Houston;We Have A Problem

Out Of Touch With US
Or
Houston, We Have A Problem

Observation can be a powerful tool or a means to delude oneself. Like many aspects of life, duality reigns supreme and often leaves us in a place without sound conclusions. It has been called ‘The McNeil-Lehrer Syndrome’ after the PBS news broadcast that would attempt to give a fair and impartial analysis of an event usually ending in no conclusion at all.

The mind likes conclusive evidence especially when dealing with the more mundane but essential aspects of life. Homeownership, investments, work and family being just a few but frequently at the top of the list. Absent firm thinking, the mind tends to insert a belief to shore up an empty space in order to seek closure on a subject and allow itself to move on. Uncertainty is a terminal event for most individuals and even worse for a collective.

As we slide towards what is undoubtedly a serious decline in our 'living standards', the feeling of hopelessness are painfully evident expressing itself in the many suicides we are seeing in the civilian and military sectors. It appears we are unable to find the solace required to move on right now. It appears that the only insert we have for understanding what has happened to our society is simply too painful to accept. It appears we are floundering in every way because we do not like what we see, what we have seen and what we are bound to see a lot more of being on our current trajectory.

We know from our best efforts to unravel our existence, that we are all connected in ways beyond our ordinary perception. We understand a little about the forces of gravity, electromagnetism and the ubiquitous forces of the subatomic world. We have harnessed many aspects of these for our daily lives in the form of cell phones, televisions. automotive and pharmaceutical production, to name only a few. But it seems fairly certain that we have only addressed the larger aspects of these dynamics and - having ignored the underlying reality of our connectedness - we are suffering for ignoring or even denying the importance of the deeper ways in which we are truly connected

What I am suggesting here is not that we need to crack the unified field theory or to fully quantify consciousness. That would be nice but there seems to be a pretty good chance that we do not really have the luxury of time to do so. And time is fundamental to understanding both of those concepts. But that is a more esoteric discussion.

The more urgent call is to admit that we indeed are all connected and that we start to conduct ourselves accordingly. We seriously must adopt a standard of treatment for ourselves beyond what is being provided by the arcane and outmoded concepts we presently live by, like ‘the rule of law’ or ‘monetary development’. Underlying these are far more important principles that are the foundation for our existence and for our very survival. As important as gravity itself is the notion that if we live lives devoid of the recognition of fundamental truths, immutable and constant truths, that we will indeed fail as a civilization - as we are now witnessing.

Our shortcomings are being manifested as people failing, not as systems collapsing or as business models being found out to be false or inadequate. It would be a specious argument to say the level of foreclosures is due to the excesses of those who have taken on too much for themselves as the loans were made available in ways never before seen. Predatory lending has been mentioned but we tend to steer away from that truth so as to protect the notion that we can preserve a system already intact with little or no effort. Simply by denying its existence, we hope to overcome. Or at least allow it to pass as a bad episode and to simply move along to the next sunny day with no real consideration for the what has really happened or, worse, how it affects the lives of millions of our brothers, sisters, mothers and children. Moving on with no honest assessment is making us dysfunctional as a society, as a group, as a country, perhaps even as a species.

Consider the exact same dynamic in the manner in which we conduct military operations today. Fabricated stories lead us to conflict creating further hatred and resulting in even more conflict and despair. A high-octane ride to nowhere. And when the facts arise to illustrate just how mistaken a path we have embarked upon, we look away, just as in our own domestic housing crisis. We look, we see, we stare and then we look away.

It doesn’t really matter whether you view the needs of humanity as those of some quantum force field of interconnectedness, some ether invisible but undeniable, as a Christian, a Jew or a Muslim. What is important is that you acknowledge that it is there. And that you yourself to need to benefit from this acknowledgement that we are all, indeed, not only connected but actually dependent upon one another for our very survival.

The notion that the differences in appearance of one culture to another, the phonetics of their speech, the color of their bodies or the spiritual beliefs they hold allow any one of us to view the other as separate from ourselves is such a serious shortcoming that unless we defeat that simple prejudice we cannot possible think we are to survive let alone flourish. And not because racism or religious intolerance is wrong - which it is - but far more than that it brings about such a distorted picture of our world that we wind up like the blind cave worm that lacks eyesight except having never developed an alternative sensory perception to at least see in that darkness we bring upon ourselves. In this way, we are less than that worm.

We are falling behind the evolutionary curve that nature has set for us here in our world. And we are being punished for squandering that right. We are suffering the shortcomings not only of leadership and greed - the paranoid actions of ignorant angry and punitive few - but also of the inexhaustible parade of humanity that keeps on repeating the same practices over and over with no regard to our actions in a larger context. We act as though we are only passersby taking what we can with no regard to the role we ourselves play in the process, never really considering that our most pure role is that of fellowship, of being stewards to this life, indeed to one another. The importance is not merely religious but actual. Use up the planet and we have nothing left.

Pervert the legal system and we have no application for our laws. Bleed the Treasury dry by way of political jargon transferring away the peoples wealth and we have the financial difficulties we are now witnessing. Allow our leadership to act as a glorified surfer, riding a wave of obvious duplicity only to retire after their particular wave energy ends and we are trapped in an endless cycle of wave-riders.

Surely military suicides are at an all time record high not because of the inability of the soldier to stand on their resolve but because the resolve on which they stand is false. Over time that all comes to the top and the result is a devastating toxic precipitant. Truth is an integral part of our existence as a specie. Truth is the foundation upon which we can rest our work, our efforts and the secure blanket that is actually our freedom. If violence worked, we here in the US would have long since found peace in it.

Truth appears, at first, to be as invisible a force as gravity or quantum mechanics. But as time goes by, we see the failures of our society manifested by the absence of truth. Without it we are doomed to repeat our shortcomings only to stare at our traumas, to allow an endless repetition of an endless procession of non-truths to dominate us as a people; as a nation, a civilization.

Is why the Founding Fathers first line was ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident’?

We The Sheeple

We The Sheeple

So, tell me again why we fought WWII? I forgot. Was it to bring democracy and human rights to the forefront of civilization?

Was the Civil War supposed to unite us, rid us of slavery? Did we fight the Revolutionary War to free ourselves from Imperial England and religious dominance? I really forget.

I watched ‘Saving Private Ryan” again the other night. I was giddy with laughter - surprising myself - as I watched people getting blown to bits. Not because it was actually funny to me but because I was watching it while being squarely in the present and not allowing Spielberg to transport me to another time through the miracle of movies.

Watching that film while knowing how the efforts of WWII actually unfolded over the last 50 some odd years just brought me to the point of hysteria All those good American boys, dead. All the Mothers being informed of their great ‘sacrifice’ just made me roll in laughter. It also made me wonder, would those GI’s really have done all that if they knew we would later capitulate to the likes of the leadership that steals from the people here in our day?

To think, we evolved from that to the state of America as it actually is now is nothing less than comical. Present leaders did not serve in battle. They ducked the call using money and influence instead to allow them to do more fun things than enlist or fight for some dopey country, American or otherwise. Instead they prefer to fleece America, play golf, spend money and fly around the world speaking of dominance, lofty visions fueled by power and the violence they use to make people submit to their will, their needs, their lives and the ego-driven visions of absolute power.

