The Harvest of Liberalism

It was on the radio that I heard a woman named Phyllis Kahn, a Minnesota state representative since 1972, declare that it was the Democrats that offered the best solution for new immigrants concerned about education. The talk show host pointed out that the Democrats have had a monopoly on education in this state for more than 4 decades. The largest district in the heart of liberal land - Minneapolis public schools -  has an embarrassing 50% graduation rate for all students and the worst graduation rate for African-American boys in the nation. The irony of her conjecture was lost on her, she simply wouldn't concede that the Democratic party was anything but "right" on education.

It made me consider the acute blindness of the left. In their closed minds their solutions for everything are simply right, there is no other way. Certainly nothing the right-wing or the libertarians believe should even be considered. Looking at the near total control leftist thought has over various institutions in American society and the condition of said institutions one would think there has to be a better way.

Taking education as previously mentioned, the left has total control over public schools and almost all public universities and colleges. Even private universities and colleges toe the liberal PC line in word and deed. Education is a massive slice of the American economy and vital to the well being of the society. By all accounts it's failing miserably. Public schools are one thing - there is still a small token of local control, but that too is waning under Common Core and Federal carrot and stick funding, but it's the college and university system that has turned into a near criminal enterprise.

Young people are herded into college with a promise of a good career and leave with a mountain of debt and a society that struggles produce a job for them let alone launch a career. The cost of a college education is out of reach for most families and is a direct result of government meddling in the funding. Public universities are nearly as expensive as private. A whole new category of for profit colleges have popped up to exploit the poor to get their hands on government tuition money which is then laid on the backs of those least likely to succeed. Our young - the next generation - are now serfs, beholden to the Federal government by virtue of debt wholly owned by Washington DC. What has happened to college education in the United States is shameful, if not criminal. None of this even speaks to the quality of the education - a whole different story.

None of it can be laid at the feet of conservatives or libertarians, none.

What else in this society is completely controlled by liberals and their leftist agenda's?

• the welfare legacy - poverty is now a higher % than in the 1960's when the war on poverty started
• the Federal bureaucracy - bloated, unaccountable, corrupt - need I go on?
• entertainment/Hollywood - producing one assault on the culture after another, representing America to the rest of the world while it dumbs down (or lies) to itself
• the mainstream news media - other than Fox News and talk radio (both parodies of conservative thought) the left owns all other media narratives
• health insurance - the newly minted ACA brought to you by the Democratic party is driving one nail into the coffin after another of 1/7th of the economy
• the art world - pure trash in art and music is held up as high art, those offended are the ones with the problem
• the race debate - race baiting and false hype drive the debate toward a full scale culture war, promoting victim-hood  instead of building on the real progress
• the environmental debate - a corrupt EPA and external forces conspire with environmental groups to stop American progress and development of its abundant natural resources
• the feminist debate - ditto the race debate
• and most importantly the language - Politically Correct speech stifles free the exchange of thought and ideas, everybody claims to hate PCism but everyone is forced to toe the line or be destroyed by it

None of these are controlled by right-wing or libertarian thought, none. Almost all of these are corrupt, mismanaged or divisive.

You can say then that big business, the banksters and corporate America is controlled by a right-wing agenda, but that's a mighty stretch. The biggest crony capitalists of the past 40 years have been Democrats, it's not even close. There is no truth to the lie that the Democrats are for the little guy and the Republicans are for big business. There isn't a dimes worth of difference any more. Big Business loves Big Government and its regulation and the stacking of the deck in their favor - who wouldn't? It keeps internal competition down. Neither has been bigger than it is today.

Every honest survey taken shows that the public thinks the country is headed in the wrong direction, that America is in decline. Education, culture and increasingly our finances are controlled by a leftist agenda bent on denuding America. In all its manifestations this is the harvest of liberalism. Seems pretty clear to me it's a rotten crop.

