Get ready to be Responsible

Does anyone else have politician fatigue?  Do you wonder how we can gain back some of the control of governance?  Do you think our country will survive under the system of political prostitution?  Do you think we should return to the rule of law?  Are you happy allowing our country to controlled by those basing decisions on a political game of winning votes instead of what is actually best for our country? Are you happy with your votes based on actual observation being discounted by votes based on ignorance and apathy?

Get involved.  Look for the facts.  Protect yourself from pure propaganda.
Speak out from a position of reason based on fact rather than propaganda and ideology.  Educate yourself and avoid bandwagon mentality. and most of all 

VOTE!

VOTE FOR OUR COUNTRY NOT FOR IDEOLOGY, PARTY POLITICS OR APATHETIC MALAISE.

MINIMUM WAGE DEBATE another wolf in sheeps clothing

Another wolf in sheep’s clothing trying to wheedle its way into the 2014 election discussion. 

In an attempt to direct the political discourse away from all the “false” subject matter such as spying on US citizens, and the IRS choosing to audit and harass conservatives groups over liberals at some 280 to7. Fast and Furious, Benghazi and sending armed force against a rancher in Nevada are a couple more questionable subjects. The Democratic political talking points are out to gain votes with the populace need for more income.  Rather than create more jobs by increasing the need for employment, they seek to gain votes from those trying to make a living by working entry level jobs.  The big point they are using to bribe voters is that it is not possible for a family to live on minimum wage employment.  In that belief and statement they are correct. 

The misleading part of that statement is that those jobs are for those entering the workforce for the first time.  Those who have had to drop out of school; those who have to work part-time jobs as they try to gain skills and more education need those jobs.  The supporters of higher minimum wages do not want our young millennial population to know that with a higher minimum wage, the pipeline for improving their own lot is clogged.  The 15 or 16 year old high school student trying to help his family’s economic situation will have lost his entry into the workforce to the college graduate or the main supporter of families with more experience.  Those young people will find it almost impossible to gain the work skills needed to make them a vibrant component of the economic growth and stability of our country.

 I personally believe in a minimum wage, one that allows people an economic lift, one that opens the doors of employment to those needing to gain work experience and one that helps young people learn the value of education and work as means to a better way of life.  Giving them a place to grow stagnant in the complacency of mere existence does nothing to help the individual nor does it help the middle class.  I also believe that the entry wage levels are a viable means of helping with a supplemental income for those looking for better employment and for those who are unable to work in more physically or mentally demanding positions.  Older folks and those with physical and mental challenges need economic supplements to exist.  With the reduction of purchase power, as a result of increasing the money supply rather than employment opportunity, the societal aids of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and disability compensation do not stretch and require part-time employment for subsistence.  If the population lacks incentive to move up in income bracket, the opportunity to fill those needs becomes highly inadequate.

What is used to fool the sheep is just another ruse, another trick in the progressive bag of false hopes, to fool those in need of real systems to make their lives better.  The one who is given fish never learns to fish for his own food and eventually will become a slave to the one who keeps feeding him. 

Until there is no one left with anything to share.

PARDON ME....I SAID WHAT?

Arbee:

There was an article blog posted on the Huffington Post recently, touting the fight for equality of races. The author quoted the famous “I have a dream” speech. One of the lines in that speech has often been overlooked, and that involves the word character.
Some thoughts on that subject:

http://aresponse2.blogspot.com/2013/09/it-should-be-new-day.html

This is an email response received regarding the above posting on AResponse2.  Interesting take.

1^st Comment received: I think Dr. King’s speech will go down in history as one of the most important speeches in our country.  But he was murdered shortly after his beautiful words were spoken.  It is easy for white people, who have every opportunity handed to them from the time of birth, to decide how people of minority races should feel.  Like the old saying, “you should walk in my shoes”.  If I were a Black or Hispanic American today, I would be angry.  As a matter of fact, I am a white American and I am angry.  I cannot believe that any sane person in this country would think that people of color are treated the same as whites.  I hope this opinion was respectful enough for you.  It is just one little white woman's opinion.

AR2:  Did you even read the link I posted?  Do you really think that anger is the way to correct the problem?  Do you have any positive suggestions on how to give those folks a real chance to be self-reliant and to have a real sense of equality?  Anger is easy, being constructive takes an effort.  As far as people of color being treated the same as whites, they are not. And in so many ways you would probably fail to admit.

2^nd Comment received:  yes I did read the link and agreed with a lot of it.  But then that is the way white people would like the world to be.  I admit I do get angry~~~~~ angry at the arrogance of white people.  The race problem was not settled with the freeing of the slaves or with Dr. King's beautiful words or with the Black Panthers or with giving black people more opportunities just because they are black.  This race problem will not be over for hundreds of years, as it was hundreds of years in the making.  I don't think you can make an angry person less angry by words.  It will take time and lots of it.  It will not happen in our lifetime as I once thought it would.  The anger is not just from black people but just as many white people are angry too.  Just look at the angry people when we had the first 1/2 black president elected.  I have friends that hate President Obama and when I ask them what they hate, they can't give me an answer but they are sure to tell me it's not because he is black!   I don't think this problem will be solved until we are not black or white but we are a race of honey colored green eyed wavy haired people.  I wish I could be here to see it.  Until that time I will try to view other people's feelings from their point of view.  I think that would be a constructive first step.  White people better learn to get along with other people that are not white or are not born again Christians or of the same sexual preference as they are.  It is really not that complicated.

