Nature, Nurture?

Thanks to recent breakthroughs in brain research and DNA technology, what has been until now a major controversy is no longer in serious dispute. As an example, brain research has identified a plethora of concrete indicators pointing to clear evidence of inherited indicators of many of the traits and tendencies that were previously concerned “learned” or somehow absorbed from the environment.

  “_ _ _ _ _ _ are made not born” (Fill in the blanks with virtually any qualification or acievement: “musical genius, star athlete, creative writer, painter, serial killer, drug addict etc.”) and you’d probably be wrong. As an example, a 40 year study of Korean war orphans adopted by American parents at the end of the Korean war, indicated quite clearly that the effects of “enlightened or ‘serious’ “ parenting by college educated upper middle class couples who adopted one of a pair of Korean infant twins, produced no better results than the other twin who was adopted by a couple without advanced education who were fairly “casual” or “hands-off” parents. It is clear from the Korean Orphan Study and most other research on the subject, that it is our genetic inheritance,   our DNA, that is the determining factor in potential success as a pro basketball player, a classical musician or composer , or sculptor. With the “wrong” DNA you might become a drug addict, a “gang banger” or a “serial killer” Your success will very much depend on the amount of time you devote to developing the skills you inherited, but without the necessary genetic predisposition, “practice, practice, practice” will not get you to

Carnegie Hall.

The implications of these findings has obvious effects in many areas, including philosophy, education and the law. In the area of moral philosophy, we are returning to a serious controversy that was raised by Calvin and became the foundation for the protestant sect that he founded. This was the concept of “predestination” the idea that from birth, your life and its outcome was already decided by God. Prayer, good works, sacrifice - nothing you do would change your destination. The successful merchants of early New England were obviously blessed by the almighty, the slaves they transported in their ships were not. So, perhaps Calvin and his followers were on the right track and those who questioned predestination were not.

Education? If a child is born without the intellectual equipment to indicate probable success in school, should the state spend funds on traditional academic training or should she be channeled into a vocational educational track?

The Law? 

If someone lacks the DNA that creates the synapses for moral judgement or conversely a predatory “killer instinct”, can we convict him of homicide if he kills. If the argument is “My genes made me do it” how can we incarcerate the perpetrator? Or execute the serial killer?

How should society deal with this truly revolutionary information? 

It could just ignore it and hope it would all go way

Accept some of the implications and “stonewall” those that conflict with our Judeo-Christian ethical system

Leave it all to individual choice and provide no official guidelines. 

Control reproduction by “ carriers of anti-social genes”

What do you think?

Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling | Video on TED.com

Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling | Video on TED.com

25 Body Hacks to Supercharge Yourself

25 Body Hacks to Supercharge Yourself

Some very good ideas. Check it out!

Why Meditation Relieves Chronic Pain and Stress - Lifehacker

Why Meditation Relieves Chronic Pain and Stress - Lifehacker

Recent reports from several different sources clearly indicate that sitting whether on a chair at your desk or on a cushion in an ashram for more than 15-30 minute intervals can be dangerous for your health (Surgeon General take note). So I now try to do most of my meditating in an upright position, usually in motion. My favorite and most profitable is while playing tennis. I concentrate my total attention on the seams of the tenis ball and as Emeril might say "wham" I'm in the zone and my inquisitive, questioning brain is temporarily "off-line". My tennis game has improved dramatically as a result of this innovation. Now I'm looking for opportunities to apply the principle to other endeavors.

Mind, Brain & Meitation

“The brain has a fixed location. The mind has no such definitive location, mainly because it can't be ascertained what it is. Though some might say the mind is around the head area, but then there is a question as to what is there. Absent content what is mind? The brain needs nourishment. Does the mind? The mind doesn't have blood flowing through it.”

“We have no experience of what it's like to be a brain, unless this is what it's like. Though I don't feel wet in the head.”?

“If mind is equated with consciousness then mind is the aware aspect of being. This aware mode may be an epiphenomena or the foundation of all that is
It has been commonly accepted by the majority of experts in the fields of neuroscience, brain research and other related fields that the mind exercises significant influence over the brain and also can affect actions and behavior independent of the brain.

In her book “Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain”, Sharon Begley provided a clear and well-researched description of the mind and it’s potential. More recently, Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Ms. Begley have greatly expanded on the topic and related it to many facets of quantum physics and the latest developments in brain research in their recently published “The Mind & the Brain”.
The fact that we are endowed with a mind as well as a brain isn’t exactly hot news. There is a clear differentiation between the two dating back hundreds of years. In Latin we have “mens” as name for the mind and “cerebrum” for the brain. Although up until very recently, the scientific community ignored the existence of the mind and its functions, my father explained how the mind was the only source of answers when it came to complex, non-mathematical problems over fifty years ago (he said the brain was just a calculator or adding machine) .

My own exploration of the mind, its functions and capacities began with my study of Buddhism. Then, a few months ago after my wife suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm, I started reading everything I could find about the brain and the mind. In parallel with this, I had almost accidentally discovered a way to use my mind to sharpen my tennis game. The major problem most club players experience in tennis sooner or later is a failure to watch the ball and like many others, I recognized my weakness but couldn’t correct until I started focussing my attention on the seams of the tennis ball rather than the ball itself and this simple maneuver put me straight into “the Zone”, an experience very similar to meditation exercises I’d practiced in India two years ago. Suddenly the brain dropped into a passive secondary position and the mind took over. As a result, I was hitting the ball with the center of my racket (the “sweet spot”) getting to the ball much faster and making shots I never before had even attempted.
Now, the big question is “If I can do this with a tennis ball, what else can I do to focus the amazing power of the mind?


“Mind is much bigger than brain. Mind includes talking to other folk, it includes typing stuff, reading, and doing things generally. To think is to do.

If so how do you measure the mind?By intelligence? From what I understand, the mind is abstract, more or less like our consolidated experiences since birth. Perhaps at death it is the mind that lives on. Maybe the mind is the soul.

