Child Support

Child support is one of those things that is just as complicated or even more complicated than an actual divorce, primarily because child support can be something that is somewhat unexpected, as in it was not a planned event, which will still carry with it long-term lasting repercussions for all parties involved, including the primary responsibility of taking care of the child itself.  For instance, if you are married for five years, and get divorced, it is reasonable to expect that any alimony payments would terminate at or around five years, and unreasonable to believe that they would extend for eighteen years, whereas for child support it is common or typical that the non-custodial parent will be responsible for a certain financial portion of that child's upbringing until that child becomes legally an adult at 18, or the completion of high school by age 19, whichever is later.  Additionally, in cases to which the partners are not married, there is no spousal support at all, with each party essentially retaining their own personal property and making arrangements to divide fairly communal property.  However, in regards to child support, the relationship between the parents can range in intimacy from as little as a one-night stand, to having a relationship briefly, to living together, to being married, with the entire attendant nuances of relationships in-between these basic categories applicable too.

While each of the fifty states has their own set of basic rules in regards to child support, the general principles are essentially the same, which is that the child requires a certain degree of financial amount of support each year, which is formulated based on the parents' respective incomes minus other considerations as established by each state, with the judge having discretion to award more or less depending upon particular circumstances.  While it certainly isn't mandatory to go to court to establish or to receive child support, if both parties agree to something that is equitable, in many cases one of the parents does go to court, and thereafter the court's decision will be binding by law.

The courtroom decision in regards to child support is something that has long-term lasting ramifications that are not easily amended, and consequences that may not be pleasant for those that are unable or unwilling to adhere to the court's ruling, consequently it behooves those that are involved in child support cases to spend the money upfront to obtain a competent family attorney before the initial groundwork is laid in regards to the child support setup and payments.   The most responsible way to look at a court's decision is to recognize that in most cases the court has made an impregnable decision that you are legally obligated to adhere to, whether your lifestyle, your livelihood, or your circumstances change for the better or for the worse, so that if you lose your job, become shiftless or worse, this will not mitigate against the court taking all responsible actions that they deem fit to compel or to punish you for your failure to make or adhere to your child support obligations.

Child support is a part of family law, to which the courts try to provide a fair and equitable solution that is reasonable for all the parties involved, taking into account that one of the parties, the child, should not be a victim or a casualty of the vicissitudes of a failed adult relationship.  It is also a reminder that adults have both a legal as well as a moral obligation to take care of their own offspring, and to a certain meaningful extent, to put their child's welfare ahead of their own.

Are government contracts fair and efficient?

There are many businesses that count on and need government contracts to maintain or to thrive as a business, to which government contracts obtained may be city-issued, county-issued, state-issued, or federal government-issued.  The nice thing from their perspective about said contracts is that the government’s ability to pay is extremely reliable and almost a certainty in nearly all cases.  Having a value client that is known to pay their bills is always a high desirability, made even more valuable by the fact that government contracts can be suited, in some cases, almost exclusively to a given vendor.

The structure of government contracts varies from fixed price, to cost plus fixed fee, to time-and-materials, to a truly negotiated contract with a multitude of contractors that are eligible to bid on said contract.   Government contracts can also be set up in such a way that only one possible vendor can win, simply from the basis of the Statement of Work, or also through nefarious avenues that eliminate any other potential rivals.  In situations to which the government contract is essentially sole-business set aside, there are massive opportunities for corruption on both sides of the table, and it is human nature to expect such shenanigans to happen.

The best government contracts have a clear Statement of Work, that allows for more than one vendor to quote upon the nature of the work, with a given transparency to the public so as to show the winning bid and the justification behind the winning bid, if, for instance, the contract is awarded to a vendor that has a higher price or for some other reason that justifies some explanatory words.  It is also clear, that the more transparency that is provided to the public or to its constituents that are knowledgeable about the nature of the work, or to the press in general, the better the chances are that the contract being issued is, in fact, fair.  The corollary to this is also true, in circumstances to which information about a given contract is obscure, designated as a "secret" for security reasons, or the like, you can rest assured, that the taxpayer, in general, is getting a raw deal.

I am always amused when I am driving around town and see some road sign to the effect that the work being done is an example of "my tax dollars at work".  As a taxpayer, you do not want to take these things on faith, instead you want to believe that the "invisible hand" of the marketplace is doing its efficient job, but that can only occur in a truly open and competitive marketplace.  Unfortunately, it is often up to the public to monitor and watch their public servants, because too often, these servants of the State, far from having an abiding interest in doing the right thing for their constituents, find it more to their liking to work hand-in-glove with corporations and contractors in such a way, that the benefits accrue to them while on the job, in addition to setting the table for future consultation or employment with these entities when they retire from public service.

My experience is that when dealing with other people's money, or other people's property, your interests are not going to be aligned the same way as they would be as if the money was your own, consequently openness, knowledge, experience, and transparency are the only hope of achieving some degree of fairness and efficiency.

Your Soul Survives

"Your Soul survives". These three words should mean the world to every man and every woman on God's good earth.  You are eternal, you will never die, and you will never be vanquished, destroyed, forgotten, or abandoned.  Your soul, the true you, is eternal, created by God, out of God, and is you. There was never a time when your soul did not exist, nor there ever a time when it ceases to exist.   Your soul is changeless, yet through its experiences it may take on many forms, much like water filling the vessel that it is poured into, or water changing in its constitution for a time as it becomes ice, liquid, or vapor.

Although too often mankind believes that its battles are of this earth, for this earth, in defense of their property, or their family, their life-body and their country, while actually battles on earth are solely based around your soul and its battle to return to its First Essence, anything that is accomplished here on earth that is gainful of that objective is a step taken forward which brings you closer to the throne of God.  In Matthew "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"  God Himself can build a hundred million worlds, all is in His power, and consequently our earth merely represents a proving ground, an opportunity and a test; nothing more, and nothing less.

Every time that you look into the mirror and truly believe that your physical body is all that ever was, and that is all that ever will be, you are living in an illusion, a mirage, a chimerical existence, debasing yourself in the false belief that from dust you were first created and to dust you will return.  That is only true for the physical form which cannot escape its physical destiny which is to return to its first essence, no matter how valiant a stand that you or others make, it is an universal law, that your physical form will disintegrate, decay, and suffer entropy over time, despite all that you do to extend it beyond time, your efforts will ultimately be futile, as time is your physical master and never your servant.

