What book did you pull off that shelf? Which one are you reading? What are you learning?
Where do you read?
Do you and a friend share a book, discussing it as you read?
Do you read out loud to yourself, just to hear the language spoken?
How about some poetry? Have you gone to a poetry slam? Have you written a poem?
Well, do it. The days are getting a bit shorter, school is approaching for students and families. Books are great additions to the family. You can discuss a book at dinner. At breakfast.
Just read.
I'm in the middle of some editing. It is like seeing a beautiful creation emerge, slowly from the page to my mind's eye.
I'll be putting up a reading list, so if you can't decide on a book, check back. There may be something that suits your fancy.
And in the meantime, grab a book and read.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
What's Wrong With This Picture?
The Atlantic published an article on the subject of Genetically Modified Organisms that become the very food on your table, and the labeling requirements of the FDA.
People understandably want to know lots of information about their food. Information such as Organic or Conventionally Produced. People also want to know if there are pesticides in the food, and some want to know if the food they eat is from GMO sources. Those GMO sources include genetically modified foods that have incorporated animal, fish or bacterial genes, the ability to make pesticides and herbicides within the very cells of the food, including the food that you put into your stomach. Some people just want to know if the corn on the cob they are eating at the Labor Day Picnic will be cranking out Monsanto Roundup (Reg. TMs of Monsanto), or not.
But this is what the Atlantic wrote.
So, full labeling is misleading to people that want full labeling.
Alice, step aside. We've fallen totally into that rabbit hole.
People understandably want to know lots of information about their food. Information such as Organic or Conventionally Produced. People also want to know if there are pesticides in the food, and some want to know if the food they eat is from GMO sources. Those GMO sources include genetically modified foods that have incorporated animal, fish or bacterial genes, the ability to make pesticides and herbicides within the very cells of the food, including the food that you put into your stomach. Some people just want to know if the corn on the cob they are eating at the Labor Day Picnic will be cranking out Monsanto Roundup (Reg. TMs of Monsanto), or not.
But this is what the Atlantic wrote.
Last month there was the appointment of big-time GM/GE advocate (and former Monsanto lobbyist) Islam Siddiqui to Office of the United States Trade Representative as the country's chief agricultural negotiator . Now comes a position paper from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that opposes labeling for genetically modified food. The U.S. claims that letting consumers know whether or not food contains GM/GE products is "false, misleading, or deceptive."
You read that correctly. In Obama Newspeak, telling the public the truth is false, misleading, or deceptive, while concealing facts is not. Incidentally, the language is identical to that used by previous administrations. How's that for change? Atlantic
So, full labeling is misleading to people that want full labeling.
Alice, step aside. We've fallen totally into that rabbit hole.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
About that summer reading list...
Add to it!
Get together with a friend, each of you with a favorite book, head to the beach, and read.
Go to a coffee house, or coffee shop, with your book. Grab a latte, a cookie, the book, and sit with a friend, or make a new one...and read. Discuss what you are reading.
Make a point to ask someone around you, if they are reading a book, what they are reading.
Just read. And read some more.
I know, I keep going on and on about reading. But, reading is good for your brain, and as you turn the last page, you know somethings that you didn't know before you started on your reading. Knowledge is power. It helps at work, no matter what your job might be. It makes you smarter.
Plus, the smarter you are, if you happen to be in school, the better you will do in all your subjects, just from reading anything at all. The old phrase, use it or lose it, applies to the gray matter.
Read!
Get together with a friend, each of you with a favorite book, head to the beach, and read.
Go to a coffee house, or coffee shop, with your book. Grab a latte, a cookie, the book, and sit with a friend, or make a new one...and read. Discuss what you are reading.
Make a point to ask someone around you, if they are reading a book, what they are reading.
Just read. And read some more.
I know, I keep going on and on about reading. But, reading is good for your brain, and as you turn the last page, you know somethings that you didn't know before you started on your reading. Knowledge is power. It helps at work, no matter what your job might be. It makes you smarter.
Plus, the smarter you are, if you happen to be in school, the better you will do in all your subjects, just from reading anything at all. The old phrase, use it or lose it, applies to the gray matter.
Read!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
A Most Underappreciated Skell
Oops! What is "skell" doing in the title?
Could it be this post concerns those criminal elements referred to as skells by New York's Finest?
Absolutely...maybe.
The most underappreciated skill is the ability to know when a word is, for example, skell or skill.
Yes, I know skel has only one 'l' in it. Really I do.
Yet I read, too often for my now irritated eyes and brain, the use of words that are close in sound, but distant in meaning, applied to various issues.
Examples such as "ensure" being substituted for "insure." One means making sure something happens, the other indemnifying against some loss.
How about "loose" and "lose," being substituted, one for another. One is not too tightly fastened or affixed, the other means something's gone missing and might be at the Lost and Found by the time the loss is noticed.
Sometimes there is no spell checker involved. There is just error from being careless.
Spell checkers are a wondrous invention. They can suss out what word you might be trying to type and give you options. However, the check system doesn't always get the meaning right when one word with a certain meaning gets substituted for another, with a very different meaning, yet both are phonetically pretty much the same.
Call in Strunk and White. Call in Captain Grammar.
If you are relying on your spell checker, you'd better read what you are writing closely, because those errors introduced by misapplied spellings to meaning-inappropriate words, can have bad consequences.
An interviewer was discussing errors on resumes. One error and the resume is tossed out, and often the errors are simple typos made by spell checkers. The Human Resources people know this. And they still toss out those resumes. That means, if a job applicant is the very best person for the job, yet is not careful enough to make sure the copy is precise, with word meanings exactly what they ought to be, or where a resume contains an entirely wrong word for the place the word is put, that job seeker is still unemployed.
Job seekers of any age must remember one thing about the job market. When you are at work, there is only one passing grade, and that is make everything you do as close to perfect as humanly possible.
If you are unsure about your cover letter and/or resume, do one good favor for yourself. Hire someone or ask someone with good English skills, to read your resume and other communications, and make sure that the copy is perfect.
Something else to remember. If what you give to your proofreader is not clear as to meaning, you may still have errors on that page even after the editing is done. Don't let careless or moronic happen to you.
Help yourself out. Get help when you need it. If you are the least bit unsure, get help. Learn proper grammar, spelling and word usage. The skills come with reading books, with writing on a daily basis, and with paying attention to what you read and what you and others say, evaluating everything for form and content.
Now, I've also committed errors in this post. I have left them in, just to challenge you, my Musing readers. And, in other posts, there are sentence fragments and other grammatical sins committed by me regularly. Those fragments and made up words are used for style, because this is a blog. This is not a cover letter for a job application.
Know your audience, and if you need proofreading, editing or other assistance, get it. The Muse is here to help.
Could it be this post concerns those criminal elements referred to as skells by New York's Finest?
Absolutely...maybe.
The most underappreciated skill is the ability to know when a word is, for example, skell or skill.
Yes, I know skel has only one 'l' in it. Really I do.
Yet I read, too often for my now irritated eyes and brain, the use of words that are close in sound, but distant in meaning, applied to various issues.
Examples such as "ensure" being substituted for "insure." One means making sure something happens, the other indemnifying against some loss.
How about "loose" and "lose," being substituted, one for another. One is not too tightly fastened or affixed, the other means something's gone missing and might be at the Lost and Found by the time the loss is noticed.
Sometimes there is no spell checker involved. There is just error from being careless.
Spell checkers are a wondrous invention. They can suss out what word you might be trying to type and give you options. However, the check system doesn't always get the meaning right when one word with a certain meaning gets substituted for another, with a very different meaning, yet both are phonetically pretty much the same.
Call in Strunk and White. Call in Captain Grammar.
If you are relying on your spell checker, you'd better read what you are writing closely, because those errors introduced by misapplied spellings to meaning-inappropriate words, can have bad consequences.
An interviewer was discussing errors on resumes. One error and the resume is tossed out, and often the errors are simple typos made by spell checkers. The Human Resources people know this. And they still toss out those resumes. That means, if a job applicant is the very best person for the job, yet is not careful enough to make sure the copy is precise, with word meanings exactly what they ought to be, or where a resume contains an entirely wrong word for the place the word is put, that job seeker is still unemployed.
Job seekers of any age must remember one thing about the job market. When you are at work, there is only one passing grade, and that is make everything you do as close to perfect as humanly possible.
If you are unsure about your cover letter and/or resume, do one good favor for yourself. Hire someone or ask someone with good English skills, to read your resume and other communications, and make sure that the copy is perfect.
Something else to remember. If what you give to your proofreader is not clear as to meaning, you may still have errors on that page even after the editing is done. Don't let careless or moronic happen to you.
 |
| Photos courtesy of stuff-about.com |
Help yourself out. Get help when you need it. If you are the least bit unsure, get help. Learn proper grammar, spelling and word usage. The skills come with reading books, with writing on a daily basis, and with paying attention to what you read and what you and others say, evaluating everything for form and content.
Now, I've also committed errors in this post. I have left them in, just to challenge you, my Musing readers. And, in other posts, there are sentence fragments and other grammatical sins committed by me regularly. Those fragments and made up words are used for style, because this is a blog. This is not a cover letter for a job application.
Know your audience, and if you need proofreading, editing or other assistance, get it. The Muse is here to help.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Got Book?
Do you have a good book? Then, do the simple. The enjoyable. Read it.
Read it to your children.
Read that book to your boyfriend. Girlfriend. Significant other.
Read it to the cat.
Read it to the dog.
And if you don't have anyone else to read a book to, read it to yourself.
If reading and understanding is a challenge, remember the Muse does offer tutoring. In Chicago, the service is personal, one on one. Rates are reasonable.
The Muse, like all good teachers, teaches you to teach yourself.
In the meantime, read.
Just do it!
Read it to your children.
Read that book to your boyfriend. Girlfriend. Significant other.
Read it to the cat.
Read it to the dog.
And if you don't have anyone else to read a book to, read it to yourself.
| L.A. Times Blog |
If reading and understanding is a challenge, remember the Muse does offer tutoring. In Chicago, the service is personal, one on one. Rates are reasonable.
The Muse, like all good teachers, teaches you to teach yourself.
