that studying the genes of murderers is controversial because there is a risk that those with similar genetic characteristics could possibly be discriminated against or stigmatized, but he still thinks the research would be helpful even if only a “fraction” may have the abnormality or mutation.

“Not all of these people will have identifiable genetic abnormalities,” Beaudet said, adding that even if a genetic abnormality is found it may not be related to a “specific risk.”

“By studying genetic abnormalities we can learn more about conditions better and who is at risk and what might be dramatic treatments,” Beaudet said, adding if the gene abnormality is defined the “treatment to stop” other mass shootings or “decrease the risk is much approved.”

The successful mapping of DNA is perhaps the major accomplishment of our times. Determining what each point on that map means will prove to be even more significant.   A case in point should be learned from one-hundred years ago. In the early nineteen hundreds eugenics was the “scientific breakthrough” of the times.  Here is how Wikipedia defines that movement: More…

Tragedy…..

Getting Serious

Due to the totally stupid tragedy that took place in Connecticut on Friday I will not be posting here again until Monday morning. My prayers are yet again with the families of the victims of this latest event. Why do we let it happen over and over again?

Another Sad, Sad Day… 11

Getting Serious
How many more of our kids have to be killed before we come to realize that appeasing the gun lovers in this country is just not worth the cost…….

Yeah, yeah, I know guns don’t kill people……..

Falling Behind ….. Again

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Source: Survey: U.S. global competitiveness falls again – USATODAY.com.

The United States’ ability to compete on the global stage has fallen for the fourth year running as confidence in the country’s politicians continues to decline. The finding is from an annual survey from the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Of the top 10 nations, the Netherlands and Germany have moved ahead of the U.S. The U.S.’ ranking dropped two places to seventh this year, the WEF says.

It is sad to see that the U.S. is falling behind in yet another metric. Our manufacturing base is quickly dwindling. Almost everything we buy now comes from outside our shores.  Our healthcare cost us more than any other country and still we die younger than many. Our military eats us so More…

Separation of Church and State — Taxes

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Source: Churches and Taxes – ProCon.org.

US churches received an official federal income tax exemption in 1894, and they have been unofficially tax-exempt since the country’s founding. All 50 US states and the District of Columbia exempt churches from paying property tax. Donations to churches are tax-deductible. The debate continues over whether or not these tax benefits should be retained.

Proponents argue that a tax exemption keeps the government out of church finances and thus upholds the separation of church and state. They say that churches deserve a tax break because they provide crucial social services, and that church tax exemptions have been in place for over 200 years without turning America into a theocracy.

Opponents argue that giving churches special tax exemptions violates the separation of church and state, and that tax exemptions are a privilege, not a right guaranteed by the US Constitution. They say that in tough economic times the government cannot afford what amounts to a subsidy worth billions of dollars every year.

More…

Where the candidates differ on foreign policy…. thank heavens…. 9

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via Due Diligence: Where the candidates differ on foreign policy – CBS News.

The president wants the military to focus more on nontraditional threats like al Qaeda, and no longer wants the United States to serve as the world’s policeman. He noted on Monday that America spends more on the military than the next ten countries combined – which you only say if you think America is carrying too large a burden.

It can be difficult to tease out differences between the candidates on specific issues. But when it comes to the larger, overarching philosophy, there is a clear difference: Romney wants to spend more money to expand America’s traditional military role in the world, while the president wants to transition to a new era in which America plays a fundamentally different role. And that philosophical chasm is more important than the lack of difference on many individual issues. More…

Being Right…. 2

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One of the inspiring lessons I have learned in the last few years is about being right.  To start this post I want to re-post a little about what I said about being right a couple of years ago.

Let Others Be “Right” Most of the Time

From: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson

Richard Carlson makes the statement

“Do I want to be ‘right’ — or do I want to be happy?” Many times, the two are mutually exclusive

This is certainly a very hard lesson for some of us to learn. But we must realize as Mr. Carlson states that Being right, defending our positions, takes an enormous amount of energy. Since to the person you are trying to prove you are right to most often translates that to they are wrong.

More…

The “A” Word…. 4

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I want to warn you up front that this will be one of those serious posts by me. I try to keep this blog light-hearted at least on some level but the topic I am going to discuss has no possibility of that. In the 1950s the “a” word was the atomic bomb. As a school kid during that time I was taught to get under my desk if the teacher told us an atomic bomb had been dropped. I never understood how my desk was going to protect me but that is another story.