Great prophets come to this earth, incarnate for a purpose, which is to essentially teach or to remind all of us of the same lessons, the same instructions, again and again.  That master lesson meant for our salvation is that we are all One, one brotherhood, one God, one essence, and that all we seek for so diligently, that eternal happiness that we long for, the liberty that we are willing to die for to obtain, is contained in our Creator, He is that beacon of light, He is that hope, He is the alpha and the omega.

Governments may take our physical life, man may do the same, our health may fail us, accidents will occur, age will eviscerate us, bad things will happen, but through it all, forever, one law will never change, one law will never be superseded, one law no man nor principality can conquer, and that is our soul, which is us, our soul which is indestructible, everlasting, remains our true essence.  Remember well, these words, when the bell tolls for thee, in a twinkling of an eye, upon physical death you will break through the bonds of your physical encasement to recognize that your soul survives.

The Unending Length of our Modern-Day IRS Tax Code

I am not aware of any taxpayer that has actually read the entire tax code, nor do I suspect has anyone done so that is employed by the Internal Revenue Service, although I concede it might be possible.  However, simply reading nearly 4,000,000 words is not the same as comprehending the impact and the immense permutations of said words. By definition, our tax code should not be greater in length than the entire Bible, which comes in at just over 800,000 words and is arguably the greatest story ever told.  The IRS tax code, on the other hand, is something that is an amalgamation and an abomination made up of inputs from bureaucrats, lobbyists, busybodies, politicians, lawyers, malicious individuals, and just plain fools.

Anytime you come across something that is purposely complicated, filled with double-speak, in addition to endless loops and loopholes, you must seriously suspect that there is an overriding reason for such garbage in the first place.  That reason is as follows, which is that our tax code is meant to ensnare the unsuspecting, the unconnected, the average American, while on the other hand it serves the purpose to liberate particular corporate industries, certain protected individuals, and those that are masters of influence and manipulation. 

When a code is so complicated that the people that have to enact the law, don't really understand it, this is all that is needed for sophisticated lawyers and accountants to either create exceptions for their solicited clients to take advantage of, or to cast doubt as to the validity of a certain tax code in comparison to another tax code which negates it or contradicts it.  The long and short of it is the suckers pay their taxes in full, while the real players of this country do not.

Not only is the tax code long and convoluted, the tax code itself is never stagnant, and instead it is always changing, mutating, and being re-interpreted.  This is great for those experts in sleight-of-hand that are able to modify or amend certain portions of the code for their benefit, without the purveyors of the tax code itself, really understanding what they have just done or enacted. 

The bottom line is, our tax code doesn't need to be nearly 4,000,000 words, and it doesn't need to be played with, toyed with, twisted, turned, or tossed around.  Our tax code, instead, should be straightforward and to the point.  However, there is one significant problem to the simplifying of our tax code; the vested interests of our land would never permit it.  This essentially means that there will be no relief for the common man now or in the near future from the tax mess that must be dealt with on a continuous basis.  While some may argue that the tax code is fair to our Constitutional principles, because it is our tax code, issued by our government and approved, or at a minimum accepted by the people,  the truth is far, far different.  The truth is that our tax code is not uniformly applied in a consistent and democratic manner, but instead it is a code that favors some and bludgeons many.

The middleman bureaucracy and our Welfare State

America is a country that has morphed over the years to which it has embraced the "New Deal" and "the Great Society", to which it believes wholeheartedly by its actions in the merit of the welfare state and therefore in the re-distribution of income.  For all practical purposes, assets cannot be created out of thin air; they must come instead from the productivity and output of the people of the United States.  Consequently, America has made it their policy to provide social welfare to those indigent poor that are in need of or require subsidized assistance for services such as food, shelter, and healthcare.  These programs are ultimately funded by the taxpayers of America.

America is a wealthy nation, but wealth is not something that grows on trees, it requires effort, right thinking, and perseverance.  Additionally, America is considered to be a generous nation in regards to its charitable donations, its volunteers, and its concern for its own citizens as well as the denizens of the world.  Therefore, in principle, most Americans do not have an issue about helping their fellow man that is down on their luck, unhealthy, unemployed through no lack of effort, and so forth.  When it comes to the actual welfare state in action, however, many Americans, have concerns about its efficiency, its effectiveness, its purpose, its bureaucracy, its corruptness, its desirability, its needs basis, and its overall long-term plan.

Let's face it, the most effective donation, the most effective transfer of aid, is the direct transfer of cash from one person to another.  That is to say, when you come across someone begging on the streets of America, and you hand over to that person $5, you know for a certainty, that $5 was handed directly to that individual, so as to use it as he best sees fit.  You may not know this person, but there are millions upon millions of people on welfare that you do not know either.  You may not know this person's true needs, but again that is true too of millions of people currently on welfare.  The recipient of the money that you have donated may not use this money wisely, that also is true, but at least he now has the opportunity to do so.

There are great charitable organizations that have very low administrative costs, meaning in these particular charities that over 90% of the monies collected are actually utilized on the programs and services that they are meant to perform, and less than 5% is spent on administrative expenses.  There are also various new ways of providing charitable aid, such as is done with "Give Directly", which as it name does imply, donates the cash directly onto the recipient's cell phone to be utilized at their discretion.  Then there is our present welfare state, with our myriad programs, rules, bureaucrats, sycophants, and the like, that places their heavy thumb onto the scale of welfare, cheating both the recipient and the giver. 

Our welfare state should be far simpler, far more local, and far easier to administer.  The bureaucrats should be reduced to an absolute minimum, and the recipients of said welfare should receive far more aid in the form of cash or cash equivalent to be utilized as they best see fit.  The objective should be to cut out the middleman and instead to allow the aid to get directly to those that are most in need of it.  The tools to effect this change are already with us, our government has issued each American their own Social Security #, each state has its own Driver's License #.  The Internet is intuitive and powerful, so are today's smart phones.  Through these tools, transfers of aid would be far more seamless than they are performed today, making it more akin to a  banking-like transfer, simpler to process and simpler to use.

