Partisan Ship of Fools

Partisanship is defined as - one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance. With synonyms including – Bias, Discrimination and Factionalism.

 

With a reality of – it’s literally destroying America. Yes, “literally”! Because when we are stupid enough to be Divided, to be Conquered - then we are not United enough to take a stand against real, literal, threats to our Country.  Toxic Food, Water and Air. Unnecessary Foreign Conflicts. 

 Failing Infrastructure that has been coasting and crumbling by with a “D” Grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers! The selling out of our democracy that has turned our Democratic Republic into an Oligarchy. These are literal threats that cost lives, and will be ever worse for our decedents.

Maybe a majority can still agree the George Washington could be a good role model here? (With the one huge caveat, that he was a slaveholder that helped pen the words “All Men Are Created Equal”) Washington single handedly saved the Revolution from implosion. Later, he unprecedentedly stepped down from power. Well, he also warned the American people against the negative impact that opposing political parties could have on the country. During his presidency he witnessed the rise of the Democratic-Republican party in opposition to the Federalists and worried that future political squabbles would undermine the concept of popular sovereignty in the United States.

When George Washington became President in 1789, there were no political parties. Political parties first emerged during Washington’s first term in office with Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Party in 1791 and in the following year, the formation of the Anti-Federalist Party or Democratic-Republicans under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson.

Washington’s quoted in his Farewell Address, Saturday, September 17, 1796

- "However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."

So that is some historical perspective. But we all know habits are hard to break. Especially those we might not even know we have. Allow me to introduce some practical considerations and some Science.

noun: confirmation bias

1. the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.

Practical – It is my contention that we are stunting our education by dismissing opposing views. You may have to think way back, but try to remember a time when you got new information and changed your mind. You are now a smarter better person for it. Facebook, and other sights, gear their newsfeeds to how you already think. That’s stupid and dangerous. I have more than one fb “friend” who disagrees with me. Actually, since I’m an Independent Moderate, I have people Left and Right who disagree with me. I never unfriend them. My views are thought out well enough to defend, and I’m open minded enough to change my mind. I don’t say be like me, but in this case… YES, we should all do that!

Wake up! Those in power want us divided! –

Maybe just knowing that those who want to turn you into a raving Partisan, don’t care about you at all. They don’t hate their opponents either. They have one master. Greed for Power. Their doctor bills are paid for by the government, they don’t drink poison water, they don’t get screwed over by banks, they are twisted together with the banktsers! Their kids don’t go off to die in foreign conflicts. They gerrymander districts, suppress citizens votes and sell their own votes. And when they leave office they have million dollar lobbying jobs waiting for them.

THEY FEAR ONE - AND ONLY ONE -  THING!

That Americans will Unite, Vote, and Vote for their own Self-Interest. Conquer and Divide is working too well today. And always has. Dived us by race, tell us Unions are bad – Are you a White guy being screwed by power? (Don’t think Students and Sick People should be profited from? Angry that wages stopped following productivity 30 years ago) Don’t rise up, be content that you are better than the Black man. Black people still getting screwed over? (“Privatized Prison Complex” / “Militarized Police”) You’re better off than the China man. We can all be afraid of the Brown people and that endless “war on terror” that WE created and continue to grow with every foreign policy fiasco. That’s a great way to control us… with Fear. (And profit the “Military Industrial Complex”) An endless war that will never end – that should be handled as a Police Action / Special Forces/ Arab League… NOT us.

Attacked by Saudi Arabia on 9-11 but Bush invaded Iraq? Trump made a $110 Billion Dollar Arms Deal with them and they are left out of his “Travel Ban”. Even as they continue to spread and export terrorism with their radical Muslim teaching of Wahhabism.  - Is the Hypocrisy of BOTH Parties not enough to unite us?

 

Maybe we need a “2^nd Bill of Right”? Maybe “Winner Takes All” needs to be changed to the more democratic “Proportional Representative Government”? – Just one of the many ideas we can see working elsewhere in other countries, saving money, saving lives. Like Drug War, Prison, Health and Education Reforms. Ideas other countries got from our early freedoms, but now ignored by us. As we bicker with each other. Our petty disagreements consume and distract us as we get screwed at every turn. 

 They tell us how unregulated industry is good – The “free market” will decide. (as if generations of citizens being killed with toxins can be remedied after the damage is done, if its ever even detected at all?)

Again, ALL our ills can be traced to ONE thing- GREED. I could throw out names of rulings that are killing us or being ignored, thereby killing us. Citizen United Supreme Court Rulings allowing Secret Super PAC Money to influence elections. With No Election Finance Reforms. Wall Street and Environmental Reforms being ignored or repealed.

