Fish Farming

About 71 percent of the planet is water and not land.  Additionally, although there is United Nations sanctioned Law of the Sea, to a large scale, and once away fromclearly demarcated coastal waters, the ocean is seen more as being held in common by all peoples, and subsequently suffers from the "tragedy of the commons", which simply means that when we all are perceived to have equal rights to something, that certain people and industries will have a strong tendency to take more, especially those that are bigger or have more sophisticated techniques and equipment, because their attitude can simply be broken down into one of "better that I get it, rather than someone else" , because ultimately the whole exercise is seen as a zero-sum game.  This means that in certain parts of our vast ocean that fishing stocks have become depleted, or have become negatively impacted for various reasons, to the long-term detriment of the fishing industry, the aqua-environment, and the balance of these in general.

Through the years, mankind has become master of his own food supply, to which, the days of hunting down food as a necessity or a way of life, has been replaced as merely something to do as sport.  For instance, today, if you want cattle or poultry products, you aren't going to go to the trouble of targeting those animals in the wild, instead you are going to raise them up under a typically very specific, master plan, which in the course of events, includes: growth hormones, supplements, antibiotics, cages, fences, tagging, artificial lighting, and overall efficiency which didn't exist even a couple of generations ago.  From a consumer standpoint, we are the beneficiaries of beef and poultry products that are mass produced because they cost us a lot less money in the pocketbook as well as being easier to procure because of these efficiencies.

Havinghad such great success in production of food products based on land-based animals, mankind has taken the next step to master the sea-based fish world as well, so that the harvesting principles previously created for animals are now being used to handle salmon, tilapia, shrimp, trout, cod, and other species of fish.   This means that, once again, the consumer is the beneficiary of this efficiency, and this is the basic reason why you are able to find easily within your grocery stores or restaurants a plentiful selection of fish and shrimp at very reasonable pricing.  Fish farming or aqua-farming is not meant to replace the fishing of lakes and oceans by commercial or indigenous people but as a necessary supplement to it, so that the oceans and lakes can begin to recover from having been over-fished for so long.

 While there has been justified criticism about fish farming in the sense that fish spawned from many of these farms are much more likely to have a higher concentration of antibiotics and pesticides as well as being typically of a lower nutritional value as a comparable wild-caught fish, this isn't unusual given the circumstances of spawning fish in such a manner as to maximize their growth and yield with all this to be accomplished within a given time frame.  This means, that the FDA must be about its "P's and Q's" in helping to assure that the American public consumes fish that is both safe and within the appropriate guidelines for its consumption.

America: A Constitutional Democracy?

History appears to be one of those subjects that often gets the short shrift and seems like a waste of time to many people, as too many of those that live in the present, fool themselves into believing that either "this time things are really different" or that the past has no real relevancy in regards to our current age.  Additionally, when it comes to the structure and the running of our government, in general, a lot of people don't really care too much, figuring that there is nothing that they can actually do to effect change, as well as recognizing that their one vote won't ever amount to much.  The thing is, despite the apathy of so many, as well as the devious desires of others, the purpose of our revolt in 1776 was clearly stated in our Declaration of Independence.  Later, when our successful and bloody revolution was victorious, our thirteen separate States united behind a Constitution to govern its people, as a Republic.  Our Constitution, clearly states in Article IV, Section 4, that: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government."  Not only that, but our Founding Fathers, were enlightened and educated men, that knew the differences and the dangers of a Democracy as compared to a Republican form of government.  Yet today, it is common to hear from media as well as pundits that we as Americans live in a Democratic nation.

While it is one thing to give all adults that have reached the age of eighteen, suffrage voting, that, in of itself, does not make for a Democracy in this country, it is at best, the allowing of all citizens an equal vote within their Constitutional Republic.  At no time, should the equal access to the ballot box, mean anything more than an equal opportunity for people to vote for issues that are within the domain of its Constitution in the first place.

 The fundamental flaw within a Democracy is the fact that when it is that the majority always rules, this places the majority in such a position as to oppress and to exploit the minority as well as to impress its viewpoints, unless the rule of law is so strong and secure as to somehow stand against the majority, or unless the Constitution is obeyed as the law of the land, or unless the judiciary as an independent branch of the government is able to strike down as "unlawful" the proposed rules by the majority.   The main error that people make in believing that a Democracy is the fairest way to govern people, is ceding control of their unalienable rights granted to them by their Creator to governmental agencies and in essence, to mob rule. 

Our Constitution was not created for factions, was not created for political parties, and was not created for privileged elite, but instead was created for the people and by the people, as a limited government, so as to secure to the people the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Our Constitution does not guarantee to anyone, prosperity, health, employment, or wealth, nor was it ever intended to do so.  Those that believe that the majority should rule will find in the end, no pot of gold, no freedom, and instead will have forged the chains of steel that will ultimately imprison them.

Wireless Emergency Alerts

While watching television all of us have been exposed from time-to-time to a test of the "Emergency Broadcast System" and the blah, blah, blah that comes behind it, which preempts whatever program, live or pre-recorded that you were watching, but this type of warning has been augmented to sync to our modern times with our "Wireless Emergency Alerts" which come straight to our cell phones, with messages alerting us of possibly imminent weather emergencies.  On the surface, this appears to be a great public service and to a certain degree it is, because the weather alert is both timely sent and of pertinence, but like many things, there is a much darker side.

For instance, according to the nws.noaa.gov/com website the: "WEA use radio technology to broadcast the alert from cell towers to mobile devices in the area of the threat."  This means that no matter what your phone area code is, whoever has a cell phone in that area that is capable of receiving such a message will receive it; although most phones do have an option buried deep inside of allowing the user to opt-out of this type of public service announcement.  However, there is something distinct implied behind this type of power and authority that although the government has the power and the authorization to co-opt cell towers in order to provide this type of emergency alert, who is to say that in situations of public unrest, that the government might not see fir to commandeered cell phone towers, internet service providers and the like to either control or to disrupt communications by mobile and other devices.