No Country for Men of Integrity

When you look at America today, do you say to yourself, honestly, that this is still a country of the utmost integrity, from the chambers of the judges who decide or rule on law, to the legislatures that create and pass law, and finally to our executive rooms that negotiate treaties with other countries, in maintaining the defense and standards of our country.    If you look carefully around today, this appears to be a country that is in a moral freefall, that if it still leads by example, the example is often poor, that if it still leads by action, the action is either self-serving or misapplied or misused.  There appears to be no great leaders in America today, few men of integrity, of which nobody is actively willing to risk it all, in order to stand on a principle or principles that must indeed be stood upon.

It has not always been this way in the United States, to which our finest moments, and our finest people probably existed at the time of our declaration of our independence, although arguably many fine men stood tall during our civil war, but since that time, too often it appears to be a country disintegrating into a disgrace to the very foundations that it once stood for because far too many people, especially those of power and influence, have absolutely no integrity.

For instance, what sort of demon inside someone encourages you in the belief and later in the enactment that you need to take performance-enabled drugs in order to excel in the sport of your choice, to which perhaps you justify this decision from a competitive standpoint, from a "everyone else is doing it standpoint", to a feeling that you can "game the system," to convincing yourself with the self-justification, that it really isn't cheating when you really are quite aware that your rationalization is pure bunk.  We need only look at the powers-to-be at the very pinnacle of corporations or legislative bodies that do everything in their power to bend the law to fit their needs, to game the system to protect their own, while simultaneously closing the door on all outsiders, to the quid pro quo of trading this for that, without taking into real consideration the public or the stockholders that they serve or are paid to protect.  It is, I submit, an abomination, and we wonder why the morals of our country are unraveling at such a dizzying pace, when our very corruption begins at the very top.

Today we lack men like Washington who serenely walked away from the ultimate seat of power because inspired by Cincinnatus of old, he gave back his Great War powers and his supreme Executive position to the people, to the republic, representing himself all the time as a true servant of our country. We also no longer have men like Henry Ford, who made it a point that the automobile was meant for the people, and not just for the rich, and thereby through his innovations in assembly, cost, productivity, and labor fairness, brought forth reliable transportation that was affordable by all.  Instead, we are left with men like the self-aggrandizing Kozlowski, misappropriating corporate funds as he treated Tyco as his own little private domain to be looted as he saw fit.  As for our so-called political leaders today, none of these men, could possibly hold a candle to Washington, they are instead mere puppets, that dance to the tune of multi-national corporations and the military-industrial complex, never straying outside the boundaries of their puppet-masters' commands.

Majority Rules (the Tyranny of the Majority)

How many times have you heard in one way or another, the "majority rules"?  The statement that the majority rules is not especially profound, since a larger number is always greater than a lesser number and a majority is by definition the larger number.  I suppose in politics there may be some debate as to whether it is even that the majority rules, since in some contests a plurality is good enough to win the election, but the basic concept remains the same.  Additionally, offhand and on the surface, it appears fair in most situations that a majority should rule, since it often doesn't make any sense that the minority should win, when it has lost in the number of votes or in the public arena.

The problem with the majority ruling is that this concept must take into account, that there is an absolute arbiter of law and morals that supersedes the majority, or even the minority, and that is our natural rights, our inalienable rights, given to us by God.  That is to say, that if a particular community should simply vote that it is okay to lynch certain peoples within their community and consequently enact a law that validates this position, this law is inherently a violation of that particular individual's right to life and liberty which supersede the State's power to take away this inalienable right from the individual.

It is critical for all Americans to recognize, that the power of the State, comes from the consent of the governed, and furthermore that under no circumstances should the State ever be allowed or permitted to take away the basic human rights that each of us are born with, and consequently that some things within a given nation are not subject to the rules of the majority and never will be.

Furthermore, I am not necessarily a supporter of the "winner take all" format of American politics, to which a particular candidate or position may be the desire of the majority, but when the result is especially close, it leads to the conclusion that when 50.1% of the population supports one thing, that the other 49.9% don't deserve a say at all.  That hardly seems fair as the 49.9% do deserve to have a voice at the table, irrespective as to whether they "won" the contest or not.

The other aspect of majority rules that is highly disturbing is that a majority run amuck is a majority that will do significant damage to its own population and will effectively be acting as its own totalitarian State.  The concept of the majority ruling can easily morph into a mob ruling the country without any concerns or compassion for those that are its dissenters.  In fact, the tyranny of the majority actually encourages the majority to treat the losers in such a way as to neutralize or to marginalize them even more, so that the majority's power can aggrandize to their own benefit.

While the majority ruling has its place in our democratic State, under certain circumscribed situations, it must also be diligently monitored to verify that it is not infringing upon the natural rights granted to us by our Creator.

Climate Change Hysteria

To doubt, to reason, to think, to ponder, are all part and parcel of being a responsible human being.  Just because an authority, or authorities, or those that resemble authority say something or state something, does not make it a certainty, nor does it make it true.  When someone states that everybody does something, that everybody believes in something, that everybody knows about this something, you can rest assured that there is a hidden agenda involved and often that their reasoning and argument are weak, consequently in order to sell the illusion of their strength, they want you to question as to how you, one person, one individual, can possibly have the gall or the courage to stand up against everyone else!

When there is a massive and well thought out coordination between media, news reports, scientists, politicians, countries, social media, certain embedded corporate interests, you have an obligation to look behind the curtain and ask questions such as: who benefits and who is hurt from this hysteria, why are we being told this information ad nauseam, and what behavior or response are they expecting from us.  Unfortunately, the great desire of far too many governments is for the bulk of its population to question nothing and to simply obey, made far easier if the bill of goods is both well packaged, professionally done, and plays well to the gathering crowd. 

According to clinton5.nara.gov/Initiatives/Climate/last100.html : "Over the last century, the average surface temperature of the Earth has increased by about 1.0o F" and that "Global mean sea level has risen 4 to 10 inches over the last 100 years."  Neither of these facts appears especially alarming, to which you can certainly argue the positives of having a slightly longer growing season for agriculture, while also making the common sense observation that the reducing of populations around low-lying lands and/or augmenting flood controls for lands that are surrounded by sea would definitely be prudent. 