And one that gets me – MONOPOLIES! Yes, it effects our internet, phones, sports, cable and more, but every concert season I see the “Sherman Antitrust Act” ignored enough to allow the Monopoly of “Ticket Master / Live Nation” to charge me insane fees. $51 internet fee to print my own ticket, convenience fees, venue fees, fees to pick up the tickets myself at Will Call. Is that not something we could all rally together over?

IF you still believe in Science? Science too has fallen victim to partisanship, but there have some fascinating discoveries recently.

 Such as, research showing when a person is exposed to foul smells they tend to lean more “conservative” on the test. Brainwaves of partisans, and more have been studied. Below are a few.

If you find the science a bore, don’t tune out – skip down to read some brilliant, less boring, insight from George Carlin at the bottom - 

In a study published in the Journal of Current Biology, Darren Schreiber, a political neuroscientist at the University of Exeter, with colleagues at the University of California Santa Barbara observed the brain scans of 82 people participating in risky gambling.  Holding out for more money increased the possibility of rewards, but also the possible losses. They observed that when Republicans took the exact same gambling risks, they were activating different parts of the brain than Democrats.  Republicans were using the right amygdala, the center of the brain’s threat response (fight-or-flight system).  This part of the brain is important for processing fear, risk, and reward.  In contrast, Democrats showed greater activation in the left insula, involved in processing emotions and self, and social, awareness. This region of the brain has the capacity to understand what others might think and feel.  Amazingly, the study accurately predicted 82.9% of the participants’ political party choices. This is considerably better than the conventional method of basing predictions on political affiliation of their parents (70%).

Schreiber concluded that not only does having a particular brain influence your political views, but also having a political view influences and changes your brain.  Recent research from the University of Carolina concluded that Democrats and Republicans are not wired the same. Scientists found more neural activity in areas of the brain believed to be associated with broad social connectedness in Democrats (friends the world at large), and more open to creativity and new experiences.  Republicans had more active areas linked with tight social connectedness (family, country), the importance of individuality, autonomy, and the need for order in their lives. This aligns with previous studies that suggest that Democrats tend to think more globally on issues and Republicans see things through a more American filter. These findings also countered previous findings suggesting that Democrats were more empathic. It is just that Republicans are more likely to focus their empathy on family and people they know.

The author of the study, Roger Newman-Norland, believes it is helpful for people with opposing personalities and core beliefs to understand why they don’t think alike. Brain differences can be a result of genetics, experiences, or a combination of both.

Everybody knows that our political views can sometimes get in the way of thinking clearly. But perhaps we don’t realize how bad the problem actually is.
Our political passions can even undermine our very basic reasoning skills. More specifically, the study finds that people who are otherwise very good at math may totally flunk a problem that they would otherwise probably be able to solve, simply because giving the right answer goes against their political beliefs.

The Study by Yale law professor Dan Kahan and his colleagues, has an ingenious design. At the outset, 1,111 study participants were asked about their political views and also asked a series of questions designed to gauge their “numeracy”, that is, their mathematical reasoning ability. Participants were then asked to solve a fairly difficult problem that involved interpreting the results of a (fake) scientific study. But here was the trick: While the fake study data that they were supposed to assess remained the same, sometimes the study was described as measuring the effectiveness of a “new cream for treating skin rashes.” But in other cases, the study was described as involving the effectiveness of “a law banning private citizens from carrying concealed handguns in public.”

The result? Survey respondents performed wildly differently on what was in essence the same basic problem, simply depending upon whether they had been told that it involved guns or whether they had been told that it involved a new skin cream. What’s more, it turns out that highly numerate liberals and conservatives were even more—not less—susceptible to letting politics skew their reasoning than were those with less mathematical ability.

We are “hard wired: to be on a side. But we can still overcome that, and be open to good ideas from all sides.

Maybe the best idea – Unite! Question Authority! Insist on better! The attainable betterment for all! Things way more improbable have been done before. Done by Americans and often started by just one unruly malcontent! 

GEORGE CARLIN – “The American Dream”

“They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying -- lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want -- they want MORE for themselves and less for everybody else. But I'll tell you what they don't want. They DON'T want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that, that doesn't help them. That's against their interests. That's right. They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they're getting FUCKED by system that threw them overboard 30 fuckin' years ago. They don't want that.

You know what they want? They want OBEDIENT WORKERS. - People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passably accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it.

And now they're comin' for your SOCIAL SECURITY MONEY. They want your fuckin' retirement money. They want it BACK. So they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it ALL from you sooner or later -- 'cuz they OWN this fuckin' place. It's a big CLUB. And YOU AIN'T IN IT! - You and I are NOT IN the big club. By the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long, beating you over the in their media telling you what to believe -- what to think -- and what to buy. The table is tilted, folks. The game is rigged. And nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care.

