Update 09.06.2018

If I got mad at Molson Coors Brewing Company I might write them a letter, post something mean on Facebook, use social media to organize a boycott, etc.  What I would not do is take my Miller Lites out of my fridge and pour them down the drain.  That hurts no one but me since I have already purchased the beer.  It reveals that I am stupid.  So, go ahead, those of you who do not understand the issue surrounding the NFL kneelers, do not understand the freedom to peacefully protest, do not understand the American hero Kaepernick truly is, go ahead and burn your Nikes.  You confirm what I have always suspected about you.  If you think the flag and the anthem is America and you think burning your own shoes makes a point then you are less than bright.

In the cuckoo’s nest the sane person must remain under cover and anonymous to both survive and provide contact with reality.  The anonymous author of today’s New York Times op ed is no coward.  A coward would have quit.  A coward would have buckled to the craziness.  A person that loves America would try to get word out from behind the lines to the rest of us.  To the author I say Dilly Dilly and buy yourself a pair of Nikes in case you are caught and must make a hasty retreat.  I appreciate you.

To those of you who through some magical, irrational act have convinced yourself that Kavanaugh is the best candidate for a lifetime appointment on the SCOTUS I say you are out of your minds.  If you have to keep his documents secret so we citizens won’t know the truth about him you violate the oath that put you in your chair in the first place.  If you are supporting him because he will take us back to the 1950’s then it is clear you have no business governing in this century.  If you confirm him you are cementing your own future.  He is not worth it.

And if Donald Trump is who he thinks he is, that is a great American hero sent to save us, brilliant, articulate, and stable man, then he would resign immediately based on what has been revealed this week and before knowing that the world now sees him as a buffoon, a danger, and a source if chaos.  The fact that he hangs on and lashes out is evidence that he is not great,he is as we now see him, and he must be removed.  If God chose Donald Trump then he must have done so to wake up the rest of us.

Things You Probably Don’t Want to Think About

The earliest homo sapien bones have been found in Ethiopia, Africa.  Those bones are 200,000 years old.  Therefore, we are an African species.  All of us.  We all are descendants from shit hole countries.  Even if you believe there is some magic that makes these bones appear to be 200,000 years old when they are really just 10,000 years old or so then you cannot explain that the oldest bones still come from Africa.  We have found none older.  Of course those of you who continue to use books written 4,000 years ago to explain the world in conflict with what we know from science today will become extinct because to be philosophically pure you will no doubt give up modern medicine, cell phones, TV’s, automobiles, etc.  Otherwise you are consuming the fruit of the tree you want to chop down.

Yes, global warming is real.  It is mostly man-made this time.  It is caused and promoted by those in the fossil fuel industry who quite frankly care more about the money they can make today than the quality of life of their grandchildren.  Besides, if they did not make billions they could not convince the ignorant among us to vote into office those who most accelerate our destruction.

About 60,000 years ago as the human population in Africa grew, some brave humans struck out for other parts.  Some followed the southern coastline around the Indian Sea and ended up in Australia.  Some went north then west and eventually populated North Africa, Southern Europe, Western Europe, and Northern Europe.  Some from the original southern coastline group broke off and went north into Asia then Eastern Russia before they crossed a land bridge into Alaska.  Those groups headed south and populated North and South America about 15,000 years ago, thousands of years after India, Europe, and Asia were populated.  10,000 years ago agriculture emerged and the human population began to explode.  We did not grow so much when we were hunters.  We did as farmers.  Humans have been here for 200,000 years but mastered control of fire about 125,000 years ago.  For 75,000 years we all ate our steaks rare.

If you live in America you are an immigrant.  Our only native home appears to be Africa.  Your family may have emigrated 15,000 years ago from Asia and we refer to you as Native Americans, but really you are Asian immigrants.  If your family came to this hemisphere as recently as 1,000 years ago by boat from northern Europe or by boat from Australia, then you too are an immigrant.  If your family came here about 300 years ago or less from Europe then you are part of the last arrivals here.  It is funny now that these new comers want to keep “immigrants” out, especially those who have been here thousands of years longer than they have, and especially those from shit hole countries like all of us migrated from in the first place.