In the meantime, read.
Just do it!
It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over
When things are going to hell in a Hula Hoop, it is well to remember the wisdom of Yogi Berra.
It Ain't Ovenr Until It's Over
Until is the most important word there. As in, the fat lady is finishing up, the credits are rolling, the parking lot is filling up with motorists anxious to get on the road home.
Another important idea is that when you are reaching the end of your rope, you might want to tie a knot in the end of it to make it easier to hang on.
Sometimes you also need something else to do, other than what you've been doing. The reason for that is simple. When you are living breathing proof that doing the same thing over and over and getting the same result, you have to do something different to get a different result.
Doing the same thing, repeating that same thing, over and over--all while you expect a different result is the very definition of insanity. It is also the definition of not paying attention to the best way to get a different, workable result. Workable, tolerable, acceptable, functional results aren't found when the results before weren't good, aren't going to happen if you do the same thing again and again.
Edison made thousands of non-functional light bulbs before he found that one light bulb that worked.
He called those failing light bulbs learning experiences. He learned a lot from the ones that didn't work. Most importantly, he learned NOT to make light bulbs using the failed models.
So, Edison kept on coming up with Plan B. Call it Plan Light Bulb. Plan Bulb. Plan B.
Do something different and get a different result.. Evaluate. Adjust. Try again.
That's all there is to it. Try something different, a Plan B, then a Plan C, D, E, F,G, and so on. Until, that is, you get to Plan W.
As in Wonderful!
All I hope is that no one has to go through 3000 different plans to get the one that works. It might come to that, but the kind of determination to work through 2999 failures is, these days, almost more than my brain can think about without trembling in fear of failure that makes me chuck the whole idea long before Plan B--the 1000th variation has been reached.
It Ain't Ovenr Until It's Over
Until is the most important word there. As in, the fat lady is finishing up, the credits are rolling, the parking lot is filling up with motorists anxious to get on the road home.
Another important idea is that when you are reaching the end of your rope, you might want to tie a knot in the end of it to make it easier to hang on.
Sometimes you also need something else to do, other than what you've been doing. The reason for that is simple. When you are living breathing proof that doing the same thing over and over and getting the same result, you have to do something different to get a different result.
Doing the same thing, repeating that same thing, over and over--all while you expect a different result is the very definition of insanity. It is also the definition of not paying attention to the best way to get a different, workable result. Workable, tolerable, acceptable, functional results aren't found when the results before weren't good, aren't going to happen if you do the same thing again and again.
Edison made thousands of non-functional light bulbs before he found that one light bulb that worked.
He called those failing light bulbs learning experiences. He learned a lot from the ones that didn't work. Most importantly, he learned NOT to make light bulbs using the failed models.
So, Edison kept on coming up with Plan B. Call it Plan Light Bulb. Plan Bulb. Plan B.
 |
| From I Can Has Cheezburger |
Do something different and get a different result.. Evaluate. Adjust. Try again.
That's all there is to it. Try something different, a Plan B, then a Plan C, D, E, F,G, and so on. Until, that is, you get to Plan W.
As in Wonderful!
All I hope is that no one has to go through 3000 different plans to get the one that works. It might come to that, but the kind of determination to work through 2999 failures is, these days, almost more than my brain can think about without trembling in fear of failure that makes me chuck the whole idea long before Plan B--the 1000th variation has been reached.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Oh Muse, Where Art Thou?
Sometimes, the Muse just sends in the clowns.
Other times, the Muse sends in the cats.
So, for your enjoyment, [drum roll please..........................................]
The very ultimate in "we are not amused."
Which would be the Royal "We" such as Queen Victoria would utter as she controlled her large..
well, just about everything.
And thanks to i can has cheezburger
Other times, the Muse sends in the cats.
So, for your enjoyment, [drum roll please..........................................]
The very ultimate in "we are not amused."
Which would be the Royal "We" such as Queen Victoria would utter as she controlled her large..
well, just about everything.
And thanks to i can has cheezburger
 |
| The Algonquin Hotel in New York, where a 15-year-old resident kitteh named Matilda celebrayted her birfday, hosted a kitteh fashun show. And, oh, dese fashions wuld make even Lady GaGa jelus! Teh kittehs may look camera shy, but aifinks dey rilly jus has their model faces awn. Source: The Gothamist / Via: The Daily What |
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Bud Billiken's Buddies--Be One
Today in Chicago there will be a parade. This is possibly the most important parade of the year.
Today is Bud Billiken Parade Day! Students and their families will be attending or watching this vital celebration of education on the television. It is an inspiring thing, a parade to celebrate the start of the school year. It should be a celebration that extends to the whole of the nation.
More vital to the quality of life that almost every other factor, education is often the most degraded part of life. Students are pulled away from their books by the siren song of entertainment. The US is the most entertained and least informed nation on the planet. We are also ranking at a consistent level compared to other nations in math, science, reading comprehension and language arts. The reason for this is obvious. Children see that society values entertainment more than it values learning.
Social studies and history? We act as if we don't need to know anything about it, except that there are two parties and each are spewing vitriol at the other, so as to make laws that favor the rich over the voiceless poor.
Gone are the days when science education was emphasized because the country needed engineers and scientists to get the US to the moon and beyond. Gone are the days when every graduate of high school knew chemistry, physics, algebra, geometry. Forgotten are the reading lists that were about 200 books long, each part of the required reading for graduation from high school.
What is now obvious is that children, particularly in inner-city and other underfunded schools drop out at an appalling rate of more than 50 percent. That fact alone is the reason for Bud Billiken.
The parade is designed to give students a moral and enthusiasm boost just before the school year begins.
Bud Billiken has been around for 81 successful years, and is the oldest parade for African American students. A Billiken is a sort of good luck charm, created in the early 20th Century and was probably named after William Howard Taft, the then sitting President. Billiken is a rollypoly sort of fellow, and is the mascot of several schools. He is a symbol of pride for the African American community, and his parade is designed to convey pride in learning.
In an age when it is not 'cool' to be found with your nose in a book, children need inspiring images and reinforcement that learning is, in fact, the coolest thing they have going.
Every day, as I go out for a walk, I ask school age children what they have learned today. I encourage each child to learn something new every single day. During the school year, I also encourage them to learn one new thing in every subject they are studying. When I see them on the following day, I ask what it was that they learned the prior day.
And I listen closely to what they tell me. If I am speaking to a small child, I stoop down to be at their level. And I listen. I ask followup questions. The answers are both charming and inspiring to me.
Everyone should be encouraged to learn new things every day. From the smallest child to the oldest adult, every day is a new discovery, filled with possible opportunity to learn. Each new thing learned builds self esteem. Each new accomplishment builds pride. Children that learn and have fun doing it, that know learning is cool, are less likely to drop out of high school.
One parade is not going to do it. Make every day a parade day and before the march to the schoolhouse begins, encourage your favorite students to learn. Every day. In school and out, assigned by a school teacher or not, make sure that learning occurs.
It might start with a parade on the street, and it can continue with a parade of books, a parade of days where assignments are done with confidence and encouragement. Become a teacher to your child and the children around you. Encourage them to read, to learn math, to know how to reason. Seize every day as a Billiken Day, filled with inspiration and good luck, which is 99 percent preparation, will follow as surely as a new school year follows summer.
Today is Bud Billiken Parade Day! Students and their families will be attending or watching this vital celebration of education on the television. It is an inspiring thing, a parade to celebrate the start of the school year. It should be a celebration that extends to the whole of the nation.
More vital to the quality of life that almost every other factor, education is often the most degraded part of life. Students are pulled away from their books by the siren song of entertainment. The US is the most entertained and least informed nation on the planet. We are also ranking at a consistent level compared to other nations in math, science, reading comprehension and language arts. The reason for this is obvious. Children see that society values entertainment more than it values learning.
Social studies and history? We act as if we don't need to know anything about it, except that there are two parties and each are spewing vitriol at the other, so as to make laws that favor the rich over the voiceless poor.
Gone are the days when science education was emphasized because the country needed engineers and scientists to get the US to the moon and beyond. Gone are the days when every graduate of high school knew chemistry, physics, algebra, geometry. Forgotten are the reading lists that were about 200 books long, each part of the required reading for graduation from high school.
What is now obvious is that children, particularly in inner-city and other underfunded schools drop out at an appalling rate of more than 50 percent. That fact alone is the reason for Bud Billiken.
The parade is designed to give students a moral and enthusiasm boost just before the school year begins.
Bud Billiken has been around for 81 successful years, and is the oldest parade for African American students. A Billiken is a sort of good luck charm, created in the early 20th Century and was probably named after William Howard Taft, the then sitting President. Billiken is a rollypoly sort of fellow, and is the mascot of several schools. He is a symbol of pride for the African American community, and his parade is designed to convey pride in learning.
In an age when it is not 'cool' to be found with your nose in a book, children need inspiring images and reinforcement that learning is, in fact, the coolest thing they have going.
Every day, as I go out for a walk, I ask school age children what they have learned today. I encourage each child to learn something new every single day. During the school year, I also encourage them to learn one new thing in every subject they are studying. When I see them on the following day, I ask what it was that they learned the prior day.
And I listen closely to what they tell me. If I am speaking to a small child, I stoop down to be at their level. And I listen. I ask followup questions. The answers are both charming and inspiring to me.
Everyone should be encouraged to learn new things every day. From the smallest child to the oldest adult, every day is a new discovery, filled with possible opportunity to learn. Each new thing learned builds self esteem. Each new accomplishment builds pride. Children that learn and have fun doing it, that know learning is cool, are less likely to drop out of high school.
One parade is not going to do it. Make every day a parade day and before the march to the schoolhouse begins, encourage your favorite students to learn. Every day. In school and out, assigned by a school teacher or not, make sure that learning occurs.
It might start with a parade on the street, and it can continue with a parade of books, a parade of days where assignments are done with confidence and encouragement. Become a teacher to your child and the children around you. Encourage them to read, to learn math, to know how to reason. Seize every day as a Billiken Day, filled with inspiration and good luck, which is 99 percent preparation, will follow as surely as a new school year follows summer.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Let's Fund Some Learning!