The bottom line is a government that is big enough, powerful enough, and invasive enough to provide you with all sorts of information under the guise that it is there to protect you, is the exact same governmental power that can be abused in such a way as to take your civil liberties and freedom away from you.    It would be no stretch of the imagination, to foresee a time when through the guise of an "emergency" that our government would implement its capability to herd certain designated segments of its population away from their homes, which are secured to the individual through our Fourth Amendment rights, to a designated area within a particular community, which would thereby place our citizenry into a very vulnerable position, rife with the possibilities of exploitation or worse.

As a matter of course, our government understands the value of having a fearful population, because a population that lives in a constant fear, is always easily susceptible to complying with rules and regulations that are in theory based around their safety, but in actuality effectively shackles their freedoms and liberties, as a trade-off for what they believe to be, security, but is instead built around an illusion of it.

While I have the utmost admiration for those people and government facilities that wisely and prudently provide us with true emergency aid, not everyone that speaks of having our best interests in mind, is, in fact, the earthly representation of the good shepherd.

The Majority Rules

At the most basic level, having a democracy means that the majority rules, or even at times when it comes to voting, that the plurality rules.  For instance, if only two people are running for office or if there is a proposition on the ballot to which it is either voting for or against, in both of these cases, the majority will be greater than 50%.  However, in those cases to which there are more than two politicians running for office, such as you will often get with political contests, and  to which one of the so-called "third parties" has a candidate with either a high name recognition or appeal, the candidate sometimes winning in those contests will not actually have the majority of votes (i.e. over 50%), but instead just a plurality of the votes, such as 48%, but since this percentage is greater than each of his individual opponents, and because of that plurality, that candidate will be declared the winner.  Under those particular circumstances, you could make the argument, that the majority has actually been thwarted since in aggregate more than 50% of the people have voted against the winning candidate, and that therefore the people might be better served, under a subsequent "run-off" election, with the top two finishers, so that the ultimate result will be that the elected winner will have at the end of the day the majority of actual votes cast.

Many people believe that it is fair, that the person or proposition that garners the most votes is declared victorious, but this too assumes that the people that cast the votes all have equal access to the ballot in the first place.  For instance, in America, the age at which you can first vote is eighteen, however, if you fail to register to vote, or fail to register to vote by the designated cut-off date to vote, you will not be eligible to vote, even though you may at the time the voting takes place, desire to do so.  Further to this point, if you are impoverished, or imprisoned, or a convicted felon, or crippled in some way, you may not legally be entitled to vote, or you may not have the wherewithal to get to the voting polls to vote.  Additionally, there are certain races, creeds, communities, income and age groups that are more inclined to vote in the first place, so that there is never an actually true representation of voters or the population at large at the polling booth.

Still, for the most part, most people believe that having the majority rule is fair and proper, but there is a very thin line between the majority ruling and mob rule because without constitutional principles, and without a rule of law which comes from natural law, the majority will in certain circumstances see fit to run roughshod over the minority.  This means that in any government which adheres to the principle that the majority rules, this should be tempered by the fact that the majority rules only within the constraints of constitutional government which is setup to protect and to secure the unalienable rights of individuals.

Another point to make, is at the time of Christ, we read, "… Pilate said unto them, whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? …. The governor answered and said unto them, whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas."   Incredibly, the people were given the opportunity to have Jesus the Christ released or Barabbas; as was the given custom by the Roman governor for the Jews at Passover, yet, given this opportunity, the people, whether goaded or not, whether corrupted or not, whether a true representation of the people or not, voted against Christ. 

For those that believe strongly that the majority should rule, that the majority is always right, simply because it is the majority, remember well, how the majority voted when it came to the Christ.

The East Coast, the Appalachians, and Population Density

At the time of America's revolution, there were a total of thirteen colonies, of which all of them were located on the east coast.  When we fast forward to the present time, we find that when we look at the population density of the States of our Union, the top seven States by population density are all founding colony States, with the eighth ranking State being Florida.  In fact, the lowest rated State of our original founding colonies is ranked #21 in population density (South Carolina).  As of 2010, the population of the States that have some portion of their border on the Eastern seaboard was over 112 million, whereas the population of all the States that have some portion of their border on the Western seaboard was not quite 48 million. 

These facts and statistics point to a couple of significant points such as at the inception of America, the Appalachian mountain range which originates in the southern part of Canada before ultimately terminating in central Alabama was a natural border that separated the colonists from other foreign empires such as France, as well as being separated from the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.  It also means that originally to go west in America, meant to travel beyond the Appalachian mountain range to the regions lying just west of there, that was at the time, considered to be the frontier of America and the beginnings of its expansion.   Another point to be made is although America is a country to which many people have traveled or moved from one destination to another, it is also a country that many people once coming here have subsequently established long and stable roots within a certain community and consequently that is why the States with the highest population density are and will continue to be those that were our original colonies.

There is, of course, another very important point to make about the United States of America, which makes it dynamically different than Europe, for instance, whereas Europe has many countries of different sizes and principalities, all on the same continent; North America,  on the other hand, is essentially a continent that consists of just three big countries which are Canada, the USA, and Mexico.  This means, in essence, that although we take it for granted that America runs from sea to shining sea, it could very easily have been a country surrounded by other nationalities and principalities, which, in fact, it once was.

We often wonder why it is that so much power and money seems to reside in certain locations such as the northeastern section of America.  The answer to that question is fundamentally found in the fact that money, power, education, and opportunity abound there because the roots of those institutions are of long standing and of long lasting value, that passes from one generation to the next, to which some of those peoples can trace their heritage all the way back to the founding of this great nation and are proud to be part of the bedrock which represents America at its best.

The American Aristocracy

America was founded by those coming to America in order to be able to freely express their religious views without the fear of oppression or interference by State authorities.  The origins of America do not contain any aristocratic titles for the people coming here nor did it have to deal with the long embedded hierarchy of a State-sponsored established church.  For the most part, this country was founded by men and women yearning to be free from the yoke ofboth religious intolerance as well as the escaping from the unnecessary interference of a State treating its subjects as its servants made for their pleasure as well as to help them to continue to augment their power.