Who is to blame? I blame the conservatives, right-wingers and the libertarians. They offer nothing but leftism-lite. They can't articulate the virtues of freedom and liberty in a way that counters falsifiable nanny-state promises. Either they don't actually believe in individual liberty and self-determination or they are so beholden to their own cronies that they can only say so much, go so far before the lies are trotted out.

The truth is the elites on either side don't care what the public thinks or wants. The right-wingers can survive by pretending to stand up to the leftist agenda, fighting the good fight. The way things stand they have a pretty sweet life too. The left, whether they can or will admit it, are destroyers - destroyers of goodness and beauty in favor of ugliness and corruption.

Obviously America can be great and strong and thriving again. All the parts are in place. We have to be almost  ready to break free from leftist smiling liars and right-wing lying panty-waists. We have to be almost ready to crush political correctness and corporate cronyism. We have to be almost ready to scale back government intrusion into every nook and cranny of our lives.

We have to be that camel that can hold no more straw on its back.


Ugh

Turmoil Amid the Chaos: a corrupt world

The international headlines are horrific. The national headlines are just depressing. It's enough to make you want to bury your head in the sand. I can only thank God I haven't become gadgetized to a point where I understand the "twitterverse" or what "trending" means. If I was that superficial I may not actually care what was going on in Iraq or Ukraine or the conditions for Latin American children on our border.

Or maybe I'd care too much...

The world - the human world -  has always been messy. Most of us can't imagine what it must have been like to be a Jew or a Gypsy in 1930-40s Germany. Being herded into train cars to be carried off the a gas chamber and a mass grave had to be equally as abhorrent as the crimes the butchers of ISIS  are committing in Iraq today. Back then it took years before it was common knowledge, now it's damn near being broadcast live. Or how you say, tweeted live?

The horrors of  the 20th century's two world wars and the communist expansion throughout Asia and Europe are clear because we have pictures and actual participants still alive that can tells us about it. The rest of human history was just as brutal. There never really was the good 'ol days.

What makes it all so depressing is that our modern technological world has created a basis to end so much human suffering. Poverty has decreased massively in the last 30 years worldwide. As of 2008 that progress has stopped.  As well, we have the know how to be good stewards of the Earth, using, not abusing the riches the planet has to offer. The West has cleaned-up it's environment remarkably since the ecological awakening of the 1960's. The rest of the world no so much. Going further we have the ability to reach out from this tiny planet and explore the great expanse of the galaxy and even the universe. America is now handing over access to space to private business - for better of for worse.


Instead of seeing the progress our human abilities demand here in the year 2014 the world is unraveling before our eyes? Why is this happening? Why such turmoil, why such misery? Two words: Special Interests.

By special interests I don't necessary want to conjure images of corporate fat cats or greasy lobbyists - only. Special interests come in every stripe and color, motivated by greed, pride, gluttony, lust, envy, sloth and wrath. Hmmm, where have we seen these seven words strung together like that?

The least respected people in America are politicians and criminals, but then I risk being redundant with statements like that. We used to believe or at least we've read that like the priesthood going into politics to serve was a higher calling. Consider how that all turned out, one serves God and the other is celibate. OK, I joke, this would be true if "money" is God and buggering children didn't count as sexually active.

 My guess is that both politicians and priests enter their respective worlds with good intentions, wanting to serve, to make a difference, but quickly become corrupted by the system. To some degree this happens to all of us. It's human nature to self-serve, we are all individuals after all.

It's the capacity to harm that takes corruption, institutional or personal, to the next level. Cronyism and stacking the deck is the MO of politicians. To be sure there are always two sides to cronyism so don't think I'm singling out our beleaguered public servants. Big business can make political corruption look like a petty crime. Protected by their benefactors mega corporations plow ahead, in many cases destroying as much as they create, all perfectly on the up and up legally, of course. Since we don't vote for corporations - directly - we tend not to vent our anger at them as much. If you are supposed to rely on mass media to alert us to truth about corruption you are in for a long wait. Corruption to the media often comes with gigantic blinders.