Now that we have heard that the government is broke, industry has been creating jobs anywhere but here in the USA, and tax revenues either going to increase from taking away the tax cuts, which were originally a bad idea when implemented, or the poor and middle class is going to get soaked some more, we need some common sense.
Lobbyists will charge mightily for the absence of common sense. Politiicans will sell their souls and your children if you'd only forget common sense.
But this one thing must happen. We have to have enough money to open the schools, pay the teachers and teach the children to to.
The reason for this need is simple. We need to have one thing happen, and we need that one thing fast. We need to be sure that our future leaders are able to think, not just regurgitate the latest data points, but actually use those data points to support ideas that will, in the future, forget about the wealth of the very few and build wealth again for the many.
Mine is not a position that supports income redistribution for the purpose of redistributing income. I am not proposing class warfare. I am, with this post, demanding this nation demand its leaders operate so that all people that work are paid, that they have jobs that pay, they can build things the way this nation built the largest industrial power in the history of the world, and that by doing so, all members of our society can make a decent wage.
When people work and are not paid, or when they cannot find work, bad things happen. Starvation, homelessness and education are among the first things that are slapped onto the backs of the nearly poor. This means that opportunity is limited, and then the masses get restless. Before the most dire consequences happen though, there are consequences that decimate the spirit, which is hopelessness.
Enough of the rich getting everything while the poor get nothing and the next generation pays both sides through unconscionable debt.
My proposal starts with education. It starts with being able to figure out that budgeting to bailout banks while failing to fund education, or making the masses all angry and upset over gay marriage while the real crime in this nation is that we have sent out to everywhere else, the manufacturing jobs that made America great and workers able to work in those plants.
Even the guy with the wrench in his hand has to understand some math, some science and some engineering to make what is being turned by that wrench actually function at the end of the day.
This takes a budget. A budget that isn't devoted to making bankers money from their creations made of air, called credit default swaps. Wouldn't someone please ask them where they learned how to steal like that? In public school? At Harvard?
So, budget this in Washington. Take out the "really big numbers" to bailout the banks that are too big to fail, and let them fail. Give them the grade anyone would have gotten if they had done this and they were too small to succeed. With nothing. And take that money and invest it in really fine education. Rebuild New Orleans schools, and the many other schools around the nation that are below excellent in condition. Give workers in those schools neighborhoods the jobs to do that building.
And then, hire people that can think to teach kids that legalized graft and stealing from the public is the same as stealing anywhere. It is the same as stealing from your local church, synagogue or mosque. It is the same as taking food out of the mouths of your neighbors. Make those bankers work in grocery stores to repay what they have stolen, and make them go back to school for not less than one year, at their own expense, to learn ethics. While they are in school, they will have to provide tuition for one pre-schooler, one grade schooler, a high school student and three college freshmen. If the school is public, make them pay the per pupil cost of those students.
Lobbyists will charge mightily for the absence of common sense. Politiicans will sell their souls and your children if you'd only forget common sense.
But this one thing must happen. We have to have enough money to open the schools, pay the teachers and teach the children to to.
The reason for this need is simple. We need to have one thing happen, and we need that one thing fast. We need to be sure that our future leaders are able to think, not just regurgitate the latest data points, but actually use those data points to support ideas that will, in the future, forget about the wealth of the very few and build wealth again for the many.
Mine is not a position that supports income redistribution for the purpose of redistributing income. I am not proposing class warfare. I am, with this post, demanding this nation demand its leaders operate so that all people that work are paid, that they have jobs that pay, they can build things the way this nation built the largest industrial power in the history of the world, and that by doing so, all members of our society can make a decent wage.
When people work and are not paid, or when they cannot find work, bad things happen. Starvation, homelessness and education are among the first things that are slapped onto the backs of the nearly poor. This means that opportunity is limited, and then the masses get restless. Before the most dire consequences happen though, there are consequences that decimate the spirit, which is hopelessness.
Enough of the rich getting everything while the poor get nothing and the next generation pays both sides through unconscionable debt.
My proposal starts with education. It starts with being able to figure out that budgeting to bailout banks while failing to fund education, or making the masses all angry and upset over gay marriage while the real crime in this nation is that we have sent out to everywhere else, the manufacturing jobs that made America great and workers able to work in those plants.
Even the guy with the wrench in his hand has to understand some math, some science and some engineering to make what is being turned by that wrench actually function at the end of the day.
This takes a budget. A budget that isn't devoted to making bankers money from their creations made of air, called credit default swaps. Wouldn't someone please ask them where they learned how to steal like that? In public school? At Harvard?
So, budget this in Washington. Take out the "really big numbers" to bailout the banks that are too big to fail, and let them fail. Give them the grade anyone would have gotten if they had done this and they were too small to succeed. With nothing. And take that money and invest it in really fine education. Rebuild New Orleans schools, and the many other schools around the nation that are below excellent in condition. Give workers in those schools neighborhoods the jobs to do that building.
And then, hire people that can think to teach kids that legalized graft and stealing from the public is the same as stealing anywhere. It is the same as stealing from your local church, synagogue or mosque. It is the same as taking food out of the mouths of your neighbors. Make those bankers work in grocery stores to repay what they have stolen, and make them go back to school for not less than one year, at their own expense, to learn ethics. While they are in school, they will have to provide tuition for one pre-schooler, one grade schooler, a high school student and three college freshmen. If the school is public, make them pay the per pupil cost of those students.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Imagine, if you will...
a young child standing at a closed door, listening with young ears to a loud conversation within that closed off room.
Voices raised, "I hate it! I hate the-the-the... insults! I hate the hate!"
And what caused this yelling moment?
The response tells all. "You're paying too much attention to idiots. They are fighting the wrong war. They have the wrong enemy. They have no idea." The voice saying these words is calm. "Don't worry, we remain in control of them."
"Why this black this, hate that, blankety black that? Why is everyone calling my stuff black? Why am I suddenly bad black, whatever that means?"
What stuff, this child wonders, is the cause of anger, and what was the color black being bad?
"I am going to tell you once more. This is not the time to be angry. Get a grip."
"Grip what?"
"The thing you always hold onto. Sanity."
Calming voices join in. There must be many people in that closed room. A woman's voice is heard in tones that sound like a ringing glass bell.
"You have been told this many times. You have kept your head, and now is not the time to lose your temper. Temper. Temper," as if the word itself, a name and a command in a single word. Where had he heard that before, that little child outside the closed door. "Temper. Temper."
Oh, right. When he was about three, and he'd thrown his new truck, a birthday present into the pond in the back yard. He never did get the truck back, even if he had laughed and jumped up and down when Grampa had given it to him. His mother, using those same dulcet tones had cautioned him to settle down. He'd been yelping with joy for over five minutes, which was some sort of family limit on happiness.
Then he'd had the truck snatched away, and he yelled again, without a moment or thought of joy. Joy was gone, anger was there, and anger was what he remembered of birthdays.
"This latest is the worst. I am the ruler of all that is supposed to be going on, and you are telling me that the 'natives are restless?' That voice was also oddly familiar. It was as if this young child, standing there by the door in his baggy jeans and torn tee shirt with a worn logo on the front of it, had been transported to some land where everyone spoke like the television voices he heard at 2 am after his parents had been fighting and sleep would not descend into his own bed where a teddy was soaked with tears.
A fist slammed into a table. Glass broke. The woman's voice grew shrill. Suddenly her voice, which had been sounding too low for the little one to understand her words clearly, was heard clearly. "and you are a flipping idiot."
Well, whoever was behind that door was getting some talking to. "Can you be this stupid? Forget it. You'll be dead by morning."
"I'm going to tell all. The truth. Confess." This was heard as an almost whisper, a voice so raspy he could not tell who had spoken.
"Check the post. Front pages. You. Are. Now. Dead." That voice was lower, and had the timbre of the voice of God the little boy had heard in church when the story of Noah had been told.
Someone was rattling the doorknob. The little boy ducked behind the cabinet ten feet down the hallway, turning so the plant he hid behind would not betray his location.
What had he heard?
What was there to confess? Does confession mean death will follow?
What was the black, the bad, the anger, the breakage?
What indeed had happened? And, was this child, eavesdropping by a door, reliable in the days to come, enough to shed light on what had happened inside the room?
Where indeed was the room. And were events in that room in the near past, the present, or were they imaginings?
How many people came out of the room? Where did they go?
And what happened to the boy beside the cabinet, ducked down behind a potted plant?
Imagine, is f you will...
Voices raised, "I hate it! I hate the-the-the... insults! I hate the hate!"
And what caused this yelling moment?
The response tells all. "You're paying too much attention to idiots. They are fighting the wrong war. They have the wrong enemy. They have no idea." The voice saying these words is calm. "Don't worry, we remain in control of them."
"Why this black this, hate that, blankety black that? Why is everyone calling my stuff black? Why am I suddenly bad black, whatever that means?"
What stuff, this child wonders, is the cause of anger, and what was the color black being bad?
"I am going to tell you once more. This is not the time to be angry. Get a grip."
"Grip what?"
"The thing you always hold onto. Sanity."
Calming voices join in. There must be many people in that closed room. A woman's voice is heard in tones that sound like a ringing glass bell.
"You have been told this many times. You have kept your head, and now is not the time to lose your temper. Temper. Temper," as if the word itself, a name and a command in a single word. Where had he heard that before, that little child outside the closed door. "Temper. Temper."
Oh, right. When he was about three, and he'd thrown his new truck, a birthday present into the pond in the back yard. He never did get the truck back, even if he had laughed and jumped up and down when Grampa had given it to him. His mother, using those same dulcet tones had cautioned him to settle down. He'd been yelping with joy for over five minutes, which was some sort of family limit on happiness.
Then he'd had the truck snatched away, and he yelled again, without a moment or thought of joy. Joy was gone, anger was there, and anger was what he remembered of birthdays.
"This latest is the worst. I am the ruler of all that is supposed to be going on, and you are telling me that the 'natives are restless?' That voice was also oddly familiar. It was as if this young child, standing there by the door in his baggy jeans and torn tee shirt with a worn logo on the front of it, had been transported to some land where everyone spoke like the television voices he heard at 2 am after his parents had been fighting and sleep would not descend into his own bed where a teddy was soaked with tears.
