Divergent Thoughts on Life, Love and Death
01 Feb 2025 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: bribes, change, corruption, democrats, independents, lobbyists, oligarchs, peace, Politics, reform, republicans
Peace, Wisdom and a Long and Healthy Life,
John,
Dr. John Persico
612-310-3803
www.agingcapriciously.com
24 Jan 2025 9 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: christianity, donald trump, faith, Jesus, Politics
This week two courageous and brave women spoke their truth. In doing so, they stood up for America and the world. They are my Heroes. In standing up to speak out, they risked violence, retributions and death threats. They have since received some of each. That is why there are so few heroes. Freedom is not free. It means being willing to risk your reputation, your career and even your life. However, it has been said that “Evil triumphs when good people are silent.” Both of my heroes have been feted in the news, but I want to dedicate this blog to the truth that each was trying to tell. I do not think that their words should ever be forgotten. I will share their own words here, since I could never be as eloquent as both of these women were.
Every year for the next four years, I am going to post their words here on my blog on January 20, to remember the tragic episode that happened this day in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde::
Let me make one final plea. Mr. President, millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals, they — they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara and temples.
I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people, the good of all people in this nation and the world.
____________________________________________________________________________
Amy Goodman in her Democracy Now Podcast added the following comments to the courage of Bishop Budde.
AMY GOODMAN: Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde addressed President Trump and his family at the inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington as Trump and Vice President JD Vance sat in the front pew. Trump was later asked at the White House about her sermon.
REPORTER: What did you think of the service?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: What did you think? Did you like it? Did you find it exciting? Not too exciting, was it? I didn’t think it was a good service, no. Thank you very much.
AIDE: Thank you, press. Thank you, press.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They can do much — they can do much better.
AMY GOODMAN: President Trump later posted a message about Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde on his social media platform Truth Social, writing, quote, “The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”
Republican Congressman Mike Collins of Georgia posted a message online saying, quote, “The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.”
______________________________________________________________________________________
Ms. Pam Hemphill:
The following is from an online newscast and includes a discussion with Ms. Hemphill and a reporter. Some of my immediate comments below are taken from an NPR radio show this past Thursday featuring a discussion with Ms. Hemphill. That is when I first heard her story.
“President Trump this week issued pardons to more than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants, but one 71-year-old woman turned down the president’s offer of clemency, telling NPR it would be a dishonor to the truth of what happened that day.” — NPR Reporter
“I broke the law that day, period. Black and white,” Pamela Hemphill told NPR’s All Things Considered of the role she regrets playing at the Capitol that day. “I’m not a victim, I’m a volunteer.”
Some Trump voters express reservations with his sweeping Jan. 6 pardons
Hemphill was an ardent Trump supporter when she joined thousands of people in Washington, D.C., who attempted to halt the certification of President Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Fueled by Trump’s repeated lies that the election had been rigged against him and his supporters, Hemphill was among those who stormed into the halls of Congress, leading lawmakers to flee and hide.
Taking a pardon now in light of her actions, Hemphill said, “would be a slap in the face to the Capitol police officers, to the rule of law and to our whole nation.”
18 Jan 2025 6 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: Candle, dreams, fight on, hanukkah, Holidays, hope, Jesus, Judaism, Politics
Hello America, well I’m your native son. Born to a Southern Woman and a Northern man. I grew up listening to hillbilly music and classical opera. I grew up with a decorated WW II veteran for a dad who was mean as hell and a mom whom my friends all loved and called her an angel. My dad saw the bad in everyone while my mom saw only the good. My father disowned me when I joined the military without telling him, while my mom wept for days when she found out I was gone.
Today we are here to witness the dawn of a new era of greed and empire. Some of you are no doubt mourning the demise of the old era of greed and empire. Many Americans including the rich, super-rich and mega-rich are out learning how to do the “Musk Frolic and Prance” as they await their expected epoch of profits and returns. Even the poor who voted for Trump expect that in making America great again, Trump will give everyone a turkey for Christmas along with a free bottle of Jim Beam Bourbon.
For those of us who share less than kindly sentiments towards Trump, American Exceptionalism and Corporate Profits, it can be said that one person’s heaven is another person’s hell. I know many of my friends woke up sick and petrified by the election results. Years of trying to figure out how anyone could vote for such a character, were demolished in one horrific nightmare of populism which saw Trump actually win by a majority of the votes cast.
Some are now saying that it is time to regroup and rethink our strategies. Many more have decided that the stress and frustrations are not worth it and have turned off the news and tried to shut Trump and his minions out of their minds. It is hard to do this when everywhere you turn you see people jumping up and down celebrating Trump’s victory. I want to share with you a very famous song (Light One Candle) which I think provides some inspirational thoughts.
This song goes back to the days of the Civil Rights movement but in terms of its subject matter dates back more than two thousand years. I would like to interpret some of the stanzas and describe what they mean to me. I recently heard this song again while listening to some old tapes. I could not help but think how relevant it still is. I hope it moves you the way it moved me.