In the 1970s and beyond the “a” word has become abortion. Abortion was not a new thing even back then as there were many thousands performed before that time. But when the Supreme Court made being able to easily get an abortion the law of the land via the Roe vs Wade ruling it came to the forefront. Unfortunately abortions accelerated quickly after that ruling.

Of course with our two-party system of government in the U.S. one party tends to take one side of an issue and the other takes the other side. The Republicans took up the “anti-abortion” mantel and the Democrats took up the “pro-choice” position. I recently got into some discussions with one of my regular commentors on this blog about this topic.  The post around the comments didn’t really have anything to do with abortion but as usual when ideologies are discussed it often comes into the conversation.

Many who take the anti-abortion stand seem to think that all of us who support the Democratic party  in any regard are somehow pro-abortion. They therefore expect all of us to give argument supporting abortion. I usually try to avoid these discussions as they are seldom fruitful but I had to finally declare that I am “pro-life” all the way. That statement probably surprises some but on looking up the facts of this issue it seems that 57% of Democrats do not want abortion on demand. But another statistic that may have even surprising to many is that even 29% of Republicans want abortion to be widely available.  Here are the figures behind this statement.

So, it seems that the abortion issue does not fall strictly along party lines as most people seem to see it. I wish people would realize that there are people in both parties that are on both sides of this and many other issues.

Before leaving this post I am going to  proclaim one more time.

 I am “pro-life” all the way.

That is I am against abortion but I am also against capital-punishment, I am against war, and I am against guns.  I am also firmly for universal healthcare and a strong safety net for all our citizens. Of all of these issues I generally only see most Republicans aligned with the first one. Are my Republican friends only pro-life when it comes to the unborn?  To me a life is a life and should be treated as sacred in all instances. What point would it be to have a baby born and to then see that life extinguished due to a random shooting, an unnecessary war (and almost all our wars are unnecessary), an innocent person being found guilty of a crime, or even worse having someone die because of the lack of  nourishment or adequate healthcare.

I am “pro-life” in all aspects of life. Not just those who are yet to be born. When I look at the overall picture I see the Democrats as being more aligned to the vast majority of these issues. All of them, not just abortion, often result in lives lost and I mourn each death no matter the cause. I wish my Republican friends could understand that.

Ok, enough of these serious issues. Let’s move on to something more light-hearted. How about politics. :)

About Germany…. 8

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Why is it that Germany seems to be just about the only country in the world who is not struggling with a disappearing middle class? They are doing well in that regard because they are the most unionized country in the world and their increased wages drives their demand. How do they manage to keep their wages high in light of the pennies-on-the-dollar labor found elsewhere?  They do it by government regulations prohibiting companies from exporting jobs.  Of course this is something that the “free traders” among us say is impossible but it seems Germany didn’t know it was impossible and went ahead and implemented it anyway.

Could the same thing be done in the U.S.? Could we actually drive up demand by driving wages back to where they were twenty years ago. In the last decade the auto industry’s starting wage has gone from $28/hour to less than $15/hour and there are similar numbers throughout other industries in the country. The middle class is quickly disappearing as a result. And with the middle class disappearing so is the discretionary income and resulting demand. We are in a catch-22 until we can figure out a way to bring the middle class back to existence.

The conservative elements in our country insist that the door to the middle class is pretty much now closed and we must depend on trickle-down from the rich to maintain any semblance of prosperity in this country. I just don’t buy into that logic. If our once mortal enemy of Germany can maintain their middle class through corporate regulations prohibiting the export of jobs then certainly the biggest economy in the world can do something similar.

Germany is now pretty much bailing out all those other E.U. countries with their affluence.  And this is just a score of years since they incorporated the very destitute East Germany into their country! Maybe we should take a plan from their play-book and duplicate it here in our own American style. But like our healthcare debacle we can’t seem to learn that the rest of the world has pretty much learned to control their medical costs through a universal single-payer system so how are we ever going to learn how to bring back our middle class through lessons from elsewhere?

Now don’t get me wrong here; I am not saying that Germany is a better country than we are. They have some restrictions on their citizens that should never and would never be acceptable to us. We don’t have to become another Germany to learn some ways of doing things better. Pragmatism is finding what works and then using it regardless of where it came from.

But what do I know….

Putting a Face on the Tea Party…. 4

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My regular viewers you know that I have recently had some discussions with a commentor on this blog named “Hank”. Of course since the Internet is a virtual gathering place I really don’t know for sure if Hank is a male or female but for the sake of this and maybe future posts I will call him “he”. Now Hank made several comments to posts about the political conventions.  On each comment I got to know Hank a little better than before. In Hank’s last post ( which is his last comment by my choice not his) he gave me an important personal insight.