Our Declaration of Independence in 1776, made it quite clear that our call for freedom, was a call based on the premise that all men are created equal, with certain unalienable rights, and that to secure those rights governments are instituted amongst men, under the consent of the governed.   Further to this point since tyranny had no place in America, the allegiance of its citizens were made to each other, for their safety and for their happiness.

Although America, today, still does not have noble titles as you so often see in countries that are located within Europe, the functioning of America clearly shows that there is an unfair and biased division within America that separates the privileged elite, typically of inherited power and wealth, from the body politic, in general.  For instance, when looking at the highest power in our land, the Presidency, we have several dynastic factions, which include the Kennedys, the Clintons, and the Bushes.  John F. Kennedy, was elected to the Presidency in 1960, later was assassinated, to which his brother Robert had an excellent chance of becoming nominated/elected in 1968 before he too was assassinated, and then later his brother Ted Kennedy, ran for the Democratic nomination in 1980, and ended up serving in the US Senate for the fourth-longest period of time of any Senator ever.  The Kennedy family is numerous, wealthy, and with an excellent name recognition, so no doubt, some Kennedy will once again come to the fore, to run for the Presidency in the future.  Bill Clinton was a two-term President, to which, his wife, Hillary Clinton, became a US Senator in 2000, was re-elected, later ran for the Presidency in 2008, later yet was appointed by Obama as our Secretary of State, and is the odds-on favorite to win the Democratic nomination for the Presidency in 2016.  George H.W. Bush was a one-term President, his son George W. Bush, became a two-term President and his brother Jeb Bush, is a two-term Governor of Florida, and is set to run for the Presidency in 2016.

Then there are those that created their wealth in America and have been able to pass on this wealth, power, and prestige from generation to generation, to which we have familiar names, such as the Astor family, the Du Pont family, the Roosevelt family, the Rockefellers, and the Forbes, to mention just a few of the most prominent families.  These dynasties have an undue influence upon America as a whole, to which their concern is far from being just ordinary citizens within America, but instead to be part and parcel of the privileged elite, having access to power and the benefits that most Americans would quiver in envy to even approach. 

America, most definitely has an aristocracy, considered in many ways to be untouchable, they live differently from you and I, they think and behave differently, they are treated differently, and their presence in America makes a big difference to the stability, fairness, liberty, and justice of America.  The American experience is different for having this aristocracy, an aristocracy that effectively is above the law, because it is a law unto itself.

The Abortion of Obama

President Obama has made his position on abortion quite clear and consistent over the years, believing strongly in a woman's right to protect their health and to have reproductive freedom, stating that: "… I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose and this fundamental constitutional right…" Obama has also stated in regards to his daughters that:  “I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby.”  Clearly, Obama's words and beliefs when it comes to a woman's right to choose are unequivocal and clear, additionally there are also in conformance with current federal law.

I wonder though about the birth of President Obama, himself, to which he was born in Hawaii in 1961.  At that time abortion was not legal in Hawaii, even though later Hawaii would be the first State in the Union to legalize abortion, but that would not occur until 1970.  Further to this point, his mother, an intelligent woman, became pregnant with Barack Obama, before she was even eighteen, and was at the time of Barack's conception, unmarried, involved with a man that was an intelligent exchange student, six years her senior, born in a different country, from a different religion, and already a married father with two children, of which there was a legitimate question as to whether Barack's father was indeed, even divorced.

Giving this aforementioned information, and imagining that the court decision and the consequences of Roe v. Wade had been made not in 1973, but in 1960, and that there was a Planned Parenthood facility or something similar in Honolulu, to which Senator Obama stated in 2007, "Thanks to all of you at Planned Parenthood for all the work that you are doing for women…", of which Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of reproductive health services in America, one must wonder using the logic and Obama's own words and viewpoint, what advice Planned Parenthood would have given Ms. Dunham at the time of her pregnancy should she had come into their facility for counseling.

Isn't this in short, President Obama, arguing for his own abortion, because could it not be easily construed that Ms. Dunham's pregnancy was indeed a youthful mistake,  an unfortunate indiscretion, and that a baby being born from that mistake would be a form of unfair punishment against Ms. Dunham?  This would appear to be the only reasonable and logical conclusion that one could draw when taking into account Obama's position in regards to abortion and a woman's right to choose.

The fact of the matter is we do not know how a given aborted child would have turned out, because in actuality that child's life has been terminated before the child has ever been born.  Perhaps a woman's right to choose should trump all, perhaps that right should be mitigated; it's a complicated subject, with moral and human consequences of immense importance; of no less importance than the White House, itself.

Smart-phones and Rip Van Winkle

The most sophisticated cell phones today are considered to be smart-phones which allows these phones to do far more than simply communicate via telephone or by text, but act more like a micro-computer with literally thousands and thousands of applications available for smart-phones, to which most smart-phones as a matter of course are configured with a fairly impressive camera, talk-to-text, mobile hotspot, Wi-Fi connectivity, hi-resolution screen, GPS, and expandable memory to name a few of their most important capabilities.  Of course, all this power contained within a handheld phone means that the customer has to come up with the money to pay for it, additionally to keep up with the "Joneses" to re-pay for it every two years or less, and unlike virtually all other hi-technology products that have been getting both more sophisticated as well as cheaper in "real" terms, smart-phones have been getting more sophisticated but without much price elasticity.

Imagine though, that Rip Van Winkle was to wake up after a very extended slumber and come across one of today's smart-phone to which a very patient and tech savvy person was able to walk Rip Van Winkle through all of its many and myriad capabilities.  There wouldn't be any doubt that Rip Van Winkle would be suitably impressed and wowed by all this power, convenience, and multitude of features contained within the smart-phone.  However, in Rip's re-acquaintance to the world at large he might come across some things that would intrigue him. 

For instance, when he walked into your living room and saw your smart-TV, with its impressive hi-resolution, its powerful surround sound system, its 3D capabilities, and the sheer quantity of media entertainment available on your 60" screen, he might look a little askance at your smart-phone and wonder why anyone would want to watch TV on that little phone w. substandard sound when he could partake in all that your TV offered.

