I LOVE GARDENIAS

(From Facebook.)

The winter solstice is upon us. The days are getting shorter. The nights are getting progressively longer and colder. We need solstice celebrations to brighten up this dismal period of time. I wonder what they do to celebrate the same phenomenon "down under" six months later. All this stuff developed in the religions of the northern hemisphere so the denizens of the southern hemisphere are stuck doing it backwards.

I'll have to bring some frost sensitive plants in before the end of the coming week. I guess I'll try to protect the gardenia I planted three years ago by trying to remember to cover it and turn a warming light on every frosty night. I inadvisedly bought it because I love the great perfume of gardenia flowers. They do great in Pasadena. Not so much here. If I get three or four flowers each spring, I'm lucky. Hardly worth the extra water and care. But, I hate to let a beautiful plant just die. I'm sentimental that way.

I guess it goes back to my college days when I discovered gardenia corsages to give my dates on the one or two dance nights we had each year. The girls went wild about them, especially the year when paychecks were delayed and we guys raided the gardenia and other flowering plants on campus to make our own corsages and place them in the plastic fronted sacks in which our laundered, starched and pressed shirts were returned to us by the laundry service. I think those corsages were appreciated much more than the ones we spent good money to buy. Anybody can buy a corsage if they have money, but it takes real caring to figure out how to provide one when you're just plain broke.

My sister had a gardenia bush outside her back door when they lived in Pasadena and when I went to conduct my mother's memorial, it was in bloom. I picked one of those blossoms and pinned it to her lapel as she laid in state in her casket. It was the least I could do as a tribute to one of the most important girls in my life. It would be nice to think that she was somehow aware, but I have no reason to believe that is possible.

Again, I had no idea what I was going to write when I clicked on this box. Now, I know how syndicated writers do it so regularly. You just start out and it flows from deep inside -- if you're a writer at heart.

I'M VERY THANKFUL

The turkey was stuffed, and now I am. So are the dogs. We're all very content.

This is supposed to be a day to count one's blessings. I hardly know where to begin about what I am thankful for. There are so many things.

I'm thankful for my inherited health and family heritage. I went astray into cultism in early adulthood but am thankful I saw the light instead of wasting the rest of my life in a cult splinter. Those have been happening with predictable regularity every since William Miller and Ellen G. White set the original madness in motion. Every generation or so, other fanatics grabbed the ball and ran with it into even worse delusions. They run into the multiple hundreds now.

I'm thankful for having a wonderful soul mate wife to share what to me is an idylic life here in Cottonwood. I'm thankful for the children and grandchildren I've been blessed with. For good and thoughtful neighbors I don't have to be fearful of. For competent medical professionals who keep me and Phyllis in the best shape possible.

Even though we're not "rolling in dough," we have enough to squeak through every month. Many don't. I'm glad I inherited a bit of my dad's ability to squeeze a dollar until it screamed when necessary.

Most of all, I'm thankful I no longer cower in superstitious fear before an imaginary deity that keeps you in bondage to fear and guilt so the preisthood that champions him can ride around in hedonistic luxury.

Life is good. It won't last forever, but while it does, I intend to make the most of it. Thankfully and appreciatively.

NOTE TO OBAMA

My thanksgiving note to President Barack H. Obama:

Mr. President:

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I wish you and your family a very happy and meaningful holiday.

I’m a staunch atheist who happens to hold a degree in theology, so I won’t be thanking any gods for anything. Yet, this is my favorite holiday of the whole year. It’s not necessary to believe in fictional gods to be thankful and at a healthy 79, I am very thankful for a great deal.

One of the things I am thankful for is that we have a sincere and caring man like you as president of our country. I know you’ve been able to accomplish only a small fraction of what you wished to accomplish due to the insane opposition you’ve encountered. If you’d had a democratic congress, much more would have been done and we’d long ago have left this “recession” in the dust.

I want you to know that your efforts are understood and appreciated by people like me and my wife, Phyllis. Thank you for everything you have tried to do and have done to bring sanity back into government, not the least of which being the avoidance of more ill-conceived and unnecessary wars.

In deep appreciation


Allen C. Dexter

LOOKS PROMISING

(From Facebook.)

The storm seems to be over for us. I pity those people on the east coast if it doesn't go off into the Atlantic when it gets there. By one of my gauges, we got just over two and a half inches. By the other, 2.15. All I'm sure of is that it was over two inches. I finished up pretty well with the porch and pantry area today and scrubbed all the muddy foot and paw prints off the vinyl floors.