AR2 response:  It has been about a week or so since the above conversation took place and since it has continued to pester my mind, I find it necessary to respond.

The original posting referred to Rev. King’s speech and the oft forgotten phrase related to his fervent hope that his daughters would see the day when a person was judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.  The basic premise was that our societal character is what creates the inequality. The anger propagated by the hate mongers on both sides of the issue, who continue to dwell in the sewer of the past, can only see through glasses colored through those times.  As they speak, so they teach and another generation continues the hatred and misunderstandings of the past because of the osmosis of prejudice and mistrust.  One of my favorite readings is AS A MAN THINKETH, and it presupposes the necessity of self-review of our own beliefs.

The discussion that came out of that article prompted just such a review, and brought to my mind my struggle with such sites as the Huffington Post and Roots.  It is really difficult to carry on meaningful dialogue with those who are so intent on defending their ground that the original subject does not matter. There is almost nothing in the response I received regarding anything related to character.  There is much related to the thoughts produced by anger and prejudice.  Rather than working toward a better understanding of viewpoint, acceptance of others, and seeking mutual solutions, blame and derision seem to be the standard argument.  The comments of the responder did, however, cause enough turmoil in my thoughts to spawn another fury of typing.  Hopefully I can respond to the subjects embedded in the comments as received.  I posted my answer to the first comment and you can see it above.  It was the next comment that struck me with a sense of futility of getting through the barriers of so many prejudices.  I would classify myself as one who is strong and fervent in my desire to make my side of the story understood, and it has taken a few days to understand why the second comment advanced my need for further discussion. Discussion not of the original article but rather one regarding the points brought up in the comments.

Prejudice is a very insidious sickness of the human condition and is usually only apparent in the other guy.  Unfortunately, it will eventually infect all of us in one way or the other, forming our attitudes and affecting our interaction with others in our world.  Christ said “Be ye as little children”. If only we were able to maintain that degree of innocence.  I can truly attest to this regarding racial prejudice.  I grew up in a small town of approximately 600 people. When I reached the age of high school, the only people I didn’t like were bullies, Japs and Germans. .That was because I had some actual mental or physical contact with those groups.  All other people were just that, people.  I never learned to distrust or to think that colored people were any different from me.  It wasn’t until many years later that I learned why.  I had never had any contact with people of any other color so I had never learned prejudice. For that, I feel blessed and fortunate.  I thank you Lord, for those years of innocence.  That brings me back to the children.  Children are colorblind. They will play, argue and make friends with any other child until one of them crosses the line of civility, and that is one of their guidelines. I think that is the kind of personal judgment that Rev. King was referring too.  

I did learn in later years that my contact with colored races during my formative years was so minimal due to the cities “Sundown Law”.  People of color were not allowed in the city limits after sundown and knowing this they just never came into our area.  My innocence was paid for with that which remained hidden to my nature, prejudice, bigotry and mistreatment.  I could feel guilty about those things but that would be misplaced guilt.  I could spend my time trying to make retribution for that but it wasn’t me that created the circumstance.  I could be aware of how wrong that law was.  I could have compassion for those who were harmed.  Having the compassion does not mean that I have to accept the blame for an act in which I was not involved.  I can, out of compassion, understand the current plight and work toward improving it.  I also feel anger toward the ignorance of the past actions of mankind in their injustice toward their fellow man.  Color is not the first to be touched by prejudice and bigotry there are few if any throughout history that have not been under that attack.  I am currently one of those who feel its sting.  I am one of those arrogant white people who want the world to forget all of our races past transgressions.   I am one of those religious fanatics who believe in the deity and the graces offered by my Savior Christ.  I am one of those traditionalists who believe that marriage is reserved for the union of a man and woman.  I am one of those who fervently wish we had a different President of our country.  I am one of those who wish our young people would pull their pants up, turn their hats around, and respect the lessons learned in the past.  Just because I believe these things does not negate my belief in the fact that we all put our lives on pathways of our own choosing.  The mile walked in my moccasins may be different but I also understand that your mile is unique to you and I hope your journey ends well.  God speed.

To trade one form of prejudice for another doesn’t make you better or different but it can make you a bigot of another color. arbee

WHICH QUESTIONS TO ASK...TRAYVON MARTIN/GEORGE ZIMMERMAN

Recently a verdict was handed down in the case against George Zimmerman.  It claimed that Mr. Zimmerman had killed Trayvon Martin unjustly and with prejudice in his heart and mind.  In the press he was found guilty far before the trial even began.  We might ask why.  Mr. Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder without the process of a Grand Jury which resulted in the trial that took place.  This occurred after the local police and District Attorney did not find cause for arresting him in the first place.  We might ask how this occurred in a country where the law is supposed to be the governing factor. 

