Beheading

Beheading, also known as decapitation, is a form of capital punishment, which has been around seen Roman times, but had fallen virtually completely out of favor as a form of execution in modern times, to which modernity deemed this punishment as being far too brutal or too graphic, till its recent resurgent as a form of terror in the Islamic State in Iraq and in Syria.  Why beheading? Obviously, once you have captured or caught an enemy combatant, or a civilian such as a journalist, and have put that person in a defenseless state, there is not an exigency to execute that person and to do so would hardly seemed humane or justified, yet the Islamic State makes this part and parcel for who and what they are.  The Islamic State justification for beheading journalists or combatants is in retaliation for military strikes against their country which invariably creates carnage and civilian death.  The most probable reason that beheadings are used to take the life away from these men who are often seen to be as "pawns" in this grisly game of death, is most likely the "fear factor", the fact that it makes "good" theatre, and also, very importantly, the very personal nature of the staged death itself, since the sword or axe is controlled by the perpetrator from his hand to the neck of his victim.

The beheadings committed by the Islamic State are often taped andthen distributed throughout social online media with the attendant propaganda in the somewhat forlorn hope that by so doing so, that this act will somehow preclude future air strikes from countries such as the United States.  In actuality, it does nothing of the sort, except to make it almost a positive certainty, that military strikes will continue to rain down upon them, innocent civilians will be caught in the crossfire, and that the perpetrators of these horrific pre-meditated acts, will become targets of interest to America.

What the Islamic State fundamentally gets wrong, is that there is no terroristic act that they could possibly conceive or execute that will ever get Western nations, most notably the United States, to cease and desist in protecting their own or in asserting their own massive power.  If the Islamic State has any moral high ground or moral suasion on their side, they effectively negate it by executing people that have done them no harm, and in a manner that only encourages scorn or hatred of their message and their position.  What the Islamic State fails to recognize is that turning the ship around of a country as mighty and as powerful as the United States, is something that takes concerted effort, intelligence, and the patience of Job, and that the sword of "avenging justice" that they wield, is absolutely nothing of the sort.

Unfortunately, beheadings by the Islamic State will not be going out of style anytime soon.  While the beheadings are an abject failure in regards to successfully rectifying wrongs by Western nations, they appear to be a supreme success in recruiting other Islamic disenfranchised men to their cause and are an effective tool of propaganda.  Regrettably, this is another sign of the downward spiral of man's inhumanity to man, completely unnecessary, and clearly wrong.  In absence of any clear dialog or diplomacy between rival nations or people, things will pretty much continue along this gruesome, bloody and God-forsaken path.

Are there any Black Majority States?

America has fifty states, to which none of them are currently black majority states, although the District of Columbia had been black majority since 1950, since 2011 it has become instead a black plurality.  There was a time, however, when there were three black majority states in America, to wit, Louisiana from 1830-1910, Mississippi from 1840-1930, and South Carolina from 1830-1910.  Additionally, three more states had black populations exceeding 40% for decades which were Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.  At the present time, there are zero states which have black populations of even 40% or above, the state with the largest black population is Mississippi which stands at about 37%.

In America, our election system, typically is setup so that the majority rules, or in absence of a majority, the plurality will often rule, so that there is something to be said about strength in numbers and in voting in general, as the winner of an election, will become by definition the arbiter or representative of what is or isn't policy for the greater whole, whether or not a significant portion of the population is or is not in approval of said policies.  Consequently, if there is a lot of commonality in people, such as creed, race, ideals, or the like, it behooves those people to join together to effect change.

After our civil war, to which many men of all colors were killed on both sides of the war, whites in the defeated confederacy were denied the right to vote, subject to individual loyalty oaths and the re-admission of their state into the United States.  The reconstruction amendments (13th to 15th) to our Constitution were specifically setup to assure, protect, and to mandate that all citizens, no matter their race nor slavery nor involuntary servitude, were entitled by law to not have abridged any of their immunities or privileges, nor to be denied life, liberty, or property without due process of law.    These amendments to our Constitution were specifically enacted to protect the very class of people that had been abridged these basic human rights purely on the basis of the color of their skin.

For a very brief period of time, there were blacks that were elected to both the Senate and to the House of Representatives from the deep south of the United States from 1870 up to as late as 1901, but that would end, through intimidation, through fraud, and through violence.  For instance, for a short period of time, Mississippi had the first and then the second United States Senator, ever elected of color, in the years 1870-71, and then 1875-1881.  Since that time, there was been no black Senators elected from the state of Mississippi up and till the present day.  In regards, to the House of Representatives, Mississippi has had as many as eight delegates, but currently has only four delegates, due to their modest population, to which one of the districts, the 2nd district, is the only district that has ever elected a black congressman, which was not until 1987, when Mike Espy was elected.

The disappointment of the state of Mississippi, which should be a state with significant black power, or at a minimum have significant pockets of black power, is that instead it is one of the most racist, most discriminatory, and most unjust of any state because the whites are still the power behind the throne, with far too many of them unwilling to share, unwilling to change, unwilling to be fair, and unwilling to give brotherly love.

Women Major League Baseball

Back in 1992, there was the very successful movie, "A League of Their Own", based on the real All-American Girls Baseball League (AAGBBL) which was dramatized quite successfully.  The impetus behind the advent of the AAGBBL was the fact that during World War II, minor league parks were being disbanded, because of the lack of young men to play the sport, and with America being the land of entrepreneurship, imagination, and opportunity, some enlightened businessmen along with some professional MLB owners, came up with the concept of a baseball league for women which they were then able to bring to fruition, and to which the league was in business from 1943 to 1954.

Fast forward to 2014, and Sports Illustrated featured a 13-year old Mo'ne Davis on its cover, applauding this female phenom of Little League baseball.  Baseball is definitely a sport that females can play successfully and probably only necessitates a few modest rule changes to accommodate the differences in size between men and female athletes, but essentially the game can be played in current MLB or minor league ballparks with the probable inclusion of a portable outdoor fence to reduce the distance for a baseball to travel for a homerun.

The beauty of the women MLB would be similar to the concept behind the WNBA which uses the same arenas that the NBA uses, but schedules its games during the NBA off-season.  Because baseball is played outdoors, the women MLB games would have to be scheduled while their respective MLB or minor league affiliates were on the road, which is easy enough to do, and obviously their season would be significantly shorter, perhaps just accommodating the traditional summer break with games primarily on weekends.

