You may have noticed that I rarely talk about news events as they are happening. I follow something my mother taught me a long time ago, after something big happens the first few days are filled with overreactions and misinformation, it usually takes a week for the truth to come out and by then the media has moved on to a new story. The recent hurricanes are proving how true that is. Unfortunately, the corporate media is intentionally using this time to push a political agenda and deceiving to do so.
For purposes of this post I am going to discuss Hurricane Maria and what is happening in Puerto Rico. Lets start with a little background. Puerto Rico is a US territory, not a state. It's citizens are considered United States citizens; however, they have not chosen to be a state. In fact, there is a split on whether or not they wish to be part of the United States or their own country. The reason this matters is that Puerto Rico has a severe debt problem. With a $72 billion debt problem and 45% of the people live below the poverty line, they are unable to borrow any money. This is not a new problem and in fact has been in a crisis point for about a decade. This debt crisis has meant that Puerto Rico has not maintained it's electrical grid. As a consequence hurricane Maria has completely destroyed it's electrical grid and it may cost as much as $17 billion and 6 months to replace it. Two years ago congress discussed the debt crisis and chose to do nothing. That was under President Obama; but, somehow the media ignores this fact. The question becomes how can Puerto Rico possibly rebuild their electrical grid when they can neither declare bankruptcy on their current debt or borrow additional money?
I mention the debt because when President Trump raised the issue, the corporate media attacked Trump for mentioning their debt at all; but, after the immediate problems are dealt with, this will be the big one. Lets put it in the simplest terms, are you willing to pay more in taxes so that Puerto Rico can rebuild their electrical grid? It is that simple. I personally am okay with helping them with the money; but, it is an issue that must be addressed. While we have promised between $7 and $9 billion dollars to help in the relief effort, that will not get their electricity back on line. The $17 billion is in addition to the $7 or $9 billion. It should be noted that the government owned electrical company is already $9 billion in debt and has lost 30% of it's employees prior to the hurricane.
Now lets look at what President Trumps response was to the hurricane. By September 24th ships were already arriving in Puerto Rico with water, food and both military and civilians to assist with the rescue mission. So much supplies have arrived that the ports cannot distribute it. The reason is not the ships, it is the roads and finding truck drivers. Because of the lack of communication, only 20% of the truck drivers have even showed up to move the materials. The corporate media, rather than addressing the real issues, has attempted to say Trump doesn't care and isn't doing anything. Both of which are flat out lies. Another problem with the corporate media is that they are almost ignoring completely the other islands that have been devastated like the U.S, Virgin Islands.
I began my career in government working on emergency preparedness and response. The definition of an emergency is that it is beyond our ability to control. What is going on in Puerto Rico is a catastrophic emergency, it goes beyond the temporary and will only ever be dealt with over a period of years, not days, not weeks, not months. While reading government handbooks on emergency planning I found something truly disturbing. The number one priority for government during an emergency is convincing the public that they have a handle on the situation even if they do not. Politicians when faced with the inability to push that narrative usually result to finger pointing; but, that is nonsense to.
Now we get to the mayor of Puerto Rico. The mayor of Puerto Rico decided to complain that the President mentioned the debt. She showed terrible leadership as right now is the time to address the debt and if it is not addressed then down the road there will be no path to restoring their electrical grid. Food and water are there on ships and more ships are coming; but, the immediate needs revolve around clearing the roads and finding ways to transport food and water and supplies into the rest of Puerto Rico, not just San Juan. They mayor has complained that she does not have the time to meet and coordinate with FEMA. Wow, that did not happen in Houston or Florida after their hurricanes. The mayors job is to meet and coordinate with FEMA so that priorities can be made instead she has chosen to not attend the meetings and personally hand out food, a great photo op but not her job. In fact, FEMA responded to her criticisms by saying that she should come to the meetings. She claims she doesn't have time. Imagine if the mayor of Los Angeles, New York or Houston had refused to attend FEMA planning sessions. Yet, lets blame Trump is the media catcall. Disgusting and dishonest.
Wikipedia - Hurricane Maria. Fact check me then fact check the narrative being pushed by the dishonorable mainstream corporate media.
UPDATE: I wanted to add in this little tidbit.
CBS News - Puerto Rico mayor pleads for help after Hurricane Maria: "People are dying". Rather than doing her job of coordinating relief efforts, the Mayor of San Juan is handing out water bottles and helping people into ambulances. In fact, the article states, "Cruz also said she has to officially request aid in a memo to the agency, which she said she doesn't have time to write." Lets think about that for a second, as Mayor her job is to make the written request, not as a formality; but, because she is responsible for saying specifically what they need. This is not supposed to be a guessing game for FEMA. She also said this, "There's a lot of good faith, but the good faith has to turn into action or people are going to continue to die," Cruz said. "Please, whomever's listening, forget the memos, forget the meetings." In fact the head of FEMA pointed out that she is not coordinating with them or attending the meetings.
San Juan has an emergency management group, you can see their website here. Emergency Management. Apparently, she does not believe it is her job as mayor to hold meetings with this group to make assessments and determine where help is needed the most; but, it is instead her job to hand out bottled water and go on television as often as possible.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
I've No Idea What This Post is About.
I like old movies. I particularly like movies made between 1935 and 1962. Each era had it's unique charm. Currently I am watching a movie called "Room For One More" from 1952. It is a movie about a family of 5 that takes in two additional kids, not babies, foster kids. These kids are taken one by one out of the orphanage and foster system and brought in to live with a family. It made me think about all the people I have taken in.