First, here is some background information about the song from Wikipedia:
“Light One Candle” is a song by the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary. It is a popular Hanukkah song. Peter, Paul, and Mary performed the song in concerts starting in 1982, before recording it for their 1986 studio album No Easy Walk to Freedom.
The lyrics commemorate the war of national liberation fought by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Greek empire from 167 to 141 BCE, a war described in the Books of the Maccabees and commemorated by the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. After Judah Maccabee and his army defeated the Syrian-Greek forces, the Jewish people according to custom cleansed and rededicated the Temple by lighting a Menorah, or a candelabra with nine branches. There are eight branches surrounding a central branch which holds a special candle called a Shamash. The Shamash is used to light each of the other candles one at a time. According to the Talmud—an extensive collection of rabbinic law and biblical commentary written between 200 and 500 CE—the Maccabees found only a small amount of oil to light the candelabra. It miraculously lasted 8 nights, resulting in Hanukkah’s nickname, “The festival of lights.”
Light One Candle by Peter, Paul and Mary
I want to give thanks for my life, my wife’s life, the lives of my friends and the lives of the many people who are still willing to fight the good fight for freedom and justice. I give thanks for the people who will not give up and for whom the light of hope has not gone out.
I want to light a candle so my eyes can see the hardship and sacrifice that so many people who have gone before me have endured. I want to see with my heart and feel with my soul the pain that the heroes and heroines have endured who gave their last breath for my freedom and rights.
Let the sacrifices made by other always be illuminated in my eyes by this candle. Never let the realization dim for me that you gain what you strive for in this world and that as Frederic Douglas so famously said: “Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground”.
I light a candle that shows two wars being waged as I sit here at my computer. I suspect many more wars are going on that I do not see. The two wars the candle shows are killing innocent men, women and children each day while cries for peace and ceasefires are ritualistically ignored. Day after day goes by while those with the power to stop the killings refuse to see the light shone by the candle. Where are the leaders with the wisdom to know when the time for peacemaking is at hand?
Chorus:
Don’t let the light go out!
It’s lasted for so many years!
Don’t let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears.
Pogo said that “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” I light a candle so that I can see the truth and avoid the path of vengeance and retribution that guides so much of war. It is easy to lose sight of the path that we want to be on and to go blindly down a trail that makes us “one of them.” We become the “wolf that we feed.”
I light one candle to see the grief and suffering that are afflicting humanity. To see the many people who are in the shadows and cannot be seen. The light from the candle shines on those who are deeply in distress but are being ignored.
I will light a candle to shine into my heart, to keep it from becoming dark. A light to show me that all people who walk this earth deserve more than my scorn or wrath. Under the light from this candle, we can all work together to made a better world for ourselves and our children.
Let the light from this candle shine like a million suns until we can all see the glow of peace that burns in every heart. Humans from the beginning of time have sought peace wherever they have settled. Let this light remind us of the common bond that unites all of us in every part of the globe regardless of race, religion, gender or ideology.
Chorus:
Don’t let the light go out!
It’s lasted for so many years!
Don’t let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears.
What is the memory that’s valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
What’s the commitment to those who have died
That we cry out they’ve not died in vain?
We have come this far always believing
That justice would somehow prevail
This is the burden, this is the promise
This is why we will not fail!
There are those who say keep the faith. Those who say do not give up hope. Those who say when you get knocked down, you only succeed by getting back up. We cannot fail if we keep trying. We can only fail when we stop trying. The days ahead may see and probably will see many of our dreams destroyed. We may see a world tilting towards injustice and cruelty. It may become a landscape full of the wreckage of many of our hopes and desires. But it is only our own despair which will defeat us. Each of our voices are needed. Each of us must carry a candle to illuminate the visions of what could and should be.
Chorus:
Don’t let the light go out!
Don’t let the light go out!
Don’t let the light go out!
26 Nov 2024 1 Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: economics, economy, equality, justice, macroeconomics, mba's, microeconomics, news, Politics, poverty, war
Most people in the USA are woefully inept when it comes to understanding the basics of economic theory. The resulting problem is that the public believes everything they hear from politicians and the media. If the public is uninformed about economics, the media and politicians are even worse. The difference is that politicians use their lack of knowledge to further their own political ambitions. The media use the same lack of knowledge to drive advertising and to make money for their outlets.
By far, the greatest malignancy comes from the fact that the public lack of economic understanding leads to support for war efforts throughout the world. American foreign economic policy is often based on greed and fear. We use our military might to support regimes, despots and wars that will keep our economic system dominant. We assume that the global marketplace is one of win-lose or zero-sum economics. We do not believe that a win-win is possible with all nations. Instead, we play zero-sum games with any countries that we think might threaten our economic dominance.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel argued President-elect Trump does not believe in “any win-win situation,” and it makes international collaboration difficult. — The Hill, 11/26/24
Economics can be divided into two branches. One is called macroeconomics. Macroeconomics is concerned with large-scale or general economic factors, such as interest rates and national productivity. Placing tariffs or trade restrictions on other countries could be considered a macroeconomic decision. The other branch is called microeconomics. Microeconomics considers the behavior of decision takers within the economy, such as individuals, households and firms. How much a given industry or company pays its workers versus how much it pays its senior executives could be considered a microeconomic policy.