Women with a baseball league of their own, is a concept that could be successful again given the proper funding and the proper foresight.  Unlike basketball, to which having just one important physical factor, which is height, can be the strongest determinate as to whether you will or will not be successful in the sport, baseball is a sport that embraces women of a greater variety in both weight and height, as long as your incumbent athletic skill is developed.

Another advantage that a women's baseball league would have is that some of the rules within the game, could easily be looked at, modified, tested and then utilized first in the women's league that later may be applicable to MLB.  For instance, the amount of visits to the mound could be limited; the amount of time between pitches could be monitored with something akin to a shot clock, as well as limiting the amount of time that a batter can step out of the batter's box.  Additionally, a line could be drawn on the base-path just beyond a reasonable lead-off point, so that if a base-runner does not place a foot beyond the line, no pick-up throws would be allowed.  Also, the foul line, which runs in a straight line from home plate to 1st and3rd-base and then extends out to the outfield, could be changed, so that once the foul line passes 1st and 3rd base, it could be angled out to incorporate more of the outfield as being in fair territory.

The women's MLB would be faster and perhaps a more fun game than MLB, more like a throwback to the bygone days when there was more daytime baseball and the love of the game was the motivating factor with the watching and the playing of baseball considered to be the family pastime.

Wikipedia

There are people like myself, that get curious about a certain subject and therefore want to find out about it and that leads to another subject and to another subject and so forth, so that encyclopedias have always been a part of my life.  The nature of encyclopedias, however,  have changed over time, so gone or marginalized are the World Book, Encyclopedia Britannica, Microsoft Encarta, and so forth.  Today, when people think of encyclopedia, they are thinking about it online, and the company that they are drawn to again and again is Wikipedia.  Wikipedia dominates the online encyclopedia world, to which according to econsultancy.com "Wikipedia has a massive 97% share of internet visits among the top five reference websites," which is an absolutely stunning domination, especially for a company that relies on unpaid volunteers to write and to edit articles on Wikipedia.

Although from a consumer standpoint I have to admit that Wikipedia does a fine, fair and comprehensive job in delivering content that is pertinent and meaningful, I am somewhat puzzled though by how consistently Wikipedia entries lead or are at nearly the top on so many of my Google searches.  I am not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing, or even that it is wrong in any aspect, it just seems suspicious because the internet is rife with companies that will give their eyeteeth to be at the top of the Google search engine results.  Something like this makes one ask the question, does Google feature Wikipedia entries at the top of their search results because this is more often the most meaningful response to a query and consequently this represents a win-win for all, or is there another possibility or possibilities?

The first question to ask, is will Google create its own encyclopedia to compete or to replace Wikipedia?  Before I answer this question, recognize that Google Chrome was not the first web browser, but currently is the most popular web browser in America, twice as popular as the 2nd place Firefox.  Also, keep further in mind that Gmail was not the first email application, but now ranks #1 worldwide.  To answer the question above Google did in fact come up with their own encyclopedia which was known as "Knol", created in 2008, but dissolved in 2012.

The next question to ask is it conceivable that Wikipedia may one day have its own search engine?  It certainly makes sense as their database is a comprehensive database of collective knowledge, its breadth is worldwide, it is wide-reaching, it is current, it is growing, and Wikipedia is a known product held in high regard.  Whether Wikipedia becomes its own search engine or is bought out by a search engine company such as Bing, to then compete against Google Search is definitely an intriguing question to ask.

I do believe, however, that Wikipedia and Google have a special relationship, perhaps implicitly understood, that each serves the other well, so that if the objective is to be both the best search engine and have the best go-to site that answers well the petitioner's requests, why change the formula.

Too Many Lawyers

According to answers.com there is: "one lawyer for every 265 Americans."  This means that the United States has the highest per capita amount of lawyers in the world.  While having an abundance of attorneys can be a net benefit for society because attorneys are needed both for civil as well as criminal law, as well as their desirability for their analytic skills, their understanding and respect for the law, along with their overall intelligence and fairness to their application of law.  In fact, archives.org, states that out of the fifty-five delegates to our Constitutional convention, that "thirty-five were lawyers or had benefited from legal training."  This would strongly imply that an understanding of the law is a good and fundamental trait for those that desire to create foundational documents that will stand strongly through the test of time.

It is probably fair to state that a country without laws is either an absolute paradise to which all that live within it, understand that there is a Higher law that governs man's life, or a land of absolute chaos, that survives with the animalistic motto that "might makes right".  Ideally, lawyers exist within countries to assure the public that not only is the law fairly applied, but that law is sound and sensible to begin with.  The problem, therefore, with too many lawyers, is somewhat similar to the problem of too many cooks.  When your IQ is greater than average, your dedication and work-ethic are outstanding, you can reason well both inside and outside the box, you are highly motivated to exceed, as well as seeing the law as shades of grey and not something that is as simple as black or white, there are bound to be some significant changes in the daily dynamics of civilized life, to which our laws and the interpretation of such become something to be molded or twisted as opposed to something that is solid and well grounded.

It doesn't take a genius to note, that lawyers like to stay busy, as well as they have a necessity to make money, not only to pay for their higher education, but to establish themselves in society.  Consequently, lawyers have more than a vested interest in testing law, trying law, creating new laws, or overturning old laws, in order to create work for themselves and others, along with the possibility of providing tranquility and an improvement of the general welfare.

While eventually market forces will even out the most appropriate amount of lawyers needed in the United States, having highly intelligent people that are motivated more by what is in it for them, while not considering the long term consequences of their actions or the fairness thereof will have a noxious effect upon the law in general, because when bad law muscles out good law, or complex or convoluted law overtakes straightforward and honest law, the end result will be very bad for Americans and for society in general. 

There are too many misguided opportunistic and parasitic lawyers in America, breeding contempt for the law, which impugns upon the reputation of the good lawyers that are necessary for good law.

The Lord's Prayer

The most famous prayer in the world, the most said prayer in the world, the most known prayer in the world, is recognized as the Lord's Prayer, from Matthew 9-13, which is as follows:

"…Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen."

Luke 11: 2-4 has a slightly amended version of the Lord's Prayer, to which this above prayer was given by Jesus in answer to one of his disciples' request which was: "Lord, teach us to pray…"

Because of the importance of this prayer, which came from the mouth of Christ himself, one has an obligation to pay special attention to it and to know the true meaning and significance of this prayer, as opposed to being able to recite it from rote memory, but without the reflection and the sanctity that is due it.

