“Books are like seeds. They can lie dormant for centuries and then flower in the most unpromising soil.” (Carl Sagan); “Nothing ever dies on the Internet.” (anon.); “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” (Madison Ave. [m]adman). My posts amalgamate these three philosophical elements into one novel experience; they champion critical thinking, human dignity / equality, levelheaded / even-handed / liberty-based governance and solid environmental stewardship. C’mon in!
Most people profess their love for God and country. We’ve seen a lot of these sentiments serve as window dressing to bogusly spruce up one particular 2016 presidential candidate’s campaign rallies (need I even name him?). That said, does everybody actually understand how deep spirituality and patriotism need to go?
To better illustrate this, either actually run this “experiment” or just imagine doing so. First write whatever symbols represent your religion on a sheet of paper. Not to worry… even atheism has its own “logo” and I truly believe folks can still feel love and behave in a spiritual manner even without a Supreme Being entering the picture. Next, draw an image of your nation’s flag.
No need to be concerned if your calligraphy and artistry are just so-so. Of primary importance here is to, first, observe the height and width of everything you’ve written and drawn and, next, view the paper edge on.
If you’ve detected spirituality and patriotism as being only paper-thin, you’ve drawn the right conclusion. Indeed, a more significant third dimension is found only within our minds and hearts.
To add such depth, one must feel respect for humanity… regardless of people’s age, nationality, ethnicity, spirituality, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical disability and psychological disorder.
We must NEVER worship the almighty (paper-thin) buck… NEVER disrespect Mother Nature… NEVER accept torture, homicide, gun violence, WMD and war.
We must fully realize that, in our world of plenty, no one need ever waste away from nutritional and intellectual starvation. Once stomachs and minds are fed, all industrious individuals should be allowed to freely draw upon their innate talents, become gainfully employed, be granted unencumbered passage on the path to self-sufficiency and prosperity.
Love of God and country have never actually gone away… spirituality and patriotism have just been reduced to paper-thin, barebones symbols and imagery.
The only remaining question…
Is it too late for such a society to self-correct? Your thoughts?
Throughout the primary phase of America’s presidential election year, some voters had become so blinded by Donald Trump’s “DC outsider image” they chose to overlook his severely flawed personality and grotesque ideology. Even worse were the other voters, who actually got turned on by those exact, same, deplorable shortcomings.
Consequently, America is now stuck with a xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic, narcissistic, pornographic, animalistic, psychotic, undiplomatic, un-presidential candidate… a raving, raging tyrant, who says he’ll ONLY accept the Election Day results if the vote tallies indicate he’s the winner.
And worse yet… some of his more militant supporters might even go on a take no prisoners rampage if he doesn’t win.
Reality Check: Donald would’ve still been in the race had Billy Bush’s Access Hollywood video not gone viral. We have the media to thank for derailing Trump’s crazy train.
As for the future, we must ensure no one, such as Trump, ever gets that close to becoming president again. That same sentiment should also apply to any other federal, state and local government office seekers.
Let’s be practical. Anytime anyone anywhere says to us, “Vote for me”, that person becomes a job applicant. We, who vote, become their prospective bosses. As such, we should vet each candidate the very same way fast-food restaurant and retail managers vet applicants.
Let’s insist that all of our political candidates submit to psychological evaluations and physical exams (inclusive of pee in the cup drug tests). Paying visits to their social media sites ISO telltale tweets, comments, blogs and photos would not be a bad idea, either. Other useful tools would include handwriting analysis, voice stress analyzers, polygraph machines and criminal background checks.
Let’s not mince words… until we implement such a stringent vetting process, we’d actually be far safer entrusting America’s nuclear launch codes to a burger flipper.
Donald Trump’s un-presidential campaign has been so depressing I wound up going offline for four days. While I’ve since returned to blog about the third Clinton-Trump debate… the best I can say is…
The Good News… there’ll be no fourth debate!
The Bad News… Trump depressed me… AGAIN!
But… rather than retreating offline… AGAIN… I read Shefali’s blog titled:
“BharataNatyam – Classical Indian Dance”
…where she relates how, at an early age, her mother taught her the fancy choreography. Since Shefali, sharing a portion of her life’s story, helped cheer me up… and could help you, too… Follow This Link!
Donald Trump can differentiate between the political right and left, YET, cannot distinguish between right and wrong.
Since he’s still nose blind to the stench of his dead wrong misogyny he’s offensive to all enlightened women and men.
Case in point… during the third presidential debate, Trump couldn’t resist interrupting, maligning, and mischaracterizing Hillary Clinton with his totally nonsensical non sequitur…
“Such a nasty woman.”
Indisputably, Trump lied when (earlier in this debate) he claimed…
“Nobody has more respect for women than me. Nobody.”
If Donald Trump’s debating goal was to become even more reviled and unelectable… MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
During the final 2016 Presidential Debate, moderator Chris Wallace asked Donald Trump… for the sake of national unity and out of respect for the orderly transition of power… would he’d graciously concede in the event Hillary Clinton emerged victorious.
Trump replied:
“I’ll tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense, okay?”
While such evasiveness does arouse suspense… all worrisome… there’s no uncertainty within misogynist Trump’s “mind”.
He’d NEVER accept a woman defeating him.
Could Trump not conceding trigger rage amongst his more militant supporters… send these armed subversives on a rampage all across America?