MORE ON BIN LADEN'S ASSASSINATION - THE NONSENCE OF AL-QAEDA WEB SITES MAKING ANNOUNCEMENTS - THE NONSENSE OF AL-QAEDA - BACKGROUND ON BIN LADEN - CHUCKMAN'S CHOICE OF WORDS

MORE ON BIN LADEN'S ASSASSINATION - THE NONSENCE OF AL-QAEDA WEB SITES MAKING ANNOUNCEMENTS - THE NONSENSE OF AL-QAEDA - BACKGROUND ON BIN LADEN - CHUCKMAN'S CHOICE OF WORDS

The pond is murky indeed and it looks like we may never get to the bottom of the Administration's "virtual reality show". The valiant force of 12 (or was it 37?) Seals or was it really the Pakistan Army who breached the Bin laden Compound. No pictures?
Because we don't want to offend the sensibilities of the guys who brought us 9/11?

To say that the whole story raises far more questions than it answers would be a huge understatement.
Could it be that Obama's "Shining Hour" may turn into his Waterloo a deja vue of the Carter disaster?

Naomi Klein "tells it like it is". There is no question about the fact that the real agenda of the RNC is to bring down the U.S. Government and create a new system, an Oligarchy an instrument for the super rich to take complete control.

Let's Make it Easier on the Rich

How about a one-time "Emergency Surtax" for the uber-rich. 1% of income for the disaster victims in Japan and libya

Ode to My Mind

In the wee small hours of the morning is the time I miss you most of all
At 4:30 AM in the middle of my 76th year, it seems as if the world is imploding around me. Memory is slowly fading - yesterday was a low point. Forgetting stalked me at every step I took and later I woke about an hour ago - in that time when we are completely disconnected. Alone with our thoughts and memories, searching for something or someone to relate to. Perhaps this is some sort of post-traumatic reaction. I have survived the events of last December when my wife suffered brain injuries and lingered on the edge of life for a few days. She has survived and is now sufficiently recovered to return to work, drive a car and resume most normal activities.

Ode to My Mind

"In the wee small hours of the morning is the time I miss you most of all.

TSA, DHS plan massive rollout of mobile surveillance vans with long-distance X-ray capability, eye movement tracking and more

TSA, DHS plan massive rollout of mobile surveillance vans with long-distance X-ray capability, eye movement tracking and more: "mobile surveillance technologies at train stations, stadiums and streets."

Maybe the DHS is worried that our unemployed young people might start protesting the government's failure to do anything about the unemployment situation, even going so far as to eliminate a lot of the government jobs that might be open to recent graduates

C L O S E R » Blog Archive » Egypt’s Revolution 2.0: The Facebook Factor

C L O S E R » Blog Archive » Egypt’s Revolution 2.0: The Facebook Factor: "As a septuagenarian FB and Twitter user and someone who has participated in the growth and development of the internet about 30 years, I am thrilled and excited about the newest developments in cyberspace. The birth and meteoric development of the social media have taken many of us completely by surprise but the author's generalizations concerning the post-thirty somethings misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the significance and portent of these new developments is unfortunate and misleading.
What is truly significant is not just their contribution to the cause of real democracy today but what it could mean in the future.

The majority of politicians in the U.S. and the rest of our global village will shudder to learn that their days are indeed numbered. These middlemen of democracy are already redundant, perhaps archaic. With the further development and growth of social media, real democracy without the interference of incompetent go betweens, dedicated exclusively to the enhancement of their own personal power, influence and wealth, can be replaced with direct vote of the people.
Real 'Power to the people'!"

WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?: Why Obama's Budget Sell-Out to Republicans Threatens Our Economy

WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE?: Why Obama's Budget Sell-Out to Republicans Threatens Our Economy
Dr. Reich's comments are salient but a bit "over the top" (as usual)

It would be wonderful if the occupants of both houses of our national legislature would try to discuss the current fiscal crisis like mature, intelligent adults instead of posturing and lying like the overpaid and under-informed politicians that they are.

Their total disregard for truth and real facts is truly remarkable, their continued power over the fate of our country is unacceptable.

When are the American people going to wake up and throw the bums out?

JFK - Murdered 47 Years Ago Today

The team from my advertising agency was making a major presentation to the regional managers of Alitalia airlines who were meeting in Cincinnati. I was point man for the team, responsible for MCing the presentation. I spent the night at the Hilton and delivered our presentation at 10:00 AM on the morning of November 22, 1963.
The presentation was well received and we could count on the Alitalia business-at least for a while. (In advertising like the restaurant business, you're only as good as your last meal or campaign). The team and I headed to an upscale Italian restaurant for lunch to celebrate our victory. It was a two martini eventl that lasted over two hours, just at coffee, a waiter came to our table and told us that the President had been shot.
I left the restaurant and returned to the Hilton where I picked up my bag, checked out and headed to the airport. I don't remember the flight back to New York but I do remember going home and watching the news on the TV for several hours seeing Caroline "John John" and Jackie, Johnson and Oswald. I saw Ruby shoot Oswald and I knew that Camelot was over and that it had all been a fantasy - a dream.
For the 43 years I ignored politics completely. I had worked hard on JFK's campaign but after that, politics was a fool's game as far as I was concerned. In 2007 I saw Obama at a rally here in Austin and I thought that maybe JFK had a successor.
But Camelot ended a long time ago and Obama is no JFK.

TIME GOES BY | Social Security and President Obama

During Steve Kroft's interview with President Barack Obama on 60 Minutes, here's what the President said about the budget and Social Security:”You’re still confronted with a fact that the vast majority of the federal budget are things that people really think are important. Like Social Security and Medicare and defense.

“And so, you then have to start making some tough decisions about how do we pay for those things that we think are important. And you know, we're not gonna be able to balance the budget just by slashing the National Parks budget... “I mean, we're gonna have to, you know, tackle some big issues like entitlements that, you know, when you listen to the Tea Party or you listen to Republican candidates they promise we're not gonna touch.”

Richard Eskow, writing at Campaign for America's Future on Monday, commented on Obama’s remarks on 60 Minutes:
“That doesn't just sound as if he's preparing to cut the Medicare and Social Security 'entitlement' programs,” wrote Eskew. “It almost seems as if he's taunting the Tea Party and the GOP for not being tough enough to cut them.


“When a Democratic President sounds like he wants to outflank the Tea Party by running to its right, we're in deep trouble.”