I'm encouraged that we have what looks like a promising deal with Iran. If the rethugs had been in total power, more of our young men would be giving their lives in a fruitless and ill-conceived new war in both places. Netanyahoo can go do somthing unspeakable to himself.

I'm sick of seeing our treasure and our young men squandered to back up an ancient claim to a piece of land by an invented race. Reminds me again that I'd like to burn that stupid piece of fiction if I didn't need to refer to it once in awhile. I sure don't waste anymore of my precious life sitting around reading it. Never was too keen on novels anyway. I can manufacture my own daydreams.

I guess I'll go see what's on TV.

THE MINIMUM WAGE CASE

(From Facebook.)

I couldn't say it any better, so I won't try. I spent 22 years of my life stuck, by my own stupidity, in an organization with this basic approach. Now, it's the system and lifestyle of my whole nation, and based on the same damn thing -- religion. It's nothing but serfdom and slavery! The rich and the priests, often the same people, like it that way. Everybody else can just go to hell as far as they are concerned.

This is America's sad truth these days. We can start to rebuild the "dream" by saying it's time to Raise The Minimum Wage. This quote is an excerpt from an EXCELLENT comment that was posted on our last meme about Walmart. Here is the full comment:

"To those of you who read this I ask that you share this if possible: I’ve mostly wanted to get this off of my chest in regards to how the minimum wage is a serious issue here in America. To those of you who bitch, whine, and complain that people should go to college, learn a trade/skill, or even get your certification/license, how are people able to do that if they are unable to even take care of themselves with what they are paid? Yeah, having all of that helps, but it doesn’t guarantee that a person will be able to get a better job at all. It could be years that a person is able to get a better job than what they currently have, and that’s IF they get a better job. Having that education, skill, knowledge, certification, etc., isn’t a promissory note that a person will get such a thing when they are done. Even with college grads in today’s world, not everybody is able to go into the field that they studied for and end up working for a low end job. Going to college is ultimately nothing more than a gamble.

You say that raising the minimum wage will increase prices to various products and services, then let me ask you this since you are ignorant to how things currently are: Why is it that things are going up in price, such as rent, gas, utilities, groceries, etc. and the paycheck is remaining low? Untouched for years at a time, while everything else that people need to survive goes up anywhere from a couple days to within a year? Sure, there are programs, and assistance, but that doesn’t last forever since people need a roof over their head, food, medication, and so forth for years to come.

Those of you who complain that the minimum wage should remain the way it is, I give you a challenge. Give up your current job for a job at McDonald’s, Burger King, Wal-mart, somewhere that gives you minimum wage starting out and I would like to see you do this and tell me how easy it is to do things such as pay your bills, take care of your family, and afford to go to college WITHOUT your parents, any other outside help, or even using your current degree, experience and certifications. To those that complain, yeah, you may have worked to get where you are, with connections, parents, etc., but try doing that all on your own from square one, because not everybody in the world is fortunate enough to have someone there to hold their hand, let alone help them.

And we’re supposed to be living the American dream? What dream? Yeah, we have more freedom to do what we want, when we want, how we want, for better or worse, form our own beliefs, and create our own life, right or wrong. But, what country should force its people to struggle, suffer, starve and live in poverty, then turn around and call that a dream?

To those of you that have a problem about what I am saying, issues about the minimum wage, how there are programs that don’t always treat people equally, or anything regarding issues about the minimum wage on this page, there is a back button on the top left corner of your browser, an un-friend option that you can choose, and move on with your life. While you have nothing better to do with your worthless lives than to look down on those who are working like crazy just to survive, and make your hypocritical comments, there are people out there who are doing everything they can to survive for themselves, and possibly their family, while they may never see nowhere near what you may have: a nice car, a nice home, and easier access to a stable lifestyle."

-Zhane Washington

SUCKERED AGAIN!

To say I'm PO'd would be a gross understatement right now.

Last fall, I sucked an aflac duck our dogs had been playing with into my Toro leaf vacuum/blower and burned it up. I'd used it several seasons and the only problem was with the elastic on the leaf bag giving out. An old ranch kid like me knows how to deal with that with the equivalent of baling wire. Problem solved!

I needed a new leaf vacuum and soon found a brand new Weedeater E-Max at a sale, still in the box, for $25. I bought.

Today, I decided to vacuum up the leaves in our back yard so it wouldn't be so messy and went merrrily after them. In about half an hour, ground up leaves started hitting my leg. What the _____?