The Lord's Prayer begins with "Our Father", and not "My Father", and that His name should be "hallowed".  The words "our Father" are extremely important, as important as any two words that you will come across in your entire life, because it is those words that make it clear that each of us, all of us, no matter where we are born, raised, or created, have the same Heavenly Father, therefore we are all brothers and sisters in God, as our Father is exactly the same.  Additionally, our Lord should be respected, with great reverence and love, and not to be trivialized.

"Thy Kingdom come" recognizes that the kingdom that is currently on earth is not of a heavenly origin, that therefore we suffer from the lack and the limitations of physical life and physical hurt that can only be healed by God's true kingdom of perfect love, truth and justice.  Further, the request that "Thy will be done" is a recognition that our free will here on earth, often leads us into errors of judgment and of form, and that thereby this can only be corrected by being in perfect tune with his Divine will.

"Give us this day our daily bread," does not literally mean just food for the body, but also encompasses the necessary food for the soul, for guidance, for abundance, for health, and for our own well being, to which we ultimately owe all of our good fortune to God.

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" is of critical importance to understand, as the forgiveness that you receive is equal to the forgiveness that you give others.   For those that live lives of much criticism and hate, their forgiveness by their Father will be slight, even if their life is otherwise exemplary, whereas those that may have great sins and great faults, but are forgiving of their fellow brothers and their respective frailties, along with lending others a helping hand, will find that their debts forgiven will be substantial.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," is the petitioner's request to stay on the straight and narrow path, and not to wander off onto the byways that will entice and ensnare us.  It is another way of saying that when our flesh and our mind are weak, help us to straighten our spine and our thoughts, and if we should fall away from God's love and divine protection, do not forsake us, but save us from our own self-destruction and error.

"For thine is the kingdom," for this great saying we can bring in two other great religions, to which a Muslim prays that "there is no God but God," and the Jew prays "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the

Lord is one," to which all recognize that there is only one God, one kingdom, one power, and one everlasting glory, and that kingdom will never be vanquished, to which it has no beginning and will have no end, and that to Him we pay homage by our right actions, right thinking, and right deeds.

The Executive Office and War

Our Constitution makes it clear that Congress "shall have the power to declare war", but this declaration has not been made by our Legislative branch since World War II, which means that every war that the USA has been involved in since that time has been a declaration or a quasi-war brought forth from the Executive branch of our government.  The terrible thing about war is that war is a terrible thing, consequently one's involvement in war, should be carefully considered, reasoned, negotiated, debated, and contemplated upon.  War should seldom be a first choice, and should not be made under questionable circumstances because virtually all other alternatives such as blockades, diplomacy, embargoes, and humanitarian aid should be seriously considered by any mature nation, especially a nation that is looked upon as a world leader.

War isn't quite like boxing, but there are many people that don't mind boxing, if they do all the hitting, but never get hit back in return.  For far too many influential politicians, military, and corporations in America, war is looked upon as somewhat of a one-way street, profitable and also where we bully or put down other countries with relative calmness because of our superior technology, firepower, weapons, logistics, training, and experience.  To make matters evenpalatably better for the United States, the actual American soldiers that are in any real danger have a tendency to be young, economically disadvantaged, and with no political lobbying power.

To help even things out for the Executive branch of government, that perhaps finds it a little too easy to declare war, I submit that the Executive branch as a matter of honor, should have direct "skin in the game" when it comes to our foreign wars.  Consequently, all members of the Executive branch should be thoroughly vetted so as to ascertain the amount of relatives or children that they have that fall within the traditional bounds of our draft/selective service age of 18-26.  Further, since our military, now actively recruits females, both young men and young women should be made eligible. 

Once that list is ascertained, all of these young adults, should be compelled to serve their country in our wartime needs, to which a certain percentage of them must be placed in harm's way so as to give them a fair opportunity to not only show bravery, courage, and resolve, but if it should happen, to die or to be wounded in service to their country.  This, in itself, would make wars far more meaningful and far more poignant for not only the Executive branch in particular, but for all Americans.

There was a time in America when important and highly valued people would resign their position in government, in private enterprise, or in society, in order to serve their country in its time of need.  This action is still necessary in order to demonstrate to the population at large, the commitment and the incumbent obligation that those in power and influence must bring to their nation and its ideals, so that if the war is good enough to be declared by the Executive branch, it is also good enough to risk your fortune, your family, and your life for.

Hypnosis

Most people are familiar with hypnosis through either a live show that is built around the hypnosis of volunteered audience members or through going to a hypnotist in order to help correct habits that they want to break or occasionally as an alternate to taking medication for certain medical or dental procedures.  The one thing that is clear is that hypnosis definitely works in the sense that there is such a thing as a hypnotic stage, and that therefore hypnosis under the right hands can be beneficial.  However, it is important to also note that hypnosis is the exchanging of your normal free will and your normal free mind to an operator that, in theory, has your best interests in mind, but that it must be acknowledged in many respects, that you have ceded control of your conscious mind to another.

It shouldn't be too surprising that hypnosis exists, because the material world is filled with things, other human beings, advertising, and the like, which are constantly at war or trying to influence our mind and our respective actions.  Hypnosis is another avenue to suggest to us one course of action, as opposed to another course of action or inaction.  For instance, perhaps you have a habit that appears to be unbreakable, such as smoking, to which your efforts have not been successful in relieving yourself of this nefarious habit.  A skilled hypnotist can put suggestions into your subconscious mind that will replace previous positive images that you currently associate with smoking, with negative images that associate smoking instead with its lingering smell, its nastiness, and its bad taste. 

So while hypnosis can be demonstrated under certain circumstances to have positive effects upon people, their goals, and their health, there is one fundamental problem that hypnosis has that should not be taken lightly and that is that each person is sovereign within himself and consequently the relinquishing of that consciousness to another should seldom be done under any circumstances, and never should be done under lightly considered conditions.  It is well to remember that you are not a showpiece to be brought up upon a stage to perform as a fool as you imagine yourself to be something that you are not.  Not only is this a misuse of hypnosis in general, it is a gross injustice that provides cheap entertainment, as if you were a circus animal, and not a sentient human being.