Good honest hard-workin people -- white collar, blue collar -- doesn't matter what color shirt you have on. Good honest hard-workin people CONTINUE -- these are people of modest means -- continue to elect these RICH COCKSUCKERS who don't GIVE a fuck about them. They don't give a fuck about you, they don't GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU. T HEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU -- AT ALL. AT ALL. AT ALL. You know? And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care ... that's what the owners count on, the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes every day. Because the owners of this country know the truth -- it's called the American Dream ... 'cuz you have to be asleep to believe it. –     George Carlin

                                                              

Letters to the Editors

IT HAS BEEN OVER 2 YEARS SINCE I DELETED MY SENT FILES AND I NOTICED SOME RESPONSES TO NEWS STORIES AND OTHER EMAILS THAT I HAD SENT.
AND DECIDED TO RE-POST THEM HERE.

I CONSIDER MYSELF A MODERATE/INDEPENDENT AND WHEN IN DOUBT I USE THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AS MY GUIDE.

FURTHERMORE I AM NOT TOO PROUD TO CHANGE MY MIND OR ADMIT WHEN I'M WRONG. I BELIEVE THESE RANDOM LETTERS REFLECT THAT NICELY.

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A Million Clicks to Peace,

Thanks for the interview, I was happy to be part of you efforts. You asked me to write a quick note:

While peace should always be striven for I want to remind everybody that sometimes the best way to achieve justice, and peace, is by taking up arms! Gandhi's method of Non Violence, that was a great success against the British, would have been useless against the Nazis.

There are a lot of factors that go into creating peace; economics, education, access to food and other basic necessities, but surely the path to Peace begins as do all journeys, with the first steps.

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Iran's SUPREME LEADER Ali Khamenei - Picked the candidates and then picked the winner. Calling one "moderate" is a joke! Both candidates are murderous thugs and real change will only come if the people overthrow Ali Khamenei and have a REAL election.

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RE: Cannabis Conundrum

Ms. Myung-Ok Lee is absolutely correct. Marijuana IS far less dangerous than much of the food we consume and the term used should be RE- legalization.

By now I am left with no other conclusion than that anyone opposed to the re-legalization of Cannabis is either grossly uneducated or has a nefarious financial agenda. The fact that Hemp gets lumped in with Marijuana points to the former conclusion as the most prevalent.

By many accounts Clinton, Bush and Obama have all experimented with illicit substances and many Americans favor decimalization. But, predictably, hypocritical politicians continue to govern out of fear. In this case the “fear” of seeming soft on crime.

I find our current policies shameful, wasteful and very likely unconstitutional. I will continue to vote only for third party candidates until someone has the courage to govern with common sense and courage.

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F U Yusuf (and Ticket Master too)

As a big Cat Stevens fan I was appalled at his complicity in the decree of death known, as a fatwa, against Salman Rushdie (even though he later tried to deny it) followed by his admittance that his religion forbid his kind of music but was allowing it as he would be giving the proceeds to Islamic causes.

I will never spend a dime on anything associated with that hypocrite!

I only hope that those arrogant monopolistic thieves, known as Ticket Master, are involved with his comeback so I can boycott them both simultaneously.

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Ms Pelosi,

I am an Independent with Libertarian leanings and am growing increasing disgusted with politicians who govern out of fear. That was the Bush game-plan and we should be over it! FEAR of seeming soft on crime limits any discussion of Drug Policy Reform. FEAR of losing the Latino vote leads to our unprotected borders and statements that you recently made.

As to your comments regarding illegal immigration; if an illegal is deported they leave their family behind by choice. No one is stopping them from taking their children with them. Furthermore, we should have long ago done away with the antiquated policy that is the "Anchor Baby" loop-hole that rewards illegals by automatically making their children citizens.

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Regarding the March 7Th article on "Medical pot charges ban quickly lifted" :

There seems to be some question as to why U.S. Atty. O'Brien rescinded his original order to stop filing charges against medical marijuana dispensaries.

Are you kidding? His motivation is the same as every politician; Fear! Fear of seeming "soft on crime" kills all debate over our draconian, failed drug policy even as they contribute to the near collapse of Mexico and our leaders admit to their own past illicit use of drugs .

Fear of losing "the Latino vote" kills any real border protection or immigration reform. Regardless of the potential for real WMD's crossing the border.

Fear of not having enough money to run for re-election keeps these corrupt cowards firmly in the pockets of special interest groups. No matter the harm to our country or the Constitution.

Fear based decision making is a scary way to make policy. I was hopping that went away with the Bush administration. I "fear" it has not.

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Every day I read the times I see two huge ways to save a lot of tax dollars, Drug Policy and Immigration reform. Lately these two stories have become one.

I was just amazed to read the LA Times front page "Column One" Feb. 19Th, article "Sleepy town's nightmare next door" It was mostly about a border town, Columbus, N.M., and how failing drug war policies are destroying Mexico and specifically Palomas the town Columbus borders.