When my ex moved out, she left the kids. She didn't take anyone with her and two of my kids were over 18. One of the two got married and moved out and the other moved out on her own. I think it was just me and my youngest for about 6 months, maybe a little longer. In either case, I had a lot of space and people needing a place to stay (always for just a few weeks) seemed to appear out of nowhere and into my life. I think the first one was the homeless psychic vampire and his wiccan girlfriend. Take a moment and think about that. I have literally lost everything and have had two heart attacks and took in two homeless occultists. Now to be fair, I knew the psychic vampire. He had been a friend of one of my kids and he had spent his life in foster care. Once he turned 18 he was thrown out to the streets and the government would not do a damn thing for him.
I was still married when he got kicked to the curb. In fact, he moved to Vegas with a friend and I would check in on him when I went there. I would buy him some food and see how he was getting along. I even went to Vegas and bought him clothes so he could look for a job. His friend inherited some money and they both moved to Seattle; but, once the money was gone, they ended up on the streets. Freezing (literally) in Seattle (as opposed to sleepless) I managed to get a hold of him. What none involved may remember is that he did not call me, I called him and he told me of his situation. I arranged transportation for them all (my young friend and also picked up a female partner along the way, the wiccan). I got them back to the desert where they were from and where they would not freeze to death. I was still married and could not move them in with me; but, did make sure they had a hotel room at least weekly for a day or two as I could afford.
After most had moved out, I moved my young and his partner in to my house with the strict understanding that I was giving the house back to the bank. The divorce resulted in it being impossible for me to pay both alimony and my mortgage. I told them that they could stay until none of us could. I told them I did not know how long till the bank took the property back, it still a minimal of equity and I thought I might be able to sell it. It did not work out that way. I was unable to sell it and the bank, which I called bi-weekly refused to process the paperwork. The divorce happened after the housing crash. I ended up staying in the house for about 3 years. I couldn't leave because they refused to take it back, foreclose on it or seemingly do anything. I submitted all the required paperwork at least 4 times. Every time I submitted paperwork they would not admit receiving it. I had to call them, they never called me and I was not paying my mortgage. Even though I could not pay my mortgage and offered the house back, they allowed me to stay there for three years without paying a penny and they never called or sent letters demanding payment. They just refused to deal with me at all, I had to push the issue and every time I did they would lose my paperwork. I did not lose my house because of the crash, I had a 30 year 4% fixed loan, no fancy financing for me, ever. The court took my money and gave me the house and all the debt that went with it while also reducing my income by a couple grand a month.
That was my situation when I began taking in the homeless. You might focus on what this story makes you think about me; but, that is not what the film made me think about. You see, I ended up taking in another homeless person, another friend of one of my kids. A couch hopper who was about 28. This list of miscreants that I have taken is far from complete. Lots of kids have lived with my family and I over the years, some for a day, some for a week and some for months at a time. I have even taken in cousins. Things changed when I took in the next homeless person. It was a kid, a child, a ten year old.
The wiccan lady approached me one day. Now mind you she was only there because I knew her boyfriend and took him in. She had received a call from a prior partner with whom she had a child and who lived with her prior partner. They were living on someone's couch and the guy could no longer even provide his kid with a couch as the people he was living with were losing there house. After a 400 mile long drive we picked up her son. I believe he is autistic, he spoke little was very smart and was horrible with social rules. I took him too, I didn't want him to have to live on the street or end up in foster care as I knew the horrors that entails.
I am going to point out something. When I finally lost the house all the people who had lived with me had new places to go to. None ended up back on the streets and after I moved into my apartment I had two homeless people live with me at different and for a period overlapping time. In case you are wondering, all of this happened prior to my preaching. I never expected to be asked to preach and I never really preached about it.
I think it mildly irritated my friends (the few that knew) that I was not hyper focused on looking out for myself and was taking in people who had nothing economically to offer. I can say that feeding and housing all these people while loosing my house may have been an economic challenge; but, we made it.
Now lets back to the real point of this story. The story is not about me, I provide the background information so that if someone chooses to say "put your money where your mouth is", I can say I already did, now it's your turn. While we can have that discussion if someone would like to have their skull crushed, I would rather discuss what it was like for that young boy.
Here was this kid living with his dad and sleeping on someone else's couch along with his dad. Out of nowhere comes this old fool that he has never met to pick him up, move him 400 miles away from his dad (it was actually further as his dad was moving to wherever, he didn't know, he just lost his couch and was probably going to end up on the street himself). I picked him up with his mother in my car and drove him back to my house knowing that I was going to lose the house and not knowing where I would end up or if I would end up living with family or friends.
We got home and for the first time in longer than I know, the kid had his own room. He was problematic at first, he did not wish to follow any rules and that probably made sense to him as he did not know when we would all kicked out and moving from place to place was all he knew. We got him enrolled in school, he ate as well as any of us and was free from any abuse. Not the optimum situation for a young child; but, the best he ever knew. It did not happen quickly; but, he grew to love the stability of the situation as far as knowing he would eat and have a place to sleep and privacy in his room. New experiences for him.
In my home, the young boy enjoyed real birthdays and real Christmases. We may not have bought many presents for each other; but, we all made sure he had Christmas to enjoy. His mother, while far from adequate in many ways, truly cared for him and made sure he went to school and was properly clean even though she herself did not wash enough.
For three years this young boy had a stable middle class life. Sometimes you cannot fix another's world; but, you can provide a respite, an oasis away from the garbage of a uncaring world. After moving out, the psychic vampire and wiccan broke up and the wiccan took her son with her to marry some other person I never met. I do not know what has happened to him and he is probably about 18 now. I still hear from the psychic vampire, once or twice a year.