Then later as you took a trip to the outdoors and took our your expensive DSLR camera, Rip would be stunned at its resolution, the power and perception of its telephoto lens, the slow motion capabilities of its movie mode, its awesome ability to focus up-close on a budding flower, or to capture a "flying squirrel" in mid-air, all would absolutely find Rip at a loss for words.

Still later, deep within the woods, your smart-phone would no longer have service as the lack of proximity to a cell tower would serve to put it out of service, but your satellite-based GPS device would continue to work, and would ease Rip's concerns about your capability of finding your way back out of the woods and back into civilization.

In fact, the more time that Rip spent with you the more that he couldn't help but notice that although your smart-phone seemed to do most everything that you wished to accomplish, most admirably, that these other stand-alone deviceson the other hand were even better, perhaps considerably better.  Rip not necessarily being the brightest person on the planet, and quite frankly just beginning to get up to speed, wondered though, perhaps a device that tries to be all things to all people, or to do all things that can be done, could be simplified, but he feared voicing that opinion as he didn't wish to be mistaken for a fool.

Noah's Ark Represents the New Eden

The Bible is filled with metaphors, aphorisms, parables, and other great symbols that aren't necessarily absorbed into our minds upon the first reading of it.  In the beginning was the Word, but within this beginning, mankind disobeyed to his own destruction God's instruction not to partake of the tree of knowledge. Having partaken of this forbidden fruit, mankind brought upon itself the awesome knowledge of whom he really was on this material plane, but without the attendant wisdom mandated to render correct and good judgments.  Man's eyes were now open to recognize that he was yet indeed a child of the great God, but somehow too, he was entrapped within a physical body which had physical sensations that were at odds to his spiritual nature and served to sever the direct ties to God himself.  Placed within this position, mankind soon found out that being a mini-god with the ability and the knowledge to take actions and to make decisions on this planet, made him somewhat of a master of himself and this world.    However, once encased within this world, mankind was destined to suffer the laws of physicality, of pleasure but also of pain, of joy but also of sadness, of life but also of physical death, and through it all he lost sight of whom he really was, and came to often to believe that this world was all that ever was.

However, Noah was a righteous man, blameless in the sight of God, unlike the vast majority of human beings which had become corrupt and degenerative, to which it was their evil and selfish actions that inevitably led to the destruction of their lands on earth, because a people that will not look for salvation from He who knows the number of the very hairs on your head, is a people that even God cannot save from its own demise.  The flood did come not because of God's divine punishment upon a wicked people, but to demonstrate that those that turn their back on their Lord, in fact, believe that they themselves are gods of a certain sort, that they know best, and that they can do anything without consequences, are in error, because man's conscious separation from its Creator, is a law that can only end in darkness.

Those that entered upon Noah's Ark were the true believers of God, tested and true to His word.  Noah's Ark would not have been necessary had mankind remained faithful and true to their Lord, but in absence of this, a baptismal cleansing of earth was mandated.  Noah and his descendants represent the great hope of mankind, the opportunity to be cognizant of who we really are, and thereby to live to that knowledge, ultimately becoming one once again with our Lord.

There was never going to be just one Eden, because when mankind ate of the forbidden fruit, so that he could have free will and thereby to challenge God's authority, a never-ending cycle commenced, to which no matter how long the process takes, in the end, it cannot be other than what it always was going to be, that is to say, the wayward child will return to the fold, because in the darkness of ignorance, there is no light.

Listening to Your Call

Joel Osteen, the pastor of Lakewood Church, has a weekly program that is broadcast over several different television stations all over America.  Most people that watch this program, watch the thirty minute version which is quite good and upbeat, however, on the station Daystar, the program instead of being just thirty minutes is one hour in length, with the first half-hour of the Joel Osteen broadcast being devoted to the music/worship team of devotional music, to which I believe most of the compositions are original constructions done by the artists on behalf of Lakewood Church.  While watching this program over the years you get use to hearing the same songs, seeing the same faces, as well as seeing the same musicians, although there may be guest artists from time-to-time.  While watching though, over a period of time I began to get fascinated by seeing just a glimpse of a tall African-American man, of impressive girth, that would only be on my television screen for literally just a fraction of a second, usually seen in the background, but over a considerable period of time, I discerned that he was now getting perhaps a couple of seconds of screen time which enabled me to note that he usually was in-between two female singers and typically wore a vested brown sweater.  During the time of my watching him, he has never become that break-out personality at Lakewood Church, but I don't feel that is his purpose, after all, he probably feels spiritual satisfaction in being on stage in front of thousands of people at the service, as well as being broadcast all over the nation, to which I believe that he feels his highest service is simply responding to the call of God and being of service to our Lord in whatever capacity that our Creator best sees fit.

While many of us perhaps have fantasized about being some great superstar, the fact of the matter is, superstars aren't really even necessary in life.  What life demands from each of us, is our devotion to a cause or to a concern that means something to us, as well as providing benefit to others that surround us.  The real heroes of our age are the people that provide kindness in their actions and their deeds to those that are both down on their luck as well as being down on their selves; that also provide service and aid to those that are hurting, as well as providing a sympathetic ear and touch, to those that are feeling hurt and unloved. 

While all of us can admire those that have accomplished great deeds and accomplishments, each of us has a calling that is specific for us.  For most people, that calling is as simple as just doing good to those that we come in contact with, to make the world a brighter and better place for having us participate in it, to refresh those that are thirsty, to feed those that are hungry, and to clothe those that are unclothed.  No life has been lived in vain, if it has brought a smile, a ray of sunshine, goodness, or a blessing to others in our day-to-day activities. 

It is wise to understand and to recognize that each day is an opportunity to be the best person that you can be, and each step forward that we take in our kindness, consideration, and devotion to others, is a stepping-stone to God, himself.

Empathy

You probably have heard the saying that "a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged, and a liberal is a conservative who has been arrested," and there is a lot of truth in that wisdom.  In point of fact, most people day by day, have enough to do or think about, that they aren't truly concerned about other people in general. In particular most people aren't overly concerned about other people's feelings, or what is really going on in their lives because they have plenty enough in their own life to worry or to contemplate about.  While one can call this pure selfishness on their part, it isn't necessarily selfishness, it can just be a vague lack of concern for things that don't trouble or concern that person's particular bailiwick.