I found it odd that it mentioned that there were several hundred U.S. citizen, children, that lived in Mexico but went to school daily in Columbus. It was shortly explained that the hospital routinely crosses to Palomas to pick up pregnant Mexicans so they can deliver their babies in Columbus.

Wow! Why even build a wall, have a border or an immigration process if we are going to just pick up people at taxpayer expense so they can have their "Anchor Baby" pave the way for entire families to become citizens without due process?

It is long past due to end the "Anchor Baby" loophole with or without the insanity of official vehicles transporting them.

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RE: When will the Bush Bashing stop

The bashing of Bush would stop if the damage he has done would go away when he does. As is, we will be living with his mistakes for generations. Even a future terrorist attack could well be blamed on his failure to protect our borders.

Truly, the worst president in modern history!

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Bill Maher,

Most of your "new rules" have a second picture to go with the punch line - the guns melted into a statue of Alah did not have a representation of the gun-Alah statue. As you likely know, it is bullshit that it goes against the Koran to show a picture of Alah, pics of him are in many museums, it is also true that the fanatics still freak out about it anyway. I was disappointed that you did not show a picture. If nothing else to show that you do not buy into the fear of doing such a thing. anyway.... you rock!!! Love you, your shows, your guest appearances and your stand-up shows!

PS. I am into having 2 women at the same time - can I have "minority" status - since many think that bedroom preferences deserve some special status. Let the breeders keep the term "marriage" and be sure that all people have civil union rights. Like when the Cleveland Browns got to keep their name and Baltimore got a team - win - win!

Anyway two women - that is some affirmative action I could be down with! Peace!

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RE: Is Ann Coulter a Liar

Ann is just starved for attention. Since she is mostly a comedy act, I'm not sure you can call her a liar. But her Adams Apple does seem to swell when she is confronted.

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RE: The El Coyote restaurant and Gay Fascist

Every place that I read the gay fascist are boycotting, me and my friends will be going out of our way to give them business.

We had not been to the "El" in years. It was good to be back!

For the record - The only gripe is over a word...right? Gays have all the same rights, they just want a new definition of a word.

Is life so good that this is where you want to draw the line. Let society keep it's definition.

SEXUAL PREFERENCE DOES NOT EQUATE TO MINORITY STATUS OR A CIVIL RIGHT. IT IS A BEDROOM THING!!! Cant we all just get over sex and get along?

And for the gay bashers - gay is NOT a choice! Would YOU CHOOSE TO BE GAY?

Thanks again for getting me back to going to El Coyote!

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Marylin,

The Mosquito is far from being useless. Besides being Bat food, it's most useful function is population control.

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RE: The Endangered Wolves

I am far from being a vegetarian but I am growing increasingly upset by the behavior and practices of our food suppliers. First the unnecessary, and potentially catastrophic, action of filling our meat supply with antibiotics and now you report that they are using our parklands to the detriment of the wolves. Kick those creeps off of our land, save the wolves and kindly pass me the vegy burgers.

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Dump Jackson!

Andrew Jackson needs to be removed from the 20 dollar bill.

An image from our National Parks, monuments or most any other President, would be a better choice than the shameful choice of Jackson! Better yet, lets put Tecumseh, Sitting Bull or other Native on the bill.

Andrew Jackson does have a few very good points to his credit. Including defeating the British in New Orleans (After the war was already over) but his disregard for the rule of law, including executions of his own troops and prisoners, was just the tip of the iceberg that is his criminal ego.

He is the face of - The Trail of Tears.

The Cherokees went to the Supreme Court in 1831. This time they based their appeal on an 1830 Georgia law which prohibited whites from living on Indian territory after March 31, 1831, without a license from the state.

The court decided in favor of the Cherokee. It stated that the Cherokee had the right to self-government, and declared Georgia 's extension of state law over them to be unconstitutional. The state of Georgia refused to abide by the Court decision, however, and President Jackson refused to enforce the law.

Jackson exclaimed “The Supreme court made its decision, let them enforce it.”

THIS STATEMENT ALONE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH REASON FOR JACKSON TO BE KICKED OFF THE 20 DOLLAR BILL AND REMEMBERED IN HISTORY AS ONE OF THE MOST CRIMINAL OF ALL PRESIDENTS!

The U.S. government sent in 7,000 troops, who forced the Cherokees into stockades at bayonet point. They were not allowed time to gather their belongings, and as they left, whites looted their homes. Then began the march known as the Trail of Tears, in which 4,000 Cherokee people died of cold, hunger, and disease on their way to the western lands.

By 1837, the Jackson administration had removed 46,000 Native American people from their land east of the Mississippi , and had secured treaties which led to the removal of a slightly larger number. Most members of the five southeastern nations had been relocated west, opening 25 million acres of land to white settlement and to slavery.