That part in our eternal drama of justice, truth, honesty and search for power raises many questions.  Questions that ask who we are as a society that allows a condemnation before a trial and an acquittal because of a trial. Looking at the whole situation, the fault lies not with the individuals involved, but with all of us. We have become a society involved and invested in finding fault rather than solutions.  A society seeking gratification for what “I” want.  Rather than me doing something positive to attain or earn those things, the attempt is made to gain through fear and intimidation. We choose to see and to react to (imaginary and real) occurrences through our own set of blinders. That is the real prejudice of our time.

Perhaps the Martin/Zimmerman case would not have happened if we (the American people) were to approach racism from a more realistic viewpoint.  The old saying of “one bad apple spoils the bunch” can also be turned around to “your apples won’t spoil if you throw out the rotten ones.” The national approach to eliminating prejudice has been focused on stopping the symptoms rather than healing the infection.  The approach we have been taking is not “what can I do to make it better”, it has been “what can we do to them to get what I want.”  We learn the majority of our interaction skills and attitudes from our environment by the age of six and spend the rest of our lives adjusting and honing those attitudes.  Our learning in terms of prejudice can go in many different directions depending upon who we rely upon for our growth. 

The institutions and people we should be able to rely upon for positive examples are deserting their responsibilities.  Our educational institutions are filled with a high percentage of activists who are convinced that showing the ills of our society (real or perceived) are the fault of “fill in the blanks”.  The institution of the Press has deteriorated into promoting their point of view rather than giving our society facts.  Our government is acting in service of power for self and party rather than for the people they were elected to serve.  The labor unions have grown into a point of power, deceiving their membership to gain power for their leaders.  We have elevated the position of court jester (the entertainment industry) to one of knowledge and wisdom.  A sizable portion of our parental responsibilities have been abdicated to those listed above.  With little positive input, our young people are being misled for the purposes of those seeking power. 

The problem of racial prejudice is centuries old and we, as a society, are not curing it, we are exacerbating and caressing it by listening to the wrong teachers.  Rather than listening passively to those who would teach and inform us, we need to start asking them “How does what you are saying make me better, make the condition better, address the real causes of the situation?” Who is in charge of teaching our children the right questions to ask?  Who will we use to show our children the example of the “Good Samaritan” is a better solution than teaching blame, distrust, separation and segregation from those “other people?”  As long as we continue to teach from the pulpit of “we have been wronged and they deserve what they get” our wounds will never heal.  Some in the position of power achieve that position by continually scratching the scab off any chance of healing.  The ignorance of continually seeking retribution rather than repair is not good for us as individuals or for our society.  Repetition of error cures nothing.

 In the case of Martin/Zimmerman, the question is not who did what, the question should be why it occurred in the first place.  Both men were acting on their individual belief systems.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND PERPETRATORS

Once again the opportunity to appear as all knowing, smarter than the average, and in on the real scoop is handed to the conspiracy theorists. Those who feed upon the process of imagination to create their realities will use the Boston bombing as another log on the fire.  The really sad part is that resembling a physical illness being passed on to infect others, those theories generally create intellectual illness in others too weak or too lazy to understand the importance of the truth.  

In today’s age of lightning fast information, sharing it is far too easy for innuendo and rumor to establish false conclusions as the truth.  What may or may not have really occurred becomes what probably did in the minds of those receptive to the altered information.  Those theories are similar to the sprouting of weeds. They will take root in a wide variety of soils and can be widely spread through the ingestion of seed and dispersed through indiscriminate dropping of scat.

There is no doubt that a good portion of information is packed with some form of “propagandic” seasoning.  The reality of any given event is almost impossible for us to know, and finding receptive minds to spread any story one might dream up is far too easy.  We are forced to deal in the realm of possibility, probability and actuality, never knowing for sure if what or how much of what we are led to believe is the truth.  It appears that for every story there are numerous contradictory counterparts from which we pick and choose depending upon our individual beliefs.  
Therein lies the problem.  Conspiracy theories are dependent on some form of prejudice in order to survive.  Without some seed of pre-agreement there could be no continuance into the stage of probability.  It is impossible for belief and doubt to exist at the same time in the same mind but there is the self-knowledge that one is still in the info collection stage.  The problem is beliefs in prior probabilities are inserted into the equation.  
The “Boston Marathon bombing” is a good example of how one theory is able to gain agreement over that of another.  Within minutes of the bombing, theorists were hard at work finding various possibilities of what took place.  The possibility that supported their previous positions, in similar circumstances, is the one they promoted into the realm of probability and then promoted as the truth.  The actual truth is obscured by denial of evidence and the story is supported by stacking theory on top of theory rather than fact upon fact.  It gains the appearance of truth through repetition.  The old adage that if you tell them often enough people will come to believe anything, is not a theory, it is part of human nature.