Yeah, war movies crack me up. So many men involved in an activity that is clearly an utter and complete waste of time. Not because there aren’t bad guys out there. But because here are more bad guys in our own country and they damage they do is far and away worse than any war-ever.
Yes, it is tough to sit in a foxhole, armed and not knowing what’s coming next. But is also equally difficult to try and live a life in your own country when your government is making your life as difficult every day as it is for the short foxhole visit. There is no aspect of American life that speaks to freedom anymore; personal or otherwise. None. It is all a mirage where each and every freedom has been steadily eroded ultimately leaving the individual with no choices other than “would you like fries with that”?

What was the point of all the sacrifice made in the Revolutionary War, The Civil War or the WW's I and II if we arrived where we are now? Hysterical, right? We witness the atrocities of Israel upon the Palestinians after we freed them from the brutally terminal hands of the Germans. We fought and died so Israel could bomb children. And we arm them! We destroyed Iraq, an ancient culture that has been around since the earliest word of the Garden of Eden were spoken. Very funny stuff. So far away are the shores of Normandy.

We fought England so we could free ourselves from religious persecution, industrial exploitation and the arrogance of class dominance. We fought and died there too and for what? So we could have righteous sex-starved preachers give us free and unsolicited advice on how we should live? So we could establish a government that would tax and oppress us way beyond what the British would do? So we could work endless hours to pay taxes and mortgages on homes we cannot afford because the same government allows criminal acts by bankers to make life simply impossible to maintain-no mater how many jobs you have. Shitty jobs and frequently equally shitty houses.

You gotta admit. This is really funny stuff.

Banks broke, businesses gone, taxes rising, money diminishing. And yet, the government simply goes on reframing the past yet again to place themselves in a good light in front of a public too young to remember truth, too afraid to ask for it and too self-absorbed to really care anyway.

Want fries with that?

And why should they care? No one else does. We live in a world where Congress does not work. The feign activity seeking that spotlight moment that will allow them keep their job - not help you find yours. They want to retire whole and complete with plenty of material security for their families - not for yours. They want to leave a legacy they can proud of citing some humane achievement so distant and impractical, so bound up in legalese and wrapped in a flag of never ending patriotism so as to do nothing but drown out discontent. To drown you out. Completely. Period.

It has been a long, long time, long since passed where we have had the likes of statesman like Jefferson & Friends. Men who, knowing they were already rich, cultured and privileged, and yet debated endlessly in the present to assure the future of this country of ours. This thing of ours. Morphed many times over, hardly discernable from it’s own origins, a terminal grotesque parody of our former great selves. Such is the stuff of what we have become.

The ultimate reduction is that without the debate, we are simply not ourselves. So starved are we for the debate, a national dialogue, that we create and re-create organizations over and over again in a feigned attempt to stage an inclusive debate even if only to give us the ‘illusion’ of participation in our actual lives, our country, our direction and what we truly want to stand for. You can join all sorts of groups - all substitutes for a real democracy. Groups that help you watch-your-weight, pray to your religion, quilt a rug, divulge the horrors of your life so you can move on. All suspiciously designed to make you feel part of The Collective we like to call ‘America’. Even the term ‘America’ seems and feels foreign to me, in my soul. I no longer have an easy feeling about our country. I love it. Always have. I am a Yankee, in fact. And Yankee blood runs deep. As deep as the South, the West or all parts of this country. Well, ok, not so much he West.

But now, I feel like a man-without-a-country, to borrow a line.

Strange, I do feel a kinship to my fellow Americans, but not to the government that appears to stand between us, our work, our beliefs, our civilities. It would be nice to see the powers-that-be stop taxing us to make their ends meet, put regulations in place in every transaction involving a white-collar entanglement, invest in us instead of every other ‘them’ they can create to in the never ending wrestling away of wealth from us - the people - to themselves - our representatives.

I don’t hate the government. I just feel they are sick. Sick with money-fever; power-fever and just are so addicted to the process that they cannot tell the truth from a lie. Nor our needs from their personal needs. Going to Washington appears o be a license to steal; nothing more. They are selective in their application of the law allowing themselves to be free of such quaint practice. And for us, well, we get in trouble simply for driving too fast or for going too slow.

If the government were a friend, a person, an individual whom I cared for, I would say it was time for an intervention. An intervention to free them of their cycle of despair, conceit and greed. Washington is a Hall of Mirrors for the conceited, the arrogant narcissistic megalo-maniacal.

They are just people. Like you. Like me. But making laws to suit them.

And it needs to be corrected to a level that honestly represents the people without diluting our needs in endless discussion invoking terms like ‘healthcare’ ,‘campaign reform’ and ’national security’ over and over until we are numb with the words and completely lose the meaning. We really need to make a change in the very way we govern ourselves. Not to a new system but back to the old. The Constitution was pretty comprehensive. And, I have not yet seen a replacement arise to which we should yield our civilization.

A return to open discussion may be wishful thinking but I am always enamored with the idea. I would love to be able to openly discuss the fact hat I think an administration that breaks the law is culpable and should be punished. After all, how can we go forward without maintaining our laws and seeing them properly applied to war crimes and the rest of it.

I would love to be able to openly discuss the enormous trouble heaped upon us by the police and all the homeland security experts that have duped us into believing we live in a dangerous world an that the only way we can survive is under their protection. Their supervision. Their demands. Their needs. Ever notice money flows towards them? Ever notice they seem to accumulate more and more power and invariably use that same power to keep you in your place. Not some imaginary terrorist. You.

In just my county alone, there are more than 400 positions that pay a six-figure salary. Often the pay comes long with a shiny truck with symbols and badges on it. Fire, police, animal rescue ,and even postal police. Many of these salaries run well into the $200K and $300K range for fire marshals; whatever that is. Aren’t firemen enough? Do we need a marshal? Will we declare a war-on-fire next? Didn’t American business cut out middle management by necessity back in the late ‘80s, early ‘90’s?

I don’t think we are going to be saved by the police or the firemen. I think we should greatly reduce their numbers and make them stay in their firehouses or stations until they are called out for a particular need. Sorry, this is not anti American. It is free speech. A nearby town went bankrupt some six months ago and fired nearly all the police. Crime did not rise. Violence did not surge. Nothing happened. No-thing.

We must be a lot better people than they seem to want us to think we are.

And we have definitive proof that the FBI, CIA and NSA cannot effect a positive outcome. In fact, not only do they miss the chance to ‘save’ us, they create enormous divisions within our country and with that of other countries. This is no accident. Divisiveness creates opportunity for those pledged to defend. Nothing to defend means that very large sector of our population is simply not necessary. A position they find untenable and therefore they seek create disturbances like he ones we saw at our last national conventions leading up to the presidential election. Completely unnecessary. Completely fabricated and executed by law enforcement against a people who are desperate to be heard. I guess we are not all the same people. It appears to be us and them. How sad. But there are many of us. We should give this some consideration.

Here is what we do know. We know that the actions of a violent Pentagon foster terrorism. We need to recognize that the Pentagon wants, solicits and maintains violence. It is their business. It is their livelihood. It is what they do. It is all they do. That places them at odds with the wishes of the American people. They export violence and are a for-profit organization that feeds money we don't have to corporations that dont need it.