I have said many times on this blog that in order for something to be real you have to “put a face on it”. Until you can put a face to something it remains in an abstract state and somehow doesn’t quite become real.  What Hank managed to do for me was to put a face on the radical right Tea Party. I don’t know what Hank really looks like or if he really belongs to that group but he now there poster boy to me. Some of his words that fixed his face to that organization was when he commented on my post about the Clinton speech as the DNC.

 ‘Shared opportunities and shared responsibility’ is code speak for taking from the rich and those who work hard for a living and giving it to the poor and the clueless. I am aghast at how just a speech from a lying president, Clinton (who BTW slept with way more women than Monica) can change anyone’s mind with rhetoric.

Previously Hank had made angry comments about President Obama but I let them slide as just being caught up in the moment. But with the above quote it seems obvious that he despises much more than that.  So, with this post I want to thank Hank for opening my eyes as to just how critical the election really is. We cannot allow the Tea Party to get a further hold on our political institutions. If we do then serious  irreversible consequences will likely result.  Suddenly those who are struggling to find jobs or those who need a temporary hand up will become those who are taking from the rich and those who work hard for a living and giving it to the poor and the clueless.  

Because the Tea Party now has a face I just donated a healthy sum, as least with my limited income, to the re-election campaign for President Obama and to help defeat the Tea Party candidate in my State’s Senate race. Hank made me realize that we as a country can’t become complacent about our political processes. If we do that all of us but especially “the least of these” will likely suffer the consequences.  Thank you Hank for opening my eyes. I am officially taking my head out of the sand because of you….

Jobs are coming back fastest in services sector….

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Source:  Jobs are coming back fastest in services sector – USATODAY.com.

Service businesses are leading an uneven jobs recovery that has pushed sectors such as warehouse club retailers back to their pre-recession employment…

The starkest difference: More than 70% of jobs lost in service industries have returned three years after the recession’s end, while only 15% of jobs lost in manufacturing, construction and other industries that produce goods have come back. The analysis is based on Labor Department data from January 2008 — when total U.S. employment peaked — through last month

Is it a surprise to anyone that 85% of the manufacturing jobs have not returned since January 2008? Of course not. Many are now off-shore being paid pennies on the dollar. This is not a new trend. It started in the 1980s and will not likely end any time soon.  The construction industries thrived in the past because people employed in manufacture were making enough to be able to afford to buy homes. Now that the middle class has practically been eliminated construction jobs will be slow to return if they ever do.

I have been studying the history of the Roman empire for my blog at RedLetterLiving.net to try to see parallels between it and church history. In that study it is pretty clear to me that throughout history there has really never been much of what we today call a middle class. There have been artisans and tradesmen throughout history but they usually make up less than 10% of any society. The vast majority of people were included in the “serf” category, that is those at the very bottom of the wealth ladder.

The American middle class that rose so quickly after World War II was the result of a the  rapid change from war making industries to consumer based industries. The GI-bill allowed returning soldiers to get an advanced educations and the FHA which allowed them to buy a home. These two things which fed on one another created salaries that had enough discretionary income to cause other purchases which caused other jobs which caused more middle class. Of course both the GI bill and the FHA were government instituted plans.

These sort of things seem impossible now that we are in a mood to de-fund all government programs.  The upper 1% have prospered in the last twenty years at the expense of the dwindling middle class.Things seem to be returning to what has been the norm throughout most of world history and that is the aristocracy at the top and everyone else at the bottom.  Will the middle class ever be what they were thirty or forty years ago? Unless something fundamental  changes I kind of doubt it. While service jobs, which typically pay near minimum wage, are increasing middle class jobs just aren’t coming back.

We know that private corporations are presently sitting on almost $4 trillion in their coffers. Much of it, like our middle class jobs, is off-shore.  Until they start paying living wages there will never be sufficient demand for goods and services to bring back the economy to where is was even twenty years ago. Why can’t corporations understand that without discretionary income prosperity will never return to what it was.  Getting our population better educated is one long-term answer but the programs that allow many to go to college or even trade schools are being de-funded in order to some more tax breaks.

The current cuts in education and similar people programs and such seem like a never-ending spiral around the drain to me.

But what do I know…..