There are far too many of those theories that have taken place in recent history, and to that purpose I have let others make their lists. I have listed some web sites that have interesting information and listings.

http://listverse.com/2013/04/10/10-more-fairly-recent-conspiracy-theories/ http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/fall/patriot-paranoia#.UXv3vqKceD4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conspiracy_theories

Wikepedia is one of the more extensive listings and gives some of the why these theories exist and meanings behind the particular theory.  The original purpose behind each of them will have a similarity of type.  Most are self-serving, pseudo altruistic ideas that are designed to elevate the importance of the person promoting the theory.  

A friend of mine suggested a blog site that really opened my eyes on the matter of conspiracy promotion.  In today’s world of what can be deemed as news in social media becomes tomorrows “truth”.  In actuality this site was filled with so many of the author's personal deductions and denial of any facts or ideas that didn’t support his theories.  This article supports my own theory that conspiracy theories are seldom factual.  The age old practice of a falsehood containing just enough truthful elements to add the appearance of truth is a major tool in the conspiracy world as much as it is in the world of cover ups.

The following pertains to that article: http://tv.globalresearch.ca/2013/04/american-terror-manufactured-fbi

“American Terror: Manufactured by the FBI

by grtv

The Boston Marathon bombing has provoked shock, grief and outrage from around the world. After decades of conditioning, the public automatically equates such terrorism with Muslim radicals. But the evidence shows that every major terror plot on American soil in the past 10 years has been fostered, funded and equipped by one organization: the FBI.”

 In this one statement the Bovine excrement warning bells start ringing.  The word “every” is as much of a miss-speak as saying “all” of a race are.  Over active imagination and the need to support the exciting aspect of everyone else being uninformed and ignorant compared to “ME” helps create the theory.  The belief of others fuels the spread and the growth of the conspiracies possibility.  The above article made so many leaps into false credibility that listing them all in my article would be a waste of time.  The article in question is still up on the site listed above if you want to check it out.

Conspiracy theories are called theories for a reason.  They cannot be substantiated into the realm of factual truths.  When they are put along side of the other views of an event certain things happen to promote the theories existence and spread. Some of the components required are:

1.       The event must be important enough to capture the imagination of the originator

2.       The event must have repercussions affecting society as a whole

3.       The theory must have a villain with some degree of notoriety or importance to the society

4.       The theory must have an audience with agreement as to the probability and possibilities proposed in the theory

5.       The theory must be able to be expanded upon

6.       The theory must be able to be connected to previous theories and proposed guilty parties

7.       Gullibility and the desire of the followers to be part of an elite group of intelligentia

8.       A good enough story to gain the strength of growth equal to a life of its own.

It must contain the same components of any good work of fictional “who dunnits”.  Intrigue, multiple possibilities, miss-direction, miss-interpretation of fact and the reliance upon involving the audience in the process of discovery.

Each of us could be susceptible to those theories if they are in agreement with our own individual belief systems.  It would be important to us to be aware of what we believe, questioning ourselves as much as we question others.

SPIELBERGS LINCOLN, movie or commentary (part one)

I recently went to the Spielberg movie about the last few days of Lincoln’s life.  It turned out, at least for me, to be a story about one man’s fight to remove the practice of slavery from the relatively new republic of the United States of America. 

In today’s world it’s difficult to know the difference between fact and fiction when watching that type of presentation because of the propagandic state of our society.  We seem to be pummeled by point of view rather than the facts and we tend to react like a herd of mental sponges soaking up whatever is spilled in front of us.  Real or fiction this movie did make my mind whir with a multitude of questions and observations, so many in fact that it is hard to settle down and approach my thoughts with any real sense of order. 

(part one) POLITICAL PASSION

I was struck by the passion that Spielberg’s depiction attached to the congressional members involved in the conflict, and the effort put forward by the Executive as well, and the depth of purpose behind that effort.  The passion depicted was not that of party politics but of morality, a passion of the right thing to do versus a status quo.  In this portrayal I saw distinct differences between imagination of what may have been at that critical juncture and the faux political discourse our government bodies indulge themselves with today.

The struggle to achieve true emancipation has been an ongoing problem in our country.  That enactment shows the torment involved not only during the Civil War itself but that of our President to achieve a purpose worthy of that war.  Politicians in today’s government do not exhibit (as a whole) the resolve of purpose in addressing the needs of our country.  Rather it is the political stage play that will coerce the public into choosing their party over the other in the next election cycle.  Unlike the times in which the Lincoln era politicians seemed to be aided by strong public sentiments forcing them to act, our politicians are acting and reacting to sentiments of our society that are persuaded and provoked.  Their goal seems to be re-elected rather than the success of our great nation.

The United States of America, a republic formed under the banner of the Declaration of Independence, had existed in the presence of hypocrisy.  Economics had created the need for rationalizing among the slave owners and in order to fill their needs the slaves needed to be dehumanized.  Support for that rationale is and was impossible to find.  Slavery has been a part of humanity as long as man has been a territorial being, but in most instances the slaves were regarded to be human beings. 