TIME GOES BY | REFLECTIONS: On Conflicts of Interest

TIME GOES BY | REFLECTIONS: On Conflicts of Interest: "During a broadcast of 'Open End' a TV panel show moderated by David Suskind in the late 1950's, Susskind tried to divert the panel's focus away from some very parochial gossip about the (mis) behavior of New York's 'litteratti' by broaching the subject of the Soviet Minister of Trade's unprecedented visit to the heartland of America. The panel appeared almost stunned by Susskind's non-sequitor, but then Norman Mailer responded by saying 'Mikoyan's just another poiltician and politicians are all whores. We're not discuss whores in front of a family audience are we?'

Like they say 'politics make strange bedfellows' and it looks like the political whores and the media whores are now sharing the same mattresses."

Jon Stewart Rally Attracts Estimated 215,000 - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

Jon Stewart Rally Attracts Estimated 215,000 - Political Hotsheet - CBS News: "An estimated 215,000 people attended a rally organized by Comedy Central talk show hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Saturday in Washington, according to a crowd estimate commissioned by CBS News."

My youngest daughter was at the rally and she voted my proxy.

Are we winning? Not yet and unfortunately many of the people who did attend the rally may not even vote in this election. The "enthusiasm gap"

strikes again. I did vote (the Green ticket with two exceptions for Deomocrats I have confidence in) but I can empathize with the 60% of the electorate who probably won't get to the polls this year. The whole election "scene" is ugly and decidedly unpleasant. We're all going to need some serious catharsis when it's finally over.

U.S. Deficit as % of GDP? "Fagetaboutit!"

We hear so much B.S. from our politicians and other pundits about our scandalous deficit spending, - how we are putting future generations in hock for centuries to come,  that I finally checked the CIAWorld Factbook and discovered that the U.S. ranks 47th among 129 nations of the world in terms of public debt (i.e. "deficit") as a percent of our GDP (Gross National Product). Among the really big spenders in the list, Japan is no. 2 with 189% of GDP in Public Debt, Italy and Greece running almost neck and neck in 6th and 7th places with around 114% and France - in 16th place with 77.5%, Canada -75%, Germany 72%, UK -68% and way down, close to the bottom of the list in the 109th place, those inscrutable Chinese.

So, pray tell what's all the congressional and media brouhaha all about? Is it just the usual political bull#^@T?

Why is everybody including all the old, wet teabags, got their knickers so twisted? 

"The answer my friend is written in the wind" as Bob Dylan wrote so many years ago. Just ask your Tea Party friends (if your unfortunate to have any) "What percentage of our GDP is in hock to (gasp!) PUBLIC DEBT?

We hear so much B.S. from our politicians and other pundits about our scandalous deficit spending, - how we are putting future generations in hock for centuries to come,  that I finally checked the CIAWorld Factbook and discovered that the U.S. ranks 47th among 129 nations of the world in terms of public debt (i.e. "deficit") as a percent of our GDP (Gross National Product). Among the really big spenders in the list, Japan is no. 2 with 189% of GDP in Public Debt, Italy and Greece running almost neck and neck in 6th and 7th places with around 114% and France - in 16th place with 77.5%, Canada -75%, Germany 72%, UK -68% and way down, close to the bottom of the list in the 109th place, those inscrutable Chinese.

and then "How much do you think it should be right now and how much was it under the movie actor who was our president, Ronald Regan?

Does Your Vote Really Count?

With more than half of the Senate bought and paid for  by Big Finance, Insurance & Real Estate,  do you really think the guys that are supposed to be representing you in the Senate are listening to you at all?

If you do, you probably also think Santa Claus is real and the Tooth Fairy as well.

We live in a completely corrupt society where money and only money talks and you have to put up or shut up. Wake up and smell the coffee and unless you've got at least ten million in the bank don't try to get in to the politics game because only suckers play in a game where the cards are stacked against them

True U.S. Unemployment is 17%

FROM TODAY'S WASHINGTON POST:

"The government’s broader measure of unemployment, sometimes referred to “true unemploytment,” now stands at 17.1 percent. As  the Washington Post’s Frank Ahrens puts it, you are not included in the “official” unemployment rate if, a) you would like to have a full-time job but can find only part-time work, and b) if you’ve grown so discouraged at finding work, you’ve simply given up

 Writing recently about increasingly bleak unemployment picture, Paul Krugman, NY Times' economics guru, says, "enormous harm" will come to American families. "You just need to think about how many people are unemployed now for long periods of time. Large numbers of people who have lost their jobs and will never get another if we don't change our policies."

Now that virtually one out of six American workers is out of a job and very little hope of finding one in the near or foreseeable future, it is the duty of the U.S. government to treat the situation seriously and take aggressive steps to find some real solutions.  When the people of France were unable to buy bread, Louis the XIV's doxy, Marie Antoinette, suggested "Let them eat cake" in reply French citizens cut off her head and Louis' as well.

The causes of our current debacle are many but not least of these is obsession with profits "uber alles" Social responsibility and moral integrity have vanished. Currently, our "captains of industry" are stockpiling cash for the moment when (and maybe if) the economy turns around and the American consumer starts another buying spree that will lift us out of the pits we are now mired in up to our necks. However these business leaders seem to ignore the simple fact that we can't spend what we haven't got.

The Road Goes on Forever

I'm "On the Road Again",just like my contemporary, Willy Nelson. Currently in Hudson, NY about 100 miles north of NYC. It's another one of those towns that time forgot for about 100 years but now it's being gentrified by artists, decorators, antique dealers and the like, including my youngest sibling, my sister Nicole who bought an old house here in 2003. It is also, by sublime coincidence, the birthplace of my great,great, great grandfather, James Ward Smith whose parents were some of the earliest settlers of this riverside hamlet. Heading to the Green Mountains of Vermont next and then down to Cape Hatteras, NC , after that.

BLAME IT ON THE BRITISH?

The oil spill has nothing to do with the people of Great Britain and everything to do with the larcenous cupidity of the tycoons that run worldwide megabucks corporations like BP, Goldman Sachs & the other big banks and Nestle, Monsanto etc.

It is no conspiracy - all of these corporations are systemically focussed on maximum profit - whatever the cost to customers, citizens and the taxpayers of whatever country or counries they do business in. BP will drill for oil wherever and whenever they can, providing it offers substantial rewards- irregardless of the risk to the environment and society. The current debacle is proof that the markets do not regulate themselves and unless governments take an active role in control of the larcenous bastards that run the BP's of the world, we are screwed.