However, the point to be made, is that we live in a society of people, to which, we should be concerned about our fellow brothers and sisters, not only because no man is an island unto himself, but because it is our humanitarian duty to love each other as good neighbors.  The first step towards developing empathy with others is to actually listen and to pay attention to other people.  Far too many of us, as a matter of course, don't listen all that well to others or provide that focused attention which is so vital to meaningful communication, because we are in actuality not overly concerned with another person's viewpoint, but more concerned that they don't waste too much of our time, or try to impose themselves upon us, or simply that they don't take too long to make their point.

It is difficult to be empathetic, for a lot of reasons, to which one of the most important ones is that if you have not actually lived in another person's shoes, it is hard to fathom exactly what they are saying or where they are coming from.  For instance, even in cases to which people have literally lived in another person's shoes, such as "Black Like Me", to which a white man successfully re-imaged himself as a black man; that experience while authentic on certain levels such as the fact that the "mask" was successful in fooling both black as well as white that John Howard Griffin was indeed a black man, could not at the same time fully encapsulate what it was to be a black man in the south in 1959, because Griffin was not educated as a black man, wasn’t raised as a black man, and didn't live as a black man, because, he wasn't actually black.  Still, the experience, set in the racial tensions of its time, was enlightening, to say the least, and most definitely was an experience that led to a profound understanding of racial perceptions in America from a "black" perspective.

If you haven't been very short in height, or extremely overweight, or gay in a hostile community, or of the wrong religion, or of the wrong race, or from the wrong type of family, or have the wrong clothes, or grown up surrounded by negative role models, it is virtually impossible to really empathize successfully with these types of people.  However, the first step in all of these situations, is not to be judgmental, not to jump to conclusions, but instead to take the time and to have the consideration to let that person have their say, so that through your interactions with each other, you can look behind the veneer, to feel and to relate to the essence of that person and to find common ground.

Being emphatic is not easy, it never will be, but a basic understanding that all people have a deep and abiding interest to be both loved and validated as a human being is the first step towards better days.

Blacks and Higher Education

A proper education is important for everybody, to wit, that America has an obligation to see that each and every member of our society has the opportunity to be provided as a matter of course, education that will allow their citizenry at the most essential level to at least read, write, and to do arithmetic; while also teaching them their responsibilities and duties to their country, as well as to their family, with an attendant moral code that differentiates between right actions and wrong.

Within any nation, or family structure, there are things that are considered to be taboo, or forbidden, to which some of these things are off-grounds because they are harmful to you as an individual, or that you are considered to be too young to appropriately deal with; but then again there are other forbidden items or thinking which is really a way for the State or for your family to maintain control over you.  Forexample, an educated populace is a dangerous populace, mainly because they are much harder to fool.  It is far easier to mold and to control people that are tied down to silly superstitions and pointless traditions, than those that have been not only taught at a young age to think for themselves, but also are able to communicate and do accomplish work by virtue of the fact that they have been educated and know how to use their minds.

In antebellum days, there were laws in Southern States which precluded slaves from being able to read and to write because doing so would be to give a "…. tendency to excite dissatisfaction in their minds and to produce insurrection and rebellion…"  There were distinct penalties for failure to adhere to these laws both for the slave as well as for the white man for having the temerity to educate a slave, so that, slaves were punished by whipping, whereas white men were punished by monetary fines.

Fortunately, we have come a long way from those antebellum days and in America, all are by law, suppose to be equally treated in our public educational system.  However, the long and short of it is that some children in America receive a much better and superior primary educational experience than others, so that in point of fact, there are clear and distinct differences in the opportunities presented to different classes and races within America when it comes to education.  Those differences are of long standing and of systemic origins, so that the overcoming of these disadvantages for certain segments of our population will not be overturned anytime soon, but that does not mean a giving up or a quitting, because the importance and value of a higher education in America has never been more critical than it is today.

There was a time, not so long ago, that a man willing to work hard, but lacking education beyond high school, could find himself a job that paid a fair wage that would enable him to own a decent car, to own a decent house, and to have a family and thereby to be a part of the American dream.  Unfortunately, those halcyon days are long gone, while there are still desirable "blue collar" jobs in America, there aren’t close to being what they use to be, instead, good paying manufacturing jobs, have been replaced with machines and robotics or non-union labor or out-sourced overseas, and we are left with low-paying service jobs which will never able those in that industry to earn a true living wage.

The one thing that we can say with a certainty, documented again and again, in study after study, is the higher and the further that you go in your collegiate educational pursuits, the better your pay will be.  This means that more education provides you with not only more knowledge and knowhow, which makes for invaluable life skills, but also will invariably provide you with more pay.

The successful pursuit of education, though, is something that necessitates developing discipline, attention, focus, maturity, and desire in order to see it all the way through.     While education has its merits for all Americans, none more so, than for those who were unfairly denied educational opportunities as well as their freedom, those many years ago.

The Shortcut of the Lottery

Most States in the Union have lotteries, with the comeback of modern day lotteries in America beginning with New Hampshire, in 1964, so that today forty-four of our fifty States are now offering some form of a lottery within their State borders.  Lotteries are big business within each State, that is to say, they are actively advertised and marketed, they are actively reported in media outlets, they are sold via a commission percentage by retailers, and the general availability and the convenience of purchasing lottery tickets is very convenient for their patrons.  In fact, in our digital and electronic age, some States allow the purchase of lottery tickets online, or electronically, with the purchase or lottery tickets being allowed with either cash, debit card, or in some cases, even credit cards.  Because States sanction lottery sales within their borders, they make it part of their mission statement to sell the "dual benefits" of playing the lottery, which is that you, the player, might become fabulously rich, and if not, you are doing a "good" deed by providing funds for educational or other government programs.  This means, unlike alcohol or tobacco sales, which are never actively promoted by government agencies and, in fact, often have stringent government regulations attached to the sale and usage of said product, that the State is an active promoter of lottery tickets to their residents.