Hypnosis is not the natural state of man and consequently should be seen as an unnecessary intruder upon man and his basic sensibility.  God gave each one of us our own mind to use best in our own way, and the surrender of your mind to another empowers that person's mind over your own, and the more that this is done, the greater your submission to another.  This is primarily and fundamentally flawed reasoning, as there essentially is only one being to surrender yourself to, and this is to God, but God does not hypnotize you in any way.  Instead, your alliance with God, will intuitively allow you to see the Light and to recognize Truth, without negating your free will to act and to acknowledge this.

Honor Snacks and Honesty

Earlier in my career I was working at a company that didn't have enough employees to justify an on-site vending machine, so for those that desired to snack throughout certain points of the day, you would either have to bring in your own snacks, place something in our company refrigerator, or walk 100 yards or so to the corner deli which had somewhat limited hours, or you could walk or drive a heck of a lot further.  America is a country of salesmen, and one day someone came by, with the Honor Snacks pitch, which was simply that they would stock their cardboard box with various items of chips, candy, and the like, and that you as the consumer would place into their slot the correct change to purchase said item.  Since the snacks were out in the open, payment was strictly based on the honor system.

Honor Snacks within our company was definitely utilized, people appreciated the overall convenience, to which within the company there would be regular buyers of the snacks, those that never participated, and occasional participants.  One of the fundamental problems within the Honor Snack system was that the proper usage of the payment structure necessitated you having correct change, since there wasn't any change mechanism, or you could put in instead a folded dollar bill and perhaps purchase two items or remember that you had some sort of credit to a future item.  The prices were clearly marked so there was never any reason or excuse not to pay for a product in real-time, since there was no credit extended to anybody.

Not too surprisingly, Honor Snacks, did not collect 100% on their goods, and while there are salient reasons why this might not be so, as in perhaps, candy that was spoiled or didn't taste good, a mouse biting into a corner of a candy bar, or perhaps a chip bag that was ripped, the fact is the shortage could only have come from the employees of the company.  In order to get people to pay consistently for their products, Honor Snacks had a policy of posting the "shrinkage" upon each time they collected and refilled the snack tray, so that we would invariably get figures that we were 12-18% short every two weeks.  That shortage never bothered me, I always saw it as the cost of doing business, but it invariably bothered the crap out of our President, who expressed that this result reflected poorly upon the honesty of our employees. I do believe, however, that our President's main "beef" was that this poor result embarrassed him in front of potential clients as they visited our site.  I patiently explained to our President that it was the Honor Snacks policy to post these shortage figures and that we couldn't have the snack box without it, and I might add, I never heard or saw him suggest that by simply having the company make up for the shortage by voluntarily putting in a few extra dollars, we would be in the good.

Like most things, our Honor Snacks experience did come to an end, as our company grew big enough to expand out of our space and into a new facility which would have actual vending machines.  Honor Snacks was well aware that we would be leaving them and knew the exact day, when we would entirely vacate our current premises so I was somewhat surprised that they kept their snacks within our company longer than I would have expected.  Consequently, for whatever reason, I made it clear to a few favored employees that this last go-around with Honor Snacks was pretty much a free-for-all, and set the tone myself by taking a few select items and walking away.  Upon seeing this, other employees must have determined that I was not kidding and got right down to business, so that when the Honor Snacks representative came by a couple days later there were maybe two beaten-down snacks left and pretty much an empty collection box.  It was, I admit, difficult for me to keep a straight face and the Honor Snacks representative looked absolutely appalled but was without power to rectify it. 

The above would imply that there is indeed a very thin line between civilized and responsible actions in comparison to utter vice and chaos; and the switchover is remarkably easy to make.

Christ: the Master of the Physical

The New Testament is full of miracles attested to Jesus of Nazareth, such as the healings of people possessed by demons, to the calming of the waves, to the healing of the blind men, and to the raising of Lazarus.  These miracles fulfill a solid foundation of what Christ meant to us, and what he continues to mean to us, which is that our Creator, through Christ, is the absolute master of this world and its physical phenomena.  When the Bible states in Matthew 21:21, that "if ye shall say unto this mountain, are thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done," this is no metaphorical statement of a dreamy prophet, but the absolute truth of our Messiah, because with the faith and the power of God, God and God's prophets are not limited by the physical laws of earth, because the earth is God's footstool.

Thomas Jefferson, he of great intellect and great wisdom, took it upon himself to excise the miracles of Christ from his New Testament, because he wished only to drink in the nectar of Christ's ethical teachings to the exclusion of virtually everything else.  Jefferson's lack of belief in Christ's miracles demonstrates either a serious lack of faith by Jefferson in the overall veracity of the gospels themselves or a desire to eliminate those things that he considered to be a sideshow to the truths that Christ illuminated and expounded upon.  However, our understanding of Christ is incomplete, if we do not comprehend the importance that Christ demonstrated time and time again, that our essence is not the physical, never has been the physical, and that the physical is but a temporary housing of our spirit, and our soul. 

Christ and his disciples wants us to know that the physical is just a vessel that carries the real you, your soul, and that therefore physical infirmities and physical death, are but temporal things.   To prove this very point, Christ again and again, shows his mastery over all physical phenomena, his forty days and forty nights fasting(Matthew 4:2) proves that the spirit commands the body.  Christ's power and belief made even the winds and the waves to be calm upon His command (Matthew 8:27). Finally, unlike medical doctors of today, or Shelley's fictional Frankenstein monster, Christ was able to raise Lazarus from the dead, four days later, because of His belief in the power of God (John 11:42-43).

Modern man wants us desperately to believe that we are slaves to physical phenomena that cannot change, that cannot be overcome, yet miracles today are performed each and every day, through the belief in the power of prayer, through God's grace, through miraculous occurrences that defy physical laws.  All of these miracles are signs from God, that we are not alone, that we are not forgotten, and that God reigns over all.  Still then there are others, who cry out that God has forsaken them, that in fact they do believe but that no miracles happen for them.  For these people, as for all of those of wavering or immature faith, it would be wise to remember that the fault lies not in our Creator, but in ourselves, that first we must clear out the beam that is in our own eye so that we can thereby take in the full illumination of the Light.

Are the Jews still awaiting their Messiah?