However, like a slowly developing plot on TV, that isn't nearly good enough for those that are drumming up the hysteria of climate change which stipulates that climate change is primarily manmade and therefore can be reversed through a concentrated and sustained global effort, with greenhouse emissions caused by carbon dioxide and fossil fuels often being cited as the main villains.  As humans, we breathe in oxygen and expel out carbon dioxide, which fits in nicely with the true desire of the climate change enthusiasts which is a reduction of the human population, in order to save the planet!  Further to their cause is to change how energy is derived from this planet, with a de-emphasis, the phasing out, or the elimination of all fossil fuels, being replaced instead by the government-sponsored favored "renewal" resources. 

To accomplish these goals will take a massive coordination of populations at large, scientists, contractors, laws, and governments working together in a vigorous manner that will accept no quarter for dissenters.  Additionally, there must also be a reinvigorated and re-energized eugenics movement to eliminate or annihilate population components that are not to be part of this new world vision, this new world order.  This brave new world will consist only of those that follow in lockstep with the propaganda that is disseminated from our one world government, borders and countries will be a thing of the past because climate recognizes no border; and God is dead, welcome to land of your own making, welcome to hell.

Changing the Audio on your Sports Broadcasts

The thing about watching sports is that most people aren't watching sporting events for the sheer poetry or action of the particular sport in play, but instead find that they prefer to root for one team or possibly root against another team to make things more interesting, in particular in order to captivate and to excite themselves.  Additionally, most people are partial in favoring the team of the city that they reside in or perhaps they favor their collegiate hometown and so forth, while still others may have a vested interest in the outcome because of their fantasy league or their monetary bet or the sporting pool that they participate in.  That is all well and good, but often times during the season, a fan's interest may wane because his team is not all that good, after all, for every winner, there must be a loser, and in the end there can only be one champion, which is often not your team.  Additionally, fans may or may not buy into the commentators on the broadcast, they may prefer their own hometown broadcasters, they might prefer some other broadcasters, or they might not really care for any of the traditional broadcasters at all.  For instance, there are some circumstances to which I mute the TV, because the announcers are annoying the heck out of me and are either taking away from my enjoyment of the game or frustrating me. 

I do believe that there should be an alternative for those that would wish to hear a different audio to their TV sports programs.  This audio wouldn't need to be authorized by the major sport leagues; it would just need to be tolerated.  Probably the best commentators for this type of audio broadcast would be announcers that really love their team but prefer to be able to provide some real "color" commentary which I suspect would be welcomed by their listening audience.  I mean, how often, do you really want to hear the words that your team truly "sucks" while the traditional commentators are using just about every euphemism and metaphor around while simplicity itself knows that the action on the field could easily be summed up into just one word!

One of the problems with traditional broadcasts that mainstream media has is to trying not to offend anyone, whereas the audience really is actually wanting to hear something that is either truly meaningful, funny, poignant, offensive, or just plain crazy.   It comes down to the fact that if your team is losing, you at a minimum want desperately to be entertained.  The audio that I envision would be something akin to what is sort of done with the Mystery Science Theater 3000, but in this particular case, it would strictly be a play on the audio portion of the broadcast and not on the video.

I don't believe that the setup or the budget for this sort of audio would be too extensive as the simplest way to accomplish this is to bring the audio to the intended audience through the internet.  The best place to start with this sort of new commentary would be in traditional sport towns that have long histories of losing teams that are still well supported.  I do believe that they would welcome this comic relief at long last as something that salves the wounds.

Betrayal

Have you ever been betrayed or have you ever betrayed another?  There are far fewer things more devastating than the betrayal of someone close to you that compromises you, lowers you, or hurts you.  A betrayal may be so devastating that for some people there is never an effective recovery from it.  Betrayal can be on a personal level, as a wife to a husband, or a professional level as a manager to an executive, or at a military level as to a general to a revolutionary cause.

The very act of betrayal can encompass four of the seven deadly sins, as betrayal itself can be part of avarice, envy, wrath, and pride.  While there are a multitude of reasons why someone betrays another, few of those reasons are ever justified.  However, there are certainly cases to which one betrays another, that are of extenuating circumstances such as being tortured or being put into a situation to which you fear for both life and limb, though most cases of betrayal are premeditated and done by design.

The reason that being betrayed can be so devastating, is because one is betrayed by something or someone that represents both the absolute truth and further that cannot be undone, which often subjects that betrayed person to embarrassment, shame, humility, and possibly disgrace.  Every betrayed person who may have previously been seen as a paragon of virtue is thereby shown as just another human with feet of clay.  While humility has its place, there are few people that appreciate the humility that is mandated because of a betrayal.

Often when you are betrayed there is an opportunity to betray the one that has betrayed you, but not always, and it certainly isn't available in every case or in every situation.  The fact that you may not be able to seek your revenge on your betrayer is probably a good thing, since negative actions and negative emotions do not often produce a positive outcome; however, there is something to be said about wising up about life in general, to the recognition that not every circumstance and certainly not every person has your best interests in mind.  Further, you are far the better man, for not exacting revenge upon another, despite having both the power and the wherewithal to do so, for the downfall of man can be traced along the lines of self-justification and a lack of brotherhood.

Our lives are filled with opportunities to do the right thing or to do the wrong thing.  It is these decisions that build the blocks as to where we are headed in our destiny.  Those that are given the power to destroy but show the restraint and maturity to not do so, have chosen wisely, and those that take the same or similar circumstances to twist the knife into a friend for their own advantage, out of spite, envy, or hate, without first reasoning through the process, without first considering the consequences, without first investigating their thinking, without empathy or love, or the seeking of wise counsel, have written their own epithet,  and placed themselves instead into the 9th circle of Dante's Hell.

Arranged Marriages

Arranged marriages in America appeared to have gone the way of the Dodo bird, but in fact, that really isn't quite true.  Arranged marriages are still valid in America today, to which some of three specific groups of people still maintain this tradition, they are:

1.       Conservative religious people

2.       Highly educated, 1st generation Americans

3.       The rich and powerful (but typically not nouveau riche)

The reasons that these certain people are still abiding by arranged marriages is the basic understanding that rather than "love" being the primary factor in the preferred selection of one's lifetime mate, that there should instead be the careful consideration of the qualities of the proposed mate, which often includes their personality, family background, religious affiliation, economic aspects, political affiliations, heritage, long-term considerations, and the "big picture".