Even before he was elected President, Andrew Jackson had been instrumental in forcing Native Americans out of the South. Once in office, he continued this policy at an accelerated pace. The Cherokee nation was one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" in the southeast, and like all other tribes existing east of the Mississippi River, their removal was essential to Jackson 's plan.

In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma . The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. The migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of the Cherokees died.

I am part Cherokee and I do not have a problem with the fact that natives were conquered. Through out history people have been conquering each other. I do have a big problem with the breaking of treaties and all the other dishonorable acts. I small way to make up for some of these many shameful deeds is to Dump Jackson from our 20 dollar bill!

Next we should return the Black Hills to to the Sioux as it is and was theirs by birth AND by treaty. But that is another blog for another time.

Why Hippies Suck.

So the torch has been passes to a new generation. The Baby Boomers were a bust. The last two Presidents were of the Baby Boomer / Hippie generation. What a disappointment.

Clinton smoked pot and still could not reform our draconian, failing, unconstitutional drug policies. Even as they apply to just non-violent pot smokers. Amazingly, not even to Hemp, an industrial crop that could replace paper (saving trees, eliminating oil based products, saving top soil and reducing poisons in our environment). No one could get high on Hemp even if they did inhale.

George W. Bush is almost too easy of a target. Many call him the worst president ever. We will be living with his disasters for many generations to come. And his failure to secure our borders will assuredly lead to future terrorist attacks. And as far as drug policy reform, the word is he was a bigger stoner than Clinton. Cocaine and kegs were alright for him but will get an average American a lifetime in prison. How many murders get short sentences (national average 11 years) to make room for non violent offenders who would serve society better by going into rehab or just being left alone, if they broke no other laws than substance usage?

If you think it is unfair to Hippies lump Clinton and Bush in with them, then let me point out specifically what a failure they turned out to be. They made up a huge voting block and little has changed. They sold out! They became corporate America. They are the Hippocrates that tried to limit free speech in Heavy Metal music, the same people that played rock music during their rallies without the musician’s permission. We are still uptight about sexuality and insanely, we still can’t even use certain words on television. Not even on late night news programs. Hearing grown men say “bleep” over and over again when trying to quote Chicago Governor Blagojevich was just beyond silly! No children are watching CNN at 11pm. We all know what the bleeps mean, just Fucking say it!

I often feel compelled to acknowledge the other view of my own opinions so, I do enjoy much of the music from the 1960’s, they were actual musicians that actually played instruments and sang. I do like the color of tie dyed clothes. I very much appreciate their thirst for knowledge, self discovery and openness to other religions and cultures. They undoubtedly helped bring the Vietnam War to an end sooner. But did little to avoid all the other wars, small and large, that our country has waged.

Maybe knowing that all the promises and potential of the Peace movement seems to have been wasted is what makes them such a disappointment. So as you ex-hippies drive your Beamers and give less than lip service to making our country a better place, I say “I expected more from you all”. I have no problem taking responsibility for my generation but we never claimed to be here to save the world. We did not come up with “give peace a chance” and vote into office two duds in a row. We did not champion the Vegetarian lifestyle only to be left with hormone and antibiotic poisoned food supply that has caused a new epidemic of super incurable viruses. We did not preach about “living simply” and wind up with shorter life spans due to pollution and greed. We are left to clean up after you and the world is smaller, dirtier and more dangerous than it ever was. Everything is a polluted, broken, corrupt mess. And it could not have been so screwed up without your compliance. The Doors sung that “they had the guns but you had the numbers” Sadly you never “took over”.

Racism is Dead!

Racism is dead!

Proven morally and intellectually defunct. Good riddance, goodbye, time to put all that energy into something else. Almost anything else. Hopefully something positive.

Okay, I admit that I can not single-handedly kill racism. I am thinking that it needs to be declared dead so we Earthlings can start to move forward. I know one can still see signs of racism. Much like one can still see Lenin, pickled and entombed under glass in Russia. He is long dead but still viewable. Many things are long gone that linger on. Remember that Spanish American War Tax that was buried into our telecommunication taxes for over 100 years before it was officially removed? Anyway, I have researched the issue.

THE SCIENCE: Skin color is simply a pigment evolved at different rates depending on the weather. We all are related. Humans most likely ALL came from Africa. Ever see a picture of Earth from outer space? Well... that is our hometown, we all come from and live there, very much connected and related.

THE HISTORY: Slavery is a big part of history. Slavery in America was helped by Africans selling Africans to Europeans. Some tribes look down on those that are darker, some tribes are the opposite. Of course it makes no sense. Can’t we all just get along?