If you migrated here from Europe in the 1600’s and 1700’s you were not part of the established elite in Europe.  You were not royal.  You were not landed gentry.  You were not wealthy.  If you had any of those characteristics you would not have left Europe.  Why would you?  No, if you migrated here you were likely opposed to some dominant, state-backed religion, you were in trouble with the law, you were poor, you were a member of some minority or another and you came here for freedom of opportunity and freedom from oppression by the powerful in Europe.  Of course once your forefathers arrived and became wealthy you began a systematic rejection of other immigrants because they were a minority race, poor, believed different religions, and/or were criminals.  What a hypocritical hoot.

To the original writers of our Constitution Freedom of Religion also meant freedom from religion.  It did not mean that some majority religion was allowed to discriminate based on their beliefs grounded in a 4,000 year-old Bronze Age document.  It did not mean that some majority religion could erect religious icons and symbols of their faith, or stamp their logo on our currency, or require school children to recite religious loyalty oaths in classrooms.  It did not mean that tax dollars collected from all could be spent on those who believe like the majority.  If you do not think that is true, put the shoe on the other foot and picture the day when the fastest growing religion in the world, Muslims, become the majority in America and want to do the same things Christians want to do now.  You would likely hit the streets.

As more and more men and women of different racial backgrounds produce children, and as those mixed race children grow up to have children, the human race will eventually merge into a coffee colored race.  It is inevitable and it is happening.  This will be really tough on the bigots who prefer to judge humans on degree of pigment in the skin.  Time to abandon prejudice by race.  We are all of the same species.

As scientific advances accelerate we will abandon more and more religious beliefs that conflict with reality.  The earth is not flat.  The moon is not a source of light.  The earth is not the center of the solar system, much less the universe.  Evolution is a fact, not a theory.  The earth is 4.5 billion years old.  Human beings as we define them have been here about 200,000 years.  All matter was created at the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago.  Life emerges everywhere conditions allow.  99% of all life that ever existed on our planet is now extinct.  We are destroying the only planet where we can currently survive.  Less than 15% of this planet is habitable by human beings. 

That’s likely enough to get your had spinning or to get your head nodding depending on what you want to believe and what is real.

Alien Point of View

I find it liberating and illuminating to assume the point of view another person, a person who is different than me.  I read a book in high school entitled, Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin, and it had a profound impact on my thinking.  Griffin was a white journalist who in 1961 dyed his skin very dark and entered the southern United States as a Black Person.  His experiences are amazing.  Ever since, I try to imagine the world through the eyes of others:  A Syrian refugee, an African mother watching her children starve, a Muslim Jihadist who hates America, a fourth generation Mexican American, a hedge fund manager, etc.  I have very little in common with these imaginary people, and I can only guess what they may be thinking or feeling.  But I am enlightened by the mental effort.

It seems only reasonable to advance this mental exercise to include a sentient alien life form.  I picture an incredibly knowledgeable being, carbon based, bipodal who is capable of conversation in my own language.  I picture a female being with luminescent eyes, hairless head, and thin limbs.  Though wise and knowing she is blessed with empathy as well.  She comes to me as I walk a lonely path in a forest at night, with a full moon lighting my way.  I hear crickets and owls and nocturnal beasts scurrying in the dark before a wind and a wush and she stands before me.  Her thin mouth smiles.  I feel no fear as her features hold no anger, no hostility.  Just a smile and a deep curiosity as she gazes at me and me at her for the first time, taking in our similarities and differences.  She tells me her name is Sitio.  We begin a dialog.

She asks why I walk the woods at night in the dark all alone.  I tell her that though there are many humans I love and many humans with whom I enjoy sharing time and space, I feel the need to remove myself from them for alone time, to think, to ponder, to reflect.  Yes, in answer to her question, this was to be such a time.  No, Sitio, I do not want you to leave me to my alone time.  I would much rather spend it with you than alone.  She smiles again.