I want to first talk about microeconomics and one of its major fallacies or myths. In Part 2, I will discuss the problems of a macroeconomics policy myth based on a greedy Military Industrial Complex. This microeconomics fallacy is the so-called Trickle-Down Theory. This is the myth fostered by those with money or power that if you trust them to make as much money as possible, some of it will “trickle” down to you. You might as well wait for the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.
A more accurate and predictable economic theory is that the “rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.” Philanthropic efforts in the USA have done little or nothing to alleviate poverty. Rich people would rather donate to the Metropolitan Opera than they would to a neighborhood poverty reduction program. The prestige is greater by donating to the opera and the tax deductions are just as good.
“While philanthropy has contributed to alleviating poverty by providing direct assistance like food, shelter, and healthcare, its impact is often considered to be limited when compared to broader systemic changes like government policies, as philanthropy primarily acts as a supplementary tool in tackling the root causes of poverty; therefore, it can provide relief but may not achieve large-scale poverty eradication on its own.” — Google AI
We can easily prove that Trickle Down theory does not work. A little logic if you will. Let us suppose that money trickled down in a company from wealthy entrepreneurs like Elon Musk to the worker bees. If this were true, than over time, the wages between workers and senior executives should (while still being large) not be huge. However, consider the following:
“According to recent data, the average CEO earns significantly more than a typical worker, with the pay ratio often exceeding 300 to 1, meaning a CEO makes roughly 300 times more than the average employee; for example, in 2023, the average CEO pay was estimated to be around 290 times that of a typical worker, compared to a ratio of 21 to 1 in 1965.” — Google Generative AI
Some economists have claimed to find evidence to support assertions that the Trickle-Down theory actually does work. But my friend, ask yourself these questions:
I do not believe in communism, but neither am I so callused as to believe that “poor people don’t deserve the money because they will just waste it.” What I have observed in my 78 years on this earth is that some people get a head start in life and end up much higher on the ladder than those who start off without a ladder. It has never been and never will be an equal playing field. Talent and brains are not equally distributed. Neither is health and longevity. Money will never be equally distributed. But these premises aside do not mean that a society should be structured simply to help the rich get richer at the expense of the poor people who provide the labor for them.
Today, we have a Roman Circus of means to help keep poor people poor and make the rich even richer. One of the most notorious of these means is the availability of legalized gambling. Gambling is one of the most egregious means of insuring that people who are poor will stay poor. The odds on winning at some popular gambling activities are as follows:
And now we have added sports betting to the number of ways that people can lose their hard owned cash. The people making money want to keep you betting more and more. The payoffs are random, which encourages people to think that they will win. In psychology, it is called the “Gambler’s Fallacy.” This is an incorrect belief that a random event is more or less likely to occur based on previous outcomes. For instance, if heads comes up three times in a row on a coin toss, most people will bet that tails will come up on a fourth throw. The odds are still fifty-fifty on any throw if it is a fair coin. Consider the following facts:
“About 13.5% of gamblers go home from a casino having made any money. This statistic comes from a study of 4,222 gamblers, and only 7 of them won more than $150. Conversely, 217 of them lost over $5000 at casino games. Also, note that those who play more often have lower chances of winning.”
My wife and I occasionally go to a casino. We may invest twenty dollars between us and then have a buffet dinner. It is fun but we never bet more than twenty dollars total. We know that we will walk out losers 98 percent of the time. However, I have seen high school kids in some of my classes huddled together placing sports bets. Would society not be better off showing them how to start a business and providing incentives for doing so rather than slick advertising designed to make them think that they can get rich betting on sports teams?
“The world’s 50 highest-paid athletes hauled in an estimated $3.88 billion over the last 12 months before taxes and agents’ fees, up 13% from last year’s record mark of $3.44 billion. Roughly 76%, or $2.94 billion, came from on-field earnings (salaries, bonuses and prize money) partly because of the Middle Eastern money continuing to flow into sports.” — Forbes ,MAY 16, 2024
Marx once said that religion was the opiate of the masses. By this he meant that people were drugged into thinking that religion would bring them to a paradise where all their dreams could come true. It would take death and being a true believer to get them to this paradise, but it was a sure thing. Today, gambling and sports have become the opiate of the masses. People dream of winning the lottery and getting rich. Others dream of making it big in sports and becoming the next Michael Jordan. People think their kids have a high probability of going on to a lucrative career in sports if they can only get a paid tuition to a major NCAA college.
The facts my friends do not support that your kids will be anywhere near getting into a major league sports team.