Another factor that isn't quite the same as an arranged marriage is the falling out of favor, of the asking of the permission from the father of the proposed bride, for the hand of his daughter.  This in of itself would do far more to remove frivolous and/or irresponsible marriages from the table to begin with than virtually anything else.  If you're proposed spouse isn't able to stand up to his future father-in-law face-to-face, at the beginning of a relationship which has progressed to a serious and mature stage, taking that time to identify himself and his future prospects, but rather on the other hand, prefers some sort of subterfuge to win the hand of his spouse with our without his future in-law's approval, that doesn't necessarily bode well for the stability or the reliability of the marriage to be.

While there are many negative things to criticize about arranged marriages, such as essentially taking away your right to choose your spouse, and also the inherent interference and complexity of trying to please everyone within the family dynamic, there are many advantages to basically having each party display their intentions and their prospects out and into the open to be reviewed, looked at, and carefully considered.  You can certainly make the valid point, that the more people that are involved in the contemplation of a proposed arranged marriage, makes for more people that have a vested interest in therefore having a successful selection andthereby a successful fruition of said relationship.

While there may not be any highly reliable statistics that demonstrate the success or lack of for arranged marriages, it is probably fair to say that the expectations for arranged marriages are pictured far differently than marriages between couples that simply fall in love.  For instance, marriages between extremely devout religious people, between highly educated and overachieving couples, as well as marriages between the rich and powerful, are marriages that conjoin those forces for a specific purpose and the breaking of that purpose will not be done for frivolous reasons.

While many Americans believe that having the choice of one's spouse, is a wonderful freedom, there are situations to which having too much choice, precludes someone from ever making that choice, as they keep searching and searching for that perfect spouse, only to discover one day, that the party is over, and they have no one left to party with.

Apprenticeship

In the United States it is compulsory for all citizens to attend school until at least the age of 16, unless said student is incorrigible, in which case he may be expelled earlier.  Having attended school, it is clear that there are some "students" who simply aren't interested, aren't motivated and aren't engaged with their scholastic studies.  The fact that day after day they sit in the class either bored, disruptive, or worse, isn't the best usage of their time nor is it fair to the other students in the class.  While I do applaud any programs, teachers, and student assistants, that do attempt to motivate these reluctant students, there are definitely many cases to which nothing will work for them because they simply don't have the tools, the desire, of the maturity to do well within this educational environment.

The fact of the matter is that school is not necessarily the best place for all teenagers in America and will never be.  While I can think of several things that will help to motivate teenagers, near the very top of this list has to be the ability to make money.  Most people of any age, understand that money has value, has utility, is desirable, and if there is a path that will bring forth money to them, they are at a minimum interested in at least pursuing it for some duration of time and perhaps for much, much longer.

What has fallen out of favor in America is apprenticeships, to which in lieu of going to school, or even attending a trade-school, one can learn the art of a particular craft, be it plumbing, home repair, carpentry, or other tradecraft, from an expert tradesmen in his particular field of endeavor.  There are many people who have little natural skill or desire in book reading, or have the patience of sitting still in school, but have a natural aptitude for working with things with their hands and/or tools, and have a good conception of how things go together while also appreciating the art of a craft that brings forth immediate results, such as seeing a sink that is stopped and non-working, that is  brought back to life as if it was new, all in the span of a few minutes or an hour or two.

The best time to grab a teenager's mind is while he is still interested in learning, still amazed by certain things that later on he won't care about or will be cynical of.  It would be far better to have programs initiated within schools, or within communities, that allow teenagers to opt-out of school earlier, or to allow them to reduced their school hours, while giving them the opportunity at a young age instead to be mentored by an experienced and skilled tradesmen to thereby learn a craft that will give them the chance to make their own money and to be their own person with valuable self-worth in the future.

No doubt, apprenticeships will not work out for everyone under every circumstance, but when students have already begun to tune out of school, or are tuned out, for one reason or another, there is only a short period of time to re-engage this teenager to apply himself to something of real worth, before he in essence becomes a ward of the state, for the rest of his natural life.  We would be far better off recognizing that mentorship is essential for our youth, and that not everyone is ever going to be, nor desires to be college material, so why not provide a real alternative path, and bring back apprenticeships.

Think Carefully before Selling your Cell phone

Smart cell phones in a lot of ways are like mini-computers, because they browse the web, store and send email, store pictures and other pertinent information, and also keep a historical record of all of your activity.  While data can be stored in a cloud, much data is commonly stored on a micro SD card specifically made for cell phones, and/or SIM cards, and also data is stored in flash (ROM) memory.  As a user of a cell phone, you often don't consciously care where your data is stored, how your data is treated, or anything to that effect, but in actuality you should care deeply about this.

For instance, a brand-new cell phone will, by definition, have none of your personal information on it.  The cell phone will have however the programs, directories, and the operating system necessary for your smart phone to function properly but the balance of the storage information on that phone will be unused, only awaiting your input.  Once you begin using your smart phone, data will be stored, further, data that you delete will often not be deleted from the phone itself but merely be put into a different directory or location of the phone, to which it may or may not ever be permanently deleted, depending upon a multitude of factors.

People upgrade and replace their phones quite often; some do it as often as once a year or even more frequently depending perhaps upon whether they have a contract with a carrier which promotes more frequent upgrades as part of their plan.  Some consumers upgrade every two years, and others upgrade only when they feel out-of-date or their phone is malfunctioning, or when they have the extra funds.  When upgrading, for some people, they have no choice but to turn in their phone, to which they are promised that their previous cell phone will be wiped clean by the vendor, whereas some people sell their old phones, and others simply allow their phone to gather dust.

In the cases, to which you voluntarily relinquish your phone to your vendor or sell your phone, it is inherently your responsibility to protect your personal information, to which your smart phone may have an incredibly amount of both compromising and sensitive information that you would not normally desire to be in the hands of someone else, yet this mistake happens all the time.  While I do commend the people that perform a system reset to their phone, under the belief that this will permanently erase all personal information, the sad fact often is that your personal data is still on the phone mainly because the data has only be re-allocated on the cell phone, but not truly overwritten or truly erased. 