Here is what I believe, living with me was the best thing that ever happened to the young boy (at least up until then). When people would come by to look at the house while I was trying to sell it, he would get very quiet. He did not want to leave that environment. He told me so and it broke my heart that I could not keep the house even meant keeping the homeless with me. You see, they were not some group of vague "homeless people", they were real people with real lives and real pain and when we could find a way to, experienced real joy.
I read the news on a daily basis, it is the first thing I do when I wake up, even before I have my coffee. I read about Antifa and social justice warriors and think "who are you taking care of, who do you share your food with, who do you share you home with" and I find all they want to do is an Easter egg hunt for fictional Nazis or protest statues of long dead southerners. I read about how people are fixated on taking one knee during the national anthem and think, what are you really doing to help others, how much are you really willing to risk?
I am less concerned with self-righteous people think there is an enemy they need to fight and much more interested in who they are willing to help as opposed to who they are willing to punch. Your righteousness has much less to do with who you are willing to hurt and much more to do with who you are willing to help.
I may not have made that young boys life perfect, but, I improved it for those three years. I may not have made the lives of any of the homeless people perfect; but, I assure you they all remember and I always told them the same thing. You don't have to pay me back or ever say thank you; but, you are expected to show another the same kindness someday. I always told them I never even needed to know if they did it; but, they would know.
The man that asked me to preach at his church borrowed a few thousand dollars from me and never paid me back, nor even tried to. The homeless people I sheltered would give me their bed if I were homeless. There are many of my friends and family that offered me a place to stay for no cost when I lost my home and was severely in debt, a debt created by my ex that took me 5 years to pay off on my own and to which she did not contribute one penny. In fact, she asked me to pay off on time so that it did not hurt her credit. LOL
I listen to the shrill voice of corporate media whores, I mean talking heads, ummm, tv reporters and commentators discussing how much ice cream Donald Trump eats or how evil he is for liking his steaks well done or how we were tricked into voting for Trump and against Clinton because of some Russian Facebook ad that questioned her honesty. I have been accused of being a racist (against blacks and Asians), I have been accused of being misogynist while also being accused of being gay. Mind you, not on this blog; but, good luck with that, I only have about 2,000 posts over 10 years. When you tend to question people's beliefs their reaction is often to question your intent rather than address the issues presented. People that know me don't try that for more than a second because I have the receipts.
There is a story in the bible, the New Testament, it is about a poor woman who left a penny (I am not going to bother explaining ancient Hebrew money, it was the smallest amount that could be traded) for the temple and pious rich gentlemen who left large amounts. Jesus said that the woman had given the most because she gave all she had and the others gave only from their excess, from what they did not need. Not one person who ever worked for me called me a racist, misogynist or asked if I was gay. The people that worked for me never questioned my intent. The attacks that were leveled against me were by people who wished to destroy my reputation; but, they only ever destroyed their own. Enemies and people I never met in person stood up for me because they knew my work and some knew my deeds.
I am apparently still known for a post I made about Pastor Carol Daniels, the anniversary of her death was last month, I almost never remember or recognize the day that people died. I prefer not to blame deaths on the calendar. I only remember one date of death and I try not to think about it; but, it is stuck in my head and is the day before my birthday and the day after my anniversary with my ex. I wrote a post a while back about how disappointed I was in her church for their bigoted anti-gay stance. It is a black church. I am more than happy to challenge those who have hypocritical or bigoted beliefs even if they are black or women or gay or straight or white or anything. I will challenge evil beliefs rather than imperfect people. All people are imperfect, including me. It seems to me that the corporate media prefers to discuss race and sex and whatever rather than policy. That is the definition of propaganda.
Let me ask you a question. Are not white nationalists the worst type of people who are white? I mean, white people who believe they are better merely because they are white regardless of who they hurt, aren't they the worst of white people? Asians who believe anyone who is not Asian is not a person (your really have to look up what Chinese and Japanese people call white people, some call us barbarians and others ghost people). What about black people who believe that all white people are evil, are they the best of blacks or the worst? The assumption that you can judge someone based on their skin color is called racism, doesn't matter what skin color you pre-judge or what skin color you are.
Let me ask this question. How can you teach love if you hate people based on their sexuality or skin color or religion? Or sex? What lesson would the young man have learned if I had been a white nationalist and the only person who took him in and gave him a stable life for longer than he had ever had? By the way, I didn't meet his father till the day I picked him up, I knew absolutely nothing about him, not his color, his creed or his race. I only knew his mother. What perspective do you believe I have on blacks who would only take in blacks?
This may be getting closer to inside your head. I have no respect for bigots of any color. I have no respect for people who limit their love to their color, sexuality, race or religion Don't tell me who others are, prove to me you love all others. You can do the greatest thing possible, you can change lives, you can give others of your scarcity, you can help till it hurts. You can be the woman that gave all she had or the wealthy person who barely gave of their abundance. God does not judge us, he forgives us; but, we do choose who we are. We choose to be loving or selfish. Who do you choose to be and could you change a child's life for the better even if only for a couple of years, not a single present.
When my ex moved out, she left the kids. She didn't take anyone with her and two of my kids were over 18. One of the two got married and moved out and the other moved out on her own. I think it was just me and my youngest for about 6 months, maybe a little longer. In either case, I had a lot of space and people needing a place to stay (always for just a few weeks) seemed to appear out of nowhere and into my life. I think the first one was the homeless psychic vampire and his wiccan girlfriend. Take a moment and think about that. I have literally lost everything and have had two heart attacks and took in two homeless occultists. Now to be fair, I knew the psychic vampire. He had been a friend of one of my kids and he had spent his life in foster care. Once he turned 18 he was thrown out to the streets and the government would not do a damn thing for him.