Still this is America, we're the good guys, right? Because the so-called rule of law applies to most of us regular folk we tend to think we live in a less corrupt society than most. I'm not so sure.

The U.S. ranks 19th of 175 countries on the "corruption" scale. The Arab world, Latin America and Africa are way down there at the bottom - not surprising. This is seriously misleading when you consider that the American economy at 16 trillion dollars a year absolutely dwarfs everything else on the planet. The corruption scale is simply apples to oranges. Like I said it's the capacity to do harm and money magnifies this ability exponentially.

On the other end of the scale often the people with the least are looking hardest for every angle to game the system. This mentality of something for nothing starts at the top and washes all the way down to the poorest. The demotivating character of handouts and programs (all offered with the best of intentions) corrupts millions of Americans who then never even try for something better. It's beyond sad.

Corruption chokes the very progress we seek. Constantly gnawing away at the very heart of positive development. It undercuts everything that's been set up to promote the good. It leads to turmoil among the chaos as everyone rationalizes (or hides) their own corrupt behavior. Government corruption leads to higher taxes, robs average people of their wealth as it covers for corporate corruption who continue the thievery. The one/two punch of government regulation and corporate protection discourages investment in new enterprises, encourages the disenfranchised into dealings with the 'black market', thereby promoting conflict and destroying confidence in all institutions.

So much for the Captain Obvious portion of show. Solutions?

Defeat evil, simple...




Ugh

The Science is Settled - Is It?

I speak not of Global Warming or Climate Change. I purposely chose this title to help demonstrate that the statement is completely preposterous. To be clear I am not a scientist, but I am awake and aware and that's all it takes to come to grips with this concept. The very essence of a good scientist is skepticism, always questioning, always ready to shoot holes in your own theories. Indeed any human being who has lived for even 2 or 3 decades knows that our understanding of life - of everything - changes as we grow, learn and gain experience. The phrase - if I knew then what I know now I'd have done things differently - isn't a universal idiom for no reason. It only means that our understanding of things changes - usually based on new evidence. Surely this concept is not too hard to comprehend.


I've had a growing interest something called the "Electric Universe". (watch the movie here) It is direct a challenge to the settled science of the Standard Cosmological Theory. The Standard theory is what we've all been taught. It is largely based on Eisenstein's General and Special Relativity and Hubble's red shift discovery that led to expanding universe theory and to what we lovingly call the Big Bang Theory.

The Electric Universe theory is not new. It has been growing for decades as new observed evidence simply didn't fit the Standard model. Even Einstein questioned his own equations later in life, dissatisfied that the space warping gravitational force of his theory was at all adequate to explain anything. The fact that gravitational force could never be reconciled with the quantum physics of the strong and weak nuclear forces and electro/magnetism is clear evidence that the science is not settled. Sadly, the proponents of this elegant Electric Universe theory are shoved to the side and made out to be the crazy uncle of the sciences because they dare challenge the "settled" science of the mother of science itself, cosmology.

The Electric Universe (go to this website for more info) is primarily based in plasma theory, more specifically electric transmission in a plasma field. Of course initially much of this seemed beyond my ability to comprehend when applied on a galactic scale. However, the very fact that I understand how electricity works means I only needed to consider what know about capacitance, resistance, current and the action of free electrons under applied voltage for me to see the big picture. The very filaments of plasma seen in galactic spirals and galactic nebulae even resemble the twisted wires we use in the transmission of electricity.

Over the years any new evidence that didn't fit the Standard model was either shoehorned in or subjected to crazy conjecture that could never be verified (like black holes). The Electric Universe is testable, observable and neatly fits into what has actually been observed in the heavens, especially since the dawn of the space age.