Inspection revealed that the small twigs that are inevitably a part of such a job had knocked a hole in the housing surrounding the impeler. Off to the shop to contrive a fix.

I discovered that the housing was very brittle and very thin -- less than an eighth of an inch. Also, it's a plastic impeler instead of the metal one in my old vacuum. It already has chips in it.

I'm like the guy with the Tee Shirt that says, "I can fix anything! Where's the duct tape?" It soon became apparent to me that duct tape would be the best repair. After several layers of that, the hole was sealed and I was back on the job -- for about a minute -- at which time leaves started pouring out the other side.

Another hole!

After four stops for repairs which left my tool basically a duct tape wonder. I finished up and all the leaves had been ground up and deposited in my compost bin where they're soaked down and soon will be great composted mulch that's set aside for my patch of egyptian walking onions.

What companies stick people with really frosts me. I'm sure Weed Eater makes a deluxe model, but this certainly isn't it. This is made to trick people who want a leaf vacuum but can't afford a good one to buy this cheaper model and then be stuck with a broken down piece of junk and their money already gone into the ravenous pockets of some millionaire or billionaire.

They'd never stand behind such a piece of junk and just say something was sucked in that never should have been. If I have to sort my leaves to find anything a little bit hard, what's the point in having the tool anyway. My original Toro took care of any small stick without even a grunt, but that stuffed duck was a little too much for it.

Will I ever get to the point where I don't get suckered like this? Doubtful. There isn't time to think every little thing through to the nth degree. I know I'll spend my money for a piece of junk again sometime somewhere. Just gotta live with it -- but, I can at least bitch about it!

INTERESTING DREAM

(From Facebook.)

I had an interesting dream that could never be a reality. For some reason the dream didn't include, I was asked to give a sermon in a Lutheran Church. Being an atheist, I had to preach on the Sermon on the Mount, and I was dwelling on the very things I dwell on here on Facebook and on my blog. The audience reaction was not included. There I was standing and waxing eloquent in the traditional attire of a man's dress.

Dreams are strange things. I guess it just resulted from my being so passionate about some of the things I dwell on here. I always was a fair-minded person, and when I see the blatant unfairness and mindless sloganeering rampant today, it drives me nuts.

Anyway, I've again shared some very pointed observations on the world situation. It's the only preaching I have access to right now.

JESUS IS A ROMAN INVENTION!

I just sat through this video movie the second time. It is astonishing, but it makes perfect sense. It really is the ROMAN Catholic Church!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM2KONcLKQU
Cesar's Messiah Jesus A Roman Invention
www.youtube.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aSKN0xnfsA This is for educational purposes. Source; Cesar's Messiah . Proving that religions have been reworked to control n...

COMMUNICATION IS GOOD

(From Facebook.)

It again hit me how valuable modern social media is to us humans. I remember when communication with others was a haphazard thing governed by the need to write and mail time consuming letters or make expensive phone calls, and we just didn't have the wherewithal to get deeply involved with those we should have been closest to. We were often deeply separated from those with whom we should have been the closest and pretty much an unknown nebulosity to them.

It doesn't have to be that way anymore. We can email, we can tweet, we can blog, we can dial the cell phone at odd times when we just have time on our hands and feel the urge to talk. We don't have to feel alone and isolated anymore.

I spend an awful lot of time on Facebook. It keeps me in contact with a whole bunch of friends and relatives and they are aware of what I'm thinking and doing, and vice versa. I'm often sitting just waiting on Phyllis to finish something like shopping and just pick up my cell phone to call someone, often my sister who neither Facebooks or blogs.

I'm well aware that all these things can be over used, and maybe I sometimes am guilty, but I feel my children, grandchildren and friends know me a whole lot more than they did before, and the reverse is also true. I think anything that increases personal contact and understanding is basically good.

DISASTER IS INEVITABLE

It gets a little overwhelming sometimes.

I can't dwell on what happened in the Philipines or I'd not sleep well. There's never been a storm like that recorded, and I for one, am not going to give countenance to the nonsense that human-caused global warming isn't at fault.

Yes, we have to move about, but we don't have to do it in fossil fuel powered vehicles. We could have been moving on hydrogen and only exhausting water from our tailpipes decades ago. It was deliberately suppressed and the lie that it was too dangerous was just that -- a damn lie! Nothing would be too dangerous if it enriched the powers that are in control!