20% Unemployed- Forever!

Cynthia Norton, Jacksonville Florida, laid off two years ago from an insurance company.

“Sometimes I think I’d be better off in jail” says the 53 year- old unemployed administrative assistant only half joking. “I’d have three meals a day and structure in my life*. I’d be able to go to school. I’d have more opportunities if I were an inmate than I do here trying to be a contributing member of society.”

1.7 million Americans who were employed in clerical and administrative jobs when the recession began are no longer working in that occupation now. Those jobs have been permanently eliminated and even when the economy recovers they will never be filled again. This country and virtually all of western civilization must accept the fact that one-fifth of it’s work force, will eventually be permanently unemployed. 

What is the Obama administration or for that matter, the Merkel, Sarkozy, Cameron etc.,  administrations, doing about this? For that matter, are any of them even acknowledging the existence of this 100 ton gorilla?

The King Kong of modern social issues is being completely ignored simply because no one has even the slightest idea of how to deal with him. Except perhaps, “Just ignore him and maybe he’ll go away”

Since the dawn of the Industrial revolution and maybe even before, people have defined themselves by their occupations. If you ask someone to describe themselves they’ll usually start with their jobs; “I’m a lawyer and a father, a husband” etc. Their social positions, their connection to the community, their lives, revolve around their jobs. With no job - who are they? If one out of five members of the work force have no jobs and no employment prospects what are they? How can they relate to society? 

An examination of countries that have experienced long-term, massive unemployment reveals a consistent pattern of social unrest and a frequent tendency towards an autoritarian regime (e.g. Nazi Germany, fascist Spain & Portugal, Peron’s Argentina, etc.) or incipient fascist movements as in the 1930’s U.S. or the current Tea-Bag Movement and aberrations like the Arizona immigration law.

FDR introduced Social Security and the WPA among other governmental initiatives to offset (but not cure) the unemployment crisis. They were fairly successful palliatives but it took WWII to put a temporary stop to it. Then, the post-war “reconctruction” with its GI Bill and other related instruments contributed to the temporary postponement of the resurgence of massive unemployment but as the Eagles sang “You can run but you can’t hide” and now almost 80 years since the onset of the Great Depression it’s “deja vu all over again”

This time, we must face the awful reality of permanent unemployment for a significant segment of the world’s population and focus our best minds and facilities on the problem before the Gorilla starts to tear the place apart.

Watching Pigeons

 Do Americans look and act  more like pigeons or are pigeons imitating people?

You Want Limited Government?

How about HONG KONG?: 

".  We may well ask whether there exist any contemporary examples of societies that rely primarily on voluntary exchange through the market and in which government is limited.

Perhaps the best example is Hong Kong.  It is less than 400 square miles in size with a population of roughly 4.5 million people.  The density of population is almost unbelievable — 14 times as many people per square mile as Japan, 185 times as many as in the United States.  Yet they enjoy one of the highest standards of living in all of Asia — second only to Japan and perhaps Singapore.

Hong Kong has no tariffs or other restraints on international trade.  It has no government direction of economic activity, no minimum wage laws, no fixing of prices.  The residents are free to buy from whom they want, sell to whom they want, to invest however they want, to hire whom they want, to work for whom they want.

The role of government is limited.  It enforces law and order, provides a means for formulating the rules of conduct, adjudicates disputes, facilitates transportation and communication, and supervises the issuance of currency.

Government spending remains the lowest in the world as a fraction of the income of the people.  As a result, low taxes preserve incentives.  Businessmen reap the benefits of their success but also bear the costs of their mistakes.

– Free to Choose by  Milton Friedman

Isn't Hong Kong part of the People's Republic of China (PRC)? How could anyone call that a "contemporary example ....in which government is limited". The truth is that the limited government, so prized by the Tea Partiers is a fantasy in today's world. Even the Tea Partiers want their Social Security and Medicare and all of us who benefitted from the GI Bill of Rights don't regret that either.
Totally Free Market Economy? So Goldman Sachs and the rest of Wall St. Gang can get away with murder? 
These guys can't be serious. 


I would like to know exactly how their vision of limited government would work and how do we re-invent our political system to fit it?
Maybe start with "limited free elections" ? Land owners and millionaires only? Maybe we should just abolish the federal government completely so that here in Texas we'd be totally under the thumb of wing-nut secessionists like Rick Perry

The Glory that Was...America?

If only the politicians in Washington, London, Paris, Baghdad or wherever weren't politicians and if scorpions weren't always scorpions, then the leopard would change his spots and we could have universal health care that makes sense and other legislation that benefits the people. Alas it's not going to happen- ever. Politicians will always be- politicians, and the people will always follows the kings of misrule with the loudest voices. After 60 years of political activism (from Adlai Stevenson to Barack Obama) I'm laying down my clipboard and retiring. I have wasted so much time and energy tilting at windmills only to realize that it has all been "An impossible dream" . 85% of what we call "the people" are really only sheep and they will follow anyone who looks like a shepherd. Tebaggers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your strings!


And I will sit back and watch as this country sinks to the second tier position it has earned. Where indeed is the courage, integrity and goodwill that used to be the identifying keywords of American foreign and domestic public policy?
Maybe it was all "an impossible dream"

Have I Got Egg on my Face?

Not quite but almost. True, Obama and his staff have managed to get the somewhat tattered Health Care Reform Bill through the house the House. It a quilt work of compromises and some rather shifty deals. The restrictions on abortion are unfair and unfortunate but it is some reform and maybe it will lead to more cost savings somewhere down the road.
So hip, hip fore President Obama (he has now earned the title) and please remember sir, "there are miles to go before [we] sleep"

The Lives of "The Stars"

Susan Sarandon is dating a 31 year old ping pong player?
How sad. I respected and admired ms. Sarandon for her masterful performances in ," Thelma & Louise" (1991)," Lorenzo's Oil" (1992), and "The Client" (1994).She definitely earned the award for her performance in " Dead Man Walking". But it seems as if the corruption and decadence is spreading fast from Wall St., to Washington and Main St. to Hollywood. Evidently, you can take the [Woman] out of Hollywood but you can't take Hollywood out of the woman. Good luck to you Susan, it seems "I hardly knew ya"

Be Careful About What You Wish [Vote] For

I laughed when I first heard somebody refer to Barrack Obama as "The Manchurian Candidate of the 21st century" but I don't think it's all that funny anymore. Certainly he's not a tool of the Russians or even the Chinese but, what if, he has been recruited and formed by the robber barons of Wall St. and other free market gangsters, to completely subvert the government of the United States in preparation for a takeover by the forces of the night/right and the installation of an oligarchic dictatorship? "Oh no, it can't happen here you say"? How about Timothy Franz Geithner and his mentor Larry Summers? Whose side do you think they're on? Yours and mine? Yeah right. And the latest Supreme Court rulings? I won't use the word "conspiracy" but it does somewhat fit a pattern doesn't it. The question is "How low can he (Obama) go" before people wake up. Obstructionist Republican naysayers to the right of us- dubious Democrats to the left of us. Simpson & Co. "retrofitting" our Social Security system. Isn't there anybody out there that's on our side?