I have many questions, she says.  As do I!  We both start talking at once and I laugh, she smiles.  That is such a remarkable sound, she says, when you open your mouth and make noises from your diaphragm that have no meaning but sound happy.  They are happy, I reply.  We call it laughter and all humans are capable of it when they are amused or happy.  We have no such sounds, she says.  We smile.  I say that in some ways that strikes me as sad.  Her head cocks as she ponders my response.

You appear to be a female, I say.  Yes, she says.  I am.  We have two genders as do you.  Then you ask your questions first as in our culture we allow women to go first.  Why? She asks.  Are they stronger or superior to males so they go first?  I laugh again.  No, it is an assumption from our past that women are to be coddled and cherished so males allow them to go first to demonstrate our own strength.  Males are chivalrous.  We will give up a seat on a life boat for a woman, or a child.  Amazing she said.  It sounds as though females have tricked you into this assumption that letting them win is somehow a victory for males.  My head cocks as I ponder her response.

She begins:  Why do humans war against each other?  Why do you fight?  Why do you compete?  It seems to result in such waste, so much death, so much hunger.  It results in some having very much and others having very little.  Are some humans more important than other humans?  Wow is all I can say.  I think for a moment, then respond.  We argue that as we evolved we had to compete to survive.  As we advanced it became clear that those who could win in wars and competition had more than those who did not.  So we developed heroes who won and others became losers.  We do that still today.  We have a very hard time imagining a society of collaboration and sharing.  We have always pictured life as a struggle, a competition.  We believe that such struggles and such competitions make us stronger and smarter.  It is in our best interest to compete.

She smiles again.  That of course, is nonsense, she says.  You claim to advance via competition and war when in fact that is what destroys you.  That is what wastes your resources.  If you collaborated and shared rather than vesting so much energy in competition both in your wealth accumulation and war machines then you would be so much better off.  All of you.  Your planet would be healthier.  Everyone would have food, shelter, clothing, medicine.  No human would have basic needs deprived as your resources are so great.  It makes no sense to us.  It appears that you think of yourselves as advanced because you now cook your meat even though you use the same principles to get your meat.

I am stumped.  The issue she has raised as her first question right off the bat is so profound to me my head spins.  What would a cooperative society look like?  How could we curtail our desire to have more and to demonstrate superiority to our neighbors if we did not compete, if we did not want to win?  Is it our nature to compete, or is that learned behavior?  What would it look like to have a culture where we each want for others what we want for ourselves? 

Your eyes are moving rapidly back and forth, she says.  Does that mean you are thinking?  Yes, I guess it does I reply.  Good, she says.

Now tell me about religion.  It appears a large number of humans believe in a deity, a being that they cannot see.  A being with total power and total knowledge.  A being that can punish them or reward them.  A being they pray to, worship, give money to, take pilgrimages in behalf of.  A being who moderates over a heaven of eternal bliss for the spirits of those who die and a being who controls a hell of eternal torture for others who die. A being that rules over all, is capable of doing anything, and created all.  Even more interesting is that humans do not worship the same deity.  There are many deities all of whom have many followers.  Is that accurate?

That is pretty much accurate, I think.  I tell her I come from a Christian heritage so I cannot speak with any knowledge of other belief systems.  I know that there are more Christians than any other faith, followed by Muslims.  Atheists make up the third largest group, more than Buddhists, Hindus and Jews combined.  But, other than atheists, your description sounds mostly Christian.

Sitio asks, are there not only 3 possibilities regarding such a deity?  One is that there is no such deity, two is that there is such a deity and that deity controls everything so that all that happens, good and bad, can be laid at the feet of the deity, or three that there is such a deity but that deity does not intervene in human affairs, perhaps because the deity has a secret plan for humans, or perhaps because such a deity just likes to observe.  None of the three options promotes beseeching and worshipping the deity as all three options eliminate the likelihood of divine intervention.  None of the three possibilities provide evidence of such a being.