Our country has always been filled with beliefs flowing from fear and fiction but in the end our collective conscience brings us to differentiating between right and wrong and a confrontation of fact.  Lincoln was the figure put in place to help power that confrontation.  The struggle of conscience for a society holds a definite similarity with our own individual conflicts of right, wrong, good or bad.  If there is something we want we will rationalize enough good to counteract any wrong involved grabbing our goal.  Conscience will eventually be impacted by our choices and to lose that part of our being, as a person or as a society, is a loss humanity cannot survive.  The Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution were not just about right and wrong they were needed for the survival of our conscience, the victory of fact over rationalization.

(Part two) NATIONAL RATIONALIZTION AND PERSUASION

I look at some of the similarities and divergence of our moral pendulum today versus that time (the Lincoln era) in our history.  Perhaps a different conundrum, different rationalization, but still about right and wrong and the rationalizations required to deny the existence of humanity.  That instance would be regarding the fetus as no more than, as one proponent of abortion stated, road kill.  The abortion question allows for rationalizations on a major scale and the enormity of it will certainly cause a fracture of conscience within our society.  Part of our society has decided to enforce and strengthen the argument in favor of all forms of abortion with the rationalization of women’s rights, the dehumanization of the unborn, the inability to afford, and a mother’s health (there is an unending list of why’s). 

The supporters of abortion use those rationalizations as speaking points accusing opponents as being against women in general and specifically against a woman’s right to control and care for her own body.  The two aspects, a woman’s rights and the rights of the unborn, are never really viewed as equal points of morality by those in favor of abortion.  Disregarding the presence of human DNA at conception as the beginning of a human life makes it acceptable to take away the life of the unborn child.  Rationalization and denial of fact makes it easier to hide the conflict of conscience involved in the act of abortion.  Rationalization circumvents logic when one tries to use the argument that women have the right to choose.  The choice is no less than condoning the right to murder any other human being in similar circumstance. 

Logic dictates continuity and the logical argument might go as follows:

 It is illegal to take the life of another human being except in the protection of another life.

A fetus is a human being with all the potential and rights of humanity because of the existence of human DNA.

Therefore it is illegal to take the life of a human fetus except in the case of saving the life of another human.

It seems so simple excepting when the insertion of partial truth mixed with rationalization components are put into the mix. 

Human beings are able to think and to act on those thoughts

Fetuses are unable to think  (supposition?)

Therefore fetuses are not human

Therefore it is legal to terminate their existence

We are all too often forced back by arguments filled with innuendo, political correctness and name calling when we should be demanding the argument be conducted with fact and logic.  The removal of those two components allow for propagandizing and fabrications that support the factually unsupportable.  The facts may not be readily available and in the case of deciding at what point in time human life exists, that is certainly true.  Belief structure calls the shots in those cases and they are swayable in all directions in favor of what one wants to believe.

The one similarity that I am able to put together in the depiction of the time of Lincoln and today is that passion is weighed in favor of morality questions and has little to do with the facts.  Morality is something that can be directed in societies through the beliefs put forward through the education of the children.  Conscience can be dampened by indoctrination and propaganda.  To quote, "as a man thinketh, so he is."

To expand the thought, "as men thinketh so goes their society".  It is truly each man's responsibility not to accept the thoughts of others but to seek truth.

THANKSGIVING 2012

Thanksgiving has had a lot of different meanings for me.  I’m not sure of the exact timing of when I started to understand the meaning of sincere thanks and its’ relationship to the holiday.  I am sure today that understanding of things comes in two general ways, an “ah-ha” moment or a metamorphosis from child to adult.  Mine was apparently the latter.  It seems to me that thanksgiving requires the loss of narcissistic tendencies and the emergence of compassion and awareness of conditions.  This year, the year 2012, has seen a lot of things occur both personally, for family and friends, and for our country. Not everything has been gentle and sweet, but all are cause for Thanksgiving and this is my thanksgiving statement and prayer for this year.

I am thankful for: For a wife who loves me and shows it daily through kindness, caring, friendship and laughter; Family and friends that have held me in their minds and hearts regardless of my warts and differences of opinion; My (our) God who has faithfully covered me, through all the trials and tribulations, in ways not even known; The growing understanding that good is hiding in everything that happens in life if we are patient and prayerful;  The roof over my head, the clothes on my back, the food that feeds my body, the forces of the Holy Spirit that feeds my soul.  Thank you Lord.

a DONKEY'S TALE

This is a re do of a posting on facebook.  It made me think and this is my take on it. Arbee

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well.  The animal cried piteously for hours until he alerted the farmer to his plight.  The farmer studied the situation and decided that it would be pretty expensive to excavate the well and get the animal out of the deep hole it was captured in.  The farmer called together a committee of the neighboring cities smartest politicians.  Together they decided the donkey was just too old to spend money on, and  the best solution was to bury the problem and the donkey together so that no one else would know a problem ever existed.