We know that the Pentagon is the violent arm of the unfettered capitalism we have witnessed brought to the foreground by the likes of Milton Friedman. We know that the US will use violence overtly, clandestine if necessary, to create opportunity for US companies to get cheap raw materials, cheap labor and all forms of energy.

As a nation, we need to change the way we view our government in order to clearly recognize who and what we have allowed them to become. By way of example; recently we saw the automotive firms begging for bailout money. General Motors was desperate. For several weeks the Senate was posturing as to whether they would or should help our GM. GM stock tanked, the country was mixed on how they felt about GM. They posed questions about the safety of the overall economy should GM be allowed to fail. On and on. Merely theatre, though.

The reality is quite different. The logic is more razor-sharp and goes a little like this. The Senate does not care about the union jobs or whether GM ever makes another vehicle-ever. The only equation to be considered is this: We need GM because they use a lot of oil. We need Exxon-Mobil because they maintain our need for a presence in the middle east. We need to be involved in the middle east because the Pentagon needs a threat to justify the trillion a year they receive to ‘protect’ us and, in turn, feed the corporations. All the rest is posturing. A bitter pill to be sure but a reality we witness and consequences we endure daily as citizens of what has long since become runaway train of a country.

The damage done by government far outweighs the troubles brought on by individual citizens, (sadly quoting Jefferson long ago). Criminals are rare except in DC. We need to be clear about this and to let them know that we know. It is they who are addicted to oil. Not us. It is they who benefit from that dependency, not us.

Remove GM and you have a lot less American vehicles running on the road. Less fuel demand, more stability.,….very bad for government business. Which means peace will never be given to the people, here or abroad. There’s no money in it. Peace would make for freedom, freedom would render our government powerless and undermine their ability to requisition monies for their needs. Not yours. Their needs.

Again, you find yourself at odds with your own government. Your country. And by way of having done nothing. Just working, paying taxes, abiding in the laws and yet, here you are able to see how we have all become at-risk. Perhaps it is by doing nothing that we are guilty.

Our leaders make appearances in Sunday Church to give the illusion that follow some form of law, a higher law that would by definition have to be inclusive of forms of life. But they do not. The most critical needs of our society have been repeated over and over, ad nauseum, so that the very words like ‘campaign reform’, ‘clean air’, ‘human rights' have been so diluted as to be inaccessible to us-the people. Topics like abortion and gay rights surface only during election years to be used divisively to garner attention and votes. Equality for women has been perverted into a very long work week for many with less pay.

To play with your life on so personal a basis is not the function of government. And yet, that is all they do.

We would do better to have our leaders blindfolded and throwing darts at a board marked yes or no when voting on the best course for our country. That would, at least, remove the special interests straight away and allow us a 50-50 chance of succeeding. As it stands, we may be exercising hope over reason.

And now, inauguration day for a new leader, we are so weakened that we are goaded into placing all of our hopes in a new man. One man. So weakened are we and so ineffectual is our role that we stand helpless, waiting, staring and wondering if ‘we’ will succeed. If success only means to consume, we probably will succeed even if only to bump along. But, if we are to seek a better order, a truly inclusive and safer world, we need to do more. We can begin by ridding ourselves o the excesses heaped upon us by the military and begin a meaningful dialogue with all nations. No matter who approves or who does not.

And if these writings are viewed as anti-anything, so be it. We should set our sights on a more meaningful world and go after it at all costs and not concern ourselves with criticisms from newspapers, politicians, military leaders or businesses or even spiritual leaders.

They have their needs; we have ours.

My Fellow Hamsters

My Fellow Hamsters


Yesterday, at the gym while on a treadmill feeling like a hamster, I was introduced to a man I did not know by a fellow hamster. The man was stocky, wide as a tree trunk, eyes watery red carrying the prior nights suffering forward with him to the health club that day. I forget his name, he mentioned he was Jewish and did some sort of work in conflict resolution. He began to speak with the hamster I knew and his story was that he had a beef against Citibank in that he was trying to get a construction loan converted to a permanent mortgage and was having difficulty with the bank in making that final step to his new home. He was frustrated and spoke in detail and at length about the case, as he saw it. His suffering was palpable, his familiarity indicative of hours of pouring over the paperwork and internalizing every jot, every letter believing it was relevant to his life.
As I treaded staring at the endless images of a world gone bad being delivered by smiling faces on CNN that speak detached countenance, I half listened to his story about how the bank was refusing him, not honoring their promise and how his paperwork was actually different from theirs. He felt that somehow, someone had made changes to the file at the bank that favored them and placed him in a bad position financially and stood in the way of his finding a final resting place in the system of loans and interest payments. I morbidly mused that someone should have to fight to find their way to endless payments and finally death was bizarre but that this was our country, our world, our dream. We fought and died for exactly this privilege and, frequently, were locked out of even that world. I only asked if he was a lawyer, he replied no but that he had tons of experience in conflict resolution.
He went on at length speaking of rights, justice and perhaps a class-action lawsuit against the mega-bank and that he would make an internet posting to determine if he could muster enough souls for such an action. The internet, the final solution.. He seemed intelligent but was full of angst and kept repeating he had quite a lot of experience in conflict resolution negotiations. I wondered if he realized how small he felt and if he knew he was saying these things to bolster his bravado against a giant, him seemingly David with perhaps a lot less than even a slingshot at his disposal as his defense.
I wondered if he knew that all he felt important would quickly be cast aside in favor of the more arcane practice of law. That truth and feelings have no place in the courtroom. That law is only so much theatre and that justice is a complete illusion. That law energizes the idea of justice but betrays its existence in the final analysis. Did he know he would not find his feelings, his needs, even his paperwork to be unimportant? Did he not realize that he would find himself an unimportant case in a room without witnesses? A room full of strangers to him but not to each other? That the bank has an army of lawyers working full time to guard their empire and that judge was a lawyer too whose phone number is in the speedy dial of the bank lawyers? That the bar meets in Las Vegas every year - clearly the Mecca of education - and that the judges go their too?
That the black robe of anonymity was much darker, more duplicitous than the simple pristine Aryan outfits of the Klu Klux Klan and more dangerous to people of any color, any race, any gender was lost on this poor soul. The black robe states an opposite and misleading purpose. The only grace of the white Klan robe is that it states an honest, if not bigoted, perverted message. I puzzled over which was truly worse. One black, dishonest and horrific; the other white honest and equally horrific. As CNN blared about injustice breaking regularly for commercials, ever smiling, wiggling and primping for the camera; he wailed about his dilemma apparently unaware that the knowledge he required was thinly veiled in every report being made right there on the television. Ubiquitous injustice.
I was tempted to advise him to see what firm the bank was using and then to find a second firm who was close to the first one and offer a lot of money to the firm he would retain allowing them to simply make a phone call, tell the bank lawyers to place his paperwork on top of the stack and let them split up his fees and keep the extra money. I wanted to tell him that this was how it really worked and that all of his feelings were as unimportant as is any case that takes place in a closed room in a building heavily guarded where they have to be armed and have metal detectors at the entrance because what they do in there is not what the people were promised.
I relented as I have found that unless you have personally had experience; you would simply never believe the courts are really just a gang that is more concerned about transferring your wealth towards themselves and are frequently consumed with how their hair looks and what time the Chinese buffet closes rather than whether you are finding, if not justice, simply a tenable position in order to go forward in your life. That there is no litmus test for the end of the case as to whether or not it makes sense but rather it just becomes a pile of words - one on top of another - ending up in an incomprehensible mountain of nothing by design. No one thinking of the family, their work, the person, the man, the woman, the child. No moral litmus test that might ask, ‘did I do right here’ or ‘will these people be ok, did I treat them as I would my mother, my brother, my sister, myself’?
I knew he did not understand this. I was tempted to tell the hamster I did know that she should tell her friend he needs to find a way to reach one lawyer through another and simply funnel money through that connection. And that going to court to seek justice was like trying spit into the ocean and stay dry or it was akin to grabbing a wolf by one ear. That Jesus could walk on water but not save himself when righteous others sat in judgment of Him is all one needs to know in examining the perversion of law and words.
I wondered if he realized that justice was considered a quaint notion found only in the writings of the Founding Fathers but was considered an insignificant and small historical aspect of modern day legal practice. That he was speaking in a fashion so self-absorbed to have eclipsed his fundamental understanding of nature, of how the exercising of power of strong men over weaker men was akin to the laws of gravity, immutable, cruel and unrelenting.
Clearly, he was traumatized and ready for mental treatment knowing instinctively he was headed for cruel and unusual punishment-the cornerstone of law.
I had a brief reprieve thinking how the weight of law - like gravity - eventually makes us all sag and how this inescapable progression is proving all people will feel that weight. I understood though that he was retreating into a comfortably anachronistic world, simple yet juvenile like a fifth grade history book that prepares the next generation of victims, speaking of justice, rights and that he was creating a framework within which to function knowing he was up against an insurmountable task-to defend his life against well-dressed moneyed men and women. And on their turf, on their field of battle. Not his. He would be frisked and made to leave even his slingshot at the gates of this arena upon entering. That this is their house, their rules, their findings and that justice was theirs to do with as they see fit. That if you defer from their approach, they lock you up and show you they can make things even worse for you than simply being without a home or losing your life’s work. You lose your liberty and the freedom that comes with personal accomplishment.
That after such an experience you would be shattered as a man, a grotesque parody of your former self, made to avoid any form of mainstream living and actually be grateful for even the sunlight streaming into your empty day while the rest of the world works unaware that they too are only a step away from meeting these same people. That he could easily find himself going before the very same judge in an orange suit, shackles on his feet and hands, bound together and then by a loop of chain to the other five men some whom may have experienced the same back to back sleepless nights, cold and literally naked, an eerily strange iron place with iron door slamming sounds punctuating the night over and over again, mouth dry, pasty from having no toothbrush, unshaven, hair standing upright, looking like someone who might actually deserve such a fate. That he could go from a place of privilege to being permanently locked out from the system only to be grateful he was not locked up in it.
That his only form of ID would become a Safeway card. That income, insurance and ownership - of any kind - would become unavailable to him. Against this backdrop of understanding, I was tempted to scream to him that bribing was more effective, less painful and the only solution to his problem. Pay one lawyer to pay of another. It is legal. It is gravity. It is his only true right.