A fist slammed into a table. Glass broke. The woman's voice grew shrill. Suddenly her voice, which had been sounding too low for the little one to understand her words clearly, was heard clearly. "and you are a flipping idiot."
Well, whoever was behind that door was getting some talking to. "Can you be this stupid? Forget it. You'll be dead by morning."
"I'm going to tell all. The truth. Confess." This was heard as an almost whisper, a voice so raspy he could not tell who had spoken.
"Check the post. Front pages. You. Are. Now. Dead." That voice was lower, and had the timbre of the voice of God the little boy had heard in church when the story of Noah had been told.
Someone was rattling the doorknob. The little boy ducked behind the cabinet ten feet down the hallway, turning so the plant he hid behind would not betray his location.
What had he heard?
What was there to confess? Does confession mean death will follow?
What was the black, the bad, the anger, the breakage?
What indeed had happened? And, was this child, eavesdropping by a door, reliable in the days to come, enough to shed light on what had happened inside the room?
Where indeed was the room. And were events in that room in the near past, the present, or were they imaginings?
How many people came out of the room? Where did they go?
And what happened to the boy beside the cabinet, ducked down behind a potted plant?
Imagine, is f you will...
More on That Offer You Shouldn't Refuse
I will say it bluntly. Do you, or your favorite student, need some tutoring?
How about those math problems, reading assignments, science projects, biology classes, social studies assignments, work projects for the new plan to market the new widget, a lesson in law and procedure for the traffic ticket you just got, or even understanding Shakespeare?
You got it. And if you are in Chicago, tutoring can be done by phone. If you are near to where I am, I'll even travel if that is feasible.
But let's not get ahead of the game. If you need some simple tutoring for that student, be sure to drop a line in the comments section.
I'll do right by you. Really I will. My success is only linked to your success.
Most of learning is learning how to study and how to learn. That is the essence of tutoring also. Holding numerous degrees, certificates, licenses for professional ability and so on, I am living proof that learning can happen and the paper can be earned to allow you to earn the green paper. Which would be money.
If you need a blogger, let me know that also. If you need some copy written for a product, comments get responses. Let me know. The Muse is looking for work that helps others.
Cheers--to our success.
How about those math problems, reading assignments, science projects, biology classes, social studies assignments, work projects for the new plan to market the new widget, a lesson in law and procedure for the traffic ticket you just got, or even understanding Shakespeare?
You got it. And if you are in Chicago, tutoring can be done by phone. If you are near to where I am, I'll even travel if that is feasible.
But let's not get ahead of the game. If you need some simple tutoring for that student, be sure to drop a line in the comments section.
I'll do right by you. Really I will. My success is only linked to your success.
Most of learning is learning how to study and how to learn. That is the essence of tutoring also. Holding numerous degrees, certificates, licenses for professional ability and so on, I am living proof that learning can happen and the paper can be earned to allow you to earn the green paper. Which would be money.
If you need a blogger, let me know that also. If you need some copy written for a product, comments get responses. Let me know. The Muse is looking for work that helps others.
Cheers--to our success.
Word Salad
Note to Self:
Don't try this in the kitchen, at a fancy party, or anywhere near a microphone tuned in to catch the latest palaver from a politician.
What exactly is word salad, and why should you worry about it?
Well, word salad is what happens when either lack of preparation, failure of education, lack or refusal to read, and inability to string thoughts together all smoosh together in front of crowds, video cameras linked directly to YouTube, or when you're trying to impress someone, or worst of all, when you need to get something done.
I am sticking to oldies but goodies here for a reason.
It is similar to Speaker Nancy Pelosi stumbling through the answer to, "what is your favorite "word"," and coming up with a meandering answer that misses points on cogent, but might have managed to offend believers and non-believers alike. Check it out by clicking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSko2ixEB8U&feature=related.
The favorite word is the word -- is the word-- is the word -- is the word...[cue sound of phonograph needle scratching record.] Mercifully it ended. But not before critics got ahold of it, and used it a day or two to bash the faith of Ms. Pelosi, and tried to make her statement into something akin to Christo-fascists taking over the government. This all happened when all reality has and remains pointing the other way round, and making our Speaker briefly, the then latest victim of Faith Bashing.
The favorite word of the Speaker is the Word. As in Word of God. As in Word made Flesh. As in Jesus the Christ. As in God, Son and Holy Ghost. The Word. Many meanings. Of course, not once did she actually say all of what I have said. She did make a vague "gospel reference," which she was sure "everyone knew." And went on and on about her favorite word being "the Word."
Not likely that everyone knows that reference these days, and for that reason, the Word word is word salad in so many ears.
The word salad debacle hit Sarah Palin when she entered a world of spymasters and national security, implying she could check out Vladimir Putin's barbecue technique from her Alaska backyard. And no, the Northern Lights were not going to interfere with her spying prowess.
Word salad can be fun. After all, it keeps late night comedians in business.
It makes high school debates interesting. It can make college lectures entertaining. In the well of the Senate or on the Floor of the House, it can unveil true intent. Sometimes.
All too rarely. But it does happen.
Reality gets into that Word Salad Bowl, tosses a few greenbacks around, spins like a whirlwind of truth, and the ease or unease with which the word salad hits the plate reveals so much.
Ms. Palin was pretty comfortable in her spying revelations. Ms. Pelosi appeared not so much at ease with her encounter in the spinning word salad bowl. She was searching.
And there you have the essence of good word salad. It reveals, without the guile of dressing the words up, the real intent of the salad maker. Ease with it means either it's a good joke or a far too serious impossible view of reality. Unease reveals an internal search.
And intelligent chef notices. Just as an intelligent chef knows when something is missing, or is too much in the dish, the maker of word salad uses the moment to continue the search until the answer to the question brought about in that tossing about, that tilt-oh-whirl of verbiage mixed and spun, leads to an answer found, certainty established, the world righted.
Let's hope that by the time the first course is over, the answer is either found, or at least identified, so that it can be truly made one's own later. That is always the way with questions posed in public to yourself, and no answer is readily at hand.
Don't try this in the kitchen, at a fancy party, or anywhere near a microphone tuned in to catch the latest palaver from a politician.
What exactly is word salad, and why should you worry about it?
Well, word salad is what happens when either lack of preparation, failure of education, lack or refusal to read, and inability to string thoughts together all smoosh together in front of crowds, video cameras linked directly to YouTube, or when you're trying to impress someone, or worst of all, when you need to get something done.
I am sticking to oldies but goodies here for a reason.
It is similar to Speaker Nancy Pelosi stumbling through the answer to, "what is your favorite "word"," and coming up with a meandering answer that misses points on cogent, but might have managed to offend believers and non-believers alike. Check it out by clicking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSko2ixEB8U&feature=related.
The favorite word is the word -- is the word-- is the word -- is the word...[cue sound of phonograph needle scratching record.] Mercifully it ended. But not before critics got ahold of it, and used it a day or two to bash the faith of Ms. Pelosi, and tried to make her statement into something akin to Christo-fascists taking over the government. This all happened when all reality has and remains pointing the other way round, and making our Speaker briefly, the then latest victim of Faith Bashing.
The favorite word of the Speaker is the Word. As in Word of God. As in Word made Flesh. As in Jesus the Christ. As in God, Son and Holy Ghost. The Word. Many meanings. Of course, not once did she actually say all of what I have said. She did make a vague "gospel reference," which she was sure "everyone knew." And went on and on about her favorite word being "the Word."
Not likely that everyone knows that reference these days, and for that reason, the Word word is word salad in so many ears.
The word salad debacle hit Sarah Palin when she entered a world of spymasters and national security, implying she could check out Vladimir Putin's barbecue technique from her Alaska backyard. And no, the Northern Lights were not going to interfere with her spying prowess.
Word salad can be fun. After all, it keeps late night comedians in business.
It makes high school debates interesting. It can make college lectures entertaining. In the well of the Senate or on the Floor of the House, it can unveil true intent. Sometimes.
All too rarely. But it does happen.
Reality gets into that Word Salad Bowl, tosses a few greenbacks around, spins like a whirlwind of truth, and the ease or unease with which the word salad hits the plate reveals so much.
Ms. Palin was pretty comfortable in her spying revelations. Ms. Pelosi appeared not so much at ease with her encounter in the spinning word salad bowl. She was searching.
And there you have the essence of good word salad. It reveals, without the guile of dressing the words up, the real intent of the salad maker. Ease with it means either it's a good joke or a far too serious impossible view of reality. Unease reveals an internal search.
And intelligent chef notices. Just as an intelligent chef knows when something is missing, or is too much in the dish, the maker of word salad uses the moment to continue the search until the answer to the question brought about in that tossing about, that tilt-oh-whirl of verbiage mixed and spun, leads to an answer found, certainty established, the world righted.
Let's hope that by the time the first course is over, the answer is either found, or at least identified, so that it can be truly made one's own later. That is always the way with questions posed in public to yourself, and no answer is readily at hand.
Monday, August 9, 2010
A Note To Readers
You will notice that there are now ads running on the Muse.
The reason is simple. The Muse in hungry and wants to eat.
Regularly.
And, the Muse also wants you to be able to click on some news headlines, be able to find a book, perhaps find a job for yourself or your son-in-law or your daughter. It's all just information.
I thought long and hard about this change, and decided that adding some adverts was not the worst thing in the world. Click on a few of them. Let me know how they work. Let me know if you want a different focus to the ads, or you want different forms of information.
I'm working on a comment section that will allow more conversation on this blog, and less of the pronouncements. My posts are ideas for thinking, and if you'd like, write back about how those posts are striking you on any given day. They all come from news that I read, editorials I read or hear, or sometimes a funny story from a neighbor.
Remember, the Muse is interested in what you think, how you think, and ways to help you think clearly.
As one of my professors once said, even a muddled thought can bring about clear thinking.
The reason is simple. The Muse in hungry and wants to eat.
Regularly.
And, the Muse also wants you to be able to click on some news headlines, be able to find a book, perhaps find a job for yourself or your son-in-law or your daughter. It's all just information.