Jesus of Nazareth was born over 2,000 years ago to which there is ample evidence that his existence was real, and that his testimony was considered by many knowledgeable Jews of his time to be in accordance to biblical prophecy that he was, in fact, our Redeemer, the Christ.  However, not all did believe, the Jewish religion that existed at that time still exists, and the basic Jewish position in regards to Jesus of Nazareth, was that he was a false messiah, and that he did not fulfill the prophecies of scripture, as the specific events necessary for this belief, were never fulfilled.  Consequently, our modern-day Jews are still awaiting their Messiah.

For Jews, Jesus, was just one of many false messiahs that have come and gone on this earth, to which it is a contradiction of the Jewish faith for a man to proclaim himself as being equal to or part of God, because Jews explicitly believe that God is a unity, he is One, which is unlike any other, and has no corporal form.  The conception that there is such a thing as the Father and the Son, or of the holy Trinity, consequently therefore is foreign to orthodox Jewish belief.

Additionally, Jews believe that there are very specific signs that must be met for there to be a true Messiah proclaimed on this earth.  For instance, in Isaiah 2:4, "…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." Also, in Zechariah 14:9, "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one."  Quite clearly, neither of these events occurred during Jesus' time on earth, nor have they been fulfilled till the present time. 

Jews are unaware as to the time when their Messiah will come, with some believing that there is a specific date set aside by God for this to take place, while yet others believe that the Messiah, son of David, will not come until certain events will have occurred. 

It is generally believed that the advent of the Messiah will be preceded by a great world war. The Messiah, himself, will have the difficult, seemingly impossible task of rebuilding the third Jewish Temple, the gathering back in of exiles to the land of Israel, and ultimately the creation of a one-world government to which there will no longer be conflicts or struggles between nations or between mankind.

When the Messiah comes this will not usher in a new religion, that will worship the Messiah as some sort of god or new god, but instead it will be seen as the fulfillment of Mosaic Law.  The Messiah will proclaim that God alone shall be worshipped, that therefore the revelation of God is made known through His prophets and the Messiah, that the Torah is God's revealed word, that there are clearly rewards for those that are good and certain punishment for those that are evil, and that the resurrection of the dead will be the fulfillment of God's commitment to His believers.

American Capitalism has failed

It has been said that capitalism is the worse system in the world, except for everything else.  There may be a lot of truth in that statement, but that doesn't mean that capitalism as we know it, can't be improved upon, can't become more equal in its distribution of income, and can't be fairer than it is as currently structured.  When we read in the newspaper or see on CNBC that some new entrepreneur has become a billionaire, seemingly overnight, because this previously private corporation with venture capital funding has had a extremely successful public offering, our applause should be held, not so much because we are envious of another's success, but because one man's net worth should never be at the ratio of one billion dollars to less than one dollar (25% of Americans have zero or negative net worth).  Not only is that wrong on the surface, it's just plain wrong, period.

There is a lot to be said, about employees or employers or people in general that they will often perform better when they have "skin in the game" but money, or the pursuit of money is not the same nor has it ever been the same as the pursuit of happiness.  There are things in this world or outside of this world that are of far more significance than money, so it is inimical to a human soul, let alone humanity in general, when the few have so much more than the many.  The superrich will often justify their wealth based on their perception that they have played the game fairly or perhaps through some extraordinary effort or skill or invention or innovation or inheritance or even plain luck, they have climbed the mountain of wealth that America's land of opportunity offers, but more often than not, their shouts of praise or approbation ring absolutely hollow.

American capitalism has failed, because as this nation as a whole, has become the richest nation in the world, by aggregate wealth, this wealth has not lifted all ships, in fact, you can make a very strong argument, that the great wealth of a very select few, has effectively sunk the ships of so many in America.  For instance, Apple Computer, who could if it so desired, manufacture its iphones and ipads and ithis and ithat, right here in America, or close to our shores, because Apple's profitability and gross margins are stunningly high, does not.  Instead, it makes sure to assembly its iphones in China, where labor and labor laws are cheap and compliant to Apple and its perceived needs.  Additionally, Apple sources work out overseas to save themselves massive amounts of money from being corporately taxed by the United States.  So in short, the jobs that could be created here in the United States are exported to other countries, and the fair amount of taxes that should be paid here, aren't paid at all or are paid at substantially lower rates than they should fairly be.

Consequently, American capitalism is a system that is entirely "gamed".  If you are a major corporation, you have the best attorneys, the best accountants, and the best lobbyists, all of these are small expense to pay in order to save on your respective tax bill or to achieve tax avoidance.  The people that end up paying the tax bill for America are the "dummies" or the powerless that can't snake away from it, essentially the middle class and the sorta-rich, and because America runs such a massive deficit, generations yet unborn get stuck with the bills produced today, while the rich truly get richer and the poor get bread and cheap entertainment.

American capitalism and free enterprise would do themselves a massive favor, which is in lieu of being forever enthralled to profits, or what is in it for me, if they considered instead that they have an obligation to be something bigger than "mine, mine, and more mine" and recognized that a honest man's labor is worth an honest wage and a fair deal to begin with.

The power of the Gun

I recently watched on HBO the "Terror at the Mall" a documentary, which was able to tell the story of four terrorists from Somalia, aligned with Al-Qaeda, that strolled into a hi-end shopping mall, known to be popular with foreign residents, and assaulted its' customers and workers with grenades and assault rifles in Nairobi, Kenya.  The documentary was able to tell the story through the use of video footage from security cameras that were utilized in strategic spots throughout the mall.  In this terrorist attack, some 67 civilians were killed, and 175 more were wounded, to which neither courageous off-duty police nor Kenyan military forces were able to successfully engage the four terrorists, before finally some forty-nine hours later, a highly explosive shell was launched into the last known location of the terrorists, essentially incinerating them.  It is important to recognize that within a mall that contained in the neighborhood of 2000 civilians, four terrorists were able to effectively control it all without any of them being stopped by anyone which is effectively the power of the gun.

When Europeans first set foot on America, they were vastly outnumbered by the Native Americans (Indians) that already resided here, just as the Spanish were far outnumbered by the Incas in South America, yet in both cases, the native populations, despite their numerical superiority, their knowledge of their own homeland, were over a period of time either annihilated, decimated, or vanquished by these invaders.  While there are a multitude of reasons why this became so, none are superior to the advantage and the killing power of armaments that the Europeans brought to these shores.  The power of the gun is the power to change history, and while might does not make right, might is often the force that conquers those that do not have it or fail to comprehend it.