dearest oregon friends....

Dearest, beloved Oregon friends,

As most of you know, I have been raised to be the strong, stubborn one. The older child of one incompetent parent and the other to an incredible someone who was deemed by our “just” justice system as someone overqualified for a job and therefore, a threat to either those millionaires in industry or those in academia with a different background other than the vacuum of the ivory tower, thus creating a different kind of dependent parent. In no way is this sympathy pleading but rather a clear perspective, not a proclamation, just a mere moment to tell you that I have had a couple of drinks tonight and would like to convey and confess a couple of feelings.

Again, as a preface to bold directness, I grew up in an environment that can be expressed best as a ‘competition to see who can be the rudest”. You show up at a coffee shop in NYC or to get a slice of pizza and you are forced to be confident in your adventure that someone will either tell you to go “fuck yourself”, which is met with shear appreciation as an exercise in ego-reduction or a dirty look, but never a postmodern (self-reflexive “overly self-conscious”) apprehension about ones position on the planet. Okay, fine, yes, this is a long preamble to let you know I am going to be absolutely direct in what I am going to say and forgive me if you read this in a sensitive moment where mediums such as email do not discriminate about the nature of time…

People travel……free trade agreements are signed…..countries are forced to privatize their welfare…..arms are sold….treatments for AIDS patents are sold…..everyone is struggling economically…..bread now costs $ 4…..you do not buy certain vegetables anymore for your dinner salad because a cucumber should never cost a dollar sixty-nine, GM and Chevron/Texaco killed ‘your’ electric car (check out the sexy EV-1, rent the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car”), you want to make a difference and help a few folks in the world, and are therefore, poor, because you are not making an easy buck in industry which is also deeply suffering. Napkins for Mc Donald’s are out of business or I would have my rent paid for this upcoming month. The average American possesses eleven (11) credit cards, and is living to their perceived lavish state……..respectful? No. But at least engaging with what they desire…..all because this ship is troubled……and this ship we are on will be sinking…

A mere eighty-five years after the independence of this country, a Civil War started. The Yankees valued farm machinery and development. New York was on its way to developing the first electric car while Boston was crammed to the rafters telling tales of narrowly averted migration disasters. The Confederates, shaped by their various historical contingencies, valued a social system in which who possessed the most black individuals was granted a higher social status in conjunction with one of the finest tools of the Industrial Revolution, the Cotton gin. England, our beloved colonial power – send King George home once and for all god damnit- demanded more output for their bourgeois costumes and we invented a machine that replaced our pragmatic, starch burlap with hand-picked, smoother cotton. Oregon, during this time, was far from joining the Union. The people did not participate in the Civil War nor were they even aware of its existence. The Native Americans were defending their precious, coveted homeland after seeing a ruthless, massive French escapade and the few Lewis and Clarks of the world were merely braving the land west of Wounded Knee, the last frontier.

While this is precisely what I love about Oregon: the youthful beauty. The Douglas firs that demand that not only are they older but still younger than you. The rivers flowing of spawning salmon that seem to travel to the ocean merely to transport nutrients back to the river for your unsoiled swim. The Cascades that divide the state into what will prosper and who will struggle. The magpie that flutters its blue wing if you are lucky and sings on Highway 58 as she cannot wait to get back to the high desert. The dewy grass that demands volleyball happens only on the pavement and frisbee only in the summer. The park that is almost safe enough for a female to fall asleep in. A great place to raise children, truly. However, not until you leave first. It must be known that history is being recurrently repeated under you noses. You are not included. If you research what historically was happening during the Civil War in Oregon, the only thing you can find is the nascent rivalry between two pathetic football teams. The state carries her pristine beauty for a reason; you are only affected but not a participant. You are a human being. You deeply feel the highest employment rate in the country; however, you do not partake.

Walden Pond is in Massachusetts, respectively, because he tried.

