The Chaos Stream

What is the most dramatic cause of the lack of civility in America today that wasn't present 40 or 50 years ago? Why has the modern American become a self-centered, instant gratification, me first, greedy cretin? Well obviously not all Americans fall under this title, just a majority. The reason to me, for this change from 50 years ago is the amount of constant useless informational chatter bombarding us daily. How many people leave the TV on so they can get to sleep? How many people listen to the radio or TV while they get ready for work. Cell phones, email, Facebook, Twitter, video games. Endless de-humanizing devices running endlessly, stripping away our humanity. Why have a conversation when you can text? Why form your own opinion when some overpaid bigot on the radio can give you his? If the jerk on television cries crocodile tears because he thinks health care reform leads to communism, should you believe him? Why think for yourself? Just jump into the chaos stream and let all the prejudicial pablum wash over you. When George Orwell wrote the book 1984, I think he was off the mark in the year of the title and who the real villain was. Big Brother isn't the government. Big Brother is the secret cabal of billionaires that really use the chaos stream to control the unthinking sheep.

Waltzing Matilda

The wonderfully tragic movie "On the Beach" starring Gregory Peck was an excellent example of how man-kind will eventually destroy itself. I'm not suggesting that we will be slowly poisoned by radioactivity... although that is certainly a possibility. The feeling of the ultimate resignation hangs over the movie like a smokey pall. The attempts at trying to fix the unfix-able make the helplessness seem all the more real. Permeating the gloom is the song Waltzing Matilda. It's use in the movie stitches the common end of all things together.
This type of gloom seems to be hanging over mankind right now. It's like we've gone as far as we can and now all the destructive, negative, venal and selfish tendencies have percolated to the surface to start the final march. Has evolution given way to devolution? Was the little attempt with the 2008 election a final attempt to fix the unfix-able? We've laid waste to our home planet and are incapable of finding another. The rich will probably be the last to go, partying as the inevitable happens. I wonder what their song will be.

The Real Red Scare

Recently, a Republican Congressman from Florida stated that there were at least 80 Democrats in Congress who were members of the Communist Party. I'm not sure if he was serious or just joking. If he is serious I'm sure he has documentation to back up his claim.

Let's take a closer look at which political party really loves the communist Chinese. Richard Nixon was the president that opened up relations with the Chinese. He was a Republican President driven from office. A Republican lawmaker said the Communist Chinese worker was better at making solar panels than their American Counterparts. Better or paid more cheaply? Now we come to the crux of the problem. Seeing that money is the only concern the Republican party ever caters to, it would be most beneficial for someone to examine which companies have sent 3 million American manufacturing jobs to the Communist Chinese and how much money they contribute and to which political party.
Maybe the Republican Party should change it's tired elephant logo to a dragon guarding it's treasure hoard.

The Disintegration of America

I hate to say this but I really feel there will be a Republican takeover of the presidency and Congress. This means the anti-gravitational flow of money to the top, started in 1980, will climax like a Mayan Apocalypse in 2012. Why do I think this will happen? The recall election in Wisconsin pretty much tells the tale. Propaganda fueled by obscene amounts of money and billionaires willing to fund the right wing agenda have convinced the average Joe Dumb-ass that it is his best interest to vote for a party that wants to take away Medicare and Social Security. Policemen, teachers, firemen, the rich can hire their own security, private school instructors, and safety force, how about you? If your prejudices played to by right wing propagandists, cause you medical bills when they repeal Obamacare. If the law of the jungle is the only law you feel is necessary then you better have enough money to run with the big dogs. As the states start to fall apart because you can't stand any form of taxes I hope your compound is well stocked.

