Communication and Compromise

Since the invention of movable type by Gutenberg, and mass literacy, most of us have gotten our news from the same sources. Before radio it was the newspaper or even newsreels at the theater before the movie started. Then radio came along and there was a small bit of diversification. When TV got popular in the 1950's we all watched the same nightly news from the same commentator. Perhaps someone like Walter Concrite.

Nearly all Americans spoke the same language, practically everyone was a Christian and even went to church pretty often, literacy rates were at least as high as they are today, and with some minor regional differences we basically all were part of the same culture. If not, then you were isolated from society. Now some expect and demand that it be possible to be a success in American society while not even being able to speak the English language.

In the twenty first century it is common to have well over a hundred channels on one's TV. There are news channels dedicated to the right wing racists, and other news channels which pretend to be more balanced. I get most of my news from the internet, not the nightly news on TV or even PBS. One of the great things about internet browsers is that I can set up my home page almost whatever way I like. I have mine showing me the news from various smart and honest people like Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart. Of course I don't want to get my hands dirty by getting my news from the lying and biased racists like FOX News.

When watching TV (even on PBS) people don't normally talk and reason with each other anymore. Compromise for the greater good is a dying art. They talk at each other, and have no qualms about being horribly rude by constantly interrupting the other person. Trying to form a consensus is no longer fashionable. If the other guy gives or concedes just a little bit, then I should brutally slap him down, advance, and take full advantage of him.

Enjoying watching people get Punked, and even enjoying watching people get physically hurt; as well as "put down humor" are part of this same sadistic phenomenon. Isolation and anonymity are associated with this all.

This is President Obama's biggest problem. He still thinks that it is possible and realistic that people in Congress will form a consensus and compromise with each other for the greater good. That is why he continually gets brutalized and has sand kicked in his face.

Having lived almost twenty years of my adult life abroad I can say with some level of certainty that the problems of cooperating and forming a consensus are not somehow isolated to America. One thing is absolutely certain: If we do not all speak and use the same language our communication with each other will be even more stunted and defective. Spanish speakers in America, Turkish in Germany, French vs. Flemish in Belgium, etc. This Tower of Babel problem is very serious, and it appears to be getting worse rather than improving.

So how can we take this information and use it to help us lead better lives that are more satisfying? Beats me. I haven't figured that out yet. Maybe this is what living in a gated community is all about.

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Religion

I got an email from Amazon.co.uk this morning. Apparently they think I am seriously spiritually challenged, because they thought I might be interested in buying a CD called Vedic Mantras (Sacred Hindu Chants) by Saashwathi Prabhu. It includes the following songs: Om Chant, Om Namaha Shivaya, Atmashatak (Nivanashatak), Shiva Manasa Puja, and of course the rocking famous Swasti Mantra and Shanti Path.

I don't know what any of these words mean, and I don't care even slightly. Whether it is Hindu, Buddhism, Islam, Shinto, or Christianity I am sure that there are some people who actually live better, kinder, and more caring lives because of their blind faith. Not me.

In my experience all "organized" religions are about enriching the priesthood and their holding power.....maybe even taking unfair advantage of their parishioners. No thanks. I'll pass on the whole religion thing.

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Dissolve The Government and Call For New Elections

Many Democracies around the world have procedures whereby the government can be dissolved and new elections called.

Under the American form of Democracy there is basically no realistic way to call for new Presidential Elections. Once you have a president you are just stuck with him until his term expires.

America is facing a turbulent period during the next 5 to 10 years. It is just so sad that we have to do so watching a guy with no backbone constantly caving in to the right wingers. It will take many years to recover from the Obama/Republican damage...if American ever does. This may just be the start of the rapid and permanent decline of America.

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Watching President Obama Self Destruct

Obama Has No Backbone

The latest episode in the sad decline of Mr. Obama goes this way.

The center right wing (the Obama administration) has been negotiating with (caving in to, as always) the radical right wing, also called the Republicans. The Obama led center right wing is once again going back on his campaign promises. They are going to continue the outrageous Bush tax breaks on the wealthy who earn more than $250,000 per year.