I thought long and hard about this change, and decided that adding some adverts was not the worst thing in the world. Click on a few of them. Let me know how they work. Let me know if you want a different focus to the ads, or you want different forms of information.
I'm working on a comment section that will allow more conversation on this blog, and less of the pronouncements. My posts are ideas for thinking, and if you'd like, write back about how those posts are striking you on any given day. They all come from news that I read, editorials I read or hear, or sometimes a funny story from a neighbor.
Remember, the Muse is interested in what you think, how you think, and ways to help you think clearly.
As one of my professors once said, even a muddled thought can bring about clear thinking.
Learning Is Easy--Making Sense of What You Know?
Well, that's a whole different part of the Zeitgeist. It's like being the only person in the neighborhood understanding flotation when the water's rising, you've got the fixings to make a boat, and everyone is going into full panic mode. What do you do?
Slap someone silly, grab the paddle and hope for the best? Slap yourself silly and tell yourself that panic is the normal thing to do? Just grab the paddles, hop in the boat, making sure you have the stuff, pets, water and food that will make survival possible, and get moving?
Well, yes.
Pick one, and just do it.
Make a decision and do it. Make a stand, take a position, grab a paddle, save who and what you can, and just do whatever it takes to do it.
That is the way of things these days. Survival mode 24/7.
We forget though that after the flood goes down comes the living part. The long time between crises, or the short time,. Pick one. But there is usually a gap, whether it is only long enough to catch your breath or long enough to write a book or two.
It is into that gap we must also venture, applying what we know. Teaching what we have learned. Living. It is the stuff that happens when you make other plans.
Doing it well means doing it. With a certain amount of skill, grace, wit and humor.
There are, in these days, precious few gaps between anything. Some days, it feels like none, like the busy-ness of life is the business of life, and there is no life in there at all. Just doing. Meeting crisis to crisis, until fatigue sets in.
Perhaps the greatest lesson is this. Not every challenge is a crisis. Not every thing that happens is an emergency. Not every task is urgent. Not every rain is a flood on the cusp.
And that is where making sense of it all comes in. Just there. There is time, there will be time, and you must often take the time and do it right, if you are doing something. Don't rush. Let it settle in, and do it right. From that, the sense of it will come.
Slap someone silly, grab the paddle and hope for the best? Slap yourself silly and tell yourself that panic is the normal thing to do? Just grab the paddles, hop in the boat, making sure you have the stuff, pets, water and food that will make survival possible, and get moving?
Well, yes.
Pick one, and just do it.
Make a decision and do it. Make a stand, take a position, grab a paddle, save who and what you can, and just do whatever it takes to do it.
That is the way of things these days. Survival mode 24/7.
We forget though that after the flood goes down comes the living part. The long time between crises, or the short time,. Pick one. But there is usually a gap, whether it is only long enough to catch your breath or long enough to write a book or two.
It is into that gap we must also venture, applying what we know. Teaching what we have learned. Living. It is the stuff that happens when you make other plans.
Doing it well means doing it. With a certain amount of skill, grace, wit and humor.
There are, in these days, precious few gaps between anything. Some days, it feels like none, like the busy-ness of life is the business of life, and there is no life in there at all. Just doing. Meeting crisis to crisis, until fatigue sets in.
Perhaps the greatest lesson is this. Not every challenge is a crisis. Not every thing that happens is an emergency. Not every task is urgent. Not every rain is a flood on the cusp.
And that is where making sense of it all comes in. Just there. There is time, there will be time, and you must often take the time and do it right, if you are doing something. Don't rush. Let it settle in, and do it right. From that, the sense of it will come.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
That New Skill--Yes Virginia, you need one a day
Sheesh! What is this nutzy woman talking about, one new skill a day?
Well, yes. One. Just one.
It is simple. I'm not saying you should look at a new skill in terms of say, learning to play the piano as a single skill. Learning to play the piano is complex. It is composed (sorry about that pun, it was intentional), of learning many skills. Reading music, learning key names, learning key sounds, learning chords, reading more music, fingering a chord, fingering a scale, fingering a half step, fingering a whole step, fingering a third...
It will never be the single perfect day in which you can build Rome. Or perform at Carnegie Hall, when yesterday you were looking at music as if it is a foreign language. One day is not long enough to learn to cook like Julia Child, or Jacques Pepin. Or, your grandmother.
Now, all of those steps might make sense for those who've endured that childhood staple of at least one year of piano lessons. But your parents might have allowed you to acquire other skills not quite so musical.
How about trying the 'new skill a day' in that mode. Let's try cooking. Everyone has to know how to cook something. Either that, or everyone would be learning how to lose weight really easily, or eat raw food only. That works for salads and fruit, not so much for rice and beans.
If you are learning to cook, you must already know something about eating. So, think of these skills as an expansion of your eating skills. Salads, soups, tuna surprise. All of these are foods you might know. Now expand your salad to include vegetables you might not know. Check out a salad cookbook. Ask a restaurant for a recipe, or be more adventurous. Find a dish you like, write down the ingredients, give it a try. Start with salads, as the errors there are less likely to spoil a whole meal or an expensive cut of meat, fish or even a romantic date.
You might want to look at learning to mix a salad dressing, the mixing skill alone, the mechanical way you use a fork, whisk or spoon to stir whatever it is you are putting on that salad as your one skill for the day.
There are endless options. Learn how to work a pair of pliers. Learn how to use a drill. Learn how to cut vegetables into even sizes. Learn a new way to peel tomatoes. But, not all skills are mechanical.
Teach yourself about poetry. Learn how to find poets using an index of quotations or index of first lines.
Learn about paint, whether for walls and windows or for making a Picasso like masterpiece.
How about the skills required to make a paper airplane? Or, make that airplane into Origami.
The possibilities are endless. It's only one skill a day. If you're adventurous, you can fly that salad into the freshly painted dining room, onto your newly hand painted plate, using an origami airplane in the shape of a piano.
Well, yes. One. Just one.
It is simple. I'm not saying you should look at a new skill in terms of say, learning to play the piano as a single skill. Learning to play the piano is complex. It is composed (sorry about that pun, it was intentional), of learning many skills. Reading music, learning key names, learning key sounds, learning chords, reading more music, fingering a chord, fingering a scale, fingering a half step, fingering a whole step, fingering a third...
It will never be the single perfect day in which you can build Rome. Or perform at Carnegie Hall, when yesterday you were looking at music as if it is a foreign language. One day is not long enough to learn to cook like Julia Child, or Jacques Pepin. Or, your grandmother.
Now, all of those steps might make sense for those who've endured that childhood staple of at least one year of piano lessons. But your parents might have allowed you to acquire other skills not quite so musical.
How about trying the 'new skill a day' in that mode. Let's try cooking. Everyone has to know how to cook something. Either that, or everyone would be learning how to lose weight really easily, or eat raw food only. That works for salads and fruit, not so much for rice and beans.
If you are learning to cook, you must already know something about eating. So, think of these skills as an expansion of your eating skills. Salads, soups, tuna surprise. All of these are foods you might know. Now expand your salad to include vegetables you might not know. Check out a salad cookbook. Ask a restaurant for a recipe, or be more adventurous. Find a dish you like, write down the ingredients, give it a try. Start with salads, as the errors there are less likely to spoil a whole meal or an expensive cut of meat, fish or even a romantic date.
You might want to look at learning to mix a salad dressing, the mixing skill alone, the mechanical way you use a fork, whisk or spoon to stir whatever it is you are putting on that salad as your one skill for the day.
There are endless options. Learn how to work a pair of pliers. Learn how to use a drill. Learn how to cut vegetables into even sizes. Learn a new way to peel tomatoes. But, not all skills are mechanical.
Teach yourself about poetry. Learn how to find poets using an index of quotations or index of first lines.
Learn about paint, whether for walls and windows or for making a Picasso like masterpiece.
How about the skills required to make a paper airplane? Or, make that airplane into Origami.
The possibilities are endless. It's only one skill a day. If you're adventurous, you can fly that salad into the freshly painted dining room, onto your newly hand painted plate, using an origami airplane in the shape of a piano.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Take Back By Giving to Yourself
It is not easy. It won't be simple. But all the bellyaching about the state of the Union can be remedied in large part by an informed electorate. Education is information brought into the brain. Read. That's how it is done. And what follows is a proposal giving a reason to read. It is an opinion only. Read it. Read more, and come back to comment.
What? Something Else Is Rotten In the Swamp?
Back in the day, communalism was viewed more as a way to look at communism, a way of life involving sharing within small communities such as communes, communal housing, and so on, than it was viewed as a radical means or guide to remaking all of American society to communism. That is not to say those first proponents of communism had the small "c" communalism more in mind than the large "C", Communism as was envisioned and brought about so as to concentrate the power at the top of the financial food chain, while all below got to 'share' what was left.
Communism, always a favorite of the bankers, was a great way to govern all the people, while keeping the banker firmly at the top of the heap, controlling the dosh, the money, the filthy lucre.
Unfortunately, communal living, as in the shared lifestyle for a house or small community, such as is found in history from the original creation of America where small farming communities were working to make everyone successful by shared harvest duties, shared barn building and shared foods through barter and trade has little if anything to do with Communism as a governmental system. What has happened in the US is a gradual increase in the power of central bankers, who are the only ones that benefit most from Communism.
Post WWII, the Russian bloc was set up for communism, which became Communism, by the activities of what is now known in this country as the "banksters," the larger central bankers that make the most profit from the despair and losses of the little people while the oligarchy gets rich.
In the same period, capitalism was rampant and encouraged in the West, which only meant that the central banksters worked the system to enrich the 1 percent at the top. And, at the same time, Capitalism, large “C” was meant to be ever shifted to whatever worked to make the banker king.
In all, sort of a heads I win, tails you lose sort of system.
In the US, the growing amount of wealth of the top 1-5 percent is not just growing--it's on steroids.
When either capitalism or communism becomes a ruling by the oligarchy, or corporatism, both systems shift toward what Mussolini called National Socialism, or Fascism.
