The Racial Genie

There are considered to be five races globally which are: white (Caucasian), black (African-American), brown (Latin American), red (Native American), and yellow (Asian).  In today's society you can choose to identify yourself using one of these or similar categories, or if desired, select that you are mixed.  Whether racial classifications should even matter, or be tracked by the government or other State agencies is debatable but it's done as a matter of policy.

The history of America from the time of its colonization has demonstrated conclusively that race matters, and that the favored race is quite clearly white.  Every other race in America has been suppressed, exploited, discriminated against, and so forth, through force, extralegal means and also quite frequently through the justice system itself.  This racial preference for whites and oppression of all non-whites has been systemic throughout most of America, although within certain religious groups, and communities, there has been historic accommodation. 

That said, America has made enormous progress over the last fifty-odd years to being what it proclaimed it always wanted to be, which is a true melting pot for all, the golden door of freedom and justice; however despite these great strides, study after study demonstrates that America is still a nation that is unequal and unfair especially to many minorities.

Imagine that one evening, a strange dream comes to you, or at least you believe it is a dream, in which a genie enters your room, but before you can even contemplate making your three wishes, the genie makes sure to tell you that he isn't that type of genie, that instead he is a racial genie, and simply states that he can change your race, if you so desire.   To make it more enticing for you, the genie quickly creates four holograms of the races that you could be, to which you find that just by looking at one, you discover that your mind and body melds completely into this hologram and you become that race and that person, in a manner, that feels so real, that it just has to be real. 

While in this body of a different race, you realize as you take on each of them one by one, that many scenes begin to formulate within your mind, as you picture yourself, for instance, as this different person, in an argument at a retail store, or being stopped and questioned by a policeman late at night, or at an interview for college admission, or for a job, or for a promotion, or for a pay raise, or in a negotiation to purchase a home, or looking at your future children, and so forth.  The scenes dance and play within your mind and you remember and are able to recall everything, about how you felt, your fear, your confidence, and your interactions throughout.

Then it all comes to an end and the genie looks at you and asks you whether you wish to make that racial change, and if so, which one,  or whether you prefer to just stand pat with what you have.  The genie makes sure that you understand that this change is permanent and that it cannot be undone, and as a side note he mentions that he is in a bit of a hurry. 

Perhaps the decision you make is easy, perhaps not; perhaps the whole game just seems annoying, but whatever it is, it's probably a mistake to feel that your decision, whatever it is, won't make a difference in your life, cause in almost all instances, it most certainly will.

The Poor v. the Dependent Poor

In 1900 about 40% of Americans lived in urban areas, and the balance lived in rural America.  In 2014, as calculated by tradingeconomies.com, the percentage of Americans living in rural areas was 18.55%.  The advantage of urban areas is that virtually all of life's amenities are readily available, such as: transportation, communication, electricity, indoor plumbing, air conditioning, schools, entertainment and so on.  That isn't to say that these things in some other form aren't typically available in rural areas, as they may well be, but certainly it is indicative that city life offers more modernity, convenience and variety in virtually all aspects of life that just aren't readily available in rural areas.  Of course, one caveat amongst many, is that all of the really good things that you might desire in urban life, cost money, or its money equivalency, so that although there may be great riches and services in city life, that doesn't necessarily mean they are available for the likes of you, especially if you are poor.  In fact, if you are poor in an urban area, you will often find yourself, not only segregated physically from real money and wealth, but also subjected to more arbitrary law and rules that keep you in your place.  Not only that, but because of the guidelines and perverse incentives of the welfare state, you often will find that the most underprivileged of urban residents aren't particularly skilled at much of anything, including work ethics and responsibility, and are therefore not only effectively wards of the State, but in the manner of speaking, totally dependent on the State for their upkeep and welfare.