CURRENT EVENTS: There is still slavery today. Child Labor, Sex Slaves, villagers forced to fight guerilla wars and people are still bought and sold in many ways in more than a few countries. As I am writing this, Barack Obama is leading in the polls to become the first Black President. Actually he is of mixed race (aren’t we all really?). Sadly society is still a bit hung up so he is rarely referred to as anything other than African American, even though the truth is more inclusive and well... honest. Still, very cool to have someone different so close to being president. If I had an ounce of “White Guilt” (or lived in a "swing" state) I would vote for him. But since I had nothing to do with slavery, my family fought for the North (and don’t get me started on my Cherokee relatives, the Trail of Tears and that traitor Andrew Jackson). I once again will be voting for a Third Party candidate. Yes I actually vote by the issues. My “Litmus Test” is The United States Constitution and Quality of Life. When I hear people say that they vote for “The lesser of two evils” I just want to smack them upside the head with a crucifix!

PERSONAL: I have been “Girl Crazy” since the third grade. My school mates said “girls have cooties” but I was drawn to them. I always thought that a pretty girl was a pretty girl and variety of skin, eyes, hair, accents and shapes only made them more attractive to me. Conversely, I found little in life as ugly as a racist. And not just the toothless rednecks with poor grammar but all the hateful people of all colors and shades. I ran into a couple of Black Americans in Africa (actually they were more of a Mocha color) and we had lunch, drinks and a lot of laughs about our experiences in Africa. I had much more in common with them than I did with my White safari guide and they had more in common with me than with all of the Black Africans. Simply because our differences, and similarities, are cultural and not racial. Something that the race baiters who are on the wrong side of the Illegal Immigration debate never seem to realize. Another plus is that we can all have fun joking on each others culture without being accused of being racist (sorry my black brothers but you are third behind the French and Armenians in my yet to be written stand-up comedian routine but I do thank you for boinking all the chubby strawberry-blondes. They need lovin’ too and I just can’t go there).

Years ago, I started taping interviews of my family members. I asked my Father, who was a child of the 50’s “Space Age”, if this is what he thought the future would be like when he was a kid. He replied that he thought the world would be very different. Flying cars, Food Tablets and he thought that we would be Well Past Racism. Interestingly my dad is far from a Liberal Ideologue and even as a child he knew that seeing past race was a “no brainer”.

When I was three years old my Great Grandmother told us that a “Colored Man” had broken into her home. I sat quietly and confused. On the drive home I asked my dad “Why the Colored Man broke into Grandmas house?” “Was he not making enough money at the carnival?” After a while my dad realized that I thought a colored man was a tattooed carnival performer. She said “colored”. I did not know that meant only one color at a time. My imagination was much more vivid than that! You see I was old enough, at age three, to understand the principals of commerce but if society had not made a big deal out of skin tone I would not have thought that much about it.

So... can we just declare it dead already? We can come up with an official date at a later time. Maybe the 5th of July or on Bob Marley or MLK Jr.’s birthday or today, right now, yesterday, whatever. I will organize the funeral. We can have a symbolic coffin made out of something like pressed seaweed. We can march down Venice Beach with a New Orleans style Jazz Band playing taps. We will put the coffin out to sea, all ablaze Viking style. We can all sing and party till dawn. The next day we can work on things like Peace, Shelter, Food, Clean Air and Water, Removing Toxins from well... everything, Space Exploration, Corruption, Clean Energy, Health, Meteor Defense, Prison Reform, Education, Building a better Hammock, anything, everything!

All that Wasted Time and Energy. All that Hate and Ignorance. The only single thing worse than all that stuff in our Past is letting it into our Future. Racism is Dead! It belongs in the scrap pile of history. Our grandchildren will have to shake their heads in amazement to learn that we once thought the Earth was Flat and we judged a person by the Color of their Skin and not by the Content of their Character.

Let FreeDUMB Ring!

You have likely heard it often said that people are “basically smart”.

Politicians like to say that a lot! That is the first red flag that it is likely not so.

They also like to say that “people are basically good” and or ‘kind”. Most often they are referring to Americans. I do believe it true that most people are good. We want the same things; justice, food, shelter, companionship, drinkable water and breathable air. But I am convinced that a lot of people are NOT smart. This likely does not apply to anyone reading this, as this is posted online. One needs to be motivated and educated enough to navigate a computer and the internet, be interested enough in other opinions out of curiosity or a desire to expand ones mind and lastly, must be able to read.

Being smart, alone, is not necessarily a virtue. The Nazi’s were plenty smart, yet they were a bunch of evil thugs. My point is simply that I am tired of hearing lies from our leaders, and saying that America is “Number One” or that “Americans are smart” is a lie.

I do not expect perfection from a politician, or anyone else, but if the leaders are so stupid, corrupt, perverted and criminal, then what does that say about our country? Even if you do not vote, (not smart) they are still your leaders. Even if you do not literally follow them, they set policy and the world sees them as our leaders.

