LET'S GET REAL HERE

I get disgusted with the dumb expectations people have toward a president. They expect him to be a king and just get things done by command as soon as he is elected, not stopping to realize that this is a representative form of government and the president can't do a damn thing in most cases if the congress doesn't back him up.

Lot's of people think Obama has been sitting on his hands where Gitmo is concerned. Fact is, he issued an executive order to close down that embarrassing travesty soon after his inauguration but congress stymied and sabotaged it.

Congress (I mean the Republicans and a few traitor Democrats who should be kicked the hell out of the party) has done everything it could to sabotage every good thing Obama has tried to do since day one of his first administration. They are total assholes and I have no intention of apologizing to anyone for using that kind of terminology.

I despise everything the Republican party is and stands for.

TAKES GUTS TO REALLY LIVE

I was just relaxing on the patio with a morning cup of decaf and noticed once again the quote by Eleanor Roosevelt on the cup's side: "Do one thing every day that scares you." I bought it because of that quote -- many years ago now.

I can't claim to have done that every day of my life, but I have done a good many things that really scared me at first. So far, I've survived them all, sometimes the worse for wear.

I know many people who fit the old description, "stick in the mud." They will tolerate just about anything to keep from abandoning their comfortable rut. I suppose they get a comfortable sense of never changing dependability out of that, but it's not for me.

I remember how shaken I was when my first wife demanded a divorce and I could have just hunkered down and concluded It was best to just wait for happenstance to maybe end my sense of loneliness and abandonment. Instead, I looked around for groups that could be a help, soon getting into singles square dancing. A few girlfriends later, I found a reasonably compatible mate.

It scared the living begeebers out of me to start my own business and have to be responsible for landing and keeping my own customers, three times now, in Pasadena, Phoenix and Cottonwood. If anyone thinks being a self-employed entrepreneur is a bed of roses, try it sometime.

My sister thought I was making the mistake of my life when I moved to Arizona. Best choice ever, as far as I'm concerned. Absolutely no desire to move back to that California zoo. Phoenix became a hot old zoo of its own, so off to Cottonwood.

I could go on and on, but no need as far as I can see. Leaving a settled ranch life that could have been mine if I had compromised my desire for a different kind of life. Opting out of a religion I had dedicated my life to and which gave me a comfortable feeling of security no matter how regimented and controlling the atmosphere. Etc., etc.

I don't mean anyone should be rash and careless, but there is a time to coldly analyze the facts, determine what would be most fulfilling and get on with it.

INVOKING WITH REASON, NOT FAITH

I'm reading Herb Silverman's book, Candidate Without a Prayer. It's very interesting and inspirational to a secular humanist atheist like me.

On March 25, 2003, Herb (first atheist candidate for governor of South Carolina and founder of the Secular Coalition For America) was asked by Councilman Kwanjo Campbell to deliver a secularist invocation to a council meeting. What he delivered is so inspirational that I will post it here:

"Thank you for this opportunity to invoke a minority point of v...iew. Each of us is a minority in some way. It might be race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, or any other aspect in which we may be regarded as different. Each of us is also part of some majority. It is when we wear our majority hats that we need to be most mindful of how we treat others. We must pledge our best efforts to help one another, and to defend the rights of all of our citizens and residents.

What divides us is not so much our religious differences in this diverse country, but the degree of commitment we have to equal freedom of conscience for all people. We are gathered today, both religious and secular members of our community, with the shared belief that we must treat our fellow human beings with respect and dignity.

In this invocation, I don't ask you to close your eyes, but to keep your eyes constantly open to the serious problems that city government can solve or improve. I don't ask you to bow your heads, but look up at what you can accomplish by applying your considerable talents and experience to the issues that confront us.

As you work together on behalf of all who live in this city, may you draw strength and sustenance from one another through reason and compassion. I'd like to close in a bipartisan manner by quoting from two persidents I greatly admire -- one a Republican and the other a Democrat.

First, the Republican: 'When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion.' Abraham Lincoln.

And, now, the Democrat: 'It's remarkable how much you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit." Harry S. Truman."

WHAT IT'S LIKE IN THE ECONOMIC TRENCHES

I continue to be astounded at the cost of things today. No wonder so many are close to destitution and homelessness!

We and the poms went to WalMart this morning. On her way out, Phyllis told me she had bought some potato salad and asked if I'd get some fish sandwiches for lunch at the instore McDonalds.