In a sense the theory's main conjecture is that the solar system, the galaxy and even the universe is connected in a sort of electrical grid with plasma being the conduit of electrical transmission. The sun and the stars are made up of plasma and are connected by the charged particles of the plasma between them. The theory takes to task long held beliefs in the nature of quasars, pulsars, comets and those mysterious black holes. Black holes are by their (purported) nature unobservable. They are detected by the "flashes" that are given off as light itself is digested. Strangely the flashes look exactly like electrical plasma discharges. The notion that a fantastical phenomenon of a massive gravitational sink hole exists in the center of the galaxy drawing everything to the center is so much better explained by a massive plasma bowl at the center of the galaxy holding it together through electro/magnetic energy. It's a far simpler and more logical explanation than massively super dense gravity.

Consider that gravity is the weakest of all the forces. Electro/magnetism is 10³⁹ more powerful than gravity. One way the above mentioned movie on this subject explained just how weak gravity is was to picture a small ball bearing sitting on a plate. It takes the gravitational mass of the entire planet to hold that ball bearing down. All it takes is a child's tiny horseshoe magnet to defy all the earth's gravity. Based on this sort of knowledge alone EU Theory disputes that gravity alone is the principle organizing force of the universe.

 More to the point, since I can't adequately describe the all the evidence behind the theory, is the sad state of affairs of entrenched institutions. In this case it's the science/academic paradigm that is so static in its make up that any new theory, no matter how plausible is shunned - if it challenges the money or the prestige of those in charge. It's not new, obviously, wars have been fought over less. It's hardly any different that the established financial theories that greatly enrich a select few or the education/union cabal that holds our children back from actual learning in favor of overt indoctrination.

These scientists have for years been shunned or outright fired for positing such crazy theories as the the Electric Universe. (see this youtube video for more on this subject). I don't think it's likely to be unleashed any time soon, but it is utterly fascinating and deserves consideration as much as the "deniers" of anthropogenic global warming theory deserve scientific respect. The science is never settled!



Ugh

Life's Little Irritations

Life's Little Irritations...

Yes, they are many. In a country where there's more than enough to be thankful for, and plenty of things to complain about it's the littlest irritations that really get to you. I start with those necessary rooms called public restrooms - but first answer me this:

Which one of these devices would you call hands free or touchless?

That's right they both are! So why when we finish our business in the public restroom are we now being forced to wave our hands around at the paper towel dispenser like fools. Who's bright idea was this? What exactly was wrong with pulling out the towel all by yourself? Somehow this is progress... Besides being completely unnecessary the damn things either 1) don't work or 2) spit out such tiny little towels that you are forced to wave your hands at it two or three times just to get enough dry you hands. Don't even get me started on those lousy air dryer things. Haven't we all been forced to wipe our hands on our pants enough already.

The modern high-tech public restroom is a study in the art of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." I understand the very real need for those spring loaded or sensor controlled faucets. Most of them actually work and probably save countless gallons of water. OK, chalk those things up as winners. 

All you men will surely track with this one - ladies too for that matter. For us men standing at the urinal, one of those touchless, self-flushing urinals, we are supposed to be protected from actually having to touch that germ laden flusher when we finish up. The system is supposed to detect that you are not standing there anymore and flush automatically. Marvelous. Except when you're standing there daydreaming or just enjoying a good pee and the damn thing flushes prematurely spraying you with filthy bacteria from every Tom, Dick and Harry that peed before you. Besides getting all over your clothes and hands it sprays all over that private part too. How are you supposed to wash that in public and still keep your dignity. Ladies, I'm sure the very same thing happens with those good 'ol automatic toilets too. What a mess. If you are planning to wash your hands anyway, can't you just push the flusher all by yourself? 

Automatic doors are another marvel of modernity. These can be extremely helpful in situations where your hands are full, or you are pushing a cart. When they work it is a seamless transition from inside to outside. In the old days when the sensors were built into the mat and the door opened outward away from the direction you were going it was the aforementioned seamless transition. Today with the marvel of infrared or radio wave technology the door senses you coming and is supposed to open. In fact most of the time they do. Yet, they never seem to be calibrated to match your stride so you have to stop and wait, a little irritation yes. Except today both doors open the same direction and quite often they bash into you or your cart if you fail to break stride. Progress.