Because the wise people of the committee had suggested this action, the farmer agreed to give up his mule, even though it had been faithful and productive.  He hired a bunch of laborers who were hanging around the feed store to help him bury the donkey and fill in the well.  As the laborers continued to shovel dirt, the donkey quit crying for help.  Eventually curiosity got the best of the farmer and he looked into the well and was amazed at what he saw.

There was the donkey as calm as he could be, shaking off the dirt that was being thrown in an effort to bury him.  The faster they tried to bury him the quicker he would shake the dirt off.   The farmer noticed the faster they shoveled the faster the donkey seemed to be getting closer to getting out of the fix he was in.  Pretty soon the donkey was able to step out of the well on his own.

Now there are a couple of different morals to this story with more than a few thoughts to ponder.  Here are a few to think about:

1.     Every once in a while we will find ourselves in a hole and usually we get there because we didn’t pay attention to where we were going.

2.     If we are in a bad situation it doesn’t hurt to let those who care know that we could use some help

3.     Everyone gets dirt piled on them in life and it can be used as something that will bury us or as something that will put us in a better position. 

4.     If politicians decide how to solve a problem, the odds are they never realize the hidden effects of that decision.  Sometimes they get lucky sometimes they don’t.

5.     Don’t give up on yourself.

6.    Don’t trust the government to solve your problems

Presidential Respect, the man or the office

A few days ago one of my friends on facebook said shame on me for calling our president and idiot when I shared a campaign poster. I will respond by saying I respect the office of President and consider it to be a position of sacred trust not only for our country but for the free World. I do not respect any man who blatantly does not uphold the oath of office when it comes to upholding the laws of our country and performs not for the good of our country but utilizes his position for his own gain and personal power. We are plagued all too frequently by politicians on both sides of the aisle who act in the interest of re-election in lieu of the best interests of our country. It is far too easy in our country to maintain a position of political power by gifts to special interests and by pandering group by group. Our country is now at a critical juncture and the hypocrisy of pandering is all too evident. We have been like small children on a diet of ice cream and cake just to keep us obedient and thankful, much to the detriment health, when we should have been given real nourishment. Four years ago we were mesmerized by rhetoric and the promises to fix our broken economy, to bring our people together and reunite us as one people under our flag, to create a consensus and an attitude change within our government that would fix Washington and our political weaknesses. We did get his attempt to fundamentally change our country, we did get his “change the way the rest of the World perceives us”, and we did get a guaranteed "we're out of here" that emboldened our enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention giving latitude and nose thumbing rights to Iran, Russia and China. We were promised transparency in our government that would clearly display what the American society would be getting as new policy and laws both in process and content. Instead of transparency and leadership from the executive branch we got the same thing we got from him as a senator, a vote of present while totally abdicating his responsibilities. The first two years of this Presidential cycle gave the office the full strength of both houses of our law and directional politic. Instead of utilizing this opportunity to constructively correct our economic ills, as promised, the total effort turned to the purchase of political IOU’s through the passing of the “affordable care act”, the use of our capital to fund ideological goals of the Progressive Democrats, and providing tools to provide the unions with increased funding and membership. This was not accomplished with the transparency promised during the election cycle, but instead was accomplished under the leadership of the Senate and the Congress. The methodology used to push the ACA through was far from transparent, far from uniting our country, and far from being responsible. Leadership is not allowing your surrogates complete control of your ship and it is most certainly not accomplished from the rear end or behind.

AR2: CBS Sunday Morning programming

I have been a loyal viewer of the Sunday morning with Charles for over thirty years. I doubt if I have missed more than two or three shows in all of that time. This year I have noticed an effort on the part of this show to push the political agenda of the liberal progressive side of our society through the commentary section of the show. Today was the last straw!!!

To have some ideologue use the force of this once great show as a megaphone is disgraceful to say the least. To promote the false, misleading and divisive blather regarding those with economic success is deceitful.

Why not use your power to address the real causes of inequality. It is not the wealthy that use economic inequality as a means of creating a form of slavery. Our political factions use this as a scapegoat, hiding the fact that the creation of classes through class warfare is a means of vote acquisition. The creation of a societal state of mind and belief, that those of lower income are incapable of overcoming circumstance and that the government is their only source of survival, is the real enslavement method.

The segment of your show today which used an African American to underline the term slavery, at a time when our country needs to reunite and work together, was a reprehensible insult to your audience. I would suggest that instead of denigrating success as a form of enslavement you might give some editorial time to the message of reality.

Reality would show the effect of telling multitudes of people how they have been mistreated and how their miserableness is the result of someone else's actions. Our country was not founded on the principles of acceptance of failure but on the ability of our people to overcome adversity. We were not a country of weakness when we assisted Europe in overcoming Nazi Germany.

Instead of propagating weakness in our society and tearing down our strengths we should be promoting the opportunities available. We should be encouraging the factual and historical endeavors that have made our place in World history something to be admired.