I was still married when he got kicked to the curb. In fact, he moved to Vegas with a friend and I would check in on him when I went there. I would buy him some food and see how he was getting along. I even went to Vegas and bought him clothes so he could look for a job. His friend inherited some money and they both moved to Seattle; but, once the money was gone, they ended up on the streets. Freezing (literally) in Seattle (as opposed to sleepless) I managed to get a hold of him. What none involved may remember is that he did not call me, I called him and he told me of his situation. I arranged transportation for them all (my young friend and also picked up a female partner along the way, the wiccan). I got them back to the desert where they were from and where they would not freeze to death. I was still married and could not move them in with me; but, did make sure they had a hotel room at least weekly for a day or two as I could afford.
After most had moved out, I moved my young and his partner in to my house with the strict understanding that I was giving the house back to the bank. The divorce resulted in it being impossible for me to pay both alimony and my mortgage. I told them that they could stay until none of us could. I told them I did not know how long till the bank took the property back, it still a minimal of equity and I thought I might be able to sell it. It did not work out that way. I was unable to sell it and the bank, which I called bi-weekly refused to process the paperwork. The divorce happened after the housing crash. I ended up staying in the house for about 3 years. I couldn't leave because they refused to take it back, foreclose on it or seemingly do anything. I submitted all the required paperwork at least 4 times. Every time I submitted paperwork they would not admit receiving it. I had to call them, they never called me and I was not paying my mortgage. Even though I could not pay my mortgage and offered the house back, they allowed me to stay there for three years without paying a penny and they never called or sent letters demanding payment. They just refused to deal with me at all, I had to push the issue and every time I did they would lose my paperwork. I did not lose my house because of the crash, I had a 30 year 4% fixed loan, no fancy financing for me, ever. The court took my money and gave me the house and all the debt that went with it while also reducing my income by a couple grand a month.
That was my situation when I began taking in the homeless. You might focus on what this story makes you think about me; but, that is not what the film made me think about. You see, I ended up taking in another homeless person, another friend of one of my kids. A couch hopper who was about 28. This list of miscreants that I have taken is far from complete. Lots of kids have lived with my family and I over the years, some for a day, some for a week and some for months at a time. I have even taken in cousins. Things changed when I took in the next homeless person. It was a kid, a child, a ten year old.
The wiccan lady approached me one day. Now mind you she was only there because I knew her boyfriend and took him in. She had received a call from a prior partner with whom she had a child and who lived with her prior partner. They were living on someone's couch and the guy could no longer even provide his kid with a couch as the people he was living with were losing there house. After a 400 mile long drive we picked up her son. I believe he is autistic, he spoke little was very smart and was horrible with social rules. I took him too, I didn't want him to have to live on the street or end up in foster care as I knew the horrors that entails.
I am going to point out something. When I finally lost the house all the people who had lived with me had new places to go to. None ended up back on the streets and after I moved into my apartment I had two homeless people live with me at different and for a period overlapping time. In case you are wondering, all of this happened prior to my preaching. I never expected to be asked to preach and I never really preached about it.
I think it mildly irritated my friends (the few that knew) that I was not hyper focused on looking out for myself and was taking in people who had nothing economically to offer. I can say that feeding and housing all these people while loosing my house may have been an economic challenge; but, we made it.
Now lets back to the real point of this story. The story is not about me, I provide the background information so that if someone chooses to say "put your money where your mouth is", I can say I already did, now it's your turn. While we can have that discussion if someone would like to have their skull crushed, I would rather discuss what it was like for that young boy.
Here was this kid living with his dad and sleeping on someone else's couch along with his dad. Out of nowhere comes this old fool that he has never met to pick him up, move him 400 miles away from his dad (it was actually further as his dad was moving to wherever, he didn't know, he just lost his couch and was probably going to end up on the street himself). I picked him up with his mother in my car and drove him back to my house knowing that I was going to lose the house and not knowing where I would end up or if I would end up living with family or friends.
We got home and for the first time in longer than I know, the kid had his own room. He was problematic at first, he did not wish to follow any rules and that probably made sense to him as he did not know when we would all kicked out and moving from place to place was all he knew. We got him enrolled in school, he ate as well as any of us and was free from any abuse. Not the optimum situation for a young child; but, the best he ever knew. It did not happen quickly; but, he grew to love the stability of the situation as far as knowing he would eat and have a place to sleep and privacy in his room. New experiences for him.
In my home, the young boy enjoyed real birthdays and real Christmases. We may not have bought many presents for each other; but, we all made sure he had Christmas to enjoy. His mother, while far from adequate in many ways, truly cared for him and made sure he went to school and was properly clean even though she herself did not wash enough.
For three years this young boy had a stable middle class life. Sometimes you cannot fix another's world; but, you can provide a respite, an oasis away from the garbage of a uncaring world. After moving out, the psychic vampire and wiccan broke up and the wiccan took her son with her to marry some other person I never met. I do not know what has happened to him and he is probably about 18 now. I still hear from the psychic vampire, once or twice a year.
Here is what I believe, living with me was the best thing that ever happened to the young boy (at least up until then). When people would come by to look at the house while I was trying to sell it, he would get very quiet. He did not want to leave that environment. He told me so and it broke my heart that I could not keep the house even meant keeping the homeless with me. You see, they were not some group of vague "homeless people", they were real people with real lives and real pain and when we could find a way to, experienced real joy.