This right wing economic theory has been proven to be total hogwash. The Republicans are not bright enough to see that they are bankrupting the country and tearing it apart culturally. Some Republicans are blinded by their greed, but many others just don't care.

President Obama is not in any way a progressive or a liberal. He is nothing more than a spineless, no conviction, right wing Chicago politician.

Oh God, how sad. This is happening at the very worst time too.


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Where Do We Go From Here?

America, and much of the rest of the world, has really serious problems with their economies. I read yesterday that this is the worst the American economy has been in eighty years. In America we have an aging population as in Europe, Russia, Japan, and even China.

The Republicans no longer even try to hide their contempt for the poor and the working-middle classes. They and their tea party buddies are openly racist. It is their clear intent to eliminate government funded social security, and they have devoted a lot of time and resources to turning back Obama's modest health care reforms.

I am now in my sixties as are many of my friends. It is pretty common at this age to develop chronic diseases or serious, life threatening things like cancer. Young people think old geezers just quietly fade away. Maybe this is how it used to happen when the old folks were taken care of as part of a larger familial group. But now that the kids and grandkids live a long way away, and they are so busy keeping their own lives afloat, the communication with grandpa and grandma is becoming increasingly less frequent.

Many of the baby boomers who are just now reaching the 60's are well educated, and grew up during the civil rights and Vietnam War protests. We have believed in Democracy, capitalism, and the free market. And now it is all turning out to be a house of cards and false.

Democrats have moved so far to the right that they are virtual Republicans. The voters vote, especially us old folks, and then the elected officials do what their large campaign contributors want rather than what the voters back home want. American democracy has turned into a sham. Capitalism and the free market are destroying the middle class and enriching only the wealthy. The "trickle down" phenomenon has turned out to be Ray-guns hogwash and a complete lie.

So you have a growing group of rather angry old folks. Maybe even a bit bitter. Once the doctors tell you that you have incurable cancer, it changes your outlook subtly. Once you no longer have anyone dependent upon you, there certainly is far less to lose. Increasingly the census bureau reports more and more single person household. This is true of young people, but also among us old folks. Anonymity. A dangerous word and a dicey concept.

I am beginning to worry that some of the less emotionally stable members of the old folks group may start thinking about taking extreme action. If you have lost your job, have lost your house and family, and you have no health insurance you begin to realize that most of this is because of the breakdown in democracy and the evils of the market and capitalism. And greed and arrogance.

Then when the doctors tell you that you are dying of some incurable disease, there may be some who think, "Why not just put a large caliber bullet in my brain?"

More dangerous in my mind are the other old folks who might conclude, "Before I put that handgun to my own head, perhaps I can do society one more bit of good by murdering someone else first. Some dishonest, fat-assed, racist, right wing politician." It used to be only the red necks and radical right wingers that had these dangerous ideas. I fear that with the societal breakdown that is occurring we will begin to see more and more of the smart, well educated, progressive-liberal old folks coming to the same conclusion.

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Car Ad Spoof - Really Funny

The best part is right at the end.

Tax Cuts For The Rich

The overwhelming and vast majority of voters in the American Democracy do not want to continue the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Large majority.

The Republicans and their fellow travelers are beholden to the rich because of the way way that political campaigns are financed in America. I call this corruption and bribery. If Obama caves in to the Republicans now on this issue, then I give up on him. We may as well just go ahead and plan on a single term Presidency, with a Republican as our next President.

Democracy is not just voting for a candidate every few years, and then forgetting all about what the voters back home want. There have been cases where the legitimacy of the vote has been seriously eroded too; see Bush vs. Gore. President Jimmy Carter's foundation goes all over the world supervising and auditing elections to make sure that they are conducted in fair and transparent manner, and that the results are accurate. He says that there is no way the American system would pass the test. Not even close.

Representative Democracy means that once elected the public official should try his best to do his job in the manner that the people back home would want. So if most of the people in his district want to end the Bush tax breaks for the super rich, or do not want social security benefits reduced, then that is how he should vote on legislation or amendments. Regardless of how his largest campaign contributors might react, or whether he will be re-elected for another term in office.