But why bust anyone’s bubble? Aren’t we all entitled to our dreams? What would life be without goals and hopes that exceed our grasp? Who wants to tell their children that they cannot go for it?
I have been a parent like many of you. I wanted the best for my daughter. But I was under no illusions about the reality of the workplace world. Too many poor people are unrealistic when it comes to understanding the economics of the workplace. This leads to poor decision making and the ability of huckster politicians and greedy organizations to take advantage of them. The rich in America see the poor as a resource of suckers born every day. “Caveat Emptor” means let the buyer beware. Many of my MBA students subscribed to this belief when I was teaching at Metro State University. I could argue against it all day, but the majority of what MBA students learn in college is that money is good, greed is good and that we deserve all we can beg, borrow or steal.
“No less a business expert than Dr. W. E. Deming was critical of traditional MBA programs, arguing that they often focused too heavily on short-term profit goals and not enough on long-term quality improvement, neglecting essential statistical tools and systemic understanding needed for true organizational change; he believed they often taught practices that were detrimental to continuous improvement within companies.” — Google AI
Rana Foroohar writing in Evonomics states that “MBAs are everywhere, yet the industries where you find fewer of them tend to be the most successful. America’s shining technology and innovation hub—Silicon Valley—is relatively light on MBAs and heavy on engineers. MBAs had almost nothing to do with the two major developments in the American business landscape over the last forty years: the Japanese-style quality revolution in manufacturing and the digital revolution.” — Want to Kill Your Economy? Have MBA Programs Churn out Takers Not Makers
Keep your dreams for tomorrow but base them on reality. Do not trust what people asking you for your money or your vote try to sell you. The only way to keep your money in your pocket is to keep informed and to pay little attention to the lies, disinformation and misinformation spread by politicians and the media.
In Part 2, I want to address the truth regarding our contempt towards Russia and China and the real reasons underlying our mistrust and hostility towards them. These reasons are based on simple economic realities that our leaders do not want you to understand. They want you to subscribe to doctrines of fear and hatred that will support the many unjust policies that we propose for our economic “enemies.”
War has been called a continuation of politics by other means. Economic dominance is one side of the coin. Political dominance is the other side. War becomes the means to insure that we are both politically and economically dominant on the world stage. These truths will explain why we continually assail both Russia and China as threats to America. Some of these truths will also explain why we are supporting Israel’s genocide in the Mideast.
17 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: corruption, elections., garbage, lies, money, Politics, slanders, spending
I wrote the following blog four years ago. Yesterday, November 16, 2024, I received the following email from the DNC.
When will we say ENOUGH. Politics is no longer about policies, character, integrity, honesty or what can I do for the country. It is all about how much money will it take to outspend the other party. I refused to give one penny this year to anyone. That was my way of protesting this insanity. What will it take for all of us to stop giving money to what amounts to a rat race to see who can spend the most on advertising that goes into the garbage pail. Here is a picture from my post office the day before the elections this year. Guess what the young man is throwing away? Guess what is in the garbage pail? Harris and Trump spent almost 2 billion dollars this year on their campaigns. Most of the money went to advertising.
Enough is Enough. How much more money do we want to throw in the garbage pail for lies, slanders, innuendos, misinformation, disinformation, calumnies, and distortions? I don’t know about you but I am not sending any politician any more money until we have some type of campaign reform. Here are my suggestions for major reforms.
14 Nov 2024 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: biden, christian nationalists, conservative white women, Democrats off message, desire for an anti-establishment figure, desire for change.", despair, donald trump, gaza, greed, immigration, incel men, inflation, joe-biden, news, Politics, racism, religion, right wing billionaires, rural angst, sexism, trump, young males
John,
07 Nov 2024 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: democracy, donald trump, news, Politics, trump
The Mourning After – by Mr. Fish
In the end, the election was about despair. Despair over futures that evaporated with deindustrialization. Despair over the loss of 30 million jobs in mass layoffs. Despair over austerity programs and the funneling of wealth upwards into the hands of rapacious oligarchs. Despair over a liberal class that refuses to acknowledge the suffering it orchestrated under neoliberalism or embrace New Deal type programs that will ameliorate this suffering. Despair over the futile, endless wars, as well as the genocide in Gaza, where generals and politicians are never held accountable. Despair over a democratic system that has been seized by corporate and oligarchic power.
This despair has been played out on the bodies of the disenfranchised through opioid and alcoholism addictions, gambling, mass shootings, suicides — especially among middle-aged white males — morbid obesity and the investment of our emotional and intellectual life in tawdry spectacles and the allure of magical thinking, from the absurd promises of the Christian right to the Oprah-like belief that reality is never an impediment to our desires. These are the pathologies of a deeply diseased culture, what Friedrich Nietzsche calls an aggressive despiritualized nihilism.
Donald Trump is a symptom of our diseased society. He is not its cause. He is what is vomited up out of decay. He expresses a childish yearning to be an omnipotent god. This yearning resonates with Americans who feel they have been treated like human refuse. But the impossibility of being a god, as Ernest Becker writes, leads to its dark alternative — destroying like a god. This self-immolation is what comes next.
Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party, along with the establishment wing of the Republican Party, which allied itself with Harris, live in their own non-reality-based belief system. Harris, who was anointed by party elites and never received a single primary vote, proudly trumpeted her endorsement by Dick Cheney, a politician who left office with a 13 percent approval rating. The smug, self-righteous “moral” crusade against Trump stokes the national reality television show that has replaced journalism and politics. It reduces a social, economic and political crisis to the personality of Trump. It refuses to confront and name the corporate forces responsible for our failed democracy. It allows Democratic politicians to blithely ignore their base – 77 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of independents support an arms embargo against Israel. The open collusion with corporate oppression and refusal to heed the desires and needs of the electorate neuters the press and Trump critics. These corporate puppets stand for nothing, other than their own advancement. The lies they tell to working men and women, especially with programs such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), do far more damage than any of the lies uttered by Trump.
Oswald Spengler in “The Decline of the West” predicted that, as Western democracies calcified and died, a class of “monied thugs,” people such as Trump, would replace the traditional political elites. Democracy would become a sham. Hatred would be fostered and fed to the masses to encourage them to tear themselves apart.
The American dream has become an American nightmare.
The social bonds, including jobs that gave working Americans a sense of purpose and stability, that gave them meaning and hope, have been sundered. The stagnation of tens of millions of lives, the realization that it will not be better for their children, the predatory nature of our institutions, including education, health care and prisons, have engendered, along with despair, feelings of powerlessness and humiliation. It has bred loneliness, frustration, anger and a sense of worthlessness.
“When life is not worth living, everything becomes a pretext for ridding ourselves of it … ,” Émile Durkheim writes. “There is a collective mood, as there is an individual mood, that inclines nations to sadness. … For individuals are too closely involved in the life of society for it to be sick without their being affected. Its suffering inevitably becomes theirs.”
Decayed societies, where a population is stripped of political, social and economic power, instinctively reach out for cult leaders. I watched this during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. The cult leader promises a return to a mythical golden age and vows, as Trump does, to crush the forces embodied in demonized groups and individuals that are blamed for their misery. The more outrageous cult leaders become, the more cult leaders flout law and social conventions, the more they gain in popularity. Cult leaders are immune to the norms of established society. This is their appeal. Cult leaders seek total power. Those who follow them grant them this power in the desperate hope that the cult leaders will save them.
All cults are personality cults. Cult leaders are narcissists. They demand obsequious fawning and total obedience. They prize loyalty above competence. They wield absolute control. They do not tolerate criticism. They are deeply insecure, a trait they attempt to cover up with bombastic grandiosity. They are amoral and emotionally and physically abusive. They see those around them as objects to be manipulated for their own empowerment, enjoyment and often sadistic entertainment. All those outside the cult are branded as forces of evil, prompting an epic battle whose natural expression is violence.
We will not convince those who have surrendered their agency to a cult leader and embraced magical thinking through rational argument. We will not coerce them into submission. We will not find salvation for them or ourselves by supporting the Democratic Party. Whole segments of American society are now bent on self-immolation. They despise this world and what it has done to them. Their personal and political behavior is willfully suicidal. They seek to destroy, even if destruction leads to violence and death. They are no longer sustained by the comforting illusion of human progress, losing the only antidote to nihilism.
Pope John Paul II in 1981 issued an encyclical titled “Laborem exercens,” or “Through Work.” He attacked the idea, fundamental to capitalism, that work was merely an exchange of money for labor. Work, he wrote, should not be reduced to the commodification of human beings through wages. Workers were not impersonal instruments to be manipulated like inanimate objects to increase profit. Work was essential to human dignity and self-fulfillment. It gave us a sense of empowerment and identity. It allowed us to build a relationship with society in which we could feel we contributed to social harmony and social cohesion, a relationship in which we had purpose.
The pope castigated unemployment, underemployment, inadequate wages, automation and a lack of job security as violations of human dignity. These conditions, he wrote, were forces that negated self-esteem, personal satisfaction, responsibility and creativity. The exaltation of the machine, he warned, reduced human beings to the status of slaves. He called for full employment, a minimum wage large enough to support a family, the right of a parent to stay home with children, and jobs and a living wage for the disabled. He advocated, in order to sustain strong families, universal health insurance, pensions, accident insurance and work schedules that permitted free time and vacations. He wrote that all workers should have the right to form unions with the ability to strike.
We must invest our energy into organizing mass movements to overthrow the corporate state through sustained acts of mass civil disobedience. This includes the most powerful weapon we possess – the strike. By turning our ire on the corporate state, we name the true sources of power and abuse. We expose the absurdity of blaming our demise on demonized groups such as undocumented workers, Muslims or Blacks. We give people an alternative to a corporate-indentured Democratic Party that cannot be rehabilitated. We make possible the restoration of an open society, one that serves the common good rather than corporate profit. We must demand nothing less than full employment, guaranteed minimum incomes, universal health insurance, free education at all levels, robust protection of the natural world and an end to militarism and imperialism. We must create the possibility for a life of dignity, purpose and self-esteem. If we do not, it will ensure a Christianized fascism and ultimately, with the accelerating ecocide, our obliteration.