Are you and your people atheists then? I ask.  She smiles.  We were never theists so to be atheist has no meaning.  Early in our history there were many things we did not know and did not understand but we simply perceived those things as unknown or challenges.  We did not make up answers, we sought answers.  That is one of the reasons why you are so interesting to us.  You made up answers and despite your knowledge still hold on to those beliefs.

Is there no God?  No heaven, no hell, no life after death? I ask.  We have found no evidence to support any of those beliefs, she says.  There is no life before birth and no life after death.  There are no such mythical places as heaven and hell housing post mortem spirits for all eternity.  In fact we see such beliefs as silly and child-like.  But I do not wish to offend.  Your life form tends to react irrationally if beliefs are challenged.

I ask, what is your moral base?  What is your code of ethics?  Sitio smiles again.  Simple, she says.  If a behavior benefits others it is good.  If a behavior benefits the individual at the expense of others it is bad.  We do not deal with rights or wrongs, just consequences as either good or bad. 

I tell her I do not understand.  Yes you do, you just do not apply that code everywhere and to everyone.  A mother is exhausted caring for her sick child.  She wants to leave and go somewhere to have an alcoholic beverage.  If she does, she leaves the sick child unattended but she benefits.  If she leaves is that good or bad?  OK, I get that.  A “good” mom would stay with the child rather than seek selfish benefits.  But life is more complicated than that.  No, she says, it is not if I am mother to all and child to all.

My head hurts.

Sitio smiles her enigmatic smile again and tells me she has enjoyed our conversation very much.  She learned much and has much to ponder.  I tell her I feel the same.  Good, she says, we shall do this again.

She turns, walks into the woods and with a wind and a wush she is gone. 

Wow.  Not surprising that someone from the stars is over my head.

New Study Disputes Long Held Beliefs

A study was published today simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association.  The study has far reaching medical impact, but probably even more probable social impact.  The following is a list of the findings.

Race is not contagious.  Despite the fear of many White folks, being in the same space as an African American is not likely to change the White person to a Black person.  In fact, the study focused on the 325 million Americans alive today and could not find one instance of contagious race.  Every person born white remained white despite their contact with Hispanic, Arab, Black, etc. people.

Sexual preference is not contagious.  Despite the fear of many heterosexual parents, being in the same space as a homosexual, a pan sexual, a transsexual, etc. is not likely to change the sexual preference of the heterosexual person.  The study focused on the 325 million Americans alive today and could not find one instance of change in sexual preference due to sharing a bathroom or sitting in a classroom or any other event where proximity was a concern.  Every heterosexual person remained heterosexual despite their contact with a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual or queer person.

The DNA of Christians is not different from other humans.  Despite attitudes to the contrary, after a review of over 200 million Christians and 200 million non-Christians the researchers found that there was no substantial differences in DNA between Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Hindu, Buddhist, etc.  A surprising discovery was made in this area, however.  Christians who attend mega churches, fundamentalist churches and evangelical churches average one standard deviation below the average IQ of other believers and non-believers.  Atheists are one standard deviation above all believers.

Education is contagious.  Parents with high levels of education tend to promote high levels of education in their children.  Parents with low levels of education tend to disparage college degrees, attend a fundamentalist church, and watch Fox News.  Their children end up preferring belief systems to scientific fact and raise their own children accordingly.  Parents with high levels of education tend to raise very well educated liberals.

Of all the variables of interest, only education tends to have a contagious component.  Children surrounded by highly educated adults and highly educated peers tend to develop to a high level of education themselves, capable of sorting fact from fiction, belief from fact, and demagoguery from integrity.  Conservative thinkers do not promote dramatic increases in learning nor do they celebrate scientific, mathematical, and fine arts success.  They envision K-12 education as an institution that exists solely to promote extra-curricular activities and college education as a total waste of time and money.  There remains a clear basis for their bliss.

Who Needs Protection?

As rumors fly today that Trump will go around Congress to reduce the taxes on capital gains I wonder what the hell we are doing.  Who are we promoting?  Who are we protecting?  Who is benefitting from a year and a half of policy reversals?