CPR for Our Country

The economic system is under a death watch and there's almost no hope for survival without radical surgery.
Our political system needs multiple organ transplants,
including brain and heart.
Here's what responsible citizens can do to insure the survival of our country.

1. Stop contributing to all political organizations and politicians immediately!
2. Create and circulate a petition to impeach the Supreme Court.
3. Plan and execute a responsible citizens March on Washington on the first of May.
4. Politicians and organizations supporting the petition and march will be eligible for funding
5. Draft the "best and the brightest" to conceptualize a "Citizen's Bill of Rights for the 21st Century" for endorsement and incorporation in the U.S. Constitution.

Perhaps then we can start to re-create "a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men [and women] are created equal."

God Help America!

The Best Hotels in the World

Totally subjective based  exclusively on my own personal experience

• The old Plaza Hotel ( New York)
• The George V (Paris, before it became a Four Seasons Hotel)
• The New Otani (Tokyo)
• The Villa D'este (Lake Como)
• Due Torri (Verona)
• Gritti Palace (Venice)
• Claridge's (London)
• The Hilton (Hong Kong)
• The Beverly Wilshire (Beverly Hills)
• The Four Seasons Costa Rica

Three of the best are in Italy. The Italians do a few things right- hotel keeping, cooking, making and wearing clothes and manufacturing fine cars. If, "living well is the best revenge", living in Italy is the supreme vendetta.

Mimicing

Mimicking or "mirroring" is not exclusive to humans, our cousins the chimps do it and so do many other animals. 
It may be one of the most ancient forms of social intercourse. It's a way of establishing a connection with another and, although not absolutely necessary it may be a quick way of establishing a preliminary relationship. I don't usually mimic someone I don't like unless it's to ridicule them. It's a way of demonstrating our "sympathie" (in the French sense) for another. You smile and I smile back, you laugh and so do I. (Many people need a laugh track to know what's funny) 
When someone makes a friendly gesture; offering their hand or a hug and I don't reciprocate, I am showing that I have no wish to engage with that person in a friendly way.


We don't usually mimic anyone that we don't feel any empathy for unless it's to show scorn or contempt. So, what about those who can't empathize with others? Normally they don't mimic and if they do it's usually forced and unnatural. 

Just War?

"My God, is this the end of the world? No. it's 'just war' ".
I don't believe in "Just Wars" or more specifically. I can't think of any except perhaps WW II (and I'm not absolutely sure about even that). The President presented an almost valid argument for his position relative to our occupation of Afghanistan but it was not totally convincing. He demonstrated his pragmatic  tendencies and actually showed his casuist side as well. It's beginning to look like Barrack Obama is not really committed to the changes he promised in his campaign but instead is totally wed to the idea of business as usual even more than the lobbyists he promised to get rid of.
Can we blame him for these survivalist tactics? Not if we go along with the idea that politicians main/only function or purpose is to get elected. Obama has achieved his goal now we just have to wait to see how his "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" strategy will play out.
This is not the way it was supposed to be.

We Thought We Were Making a Difference

It's almost a year since I climbed aboard a bus in Austin and rode for almost 24 hours up to Cleveland to spend a week going house-to-house, head-to-head, asking people to vote as early as possible and for the only candidate worthy of their vote, Barack Obama and then, on Nov. 7, 2008, to sit in the Cadillac Cafe, surrounded by hundreds of other "fired-up" volunteers and some local political figures, to watch our candidate move steadily toward victory. It was a wonderful experience and for the first time since the assassination of JFK, I knew that our political system could work and that all of us had a stake in the political process.

After the long ride back to Austin and a return to "business as usual" the glow of victory and the sense of real accomplishment burned on and we waited for our victorious leader to call us back to arms, to fight the good fight and expand our sphere of influence. We would not accept eight more years of the same old stuff in Washington- the lobbyists and the crooked politicians were going to have to make career change- or so we thought. Now we know. It was all just a dream a "smoke and mirrors" pony show put on by the real leaders who are now ensconced in the White House calling the shots.

The naive, idealistic volunteers have no place in the Obama machine now. We've served our purpose and are now relegated to the landfills with all the rest of society's "disposables". We never sought power or individual recognition, just a chance to "make a difference" and messieurs Axelrod, Emmanuel and the others knew that from the very beginning. We were just "warm bodies", "cannon fodder", in the political struggle and now the real generals are left to plot and execute strategies to expand and strengthen their own political power.

Where does President Obama stand in all of this? Will history see him as another "Bushie", dangling from Cheyney's strings (read Obama dangling and Axelrod/Emmanuel the string pullers)? Or is Barack Obama actually the Ringmaster?

Obama & the Lama (or now we know who our real friends are)

PHAYUL: Dalai Lama meeting with Obama was not planned, says White House | Daily Babel

When I was a boy in New York, we knew that the real men, the kind you could trust, they were "Standup Guys" and all the others were "losers".