There was a time back in America when it was far more rural, back before the great mechanization of agricultural and back before the great migration of the underclass to the northern and upper Midwest States, to which in this previous time many of the poor and disadvantaged worked as sharecroppers and/or tenant farmers.  While this existence for those sharecroppers was often exploitive, unfair, and unjust, it did have its merits, namely that the sharecroppers working the land, knew how to grow crops and raise livestock and from this work they were basically self-sufficient and knowledgeable in these areas.  While the sharecroppers were often caught in a cycle of debt that would never allowed them to own their own land outright, at least they were able to provide food and shelter for their families, in an era before governmental handouts.  In addition, and most importantly, this meant that most tenant farmers knew not only how to raise and to tend agricultural produce, such as corn, soybeans, and oats, but also typically how to manage livestock, such as chickens, and goats, and other barnyard animals.  Further, these skills were passed from one generation to the next, so that a poor tenant sharecropping family, knew in effect, how to grow, process, and cook their own food, as well as how to make their own clothes, in addition to maintaining their own shelter and other creature comforts that they needed, to which each member of a given family contributed to the whole.

While sharecroppers were poor and caught up in a system which often exploited them and their labor, at least, they were gainfully employed, dedicated, and self-sufficient with real world skills that they relied upon each and every day--passing on this knowledge from generation to generation.  In today's world, the poor are still with us, with far more amenities to make for a better life, however, too often there are undereducated, with little or low skills, little or no future, oppressed, bored, substance abusers, discriminated against, imprisoned, subject to arbitrary violence, and wouldn't know the first thing about how to pluck a chicken or hoeing the soil and probably don't really care.  

The Media, Access, Police, and News

Most everyone is interested in the news of the day, and of particular note, news that interests them.  While the internet has blown the lid off of our ability to access news in new and interesting ways, such as people that use their cell phone cameras to record and distribute actionable news events, through social media and the like, for the most part, though, media is most definitely controlled by a combination of mass media companies, police agencies, and governmental agencies.

For instance, perhaps in your community there has occurred a particularly notorious crime and you rush to the crime scene, however since you are just a regular citizen you're not going to be granted access to this scene without having proper press credentials, and despite the fact that this particular crime scene is on public property to which all citizens typically are given access to, your access has been denied, in order to keep integrity to the scene, even though you can readily see a couple privileged other authorized press personnel within it .  The bottom line is that access to crime scenes are typically controlled by the local police department, in other words, the police department will issue press passes to certain people and organizations that meet their standards as to the distribution of such a pass and not too surprisingly those press passes will be issued to recognized named media organizations as opposed to those that are freelancers or known muckraking news consortiums.  This means, that the press in order to get access to noteworthy crime scenes and the like, have to on a very basic level, have a symbiotic relationship with police organizations as if they do not, they will not have any product to produce, edit, and present to their audience, and without an audience they will not have the advertising monies that keep them in business.  This means, in these situations, the media whether they want to own up to it or not, will as a matter of policy, make sure to in their presentation and editorial policy not to bite the hand that feeds them, unless there is a firestorm of protest that forces their hand.

The fact of the matter is in order to get access to political, entertainment, and basic newsworthy events, beyond what the average citizen can do, you need to have a press pass and the distribution of press passes are controlled by known mass media outlets, governmental approvals, and police paperwork.  The result is that often times the video that is shot along with the editorial comment that goes with it, are spun by whatever bias that particular media outlet is known for, but in any event, the spin won't be too far outside the acceptable norm of the community standards, so that there may be in effect, only two flavors presented, the conservative viewpoint and the liberal viewpoint and nothing much outside either of these mainstream realms. 

This quid pro quo relationship that the media has with newsworthy events, affects directly the product that is delivered to the public, which means in essence that we are being told what to think by the narrative that is delivered to us.  The best way to verify that this is true, is simply to go to a big media event, and then compare your recollection of the events to what is actually reported, and carefully note the differences, recognizing that, if your story and theirs diverge significantly, this proves the point that the storyteller fits the story to the script that they desire, and the devil with the truth.

The Educational Lie

Study after study has demonstrated that the more educated that you are the higher your salary will be, but like most statistics, there are deceptions within this truism.  For instance, if you live in a small little rural town, and either don't have the ambition or desire to ever leave there, for whatever reason, does it avail you of anything to incur amassive amount of debt, and time spent, to attend a given college to get a degree that will never be actually utilized?  Further, consider people that have not demonstrated academic success at the high school level or the maturity or the study habits or the intelligence to actually take on successfully college materials, should these people even be applying to college?  Additionally, consider the fact that in all likelihood that the most successful college graduates were going to be successful whether they attended a college or not, by virtue of the fact, that they are focused, perceptive, dedicated, responsible, prepared and self-motivated.  The bottom line is not everybody has the right stuff to attend college and further that college is not free--in fact, college can be quite expensive and time consuming.