The fact of the matter is, that the State has a fiduciary duty to their denizens to  do right by them, and not on the other hand to purposely or to inadvertently exploit them, or to deceive them, or to exacerbate situations to the advantage of the State, but that is, in fact, what lotteries actually end up doing.  The State loves to sing the praises of all the benefits that the lottery ticket revenue brings to educational programs, and other general funds, as if the selling of lottery tickets has created this additional revenue out of thin air, but in actuality, lotteries are nothing more than a wickedly bad "shell game" in which those that are the poorest, the most uneducated, and the most gullible are lured into spending moneyunder the guise that the State knows best, when in truth they are being conned into wasting monies that they can ill-afford to waste, on "pipedreams" that will in reality simply vacuum money from their pockets into the State's coffers for re-distribution.

As bad as that is, the other tragic part of lotteries is that both the State as well as those that play the lottery has wasted their time and their money on an activity that has no good purpose behind it.  The State sells the lie that the lottery is an easy and democratic way to raise funds instead of increasing taxes forthrightly or paring back their budget to align themselves better with fiscal reality; whereas the players of the lottery are encouraged to waste both their time as well as their money on an activity that is the antithesis of the puritan ethic, of hard work, dedication, and faithfulness; instead they are encouraged to give in to the temptation of the shortcut to wealth and glory, while obtaining neither.

The streets of misery are paved with those that believe that just one more roll of the dice, just one more turn of the card, just one more spin of the wheel, or just one more Powerball will change everything.  It won't.

The Recall of Gray Davis, Governor of California

While Governors of our respective fifty states can be removed from office via resignation, death, impeachment, or through a recall, the most uncommon of all of these is the recall election process.  Only two Governors in the history of America have been recalled, with Gray Davis the only one to have been recalled in recent times.  The fact that Governor Davis was recalled is an absolutely amazing tale, as he was essentially removed from office less than one year after being re-elected by popular vote in the State of California.  Additionally, California is the most important State within our Union, to wit, if it was a separate country its GDP would be the eight largest in the world, greater than Russia or Italy, and not far behind countries such as Brazil or the United Kingdom, so an actual recall of a standing Governor, who had not been indicted for "high crimes and misdemeanors" is pretty much unfathomable. While there are myriad reasons that contributed to Davis' downfall, the most significant are as follows:

1.       The Energy Crisis, specifically in regards to Enron and its manipulation of energy prices

2.       The low voter turnout for Davis re-election of 2002 with just 36% of registered voters actually voting, whereas in order for a successful recall petition drive to be certified only 12% of registered voters need vote in the affirmative

3.       Because of California term limits, Gray Davis, was not able to run as a candidate in the recall election to defend his position.

The story of how the recall petition was successful and the people and money behind it will not be recounted here, but suffice to say that the signatures needed to effect the recall was accomplished in the time mandated by law and subsequently the ballot for the new Governor of California was submitted as of October, 2003.  The ballot was divided into two parts, to which the first part was the question as to whether the voter supported the actual recall or not, and if that vote was in the negative, Governor Davis would remain Governor; however, if that vote was in the positive, than the candidate with the largest plurality would become Governor of California, which ultimately became Arnold Schwarzenegger.

While the population often will feel frustration with their elected officials for various reasons, it is absolutely amazing, that after a gubernatorial election in 2002, that was won by Governor Davis, that he would be removed via a recall effort in 2003.  The improbability of that event seems so staggering, the fact that it occurred, would presuppose that the threshold for recall efforts within California, must be far too low.  This is indeed implied by the regularity of recall efforts as reported by npr.org which states that: "…insufficient signatures caused the failure of the three recalls launched against California Gov. Ronald Reagan between 1967 and 1972. The man who held the office before and after him, Gov. Jerry Brown, had eight recall petitions against him fail for the same reason."  Even though, those previous recall efforts failed, the fact that they were even attempted is prima facie proof that the losers of elections recognize that there is a backdoor way to overcome democratic rule in the State of California.

The bottom line for Gray Davis and his recall, is that the rolling blackouts that occurred within California, along with the manipulation of California's energy market to drive up prices to the consumers of electricity within California, left a very bad taste in the mouths of Californians, to wit Governor Davis paid the ultimate price for his failure to properly rectify the situation.  There is a fine line between civilization and chaos, and life without reliable means to energy and at pricing within historic norms, will create both opportunity for those lusting for it, as well as wrath directed against the designated scapegoat.

The Importance of Dreams

It is said that everything happens for a reason, and that everything has a purpose.  Therefore, it is somewhat surprising when you hear from different people that they either do not dream, don't care about their dreams, or are unconcerned about dreaming and its possible significance in their life at all, even though around one-third of our life is spent sleeping, of which scientists estimate that twenty percent of that time is spent in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, the stage in which dreaming occurs.  The fact of the matter is that everyone dreams, although not everyone can recall or remember their dreams, and fewer yet are able to interpret their dreams, but because dreams come from your own mind, they are of utmost importance for helping us achieve a successful and fruitful life.

In regards to those that claim they either don't have or can't remember their dreams, there are some basic steps that they can take to overcome this perception.  First, is to take the attitude before going to bed, that you will remember your dreams, second to this, place a pen and a pad of paper close to you by the side of your bed, third on a night to which you do not have any pressing engagements in the morning, set your alarm for various times throughout the night, which specific instructions to yourself that you will acknowledge the alarm and that upon waking to it, you will write down a few pertinent words of the dream that you are having.  For those that know that they dream, but upon waking, or through the rush of getting ready for the day's activities, lose that dream from their mind, try instead to write down a couple key words from your dream, before arising, and also, if possible, to relax in bed for a minute or two, contemplating the dream that you are waking up from.

Most people are familiar with Joseph in their Bible, to which we read: "And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. … Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine…."  Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dream was not only accurate, but it provided Joseph with freedom from the dungeon to which he had been placed unjustifiably, and further to this Joseph was made second-in-command over all the land of Egypt by Pharaoh.  