CBS has allowed their microphones to be kidnapped by a national tone that uses the weaponry of political correctness and the guilt for actions of ancestors to discolor the possibilities of today.

CHECK YOUR FACTS

This week I found myself at the end of a stick that I have accused the progressive liberal side of our society of using as a weapon.  That stick is the one of honesty supplanting the diligence of seeking the truth.  In my haste to inform my fellow citizens, those of my age group, of the dangers of “Obamacare” I forwarded a e-mail blasting the raising of Medicare premiums.  This e-mail has been fact checked and found lacking in the truth factor.  Retractions have been sent to those to whom I had forwarded this item.  The end does not justify the means, as that is just too slippery a slope to test ones ethical sense on.

It is fact that I want to do everything humanly possible to change the Obama infatuated mind, I want to do it by the use of factual truths rather than by innuendo and the use of half-truths.  We citizens of the American society have been bombarded, educated, propagandized, and led to believe things that may or may not have basis in fact.  Due to restraints and limitations on time and priorities we have allowed our eyes and ears to accept those things that fit our specific set of filters.  We need to quit the ideologue mentality that commits us to no more than a herd of sheep in our societal obligations.  Most of us have the tools, a problem solving nature, an innate ability to look at cause and effect, and a gut feeling that warns of imminent dangers.  I personally believe that we are in a battle which is global in nature, one which involves the mental, physical, and yes the spiritual makeup of mankind. 

The insidious malignancy we know as political correctness has acted as a Trojan horse eroding societies from within, using our sense of compassion to eliminate the revulsion normally associated with being lied to. It is no longer wrong, by convention to lie to someone about how we really think or feel, if those thoughts do not fit into the proper mold.  This has built insensitivity to the act and the effects of lying.  The art of manipulation uses political correctness, half-truths, innuendo, and repetition to achieve a desired goal.  The winning of that power struggle, between our political and ideological factions, no longer benefits our country as a whole.  We no longer possess that ethical core that protected and safeguarded our societal direction.  We are no longer protected in our decision processes by truth. We are instead manipulated and herded about by perception and factual distortions.  We are different than animals and we are different than machines.  Garbage in and garbage out is true for we human beings as much as it is for a computer.  We are also marching to our own demise if we follow blindly, much as the lemming herds heading over a cliff.  Humans, individually and societally, have advantages over herd mentality and the simplistic methods of the computer.  We do have reason, and an inner sense of right and wrong.  We need to start applying those capabilities, we need to take the time and we need to expend the energy to search out truth.  

I apologize for being too lazy, in too big of a hurry to check out those e-mails that fit into my mental framework or my goal set.  I will henceforth confirm.  I will also voice my opinions and beliefs which are arrived at by observation, facts and logic.  I hope you will do the same.  Question, confirm, and be part of the solution.

This election is pitting to radically opposed ideologies and methods of governing the direction of our country.  Regardless of where you come down on the issues you need to re-evaluate your positions.  This is not just about you.  This is about where our next generations of progeny will find themselves, what kind of world they will be living in, will they have opportunity, creativity, freedom and truth in their lives. 

We need to be able to admit when we have been duped.  We need to admit that sometimes what we want has dictated what we believe.  I have watched a fact emerge.  Hope and change has eliminated the hope factor, transparency has turned to the cloak of deceit, unity has turned into divisiveness, world acceptance has turned into derision.  The only truth has been that of fundamental change of the once great United States of America.  “Hope and Change” has in fact been “Smoke and Mirrors”

SCOTUS OPINION ON OBOMACARE

HOWARD FINEMAN: the court essentially said that Congress could not require people to buy something in the private economy, but they could fine them if they didn't.

AR2:I think that SCOTUS put the citizenry in front of a firing squad.  This in effect will give congress the right to enforce any public mandate through taxation.  To think that it will stop at this one fiasco is delusional.  It will be up to the people to force congress to quell their newly found power by passing and defining a law prohibiting punitive taxation.  Our Federal Republic originated as a result of unfair taxation, and we certainly do not want to allow our own government this power.  We all need to fully understand the ramifications of this ruling.  It is not about the healthcare mandate it is about the creation of a new power of state to control and rule the people of our nation.  The United States of America has long stood for individual rights and freedoms, the right to keep the heavy thumb of government suppression away from our individual lives and livelihood.  We have been duped and misled into thinking that the government is our friend and our protector, not factual.  We have been propagandized into thinking that those of us who respect the rights and the abilities of the individual to achieve, are heartless.  Let me remind you all..we eat the animals we feed.  Gifts of kindness from any government are not from heart but from striving for control and power.                                   Summer77:  Fox is already throwing Roberts under the bus!! Republicans are so foolish they will continue to go down this path of hate and Obstruction at their own demise! If they continue not only will they lose but the American People may get that Single Payer System that we should have had to being with, This the most power Country in the world yet our Health System is number 34th in the World!