In June 2014, the Economist reported that: "U.S. student loan debt exceeded $1.2 trillion, with over 7 million debtors in default."  Further, as reported by the Huffingtonpost.com, "Fewer than half of all students who entered college in 2007 finished school where they started, and almost a third are no longer taking classes toward a degree anywhere."  This effectively means that a significant portion of students have attended college but failed to complete their college studies, so they are out both time and money, to which, even bankruptcy, will not discharged these debts which can easily be at $25,000, $50,000, or even more.

Then too there is the problem of Bachelor's degrees, of which, the whole purpose, one would think of receiving the Bachelor's degree, is to find gainful employment using that degree, but in fact, as reported by careerbuilder.com, "Nearly half (47 percent) of college-educated workers said their first job after college was not related to their college major."  This doesn't mean that the Bachelor's degree was of no value, what it does indicate is that their given major had little relevancy to the job that they found employment at, indicating that colleges and employment opportunities appear to be significantly out of sync.  While there is something to be said for pursuing the major of your desire or preference; from a practical level that should also mean that remunerative positions that necessitate that major should also be widely available.

Another mark against the current drive for all to get educated at colleges is the fact that even though there never has been so many with advanced degrees, the GDP in America as a whole over the last decade has been anemic.  As reported by cnsnews.com, as of February 26, 2016, "The United States has now gone a record 10 straight years without 3 percent growth in real Gross Domestic Product."  This would seem to strongly indicate that despite what all the administration big hats wish to propagandize, more educational achievement, does not appear to be the fundamental key to higher GDP growth.  Instead, it would be reasonable to conclude that if students take classes in college, that often don't teach them anything of practical real world value and purpose, but are instead frequently empty of any actual utility value but cost these students real money, you will stagnate growth to the detriment of America as a whole.

The very worst part of the structure of today's higher education, though, is the sticking of massive debt onto the shoulders of young students that have been sold a bag of goods much akin to yesterday's huckster selling elixir that supposedly would cure most every human ailment that you could possibly imagine.  Today's college experience has degenerated and degraded itself far too often into a scam of epic proportions, and instead of that American dream become closer for the millennial generation it is instead getting pushed out further; with census.gov reporting that the home ownership rate by age of householder for those under 35 years of age for the 4th quarter of 2015 stood at 34.7%, the second lowest quarterly rate from 1994 to year ending 2015, with only the 1st quarter of 2015 at 34.6% being even lower, with all this occurring in an era of historically low mortgage interest rates.

Taxes on Groceries

The ubiquitous taxman likes to get his fingers on just about anything and then to tax it, forever.  There are income taxes, property taxes, and all sorts of consumption taxes to which a grocery store tax is a form of a consumption tax.  At the present time there are only fourteen States that charge some sort of sales tax on groceries, with half charging the full State sales tax rate, and the other half charging a reduced percentage of the State sales tax rate.  The thing about groceries is that they are an absolute necessity, and because the poor pay an appreciably higher percentage of their income on groceries, a sales tax on groceries is a very regressive tax and hence unfair.

For instance, according to theatlantic.com, those in the lowest 20% income rate spent 16.1% of their income on food, whereas the upper 20% spent 11.6% of their income on food.  In addition, those in the lowest 20% income rate spent just over 70& of their food budget at home, whereas the upper 20% spent just 53% of their food budget at home.  This means that the poor spent more money as a percentage of their income for food, of which a significantly higher percentage of that food budget was spent at grocery stores as compared to the high income people, signifying that the poor are consciously spending their money in a manner that is of greater efficiency and value to them, yet having at the same time, to pay in certain States, a sales tax penalty for having done so. 

While States have budgets and need to meet their budgetary expectations, charging a sales tax for buying food in a grocery store, even at a discounted rate, unfairly burdens the poor in any given State.  Should any State be in the business of charging a sales tax, against the people, for their necessity of purchasing food at a grocery store in order to live?  While most of the States that charge the full State sales tax provide a route to recover some of the monies spent via a State tax return through rebate or credit, the poorest of the poor won't be able to qualify for this rebate, typically for lack of a tax return, and in addition the rebate itself is not going to recover the amount of monies spent in taxes for groceries throughout the year.