Link to a good article on this: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/11/30/tax_cut_showdown/index.html

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It Is Cold!

Yahoo weather says that it is 25 degrees F (-3.8 degrees C) in El Paso, Texas right now. That is cold, for sure. But nothing compared with what my European friends are experiencing right now. The biggest airport in Europe (Frankfurt, Germany) has had problems remaining open as has Gatwick in London. I read that it has been below 0 F, and that the maximum daytime temperature is going to stay below freezing for the next few days. Snow everywhere.

In Amsterdam they have rounded up the homeless people and are requiring them to sleep inside. In other places it remains voluntary and a recommendation.

These are good times to stay inside, nice and toasty warm, and enjoy the beauty of the snow by looking out the window. Although really, if you are dressed up properly a nice walk in the forest or even snow camping can be very pleasant. Of course if you are not dressed correctly either could be quite deadly.

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Bookmarks

-------------------------- If you click on an image it will enlarge.

I've had a lot of bookmarks over the years, but at the moment these are my favorites.

I bought the Bronze Bear and Charlemagne's Tomb from some nuns who were holding a sort of rummage sale in the annex to the Treasury of Charlemagne's magnificent 1,200 year old Cathedral in Aachen, Germany. Both are printed on thin aluminum.

The real bear is to your right as you come into the cathedral. I guess it is about 3 or 4 feet tall and allegedly dates to the Roman era, almost 2,000 years ago. In Germany they call Charlemagne "Karl The Great." His throne is on the second floor, looking down at the people in the church.

I got the now well worn Clan MacGregor bookmark on one of my trips to Scotland. We have distant ancestors who were a part of Clan MacGregor.

The You Are Here came with a used book which I purchased from a bookstore in New York City.

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Sanctuary

One of my top five favorite TV shows is a science fiction series out of Canada called Sanctuary.

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Dear Hilary,

Dear Hilary,

I guess people before you have asked our diplomats to spy on the diplomats of our allies, but if so they did it a little more discretely.

You should have learned by now: If you are going to discuss doing something illegal or something which has the potential to be extremely embarrassing, do it in person, with no one else in the room. You should know better than to leave such a great paperwork trail.

Emails are never actually erased. You may click that button which says erase, and your copy may go away, but you can be sure that there are backups upon the backs of backups of your original incriminating email.

You won't be fired over this, but only because President Obama is such a weak and inexperienced leader. You should have the dignity to resign over it.

Best Regards,


Paul Garland
El Paso, Texas

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World AIDS Day

Wednesday is World AIDS Day. Worldwide so much more could be done to reduce further spread of HIV/AIDS.

The media has been been very honest and straightforward in telling needle drug users not to share needles. Governments have even instituted programs of giving way free hypodermic needles.

The same sort of honesty needs to be heard about male-male homosexuality and anal intercourse. I don't hold any religious beliefs for or against being a gay or a lesbian. But the male homos are wasting many millions of dollars every year with their expensive taxpayer paid treatments. This money should be going to poor, sick people's medical care who did not cause their disease by constantly doing dumb things.

We need to be open and honest about it. Anal intercourse is something that only really stupid and/or abusive people do.

So I don't care if two men want to kiss and pretend they are married, as long as there is no anal intercourse or oral sex either. They will just have to get by with hand jobs.

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Wikileaks

I'm sure that lots of people hate Wikileaks. Especially those who are trying to keep things hidden from public view: corruption, dishonesty, and all different varieties of sick manipulative behavior.

I can't say that I fully 100% agree with everything they are doing, but in general I think that in the long term, most things work out best when one is honest. Letting the sun shine in can solve all sorts of problems. "Does this dress make my ass look enormous?" That is a trick question, and if you answer it "Yes" this is not honesty...it is brutality.