I, in a few ways regretfully, left this sanctuary for fear of my future life. There were times when I felt I could let my teeth rot out and no one would notice or rather shamelessly accept me, which is beautiful, but would only realistically bind me further. The people in Oregon are some of the most intelligent beings I have ever come across in my life. Having said that the Census Bureau or the Gallup Poll would classify and document you as mere countryside people. There is some pride to this. I understand. However, it contradicts what inspires you, motivates and drives you, which has everything to do with the globalized world you are interested in.

We, Americans, have recently been forced to fully understand that when our empire is rapidly deteriorating Argentina starts talking to the IMF again, Iceland begs them, South Korea contemplates their pile up of unsold Hyundai’s in a once vacant lot, imported French business owners ponder the green mold on their delectable cheeses, despite the debt we owe the Chinese government realizes they cannot survive if we do not buy the goods produced from the labor job we exported in the first place, and the Congolese security guard wonders why the last nine businessmen that privately flew into the closed Kigali airport had a European accent as the previous ten months he was forced to speak American English, and the Filipina forced into prostitution by poverty is tired of blatant patriarchal European and Asian men and wishes to meet an American or Canadian man who pretends better…

Okay…..you proved my point…..maybe I just need to come back…..this world, to quote Rumi, is a god damn “mudhole for donkeys”….but wouldn’t you rather make your own observations and opinions before you choose?

I love you all,

lauren

Sarah Palin and Her Masculinity Complex

Sarah Palin and Her Masculinity Complex



In spite of her outward feminine characteristics, which the press keeps reminding us are devastating in a closed room meeting, Sarah Palin might actually feel deeply at odds with her being a woman. Her physical self aside, she is clearly in a rush to ‘prove’ herself and to show the world that she can play with the big boys. Whether it be shooting, fishing or being a politician Ms. Palin clearly demonstrates all of the characteristics of having a serious masculinity complex. Add a dose of narcissism and off she goes.

To fully appreciate the depths of this dysfunction, put aside any notion that it means being a big tough guy or gal, but that the mental manifestation that springs in her consistently is that of a competition among men and herself and can no doubt be traced to her earlier years. Consumed with ‘being equal’ or ‘as good as’ men in her life she clearly becomes deeply uncomfortable, even anxiety-filled, when perceiving a routine question as a challenge to her ability to answer. Not just to answer but to answer as good as a man.

The early life experience in the masculinity complex gets set up by the view a young woman has as she grows and perceives that men can do anything, get away with more, are stronger, can accomplish enormous feats and all the rest culminating in an envy of men and a serious desire to equal their independence and ability to manipulate their world as they see fit. This on either a physical or a mental level. In turn, the young woman embarks on a long journey of actually competing with men in an effort to be as good as or better than securing the freedom she sees that men have in their world and deeply envies. A perpetual flight from womanhood, forever falling short of manhood.

Running for office, mayor, governor, VP are all a means to prove her self worth. Hunting, fishing and all the outdoor adventure-sports found in Alaska serve as an ideal medium to express her desperate ability to compete and to be seen to compete successfully against what she perceives to be real men doing real manly things in what she believes is really a mans’ world. Being photographed with real army men, real guns and wearing camouflage clothing is yet another expression of the same dynamic. And, after all, Trooper gate is really just another attempt to dominate a man armed and in uniform and bring him to her will. The details really don’t matter here for this discussion as it is all the same dynamic. The notion of attacking patriarchal Russia is yet again another and most disconcerting expression of Ms. Palins’ masculinity complex.




-2-

So then, where exactly does the swimsuit competition and the oozing femininity fit into her thinking? Easily, it is another weapon, an alternate one, for her to use if she feels cornered in some way and the perceives a threat against herself and her delicate mental framework which she herself has constructed as a means to cope with, control and manipulate her outside world. Bottom line, if she can’t beat you outright she will dazzle you with her beauty and fancy privileged eyeglasses designed to make her look smarter than she is. When her feminine mind-construct falls short she calls out her body. Under the pressure of this anxiety the ‘girl’ now takes refuge in a fictitious male role.

Doubt this? Probably not. We see her in every photo op showing a lot of leg. Not inappropriate by today’s standards and welcome as a natural expression but not in Ms. Palins’ case. Still doubt this? Look at the interviews with McCain in the same room with her. She is as bundled up as an Eskimo sitting in front of Ms. Couric in full length man-like trousers and a high reaching collar albeit in histrionic red. But don’t show too much skin with Dad around. But oh how it feels so good to be in a room with an interviewer as along as Dad is sitting next to me..,..Honestly she appeared to want McCain to get up and smack Couric if she could have it her way. Palins’ disdain for women is well documented and, of course, has it origins also in her personal self-image and her utter frustration with being a woman at all. Why else would she want to control so many women by making abortion a crime but to curtail women from freely enjoying their sexuality? Her desire to constrain women springs from her personal discomfort with her own inner woman and manifests itself as punishment towards other women in the form of serious and painful legal restrictions that she would apply to all women by abolishing abortion. How better to distance herself from her gender schism than to ban the natural instincts of other women as would a conservative Calvinistic man. Ms. Palin is known for pontificating from a pulpit in church about the evils of progressive society acting more like an elder pilgrim than a modern day woman. This is a glaring admission of her inability to reconcile her inner dialogue with the outer world and present day reality. Also, not to be underestimated, is the safety she feels speaking from the podium. The distance creates a river of safety between her and her constituency. In fact, between her and real self.

Ms. Palins’ facial expression which flash subtlety from defensive when looking at her interviewer to one of a relaxed safe admiration when looking at McCain sitting next to her. The change in lability is astounding, obvious and a bit disconcerting. Her inability to contain herself until the question is finished is another dead giveaway. Ms. Palin is in such a rush to ‘prove herself worthy of the boys club’ that she actually talks over the question never allowing it to just stand-even for a moment. Desperate to show mastery she foregoes the quality of actually having a thoughtful answer; for having a thoughtful answer is not what she herself is seeking. Preoccupied with the compulsive need to show an ability to master the question put to her, it is doubtful Ms. Palin actually has the cognition required to hear the question-as it is-in the first place. So inadequate are her feelings and so strong her need to display self-efficacy, that she has inadvertently made the McCain campaign her personal campaign taking on an inordinate and unmanageable amount of responsibility in doing so. Serious face when acting in her man role. Smiling when acting in her woman role. Clearly she views women as meant to be charming, manipulative and men as more meaningful.
-3-


Sadly, she puts her needs ahead of yours in doing so, which speaks to a co-morbid behavior of narcissism alongside her already problematic complex with both men and women. The end result is an individual with a serous lack of content. A high-octane machine that views male vigor and garrulous responses as reasonable; never mind the actual line of rational, Queen Non-Sequitur.

Could you imagine Joe Biden doing such a thing? Of course not, it is simply not necessary for Biden to act in such a way to defray his anxiety about being VP as he has none and is rightly comfortable being in an Obama presidency and moreover in an administration and not feeling as though he –and he alone-is expected to ride to the rescue in order to distinguish himself. Although Joe Biden will talk you to death.

Just like Bush, the preoccupations of deep feelings of inadequacy arise when they bump up against something they know is bigger then themselves. In the case of Bush it has long since been documented that he ‘loves’ mountain biking and pedals the dirt trails at Camp David more frequently than he is actually in his office. No doubt his office brings up deep feelings of inadequacy and he flees to the hills with secret service men in tow where he feels at least he can beat them on the bike trail. Not unusual in a lot of offices but do we really need someone in the Oval Office who feels the need to flee be it Palin or Bush?