Welcome to exactly that in the US. We have shifted away from the Republic, and Franklin was proven right. We had a Republic, but lost it when the corporations won their nearly iron fisted control. We have embraced the policies of the non-majority, who have now shifted the policies of the US to the very fascistic type of communism that eventually became so popular in the Russian communist system, and which became the very Oligarchs that ruled in the Russian Federation after they 'dumped' communism.
In the end, those that control the money system run the government. Always was such and will always be such in any nation that forgets the power is in the masses, and where the nation forgets that the Rule of Law is King. In the US, we have forgotten the rule of law, and have allowed a tiered system of law enforcement, which has ultimately shifted us to corporate rule, rather than rule by people.
This Republic of the United States has abrogated its control of the money, by allowing the Fed Reserve to do that which is limited power given only to the Congress in the Constitution. So, we have the international bank, which is the very private Federal Reserve, doing what Congress is granted sole authority to do, which is issue and control money.
In the end, Communism–whether original Bolsevik/Bankster style or from the Central Committee, the provender is really not run by the people, any more than our own Republic is governed by the people. Look at the recent Citizen’s United case from the pen of the Supreme Court. The notion of a corporation being equal to a person is absurd, for a corporation cannot have a pulse, does not breathe, does not eat food, is not counted as a person in the Census. Yet, corporations have the same or greater power of speech based upon their monetary wealth. All of this corporate personhood stems from the footnotes of a clerk, not the Justices themselves. All that history has been forgotten, even by the very Justices themselves, save the most clear denunciation of Justice Stevens, the one being replaced by Elena Kagan.
Welcome to Amerika. The central bankers and their cohort have now clearly won the day. They shall not win the entire battle though if we can get back to the Republic, reclaim the Constitution in exile, and reform the Court, the Congress and the Executive, to remove the oligarches from their power. We must do this, in addition to reminding America that this is a nation under God, not under the rule of the likes of BP, Goldman Sachs, or AIG.
If we fail to act, we shall reap what we have sown, which is a further degradation or elimination of the middle class, the elimination of the rights of people, and the further encroachment of the international bankers in the running of this nation. We need to root out and send out all who desire to make this Republic into a communist nation, a socialist nation, a fascist nation. We are unique. We are the first and only nation that has had the potential of running the nation as a Republic by, of and for the people.
It is much more complex, thousands of times more complex, and yet it is also simple.
All that is required is an informed electorate, not a sloganeering, jingoistic, sound bitten to the point of being pulped by the press, electorate.
To that end, read about it. Start with a good history of the founding of the republic of the USA. Read the Federalist Papers. Read the decisions of the Supreme Court. Check out the cases they cite. All is online.
Read the history of the constitutional history of the US. Read the history of what led to WWI, WWII and the founding of the Russian Communist system.
Lots of books are out there. Find them online.
And read. Read. READ!
What? Something Else Is Rotten In the Swamp?
Back in the day, communalism was viewed more as a way to look at communism, a way of life involving sharing within small communities such as communes, communal housing, and so on, than it was viewed as a radical means or guide to remaking all of American society to communism. That is not to say those first proponents of communism had the small "c" communalism more in mind than the large "C", Communism as was envisioned and brought about so as to concentrate the power at the top of the financial food chain, while all below got to 'share' what was left.
Communism, always a favorite of the bankers, was a great way to govern all the people, while keeping the banker firmly at the top of the heap, controlling the dosh, the money, the filthy lucre.
Unfortunately, communal living, as in the shared lifestyle for a house or small community, such as is found in history from the original creation of America where small farming communities were working to make everyone successful by shared harvest duties, shared barn building and shared foods through barter and trade has little if anything to do with Communism as a governmental system. What has happened in the US is a gradual increase in the power of central bankers, who are the only ones that benefit most from Communism.
Post WWII, the Russian bloc was set up for communism, which became Communism, by the activities of what is now known in this country as the "banksters," the larger central bankers that make the most profit from the despair and losses of the little people while the oligarchy gets rich.
In the same period, capitalism was rampant and encouraged in the West, which only meant that the central banksters worked the system to enrich the 1 percent at the top. And, at the same time, Capitalism, large “C” was meant to be ever shifted to whatever worked to make the banker king.
In all, sort of a heads I win, tails you lose sort of system.
In the US, the growing amount of wealth of the top 1-5 percent is not just growing--it's on steroids.
When either capitalism or communism becomes a ruling by the oligarchy, or corporatism, both systems shift toward what Mussolini called National Socialism, or Fascism.
Welcome to exactly that in the US. We have shifted away from the Republic, and Franklin was proven right. We had a Republic, but lost it when the corporations won their nearly iron fisted control. We have embraced the policies of the non-majority, who have now shifted the policies of the US to the very fascistic type of communism that eventually became so popular in the Russian communist system, and which became the very Oligarchs that ruled in the Russian Federation after they 'dumped' communism.
In the end, those that control the money system run the government. Always was such and will always be such in any nation that forgets the power is in the masses, and where the nation forgets that the Rule of Law is King. In the US, we have forgotten the rule of law, and have allowed a tiered system of law enforcement, which has ultimately shifted us to corporate rule, rather than rule by people.
This Republic of the United States has abrogated its control of the money, by allowing the Fed Reserve to do that which is limited power given only to the Congress in the Constitution. So, we have the international bank, which is the very private Federal Reserve, doing what Congress is granted sole authority to do, which is issue and control money.
In the end, Communism–whether original Bolsevik/Bankster style or from the Central Committee, the provender is really not run by the people, any more than our own Republic is governed by the people. Look at the recent Citizen’s United case from the pen of the Supreme Court. The notion of a corporation being equal to a person is absurd, for a corporation cannot have a pulse, does not breathe, does not eat food, is not counted as a person in the Census. Yet, corporations have the same or greater power of speech based upon their monetary wealth. All of this corporate personhood stems from the footnotes of a clerk, not the Justices themselves. All that history has been forgotten, even by the very Justices themselves, save the most clear denunciation of Justice Stevens, the one being replaced by Elena Kagan.
Welcome to Amerika. The central bankers and their cohort have now clearly won the day. They shall not win the entire battle though if we can get back to the Republic, reclaim the Constitution in exile, and reform the Court, the Congress and the Executive, to remove the oligarches from their power. We must do this, in addition to reminding America that this is a nation under God, not under the rule of the likes of BP, Goldman Sachs, or AIG.
If we fail to act, we shall reap what we have sown, which is a further degradation or elimination of the middle class, the elimination of the rights of people, and the further encroachment of the international bankers in the running of this nation. We need to root out and send out all who desire to make this Republic into a communist nation, a socialist nation, a fascist nation. We are unique. We are the first and only nation that has had the potential of running the nation as a Republic by, of and for the people.
It is much more complex, thousands of times more complex, and yet it is also simple.
All that is required is an informed electorate, not a sloganeering, jingoistic, sound bitten to the point of being pulped by the press, electorate.
To that end, read about it. Start with a good history of the founding of the republic of the USA. Read the Federalist Papers. Read the decisions of the Supreme Court. Check out the cases they cite. All is online.
Read the history of the constitutional history of the US. Read the history of what led to WWI, WWII and the founding of the Russian Communist system.
Lots of books are out there. Find them online.
And read. Read. READ!
Friday, August 6, 2010
In Less Than A Month...
school will begin for most families in the US.
I meant families. Not just students.
It is more than a page turning on the calendar. It is the true new beginning that so many seek.
New Year's Day has its resolutions. Labor Day is the real beginning.
Sure, we start the school year in advance of that hallowed day that ends the summer in most of the northern tier of states, and while Labor Day is just a day in September, it remains the marker that starts off the learning. The week before, if your family has a student, or many students in school, is still a beginning.
Let this year begin with education for all. Everyone in the family has a job.
This year in a climate of high unemployment, take up your additional job for 2010, the job that will close the year on a more positive note for all in your family.
Set aside an hour a day to read. By read, I mean deeply take in the words on a page of a book. Not a magazine, a comic or a five page something between the covers of heavier paper that claims to be a book. I mean a real book.
Learn something new.
Get a new skill.
Are you trying to economize? Who isn't. But learn how to save some money on reading. Go to the library.
Take the kids. Make an afternoon of it. Bring the neighbor kids that don't otherwise know where the library is.
Buy one of those 'ten for a dollar' notebooks at your favorite discount shop. Get some pens.
Read that book. At the end of each chapter, write what you have read.
Take notes.
As at least one question of yourself about what was on those pages you just finished.
Turn off the TeeVee Machine.
Read another book.
Every week of the month of September, read one new book.
Then, read poetry to the children that are going to bed. Read a fairy tale to them. Read.
Read a new book every week. Change the subject of what you are reading about every week until you find a subject that interests you.
Discuss what you have read. Trade the book you are reading with your spouse, your teenage daughter, your teenage son.
Read the Constitution to each other at the dinner table. Discuss it.
Read the Bill of Rights, and read a newspaper about what is going on in the law.
Read a book about the history of your town, your city, your state.
Find out something new about Lincoln. Learn about the history of the automobile you drive. Learn about the fight to protect the air and water. Learn about the corporations and how companies are structured.
Read.
Read more.
Read more again.
Do not turn out that light until you have finished at least one chapter.
Read whatever your children are reading in school, and discuss those books with them at dinner. Ask questions about those same books as you drive them to their school, walk them to the school bus or walk with them to school.
No matter what, make this the year of the book, the school year of the book. You'll be smarter for it.
Suggestions for reading will follow. Read the suggestions. Then read the books.
I meant families. Not just students.
It is more than a page turning on the calendar. It is the true new beginning that so many seek.
New Year's Day has its resolutions. Labor Day is the real beginning.
Sure, we start the school year in advance of that hallowed day that ends the summer in most of the northern tier of states, and while Labor Day is just a day in September, it remains the marker that starts off the learning. The week before, if your family has a student, or many students in school, is still a beginning.
Let this year begin with education for all. Everyone in the family has a job.
This year in a climate of high unemployment, take up your additional job for 2010, the job that will close the year on a more positive note for all in your family.
Set aside an hour a day to read. By read, I mean deeply take in the words on a page of a book. Not a magazine, a comic or a five page something between the covers of heavier paper that claims to be a book. I mean a real book.