I read the news on a daily basis, it is the first thing I do when I wake up, even before I have my coffee. I read about Antifa and social justice warriors and think "who are you taking care of, who do you share your food with, who do you share you home with" and I find all they want to do is an Easter egg hunt for fictional Nazis or protest statues of long dead southerners. I read about how people are fixated on taking one knee during the national anthem and think, what are you really doing to help others, how much are you really willing to risk?
I am less concerned with self-righteous people think there is an enemy they need to fight and much more interested in who they are willing to help as opposed to who they are willing to punch. Your righteousness has much less to do with who you are willing to hurt and much more to do with who you are willing to help.
I may not have made that young boys life perfect, but, I improved it for those three years. I may not have made the lives of any of the homeless people perfect; but, I assure you they all remember and I always told them the same thing. You don't have to pay me back or ever say thank you; but, you are expected to show another the same kindness someday. I always told them I never even needed to know if they did it; but, they would know.
The man that asked me to preach at his church borrowed a few thousand dollars from me and never paid me back, nor even tried to. The homeless people I sheltered would give me their bed if I were homeless. There are many of my friends and family that offered me a place to stay for no cost when I lost my home and was severely in debt, a debt created by my ex that took me 5 years to pay off on my own and to which she did not contribute one penny. In fact, she asked me to pay off on time so that it did not hurt her credit. LOL
I listen to the shrill voice of corporate media whores, I mean talking heads, ummm, tv reporters and commentators discussing how much ice cream Donald Trump eats or how evil he is for liking his steaks well done or how we were tricked into voting for Trump and against Clinton because of some Russian Facebook ad that questioned her honesty. I have been accused of being a racist (against blacks and Asians), I have been accused of being misogynist while also being accused of being gay. Mind you, not on this blog; but, good luck with that, I only have about 2,000 posts over 10 years. When you tend to question people's beliefs their reaction is often to question your intent rather than address the issues presented. People that know me don't try that for more than a second because I have the receipts.
There is a story in the bible, the New Testament, it is about a poor woman who left a penny (I am not going to bother explaining ancient Hebrew money, it was the smallest amount that could be traded) for the temple and pious rich gentlemen who left large amounts. Jesus said that the woman had given the most because she gave all she had and the others gave only from their excess, from what they did not need. Not one person who ever worked for me called me a racist, misogynist or asked if I was gay. The people that worked for me never questioned my intent. The attacks that were leveled against me were by people who wished to destroy my reputation; but, they only ever destroyed their own. Enemies and people I never met in person stood up for me because they knew my work and some knew my deeds.
I am apparently still known for a post I made about Pastor Carol Daniels, the anniversary of her death was last month, I almost never remember or recognize the day that people died. I prefer not to blame deaths on the calendar. I only remember one date of death and I try not to think about it; but, it is stuck in my head and is the day before my birthday and the day after my anniversary with my ex. I wrote a post a while back about how disappointed I was in her church for their bigoted anti-gay stance. It is a black church. I am more than happy to challenge those who have hypocritical or bigoted beliefs even if they are black or women or gay or straight or white or anything. I will challenge evil beliefs rather than imperfect people. All people are imperfect, including me. It seems to me that the corporate media prefers to discuss race and sex and whatever rather than policy. That is the definition of propaganda.
Let me ask you a question. Are not white nationalists the worst type of people who are white? I mean, white people who believe they are better merely because they are white regardless of who they hurt, aren't they the worst of white people? Asians who believe anyone who is not Asian is not a person (your really have to look up what Chinese and Japanese people call white people, some call us barbarians and others ghost people). What about black people who believe that all white people are evil, are they the best of blacks or the worst? The assumption that you can judge someone based on their skin color is called racism, doesn't matter what skin color you pre-judge or what skin color you are.
Let me ask this question. How can you teach love if you hate people based on their sexuality or skin color or religion? Or sex? What lesson would the young man have learned if I had been a white nationalist and the only person who took him in and gave him a stable life for longer than he had ever had? By the way, I didn't meet his father till the day I picked him up, I knew absolutely nothing about him, not his color, his creed or his race. I only knew his mother. What perspective do you believe I have on blacks who would only take in blacks?
This may be getting closer to inside your head. I have no respect for bigots of any color. I have no respect for people who limit their love to their color, sexuality, race or religion Don't tell me who others are, prove to me you love all others. You can do the greatest thing possible, you can change lives, you can give others of your scarcity, you can help till it hurts. You can be the woman that gave all she had or the wealthy person who barely gave of their abundance. God does not judge us, he forgives us; but, we do choose who we are. We choose to be loving or selfish. Who do you choose to be and could you change a child's life for the better even if only for a couple of years, not a single present.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
How the Establishment Views the Citizens
How do your elected officials view you? How do they view democracy? What about our business leaders, how do they view the average citizen and the idea of democracy? How do the wealthiest and most powerful amongst us view nations and sovereignty? Most importantly, what do they believe the future should look like?
Lets start with how our political leaders view the citizens. Politics in essence is the distribution of limited resources to unlimited want. As a consequence, politicians views their job as determining who gets what. The question then is what do they believe are requirements to be distributed to all and what do they believe are benefits to be distributed to some.
Lets go back to how they view you. Firstly, they view you as stupid and uninformed. You see, they have all the inside information and you don't. The thousand plus pages of the Patriot Act were presented as if they had just come up with them; but, in reality they had been worked on for years and presented to congress with congress only having a day or two to read them before approving them. What about the enhanced scanners at airports that were instituted after the shoe bomber failed. Well, they started rolling them out within a week and had hundreds more in warehouses. Go back and see how quickly they went out. While the establishment may have been waiting for an excuse to do these things, the public was completely unaware that these plans had been made years in advance. They didn't just start designing and testing and manufacturing the scanners until after the shoe bomber. They couldn't do that much work in a week if everyone worked on them.