There are numerous books and websites that aid the individual with the interpretation of their dreams, by typically taking common symbols and images and providing the dreamer with standard meanings behind those impressions.  While these aids can be quite helpful, as at a minimum they are a pertinent way to help guide the dreamer into the mysteries and meaning of their dreams, it may or may not be on point for you.   Of far greater significance in most cases, is the feeling or the vibe that a given dream gives to you upon waking up from it.  That is to say, does the dream comfort you, or create anxiety, or happiness, or some other meaningful emotion.   This is probably the real crux of the matter, because in your dreams, you are allowing your subconscious mind to speak to you, in a way that you often do not hear during your everyday activities, and subsequently you are able to become aware of things that previously you did not see.

Dreaming allows us to "re-boot" our minds, each and every day, it is both advice as well as guidance for us, a chance to recognize who we really are, and a benchmark for us to judge our own character if we will only allow ourselves to be still and to listen.

Smart Immigrants are like Gold

The United States has all sorts of rules, restrictions, and laws dealing with the issue of immigrants to our country to which there are limitations and specific rules for immigrants in regards to their becoming temporary or permanent residents and, of course, exceptions to all the rules on record.  The upshot of all this bureaucratic red-tape is that the United States deliberately and as part of its government policy restricts legal, temporary, and residential immigration into our country.  While some people might consider our immigration policy to be both fair and even-handed, it is in fact, neither of those things, and instead easily fails into the category of stifling stupidity and wanton wastefulness.  The fact of the matter is that the United States spends an inordinate amount of time in litigation for intellectual property and the like, but dismisses out-of-hand the very people that would help to enrich this country, and by default, the world, simply because they have the indecency to have been born outside of our borders.

The United States should be grateful that so many people, of superior intellectual skill and astute abilities have a strong desire to immigrate here, or to at least, receive their higher education in the United States.  If anything, simply from a pure greed perspective and not even taking into account all the benefits that intelligent and motivated people bring to the table, the United States should be doing everything within its power to recruit the best and the brightest to our shores.  The bottom line is that the concept of labor is changing within America, to wit, that brawn has rapidly been replaced by brains, and this wholesale change will not soon revert back to brawn, if ever.  This means, that those of superior intellect should be exactly the people that we want within our borders, because this is the very need and desire that we are looking for.  

The United States has plenty of land, as well as being recognized worldwide as the industry leader in hi-technology and its associated fields, with also the highest quantity of top universities and research centers in the world, so it behooves America to recruit a team, that reflects the best that the world has to offer, without consideration as to the birthplace of said persons so qualified.  It is a given, that those that are both highly motivated as well as of superior intellect naturally gravitate to places and institutions that are best supportive as well as demonstratively best for the nurturing and development of their skills as opposed to simply be limited to the confines of their native country or community. 

The United States should be the sanctuary for all those that are desirable of taking their skill-set abroad and thereby sharpening their steel against the best steel that America has to offer, so that each friend and fellow associate sharpens the other.  America does not have the patent on being #1 in anything, because to be that, takes desire, resources, and renewal, to which all of these things mean that in order to constantly replenishour tree of liberty, necessitates our welcoming all who have America first in their heart.

Our Two Most Important Documents: The Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address

While America has many great speeches and other fine documents contained within its history, none are of more significance than our Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address.  These two documents stand for everything that makes America great; they represent two gigantic bookends that contain between them everything that is the essence and the brilliance of the American experience.

The Declaration of Independence declares that are we endowed by our Creator, not by our government, not by our king, not by our dictator, nor by any other power or principality but that our unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are freely given to us by our Creator, and further that because all men are created equal that each of us, all of us, every man, woman, and child within this country are entitled to exercise these rights.  When those words were written down and signed back in the year 1776, these were truly revolutionary words, words almost unheard of or thought of in the annals of human history, to which for most governments, for most principalities, mankind was considered to be in perpetual subjection to the government at large, with rights circumscribed by government decree, and liberty at the sole discretion of the government that they were subject to.  This Declaration turn the viewpoint of legitimate government of the people on its head, declaring instead that legitimate and just government powers was in existence only when it was derived from the consent of the governed, as opposed to the arbitrary dictates of those that claimed the "divine right of kings" or other similar but misguided excuses to take from the people what was their birthright.

The War Between the States was a great war, testing whether indeed this was a nation of liberty, as well as to whether it was true that all men are created equal, and therefore entitled to equal rights under the rule of law.  Our civil war, took our Declaration of Independence, and tested this eminent document as to whether the words that were written upon it were words that we would live and abide by, or merely words that rung hollow when placed upon the mantle of truth and justice.  At the time of the Gettysburg Address, America was at the crossroads of whether it would become that new birthplace of freedom, and whether too it would honor its brave men that had died in this fateful struggle, by becoming dedicated to finishing this heretofore unfinished work of our Declaration, and thereby to re-birth our nation into one that was devoted to being a nation of the people, for the people, and by the people, under the blessings of our God.

The Declaration of Independence was the promised made to the people of what this country could and should become, whereas the Gettysburg Address was that promise writ large, understanding that no government and therefore that no people, is easily conceived, or birth, without the pangs and travail of a difficult passage, but for those dedicated to the completion of such a sacred mission, that this nation, would, under God, become a people united in that proposition that all are conceived in liberty, and that all are indeed children of the one same loving God.

Let the Middle East Be

If you take a look at the map of the world, America is nowhere near the Middle East, and in fact, historically, has had little or nothing to do with the Middle East, until the aftermath of World War II.  While there are many reasons as to why America ended up taking a vested interest in the Middle East, the most prominent among them is simply oil; along with the fact that since America was the most powerful, richest and productive nation in the world after World War II, America seemed to be the best choice to assure the western nations that trading routes and oil resources were kept flowing and under the auspices of western civilization.

Since the creation of Israel, America's presence in the Middle East, via its Navy, naval bases, military bases, military exercises, military weaponry, other military personnel, materials, and knowhow has increased tremendously so that even though America is physically far away from the Middle East, its military power, personnel, and logistical skills are sufficient to maintain control over the Middle East under virtually any realistic contingencies.  While some people may think the above is all well and good, it is nothing of that sort; and whereas virtually all European nations relinquished their global empires and colonialism years ago, America instead has become the de facto global empire today.  What America fails to understand or to heed is that having a military presence in or around foreign Middle Eastern sovereign nations, makes America an easy target for resentment by those native peoples as well as being considered to be provocative in its very nature.