One policy example is our current draconian Drug Policies. George W. was a coke head and boozer, Clinton smoked pot, Bush Sr. had his life saved in WWII by using a HEMP parachute and Reagan sold cocaine through the Air Force (known as the Iran Contra Affair). So did policy for regular Americans change? No way! In their minds, that would make them look like they were “soft on crime”. The lesson is - only the rich and connected can make mistakes and/or do drugs with impunity. As for the rest of us? Hemp can be imported but not grown and mandatory minimums for drug offenses!

In many states one can get less than 11 years for murder but 20 years for a non violent pot offense. Too bad we can’t all be like Reagan’s boy Oliver North and stand wearing our military uniforms when we testify. Did he get the years in prison that he deserved? Hell no, he got a talk show!

Stupid policies are great examples. Dangerously poor border policies, harmful food, water and imports policies, lousy health policies and the policy for politicians to keep giving themselves raises and vacations while our quality of pay, life, health and education goes down the toilette. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

But my all time favorite example is New Mexico. This single example alone stands as a beacon to the continuing stupidity of Americans. Next time you see a car with a New Mexico license plate notice that at the bottom it reads “United States”. Why? Too many people do not even know that it is a state. I have encountered more than a few of these products of public education. The last time was when renting a car and the woman insisted that I could not take the car out of the country. It took me a good amount of time, and a conversation with her supervisor, to convince her that New Mexico was part of the United States. Sadly, I have plenty of other examples but New Mexico is my favorite.

Full Disclosure:
(I too am a product of Public Education. Attending 19 schools in 12 years and can factually testify that Teachers can also be the opposite of smart)

My second favorite example and the only reality show worth watching, is the TV show COPS. COPS show us that stupid plus alcohol can be entertaining. It shows Public Servants (the cops) displaying Constitutionally questionable behavior. (Imagine what must get edited out!) It shows us that people are so very, very stupid that they give permission to search their trunks when they could legally and politely refuse. Followed by, surprise, they get busted.

Thirdly, more people voted for the “American Idol” than for the President. Those that even bother to vote, claim to be disappointed with both parties. Yet very few vote for a third party. If only half of the non voters and half unhappy voters voted for a third party, it would be a landslide victory sending an undeniable message to Washington D.C.

Too smart to ever happen?

Fourth. If Darwin was correct, how long before the stupid kill themselves off? Like the true story of the 3 men who tried to commit insurance fraud by driving their compact car under a speeding semi-truck. Wow, three people that stupid in one car.

They were all killed of course.

Fifth example. Where we get our news. Besides the lame things that get coverage, those Rating Monkeys are so stupid that they often put their logos over the very news items they are trying to show. News has become gossip and they are so very stupid that when talking about Gas Prices they round the 9/10ths of a cent listed as the price down to zero and not up to one. So, $ 4.19 9/10 becomes $4.19 and not $4.20 as it should be.

Those clowns should give 9/10ths of their salaries to charity!

Speaking of gas... example number six. Some of my earliest memories were the of the fuel crisis 30 years ago. What have we done since? Built bigger cars, lost sells to Japan, polluted our world and made gazillionaires out of terrorist supporting countries! All when the Sun can be tapped in and out of our atmosphere, the Wind continues to blow, Geo Thermal vents continue to produce heat and the Ocean Currents continue to flow; all great sources of energy that could have been perfected by now.

“Lucky” number 7 is the next example. Make up your mind America, are you “One Nation Under God” or are you superstitious? One can follow neither but not both. There is no such thing as luck! There is Fate, Timing and likely even Human Intuition bordering on Psychic Ability, but no luck.

Not walking under a ladder is common sense, not a way to avoid bad luck.

Eighth and final example. We are so stupid and litigious that commercials now need to have written disclaimers that instruct “do not attempt” as a person pretends to eat a roll of coins and “do not attempt, professional driver on a closed course” The “dangerous” stunt was a car gently pulling up to a curb and stopping. The ones where the car flies off the cliff and explodes simply reads “do not attempt”. Too bad the guys who drove under the semi did not see a commercial warning them not to.

And notice on your coffee cup it reads “contents hot”. I also have seen headache medicine that admits that one possible side effect is “headaches”! There should be “mandatory minimums” for the drug pushers at the pharmaceutical companies. But they share ownership of our government along with the Oil companies, HMO’s, and Prison Guard unions. Corruption so blatant that it requires apathy and stupidity to continue.

So exactly what is America “Number One” in? Well, we passed Russia long ago as the world’s number one jailer of our citizens. We have very high rates of murder, pollution, obesity and consumption. We likely export more jobs out of our country than any other. But what about the good stuff? Well, we are not even in the top 20 in education and health care!