We live in a world to which the smuggling of armaments, and the availability of armaments, is a certainty for groups of people that do not have our best interests in mind, but instead wish to assert their own power, or to disrupt ours.  There is little that can be done to interdict these weapons from reaching the hands of our enemies, and while I do not recommend the resignation to this fate, the reality of the situation is that our enemies are armed and ready for action.  Fortunately, in virtually every case, we have superior weapons, superior training, superior intelligence, superior experience, and superior technology, to respond in a manner that will maximize our safety while also allowing us to exploit their weakness and to conquer them. 

There are a lot of legitimate ways to deal with terrorists, by which not all of them involve violence; therefore we have a moral obligation to seek all reasonable ways to rectify or to negotiate our differences that will not involve the sacrifice of human life.   However, when terrorists or any group of individuals crosses the line and puts innocent civilians, women and children to the sword, the response from any nation with any sort of self-respect must be swift, it must be sure, and it must be true, or else you have negated the power of the gun.

The Importance of the Virgin Mary

Jesus the Christ is accepted by Church doctrine to be not only free of original sin, but to have been conceived through the Holy Spirit and not by carnal man, instead He was brought forth onto this good earth by His mother, who carried him in her womb, the Virgin Mary.  The Virgin Mary, herself, is not happenstance, it is not conceivable that the Son of God could be conceived in a non-religious family, not just so that Scripture could be fulfilled, but that the Son of Man must Himself be brought through a vessel that is too, free of original sin, at one with His greatness, as was the Virgin Mary.

Great gifts are given only to great souls; it cannot be any other way.  While there is no need to make a pantheon of great spiritual guides or great spiritual heroes, it is inconceivable that the Virgin Mary, in of herself, could ever be lesser than being the most Magnificent of all incarnated female souls.  Not only was this an honor for the Virgin Mary, it was an honor earned by her exemplary life, brought to fruition in this material world, and based upon her faith, her works, and her dedication to our Lord.

The Virgin Mary should be worshipped by all who are either professed Christians of any of its many faiths, in addition to those that venerate avatars of uncommon gifts and deep spiritual convictions.  To be a mother for any child, is a monumental responsibility, to which none can be more distinguished than being not only the birth mother of our Messiah, but the exemplar to Him of a life lived in accordance with God's divine will and guidance, represented by her obedience to our Lord, her surrender to Him, her chastity, wisdom, faith, and love.

It was the Virgin Mary, her husband Joseph, and their extended family, that created the environment that nurtured and aided in the development of Jesus to His ultimate mission that of being God's ordained Son to which He would show the lost sheep of this world the pathway for salvation and for eternal life.  None of this could have occurred without the Virgin Mary, one cannot be without the other that is why it is told that Anna, who conceived Mary, is considered to have done so immaculately. 

In Luke 7:28, we read these words from Jesus: "For I say unto you, among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."   I submit to you, that the Virgin Mary was herself brought forth from the kingdom of God, because only a Queen can beget a King, which entails the sacrifice, the dedication, the mission, and the testimony of the Virgin Mary. 

Man is given a choice each and every day, to use his free will for good or for evil, for God or for someone or something else.  The Blessed Virgin Mary was too given that same choice, to which during her Annunciation she was informed of her Divine mission, to which Mary accepted this mission as the consecrated handmaiden of the Lord.  To Her be the honor, now and forever more.

Private Browsing is a Misnomer

Any of the major internet browsers, have a feature for "in private" or a similar name for those that wish to browse websites and to not have those websites show up in their history file, and in theory not to place "cookies" onto your computer, or to utilize cached items.  While this is an improvement, in general, to just browsing through the web "willy-nilly", your activities aren't really truly private, since your location, and the websites that you visit, are still tracked by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to which your home is assigned a specific ISP address, that is specific to the contract that was made between your ISP and yourself, and thereby contains your name, and your address.  While it is true that your ISP provider cannot tell to whom is surfing a particular website, because all the occupants of the house will be utilizing the same ISP address, nor that they can they tell whether a visitor is using the web, nor a friend, nor whomever, patterns will be easily determined over a period of time, that will often easily be broken down through sophisticated algorithms so as to determine the most likely demographic makeup of your household.

While there may be some people, perhaps even lots of people, that really don't care whether they are tracked or monitored or not by an outside source, I suspect a significant amount of people may find it truly disturbing that your ISP knows for a certainty the websites that you visit.  The information that your ISP has, is something that can easily be put together to put a profile on you or your loved ones, and also can be an integral part of prosecuting you for certain crimes, such as the illegal downloading of copyrighted material and the like.  Additionally, cyber-savvy police officers are known for using the internet to track alleged child pornography files to the actual ISP addresses that have downloaded the files, so that using your browser in a private mode, will not save you from being found out.  While many Americans will applaud this type of forensic policing, there are absolutely disturbing qualities about how this police work is actually being accomplished, and questions must be asked as to whom does the police compel or advise to work with them, whether legal warrants are provided, whether there is entrapment involved, or whether any files have been misidentified or mislabeled, all of which should worry average Americans. 

The fact that your web browsing is not truly private, that it is in fact out of your control, unless you use different programs or workarounds to "mask" your browsing habits, is disturbing, because it is yet another reflection of how "big brother" monitors everything as if the monitor was actually inside of your house, watching you at all times, monitoring you, instructing you, and taking away your basic freedoms of choice, your expectation of privacy, and even your freedom to think outside what may be the given norm of society in general. 

While the worldwide web offers us all sorts of things, both good and bad, it should not be in the hands of either private enterprise or big government, to monitor what we do in our own house, under our own power, that is clearly a step too far, and it should not be permitted.

Post Office Deficit

Goods don't magically show up at your business or your place of residence without someone physically driving that piece of mail or package to you, and that requires fuel, labor, logistics, and effort.  Whereas Federal Express (despite the name this is not a government-owned business), UPS, DHL, and numerous other small delivery services are able to make it their business to deliver packages and other items efficiently, on-time, and to be on-going and self-sufficient corporations.  This would strongly imply, that our USPS should be able to somehow provide the same sort of service without any net taxpayer cost, but this is hardly the case, despite the fact, that since 2006, the cost of 1st class postage for regular mail has increased by over 25%, and for the first 3 ounces of packages, that increase has been over 300%.