I suppose the first real question is, should the federal government ever intervene with rules and regs in areas of concern?  I know libertarians and many conservatives say “no” to this question.  They argue that the government should govern less, not more.  I believe they are wrong.  If the federal government governed less we would still have slavery, we would still have segregation, we would not protect workers, we would not ensure the food we eat and fluids we drink are safe, we would not serve children with disabilities, we would not have allowed women to vote, we would not ensure that children do not starve, we would not ensure that workers receive at least some sort of minimum wage, we would not have ensured that minorities have the right to sit anywhere on a bus or in a diner, we would not have provided some sort of health care for the poor, we would not have monitored the environmental impact of business practices, we would have allowed the majority religion to enact laws promoting their beliefs, women would have no say in their own reproductive rights, women could be harassed, and on and on and on.  In fact, it has always seemed to me that libertarians and some conservatives must oppose all the advancements in our society, or that they do not see treating all humans the same as a good thing.  So my answer is hell yes the federal government must intervene to ensure equal treatment of humans regardless of wealth, race, sexual identity, religious belief, etc.  To not do so means we do not believe all men (sic) are created equal, but we believe that the strong and wealthy should rule.

So, who are we protecting now?  Who are we watching out for?  The answer is clear to me.  We are watching out for wealthy, white, Christian, heterosexual, men, corporations, banks, finance institutions and shareholders.  We are not watching out for poor people or people of color.  We are not watching out for our environment.  We are not watching out for groups who have historically experienced discrimination.  We are not watching out for women’s rights, or the rights of people with different religious views or the rights of people with non-heterosexual orientations.  We are not watching out for labor.  We are not watching out for public education.  We are not watching out for those who have no health insurance.  We are no longer saying, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”  Nor are we following the words of Jefferson, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost”.

What is most interesting to me is the notion that the government that governs least governs best is quickly forgotten when promoting government rules and programs that help the conservatives.  As the economy crashed in 2008 it was the stock brokers and banks and auto industry who were first in line to receive handouts, and now as the tariffs hurt our farmers we quickly consider throwing money at them to help them.  Meanwhile, Flint has unsafe water and Puerto Rico continues to suffer from Maria and the President is threatening a government shutdown if he does not get funding for his wall.  Handouts to the wealthy are OK, just not for the poor.  Building walls is OK, but not building bridges for those who suffer elsewhere.  Giving the wealthy more money and policies to help them is OK, just not those who need it the most.

We are protecting those who least need protection.  We are protecting those who seek power and control without limits.  We are protecting those who are wealthy but still want more.  We are protecting the wrong groups.  We are protecting liars and sexual predators and con men.  And in doing so, we are losing what it means to be America. 

Congratulations Trump Supporters!

As children are separated from their parents at our borders, as Trump prepares to add another conservative to the Supreme Court, as the tariffs begin to backfire, as unemployment begins to rise, as interest rates begin to rise, as our allies turn more and more against us, as it has become OK to attack anyone who is different or thinks differently, as prejudice and misogyny become acceptable, as key leadership roles are doled out based on who you know and not what you know, as we return our policies and practices to the 1950’s, and as the wealthiest of Americans grow ever more so, it occurs to me we have not as a nation stopped to thank those who continue to support this President and praise those supporters for their accomplishments.  So this is my salute to Trump supporters.

First, congratulations on your decision to be born in the United States of America.  The number of people world-wide who did not make this decision vastly outnumber those of you who chose so wisely.  You are to be commended.  Further congratulations should go to Trump supporters whose lineage does not include any immigrants and were obviously placed here by God on the 6^th day.

Congratulations that you chose to be born an Anglo.  The number of people in our country who did not make this decision are our fastest growing segment, so you are to be commended for making this choice as well.

Congratulations that you chose to be born to an English-speaking family.  So many Americans did not make this decision and continue to be handicapped in our country by their language skills.  Once again, you chose wisely and are to be commended.