It is just too bad that most of the investigative reporters and journalists have been let go and are now employed in new career fields. With the rise of the internet and blogs, newspapers are dying. Greed and excessive concern for the short term bottom line by the owners of these papers is another part of the problem. With all the dishonesty and corruption going on in Washington, D.C., we never needed honest, career investigative journalists more than we do now.

Only repeating what someone says is simply being their publicist. Verifying and digging into the details of what they are saying to see if they are coloring the truth is essential to the proper functioning of a Democracy. There isn't a lot of this going on anymore in the just-in-time 24 hour news cycle.

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Bipartisan My Ass

“Whenever a fellow tells me he's bipartisan I know he's going to vote against me” - Harry Truman

Homeland Security Is Totally Out Of Control

The Somali born Portland bomber once again reinforces an important point. This guy is a university student and a naturalized U.S. citizen. The U.S. Government, and in particular the ignorant cretins at Homeland Security continue to try and pretend to themselves and try to convince other people that 60 year old white grandmothers and 9 year old blonde haired boys pose as large a security threat as some 20-30'ish dark skinned fellow with a name like Mohamed.

While the former cannot be totally ruled out, the later is far more likely to be the person that Homeland Security needs to be worried about.

These people at Homeland Security are delusional, they are casing all sorts of headaches to innocent travelers, and they are wasting large chunks of taxpayer money.

Now they have excluded pilots and big muckity-muck government workers and elected officials from the humiliation of getting publicly molested and felt up, not to mention the cumulative effects of small doses of scanner radiation.

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Is President Obama a Bully? Honest...

Since Barack Obama has become President there have been persistent reports about him using his sharp elbows very aggressively while playing basketball. There is a problem with this. Back when he was merely another struggling young lawyer, if he wanted to get physical with his opponents that was his legitimate option. The guys he elbowed could in turn inflict physical pain on him if they were that kind of person.

This syndrome of excessive competitiveness combined with aggression and even physical violence is fairly normal among some not very morally and spiritually advanced men. Read jocks. Ray Decerega, who works for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, was playing basketball with the President. Apparently he had taken all the elbowing that he could handle. He very deftly elbowed our bully of a young President right back, and Mr. Obama required some 12 stitches to his lip.

The difference now is that most people are in awe of the office of President, and all the regal trappings of wealth, glory, and power. Not to mention that the President is constantly surrounded by his bodyguards, the very competent secret service agents. When one has a job that confers great prestige and power, one has a duty to behave in a civilized fashion and not abuse the power which comes with the job title.

Getting a reputation as the kind of guy who vigorously elbows his opponents while playing basketball indicates that one has problems with the abuse of power and being a bully. Of course in real life if you actually confront a bully, maybe even slap him around a little (intellectually or physically), they normally just slink off whimpering with their tails solidly between their legs.

This is just the exact syndrome we have grown used to seeing every time that President Obama has been confronted by the right wingers and political opposition. He will go down in history as our "no-backbone president." Maybe being raised in a household without a father present caused this.

What a pity.

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Energy Consumption

Looking at the latest bills from the electric company and the gas company together is interesting to me. My little energy efficient house uses almost no natural gas except during the winter, and then it peaks in January.

The electricity consumption of the house is almost exactly the inverse. Average usage is fairly low but goes up greatly during the summer when the air conditioning is running. Electrical usage peaks in July.

I have had my second Toyota Prius for just over a year now. One of the trip odometers keeps track of average fuel economy since the moment I drove the car off the Toyota dealer's lot almost 9,000 miles ago. My average including bad days and good ones is just over 56 miles per gallon.

My overall energy footprint is far below the American average. I live comfortably too. It is possible to have a nice lifestyle while wasting far less energy.

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Virgin Mobile Mifi

This is unsolicited. I don't sell these devices or have anything to gain financially. I'm just an owner/user.

The Virgin Mobile Mifi is wonderful. It is about the same size as a thick credit card. It is your own personal wifi hot spot. The program I am on is $40- per month full internet access, unlimited usage. But it is a pay as you go set up, so if I choose I can not use it for several months and not pay. Then, like this morning, when I do want to use it I simply do a few clicks and another one month at $40- goes into it.