Barack Obama is sliding down the slippery slope to loser land at an ever-quickening pace. He bailed out the GM fat cats, threw a big wad of dough at the Wall St. Gang and equivocates like a true-blue Republican on Health Care. Now he decides no to stand-up for the Dalai Lama so the Chinese will "like" him but he'll get no respect from the Beijing crowd. In fact, chances are they'll push him around like a puff-ball the next time there's a meet.
It looks like our President will soon learn that his predecessor, honest Abe, was right.
"You can fool some of the people, some of the time...but you can't fool all of the people all of the time"
And I can't help saying "Barack, you already fooled me once"


C'mon Barack, show us what you've got- before it's too late

From the "Nouvel Obs", June 6, 2009

"Suicide des personnes âgées : les professionnels dénoncent l'indifférence"

(Translation "Mental Health Professionals Denounce Public Indifference to Suicide by Seniors"

Le diagnostic de dépression est difficile à faire chez des sujets âgés (Reuters) Clinical diagnosis of depression is particularly difficult to do with the elderly.

"Les personnes âgées se suicident en moyenne beaucoup plus que le reste de la population, surtout après 85 ans..

10 fois plus que le reste de la population"

The incidence of suicide among Seniors, (especially those over 85) is ten times greater than that of the general poulation. In fact, whereas 17 out of 100,000 persons in the general population commit suicide, 44 out 100,000 people in the 85-94 age bracket successfully terminate their own lives.

Isn't that awful? Or is it? What if suicide wasn't illegal - what would the figures look like then? How many older citizens would prefer a quiet, painless death to the daily routine of chronic pain, suffering, loneliness, ignominy and boredom that is the way it is for so many in their "golden years"? Perhaps it's time we reviewed our legal stautes and attitudes concerning the right to choose our time and method of death. Shouldn't we have the right to decide when life is no longer worth living? When "the game is not worth the candle" (This phrase relates to occupations, games etc. that were thought so lacking in merit that it wasn't worth the expense of a candle to create enough light to partake in them.) The Eskimos used to take grandma or grandpa for a walk in the arctic wilderness when old age had robbed him or her of the "joie de vivre" - we shoot horses don't we?

Not withstanding the recent brouhaha over the "death tribunals" , we must take this matter seriously and there should be public discussion and polite/civil debate on the issue. Oregon has led the way with the first bit of civilised legislation and perhaps soon other states will follow suit so that I can live out my last days in the company of my family. We also will need to develop the technology that quiet, painless transitions and the social services to assist in the process but obviously bearing in mind that a permissive public attitude towards assisted suicide be restricted to older (post 75) citizens who are still capable of rational thought and/or anyone suffering from uncurable, debilitating disease.
"It's time now, folks"

Health Care Reform Myths and Reality

Since the dawn of civilization, men and women have created myths to explain things they couldn't understand. "The rise and setting oof the sun"," What causes the rain?" "How are babies made?", "What happens when we die? etc.
Even now, we create myth when faced with inexplicable events like the assassination of JFK, the death of Elvis, droughts and hurricanes.
Many of us find change, difficult to handle. We don't always welcome it and often do what we can to postpone or prevent it. So it's no surprise that the prospect of fundamental modifications in our health care delivery system has created a climate of stress and discomfort for many.

One of the many myths about the health system that are currently making the rounds of Town Halls, bar rooms and barber shops is the one about "Living Wills" or advance health care directives.

Several years ago, my stepmother was critically injured in a head-on collision. She suffered significant brain damage and remained in a coma, without regaining consciousness, until her death, three months after the accident. After three months in a coma, her attending physician asked me as head of the family, to decide whether my step-mother's life should continue to be sustained via life-prolonging procedures. She had shown no signs of consciousness during the three months in the hospital and the EKG showed no brain activity. I consented to the termination of all life-prolonging procedures and she stopped breathing almost immediately. I arranged for cremation- there was no funeral. I had been close to my stepmother for more than thirty years and I was certain that she would have wanted for things to be handled the way I had decided and when I told my siblings and my stepmother's mother what I had decided and how I had come to the decision they all agreed that it was the right thing to do.

Now we hear many misguided and perhaps ignorant people in Town Halls across America talking about "Death Directives" and "Pulling the plug on Grandma", their words for the Living Will procedures offered in the proposed Health Care Reform Bill.
Living Wills are instruments that every one of us can and should execute to insure that when and if it becomes necessary to decide on matters concerning how we wish to die and how our bodies should be treated after death, it will be our decision and the responsibility not left to a hospital employee, a grief stricken relative or the courts. Only the truly ignorant or liars would call a Living Will a death directive

The Evolutionary Trail to Oblivion

WARNING:
This article is absolutely Politically incorrect.
Creationists and those with over-developed political sensitivity and the squeamish should go somewhere else.

Over the last two centuries or so, Americans have behaved according to the established rules of natural selection.
The captains of high school football teams have pursued and been pursued by Homecoming Queens and they have produced prodigious numbers of fullbacks and pom-pom girls. The end result can be currently observed in Town Halls across the country where the descendants of the first football heroes and cheerleaders are demanding that the "Government keep their hands of my Medicare" and other similarly absurd political nonsense.
Under ordinary conditions, significant changes in evolutionary development would take hundreds of years -usually thousands but thanks to the intensive effort of the footbal heroes and their partners we have evidently created a new sub-species in a few generations. We can now see a dramatic lowering of the IQ's of a growing proportion of the population, whose role models or icons, are creatures like Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and most of the minority party representatives in Congress. Within a few generations, unless a way is found to reverse the current trend, the United States population will be intellectually challenged and most of the unemployed will be permanently unemployable.

Who or what can we identify as the basic causes of this disturbing or rather disastrous situation?
First, our business leaders, the makers and marketers of a wide range of consumer goods, from autos to water pics, Asprin to Xanax have benefitted greatly from the "dumbing down" of consumers who have been trained to accept advertising messages with complete credulity and never question anything said in the mass media and the educational establishment has eagerly cooperated by recruiting and training teachers who, for the most part, are completely innocent of any intellectual curiosity or critical thinking capacity. The need for an expanding volunteer army has also created a need for thousands of young soldiers who will follow the orders of their superiors with zeal and spirit without question and integrate government propaganda into their belief systems-permanently

If Obama Doesn't "Make it Happen"

We're Screwed
Brooks of the NYT wrote today:
"The great paradox of the age is that Barack Obama, the most riveting of recent presidents, is leading us into an era of Congressional dominance. And Congressional governance is a haven for special interest pleading and venal logrolling."