Long before things happen people make plans, contingency plans. While the plans are not widely disseminated in advance, they are discussed by our "leaders" of politics and industry. Yep, they see you as ignorant and gullible because you don't have the inside information and they do. They also see you as too lazy and stupid to understand their plans. In fact, they fear if you knew their plans you might stop them from going through with them. Imagine how large an investment and how much time it took to build all those scanners just waiting for the right time to implement them. Another question you should consider is why didn't the people who actually manufactured them, the workers, say anything to the news. Well, they may have; but, it didn't get reported nationally. In fact, most people working at those plants never thought to ask why, they were just happy to have a job.
Because they view you as ignorant and because they fear you, they also believe the majority of people are evil. Hillary spoke for more than herself when she said that the only reason people voted for Bernie was to get women in bed with them and the rest just wanted free stuff. It wasn't Trump that said that, it was Hillary. We already know what she has said and continues to say about Trump voters and those two groups make up well over half of the nation.
They don't trust you to pick the best leaders. Partly because they don't think you know what is best for you and partly because they believe they are the only people that should run this nation and this world. They view you as sheep to be kept in place and from expecting too much.
Take 20 minutes and watch this video.
Lets start with how our political leaders view the citizens. Politics in essence is the distribution of limited resources to unlimited want. As a consequence, politicians views their job as determining who gets what. The question then is what do they believe are requirements to be distributed to all and what do they believe are benefits to be distributed to some.
Lets go back to how they view you. Firstly, they view you as stupid and uninformed. You see, they have all the inside information and you don't. The thousand plus pages of the Patriot Act were presented as if they had just come up with them; but, in reality they had been worked on for years and presented to congress with congress only having a day or two to read them before approving them. What about the enhanced scanners at airports that were instituted after the shoe bomber failed. Well, they started rolling them out within a week and had hundreds more in warehouses. Go back and see how quickly they went out. While the establishment may have been waiting for an excuse to do these things, the public was completely unaware that these plans had been made years in advance. They didn't just start designing and testing and manufacturing the scanners until after the shoe bomber. They couldn't do that much work in a week if everyone worked on them.
Long before things happen people make plans, contingency plans. While the plans are not widely disseminated in advance, they are discussed by our "leaders" of politics and industry. Yep, they see you as ignorant and gullible because you don't have the inside information and they do. They also see you as too lazy and stupid to understand their plans. In fact, they fear if you knew their plans you might stop them from going through with them. Imagine how large an investment and how much time it took to build all those scanners just waiting for the right time to implement them. Another question you should consider is why didn't the people who actually manufactured them, the workers, say anything to the news. Well, they may have; but, it didn't get reported nationally. In fact, most people working at those plants never thought to ask why, they were just happy to have a job.
Because they view you as ignorant and because they fear you, they also believe the majority of people are evil. Hillary spoke for more than herself when she said that the only reason people voted for Bernie was to get women in bed with them and the rest just wanted free stuff. It wasn't Trump that said that, it was Hillary. We already know what she has said and continues to say about Trump voters and those two groups make up well over half of the nation.
They don't trust you to pick the best leaders. Partly because they don't think you know what is best for you and partly because they believe they are the only people that should run this nation and this world. They view you as sheep to be kept in place and from expecting too much.
Take 20 minutes and watch this video.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Media Distraction of the Month Club
Each week or month the media pushes some new political distraction in order to keep you from thinking about the changes that are going on in the West. Currently, the distraction has to do with football players who choose not to stand for the national anthem. Lets start by looking at the issues involved. Firstly, why do we play the national anthem at football games? It is not a requirement and it is not a law, it is a choice made by the NFL itself. Whether or not one chooses to stand for it is a personal choice and our military died for your right to choose whether or not to stand. They fought so we would have the personal freedom to choose. Funny how people that are complaining that conservatives are being prevented from free speech in public spaces are also complaining that people are exercising their right to expression by not standing for the anthem. On the left they believe people have a right to not stand for the anthem; but, not the right to speak on college campuses. Hypocrisy is never a good look regardless of the side you are on.
My starting point is that this whole thing is a non-issue. To be clear, I support young people who believe that it is right to fight for this country and see themselves as defending this country. At the same time, I don't see us waging wars that actually protect this country, I see us fighting wars for oil, control and to fund the military industrial complex. I'm pretty sure that Libya and Syria were not going to invade the United States and none of this has anything to do with football or the national anthem. In fact, I don't think people know what they are protesting against in the first place.
Here is a simple question. Why did football team owners take the position that it was okay to protest the national anthem? Why not just refuse to play it as they are not required to in the first place? Why did a singer of the national anthem choose to take a knee during his song instead of just choosing not to sing it at all? The NFL chose to make this a political issue and President Trump chose to address it because they made it an issue. If the media had not pushed the issue, most of us wouldn't have even noticed. If I saw a guy kneeling during the national anthem, I would assume he was praying like when Tebow would kneel.
Because of my religious and political beliefs I will not pledge allegiance to a piece of fabric. For the same reasons I will not swear on a bible. I also choose not to make an issue of these things in public and to allow others the right to do as they see fit.