30 Oct 2024 Leave a comment
in Uncategorized Tags: bigots, christian nationalists, christianity, donald trump, Politics, racists, religion, republicans, sexists, trump, trump mobile, white supremacists, xenophobia
The Trump mobile is the limousine that Trump drives. I will describe it in this blog. If you board his vehicle, he will take you on a ride to autocracy and xenophobia. To a land bereft of Democracy or anything pertaining to the values and virtues of the Founding Fathers. Lets look at the construction of this vehicle from the ground up.
There are four tires that the Trump mobile rolls on. One tire is Christian Nationalism. This is the belief that the Christian religion should become the religion of the USA. It is the belief that Christianity is superior to all other religions and that the Christian God is the only true God. Christianity needs to infiltrate our government and our schools. Christian Nationalists want to do away with the separation of church and state and put the 10 Commandments and Bibles in every institute of education in America. America will become a Theocracy like Iran and Israel.
A second tire that the Trump mobile rides on is White Supremacy. This tire is constructed of layers of belief that White people need to remain the supreme governing group in the USA. It supports the idea that White people are superior in morals, intellect and aspirations to all other ethnic groups. By virtue of being White, you are entitled to rule over inferior races which includes everyone on earth who is non-White.
The third tire constructed for the Trump mobile is Sexism. This tire promotes the inferiority of women to men. Women were brought into being by a creator not to lead men but to follow men. A women’s main role is to bear children that will continue the dynasties started by men. Women should always remain subservient to men from the bedroom to the kitchen.
The fourth tire for the Trump mobile is Racism and Xenophobia. This tire is built up from layers of fear and loathing for other races and cultures. This tire rolls on the belief that White people must prevent race mixing. Allowing relationships with other races will dilute the pure heritage of the White genotype. Anyone different such as Gays, minorities, disabled people or indigenous people must be eliminated from the White gene pool.
Moving on to the major power for the Trump mobile we come to the engine and the fuel supply. The engine is composed of 8 cylinders of greed, avarice, acquisitiveness, covetousness, graspingness, cupidity, materialism, and possessiveness. The fuel that feeds the engine delivers power from the promise of Tax Breaks and Trickle-Down Economics. A fuel that will help the rich and many others find ways to buy more stuff.
Then we come to the transmission for the Trump mobile. No limousine can move until the power is transferred to the wheels from the engine. In the case of the Trump mobile, the two main cogs in the transmission are fear and hate. Fear and hate convey the power to the wheels. Fear of others who may try to take away the values promoted by Trump and his followers. Hate for those who are different and who may try to block the desires of Trump and his supporters.
The vehicle is of course driven by the charismatic Donald Trump who is the only one on the whole planet capable of steering the limousine in the RIGHT direction. Trump was sent by the Christian Nationalist God to drive the Trump mobile to a paradise on earth ruled by White Christian people. People who believe in the superiority of Whiteness and a White God with blond hair and blue eyes who will smite the enemies of Trump and his supporters.
The fronts seats of the Trump mobile are filled with sycophants who bless Trump and regard him as a savior. Leaders of the Republican party, rich billionaires, media propagandists and young sexy women all get to ride in the front seats. The back seats are full of Trump supporters who hope someday to ride in the front seats. These are men and women who feel cheated by their government and society of their rightful place in life. They believe that someday Trump will anoint them as faithful followers and allow them to join Trump in his paradise on earth. They believe that the Trump mobile will take them there.
All aboard please. The Trump mobile is leaving soon.
13 Oct 2024 2 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: calumnies, deceit, elections, fraud, goebbels, hitler, liars, libel, lies, misinformation, Politics, propaganda, slander, voting
You have just read the title of this blog, and you thought, great idea but impossible. There is no way that we can stop the lies and misinformation that infect our political system. I submit that you are wrong. I submit that nothing is impossible if “We the People” decide that we have had enough. I am sure that this year in the USA, we have all had more than enough. I don’t care if you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, Green, Libertarian, Constitutionalist or Socialist, I know that you are probably as sick and tired of the continuous lies that fuel our election process as I am.
“But wait” you say, “In twenty-five days, it will all be over.” I sincerely wish you were right, but you are not. No sooner than this election is over then you will get requests from someone running for dog catcher in Fairbanks, Alaska asking you for money.