AR2: Summer, What exactly do you think this bill will supply you, or others, that could not have been accomplished in many smaller bites?  What makes you think that a single payer system will work better than an open system of true competition across state lines, in conjunction with those components that most of us, GOP and Tea Party, are in agreement.  There are those items that will show up if given a chance for honest discourse.  That is not what existed during the push for an increase in governmental power masquerading as a gift too our people. 

minkad: The importance of landmark rulings has played important roles in our lives. Cases like Brown v Board of Education and Roe v Wade are two recent cases that have impacted how our society operates. Most people on the right are blaming Justice Roberts because they are not aware that it was the constitutionality of the mandate that was being considered. There have been many questionable rulings in the US Supreme Court in recent history so it is incumbent on the chief justice to get it right no matter what the political downfall. The Court is an important tool to assure the rights of individuals and the government to operate, and as such, rightly came down on the side of the 'Affordable Care Act'. This day will live in the history books forever. To read more on other historical facts on the US Supreme Court go to: http://www.thegreaterbooks.com/product_info.php/cPath/21_26/products_id/32

AR2: It will go down in history for sure.  Hopefully it will be noted as the final straw, of governmental power grabbing politicians, that wakes up the populace.  We need to be aware that the power and control granted to politicians are a cost, regardless of the sugar they offer as a bribe.  If nothing is done to counteract this new ability, allowing the use of taxation as a means of forcing compliance, we will rue this day.  The court I think was incorrect in redefining the language of this law in order to squeeze it into the realm of constitutionality, but it did.  It is now incumbent on the power of the voter and the houses of Congress to rein in the newly granted power of taxation as a tool to force the rest of us into compliance  with whatever keeps them in power.  If you really think this is so great, use your imagination to look down the road towards the future.  Is what you see what you would like to be living today……remember, what is given to you today, tomorrow someone will have to pay

Lizzy28

'Republicans and Romney, their presumptive nominee, will make overturning the law their crusade for the campaign, and they will have the polls on their side.'---
They will surely make it their crusade but disagree that they will have polls on their side. Most people who must rely upon private health insurance, do not want to be turned away for pre existing. This reform also offers young folks the opportunity to stay on their parents' plan til their 26, preventative care included in plans that previously left it out (even plans w/very high deductibles) and small businesses a bigger pool thru exchanges. The only ones that would not see the benefit of the reform are those that are prey to right wing propaganda.

AR2:  Lizzy,  get off the talking points and listen to the facts..You are to busy with the yadayada to listen to what Romney is saying.  Reach behind your back grab ahold of your neck and pull firmly, this will put you in a better position to see the facts.  It is real easy to paint Mr. Romney with the liberal spray paint of taking away the good things in this bill.  In fact he has stated that there are many good things that should be used and put into effect in order to reform our healthcare system.  He, like many of us, don't agree with the method used to create this monstrosity, nor do we agree with the hidden costs that will accrue after 2014.  This bill was never about healthcare it is about power over a population and Roberts just handed over a new weapon to the politicians.  We need to elect representatives for our nations good not for our ideology.  Ideology formed from indoctrination does not create good governance; government with the power to impose its will upon its people is what we fought against during the formation of our country.  Do you think it is wise to allow political power seekers the ability to force us all into compliance under the threat of taxation?  I apologize for suggesting that you need to pull your head out of a place of willing ignorance, sorry

ItsNotOnlyAboutYou

I am overjoyed for Americans today! As Joe Biden would say "This is a big f---ing deal!"
We need to vote for people in November who will not rob us of this much needed law. The fact that Romney, upon whose Mass. plan this law was based, now says that the rest of us don't deserve the same security speaks volumes about the character, or lack thereof, of the man. He and his fellow Republicans have vowed to destroy the ACA, and to leave most Americans out in the cold...again.
We have already lost our savings, our investments and our homes because prior administrations have favored the wealthy and turned their backs on the middle class. It should not have taken this long for all Americans to see that "trickle down" doesn't happen. If we don't throw these people out in November, we will lose the ACA, and suffer yet another great personal loss: The ability to obtain affordable health care.
I agree: Learn about the ACA and fight to keep it. Fight with your voices, you keyboards and your ballots. If we are a healthy country we have a real shot at making this the America we want and need it to be.

AR2:Good grief!! Do you read what you write?  Security?  What security do you get when this ACA, that you are so enthralled with, says that you are too old for a bypass operation, or you don't really need to see out of both eyes.  Your comment regarding what you and many of the rest of us have lost is totally ignorant.  This recent fiasco is the result of a give for vote program initiated by the dems to put financially unqualified people into home ownership.  This caused a unreliable demand for housing increasing false value which exploded.  One of the major reasons our health care costs has skyrocketed is because of government involvement and price fixing which stopped free market cost adjustments to occur.  One of the great sidebars of this action is the creation of a whole new level of criminals, they have to cheat the system in order to provide care.  Most of us agree that change and correction to our healthcare system is needed, and most of us agree on what those should be.  The disagreement comes regarding the method, the means, and the payoffs and hidden costs of this ACA that you are so proud of.  This is a big effen deal and we are all the ones being effed.