It’s Hard To Make a Fine Wine When All You Have Is Sour Grapes…. 3

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The title of this post came to me as I was recently reading the book Falling Upward by Richard Bohr.  In this book the author says each of us has two distinct parts of our lives. The first is making the container and the second is filling it with what we were meant to do.  Although I don’t necessarily agree with some parts of this book the thought of having two distinctive parts of your life is thought-provoking for me. It just makes sense.

How much of your life you spend building the container and how much filling it with what you are meant to be varies with each of us. Some probably spend most if not all making the container and then have no time to actually fill it.  While others build their container very early in life and then have more time to do what they were meant to do.

I personally believe that I am probably one of the first group. I grappled with who I was (i.e. my container) for many years. I just couldn’t decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. I mean I was in my fifties and still asking that question. I just couldn’t decide the shape of my container.  It wasn’t until I managed to get free from the corporate world that my container really started to take shape. So here I am in the later part of my life finally filling my container. My container was always meant to be filled with compassion for my fellow-man.  I discovered that I am an altruist to my heart. I just didn’t realize that for so many years. I spent so many fruitless years building what others told me my container would be. I never really looked into my heart to discover my true container’s shape.

That brings me back to the title of this post. It seems that there are so many people today who have filled their container with nothing but sour grapes. Their purpose seems to be making sure that no one  gets anything they haven’t worked for or somehow don’t deserve.  Our current political process seems to be overrun with these types of containers.

I find that fact so bitterly ironic because many of the sour grape people adamantly claim that we are a Christian nation. Everyone who has studied even the slightest levels of theology know that one of Christianity’s foundations is that Jesus died for our sins so that we can go to heaven. Our dogma tells us that we absolutely don’t deserve what he did but he did it out of the love for us.  So these sour grape folks are basing their eternity on unearned grace while denying those around them of their own personal grace.  This totally confuses me. How can they possibly reconcile the two attitudes????

Emergency NRA Board Meeting…

Getting Serious, Off The Top

Here I am heading toward Denver in a few minutes so the most recent gun slaughter is on my mind. I know President Obama will also be heading for Denver. I selfishly hope he doesn’t hold up my travels.  It just amazes me that we in the U.S.  so quickly forget all these types of shootings and there have been so many of them in recent years.  Of course we have many more guns per capita than any other country in the world so it should not be surprising that this occurs on such a frequent basis. We are also the number one exporter of guns.

I’m sure the NRA is gearing up for their usual “Don’t touch my guns” counter-attack from those like me. I will likely be flamed for this but we must find a way to prevent these types of terrorism even if it means limiting those who like to shot guns on the weekend to buying less than 6,000 rounds of deadly ammunitions at a time.  But the ever powerful NRA will never even allow that and any congressman that would even suggest it would find millions of dollars in NRA money against them in the next election! I mourn all those killed and wounded by this yet another gun nut among us and I, as usual, futilely hope we can find a way to keep the next one from so easily getting these weapons of mass destruction. President Bush didn’t need to look to Iraq for WMDs. We have millions of them here.

And no guns don’t save lives I don’t care how many road signs the NRA puts up I will never believe that.  Statistic always show that more gun owners are killed by their own guns than the bad guys they are so fearful of.

My Travels…. 4

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As I mentioned a few posts ago I somehow got myself into an extended FaceBook dialog with a friend about politics. It surprised me that he seems to hate our current president with such a venom that it scared me. I had never seen that side of him before. After an extended comment/counter-comment it shook some of the peacefulness from my current environment. I had trouble sleeping that night and even the next morning his hateful words lingered in my mind. At the end of all those posts it seemed like two one-sided conversation instead of a single thread. There was absolutely nothing that I could have said that would have mattered to him. When I brought up facts to counter his claims there were summarily ignored.

I was upset that I allowed myself to even approach his angry comments. It definitely took the polish off my otherwise delightful trip to date. I knew there was one thing that could shake me from my melancholy  and that was “Travels with Charley” by John Steinbeck. I have read that book more times than I can remember but each time I am totally enthralled by his adventures. I am so happy that I bought an e-book version for my Kindle. After an hour with the book the encounter with my friend evaporated. I was back with Steinbeck and his dog Charley on a road trip similar to the one I am now on.  When we come upon new places I try to see them with Steinbeck eyes. He had such a marvelous way of looking at the world!

This book was critical to my decision to start blogging. I try to emulate his style of writing and merge it into my own. He is one of my heroes in life. He has taught me so much about the common man that his books are mostly about. He and Will Rogers along with Jesus Christ are the foundations of how I view the world and what I write about.

Thank you once again John for shaking me from my melancholy and helping me to appreciate and love the world around me.