Like a bridge designed by a committee

You can trust the U.S. Congress to make a dog's breakfast out of anything it touches

Born in '34-Donald Duck, The Dalai Lama and I

We were born in the same year. We're all, or soon will be, 75. Which one of us will be remembered 15 or 125 years from now? Totally rhetorical. It's gotta be "Uncle Donald". Among the hundreds of characters turned out by the Disney machine, Donald Duck was one of the very few that I could relate to. His irascibility, even in my childhood was easy to identify with. He understood how terribly daffy, people (like ducks) could be.
Shouldn't the Dalai Lama get top billing over the duckster? Yes, he should but he won't even though the His Holiness is one of the most human beings I know and his compassion and empathy plus his incredible intelligence should put him on top but it's his perfection that eliminates him from the starring role. He's just "too good".

Republican Party's Moral Bankruptcy- Chapter/Section 8

Long ago, when I was a young Marine, some guys were separated from the service because they were unfit for service due to mental disability. It was referred to as a "Section 8 Discharge" Now we have an entire political party showing symptoms of moral and ethical disability. Under the circumstances I think they should file for bankruptcy and total reorganization. Would that be Chapter 8?
The severe strain of dealing with the misrule of one of their own, a 6th generation Republican stalwart, followed by an embarassing defeat in the last elections due in least in part to the nomination of a candidate in advanced state of early senile dementia paired with a VP to be,who though not senile, was and still is, severely demented, and currently, the party's worst "nut cases" leading their caucus.

Let's face it guys it's time for you Republican "leaders" to give up, say uncle and walk away. Let's have a brand new second party, one led by mentally competent individuals who can provide a conservative opposition without the kind o "Lonney Tunes" behavior that we've seen lately.
It worked in Lincoln's time (though he may be spinning in his tomb when he sees the way the "Party of Lincoln" has turned out) Maybe somebody can do it again.

Religion- Opium or Salvation?

Since 2004 I have made four trips from my home in Texas to Southeast Asia. Each had a "spritual" aspect and each one was interesting and rewarding but not the life-changing experience I had envisioned. I studied meditation techniques at a Monastery in northern Thailand and learned to focus my mind quicker and easier. I spent a month in Nepal and learned a great deal about Tibetan Buddhist practice and the Dharma and discovered that not withstanding Gautama Buddha's instructions to the contrary, many apparently intelligent practitioners that I met tended to ascribe divine powers to the Buddha and their teachers and worship them accordingly.

Now, I find myself in India at an international community known as Auroville where the founder insisted in her teachings that anyone, from anywhere in the world, could find the path to wisdom and enlightenment, providing they were willing to leave their religion behind. An idea that I found personally appealing and eminently sensible but discovered that the Aurovillians I have encountered have merely traded their "Old time religion" Christian, Buddhist, Bahai whatever, for the worship of "The Mother" and Sri Aurobindo. Today, I found a four page printout of songs, poems and writings extolling the divine virtues of the founder and her Guru.

The almost completed heart of Auroville is a six story golden spere with the world's largest crystal ball illuminated by a giant "sun tunnel" that is a ostensibly a meditation center (and would serve that purpose very well) is treated by the staff and the Aurovillians as the inner sanctum, the holy of holies.

Recent research on the evolutionary development of the brain would seem to suggest that man could be genetically prewired for religion and a belief in some divine being. Students of religious history wlll also confirm that there is a strong tendency for those associated with any new spiritual movement to try to create a hierarchy and complex dogma around the initially simple and universally admired messages of Great Teachers like Lao tse,Gautama Buddha, Jesus Christ and Mohammed.
Apparently "Great Ideas, like the Sermon on the Mount, the Sutras etc" are not enough unless they are packaged with "mystery", divine inspiration, miracles and other evidence of supernatural, "divine power"

Twitter Your Life Away

Has anyone stopped to wonder why Twitter, Myface, Youtube and similar sites have grown exponentially over the past five years? Obviously, they were created to fill an existing need, the need of the current generation (particularly), and most of those born in the post WWII era,for 'real" connections with other humans via electronic devices for want of any other method.

Mental health practitioners in the first half of the last century were known as "Alienists" and were primarily concerned with helping patients connect to the world around them. So the apparent need has been with us for a very long time and probably has its' roots in the industrial revolution and the ensuing rapid growth of cities.

Since then entrepreneurs in the U.S. and elsewhere have sought to exploit the apparent demand with "quick buck" commercial applications. The end result, however has been to exacerbate the situation. Twittering is no substitute for real,face-to-face contact. Even when I can see your face on "My Face" it still gives me very little information about what you're actually thinking or feeling.

When I was a boy, I would walk miles to avoid using the phone and when someone insisted that I call before visiting, I didn't visit.
Call me a curmudgeon but just like Popeye, ("I y'am what I y'am) and offer no apologies

Annals of Medicine: The Cost Conundrum: newyorker.com

Sub-prime on Wall St. and "sub-ethical" in the valley. Texas leads the wrong way again.
Annals of Medicine: The Cost Conundrum: newyorker.com

Shared via AddThis

Naomi Klein: Vote Out Larry Summers

Naomi Klein: Vote Out Larry Summers

The Beginning of the End and it too Will Pass

The governor of "The Great State of Texas" told his audience of dedicated "Teabaggers" that if the federal government didn't get straightened out and stop trying to get the super-rich to pay their fair share of income taxes, Texas just might secede from the Union. Deja vue all over again. Last time it was about slavery and now it's proportional income tax. Better get out your Confederate money boys- the South's about to rise again. Or is Perry just whistling Dixie? Just for his sake I hope he is because sedition is a federal offense.

A Comment on the Crisis

Ali A. Rizvi: Religious Fundamentalism Spreads... Beyond Islam

Ali A. Rizvi: Religious Fundamentalism Spreads... Beyond Islam: "I learned about the 'Anti-Christ' from priests who could have been the current Pope's uncles.
They taught us to look carefully under the bed for the devil every night before going to bed and that just thinking about sex was a mortal sin. Now, the new Anti-Christ, aka 'Benedictus PP. XVI' has taken the Catholic Church and its doctrines to a new low- relegating the Holocaust- denying Cardinal to the shadows.
Bennedino's current insanity shows just how absolutely ruthless 'Holy Mother Church' can be when it comes to 'propagating the faith'
It reminds me of something the judge said when she pronounced verdict on O.J. Simpson in his trial for armed robbery. She told Simpson and everyone in the courtroom that, when she began the trial, she wondered whether Simpson was arrogant or stupid when he committed his crimes but after hearing all the testimony and evidence, she realized that he was both: 'arrogant and stupid'. I think we could say the same about 'Benedictus PP. XVI'"

TODAY IN THE HUNTINGTON POSTAli A. Rizvi: Religious Fundamentalism Spreads... Beyond Islam

In the same week that Hindu fundamentalists obliterated plans to build a Charlie Chaplin statue, on the grounds that Chaplin was a Christian who made no contribution to India, video clips of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Varun Gandhi surfaced online, showing him glorifyingly speaking of "cutting the throats" of Muslims, and mocking their "scary" names.