How about those pay-at-the-pump gas stations. In general this is a great idea and wonderful time saver. Since we all use debit or credit cards the automated at the pump payment system is a marvelous modern enhancement. Except... If you consider the whole point is to save you time then why are we forced to answer a half a dozen questions? No I don't want a car wash today. No I don't have a rewards card. No I don't want to give you my zip code. No I don't want a receipt. NO I DON'T WANT TO DONATE TO YOUR FAVORITE CHARITY!!! OK, I made that one up. As my older brother once said why can't they add a "Just Gas" button.

The king of modern automation that everyone of us has dealt with to the point of vein popping frustration is the merry-go-round of interactive voice response machines. Nothing has hurt customer relations and brand loyalty more than "Press 1 for this Press 2 for that and Press 3 for the other thing". Unless you require something very basic these things almost never satisfy. If you are lucky you can press "0" or "#" and get directed to an actual human. Nine times out of ten that person can actually help you. Sometimes this is not an option since the final option they give sends you back to the beginning. Arrrggghh!!!

Now, if you are calling a government entity a human on the other end of the line guarantees you nothing. Have you ever been put into the call center merry-go-round? This is where one department tells you you'll need to call the other department. They give you a number to call and that department tells you you need to call another department - or worse - the department that told you to call them. Maximum frustration ensues when department one gladly transfers the call for you... click... dial-tone... Start over. Eventually you know all the "options" by heart and immediately start yelling at the person who answers the call. Now corporate call center agents are trained to be exceeding polite and calm (which can further enrage you) but a government worker is indifferent and will do anything just to get rid of you. "You have to call Department Two, would you like me to transfer the call?"

Arrrggghhh!!!

Ugh

PS have a nice day

Memory Lane: Was I right?

Do other occasional bloggers go back in time and read something they wrote years ago? I rarely do. It might be that I don't want to discover that events have made my past bloviating seem childish, uninformed or stupid.

As bloggers it's not fair to beat up on ourselves too much, we grow, we learn and we are often overtaken by events. As a man of considerable age, approaching my mid-fifties now, I do have some depth of experience and wisdom. Still, I should know better than to be too declarative, too certain and too righteous. If I was smart I'd stick to subjects I have expertize in like variable length subnet masking and Internet protocol filtering and control with IPSec tunnel as transport, or at least just electric guitars and power chords. But I don't, I try to dig into subjects that interest me whether I know what I'm talking about or not.

There I was perusing a favorite blog (http://www.tbirdnow.mee.nu/) only to stumble on a link back to something I wrote in 2007. I read it with trepidation, what BS was I slinging that day? To my surprise I found that I was right about a lot of things. This time events had confirmed exactly what I believed.

See here http://protohuman.blogspot.com/2007/10/oil-and-war.html

In it I said the 2nd Iraq war was about oil - it was. It was not only about oil, but only a fool would say oil had nothing to do with it. I do not believe the U.S. was there to steal Iraqi oil, we weren't. We were however engaged in that region with guns and ships in part to protect the marketplace for the movement of oil to the places it needed to be. That's just the way it was. It is a job that needed to be done and the U.S. did it. For one thing, no one else could and, for another who better than the U.S. considering the role the U.S. played in global stability for the markets and the economy of the world.

Even at the time, seven years ago, the U.S. itself was not getting that much of it's oil from the Middle East, but many of our allies were. Now with the advent of advanced extraction of fossil fuels in the homeland the U.S. get's even less oil from the Middle East. The U.S. is now, or is poised to be the world leader in oil production. What hasn't changed is that the oil business is global in nature and trouble in any part of the system affects everyone to some degree.

The spooky part is what has changed. For all the foibles and mistakes of the Bush Administration leading up to 2007 when I wrote the piece, in the eyes of nation and the world everyone knew the U.S. could be counted on. That alone was a stabilizing force, imperfect but stabilizing. Now a mere seven years later under the Obama Administration this is true no longer. The world is devolving into chaos in nearly every quarter. Islam, China and Russia are busy pushing out, testing the waters for American reaction, carefully considering how the West coalesces behind American leadership. But then again, there is no American leadership.