Another significant problem for the USPS is that their volume of mail has declined precipitously from 2006, when they delivered over 213 billion pieces of mail to around 160 billion pieces of mail in 2013. In any normal business environment, this would be a clarion call that business as usual should desist, and that fundamental changes are mandated.  The bottom line is that USPS is not as efficient as it could be and changes need to be mandated as soon as possible for the benefit of the taxpayers and for the industry in general.

For instance, there has been discussion off and on, for several years, about eliminating Saturday delivery, and the time to implement that change is now.  The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this change would save somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-2.5 billion dollars per year.  However, I do believe that starting from the Saturday after Thanksgiving and ending on the Saturday after New Year's Day, Saturday service by the USPS should be continued, since this is the busiest time of year.

Additional savings could also be realized by mandated 10% reductions in staffing, in postal offices, and the freezing of wage and retirement benefits, until such time as the post office either returns to a breakeven status or to a surplus, to which in order to provide incentives to do so, a bonus pool could be constructed just for this particular contingency.  It is high time to look upon the post office as an unnecessary government monopoly that should be put on a tight leash, by which, if they are not able to right the ship within the next three to four years that more stringent steps should be taken to perhaps privatize the entire industry. 

There is little doubt, that companies such as UPS or Federal Express, in conjunction with local services, would be able to ramp up and take over the duties and responsibilities that are currently performed by our postal service, without necessitating subsidies from taxpayers.  Perhaps, our current structure of mail being delivered to our mailbox Monday through Saturday, would have to be modified, amended, transformed, or changed, but whatever those changes were, certainly, the burden upon the recipients would not be much, and in all probability the overall service would be better.

It isn't so much that our post office is currently run poorly or incompetently, it is the fact that it can't seem to perform without running massive yearly deficits which it did to tune of nearly $16 billion in 2013, whereas UPS made a profit of $4.4 billion, even though their respective revenues were relatively comparable.

Penal Colonies

The United States leads the world in the incarceration of its own citizens for crimes such as murder, robbery, burglary, rape, drugs, fraud, and so many other criminal offenses, to the tune of over two million Americans that are in a state, local, or federal prison system.  There is a cost to society for imprisoning all of these people, not just to the pocketbook of the taxpayers, but to the collective psyche of our nation, to the convicts themselves, and to the testimony of our country and the foundation upon which it rests.  I do submit to you, that is not possible to declare America the "freest nation on the earth" when it incarcerates the most people in the world, and this is a disgrace to this country's principles and to its own motto, that believes in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Placing human beings into what are essentially cages, dehumanizing them, punishing them, discarding them, treating them as unworthy, and showing a lack of concern or compassion to them are not the acts of a nation that believes that they are their brother's keeper.  America is better than its current situation of incarcerating so many, so often, for reasons that have more often to do with bad circumstances,  bad laws, weak minds, and corrupted situations, than that America is a nation, unique, that just seems to breed criminals at a much higher rate than any other nation on earth.

Perhaps criminals should be manhandled, punished, and mistreated, but it seems that this has already been the unwritten policy of this great nation for too long, that we must instead look at alternate programs that are not only more cost-efficient, but fairer, imaginative, and that have redeeming value. 

Criminals have been around in one form or another since time immemorial, with punishments ranging from death to disfigurement to public humiliation to incarceration and to all things in-between.  Historically, prisoners have also been transported to islands, to countries such as Australia, even America in pre-revolutionary times, or to designated areas within countries that were typically desolate and empty. 

America is a large nation, with many areas of our land that are completely unpopulated, remote, and own by the Federal government or the State government, or held in perpetuity for the people themselves.  While I do not advocate modern chain gangs, I do admire work-release or work programs for convicts, but we can do even better, have even more far reaching consequences, if we take certain designated areas of this country, and provide the space, knowhow, and equipment to create meaningful things in areas of the country that are lacking them, such as fresh running water, roads, electricity, sewage, fencing, crops, infrastructure, or so forth depending upon the circumstances or the situation. 

Virtually every man is capable of doing some sort of work, with his hands, or with his mind, why not provide our prisoners with a real opportunity to be responsible, to take pride in what they accomplish, and to thereby reap the benefits therewith.  In situations to which the convicts are no longer actually locked up, technology can still track them, can still keep them within certain designated areas, through GPS tracking and the like.  Idle hands are the devil's tools, and while giving a man a fish will satiate that hunger for a while, teaching a man how to fish can change a life forever.

Our First Black President - How?

Until President Obama was first elected in 2008, every President of the United States had been white, but somehow Obama was able to turn this fact on its head in 2008, but how?  While we must give obvious credit to President Obama for his intelligence, his persona, his commitment, his education, his adult background, and his political team, he would not have become our 44th President of the United States, if it had not been for those that helped to blaze the trail for him.

For instance, the first black presidential candidate for office, that was at least accorded some mainstream respect was the 7-time congresswoman from New York, Shirley Chisholm, who took a run at the presidency in 1972, to which her campaign really never got much traction, yet she was noticed, received 28 delegates in total, and at a minimum was a voice that was heard.  In 1980s, the Reverend Jesse Jackson with his rainbow coalition, twice made valiant attempts to take down the Democratic nomination for the presidency, to which in 1988, after his Michigan primary win, he was frontrunner in delegates pledged, ahead of Michael Dukakis, further Jackson consistently polled either first or second in delegation contests, winning outright 11 states, and although Jackson would ultimately fall short of becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, yet his run proved the legitimacy of his candidacy.

Another factor that was very important to Obama and to his ultimate success was his media coverage, but not just your traditional television news programs, newspapers, and the internet, but the media also of films and mainstream television.  For example, in the 1990s there were two successful films that portrayed the President as being black which were the Fifth Element and Deep Impact.  In 2001, Fox brought out its very successful television series, 24, with Kiefer Sutherland in the lead role, while the black actor Dennis Haysbert played the President with a commanding voice, who was also seen as decisive, determined, fair, and effective.  These positive commercial media portrayals of blacks in the position of the Chief Executive for the United States were of incalculable benefit for breaking through preconceived barriers.

Finally, there is the general fact that women are more likely to vote in general, more likely to vote democratic and are consequently more liberal in not only their general viewpoints, but are also more liberal in seeing the character of a person, as opposed to the simplicity of judging a person by the color of a man's skin.   Additionally, as time has marched on, the complexion of the voting population has seen declines in the percentage of white voters, and increases in the percentage of minority voters in general, and in particular, people of color.  Also, for many years, blacks have been significantly underrepresented as voters in America, but over the last two generations, their registration numbers have increased significantly.