For all practical purposes, a system reset is simply not good enough to erase all your personal information.  Instead, you must often procure a well recommended "app" that will truly erase all of your personal information.  Additionally, and ideally, you should maintain control of your micro SD card and/or SIM module and not include these as part of the exchange of your old cell phone.  Hi-tech criminals are not stupid and they are extremely motivated to pick up, on the cheap, old smart phones that were once state-of-the-art in their day, and will actively use all of their powers and tools to retrieve bank information, credit card information, and any other compromising communications that they can successfully monetize. 

The consumer must recognize that when he relinquishes his cell phone without adequately obliterating his personal data, he may well also be relinquishing a pathway to identity thief, personal embarrassment, or even worse.

Small towns in the USA

Occasionally you hear people complaining about how crowded the United States is, how many people that we have, and that there just isn't room enough for all of them.  Unless you are living in NYC, or have never traveled out of your community which resides in a large city, most of the United States, especially the western parts (but not the coast) are practically barren.  In fact, the density of America in peoples is 1/10th the density of Japan, 1/15th the density of South Korea, and as listed by worldatlas.com, the 142th densest country in the world out of 192 countries.  If we take any time at all to fly, to drive, to take a train or a bus throughout America, you will see acres and acres, miles upon miles, of places that are practically devoid of human life.  While American living is primarily urban, with just 16% of Americans living in rural areas as of 2010; a percentage, by the way, which continues to drop as smaller communities age and younger residents of such communities leave for bigger urban areas, there are still, however, quite a few small towns in America.

I've driven through small towns and communities, visited small towns and communities, and walked around and stayed in small towns and communities, to which fairly quickly one is able to discern that they aren't the same as large metropolitan areas.  While small towns come in all sorts of varieties, such as towns that survive on needed outside tourist dollars, towns that are strictly agricultural or livestock, or towns that have one large manufacturing plant, each small town seems to have its similarities.  For instance, small towns aren't a good place to be anonymous because they do want to know your personal business, there is a distinct hierarchy in towns, tradition also plays a big part in small towns, and seemingly minority opinions about virtually anything aren't readily accepted in towns.

While there is a lot of good that can be said about small towns taking a personal interest in you, lending you a helping hand, and desiring to make you a part of the town mindset and principles, there is the other aspect of group pressure to conform to community standards.  After all, no man is an island, and small towns will quickly make this inherent fact known to you, so unless you are very skilled and capable of providing all that you need on your own, you will often find yourself instead forced into situations to which your best interests lie in simply adhering to the expectations and hallmarks of your community standards.

For those that have live in small communities for all of their life, there is something to be said, about knowing that you need not worry about being misidentified, railroaded on false charges, or treated in a manner that is not consistent to your bearing within the community.  Those aspects are very positive to which too much of urban life consists of bogus laws, rules, and infractions, which are basically used as a way to augment budgets or to keep certain denizens under the thumb of the powerful and connected.  Therefore, it can be a very welcoming experience to be in a place where you are truly known by your name and by your reputation and thereby feel more part of the fiber and being of said community.

Small towns at their best can be a welcomed sanctuary, a good fit for some, not so much for others, and often a throwback to simpler times and ways where character really matters.

The Politics of Abortion

Abortion has to be one of the most divisive issues in all of American politics to which there are extreme positions on either side.  It is fascinating to see such strong viewpoints held by people that are in complete loggerheads to one another.  Although I do believe that both sexes have all the incumbent rights to say, write, and to defend their beliefs in regards to abortion, one has to give additional emphasis to the female viewpoint since it is only the female sex that are capable of child-bearing, consequently I must say that no matter their position on abortion, the primary voice should be feminine and not masculine.   Through it all though, because this is a nation of laws, is the fact that the Supreme Court has weighed in on this matter in regards to abortion, under the somewhat dubious ruling that a woman has a Constitutional "right to privacy", but that hardly seems to be the real sustaining issue in regards to abortion.

Be that as it may, abortions are legal in all of the 50 States, albeit with additional limits or sanctions regulating abortion within the State.  Further, just because abortion is legal, doesn't mean that abortion will be easy to achieve, easy to find, easy to accomplish within a given State as not only are clinics or hospitals that perform abortion typically in short supply, often the doctors and medical staff needed are alsonot widely available.  This effectively means that it is the people within their respective States that have been effective in dealing with the abortion controversy in their own way as is their right.

When it comes to party platforms, the Democratic Party has made it their policy that they believe it is the woman's right to choose, that it is her choice as to whether to have an abortion or not, and further that this right should not be truncated by an inability to pay for this particular medical procedure.  Whereas the Republican Party has made it their policy to assert the sanctity of all human life, including the unborn child and that abortion should therefore be made illegal, and the funding or promotion of more services for adoption should be provided.  Clearly, these party positions are at opposite ends of the spectrum, one making the mother paramount, while the other makes the fetus paramount.

Consequently, when it comes down to voting on issues during public elections, one must carefully consider the party platforms of the two major parties.  For some people, abortion is the issue, the only issue, so you can certainly take that leap of faith that if this is so, whichever side that you support, you should simply vote for the party representative that represents your viewpoint and pay no mind to what the politician says himself in regards to the issue, because most politicians like to present themselves as being for whatever you are for, and being against whatever you are against, simply for the expediency of receiving your vote.  The bottom line is that no good Democrat, nor no good Republican, can go against the political party line of their respective parties.  This simply means that a vote for a Democrat is a vote for abortion and a vote for a Republican is a vote against abortion.

 Having said this, I would far rather see all of the men take a backseat on this issue and instead let the women come to the forefront and truly have their say.  The result couldn't be worse than what we have currently and it may very well may be poignant, insightful and significant.

Police, Lethal Force, and Capital Punishment

There would appear to be a huge dichotomy between the fact that a police officer has the right to use lethal force and the fact that according to http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org, as of 2012 the average length of time between sentencing and execution for prisoners convicted of capital punishment is at 190 months.  This essentially means that a police officer in perhaps less than 19 minutes can take away the life of a human being, whereas if brought to a court of justice, it would take on average 190 months, if the perpetrator was convicted and sentenced to capital punishment which is of itself, currently legal in just 32 of our 50 states. 

According to usatoday.com, there are no complete statistics that tell us exactly how many people are killed by police forces throughout the United States, however, usatoday.com states, "nearly two times a week in the United States, a white police officer killed a black person during a seven-year period ending in 2012, according to the most recent accounts of justifiable homicide reported to the FBI."  While, regrettably there are times where lethal force is necessary, the prevailing reason why lethal force is exercised as often as it is in America, is because the weapons that the police use in so many communities are extremely effective in the taking away of life.  It should not have to be that way.