The fact of the matter is if any State is so intent that they absolutely must tax food, they should exempt all grocery store purchases whatsoever from a sales tax, and if necessary, charge a higher tax rate for food that is bought at restaurants.  At least by making this change, you are clearly providing the people a choice, whereby for those that are impoverished they will not have to sacrifice additional monies in order to eat by virtue of their buying groceries, unless they deliberately make a conscious decision to bypass this choice by frequenting a restaurant; whereas for the rich and the well off they probably pretty much won't care, although no doubt they will grumble a bit as is their wont.

Refined Carbohydrates and Acne

While you won't find too many people willing to argue that you don’t need food in order to live and further that too much eating of foods will have a tendency to produce obesity after a certain period of time, there is often a disconnect that the food that we eat probably doesn't affect our skin conditions, even though it affects the amount of space our skin encompasses, and of especial concern, the primary cause of embarrassing acne.   While, there is plenty of documentation or propaganda put out there that says that the food that you consume has absolutely nothing to do with your possible development of acne, there are also medical doctors that have stated that diet most definitely makes a material difference in regards to whether you will or will not get facial acne.  Taking into account, that few people actually desire to have acne, you would think it would behoove them to want to discover the truth of the matter.

For instance, Dr. Bailey at her website: www.drbaileyskincare.com states that: "Scientists have found that people who eat lots of highly refined carbs are more likely to get acne."  In addition, as reported by www.abc.net.au, " There is a growing amount of research suggesting there is a link between diet and pimples (or acne), says Melbourne dermatologist Dr George Varigos… Varigos' research has found a diet high in refined, processed foods creates perfect conditions for pimples."    These medical doctors make it clear that diet and in particular, refined carbohydrates have a strong correlation for the development of acne, which means rather than looking at acne, as a rite of passage for teenagers going through their hormonal changes, it is something that teenagers can take control of, apparently by changing their dietary habits.

Of course, on the other hand, acne and the resolution of it, is something that is very big business for not only Dermatologists but also companies such as Guthy-Renker's industry leader in acne treatment: Proactiv, which was developed by two Dermatologists.  According to Wikipedia.org: "Sales amounted to $800 million a year as of 2010," and Proactiv is just one of many acne treatment products which are sold over-the-counter and are marketed to those suffering from acne and strongly desiring for something to alleviate their skin and acne problems.  Additionally, Dermatologists can and do prescribe medications specifically to address skin acne.

The thing about medicine in the United States is so often the medicine prescribed or the solution offered is to treat the symptom but not to try to diagnose and to treat the underlying problem.  The monetary advantage for doctors or providers of over-the-counter skincare products or medicine is that if the treatment is only of the symptoms, and not of the underlying cause, you will have a constant, consistent, and continuous revenue stream which benefits yourself and your company.  On the other hand, if you deal with the underlying cause, to which the major responsibility of dealing with acne is handed back to the patient in the form of a more proactive course of action in regards to diet, and of the consumption of particular foods that are better for you and your skin as opposed to foods that have a strong tendency to exacerbate the conditions that bring on acne, you have provided good and practical advice, but on the other hand, have possibly undercut your own business income.

For anyone that has children going thru adolescence or remembers that stage themselves, or are in that stage presently, it seems fair and prudent to provide to them information that will empower them to take charge of their lives, and if by so doing, it eliminates or reduces acne, so much the better, as adolescence itself has troubles enough.

Pensions are too Lucrative for Governmental Employees

As reported by epi.org we have seen that defined-benefit pension plans in the private sector have in recent years: "… now cover 18 percent of private-sector workers, down from 35 percent in the early 1990s."  This epic decline in pension benefits in the private sector, has as its main reason for this change, the fact that private sector companies are cognizant that defined-benefit pension plans are often fundamentally unsustainable or problematic by virtue of both the amount and duration of the benefits that must be paid out which often cannot be quantified properly, in addition to the limiting of the company's effectiveness in access to bond monies and other instruments of company growth, competitive considerations, as well as making the company less desirable for mergers or buy-outs.  On the other hand, though, governmental employees, who in theory gravitate to their job by virtue of their desire to serve their community, have created pension liabilities in many communities, cities, counties, and various governmental agencies, that are fiscally unsustainable.