Congratulations that you chose to be raised in a “Christian” family, or that you have had a “born again” experience.  It is not everyone who is able to claim Christianity while supporting anti-Christian policies and for your mental ability to do so should earn you praise and recognition.  Further, your ability to support Supreme Court decisions and enacting laws and policies that make your particular religious beliefs the law of the land is equally remarkable considering one of the fundamental values of this country.  It is truly remarkable that you can simultaneously claim Christianity and patriotism when your beliefs are the antithesis of both.

Congratulations that you chose to be born a male.  That is clearly a stellar decision and positions you for all sorts of perks that women do not receive.  And congratulations if you did not choose to be born a male but as a woman chose to support male hegemony, misogyny and use of women as sex objects.  That is a remarkable mental and emotional position to hold and few women world-wide are able to be so submissive.  You are to be commended.

Congratulations to all Trump supporters who clearly support making profit over protecting the only planet we have and the humans that live here.  Non-Trump supporters cannot understand why we would allow oil companies, pharmaceutical companies, and the like to do what they wish despite the evidence that it harms us all.  Non-Trump supporters cannot understand why protections for workers in the work place should be decreased because it helps profits.  Non-Trump supporters cannot understand how our nation can fund Trump’s properties and a military parade, but not fund aid to American citizens in Puerto Rico and cure deadly drinking water in Flint.  Once again, the ability of Trump supporters to support such policies is well beyond anything non-Trump supporters can understand.

Congratulations to all gun-loving Trump supporters who are able somehow to witness 154 mass shootings in 2018 and believe that we do not need more restrictions on gun purchases despite the evidence that such restrictions work.  It cannot be that Trump supporters support killing innocent people, and yet their ability to oppose anything that might reduce such horror is intellectually beyond the understanding of non-Trump supporters.

Congratulations to all Trump supporters for the fact that you have achieved a rarefied intellectual position whereby you can support a liar, a racist, a misogynist, a con man, a narcissist, and a person ignorant of economics, US history, US traditions, our constitution and our fundamental human rights and somehow think this is best for our nation.  Few non-Trump supporters can even begin to grasp how you are able to do this so it is, in fact, a rarefied position.  The ability to live with such cognitive dissonance is beyond most other Americans and you should be commended for such.

Congratulations to all Trump supporters who have helped establish that whites rule, conservatives rule, men rule, the rich rule and big business rules instead of a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people.  You should be proud.

If God Had a Sense of Humor

If there is a God I cannot imagine that he or she is conservative.  And if he or she had a sense of humor, then the following would be confirmation:

Donald Trump awakes looking like Halle Berry with a Nigerian birth certificate.  He is consistently groped at all his rallies.

Jeff Sessions awakes to discover he is a transgender Black person.

Kelly Ann Conway awakes to discover she is mute.

Sarah Sanders awakes to discover her nose grows longer every time she lies.

Mike Pence awakes to find Jesus at the foot of his bed warning him against blasphemy and heresy for his stand on women’s rights and homosexuals, and if he doesn’t change his ways he will turn to salt.

Paul Ryan awakes to discover he looks the same but his penis has been replaced by a vagina.

Mitch McConnell awakes to discover he looks and sounds just like Nancy Pelosi.

Fox News and all affiliates awake to discover they have no electricity and cannot broadcast.

The Koch brothers awake to discover they are gay and have an incestual relationship that is publicly known.

Ann Coulter awakes looking just like Michele Obama.

Every member of Trump’s Cabinet awake to find they have changed gender and race.

Hilary Clinton awakes looking just like Wonder Woman.

All Republicans now have to live in the world they are attempting to create as a member of the group they most despise and fear.  Anglos become Black or Hispanic, American citizens become immigrants, gun owners’ weapons disappear, the straight awake gay, males awake female and pregnant, the rich awake poverty stricken, CEO’s awake non-unionized certified teachers, and the healthy awake with serious health issues and no insurance.  

What a learning opportunity that would be for all these folks!  I’d be LMAO.

But, God is not funny or fun and I am not counting on any of the above to happen.  Just wish it would.