The whole Middle East and North African zone is in turmoil. Israel and Hamas are in a shooting war - again. Egypt, Libya and Syria are engaged in mini civil wars to name just the big ones. The Syrian conflict has spilled into Iraq threatening to destabilize the region even further. This is directly the result of the Obama Administration's failure to come to an agreement for status of forces in Iraq. A vacuum of power ensued, a welcome call for ISIS out of Syria. And... Iran's sponsorship of terrorism and nuclear ambition is a festering case.

Russia, the chess player, is using the weakness of U.S. leadership to harass Ukraine, threatening a civil war there. This leaves Europe between a rock and a hard place. They need Russian energy. What they see is Russian ambition in the absence of American leadership.

The troubling thing is that Europe and reasonable people in the U.S. see the energy revolution in America as a potential solution to Europe's dependency on Russia. Again the Obama Administration has done everything in it's power to stifle the burgeoning export potential of American energy. Killing the Keystone Pipeline sends a clear signal that the U.S. government is in the grips of radical environmentalists - and enough digging would find Russian money funding these "green" organizations with the very purpose of stifling American energy gains.

In the midst of all this foreign turmoil is a weak and stagnant economy in America. A weak economy makes the U.S. weak across the board. We see major homegrown companies pulling up stakes and moving to business friendly nations. Corporate tax reform is needed. Regardless of the push back from huge companies that benefit from the current system it takes political leadership to pull it off. There's no economic leadership in the political ranks, none. Instead all we've seen is the Central Bank and it's debt buying strategy. How many people are fooled by a rising stock market that is fueled by Federal Reserve bond buying? When this ends with nothing else having been done to shore up native economic growth the market will crash and interest rates and inflation will rise - further weakening the country and by extension the world.

The final point in my 2007 piece was that people grumble and complain about America sticking its nose into everything, complain about so-called American arrogance, complain about American aggression and nearly everything else about America - and as always there is some validity to these concerns. It's an imperfect world. Now we are getting a glimpse of what the absence of American leadership and reliability will bring to the world. What a mess.

For once I was right!!!




Ugh

Distracted by Distraction

I don't know anyone who isn't addicted to distraction. In this modern age, in this advanced society it's next to impossible to live life without near continuous distraction in one form or another. From the moment we wake up in the morning until we lay our heads back down we spend most of our waking hours distracted or looking for ways to pull ourselves away from the reality of the world we live in.

As we eat our breakfast and sip our coffee we are watching the morning news on the TV or reading the paper. When behind the wheel driving in to work it isn't enough to just pay attention to the road, the traffic and weather conditions, we must also listen to the radio or CD or worse, talk or text on the mobile phone. We get to our desk and before long we find ourselves reacting to a funny e-mail or recanting stories of the past weekend or maybe surfing the Internet. Anything but do the job at hand - at least for a while.

When we get home it's distraction city - especially if there are small children in the home. Once dinner is finished the whole point is to distract oneself until bedtime so that we can get up the next morning and do it all over again. For some it's the TV. For the younger set it's straight to the computer or game console for endless hours of shoot 'em up. For many it's the newest addiction of the modern age - Facebooking.

I say all this not to admonish, hell, I'm addicted to distraction too, rather, I wonder if we are actually any the worse for it. I suspect we are, however, for many people it's the distractions that make life worth living. You know the saying - all work and no play...

Most of us have a lot of free time. In modern societies we are not spending the bulk of our time hunting and gathering. When our minds and bodies are free from the the very act of survival we have a need to fill our lives with something. The thing to ponder is who is making the decision with what to fill it with - us or someone else.