There is a reason why the complaints about statues of long dead southerners is no longer front page news. Just so you know, many of the parks that have statues of these dead southerners were given to cities, counties and states on the grounds that they be named after these old dead soldiers and if the statues are removed the land goes back to the family that gave the park to the community. As the false arguments about old rusty statues of dead southerners died off, the media turned it's attention to multi-millionaire football players taking a knee during the national anthem, just as meaningless. These things are distractions not real issues. Stagnant wages, healthcare and outsourcing of jobs effect our day to day lives in real terms, someone choosing to take a knee is not.
This little foolishness will pass soon enough and the corporate media will replace it with a new outrage. Each month we get a new outrage because it drives ratings and distracts the public.
My starting point is that this whole thing is a non-issue. To be clear, I support young people who believe that it is right to fight for this country and see themselves as defending this country. At the same time, I don't see us waging wars that actually protect this country, I see us fighting wars for oil, control and to fund the military industrial complex. I'm pretty sure that Libya and Syria were not going to invade the United States and none of this has anything to do with football or the national anthem. In fact, I don't think people know what they are protesting against in the first place.
Here is a simple question. Why did football team owners take the position that it was okay to protest the national anthem? Why not just refuse to play it as they are not required to in the first place? Why did a singer of the national anthem choose to take a knee during his song instead of just choosing not to sing it at all? The NFL chose to make this a political issue and President Trump chose to address it because they made it an issue. If the media had not pushed the issue, most of us wouldn't have even noticed. If I saw a guy kneeling during the national anthem, I would assume he was praying like when Tebow would kneel.
Because of my religious and political beliefs I will not pledge allegiance to a piece of fabric. For the same reasons I will not swear on a bible. I also choose not to make an issue of these things in public and to allow others the right to do as they see fit.
There is a reason why the complaints about statues of long dead southerners is no longer front page news. Just so you know, many of the parks that have statues of these dead southerners were given to cities, counties and states on the grounds that they be named after these old dead soldiers and if the statues are removed the land goes back to the family that gave the park to the community. As the false arguments about old rusty statues of dead southerners died off, the media turned it's attention to multi-millionaire football players taking a knee during the national anthem, just as meaningless. These things are distractions not real issues. Stagnant wages, healthcare and outsourcing of jobs effect our day to day lives in real terms, someone choosing to take a knee is not.
This little foolishness will pass soon enough and the corporate media will replace it with a new outrage. Each month we get a new outrage because it drives ratings and distracts the public.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Liberal Protests Today
Back in the early 60s the youth protests for equal rights for blacks. In the late 60s and 70s the youth protested the war in Vietnam. In the mid to late 70s women protested for rights and pay parity when doing the same job. In the 80s the youth protested nuclear energy and weapons. During the 90s and early 2000s they protested for gay marriage. Today the protest against metal statues of dead southerners, the right to be here illegally and non-existent Nazis. They don't even protest all the wars we are in because they don't have to be in them.
During the 60s and 70s the establishment determined that people had to be allowed to express themselves to let off steam; but, they also determined that they should choose the targets for the complaints. Liberals do not protest the fact that they don't get one person one vote in the Democratic party and that the "leaders" of the party decide who gets one third of the votes in primaries. As for Republicans, they almost hold protest meetings.
Lets be honest, people don't protest to put more rules on the bankers or to eliminate tax cuts for the rich. They will protest for a $15 an hour minimum wage and get soundly ignored by both parties. Both the average Republican and Democrat would like to see Glass Stiegel put back; but, they don't unite to ask for it. Heck both would like to see limits on the interest rates that people are charged but they don't protest for these things.
The youth are distracted by the petty and incapable of protesting what will effect them. What their biggest threat is not having a decent job. What is coming for them is a world in which their are fewer public services, no chance for retirement and a diminishing lifestyle. Real threats. They attack free speech and the only result they can hope for is that they will be free from being informed or intellectually challenged. The protest to make sure that they only hear what they want in their safe spaces rather than the freedom and opportunity to be challenged and grow. Professional baseball players do not grow by pitching to your little league team; but, the little leaguers may.
College educated youth are told that people in the Midwest have absolutely no understanding greater than their own. They are taught that the people in 90% of the country are ignorant buffoons believing in silly things like God and country and industry. They are taught that these people are backwards and bigots and xenophobes and misogynists; but, they don't even know what the words mean most of the time. They are more accepting of people who cut their penises off and call themselves women (rather than eunuchs which is technically what they are) than they are of people who work in factories that lose their jobs to outsourcing. They are being taught to have no sympathy or respect for people who do not live in the coastal cities enjoying the fruits of high tech jobs. They are being taught to be elitists and that they are better than the rest of us.
During the 60s and 70s the establishment determined that people had to be allowed to express themselves to let off steam; but, they also determined that they should choose the targets for the complaints. Liberals do not protest the fact that they don't get one person one vote in the Democratic party and that the "leaders" of the party decide who gets one third of the votes in primaries. As for Republicans, they almost hold protest meetings.
Lets be honest, people don't protest to put more rules on the bankers or to eliminate tax cuts for the rich. They will protest for a $15 an hour minimum wage and get soundly ignored by both parties. Both the average Republican and Democrat would like to see Glass Stiegel put back; but, they don't unite to ask for it. Heck both would like to see limits on the interest rates that people are charged but they don't protest for these things.
The youth are distracted by the petty and incapable of protesting what will effect them. What their biggest threat is not having a decent job. What is coming for them is a world in which their are fewer public services, no chance for retirement and a diminishing lifestyle. Real threats. They attack free speech and the only result they can hope for is that they will be free from being informed or intellectually challenged. The protest to make sure that they only hear what they want in their safe spaces rather than the freedom and opportunity to be challenged and grow. Professional baseball players do not grow by pitching to your little league team; but, the little leaguers may.