Here in Arizona, there's a big battle going on before the Corporation Commission trying to sabotage the development of solar energy by saying that people who get paid for the energy they contribute to the grid and thus often pay no electricity bill aren't doing their fair share to maintain the power grid. Any excuse to slow down and/or sabotage progress just out of jealousy and greed. Some millionaires and billionaires are behind it I'm sure.

Just like in ancient Rome, we have a government owned and dictated to by big money. We don't have official slavery, but our minimum wage baloney and steadily eroded social justice system makes de facto slavery an everyday reality. If you can't earn a living wage, you are a slave, pure and simple!

I'm very discouraged. I also know we are very vulnerable to comparable disasters right here. When is the San Andreas going to let go? When is a giant fault slippage going to wipe out much of the northern pacific coast and send massive tidal waves all the way to Asia? When is that madrid fault going to go in the midwest? Such things are inevitable and are now being augmented by our own stupid ravages against the entire eco system. A deeper sea means bigger waves that reach even farther inland!

Frankly, I'm mighty scared when I contemplate what is likely to happen any day! Our luck can't hold forever.

If you think otherwise, just ask a Philipino.

CHANGE IS NOT AN ENEMY

Getting back in the swing of things.

I did a few more improvements this afternoon. For one, there was a ceiling fan hanging in the shop I didn't use because a floor fan worked better. I found today that it wasn't working, so down it came and got broken up into various types of recycling. That opens a rafter for some hooks to hang tools I'll soon be taking out of my van. I just don't need to carry all that weight around when I'm dropping the floor work. Still planning to hang onto the van though.

It really bothers me psycologically to give up the business. It was so much a part of my identity for so long. I miss going out, doing a small job and coming home with extra money in my wallet. I also miss the interaction with interesting people and feeling like I was a help to them. I know now how my dad must have felt when he had to move off the ranch. He had to do it seven years sooner than I did because that ranch work was a whole lot more demanding in a climate like that of North Dakota. Being stuck out there just wasn't feasible anymore.

It's all about facing and accepting realities. Life is full of those situations and I've had my share, just like everyone else. Those who refuse to change when change is called for are in for trouble of all kinds and sometimes it leads to disaster when there is total refusal to accept reality.

I had to accept the reality that what I thought was a lifetime career was over and had to find my way into a new one. I had to accept that a forever marriage was very temporal more than once and make the most of the situation. I had to carefully think through the whole direction of my life and slowly evolve from religious fanaticism to secular reason. Those are just the most major of the changes I've been through. There are too many to enumerate. Just sitting here writing this entry is a major change in my lifestyle that would have seemed an impossibility not too many years ago.

Change is not an enemy unless we stubbornly make it so. Glad I wrote this. It helps me sort things out and view them rationally.

THE DIVINE MAFIA

(From Facebook.)

I was going about the weekly floor cleanup, and as usual, my mind was also busy. I get alot of thinking done when I'm busy at something. I came with with thoughts I'll outline here and call "The Divine Mafia" when I post them to my blog.

Most people condemn and abhor organizations like the mafia, but they absolutely worship the same system when it comes to their personal beliefs.

Cosa Nostra (our thing) has fascinated me all my life. I think many people share that fascination, hence the success of movies like The Godfather.

Have you ever noticed how religions tend to mirror the organizational setup of the mafia? That's no accident. The parent basis of them all, the Catholic Church, was set up on the imperial roman political system which was fascist and authoritarian just like the mafia. It was one man rule from the top down that brooked no naysayers. Some of those rulers were benevolent and others were downright evil and sociopathic. All demanded unquestioning obedience to arbitrary rules that became traditional.

I know some churches are somewhat democratic in their setup, but you still will not be very welcome in their midst unless you subscribe to a basic set of beliefs and dogma. I guess that is unavoidable in any group. Nobody is going to fit into our freethought group if they come to a meeting and start praising Jesus or suggest an opening prayer.

Anyway, think about it. While you're at it, think about why that approach doesn't fit in a secular republic when people try to apply it to politics.

There's no room in a democratic republic for godfathers.

APOLOGY

I have to apologize to my readers for my blogging ineptness. For some reason I still don't understand, comments seem to have been blocked on my entries. I found lots of those comments and thought I was okaying them, but they disappeared instead.

Sorry, folks. It's my ineptness not my attitude toward comments. I think I now have comments turned on, but I'm not sure. I really do care about what you think, unless you're an apologist for Armstrongism and religion. In which case, you're wasting your time arguing with me and I won't waste mine by participating.