Learn something new.
Get a new skill.
Are you trying to economize? Who isn't. But learn how to save some money on reading. Go to the library.
Take the kids. Make an afternoon of it. Bring the neighbor kids that don't otherwise know where the library is.
Buy one of those 'ten for a dollar' notebooks at your favorite discount shop. Get some pens.
Read that book. At the end of each chapter, write what you have read.
Take notes.
As at least one question of yourself about what was on those pages you just finished.
Turn off the TeeVee Machine.
Read another book.
Every week of the month of September, read one new book.
Then, read poetry to the children that are going to bed. Read a fairy tale to them. Read.
Read a new book every week. Change the subject of what you are reading about every week until you find a subject that interests you.
Discuss what you have read. Trade the book you are reading with your spouse, your teenage daughter, your teenage son.
Read the Constitution to each other at the dinner table. Discuss it.
Read the Bill of Rights, and read a newspaper about what is going on in the law.
Read a book about the history of your town, your city, your state.
Find out something new about Lincoln. Learn about the history of the automobile you drive. Learn about the fight to protect the air and water. Learn about the corporations and how companies are structured.
Read.
Read more.
Read more again.
Do not turn out that light until you have finished at least one chapter.
Read whatever your children are reading in school, and discuss those books with them at dinner. Ask questions about those same books as you drive them to their school, walk them to the school bus or walk with them to school.
No matter what, make this the year of the book, the school year of the book. You'll be smarter for it.
Suggestions for reading will follow. Read the suggestions. Then read the books.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Cake Eaters Need a Rebuilt Cake
We are a nation that has historically abhorred the notion of royalty. We rejected that crazy man in the 18th Century, whose goal was to make, keep and control us through taxation, fealty, and loyalty to a distant crown.
We rejected, as a matter of survival, the notion of the top owning all and the middle being none, with the poor and the rich making up a simple two tier society. It happened after the Great Depression, and those born in those times grew up to be the Greatest Generation. That Generation fought World War II, and thought they defeated the Nazis, the fascists, the control grid that was national socialistic in character, and the results were a number of genocidal campaigns. We rejected the policies that brought about the Holocaust, an horrific period that is not further relevant here.
At the end of World War II, we felt and embraced peace. For a few years, we had no war, almost. But upon establishing the large standing army, the Defense Department, the Defense Industry and the Weapons Makers as the huge, and ever growing portion of our economy, we embarked upon policies that have kept this nation at perpetual war.
We paid no attention to the speech of President Eisenhower when he counseled against perpetuation of the Military Industrial Complex, and let it grow baby, grow.
We also bought into Oil as a limited resource, despite huge evidence to the contrary of abiotic oil, as found by the Russians in all sorts of places that shouldn't have any black gold flowing in any pipes.
We have purchased as a nation, many notions that now appear quaint in retrospect, but which still hold sway with a huge number of our fellow countrymen. We still have racism, sexism, and a slew of national bogeymen. Or bogey-women.
Yet our greatest enemy is not the one under the bed, the scarcity in the fuel tank, or the notion that America is the policeman of the world. Not of themselves, that is. Our greatest enemy is taking from Americans to build other economies while neglecting the very foundations of our nation.
We mistake assisting others to achieve a representative government, with the control of those nations as colonies of Empire. We mistake our fights as "for democracy and freedom" as our freedoms are eroded here at home and those abroad are also less able to govern themselves because our assistance, wanted or not, comes at a price. That price is debt.
Same here at home. Debt is our Master, we are its slaves.
Here in the "Homeland," a distinctly odious phrase to those with ears that hurt when National Socialistic phraseology enters the American lexicon, the top 1 percent own more than the bottom 40 percent. The top 5 percent, own most of what the bottom 80 percent otherwise claim. And that is my setting forth shrinking statistics for the bottom end only. The top is growing like Topsy. Economically that is.
Our formerly industrial economy is turning into a service economy, where the only service is to make money for the money makers. Debt service, insurance, banking, and other financial related services are what we do these days. As the greatest debtor nation in history, our government is an ever growing part of the economy.
Recent bailouts and 'nationalizations' of industries have made the government the largest employer or controller of parts of the economy. Health care, auto, banking, securities, and many other industries are now owned by, controlled by, or so regulated by the government as to be government run. Add to that the offshoring, the exportation of jobs to lower wage areas and you have the run for the money taking jobs from our own home areas, our "homeland," to feed the top of the top of the top.
That top of the top is like the top of the cake. And let them eat cake is the operative phrase.
What the top tier, and the bottom tier, do not openly communicate is this one fact. The top tier of the cake cannot be at the top without the support of the lower layers. The masses, forming the lower tiers of the American cake, support the top layer, just as the larger lower layers support the capstone of the pyramid.
They cannot stay up there without us. They need us and our money to make their money.
And how do we flip this upside down distribution of wealth, to get a larger share of the wealth to flow to the supporting layers without resorting to communistic or socialistic systems? Look back at what happened before the Greatest Generation became the Greatest Generation.
Back then, we had projects that built that which cannot be outsourced. We built roads, bridges and infrastructure. Sure it is the unglamorous part of building, with the fripperies and finishes being so much more fun to contemplate and far more beautiful to the eye.
But, our infrastructure is failing. Floods warnings are nearly a weekly event in the Chicago area. Bridges have fallen, basements have flooded, dams have burst. Others are at risk for us all.
What will you do when the only road to the grocery is blocked because a bridge washed out? How about that ambulance you need if you are injured or sick? You don't need to be injured in the actual falling bridge situation to be adversely affected by infrastructure failure.
We must demand that our government take some of the money they lavishly spent on bankers in those massive crises of the past years and put it into building the very foundations that are now in disrepair due to age and neglect.
These are not things that can be brought in from China. No one across any ocean can go to work there and build a sewer pipe in Iowa. Can't happen. Location, location, location.
Let us not despair and do the handwringing over the lavish expenditures of celebrity weddings and faux royalty being feted at celebrations.
Rather, let us celebrate a rebuilding of the nation. Starting at the foundations, let us build the piping, roads and structures that make this nation great. Using American workers, let's get off the bailout bandwagon and get on the building of American back to her status of a first nation among the top of the best. We did it in the 30's and can do it again.
We know, as Americans, that our nation, our sovereign nation, is to be protected as a discreet nation, not a member of a global government. We don't want the world as our nation, we want our borders kept legally, our people as our people, and what is 'over there' to stay over there. We, as Americans, want to rebuild the American economy, and if we need to prop up our infrastructure as a first step in rebuilding our vanishing industry, then let's do it.
Forget international banksters. Keep the money here. Use our labor to make our nation great. Forget about all the CAFTA, NAFTA, GATT and other multi-national, sovereignty sapping treaties that have weakened our economy, and let's build what we know how to build best. American engineers and industries made the best roads since Rome. Let us not let the failures of our infrastructure kill off this great nation.
Let us pull back from our Imperial ambitions as the New Rome, and become the New Home Nation. Houses, like nations, must both be built on strong foundations. We've got money for bankers, so transfer some of that to infrastructure, and infuse the economy with work to rebuild what we have sadly neglected too long.
This will put people to work, which itself creates more jobs. As we build, demand for more grows. Building builds economies. Simple stuff. Let's pick up that shovel, and get going!
We rejected, as a matter of survival, the notion of the top owning all and the middle being none, with the poor and the rich making up a simple two tier society. It happened after the Great Depression, and those born in those times grew up to be the Greatest Generation. That Generation fought World War II, and thought they defeated the Nazis, the fascists, the control grid that was national socialistic in character, and the results were a number of genocidal campaigns. We rejected the policies that brought about the Holocaust, an horrific period that is not further relevant here.
At the end of World War II, we felt and embraced peace. For a few years, we had no war, almost. But upon establishing the large standing army, the Defense Department, the Defense Industry and the Weapons Makers as the huge, and ever growing portion of our economy, we embarked upon policies that have kept this nation at perpetual war.
We paid no attention to the speech of President Eisenhower when he counseled against perpetuation of the Military Industrial Complex, and let it grow baby, grow.
We also bought into Oil as a limited resource, despite huge evidence to the contrary of abiotic oil, as found by the Russians in all sorts of places that shouldn't have any black gold flowing in any pipes.
We have purchased as a nation, many notions that now appear quaint in retrospect, but which still hold sway with a huge number of our fellow countrymen. We still have racism, sexism, and a slew of national bogeymen. Or bogey-women.
Yet our greatest enemy is not the one under the bed, the scarcity in the fuel tank, or the notion that America is the policeman of the world. Not of themselves, that is. Our greatest enemy is taking from Americans to build other economies while neglecting the very foundations of our nation.
We mistake assisting others to achieve a representative government, with the control of those nations as colonies of Empire. We mistake our fights as "for democracy and freedom" as our freedoms are eroded here at home and those abroad are also less able to govern themselves because our assistance, wanted or not, comes at a price. That price is debt.
Same here at home. Debt is our Master, we are its slaves.
Here in the "Homeland," a distinctly odious phrase to those with ears that hurt when National Socialistic phraseology enters the American lexicon, the top 1 percent own more than the bottom 40 percent. The top 5 percent, own most of what the bottom 80 percent otherwise claim. And that is my setting forth shrinking statistics for the bottom end only. The top is growing like Topsy. Economically that is.
Our formerly industrial economy is turning into a service economy, where the only service is to make money for the money makers. Debt service, insurance, banking, and other financial related services are what we do these days. As the greatest debtor nation in history, our government is an ever growing part of the economy.
Recent bailouts and 'nationalizations' of industries have made the government the largest employer or controller of parts of the economy. Health care, auto, banking, securities, and many other industries are now owned by, controlled by, or so regulated by the government as to be government run. Add to that the offshoring, the exportation of jobs to lower wage areas and you have the run for the money taking jobs from our own home areas, our "homeland," to feed the top of the top of the top.
That top of the top is like the top of the cake. And let them eat cake is the operative phrase.
What the top tier, and the bottom tier, do not openly communicate is this one fact. The top tier of the cake cannot be at the top without the support of the lower layers. The masses, forming the lower tiers of the American cake, support the top layer, just as the larger lower layers support the capstone of the pyramid.