All of these factors are plausible reasons as to why Obama was first elected President in 2008, and together these were the base that Obama was able to build upon to create and to become our first black President.  Now President Obama, by virtue of having become our first President of color, has for all-time opened up new vistas for people that do not fit the traditional color or complexion or creed that is identified with America.   Instead he has impressed upon us, that this is a country for all Americans, and helped America to live up to its high principles that we are all created equal by our Creator.

Facebook, the Government, and the Super-rich

The market capitalization of Facebook is in the staggering amount of nearly $200 billion.  Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder, is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $33 billion.  These numbers are absolutely astonishing considering that the concept and the construction of Facebook were started not even ten years ago.  Mark Zuckerberg comes from a degree of privilege, as his father is a well-respected dentist and his mother an accomplished psychiatrist.  While the Zuckerbergs’ proper are certainly well off, they are not super-rich, nor especially privileged, what they are in fact are very intelligent, hard working, and dedicated.  Mark Zuckerberg’s greatest asset is his super-hi intelligence and the fact that his parents provided him with a very stable and productive family life.  There is absolutely no surprise that Mark Zuckerberg is quite successful, what is only a surprise is that his wealth is staggering to consider at almost every conceivable level.

Having created this enormous wealth this has also created an interesting paradox for Mark Zuckerberg, as Facebook is no longer a privately-held corporation, but in fact one of the largest corporations in the world by market capitalization to which the biggest stockholders of Facebook have a tremendous and abiding invested interest in seeing that its success continues.  All of this may sound like an exclusive good but it isn’t, because essentially Facebook is in the business of accumulating massive amounts of both specific and extremely personal information about individuals which is a tremendous power in its own right.  While Facebook can state that they don’t solicit this information, that this information is instead provided via the free volition of its users, this is really not the complete truth of the matter.  Facebook and its compatriots are making it their business to accumulate, correlate, and to market their database to those that have a desire for this impressive and comprehensive encyclopedia of personal minutiae while not fairly disclosing this pertinent information to their users.

Facebook's accumulation of information that they may consider being company privileged is, in fact, a treasure trove of information that the government and its agencies have an urgent and abiding interest to be a part of.  At its best, Facebook may behave in such a manner as to try to prevent or to preclude the disclosing of such sensitive information to government agencies, and we can see that they are indeed concerned about this undesired government intrusion because of the recent placement of high political figures, such as, Ted Ullyot, Marne Levine, Joel Kaplan and many others to work at Facebook.  This implies at best that Facebook is trying to “make nice” with the government, and at its worst, implies that Facebook is merely exercising damage control.  No matter how you conclude the former, what cannot be denied are vested interests that in aggregate are more powerful than the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, will never allow, nor permit the market capitalization and the influence of Facebook to be endangered.  Essentially, this means that what the government wants from Facebook, they will get, sooner or later, in the format that they desire, sooner or later, and Facebook, despite whatever public or private protests that they make, will give in to government agencies, because the only value of making any sort of principled stand against said government agencies, will be for public show, deception, or for their own gratification.

The super-rich and the government or its’ proxies do not and have never opposed one another.  Instead, they have a symbiotic relationship between each other, and while for public consumption it may appear that they are at loggerheads from time-to-time, the end result will always be essentially the same.  A powerful centralized government always gets what it wants, if it doesn’t, you will for the first time understand exactly how much or how little power that you truly have, as the government that controls directly or through proxy the printing and issuing of currency, its treasury rates, and thereby the

vicissitudes of the stock market, are the absolute arbiters of whether they will or will not allow you to continue to play with them.

Every Man A King

There is something about the saying "every man a King" that I have always loved, mainly because it is probably just about everyone's fantasy to be a King or to be a Queen so it resonates deeply inside all of us.  Back in 1934, the Louisiana Senator Huey Long, later to be assassinated the very next year, brought forth his radio speech best known as "every man a King" to which he stated that "when you have a country where there are four men, as in America, that have got more control over things than all the 120,000,000 people together, you know what the trouble is."  He expounded well upon his vision that if we were to share the great wealth of this nation through the means, for instance, of a progressive income tax, and then utilizing that found money for better education, for better pensions, for better opportunity, and for better benefits for the whole of the nation, that this country would prosper as a whole.  Through it all, the point that Senator Long was making was that America was far from the ideal of being a true land of opportunity for all, but instead was a country that favored the very few against the multitude of the many, to which these few perpetuated their wealth and their power from generation to generation.

Fast forward nearly four generations into the present day, and the United States' wealth in aggregate is the greatest wealth in the entire world, to which its per capita income per person is within the top ten in the world at large, and additionally its wealth is by far the largest of any country with a population greater than 100 million, so that it isn't until Japan which has less than half the population of the United States, and is itself a substantial 40% below America on a per capita income basis, that any country with real population is even in the neighborhood of our wealth.  America which has less than 5% of the population of the entire world is the richest country in the world, technologically advanced, well educated, militarily strong, and the de facto leader of the world.  Yet, through it all, its income disparity is shockingly large, meaning that there are Kings in America, but most every man is certainly not one of them.

According to the Huffington Post, in regards to the USA distribution of wealth in 2010, the bottom 40% of Americans have a negative worth of .9% of the overall wealth of America, whereas the top 1% have 35.4% of its wealth.  This essentially means that through all of our government programs, all of our government agencies, and all of our many and numerous tax codes, far from America becoming a country that is becoming more equal in the distribution of income or in the actual sharing of its great wealth, the disparity between the haves and the have-nots is ever growing wider.  While this certainly doesn't mean that America as an experiment has failed, it does definitely mean that America as it is currently structured is inherently unfair, and that this disgraceful disparity will not correct itself without some sort of concentrated action, change, and effort.

For a country that proclaims that we are all created equal, and further that we are all entitled to the pursuit of happiness, it must then live up to these very high ideals, or admit that instead the American ideal is indeed a myth, a fraud, a bad bill of goods, never to be fulfilled.  America has already done the hard part which was the creation of its wealth and the edifice for which it stands upon, but if America continues to insist upon "wringing the bread from the sweat of other men's faces", it will rue the day that it had the hubris to believe that God destined this land to be a Kingdom for His glory, rather than indeed to treat every man as if he was a King, which necessitates respect, courtesy, and consideration.