THE ETERNAL PRESENT

The weekend is upon us again. We spent the morning taking in a few sales but found very little. After brunch I've been on the computer checking the sites I check every day.

There was a dog atlas in a free box so I picked it up and it looks like some interesting reading. I'm fascinated by dogs -- all animals for that matter, but dogs are special because they are so much like humans. You can't help but feel close to them in their friendly neediness and their child-like trust. They're all napping with Phyllis right now. All she has to say is, "Want to take a nap with mama?" and they head for the bedroom. When we're going out, I say, "Little boys want to go bye bye?" and they start yelping and herding me out the door.

I doubt I'll accomplish much today. Just have no fire for it, and that's OK. At this stage in life, I really don't feel compelled to do much of anything. Tomorrow will be fine if I don't get to it today. If I never get to it, who cares? It isn't going to warp the fabric of the universe. I see those abandoned old tumble down shacks out on the desert and reflect that someone labored long and hard to make some dream come true there and soon even those scant remains of their labors will disappear. A lot of human history, dreams and struggles lie hidden in thousands of abandoned "tells" throughout the world and archaeologists labor to reveal a scant fraction of it through their excavations. Real lives were involved there and a whole lot of meaningful living.

I have the eternal present and that's what I try to concentrate on. I think I'll just sign off and mosey outside for whatever strikes my fancy.

REMINISCING

(From Facebook.)

Stairs are done -- even the casters. I took a look at what I had collected and I had three casters I could just mount. A little reflection and I decided that would do in a tripod arrangement -- one on the low front and two on the high back. It'll be propped against a bed anyway, so it will be quite stable. So, that project can be dispensed with.

I'll still buy casters if I come upon them just to have them handy when I might need them. When you buy cheap at sales, that system pays off more times than not. Saves a bundle when the need arises and I don't have to shell out retail prices. My collection of bolts, screws, etc. is almost endless and I make use of it frequently. Seldom do I have to go to the hardware store.

The weather is absolutely ideal right now. I had to take off my flannel shirt for a while as I was working, but it feels good most of the time. I pity those poor people up north and back east. Seems like something unseasonal keeps coming along and it horrified me to learn of all those ranchers losing so many cattle trapped on summer range in South Dakota when that surprise storm came along last month. I know from my Dad's experiences how that hurts. He lost much of his herd in 1952. Took a long time to recover. Weather is one of the most devastating variables farmers and ranchers have to deal with.

One of the things I'm thankful for is having gotten away from the agricultural life. It's not what it used to be. Not many truly small family farms exist anymore. Only the large holdings, mainly corporate entities now, have survived. I wouldn't like it. Running everything by computer calculation doesn't appeal to me.

Remembering the old days of gardens, milk cows, a diversity of production and using your own seed saved year to year gives me a nostalgic feeling. I fondly remember churning butter, cultivating the garden after a rain, etc. I'd love to see a mother hen come wandering in with her brood from a hidden nest again or watching the young lambs prancing around in their joyful play. It was a different world back then. Now, a lot of tumbledown farmsteads are nostalgic reminders of those times.

Just reminiscing. Old men and women have been doing it for millenia. It's what we have left.

ORNERY OLD NORMAN

(From Facebook.)

Well, I did it. I got the whole framework for those doggie stairs I'm making for my stepdaughter constructed out of junk wood I had on hand. Tomorrow, I'll carpet them and put on a handle. Next, I have to locate casters or slides to make it easier to move around. Plenty of time. They'll pick them up when they visit at Christmas (solstice) time. My eyes will be searching all those sales we're attending this weekend.

Got good news from my friend, Mark (Salyer) Manning. Tests indicate no cancer cells present in his lymphatic system from that non-malignant tumor removed from his right shoulder a few months back. Some light radiation treatment and rehab of his shoulder is all that remains. He's itching to get back to golfing.

Near as I know, everything is still A Ok with me. I've switched to the same doctor Phyllis has and will see him later this month. I didn't like my former provider sticking me with a PA after my former doctor retired and she having to send me to a specialist for things he did as a matter of course on my regular visits, like freezing off pre-cancerous lesions.

Come on, I can freeze them off myself with wart remover. I don't need to fork over $45 bucks to have a specialist do it! If I still lived in North Dakota, I could get the same thing absolutely free by standing out in a subzero wind and exposing the area for a few minutes! Think I'm kidding? Think again! Ornery should be my middle name!

Bedtime for this old ornery Norman.