Virginia’s Daniel Parks and his buddy, recently demonstrated their undying man crush for Donald Trump and hatred for a woman, Hillary Clinton… by parking their pick-up in front of the campaign HQ of Jane Dittmar (Democratic nominee for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District). For 12 freakin’ hours both ARMED stalkers then strutted around outside… menacingly and creepily glowering at the workers inside.
Parks claimed, “We’re not a threat to anybody, the only threat is ignorance, and ignorance breeds fear.”
Nonetheless, Dittmar volunteers did feel threatened.
To not view his thinly veiled hostility as threatening, Parks is either a sociopath or ignoramus.
During my high school senior year, my History instructor, Mr. S, would expand his lesson plans, each Friday, to include history in the making. He didn’t merely lecture us about current events… he actually inspired the entire class to participate in lively discussions.
One Friday, the situation got a whole lot livelier than expected.
While discussing our State Board of Education’s plan to utilize cross-district busing to racially integrate Michigan’s public schools, Mr. S asked if any of us could think of better alternatives, which would achieve the same, beneficial results.
I raised my hand and said…
“We’d never need to bus anyone if we could racially integrate our neighborhoods.”
In a split second, one of my classmates, “Greg”, in a near apoplectic fit, leaped out of his chair to bellow at the top of his lungs, “NO!”
Only gravity had prevented him from hitting the ceiling. Only the vacuum outside Earth’s atmosphere prevented the shock-waves of his shouted objection from reverberating throughout our entire limitless universe. Only the racist crap between his ears hindered his comprehension of my logical alternative.
Mr. S had to spend several minutes trying to talk that kid down… repeatedly reminding him we were only having a discussion.
To this very day, Greg’s “NO” still haunts and saddens me. In all likelihood, he had been served up countless heaping helpings of bigotry right at his own family’s dining room table… perhaps immediately after they had (hypocritically) said grace.
While my idea, that long ago Friday, had (still has) merit, regrettably, it only was a discussion. Unfortunately… two score and five years later… too many people within America and all over our world still have bad attitude problems to overcome before they can finally, fully embrace our ethnic and religious diversity and, ultimately, do their part to unite humanity.
Case in point… I recently read about a Tennessee mother, Michelle Edmisten, who is outraged about Social Studies lessons being taught in the public school, which her seventh grade daughter attends… lessons which discuss the religions of our world… inclusive of Islam.
This mother is worried that her girl’s “personal religious beliefs were violated”… so much so that she flat-out refused to let her daughter attend these classes and preferred to see her report card filled in with zeroes. Said Edmisten…
“Those are zeroes that we proudly took and we will not compromise. It is time as parents, teachers and administrators we stand up and take back our families, our schools and our country.”
Normally I’d demand we maintain our U.S. Constitution’s stipulated separation of church and state, but it’s not like Tennessee teachers have morphed into preachers. These educators are NOT proselytizing… they’re merely raising awareness about religious diversity in America and our world. How could any of that be harmful?
The National Council for the Social Studies weighed in thusly…
Knowledge about religions is not only a characteristic of an educated person but is necessary for effective and engaged citizenship in a diverse nation and world. Religious literacy dispels stereotypes, promotes cross-cultural understanding and encourages respect for the rights of others to religious liberty.”
To that I say, “AMEN!”
To survive in a post 9/11 world… all of us… inclusive of today’s kids (who are tomorrow’s leaders)… MUST be informed… MUST learn how to peacefully coexist… MUST learn that there’s no need to fear Islam in its pure form… MUST learn that the only actual danger associated with Islam involves al Qaeda and ISIS entities, who’ve hijacked and mutilated their faith to “rationalize” their deadly terrorist attacks.
Edmisten fails to realize that her crusade to ban her daughter’s textbook is tantamount to denying her own daughter and her classmates the well rounded education they deserve. Ironically, this needlessly concerned mom has put herself in the same league as the very Taliban fanatics she fears.
Indeed, both Edmisten and the Taliban’s crusade is all about maintaining ignorance.
While Muslim hater Donald Trump and his likeminded devotees would say “YES” to Michelle Edmisten’s Islamophobia and book banning plot, clearheaded people must counter any and all attempts to dumb down our society. In this particular case, it is not wrong to yell out, “NO!”
Billy Bush has released a statement regarding the 2005 conversation where he laughed uncontrollably while Donald Trump vulgarly and lewdly boasted about forcibly groping and kissing women.
“Obviously I’m embarrassed and ashamed. It’s no excuse, but this happened 11 years ago. I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly in playing along. I’m very sorry.”
Back in 1966, as a 12-year-old adolescent, I harbored a far greater respect for women and level of self-control.
By comparison…
Back in 2005, Donald Trump and Billy Bush were, respectively, 59 and 33…
Empathy barren Donald Trump incessantly, insensitively throws misogyny driven tantrums to lambaste Hillary Clinton because… long ago… she had wrongfully criticized her husband’s ex-mistresses.
Let’s not forget that Bill had lied, convincingly, to deny his extramarital affairs… misinformed his wife that these women were politically motivated liars.
Since Hillary knew Democrat obstructing Republicans are notorious for flat-out lying, it’s fully understandable how she’d erroneously deem Bill’s claim truthful and, consequently, defend him.
Witnessing Trump battering Hillary… exploiting her lingering emotional pain for political gain… proves he’s heartless and soulless… demonstrates what an incendiary, inhumane president Donald Trump would be.
CommonSenseTom 