This behavior is not unusual for the average person but it is definitely not vote worthy. Most just meander through life attempting to reconcile their inner dialogue and the outer world with a variety of practices; hunting, fishing and biking in these particular cases. Fundamental religion is also a cornerstone for those who cannot accept even a moment of uncertainty because it offers them the solid construct of a very definite and exceedingly simple answer to the duality of our lives. All is either black or white, good or bad, friend or foe and so on. Comforting perhaps to a simple mind yearning for peace but not at all suitable to a leader in a complex world where tolerance and understanding are absolutely essential to survival. Each of these, sadly including religion, is merely another attempt to ‘butch up’ and gird oneself against the onslaught of an overwhelmingly complex world. Jesus did not practice his faith in this way.


-4-
What to do? Foremost, get therapy. There is no crime in finding yourself suffering these conditions. But not addressing them is a crime and likely to affect everyone around you as we have seen here in this presidency and are presently threatened with in a feminine flip-flop of the same dynamic but in the form of Ms. Palin acting as Mr. Bush. Sarah Palin is in fact simply an upside down Bush. Or, inside out if you prefer. Reading press accounts equating Bush with Palin are more accurate than they know but in a much deeper and more meaningful way than just political views and representations. This is not just a political representation, it is a pathology.

Therapy might allow her to discover what she perceives as shortcomings to be nothing more than a psychological dynamic present in a lot of motivated women. And once the dynamic is recognized a healthier contribution can be made to the life of true public service and in a much more meaningful and useful way than that which we are presently witnessing. Therapeutic intervention would reorder the dynamic not make it go away. No loss of power results from a better understanding of oneself. It would, in fact, make her
stronger, healthier and move closer to becoming the strong individual she is desperately seeking in herself. She is highly motivated but for the wrong reasons guaranteeing an adverse outcome for those around her. Everyone involved with a disordered person gets hurt.

To be fair, Ms. Palin has probably come by her mindset honestly but lacks the analytical mind to be able to deconstruct and then reconstitute herself as a whole person. However, we clearly need to have a whole, healthy and complete individual in the White House.

To hold Palin responsible alone for her debacle thus far is wholly wrong. McCain is the seasoned veteran whose judgment we are supposed to be trusting, whose experience and insight we are to yield to as superior than our own and guaranteed to rise when needed to see that we Americans are all secure, safe and have the rights we have recognized for all of our short time here in this country. Washington is a hall of mirrors for narcissistic personalities who are power hungry and equate their own self worth with money and stature. Sending Palin to Washington would be like waiving a fully loaded needle with heroin in front of a junkie in withdrawal, leaving it on the table and then exiting the room. What do you think would happen?

Piracy as Investment; Somalia Pirates

Right Thinking On International Investing

Or
Piracy as a Mutual Fund

Breezing through the news these days is truly an adventure. Pirates, political crimes, punishment only for the lowly and billions in profits for the bold and righteous.
The pirates of Somalia are an interesting group of people. They are basically fishermen who, after being wholly unable to compete with large fishing vessels that catch and process and freeze their fish on-the-spot, have taken to commandeering vessels worth hundreds of millions of dollars along with their equally valuable cargo. They treat their captives very well and thus create a feeling of honor and a respect for life. The owner/operators of the vessels drop millions of cash dollars onto them, sometimes in burlap bags by helicopter, and they then release the vessel, the cargo and the well-fed crew. Who in these times could not root for such an underdog?
Sure, you could call them desperate, savage, self-serving and as having a complete disregard for law. But, wasn’t the last eight years here in our country full of the exact same behavior? Bush-Cheney have been much more savage and have flaunted their executive status in the very face of law and of the people they are supposed to serve. And, the Bush savages have killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions and continue to do so even after having been told repeatedly by their constituency that they need to stop the killing of innocent men, women and children. The Somali pirates have killed none so far. They’re businessmen. Serious businessmen. Something we need more of.
And, like the pirates, the Bush family has cashed in big time with the Carlyle companies and their participation in the wars for profit. Cheney too still holds his Halliburton stock and Condi has a ship named after her which flies the Chevron flag in its fleet. And Rumsfeld made over $6 milion in Tamaflu stock during the avian flu scare as he used to run that company. No sour grapes here. I realize the rules change and there can be no doubt about the last eight years as rule-changing extraordinaire. What I do object to is changing of rules and the exclusion of others-little guys like me-who cannot play at the same table. New rules are customary in America as gobs of new laws are thrown at us each month and every year. All that is fine. It is our system after all and I want in!
Looks like the pirates have a good business plan and I think we should consider investing in their efforts. After all, I need to retire some day too. So what if Stanford doesn’t call me as they do Condi. So what if I don’t own anything and have no wood to chop. So what if I don’t have friends so devoted to me that if shoot them in the face with a shotgun, they actually apologize to me. I am equally devoted but to the new pirate business venture. This could be bigger than the bogus gold finds floated by the Canadian markets some time back. And pirates have real equity in the cargo and booty they loot.
-2-
Yes, they are a start-up business and it could get shaky for them. But, they have no taxes to pay as they have no government. They have an endless supply of cargo ships and oil tankers to process for cash and they will always get paid. No doubt. With their earnings they have been responsible enough to create a wealth of new materials and a better life for themselves and for their fellow villagers. New generators, new schools, luxury cars and a lot more food and finer quality food at that. Mostly imported from Dubai, that home of truly unfettered free trade. What is the capital of Dubai? Friedmanville, I should think.
Unlike a lot of start-up companies piracy only requires a small capital investment usually entailing a small wooden boat-a leftover from the failed fishing fleet-an AK-47 which runs around $20.00 in their area and a lean and mean attitude of which there is no shortage of after having been starving and destitute for years. So, we have the perfect investment vehicle. What we need now is for the pirates to go public and get listed on the exchange along with the other equally quasi-criminal outfits that already trade daily under names like Halliburton, Exxon and Vanguard prison services. They would be a really big hit on the already tainted exchanges in Wall Street. And what’s more, they do not need to carry insurance as there is no healthcare system in Somalia. No insurances are necessary as each pirate undertakes his work knowing the risk and weighing it against the reward. Low overhead;high profit. Perfect! Giving them a ticker symbol on our exchange, we could legitimize their efforts and that would allow us to invest and profit from their incredibly bold and exciting new business plan. Is this not the utmost in rugged individualism that we have seen since colonial America pried free the clammy splay-fingered British hands that were raking off profits from us some years ago?
Also, the pirates have revived commerce in Somalia. So much so that the people of the villages actually come to the shores to watch a newly commandeered vessel drop anchor while cheering and setting up booths to serve cooked foods imported for their pirate heroes and their temporary captives. When was the last time you saw Americans at an oil or car port cheering the arrival of new energy or shiny vehicles. No sir, these pirates are really onto something. So sure are the people of Somalia in the investment that they readily extend credit to the pirates knowing they will be very well paid when, uh, their ship comes in.
This could really fuel the next bubble for us to ride for a decade, maybe even more! After all, they are pirating vessels with tanks and oil. I don’t know anyone who owns and ships tanks and weapons except for governments and who cares if some government has to pay an upcharge for their bullets? We know they are going to use them to a bad end anyway. I don’t know anyone who has so much oil they need a supertanker to cart it around. I did know a greek ship owner once but he had no real use for me. Neither did I find any application for him.