It was $7.04 for two not too large buns, 2 small squares of fish and two dollops of tartar sauce! Where was the gold foil they should have come wrapped in?

I know the young guy who served me isn't being paid very much and is probably only surviving by continuing to live with his parents who are also undoubtedly struggling and watching the steady decline in their standard of living and the increase in their debt level.

This never had to be. We are all slaves to our petroleum based economic system that is being stubbornly maintained by the millionaires and billionaires who own us all. Long ago, we should have been powering our commerce and ourselves on pollution free hydrogen made cheaply from electricity and water. Don't give me that crap about how dangerous hydrogen is. Nobody has a problem dealing with equally explosive propane, which is petroleum based, or with atomic energy of which we've had ample demonstration of it's horrific dangers. How many are going to ultimately die from that japanese disaster. How safe do you feel eating that tuna sandwich loaded with radioactive isotopes? Don't hear much about that, do you? A vast swath of the Ukraine and to a lesser extent much of Europe will be poisoned for generations -- unborn generations which will continue to pay the price.

It seems like our checks go faster each passing month, no matter how much we cut back, refinance our mortgage, switch auto insurance, etc. And, the millionaires and billionaires make snide remarks about our being freeloaders and somehow falsely entitled. Yeah, we're part of that 47% asshole Romney denigrated. He's set for life with his pirated millions stolen largely from pension funds he confiscasted from raided companies. Business man, indeed! Not in my book. Introduce him to me and I'll spit in his hypocrite face.

End of rant.

CLARIFICATION

Just so people understand, I am not advocating the disarming of the American people when I advocate sensible gun control legislation, including universal background checks and the abolishment of assault rifles and other strictly military firearms and their acoutrements, like multiple round clips, in the hands of ordinary citizens. I wouldn't be for that anymore than I'd be for limiting automobile possession to a select few people, but I have no problem with having to prove I know how to drive safely and am physically capable of doing so before I am issued a driver license. If I hadn't had that cataract removal operation, there is no way I should have been allowed on the road, both for my own safety and certainly the safety of the public.

Likewise, felony criminals, mentally deranged people, etc. shouldn't be accumulating or toting around firearms, and if we weren't so intent on letting the wealthy get away with financially raping the society, we could afford to give such needy people the kind of supervised care they so desperately need and keep them away from access to such instruments of mass destruction.

I've mentioned before that when we knew my native american stepson was being released from prison and would be living with us for awhile, I got rid of all our firearms that I never used and saw no reason to possess because we knew his weakness for alcohol could take over and he is totally insane when alcohol is in his system. I didn't even keep the air guns I had purchased to deal with "varmints."

Guns are tools with legitmate practical uses. Like all tools, they can be dangerous in inexperienced or careless hands. I've used a lot of tools, and so far, nothing of disastrous import has occurred, but I've come close. It only takes a moment of inattention or some unexpected slip for serious injuries, some life threatening, to occur.

I personally think that we, as a nation, would be far safer if we had universal military training and every citizen was a potential soldier, if needed. Everyone would be schooled in weaponry and mentally unqualified individuals could be much more easily identified. I also think it's reasonable to have to prove proficiency and mental stability before being allowed to own such a weapon.

Yes, there could be dangers. However, nations like Switzerland and Israel have been able to pull off such universal militarization successfully and remain free nations. I think we have the capacity to do so as well. The dangers of our present inept system are all too apparent -- and disastrous.

THE FEAR THAT ENSLAVES MEN

It's a fact -- an inescapeable fact.  I'm going to die -- someday, someway.  You are too.  Everybody who has ever been successfully born is going to die.  Billions already have during the history of the human race.

We all know it, and we knew it fairly early in life.  It fills us with fear of its inevitability from an early age.  That fear has been capitalized on by innumerable skillful con artists from the beginning of human awareness up until the present time.  They were always there to extend a lifeline of hope for survival past that inevitable event.  The magical formulas have changed with time, but the promise has always been extended to the gullible that they can defeat death and live on forever in an afterlife if they will just follow the formula put forth.  Of course, that always includes maintaining the con artist in the lifestyle he demands for himself or they for themselves.

Some, like the new Pope, will make a show of being humble, but the fact never changes that even their humble lifestyle is being made possible by the groveling sacrifices of those beneath and subservient to them.

Some of us have managed to free ourselves and look the facts squarely in the face.  I have, and so have many others, like Roger Ebert, who had some very interesting things to say on the subject.   Read it here:  http://www.salon.com/2011/09/15/roger_ebert/