College educated youth are told that people in the Midwest have absolutely no understanding greater than their own. They are taught that the people in 90% of the country are ignorant buffoons believing in silly things like God and country and industry. They are taught that these people are backwards and bigots and xenophobes and misogynists; but, they don't even know what the words mean most of the time. They are more accepting of people who cut their penises off and call themselves women (rather than eunuchs which is technically what they are) than they are of people who work in factories that lose their jobs to outsourcing. They are being taught to have no sympathy or respect for people who do not live in the coastal cities enjoying the fruits of high tech jobs. They are being taught to be elitists and that they are better than the rest of us.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Global Warming is a Lie and Bad Science.
The real science deniers are the one's who won't look at the actual facts. We have 800,000 years worth of climate data. We spent billions to get it from Antarctica. Yet, all the climate change models are based only on 120 or so years worth of data. Can you imagine us basing all of our beliefs about history if we only looked at the last 120 years when we have a few thousand years worth of written and drawn records? What understanding would we have of music if we ignored all music that was over 120 years ago? What if we ignored every book written before 1890? If you need to ignore 799,900 years worth of data to make your conclusions, it means you are lying.
The Telegraph - Climate change not as threatening to planet as previously thought, new research suggests.
Here is the essence of the article, climate change scientists are now saying things are not getting as bad as quickly as they predicted and we'll be okay if we nothing for 20 more years. This is the funniest things I have ever read and more than one newspaper reported on it. I saw a couple of articles in the last couple of days.
They made this statement to reassure people that Trump's refusal to have us adopt the Climate Agreement can wait till he is gone. The reason is simple, since the United States has not adopted the accord, the doomsayers will have to explain why their models are failing more and more. In fact the article points out that their models are already failing, they are now admitting that. Read the article.
Should anyone believe in this pseudo science they call climate change, poke me with the best question you can come up with right after you do your research and explain to me why we are ignoring 99.999% of all the date we have available. The issue has never been about climate change and has always been about how many people they think they need to control the world. The leaders have decided they don't need so many sheep. They said that and wrote about that over 40 years ago and I have posted links in the past to those writings.
The Telegraph - Climate change not as threatening to planet as previously thought, new research suggests.
Here is the essence of the article, climate change scientists are now saying things are not getting as bad as quickly as they predicted and we'll be okay if we nothing for 20 more years. This is the funniest things I have ever read and more than one newspaper reported on it. I saw a couple of articles in the last couple of days.
They made this statement to reassure people that Trump's refusal to have us adopt the Climate Agreement can wait till he is gone. The reason is simple, since the United States has not adopted the accord, the doomsayers will have to explain why their models are failing more and more. In fact the article points out that their models are already failing, they are now admitting that. Read the article.
Should anyone believe in this pseudo science they call climate change, poke me with the best question you can come up with right after you do your research and explain to me why we are ignoring 99.999% of all the date we have available. The issue has never been about climate change and has always been about how many people they think they need to control the world. The leaders have decided they don't need so many sheep. They said that and wrote about that over 40 years ago and I have posted links in the past to those writings.
Monday, September 18, 2017
Feel Like a Quickie? How Bout Two and Some Talk?
YouTube - China Banning Non-Electric Cars. Watch the video and hear the talking monkeys of The Young Turks speak. They are excited that China is going to ban gas burning vehicles and think this is great for the climate change issue. ROFL. China will make the electricity by burning coal. They leave that part out cause they are too stupid to look it up. By the way, as I have explained before there are 500 ships that transport China's goods to the United States and Europe and they create more pollution than all of the cars in the United States each year. The funny thing is that they mention in the beginning that China is the biggest polluter in the world; but, fail to ask where the pollution comes from. It comes from creating the energy that their manufacturing uses, not from the products themselves.
CNBC - The party's over: Republicans and Democrats are both finished. "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Gandhi said that. It is something I quoted when the media was going after Sanders and Trump, especially in regards to Trump.
When Trump entered the race, they ridiculed him with the Huffington Post classifying articles about him as Entertainment. They didn't go quite that far with Sanders; but, they did go far even saying that men that supported him just did it to pick up women. The establishment didn't take the Occupy Movement or the Tea Party seriously and managed to destroy them both. Trump and Sanders were the response to having those movements ignored by the establishment. For the past year the establishment has been trying to prevent these movements from growing now that they have seen success. For their part, the Democrats are trying to kick the progressives out of any place of decision making within their party. The Republicans on the other hand are continuing to distance themselves from Trump; but, are actually distancing themselves from the people who voted for him. The establishment is losing and they know it. Denial is no longer working for them. It is still all Hillary can manage to do; but, she will never be relevant again
CNBC - The party's over: Republicans and Democrats are both finished. "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Gandhi said that. It is something I quoted when the media was going after Sanders and Trump, especially in regards to Trump.
When Trump entered the race, they ridiculed him with the Huffington Post classifying articles about him as Entertainment. They didn't go quite that far with Sanders; but, they did go far even saying that men that supported him just did it to pick up women. The establishment didn't take the Occupy Movement or the Tea Party seriously and managed to destroy them both. Trump and Sanders were the response to having those movements ignored by the establishment. For the past year the establishment has been trying to prevent these movements from growing now that they have seen success. For their part, the Democrats are trying to kick the progressives out of any place of decision making within their party. The Republicans on the other hand are continuing to distance themselves from Trump; but, are actually distancing themselves from the people who voted for him. The establishment is losing and they know it. Denial is no longer working for them. It is still all Hillary can manage to do; but, she will never be relevant again
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