Yes, I think in no uncertain terms that we should embrace the pirates and lead them to drink at our well in Wall Street. I want in on that! After all, there are not a lot of industries that have such a bright future right now and investing has become a mine field of certain death. At least with the pirates, we know exactly where they stand, what their business plan entails and there are no huge accounting firms to spin the details. Pretty honest approach to industry and investing for a refreshing change.
And, I like the management style of the pirates. They are tough to be sure but they are fair. Treating the crew of a waylaid vessel by feeding them imported foods and liquors is simply the most brilliant stroke of marketing I have seen in a long time. Perhaps we should have tried such an approach with the Iraqis or Afghans. They might have said, at least we are safe and full of fine food and tipsy until such time as this gets sorted out. In that way, the pirates are a team you can root for without having to feel conflicted that what they are doing is actually hurting anyone.
After all, the ships they have seized are either owned by a government or an oil company. So, what’s the big deal? Who really cares about a government? They can just requisition a new vessel or $10-20 million dollars in ransom and simply get their ship back and never miss a beat in their routine except perhaps for having to call their client and explain why they have a late delivery. The same goes for the oil companies. They can simply replace the vessel cargo load with another or farm it out to a private firm for a delivery. The oil doesn’t go bad so there is no rush nor is there any loss to speak of. What a wonderful business plan these pirates have! I am so impressed I want to call Warren Buffet and ask him to see if he can get in on the ground floor right away in the hopes that my BK-A stock can get back to a more palatable price range. Then I can look to sell those silly American shares and see about investing directly in piracy. I am thinking perhaps a piracy mutual fund would be the best approach. In this way we can spread the risk around-what little there is-and then see which pirate firm rises to the top and go from there. That is the American way and I think this is no time to get squeamish about money and investing.
The pirate firm that wins and leads this new industry will most likely be the one that treats the crew well fostering good public relations and asks a reasonable ransom for the vessel and cargo. Reinvesting in the pirate fleet is not necessary as there are thousands of idled fishing boats available for pirate use and bigger more sophisticated boats are simply not conducive to good piracy. The radar profile of a wooden fishing boat with a few guys and a handful of weapons is really small and a distinct advantage for the pirate-worker. And there is simply no need for a union, no dues, no overhead to speak of, no reporting of monies or worries about bank dealings in this bad economy. No one is going to call in a note and crush your business nor is there anyone else to compete with. And best of all, this business plan does not run the risk of being successful and being taken over by a large conglomerate as there simply is no huge firm like say ‘Pirates-R-Us’ that is lying in wait to make a hostile move. It is that new an industry!
The Somali coast is a beautiful place and it might be well worth the consideration that it would serve as a resort getaway some time in the future after the pirates have had a chance to build a capital base, as did Dubai, and function as a free zone for gambling building casinos and beachfront luxury hotels without the imperial entanglements normally found in a western country. Just as Dubai did. Maybe they can make man-made pirate islands of imported sand so we can see the expressions of their success too. People like to feel they are in good hands and associating with success.

In fact, the pirates have been open about Dubai being their trading partner. In much the same way as Halliburton, Dubai functions as an entity that can and will get you whatever you want albeit at an added value price. But that is ok because the extra cost cover the no-questions-asked part of the arrangement. Just like Halliburton!
What Somali pirates really need first though, as we have seen time and again, is good legal counsel. Retaining a large and well-positioned law firm is the first step to making sure you solidify your standing in industry and with their assistance public relations programs can be implemented changing their image from that of pirate to, say, international trade consulting and holding. After all, we have seen how effective good public relations really are when we use soft words for tough action and that anything can be done as long as it is done in a civilized sense or, at least, wrapped in a flag of patriotic warmness smoothing out the rough edges and showing a more humane side to these efforts. Perhaps a hearts and mind campaign would work. Maybe the pirate flag would have a picture of a starving child, an emaciated dog or, oh! I know! That Vanity Fair photo of the dying child being watched over by a hungry vulture. In this way the world would see the pirates as a sort of Robin Hood rather than a self-serving group like say, American politicians.
Yep, no doubt about it. As long as the pirates don’t kill anyone I am rooting for them as the home team! Go Pirates!!

Then & Now

Then And Now


The formation of America as a nation was truly a miraculous event. But since that time, what went wrong? So much has passed since the days when our initial beliefs were cemented into the Declaration and codified as the cornerstone for our existence as a people.

The biggest change is in the individuals that make up this country and the way in which we meet the challenges of the day. At the time when Jefferson wrote the Declaration, this country was in serious turmoil and put upon by the British in violent and oppressive ways leaving no room for an alternative, no competing narrative moving towards peace. Blood was being spilled and everyone knew it. Many were witnesses to the brutal dominance of the British. The level of intelligence Jefferson brought to our country has not been matched since. JFK, while dining with a large group in the White House said it best when he remarked, “Gentleman, so much intelligence has not been assembled in this room since Jefferson dined here alone”.

The tenor of the early days of America was truly a do-or-die scenario in which the people of the then non-existent America were seeking to break free from the yoke of tyranny put upon them by the British for the purposes of material ownership of this land and the benefits of cheap labor, tax revenue and raw materials. And, indeed, there were people dying in the struggle to free this fledgling country from that yoke.

Seeing fellow countrymen die in the cause certainly had an incalculable effect on the motivations of a newly formed government, a newly united people. Today our fellow countrymen die on far away sands, foreign soil in utterly different cultures. The news of those sacrifices is compartmentalized from our daily lives and only addressed when fed to us by the body politic we know only remotely as Washington Studios. We genuinely need to see death to appreciate life. Withholding truths so deep are beyond destructive.

Bleached and sterilized, the news of deaths among our men in uniform purportedly fighting for our safety, the images of the dead returning are forbidden to television or even to print media and photojournalism. We are simply informed as to the numbers of the dead and told they were heroic in their efforts to save our ‘way of life’. This seemingly simple but devastating withholding of information and images surrounding the returning soldiers that died in the cause is in and of itself enough to raise eyebrows.

Beyond that though, it wrestles control of our future from us as it steals from us the urgency of the present. Not knowing what is happening today leaves us no place for participation in tomorrow.








What Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton and the rest knew beyond any shadow of a doubt was that we were then-and are again right now-faced with the fight for our very existence. A fight to the death for a free nation, a land without oppression from political bodies, religious extremism, excessive unfair trade and especially from the dogma that undermines very essence of freedom. That freedom takes place within the individual and still struggles to find a home to this day even within ourselves.

So, what happened to this great nation, this marvelous experiment we call America?

The entire notion of freedom has been subverted to a few causes that seek only to serve themselves at the greater expense of the people. We, all of us, now serve the leadership of the parliament we have accepted as our own government. Identical to the British but bestowed now with an unquestionable edict; to save and protect our country. This elevation to a status of utter infallibility parallels only religious dogma in its nature and its perverted ability to place itself above us as individuals with sovereign rights.