Dear Sir,
Thank you so much for your generous campaign contribution for my election. It was thanks to your help and thousands of other donors that I was elected. But now is not the time to let up. Our sleazy lying opponents have already collected a million dollars to fund their next campaign. We must stop them now before it is too late. Please pledge at least $100 dollars (or whatever you can afford) before midnight to help us reach our goal of 10 million dollars to re-elect me as dog catcher of Fairbanks. My opponent says that she will ban stray dogs from wandering around our streets. I promise to do better than that. I will take all the homeless dogs off the street and provide adequate food and housing for them. My campaign motto is “Make American Dogs .” That stands for MAD because I am mad that we have so many homeless dogs.
PS: You can buy a MAD hat at my office for the low price of only $39.99. All proceeds will go to building more dog shelters
IF you think the above letter is funny, it is only so because you know it is true. No sooner than this election is over, the cycle of lies, slander and calumnies will begin again. How can we stop it? Believe it or not we can stop it. But before describing what I think we can do, it is important to define some terms. What is a Calumny? What is a lie? What is a slander? I will use the Oxford Online Dictionary to provide a common definition of each and a few examples.
A Calumny is the making of false and defamatory statements about someone in order to damage their reputation. — https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en
As an example, I have a flyer before me that claims one presidential candidate will send police door to door to seize firearms. This is a lie because it is not true, but it is also a calumny because it is designed to damage the candidates reputation.
A Slander is the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation.
Here is one example from another political flyer. Candidate X has invited criminals, drug dealers and terrorists into our neighborhoods. Another lie because no candidate on either side has ever done such an egregious offense.
If you study these two words, calumny and slander, they are very confusing. One source describes the differences as follows:
“While both “slander” and “calumny” refer to making false statements to damage someone’s reputation, “calumny” is considered a more formal and serious term, often implying a malicious intent to spread false accusations, while “slander” simply refers to making a false spoken statement that harms someone’s reputation; in legal terms, “slander” is the specific act of making a defamatory oral statement, whereas “calumny” is a broader concept encompassing the act of making a malicious false accusation.” — Generative AI
A Lie is an untrue statement with intent to deceive. She told a lie when she said she didn’t break the vase. He lied to create a false or misleading impression.
Lying is common to both calumnies and slanders but whereas slanders and calumnies can be illegal and subject to lawsuits, lies are a more generic family of comments that seem to escape legal action. Part of the reason deals with intention. A lie may be intentional, but it may not be meant to harm but only to deceive. (Some might quibble about my distinction here). For instance, I lie to my date because I want to impress her or him but not because I want to harm him or her. I lie on my resume to get the job because I think the credentials required are ridiculous and I know I can do a great job despite lacking the formal requirements.
Today, we see lies about everything. Sadly, people are willing to believe these lies. The famous Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels and German Leader Adolph Hitler have both been described as partisans of what has been called “The Big Lie.”
“The German expression was first used by Adolf Hitler in his book Mein Kampf (1925) to describe how people could be induced to believe so colossal a lie because they would not believe that someone ‘could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously’. The phrase “Big Lie” was used in a report prepared around 1943 by Walter C. Langer for the United States Office of Strategic Services in describing Hitler’s psychological profile. The report was later published in book form as ‘The Mind of Adolf Hitler in 1972.’ Langer stated the following in respect to Hitler’s personality.” — Wikipedia
“His primary rules were; never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.” — “Mind of Adolf Hitler, 1972”
When I was a young student going to a Catholic School, I learned that there were two types of lies. One was called “White Lies” and the other were simply “Black Lies.” White lies were lies told for good reasons. White Lies might be defended by those who believe that the ends justify the means. Thus, politicians who believe they can save the USA from defeat by its enemies might tell “White Lies” to get elected so they can save the country. Black Lies are generally regarded as lies told for selfish reasons or reasons to benefit someone else. Using AI again, we find the following distinctions:
White Lies are told to please someone or to benefit the relationship and are generally considered acceptable. For example, telling a friend that their new haircut looks great. White lies are often motivated by empathy and compassion.
Black Lies are told to gain personal benefits or to avoid a deserved penalty. Black lies are generally considered universally wrong. For example, a used car dealer lying about the condition of a car. Black lies are often motivated by selfishness. — Generative AI
The nuances depicted in many of the definitions given above make ascertaining any criminal liability for lying very difficult. One person’s “good intentions” might be another person’s “road to hell.” Lawyers and pedants would have a field day debating these distinctions. For those of us who know a horse from a cow, the distinctions are quite clear. Namely, we are sick and tired of being lied to and having to listen to calumnies and slanders from either side attacking and trying to destroy the reputation, character and morals of people whom we personally respect.
I do not care which side you are on, left, right, up or down, enough is enough. To demolish the character of people with lies and more lies simply to win an election is wrong.
It is wrong.
It is sick behavior, and it is destroying our country. You can proclaim all you want that the country is too divided, but it can never come together when one side demonizes the other. Lying Fascist Greedy Right-Wing Republicans versus Lying Commie Radical Left-Wing Democrats. What if someone called your mother or wife one of these terms? How would you feel? What would you do? I know what I would do, and it would probably land me in jail.
What is my solution?