Meanwhile, the Hindu nationalist group Sri Ram Sena vowed to continue its attacks on women drinking in bars and couples courting in public -- expanding their target population to include female British tourists in the city of Goa.

In the Varun Gandhi videos, Hindu extremist groups like the Taliban-inspired anti-statue, anti-woman Sri Ram Sena may feel as if they've found a high-profile voice: Varun is the grandson of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and the great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, a declared secularist and atheist who couldn't have been more removed from his descendant's crazed religion-fueled nationalist diatribes.

It isn't just the Hindus. Mere days after ending the controversy over his lifting of the excommunication of Holocaust denier and 9/11 conspiracy theorist Bishop Richard Williamson, Pope Benedict XVI decided to elaborate further on his view that abstinence works 100% of the time as a birth control method (right, ask The Virgin Mary how well that worked for her) by declaring that the use of condoms aggravates the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Now, the Pope has publicly pulled several other Ahmedinejads in the past. He has written that homosexuality is an "intrinsic moral evil" and an "objective disorder." He has also claimed that non-Catholics are in a "gravely deficient situation," without the "fullness of the means of salvation." Most recently, the Vatican declared its support for the Brazilian Church's decision to excommunicate of a group of doctors who performed an abortion on a 9-year old girl -- pregnant with twins -- as a result of being raped by her stepfather.

The Pope's homophobia and bigoted statements about non-Catholics who don't necessarily think Jesus is their savior aren't all that different from Varun Gandhi's Muslim-bashing -- which, in turn, isn't all that different from the sentiments that fuel the ideology of the Taliban. There are millions of people in the world who think that way.

However, these two examples are unique: one of these men is the most significant spiritual and religious leader in the world, and the other belongs to a family that gave the world's largest democracy three of its most legendary prime ministers, including its first.

So, is Talibanization going mainstream? To religions beyond Islam?

Well, we know that the Catholic authorities aren't throwing acid on teenage girls' faces like the Taliban do. That, actually, is something that Jerusalem's Jewish Haredi Modesty Patrol did to a 14 year old girl last year. Her crime? Wearing pants. In the same week as the Pope's condom controversy and Varun's inflammatory videos made news, a member of the Modesty Patrol was sentenced to four years in prison in a separate incident -- a sexual gang assault on a divorced woman.

Although it's tempting to dismiss these incidents as aberrations, religious extremism and bigotry do seem to be going mainstream in Israel. On the same day that the Modesty Patrol mercenary was sentenced, news broke that Avigdor Lieberman, the right-wing hardliner whose Israel Beiteinu party had a strong showing in Israel's recent elections, is in consideration as Israel's next foreign minister.

Lieberman is a man who has, among other things, openly advocated the expulsion of Israeli Arabs from the Promised Land, and offered to provide buses to transport Palestinian prisoners to the Dead Sea, where he has recommended drowning them.

More disturbingly, Lieberman suggested in 2006 that Israel should conduct itself in Gaza like Russia did in Chechnya, that is, without any concern for civilian deaths. This moves the issue beyond the realm of aberrant extremist ideology, not only because Lieberman is now a prominent leader in the Knesset possibly destined to become Israel's foreign minister, but because his suggestion was put into practice in a significant way during Israel's recent offensive in Gaza.

In last week's investigation into the Israel-Gaza conflict, IDF soldiers talked about how they were encouraged to kill Palestinian civilians. They also described how the assault was framed as a religious war by military rabbis, who distributed literature to the troops saying among other things that this was a holy war, that "we came to this land by a miracle, God brought us back to this land" and that they needed to "fight to expel the Gentiles who are interfering with our conquest of this holy land." Somehow, Israeli authorities appear to be drawing inspiration -- like Hamas -- from the likes of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Taliban.

Meantime, the Adiv fabric-printing shop in south Tel Aviv sold hundreds of T-shirts, caps, and other items of clothing custom-made for Israel soldiers, featuring pictures of dead children and bombed mosques. Included was one of a dead baby clutching his teddy bear, his mother weeping at his side, bearing the inscription, "Better Use Durex."

In Canada, a different aspect of religious fundamentalism surfaced last week, when Federal Science and Technology Minister Gary Goodyear, a central figure in the controversy over the science funding crunch in the country, was asked whether he believed in evolution. He refused to answer. "I'm not going to answer that question," he said. "I am a Christian, and I don't think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate." The Pope, I'm guessing, would have been a little more unequivocal in his response.

These events, most of which occurred in the span of one week, are reflective of a dangerous resurgence of religious fundamentalism in non-Islamic countries. The most perplexing part of it is that it isn't just limited to a few seemingly random incidents fueled by fringe extremist groups. The characters in these stories -- the Pope, a member of India's Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, a powerful Knesset leader, and a Canadian federal minister -- are influential, mainstream figures whose ideas and decisions impact the lives of billions of people every day...

• Palestinian Territories
• The Pope
• Religion
• Christianity
• Israel

In the same week that Hindu fundamentalists obliterated plans to build a Charlie Chaplin statue, on the grounds that Chaplin was a Christian who made no contribution to India, video clips of Bharatiya...

In the same week that Hindu fundamentalists obliterated plans to build a Charlie Chaplin statue, on the grounds that Chaplin was a Christian who made no contribution to India, video clips of Bharatiya...

Investor's Business Daily: Indexes Sink Deeper In Late Trading

Investor's Business Daily: Indexes Sink Deeper In Late Trading

It looks like Obama's statement about punishment for the people responsible for the current economic crisis will be punished for their greed and irresponsibility has been answered by a 5% drop at the NYSE.
It looks like the Traders are going to go down fighting.