The bottom line is that the American presence in the Middle East should be reduced forthwith, and our military bases as well as our personnel in those areas should be significantly pared back, because the Middle East has been a cauldron of troubling problems, uprisings, and revolutions for years, that on a fundamental level, has little to do with America, but is more akin to sectional warfare and strife between Middle Eastern cultures that the United States does not really understand or care to comprehend.  The notion that the United States fails to adhere to is the fact that by reducing our presence, and/or taking more of a hands off attitude to the goings on in regards to the Middle East, will actually make the world safer.  America would be far better served by being perceived by the world as a place of sanctuary and freedom, as opposed to one that insists that might makes right.

There isn't really a compelling reason for America to feel obligated to become engulfed in foreign entanglements, as these are often better suited for resolution with other powers or principalities that would have a more historical, a more legitimate, or a more common heritage that would bring something of real overall merit to the region.  America wrongly believes that the Middle East won't be OK without her, but in point of fact, that is pure hubris on America's part.  In truth, since our involvement of nearly seventy years in the Middle East, there has been nary a noticeable improvement in peace, justice, or democracy to those nations that occupy the Middle East.  This fact would strongly imply that it is high time for America to step aside and to instead concentrate on working on domestic issues as opposed to pretending that America knows what is best for every country in every situation, worldwide.

Geronticide - The Killing or Euthanasia of the Elderly

Throughout history different societies have dealt with ailing elderly people in different ways, from benign neglect to outright abandonment, to the slaying of, as well as to the nurturing and appreciation of, and all the shades in-between.  In America, with more and more people becoming elderly each year, of which many of these elderly people are not in particularly good shape physically as well as mentally, there are legitimate concerns that there may come a time when government agencies will decide whether a particular person will live or die, by a discriminatory usage and allocation of resources and monies attributed to those people.

It would be a tragic mistake of epic proportions if America should ever adjudicate that whether a member of our society lives or dies, or receives the appropriate medicine or care, is based mainly upon whether that person is considered to be of "use" to society at large.  That is to say, if the State determines that in its viewpoint, per some sort of standard, that a person does not merit being kept alive or having access to medicine or medical equipment necessary to maintain that life, that the State, not that person, nor that individual's family, will have the power and the right to terminate that citizen's life.  Should this tragic state of affairs ever come to our shores, America as we know it will have ended, because without life, and consequently the ability to make decisions about your life, you have sacrificed the most basic freedom that is inalienable to all, which is life itself.

As a matter of course, any country, having the power to determine who has the right to live and who must be put to death, is a country that is not free.  Additionally, it is far easier to make these types of decisions about who is allowed to live or to die by the State, when that State is secular or godless, since in not recognizing the soul of a man, that government only sees the physical shell, and believes not that mankind is made in the image of God, but simply is seen as just another animal; and it has been said, "they shoot horses, don't they?"

The true measure of a society is not how it behaves when all is sunshine and glory but how that society behaves when it is pressed up against the wall, when its foundations are truly under assault or attacked upon either from within or without.  The character of a society and of its government, will not be exclusively found in documents written by man, but will be found instead in the actions and in the hearts of men.  How society treats its poor, its disenfranchised, and its elderly is a true reflection of that society and of that government itself. 

The worth of a man, any man, of any age, is not determined by whether that person is productive or not, a criminal or not, a good man or not, but by the fact that all men are created equally by their Creator and that therefore that mankind is endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.  Any government that deems to take away those rights is fundamentally wrong, and a country that will not respect your life, is no country for old men.

Double Indemnity

Just the term double indemnity sounds mystifying, intriguing, corrupt, dangerous, and somewhat shady; but basically double indemnity simply means that for certain approved life insurance policies, that the beneficiary will receive double the insurance amount of that policy, typically for a death that is purely accidental and always subject to the review of the actual issuer of said policy.  As you might imagine, life insurance companies are not in the charity business, so if they do indeed offer some sort of double indemnity policy, rest assured, that they have done their research and such policies issued in aggregate will be profitable for them. Also, normally to be even eligible for double indemnity often means the payment of a premium for that optional extra indemnity coverage.  Whether there should even be double indemnity clauses issued in the first place, or triple indemnity, or bonus indemnity, or multiple indemnity, or accidental indemnity, is something best left up to the marketplace, but the overall effect is to somewhat tarnish the image of the life insurance business in itself, but it is what it is.

The more intriguing part of life insurance policies, is whether anyone can take out any policy at anytime for any reason on anyone.  The answer to that question is no; life insurance companies will only allow people that have an "insurable interest" in the person involved, to take out insurance on that person.  So even though you might have a premonition that some certain person is going to die, really soon, there isn't any way that you can profit from that precognition, unless you are the spouse, or perhaps the business partner, or perhaps the domestic partner, or perhaps a very close relative.  In any event, to assure that you have an "insurable interest" you must be able to demonstrate that you have a financial need or dependence on the person that you wished to take out the life insurance policy on; which is the most basic reason why life insurance is offered to being with, as should that vital person die, you are counting on that life insurance policy to help make financial things whole.

Another thing that people are inquisitive about is whether you can take out a "secret" policy on a spouse or somebody else that you are financially dependent upon.  Not too surprisingly, since you are talking about collecting monetary benefits upon a particular person's death, the life insurance company has a vested and fiduciary interest in actually knowing the person who is going to be insured, so then they will definitely want family health background information on that person, as well as to subject that person to medical testing, so the chances of a "secret" policy being issued on a particular person, are pretty much unheard of.

You can also take out a life insurance policy on yourself, to which this is somewhat typically done for single parents, as a lifeline for their children, should something tragically happen to the parent.  In America, there are all sorts of life insurance products for sale, such as term life, whole life, universal life, variable life, and even those with double indemnity clauses; rest assured that although you might think or believe that the insurance companies selling or promoting these policies have your best interests in mind, they are really about the making of that dollar, and monetizing well on your fears and vulnerabilities.