They cannot stay up there without us. They need us and our money to make their money.
And how do we flip this upside down distribution of wealth, to get a larger share of the wealth to flow to the supporting layers without resorting to communistic or socialistic systems? Look back at what happened before the Greatest Generation became the Greatest Generation.
Back then, we had projects that built that which cannot be outsourced. We built roads, bridges and infrastructure. Sure it is the unglamorous part of building, with the fripperies and finishes being so much more fun to contemplate and far more beautiful to the eye.
But, our infrastructure is failing. Floods warnings are nearly a weekly event in the Chicago area. Bridges have fallen, basements have flooded, dams have burst. Others are at risk for us all.
What will you do when the only road to the grocery is blocked because a bridge washed out? How about that ambulance you need if you are injured or sick? You don't need to be injured in the actual falling bridge situation to be adversely affected by infrastructure failure.
We must demand that our government take some of the money they lavishly spent on bankers in those massive crises of the past years and put it into building the very foundations that are now in disrepair due to age and neglect.
These are not things that can be brought in from China. No one across any ocean can go to work there and build a sewer pipe in Iowa. Can't happen. Location, location, location.
Let us not despair and do the handwringing over the lavish expenditures of celebrity weddings and faux royalty being feted at celebrations.
Rather, let us celebrate a rebuilding of the nation. Starting at the foundations, let us build the piping, roads and structures that make this nation great. Using American workers, let's get off the bailout bandwagon and get on the building of American back to her status of a first nation among the top of the best. We did it in the 30's and can do it again.
We know, as Americans, that our nation, our sovereign nation, is to be protected as a discreet nation, not a member of a global government. We don't want the world as our nation, we want our borders kept legally, our people as our people, and what is 'over there' to stay over there. We, as Americans, want to rebuild the American economy, and if we need to prop up our infrastructure as a first step in rebuilding our vanishing industry, then let's do it.
Forget international banksters. Keep the money here. Use our labor to make our nation great. Forget about all the CAFTA, NAFTA, GATT and other multi-national, sovereignty sapping treaties that have weakened our economy, and let's build what we know how to build best. American engineers and industries made the best roads since Rome. Let us not let the failures of our infrastructure kill off this great nation.
Let us pull back from our Imperial ambitions as the New Rome, and become the New Home Nation. Houses, like nations, must both be built on strong foundations. We've got money for bankers, so transfer some of that to infrastructure, and infuse the economy with work to rebuild what we have sadly neglected too long.
This will put people to work, which itself creates more jobs. As we build, demand for more grows. Building builds economies. Simple stuff. Let's pick up that shovel, and get going!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Love Lived Large Last Weekend
This last weekend, we saw our American "Royalty" put on a big shindig for the marriage of the former First Daughter and the love of her life. I wish them well.
Not a single stop was unpulled in the lavish extravaganza held on the former Astor estate. That location gave away the unspoken reality of the day. Guests and the press were feted to the tune of a few million dollars for a days celebration. Some press reports had it higher than that, ranging to breathless reports of, gasp!, $5 Million. Dollars.
One day, more than a million to conduct the nuptials. (More than $3 Mil? $7 Million? I don't know, and after that first million mark is passed, it really doesn't matter much at all. It makes those $2500 weddings where brides make their own dresses, men appear in nice dark suits, everyone goes pot luck for the reception, except for a cake made by a friend, seem well, wonderfully real.)
Well gee. That was a lot of cake, party favors, party clothes, sealed airspace, secret service (which apparently was the US taxpayers contribution to the family), and well, it was adding up to real money.
Paul Craig Roberts, formerly of the Reagan administration, brought up the 'let them eat cake' aspect of the day. Paul Craig Roberts -- Counterpunch
Formerly of the Reagan Treasury Department, Mr Roberts understands very well the concept of, a million here, a million there--pretty soon you're talking about real money. Any wedding that cost that much is up in the realm of, why are young people, starting out like this, spending this kind of money? And where did the parents of the couple get that kind of money, 'cuz we know one side of the couple have been in public service for the past umpteen years.
The thing of weddings is this. None of the money ever matters. The whole ceremony could have been done for much less dosh, and achieved the same result. The marriage.
Yep. $$$$$$$$$$ or $, the result is the same. Love is the ruler of the day and a young couple take a giant step into a future together. Bound to each other by love, promises, and faith that love will last.
Ms. Clinton looked radiant, the guests looked radiant, the former President and the Secretary of State were beaming. All in all, it was a successful day for marriage, lavish as it was, and a wedding did what weddings are supposed to do.
The ultimate message of weddings is a simple recitation of faith, that love will prevail, new beginnings are real, two people take a leap of faith undergirded by love for each other and faith that this one, this one partner is the partner for life.
The next day, reality might set in for them. Maybe it won't really set in for them for years to come. One can only hope they keep the strong feeling of being so "in love" as the years and decades go by. I hope that in fifty years, they are sitting with the grandkids, staring fondly at the other and saying, yes, that was quite a day, and I'm thankful for it every day of my life.
For those of us that helped make that celebration as lavish and wonderful as it was, the reality on our lawns, sidewalks, or verandas has not changed. We are stuck. But we got just a glimpse of the party. Just a glimpse, and so many wanted so much more.
No one is throwing parties for the American People. We still have our families, our friends, the fortunate fewer and fewer have work they love, money coming in regularly.
All that said, the wedding was a grand reminder that love can conquer all, love can make the world gather together (at that gazillionaire-worthy mansion), and the rest of us 'cake eaters' will have to adjust. We need to remember that, with all weddings, the magic is the two people getting married, not the expense of the event.
Party time is over, so let's all get back to making this country work again. We've had the "big wedding," the young and in love are honeymooning somewhere or other, and for us the rains are bringing flooding, the dispersants in the Gulf have done, and are doing, some horrible damage, and bank accounts need filling for the not so rich. But we forget all that in the moment, viewing pictures of the bride walking down the aisle on the arm of her father.
As we should.
And next time a princess gets married, remember this. In America we have no royalty. We have people that want to live like, throw parties like, or behave like royalty. So what?
It doesn't matter. All we need is to keep reminding ourselves that here in the US of A, the Constitution is King, the rule of law our royal court, and at the end of every day, love will win out every time. Sometimes, the only love around is love for America. Sometimes it is love for another individual, or a family. Love finds a way to shine through, whether on a wedding day or a work day.
Chelsea and Mark, best wishes to you both. You are fortunate to have found love, and fortunate to have one another.
Not a single stop was unpulled in the lavish extravaganza held on the former Astor estate. That location gave away the unspoken reality of the day. Guests and the press were feted to the tune of a few million dollars for a days celebration. Some press reports had it higher than that, ranging to breathless reports of, gasp!, $5 Million. Dollars.
One day, more than a million to conduct the nuptials. (More than $3 Mil? $7 Million? I don't know, and after that first million mark is passed, it really doesn't matter much at all. It makes those $2500 weddings where brides make their own dresses, men appear in nice dark suits, everyone goes pot luck for the reception, except for a cake made by a friend, seem well, wonderfully real.)
Well gee. That was a lot of cake, party favors, party clothes, sealed airspace, secret service (which apparently was the US taxpayers contribution to the family), and well, it was adding up to real money.
Paul Craig Roberts, formerly of the Reagan administration, brought up the 'let them eat cake' aspect of the day. Paul Craig Roberts -- Counterpunch
Formerly of the Reagan Treasury Department, Mr Roberts understands very well the concept of, a million here, a million there--pretty soon you're talking about real money. Any wedding that cost that much is up in the realm of, why are young people, starting out like this, spending this kind of money? And where did the parents of the couple get that kind of money, 'cuz we know one side of the couple have been in public service for the past umpteen years.
The thing of weddings is this. None of the money ever matters. The whole ceremony could have been done for much less dosh, and achieved the same result. The marriage.
Yep. $$$$$$$$$$ or $, the result is the same. Love is the ruler of the day and a young couple take a giant step into a future together. Bound to each other by love, promises, and faith that love will last.
Ms. Clinton looked radiant, the guests looked radiant, the former President and the Secretary of State were beaming. All in all, it was a successful day for marriage, lavish as it was, and a wedding did what weddings are supposed to do.
The ultimate message of weddings is a simple recitation of faith, that love will prevail, new beginnings are real, two people take a leap of faith undergirded by love for each other and faith that this one, this one partner is the partner for life.
The next day, reality might set in for them. Maybe it won't really set in for them for years to come. One can only hope they keep the strong feeling of being so "in love" as the years and decades go by. I hope that in fifty years, they are sitting with the grandkids, staring fondly at the other and saying, yes, that was quite a day, and I'm thankful for it every day of my life.
For those of us that helped make that celebration as lavish and wonderful as it was, the reality on our lawns, sidewalks, or verandas has not changed. We are stuck. But we got just a glimpse of the party. Just a glimpse, and so many wanted so much more.
No one is throwing parties for the American People. We still have our families, our friends, the fortunate fewer and fewer have work they love, money coming in regularly.
All that said, the wedding was a grand reminder that love can conquer all, love can make the world gather together (at that gazillionaire-worthy mansion), and the rest of us 'cake eaters' will have to adjust. We need to remember that, with all weddings, the magic is the two people getting married, not the expense of the event.
Party time is over, so let's all get back to making this country work again. We've had the "big wedding," the young and in love are honeymooning somewhere or other, and for us the rains are bringing flooding, the dispersants in the Gulf have done, and are doing, some horrible damage, and bank accounts need filling for the not so rich. But we forget all that in the moment, viewing pictures of the bride walking down the aisle on the arm of her father.
As we should.
And next time a princess gets married, remember this. In America we have no royalty. We have people that want to live like, throw parties like, or behave like royalty. So what?
It doesn't matter. All we need is to keep reminding ourselves that here in the US of A, the Constitution is King, the rule of law our royal court, and at the end of every day, love will win out every time. Sometimes, the only love around is love for America. Sometimes it is love for another individual, or a family. Love finds a way to shine through, whether on a wedding day or a work day.
Chelsea and Mark, best wishes to you both. You are fortunate to have found love, and fortunate to have one another.
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