THE BATTLE CONTINUES

Morning again. I feel pretty good. Overall, I'm pleased with yesterday's elections and determined to keep slugging away every way I can. I know it's a minuscule effort on my part, but every little bit helps. Not too happy about Christie's win, but he is one of the least toxic rethugs. Still toxic though.

I guess we have to have this dualism of good versus evil. We're still alpha-aspiring primates with ruthless elements seeking to to oppress the majority and keep them down while they ride high.

Gets tiring though. We should be so much better off as a nation and not in danger of becoming the failed wreckage of our founders dreams. By now, we should have become the most possperous and advanced nation that would dwarf the actual accomplishments we've had in spite of all the "conservative" push to tamp everything down.

We should already have a colony on the moon and be reaching for Mars. We could have conquered even more diseases than we have if the funding hadn't been wasted on destructive wars and perks for the rich and powerful. We should be traveling nationwide on bullet trains and hydrogen should be powering our everyday transportation.

So much more could have been accomplished if those preening alpha males hadn't wormed their way into control. It would be staggering! As always, the saddest words are "could have been."

But, here we are, and we can only push for a sane future.

I'm on board.

I hope you are too.

ADVICE FROM A "HOARY HEAD"

(From Facebook.)

The week is off to a good start. I got a few things accomplished today but mostly took it easy.

Taking it easy is pretty much my motto anymore, even when I'm busy at something. I used to be so full of nervous energy that I literally found it hard to sit still for very long. I miss it, but there's no remedy.

Kids, use that hormone generated energy. You can't save it up, and if you don't utilize it, it will be gone forever. Now, I know what they really meant about the "juices" drying up. At the same time, try to be wise in how you use it. I'd still square dance up a storm if I could, work night and day when I needed to and reach for every goal I could reasonably reach for if I had it to do over.

I think of my grandchildren often and wonder what their dreams are, what they yearn to do in life, etc. I remember well my own dreams and aspirations, some of them based on delusion and false premises. I'd like to save them some of the disillusionment and disappointments I've gone through, and I hope my being honest about my own life will help them in that department. Don't discount the lessons this old hoary head passes on to you.

If I had been more aware of and listened to the great thinkers of the past, like Ingersoll, Mencken, Mark Twain, Thomas Paine, and a host of others, I could have saved myself a lot of false forks in the road. As an aside, I knew Thomas Paine was a great thinker and founding father, but I never read his book until I was past seventy and didn't really know he was an atheist. For some reason I'll let you speculate on, that fact about him isn't emphasized by very many people.

Read, dammit! Think -- don't assume or take some blowhards word for it! Wear out those search engines! Knowledge has never been this accessible before. I had none of those modern (and often free) tools at your ages -- not even in middle age!

Assume nothing to be true until you exhaustively investigate it and consider contrary opinions in their entirety. That's science. That's true reasoning. Anything else courts disaster, and I've suffered through a great deal of that. It's no fun and it's better to avoid it.

I had no idea I was going to say all this a few minutes ago. Just flows sometimes.

LET'S TRY THE GIRLS FOR A CHANGE

An interesting fact came out on Bill Maher's Real Time tonight. That point was that women have an easier time of cooperating and compromising than men do. I think the observation that testosterone is at the basis is likely true. We men tend to be very competitive and "alpha man" oriented. It was also pointed out that women outnumber men and could easily take over the whole country politically. I, like Nielle Degrasse Tyson, who was on the show, would frankly like to see that happen.

We've had millennia of male domination that orginated in the fertile crescent and Asia and spread pretty much worldwide from there. I believe the old saying that the proof of the pudding is in the tasting and eating. What I see in the world and have experienced all of my life leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.

I'm not a macho dictator in my own home and really never wanted to be even when I was a slave to armstrongism. I respect women and regard them as equals. I deliberately went looking for someone on my intellectual level and knew I'd hit "pay dirt" when Phyllis came along. The retired baptist minister and fellow square dancer who officiated our wedding didn't like it one bit when we asked him to leave "obey" out of the ceremony. He just shook his head when he asked me one time how many heads there were in my home and I held up two fingers and said "two."

I'm not saying we should live in another unbalanced world where women ride roughshod over men, but history proves the opposite situation has produced a world where brute strength and macho posturing threatens to destroy us all. We should have progressed from that chimp rampaging thru the forest, banging on an oil drum to imtimidate his compatriots. Ted Cruz and his idiot minister father remind of that chimp who is, after all, their distant cousin, whether or not they like it or would admit it.