Hospital bills are the number one reason for people losing their homes and filling for bankruptcy. (PS. those scumbags in Congress recently let the credit card companies re-write the bankruptcy laws. Next the Wolves get to design the Chicken coups) and regarding education... I am not sure that it is a conspiracy but the definition of conspiracy is simply, when two or more people conspire to do something. So just maybe it is a conspiracy to dumb down the country. Smart people do not stand for injustice as easily as the ignorant. I used to think the education system trained children just enough to be cogs in a wheel, to hold low paying jobs, drink cheap beer and NEVER question authority! But the cheap jobs are taken by illegal immigrants (press 1 for English) and the mid paying jobs go to India and China. China alone will have to be subject of another blog. But preview note: They are NOT our friend! They steal our technology, suppress freedom and will someday want to be a (or the only) world power. The fact that they are signing treaties and cozying up with Russia is a very big deal but the news is too full of fluff for most people to know anything about that major occurrence. I also noticed that my American Flag was “Made in China”.

Back to education... Science has somehow become a political subject instead of cold hard facts (note: reference “worst president ever”), we are 24^th in Math, (may explain the confusion over “9/10ths = zero”) and a kid drops out of school every 9 seconds, about 1 Million a year!

Goodbye Middle Class, hello “New World Order”.

Antibiotic resistant infections are becoming the number one killer of Americans! How much has the news told us about this catastrophe? Almost, nothing! Not as important to them as celebrity gossip, just potentially devastating to mankind.

So we destroy our habitat, poison our food supply, our soil, our water, our air. We lie, cheat, steal and murder. Sometime in the name of God, sometimes because of the failures of mental health availability, sometimes because of greed, ego, intoxication, on and on and on, it “unsmartly” goes....

I love my Country, I love my neighbors, and I love my planet.

We are a lot of things... As a whole, we are not smart!

Open Letter to the Candidates

Dear Candidates,

While you talk, maneuver, talk, pretend to be real and talk. Most of us are simply turned off. You talk about how much better you are than the other candidates but to us you are all the same. The country's infrastructure falls apart, our borders are wide open, jobs leave the country as you give tax breaks to the companies that leave and none of you can get health care fixed. Children starve and die of preventable ailments right here in the richest country in the world.

Even though George Bush used Cocaine and Bill Clinton Smoked pot, none of you seem willing to reform our unconstitutionally insane drug policies. We have become the number one jailer of our citizens. More than China , more than Russia , number one world wide. Violent offenders get out early to make room for non violent drug users that would be better served by treatment. We can't use marijuana as medicine, even when voters mandate it, and we cant grow Hemp for fuel, paper or clothing even though it is impossible to get high from it! All because all of you are afraid to seem weak on crime. That and the fact that you are owned by the Pharmaceutical companies, Prison Guards Union and Lumber and Oil companies! Pathetic! We also assume that every last one of you are corrupt, bought and paid for by special interest groups.

You all have health care, you all give yourselves raises, long paid vacations and you spend away the future of our children like drunken sailors. You build Bridges to Nowhere, pay $2000 for hammers, give no-bid contracts to your friends and the more conservative you want to appear the more sexually deviant you are found out to be.

We do not have safe water to drink, the air is polluted and the food supply, especially the meat, is poisoned. So while you argue about your perceived difference we think you are all the same – rotten! So the next president will do a better job than George Bush? That is nothing to brag about! That bar is now set so low that most anybody will do a better job than Bush. Open the White Pages, close your eyes and point to a name. That person would do a better job. So please take some advice from a concerned citizen. Shut up, get to work, kick out the special interest! Stop being so fearful of how you appear and start doing the right things. All of you are rich enough already, right? Life is too short and your position has too much responsibility for you to continue business as usual. Meanwhile I will be voting for a third party candidate. And when all the pissed off Americans join me it will be a landslide.

I am not old enough to remember but according to recent history, Conservatives used to actually conserve! Conserve and protect the environment and they stood for smaller government and fiscal responsibility. Liberal used to mean open minded and forward thinking. Now Conservative translates to mean spirited, greedy, war mongers who have been hijacked by the radical religious elements while single handily destroying the planet. (Actually, over time, the planet will be just fine; it's the humans that are endangered) Conversely, Liberal now stands for tree hugging, socialist who want to pervert our family values, kill babies and return the Southwest back to Mexico . I for one refuse to buy into the madness. I choose to define Liberal and Conservative closer to how the dictionary does. Again, as you try to define yourselves as Conservative or Liberal, many of us consider you as all the same! Corrupt, ineffective and obnoxious!

Our Founding Fathers believed that a revolution was needed every so often to purge the corruption and restore justice. My hope is that it is not too late to have a bloodless revolution. Hopefully soon we can get back to laughing at how ridiculous you all are. Today the stakes are too high to be funny.