No Such Thing as Free Will

Here in Ohio there is a festival celebrated in Twinsburg called Twins Day. Twins from all over the country come to revel in their unique sameness. Most dress alike to accent the carbon copy effect. A scientific study was once done on identical twins separated soon after being born. These twins, some living in different parts of the country, made choices about mates, pets, and even the brand of beer they drank that were uncannily similar. This brings to mind an old three stooges short subject. Two so called professors debate which, hereditary or environment, plays the starring role in the way a person thinks and acts. They chose the stooges as their subjects. The experiment ends in a massive pie throwing fight. Even the professors and their high society guests engage in the whipped cream mayhem.
This brings me to the conclusion that the human animal doesn't really have  free will. He or she is genetically encoded to act or think a certain way. All the choices made by our ancestors were directed by their gene pool, and unless, do to environmental mis-adventure, the choices they made and we make are pre-programmed. This brings us to the two political parties in the United States. We are pre-programmed to be progressives or conservatives. As Curly, in the three stooges short said. "Have no qualms or trepidations" as to the inevitable outcome. It has already been decided.

To Boldly Go?

Ever hear the cliche less is more? In today's American mindset, the cliche should be more is not enough. In today's America, people actually camp out on Thanksgiving day in front of stores in order to buy Chinese manufactured baubles on Black Friday. So much for giving thanks. It's more like give me that, its mine. Americans line up for days living like bag ladies in order to buy the newest iPhone that will be obsolete in six months. Companies promote these humanity de-sensitizing devices by claiming that the speed at which you can download the most recent infantile game, is incredible. People don't even use cell phones for conversation. They would rather text than talk. They would rather post on the internet how they are having trouble with constipation or flatulence as if the world hangs on their every word.
Now it is said that the cell phone idea sprang from the communicator used by the actors on Star Trek. To me, Americans have become the Star Trek version of the Borg. This compulsion to become insect-like and be part of the internet hive is the opposite of liberating. But even I, while not owning a cell phone, have a blog. Resistance is futile.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Just recently I started using an inherited wind-up wrist watch. A watch with operational energy created by winding a spring. No batteries, just wind it to generate it's renewable energy. Not all of past innovations are worth abandoning.
Plastics from the Japanese Tsunami are now washing up on American shores. Independent of this, is a vast lake of plastic floating in the ocean. Once in America's recent past, glass bottles were used as renewable containers that not only safely transported milk and other liquids, but created jobs collecting the bottles and sterilizing them. Glass bottles that didn't leach chemicals into the liquids they contained.
At one time gas stations were called service stations. You never had to leave your car because service station attendants had jobs pumping your gas and checking your oil. Gas was under fifty cents a gallon then.
The cash register and the job of the cashier have given way to the self service scanner. Do your food purchases seem any cheaper?
Banks and bankers lent money based on the borrowers ability to repay the loan, not to get rich on banking fees.
Politicians ran for office to make life more tolerable for Americans. To help them survive. Now they run for the illusion of power and the lust for money.

More Tax Cuts, No Services, Pay for Everything Yourself

OK lets say the Republicans take over, eliminate ALL government programs except defense, and cut taxes for the rich or as they like to call them, job creators. Will you have enough money to exist in today's America? If the market place has become heaven and money has become god, can you pay for everything you will need? If Medicare is turned over to private insurance companies and Social Security becomes a play toy for Wall Street, do you have money to retire or will you just die on the job? If unions are abolished and you no longer have a voice in how you are treated at the work place, will you just grin and become mute? As voter ID laws and personhood amendments become a reality will you go along to get along? After the EPA is abolished and air and water standards go the way of the wooly mammoth, will you be able to save enough for a portable oxygen machine? After Obama care is abolished and your employer no longer provides health care benefits, will you sell your organs to keep your families health insurance? This vision of the future is not as ridiculous as you may think.

The Job Creators 10 Commandments

Now that the job creators, AKA, the rich, have their own cadre of hair sprayed preachers disavowing biblical passages such as the beatitudes and, harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, it's time for new set of 10 commandments:

1. Thou shalt have no gods other than money.

2. Thou shalt not waste money on benefits for others.

3. Thou shalt not swear at the job creator.

4. Remember the Sabbath golf date.

5. Honor thy father and thy mothers inheritence potential.

6. Thou shalt not kill the deal.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultry unless there is no chance of getting caught.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness unless it helps you get immunity from prosecution.

9.Thou shalt not steal in front of the auditor.

10. Thou shalt not covet unless you can generate enough junk bonds to cut the deal.

Let's face it if you're going to ignore the original ten you might as well follow the updated version.