Today is the day after Thanksgiving. Some call it Black Friday. I guess lots of people are at home using their AT&T DSL because mine is running a bit slower than normal. Today I am getting much faster internet access using the Virgin Mobile Mifi.

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Barack Obama - Enemy Of The Working Man

I find it interesting how often after you get to know people that they end up being something entirely different than they appeared at first. Some of this is self delusion, hoping that they will be a certain type of person, and some of it is very intentional dishonesty. People pretending to be something they really are not.

Barack Obama certainly is not at all who we thought he was when we were working on his campaign for President. He allegedly had the very most liberal voting record of anyone in the U.S. Senate, and he described himself as a Community Organizer.

It turns out that in real life Obama is just another Republican sympathizer masquerading as a Democrat. He continues to say many of the right words, but his actions are almost always right-wing. When he actually does finally, eventually take some action. He has shown himself to be a timid, spineless man who quickly sells out his campaign promises and the principles of the Democratic party pretty much every single time he gets into any kind of a negotiating situation.

Obama and his team are now openly working to destroy social programs like Social Security and Medicare. The idea that the rich would receive a tax increase and the middle and working classes would not is losing favor and just isn't going to happen.

Obama and his fellow travelers are completely opposed to reducing the grossly wasteful spending on the military, defense, homeland security, and intelligence. Instead they want to destroy the meager social safety net which was in place when he became President. If Obama were a genuine Democrat he would be doing everything he could to improve this social safety net.

There is a genuine problem with increasing the age of normal retirement under Social Security. While white collar workers and the rich are indeed living longer, farmers, farm workers, truckers, construction workers, factory workers, janitors, and cooks are not living longer. Increasing their normal full retirement age to 69 is cruel and barbarous.

Obama loaded up his deficit reduction commission with right-wingers. If this was not absolutely intentional on his part then it shows a neglect and incompetence on the scale one would expect from the intellectually challenged ex-beauty queen Mrs. Palin.

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Thankful in 2010

Experiencing and showing gratitude, humility, and thankfulness may well be the most important qualities needed in order to lead a happy life.

Certainly resilience and the ability to make major moves and changes when necessary are also important. Having tried very hard to make three marriages work, I can say with certainty that realistic (i.e., lowered) expectations are critical to both a successful marriage and a fulfilling life.

The leukemia is getting pretty advanced now, and it is almost like the alcoholics say, "One Day At A Time." Perhaps I'll be around for another Thanksgiving, but equally likely not. So now is a good time to openly be thankful.

My life has been blessed with lots of success and good luck. Of course there are those who say that the harder you work, the luckier you get. Yes, I have worked hard. Isn't that what turns an irresponsible boy into a man?

I've traveled widely abroad, I've been a certified scuba diver, a pilot, an amateur radio operator, a photographer, I have raced bicycles in Europe, owned horses, and have occasionally been an enthusiastic lover. I learned computer programming just as home computers were first beginning to come out in the 1970's, and I was on the ballot and got elected to a post as a minor Democratic Party official.

Between the love of reading (thanks to my parents for that), an open mind, some great professors at the University of Texas campuses in El Paso and Austin, Texas and the Ball State University campus in West Germany (plus an ulcer and migraine headaches) I was fortunate to end up being a fairly well educated man. My main career in food processing was challenging - and I mean that in the good way.

As I went along I've managed to gather together world class collections of oil lamps from the late 1800's, carbide bicycle lamps from the early 1900's, fluorescent minerals, vaseline glass, cameras from the twentieth century, Renaissance and middle age stoneware pottery, some African art, and a good collection of two thousand year old Roman coins and antiquities. I've collected a bit of art along the way too. In some ways the chase was the best part.

I've had some great friends and a few really wonderful bosses too. There were a few scoundrels and bitter enemies along the pathway too, but they just made me even stronger and wiser. So if there is some kind of higher being out there (doubtful but possible) I would like to thank him for all these opportunities I was given. To my friends and family, thank you for your support, loyalty, and friendship.

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