The most significant problem that our police forces have today is the massive amount of weapons and firepower that they have in their hands or in their vehicles or available as backup.  It doesn't take a genius to determine that the more firepower that you provide to a given police department, the more firepower that will eventually be utilized or deployed, especially if the prevailing mindset is to go into a situation with overwhelming force.  I sincerely doubt that there is a single criminal alive today who in his right mind believes that he can out-think, out-gun, or out-maneuver an experienced police force.  That being the case, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for police to escalate a dangerous or a volatile situation to which there does not appear to be any real justifiable reason to begin the firing of their lethal weapons.  Police forces often have the manpower, the sophistication, the technology, and the experience to deal with a multitude of situations in which time is often on their side and sudden swiftness of lethal force is not required, nor necessitated.

The usage of alternatives to lethal weapons which are not typically lethal such as TASERs, batons, rubber bullets, pepper spray, strobes of light/noise and other devices should be a first consideration within any respectable police force.  The objective, except in situations of extreme urgency, should be to neutralize the target so that the person(s) can be brought to justice and not to terminate their life.  The killing of another human being by a police officer cannot be undone, it cannot be corrected, it cannot be amended, and while I certainly admit there are times when lethal force is necessary and right, in order to reduce those situations, you must first reduce the usage of the very weapons themselves which take away human life.

Not Your Momma's Cookies

The internet is a wonderful tool, at its best, it allows you to communicate in real-time, access critical and important information, communicate, and also keeps you up-to-date on all the news that fits your particular desire.  The browser that you use to access the internet is a facilitator for accomplishing the given tasks that you desire while utilizing all the wealth and breadth of the internet.  The activities that I accomplish on the internet I consider to be a fairly private interaction between me and other web sites and also people, and not something to which I would desire to have some unknown or undisclosed 3rd party, keeping track of my activities, my proclivities, my keyboard clicks, my IP address, my location, the date and time of my browsing, the page that I am viewing, or a unique ID assigned to myself by the cookie, the correlation of any information that I filled out about myself on their website, which are all typically stored as cookies on my computer.

If you are wondering whether you should really be concerned about cookies and the invasion of your privacy, you should ask yourself a couple of questions.  First, you should ask, to whom were cookies developed, for the consumer, or for the particular website, itself?  The next question you should ask is for whom does the cookie benefit, the consumer or the particular website issuing the cookie, itself?  Finally, you should note that most browsers default to accepting "all cookies", and when you change your browser settings to reject all cookies, messages such as: "Oops! Your browser seems to have cookies disabled. Make sure cookies are enabled or try opening a new browser window," pop up.

While there are obvious benefits to having websites that have a good beat on your shopping habits and desires so that they can possibly market you products that you desire or provide you with discounts that you are happy to receive, there are far more negative connotations on having a multitude of different corporations, marketing websites, and other agencies, that don't have your best interests in mind, and are definitely willing to sell your information to the highest bidder, in conjunction with having in their database pertinent information that you would not normally wish to be made available for public consumption whether by design or inadvertently.

When you speak to an attorney or to a medical doctor, you have the explicit right to attorney-client or doctor-patient confidentiality that protects you and your private business from prying eyes.  The internet, instead, offers you no guarantees and appears to be "gaming the system" so as to monetize your inclinations and habits to partially benefit yourself, but mainly to benefit parties that you are completely clueless about and that do not have your best interests in mind. 

Cookies are primarily a very effective way to exploit the consumer, essentially unbeknownst to that particular individual.  Cookies are a wolf in sheep's clothing, pretending to be your aid, pretending to be your friend, pretending that it's just a little, cute, tasty cookie, but it isn't, it's intrusive, it isn't necessary, and it's hidden.

Jesus between 12 and 30

There is no historical or religious figure of more prominence, of more importance, than the One who is known as the Son of God.  The Holy Scriptures prophesized about Him, to which his mission was fulfilled as Christ the Messiah as recorded in Scripture.  Yet, we know almost nothing in Scripture concerning Jesus between the ages of 12-30, to which his very birth was recorded as of divine importance, and later his death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of His Father were too recorded, and history itself was transformed by His mission and His message.

In the New Testament, the last recorded record of Jesus, before His ministry began at age 30 is in Luke 2:41-47, "…. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast….. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers."  Then, incredibly, we hear nothing directly about Jesus, His wisdom, His life, or His mission, between the ages of 12 through 30.  The New Testament offers us no stories and no insight on Jesus during this crucial time in His life, which is astonishing.  Many Biblical scholars take passages such as Luke 2:51-52, and Mark 6: 2-3, as proof positive that Jesus' wisdom and learning increased during this time as He worked as a carpenter in Joseph's shop, awaiting the time when God would call Him forth to carry out His supreme Mission on earth, but their arguments appear weak.

The above theory does not hold much water because great gifts, great missions, in any endeavor, must be developed over a period of time, through either great teachers or great mentors.  I submit to you, that not even the Son of God can be the Son of God in human form, without first developing and drawing upon all the wisdom, experience, and training that is incumbent upon Him as God in flesh.  Jesus and his great wisdom is no happenstance, it is indeed a path taken only by one devoted and dedicated to propagating the proposition that through Him we all are saved.  Additionally, the absence of the discussion or the imparting of these critical years of development for Jesus, hints strongly that these passages in the life of Christ, were excised from Holy Scripture, in the mistaken belief that those that approved Biblical canon knew better what holy words should or should not be brought forth for the people and for man's wisdom and instruction.

Consequently, it is far more likely that during the ages of 12 through 30, that Jesus was instructed, trained, and guided by other Masters, or prophets, skilled in their knowledge of God and scripture, and certain in their recognition of Jesus' divine mission.  It cannot be any other way, as it is the height of arrogance to believe that divinity, wisdom, and perfection, comes without sacrifice, humility, and a purity to accept and to replicate God into their very soul.  Jesus could only be ready for His mission, when he was attuned to the Divine Presence that governs all life, which is signified with his baptism by John as we read in Matthew 3:16, "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him."

In truth and in light, we may wish that we go to Heaven; instead it is fairer and truer to state that we grow to Heaven.