As with anything if we examine that which compels the action we can discern whether it is good, benign or dangerous. Chief among all reasons people give in to distraction is of course boredom. Nine times out of ten when I plop down in front of the TV it's because my life at that point in time is boring. I think this is entirely normal, right? There are probably a thousand reasons people succumb to distraction starting with the inability to face reality at all - and everything in between.

The question becomes then what isn't a distraction? Reading a book? Gardening? Working out? Playing guitar or piano? I guess it depends. Are we supposed to be doing something productive or meaningful 24/7?

The impetus for me to even to broach this subject is the release of Bruce Charlton's new book "Addicted to Distraction". In it Charlton specifically focuses on the mass media. There's no doubt that every one this side of Rip Van Winkel is deeply affected by the mass media. According the always insightful Charlton we ignore the power of the mass media at or own peril.

From Charlton's preview of the book...
How can I convince you that you are deluded?

Well, it won’t be easy because you are not alone; you a part of a folie a billion, a mass delusion, induced by the Mass Media.

You are, in fact, subject to the most pervasive and effective propaganda in the history of humanity; a propaganda which has people not noticing the evidence of their eyes and ignoring the evidence of their own experience.

We allow, we encourage, we demand for this to happen because we are inside the Mass Media and addicted to it; and although it destroys all that makes meaning, purpose, and relationship possible; the Mass Media then takes our alienated, adrift, self-loathing and lonely selves and offers distraction, consolation, absorption, fragments and glimmerings of pleasure and self-forgetfulness...

And yet the Mass Media has no person in-control, no group of persons, not even an interest group. The destructiveness of the Mass Media operates equally – or more – against the participants: the journalists, broadcasters, editors, hype-ers and spinners, public relation professionals and advertisers and propagandists... All are dragged-down just like everybody else by their own destructiveness.

Besides offering mere distractions so much of the entertainment media actually pollutes our minds with toxic pictures and themes about our culture and our belief systems to make us think black is white, good is evil and the demented are the righteous. They do this for no other reason than they can. In a world where everything is relative there is no guiding principle, no ultimate right or wrong. Is it any wonder things are so fouled up.

On occasion a program, a book or a movie is produced that actually enlightens, affirming the goodness of humanity far beyond any self serving agenda. If they are not panned or ridiculed in such a way they ultimately have no power, the underlying affirmation of human goodness, human decency is completely ignored. This is true of decent people too. One need only look at what the mass media did to Tim Tebow, a man, a role model who could have deserved it less. The media took extreme pleasure in building him up just to tear him down. Yet complete scumbags, sluts and thugs are repeatedly celebrated.

The mass media and it's guiding principle political correctness dictate everything in today's culture - this much we all must acknowledge. That said, what is the personal grip the power of distraction holds over us? I go back to the question - what isn't distraction? Are we talking about anything less than meaningful work and quiet self-contemplation? I'm sorry, I don't have the answer.

We need to ask ourselves why we are so afraid of solitude and self reflection? Why do so many of us choose to live vicariously through others instead of creating our own stories. Why we are terrified of being alone with ourselves?

Timothy Wilson, University of Virginia professor of psychology and lead author of a study to determine if people would be comfortable alone with just their thoughts, was surprised by what they found. Not only did most people not enjoy solitude and quiet contemplation many of the men in the study preferred self-administered electric shock to being alone with their thoughts. Previous surveys have shown that people generally prefer not to disengage from the world, and, when they do, they do not particularly enjoy it.

In some of Wilson's experiments, participants were asked to sit alone in an unadorned room at a laboratory with no cell phone, reading materials or writing implements, and to spend six to 15 minutes – depending on the study – entertaining themselves with their thoughts. They were then to answer questions about how much they enjoyed the experience and if they had difficulty concentrating. Nearly all found it difficult to concentrate and that their minds wandered, though nothing was competing for their attention. Most of the participants did not enjoy the experience.

This confirms in a sense that it is human nature to avoid boredom. It also seems to point at the profound shallowness of people. The study periods were a mere 15 minutes. One would think anybody could quietly self reflect and even relax for 15 minutes. To be honest I'm not entirely certain that I could do it.