How could we have let the beauty of the Declaration and its’ plain but unwavering pitch towards personal freedom be undermined by such things as politics, technology and the military-industrial complex? Truly, we were warned. And yet, here we are. Subservient to the dogma of Washington, told what to think, what to believe and only handed official interpretations of the world we all are stuck living in. We serve them. Each of us is a cog in their wheel. A happiness machine cajoled and massaged to consume and follow.

This would be a good place for a mild but poignant discourse on the shortcomings of man, of psychology and fear but that is not what we need right now. Our sights must turn to us as a people, sovereign, independent and demand full access to our country.

If Jefferson went wrong in his writings, it was in that he was placed squarely in a time in history between choosing freedom and oppression. His writings and the foundations of this country were laid on dark days when the view was that of a terminal country fighting for its’ very life. Jesus fought the same noble battle against domination by groups over the individual using dogma as its’ main tool for control.

Since that time we have all come to accept a more tolerant and submissive ‘way of life’. That submissive existence is, in fact, the America we now know and live in. Submission to authority is now so essential to our daily lives that even the notion of rearing up against the powers that rule our country are deemed unpatriotic or even illegal and will bring harsh penalties for anyone who dares to speak up against the ruling classes.

Sound British enough? I don’t fault the British. In fact, looking at the way things are today I am inclined to think we might have been better off remaining part of the British Empire where, at least, the rules were always strict and cemented in such a way as to circumvent the excesses of ‘freedom’ we now find intolerable. We suffer at our own hand.

The following are some things we need to fully face without prejudice and with a keen ability to simply see things as they are:

1.) The military-industrial complex was a term coined to mean that the military and American business concerns are inseparable and that the military will, in fact, kill at the behest of the corporation. The corporation, in turn, will share its ill-gotten gains with the military. This symbiotic relationship is central to our ‘way of life’. Using either overt or clandestine tactics, the military clears the way for corporate America to ‘do business’ at a profitable rate generating tax revenue that in turn feeds the military. Neither can exist without the other. We have long since gone passed the point of no return and find ourselves burdened with the incomprehensible relationship between these two factions.


2.) Not knowing the full extent of what is happening in the halls of power in America until after-the-fact is a process that goes wholly against our principles and allows an ongoing perversion of our people, our goods, our lives and our children’s lives. Our leaders routinely rule in secret, dealing under the table until such time as they can dress up their findings, wrap them in the false flag of patriotism and servitude. They reveal their actions only after having had rehearsal time creating the opportunity for them to reframe their actions in such a way as to make it palatable to the constituency. Their actions and their talk do not jive.


3.) Law has failed us. Crime and punishment is more a matter of money and influence than it is of rules and the application of those rules. Everyone knows there is something very wrong with lawyers in this country. Even if they set out with good intentions, once in ‘the system’ they find it to be so different from their initial expectations that they have a choice to either become one of them or to quit the profession altogether. There is no middle ground. Once absorbed into the body politic of law and the courts, the newly minted attorney now morphs into an automaton of which the central feature is they are missing a sensitivity chip and pervert the process. As they do so they see justice receding like a dream while their position and income rise fortifying their place in the broken social structure they helped create. Selling ones soul is a costly event.


4.) Dogma dominates our country today in ways that were unimaginable to the Founding Fathers. Free thinking today is non-existent. There is no area we can visit that has not been subverted, carefully carved up and repackaged to meet the needs of government. Whether it be housing, automotive, banking, healthcare or the pharmaceutical markets, we can only approach these with the blessing of the government that we are doing so in the fashion they approve of and not in a pure and genuine way hoping to make improvement. So controlled are we that alternative energy remains in an infantile planning stage while we barrel endlessly and out of control towards the knowing end of a finite oil supply that creates huge fortunes for a few, again at the expense of the many. There was a time when we would not tolerate a ‘tea tax’ and yet today we routinely stand by witnessing huge shifts in wealth that sap the well-being of the individual. Can you imagine Jefferson tolerating such a thing? True leadership speaks truth to itself.

5.) Authority has been elevated to a supernatural status wherein the judge, the policeman, the lawyer and the politician all act as high priests supplanting any room for individual sovereignty or dissent. Writings such as this are considered ‘quaint’ by those who dominate our world. The Constitution has become an old age document with no real application and is treated much like a religious artifact brought out only on holidays paraded around for all to see, cherish, bow to and then dusted off and put away until the next holiday. Making the Constitution a relic is an enormous problem for America. It is akin to leaving Jesus on the cross at every church in America thereby never really being able to fully appreciate the Man and His message Thee central tenets of the Constitution are nailed to the same cross and kept under glass. They’re not for using’, they’re only for looking at. Like religion, this practice only allows the individual to feel the dominant power of the oppressor without actually requiring his or her participation.


6.) We are trapped, beset on all sides by the irony of our lives. We must pursue more oil or risk losing the energy we require simply to stay warm, drive a car to get milk, care for our children or to work and produce for our family. Our government is so bottlenecked in its own practices that we have a two-party system that serves up a nearly indistinguishable choice in leadership. Once in power the difference in leaders is often a foregone conclusion yielding instead to the overwhelming forces of money and corruption and invariably blamed on circumstances at the time wholly absolving leadership of responsibility.

Through a clear eye we see that it is not us who are ‘addicted to oil’ but rather the industrial concerns that mine and process oil for profit that are the addicts. No oil, no cash. No cash no power. We are open to alternative forms of energy. They are not. Who is the addict?

The Constitution is not outmoded. It has been retired so as to make way for new rules. These new rules allow the ruling classes to pillage in the name of nationalism and defer permanently any justice that would normally correct such actions. They say it is being done for you, the citizen, but we know that to be false. The sad truth is that the Constitution simply hampers the excessive pursuit of money, the dogma of free-market capitalism and the notion that unfettered markets are best. Capitalism killed the Constitution. They simply could not exist together in the same country.






None of us seriously share in the massive profits made by the fortune 100. At best you can get in line for a small dividend on Wall Street but only if you first put up the money to buy a share that costs far more then the dividend itself. Put up $100.00, get ten cents. Your share in democratic principles is even less valuable than that. Proof enough of what is considered important to America.

Our utter inability to delay our own gratification and our seemingly endless need for success in financial terms speaks directly to our own shortcomings as a society. What we seem to have lost is confidence in our country, in our government, our beliefs and in our ability to feel a deep connection. America has become something of a tool to be used and discarded in small pieces by each generation as it passes through the epoch of its existence. That national lack is, in reality, one of a more personal nature than you might think initially. The original foundation was personal sovereignty as a means to freedom. Today, money is freedom and each of us is no more than a profit center, a cog in the big wheel we know as our America.

It is impossible to envision a rising up of people to such an extent that we could affect a positive outcome. Only failure of the system will allow us the opportunity to reframe the country in a more meaningful way and perhaps seek a return to the practices we know are genuine and have stood the test of time. That failure we are now witnessing. So much more painful is having to watch the country fail than it would be to simply advocate for change. But such is the human condition.

Quaint as it might seem, the older more formal guys who set this country as an independent entity knew very well what they were doing.