Double Doors on Airlines

The successful terrorist attack of 9/11/2011 brought home the valid point that ceding control of the cockpit willingly or not, was no longer a valid response to a hijacking.  Instead, it would now be paramount that maintaining control of the cockpit was not only essential for the safety of all, but that it was also mandatory in order to make any nefarious plans for attacking the cockpit, an exercise in futility.  The response within America after 9/11 was to increase the security for the cockpit by better locking mechanisms, the usage of double-doors within the cockpit, the usage of security cameras and certain security protocols in conjunction with flight attendants, human security marshals on random flights, and a motorized Kevlar-type material that blocks the hallway to the cockpit.  All of these items have helped considerably in maintaining control of the cockpit, along with the obvious foreknowledge that the pilots of these airlines have a responsibility and a duty to police their own domain.

While one can make several arguments of the superiority of one security device and/or procedures over another, it doesn't take any real stretch of the imagination to recognize that if the pilots never leave the sanctuary of their cockpit, or their secured cockpit area, and are never visited by any airline personnel whatsoever during the duration of a particular flight, that this provides the highest conceivable security possible, to which a double-door system appears to be the most useful.  In fact, double doors can be readily designed through a system that provides a small area for a bathroom, first aid supplies, refreshments for the pilot crew, and at the same time absolutely minimizes the need to engage with anyone outside of the cockpit, except for reasons of pilot relief, incapacitation, or wing visual inspection.

Additionally, currently on American flights there are the monotonous pre-flight safety instructions which should be immediately augmented with something much more meaningful which is the responsibility that each passenger has to the whole of the aircraft, that is to say, in situations to which there appears to be something that is happening outside the bounds of normalcy, passengers have a responsibility and a duty to respond to this potential crisis, such as what occurred on United Flight# 93, or the underwear bomber crisis on Northwest Flight# 253.  This additional potential help would in of itself, be of immense importance in the securing and the prevention of a hijacking, or a detonation, or some other mayhem on a flight. 

The double-door concept or similar is the same type of safety that should be employed on other mass transit transportation drivers.  Clearly, in situations to which all sorts of havoc can be created by the loss of control of a mass transportation vehicle, integral steps must be taken to reasonably preclude the success of any particular hijacking.  I believe that it is fair to say, the greater the mass of the transportation device, the greater the measures that should be taken for good, solid security to protect the public and our commonwealth.

Car Rental Con Games

Perhaps your car is in the shop and you need a rental vehicle to get to and from work, or perhaps instead you are traveling in a city away from home, and desire a car rental to get around that destination and its tourist spots, if you are age 25 or above, you are probably going to get a car rental.  If you are under 25, you still might be able to get a car rental, it just becomes more problematic and expensive for doing so, and that should be your first hint that car rental agencies are all about one thing: making money.

Anytime you purchase anything, you should pay close attention to any extra items the store manager, or clerk is pushing you to purchase.  For instance, when you go to a grocery store, do they push anything extra on you, unless you have some sort of club membership, i.e. Sam's Club, they never do.   However, when you go to a Best Buy and purchase some electronic merchandise, you are almost invariably hit with a request for an extended warranty in which a simple "No", is usually not good enough for the cashier to shut-up, as they drone on and on and on.  Car rental agencies have their spiel down to a science and you should pay very careful attention to it.

When you sign up to get a rental car, you will be subject to all sorts of potential upgrades, ruses, and con games that you often do not need, to which most of them are just another avenue for the rental agency to get their hand into your pocket.  Let's look at the most common instances, one-by-one:

1.       Upgrade to your vehicle. When you pre-selected your vehicle type such as compact or SUV, unless you are running a con game of your own, it is assumed that this is the vehicle type that you actually want to drive or have the budget for, consequently when you are asked for an upgrade that is additional money, it should be a fairly straightforward decision to shoot it down.  The only reason not to turn down an upgrade, is if the upgrade is free of charge, mainly because they don't have your type of vehicle on the lot (by the way, if they downgrade you, you should always request a refund), or you purposely booked a lower vehicle grade, hoping that some "sweet talk" will allow you to upgrade for a reduced amount of money or possibly for free, but it's difficult to out-con a conman.

2.       Insurance.  It isn't legal to drive a vehicle in the States without car insurance, and most car insurance will be sufficient coverage for car rentals, in addition to the fact that most credit card companies will also offer you supplemental protection at no charge.  If you are diligent, you will actually call both your current car insurance company and your credit card company to ascertain what they do or what they do not cover.  Further to this point, there isn't anything that prevents you from getting your own additional car insurance coverage and setting that up ahead of time.  The sheer amount of signatures and initials that you have to put to your rental agreement for turning down extra insurance should send an immediate signal to your brain cells that car rental insurance is a big ticket extra money-maker for them, to which they try to apply the fear factor to "goat" you into signing the agreement.

3.       Gas. In America, there are a plentitude of gas stations, so pre-paying for gas as some sort of convenience, is a waste of your money, because the cost of their gas is so much higher than the street cost, this is a prime example of them "nickel and diming" you.

4.       Toll charges.  This particular charge is a new money maker for rental car agencies, mainly because they have added devices to their vehicles that allow automated tolls to be credited against the car.  Whether these tolls are even legitimate tolls in the first place is debatable, that is to say, you could be in the lane adjacent to the toll lane and your vehicle will inadvertently be charged for the toll.  Additionally, you are often in a strange city, to which you cannot say for a certainty that you didn't pass through a toll without paying.  What is not in issue is the price of the tolls is usually trivial, perhaps $2.50 or $3.00, and hardly worth disputing on their own, however, you won't see this charge when you return your rental car, for two reasons.  Reason#1 is that hidden deep within the Terms and Conditions the rental car company is allowed to charge your credit card for any additional incidentals upon the return of their vehicle, and Reason#2 is that the rental car company will attempt to pull one over on you by adding an administrative fee for this toll of perhaps $15, $25, $30, or even $50 for each toll violation.  If you, do not notice this on your credit card bill which could show up as a charge even weeks later, you will have been suckered into their most profitable item of all.

While it's nice to have the convenience and comfort of driving a car rental, you should always keep in mind, that the entire time the vehicle is in your hands, the car rental agency will be continually angling to get theirs.