I think it also goes to show that people don't really know themselves, that they don't even want to. When our minds are quiet is it possible that we are not alone at all? Is it possible that in those times we are in the presence of God? Are we so frightened by the prospect that we do something, anything to avoid that meeting?

Let me sit here quietly and think about that for fifteen moments.



Ugh

Invasion: plain and simple

There is no other way to spin it. If we weren't being invaded from the south for the past 20 years we certainly are now. There are tens of thousands of illegal aliens pouring over the Texas border at unprecedented levels with no sign of abating. Many of them - if not most - are children unaccompanied but an adult. The worse part of it is, it now seems it was planned - planned by our government.

I've heard or read more than a few reports that the Obama Administration put out an RFP  in January 2014 for transportation resources to move people to immigrant processing centers across the country. By May the borders were being breached by thousands of children from Central America. Now, if you knew enough to foresee the need for this transportation then you knew enough to stand in the way and prevent it. That was not the plan however.

Last year Obama unilaterally enacted the Dream Act by fiat when it failed to pass the Congress. The Republican controlled House was ready to pass the bill if a few common sense measures were added to ensure this very invasion would not happen. The Democrats said it's my way or the highway, the bill failed. This executive order might as well been an invitation to the downtrodden in parts of Central America. I personally wouldn't put it past the Obama regime to have sent emissaries to those countries with actual invitations, but that's just me and my disdain for Obama showing through. Still...

This is a crisis in more ways than one. The Obama Administration's response so far has been limited and predictable. He has called for 2 billion dollars to help facilitate the processing of these children. Where ever these immigrants land it will eventually overwhelm the community or state and exceed $2 billion in a heartbeat. The financial crisis aside the health crisis these unvaccinated, unhealthy third world children could spawn is phenomenal. If it turns out that the Administration planned this with the goal of overwhelming the system and intentionally foster a crisis someone should be criminally charged.

Even in the early days of the government response to this - while the country is just learning about it - there is talk of secrecy and cover-ups. In one processing center employees were warned about telling anyone of the condition of the kids being readied assimilation into the general public. Some had TB, some had scabies, most had head lice and almost none had any vaccinations. Medical workers were force to swear an oath and threatened with their jobs. Some simply quit. These kids are going put into our communities, schools, day cares and foster care with communicable diseases. It's against the law for health care workers not to report these conditions, yet these people we're threatened by government agents who called themselves the Brown Shirts. WTF.

How can the Obama team justify this? How can those who support this guy just go along?

There is the very real human tragedy to consider too. Most of these people are scared out there minds. How can we turn our backs on them? Well we can't. But it is the height of false compassion (it always is) to encourage and foster certain behaviors that are detrimental to human dignity and success and then swoop in to save the day. On top of that make anyone who opposes the enabling behavior akin to the devil!

The ultra compassion of the borderless "Kingdom of Heaven" churches and the various civic organizations compel us to look past the reasons these things come about and focus on the moral response. We end up supporting the compassionate response and those who advocate it rather than opposing the immoral (and unconstitutional) policies that led to the crisis. In other words the cynical progressives who foster the endless immigration invasion for votes to stay in power are never called out for their very real sins. No, only the so-called nationalism of the conservatives is derided because it comes across as uncaring and compassionless.

It is the duty of the churches to call out sin and evil where ever it is, but they fail miserably to hold the progressives who create this human misery accountable for anything. This is for all intents and purposes aiding evil. Is this what the "Kingdom of Heaven" calls for?

The raucous protest in Murrieta CA over this latest invasion is a clear sign that ordinary citizens are reaching the end of the rope. Almost no one opposes legal immigration and that's all anyone is calling for - control of the borders. The Obama Administration is fooling no one. They are manufacturing a crisis for cynical political gains. The compassion police then pound down anyone who objects. It's a great one-two punch. Perhaps the counter punch is finally going to be delivered.



Ugh