Let us start a national movement that puts power back in the hands of voters. You can argue all day long about false ballots, hanging chads, illegal voters, fake ballots and you will get nowhere. As long as we have a voting process there will be human errors and even some iniquities in the process. But what if we refuse to vote? There are no laws against NOT VOTING in the USA. What if we say, “I have had enough. I am not voting in any election until we have a fix against political slander, lies and calumnies.”
There is no law that could put us in jail for not voting. Imagine what it would do to the political process. It would be like throwing a giant monkey wrench in the system. The elections systems all over America would come to a grinding halt. All we have to do is “NOT VOTE.” We agree to stop voting for anyone until some efforts and sanctions are enacted for lying, slander and calumnies in the political process. Until then, I say we sign petitions not to vote. Buy yard signs saying “I am not voting anymore.” Start a National I Am Not Voting Party consisting of people like us who are tired of a system built on money, greed and lies.
Please feel free to share this blog with anyone else who is sick and tired of lies and more lies.
04 Oct 2024 3 Comments
in Uncategorized Tags: 2024 Election, donald trump, harris, kamala-harris, MAGA, news, Politics, trump, Vance, Walz
You have read all the books. You have heard all the theories. Why do people support Trump? But every time you listen to Trump, you shake your head wondering “why, why, why?” Why would anyone support such a low life despicable character or should I say lack of character. The experts, his “old” friends, his relatives and the left-wing keep coming up with more theories to explain the Trump phenomenon. How could anyone support a man with no ethics? An adulterer, liar and slanderer who is also greedy, avaricious and felonious. A man who has already served one term in the highest office in the world with disastrous results and if his luck holds out may just serve another term. How, how, how you ask is this possible? How could 74 million people vote for such a person?
The books and pundits have proposed so many theories for the above questions during the last four years that it would make your head spin. Going to Google, I found 111 books about Trump. Most of these books are not favorable but a few are. (See bibliography of Donald Trump).
There are other theories that have not been enshrined in a book yet. A recent one that I heard had to do with virility. Some scientists looked at the US States with the highest Viagra usage and found that the degree of Viagra sold correlated positively with the votes for Trump in that State. The higher the usage of Viagra, the more men voted for Trump. Ergo, the theory is that men who can’t get an erection are more likely to vote for Trump. Needless to say, these “scientists” need to have their heads examined IMHO. So why do people support Trump? The other question is “why can’t any facts, data, evidence or Trump pronouncements change their minds?” Lets start with the first question.
Why Do People Support Trump?
The answer lies in a John Denver song called, “Country Roads, Take Me Home”
Almost Heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growin’ like a breeze
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
All my memories gather ’round her
Miner’s lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye
Trump supporters want to go back to the “good old days.” The days when Whites governed. Blacks and other minorities knew their places. Women worked in the kitchen and bedroom and had children. Men were the breadwinners and on a miners, truck drivers, postal workers, or other blue-collar job could raise a family of six and still have a few bucks left over to go down to the local pub after work for a couple of brews with buddies.
You did not have to be politically correct around gays who were called fags, or disabled people who were called gimps. Mexicans came over to do the farm work and went back to Mexico. Other minorities were given visas and possibilities of becoming US citizens but in much smaller quantities than for White Europeans. School is where you went to get a diploma, play sports and maybe go to college. No one was worried about being shot in a mass shooting. Guns were plentiful but were mainly used for hunting and target practice. Shooting someone for taking your parking space, was unheard of. (Man killed during fight over parking spot)
It was a time when the USA ruled the roost. China, Russia, Korea and the Mideast did not dare or would not dare to challenge us. We had a cold war but until Vietnam, we had peace and prosperity. Religion was a place that taught morals and values. The separation of church and state was still believed in by most people. The TV show “Happy Days” captures some of the nostalgia for the “Good Old Days.” Days that might have been very happy for some Americans but definitely not for others. It was also a time of Jim Crow laws that relegated many African Americans to the “back of the bus” and to less than second rate jobs and education.
Unfortunately, the Democrats do not understand the Right-Wing nostalgia for the past. Harris intones “We will not go back.” She may win over minorities and progressive White people with this message but not with Trump supporters. It is the opposite of what Trump is promising. it conflicts with Trump’s message. Some have interpreted Trump’s message to “Make America Great Again” as a code for “Make America White Again.” I believe a more accurate interpretation for his followers would be to “Take America Back Again.” Back to Happy Days, back to a John Denver valley of peaceful tranquility. Harris wants to go forward but Trump supporters are cautious, going forward to what? Artificial Intelligence? Mars Expeditions? More fake internet information? More wars in unknown parts of the world like Gaza and the Ukraine? I want to go home. I want to go home.
I hear her voice in the mornin’ hour, she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
Drivin’ down the road, I get a feelin’
That I should’ve been home yesterday, yesterday
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
In my next blog, I will answer the second question that I posed above: “Why can’t any facts, data, evidence or Trump pronouncements change a Trump supporters mind?”