The most significant issues with pensions in the first place for many governmental

employees, is that the actuarial basis for the pension in regards to: its amount, its time frame, its determination, its framework, its inflation-adjusted coefficient, its benefits, and so forth, appears to be a situation to which those that legislate and determine these things, have done a massive disservice to their community at large, by not carefully considering the sustainability, fairness, or appropriateness of the pension benefits.  Unfortunately, it is always much easier to pass the buck from one generation to another, from one legislature to another, with a wink and a nod, as compared to actually taking the time and diligence to figuring out the consequences of pensions that are far too generous or poorly reasoned out and to do the right things to begin with.

The fact of the matter is that the pensions as they currently exist are in a significant amount of cases a grand disservice to the taxpayers at large.  For instance, in Illinois, using teachers as our example, and as reported by teacherpensions.org, it is calculated that: "If instead you lined up every retiree in order of their benefit, the teacher right in the middle would receive a monthly payment of $4,613, or a little more than $55,000 a year." That median pension benefit of $55,000 annually, with, no doubt a cost-of-living adjuster, is how much a teacher will receive in compensation year after year, after retirement, until their death.  If you take into full account, that communities are compelled to compensate not only the teachers that are teaching at the present time, but also teachers that have retired and those that are retiring in the future, the amount of money that is budgeted and set aside for teachers is almost always significantly higher than anticipated, and this shortfall must be made up for by the taxpayers who often, in almost every case, do not have nearly anything approaching the generosity of the same defined-pension plans that they are paying for with their taxes.

In point of fact, pensions for government employees should be phased out, and phased out as soon as possible, and replaced with the same sorts of programs that most private-enterprise companies offer today, which is 401K plans and the like.  The upshot would probably result in a higher compensation rate being offered for today's governmental employees, with the corresponding result being that governmental agencies and taxpayers would not have to worry about pension blowups and unsustainably in the future.

Interview Question: Have You Ever Been Arrested?

At any given job interview, all sorts of unexpected and unanticipated things may occur, of which, one of them may be inappropriate or illegal questions.  For instance, there are some job application forms and job interview questions to which one of the illegal questions that is asked is whether or not you have ever been arrested.   The assumed point of a question like this is to separate out applicants that have been arrested from those that have not been arrested and/or to count against the interviewee an arrest incident in their overall application grade.  While those that have never been arrested might even prefer seeing this type of question asked, that is hardly fair to those that march to the beat of a different drummer, come from a different environment, been harassed, unlucky, or various other reasons why their susceptibility of being arrested would be appreciably higher than someone else's.

For those that have actually been arrested, and really aren't aware of the inappropriateness and illegality of the question being asked, the bottom line is it is up to that person's conscience as to how to answer the question.   In general, unless you feel somehow that the question is a question striking at the heart of your integrity and thereby by admitting to something that really did happen, you feel will somehow garner points with the interviewer as demonstrating your candor in an uncomfortable situation, by all means answer the question honestly.  However, in almost every other instance, you are far better off answering the question by denying your arrest, as there is no such thing as being "convicted of the crime of being arrested".  That is to say, if your arrest did not lead to a conviction, than you have absolutely nothing to own up to.

The most significant problem with inappropriate interview questions is that almost always these questions are a form of trying to get you to "make a case against yourself" which is completely and fundamentally at odds with the whole purpose of having the Constitutional right not to self-incriminate and is often best left in the hands of you and God, or to be confessed as a form of contrition to God's representative on earth.  In addition to this, asking interviewees questions about their arrest record are unfairly biased against both males and those of lower socio-economic levels because these people are historically significantly more susceptible to being arrested in the first place.  Not only that, people that are willing to rail against the system in protest for whatever injustices that they perceive and have felt around society, are far more susceptible to being arrested, yet it is exactly those people, that help to cause and implement positive change.

If you look at the great heroes of history, such as Jesus the Christ, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Jones, and Nelson Mandela, to name just a few, they all stood for justice and truth against the forces of injustice and error and were all arrested for their stand or even worse.  The question put forth: have you ever been arrested is fundamentally unsound, as that question by itself divides neither the sheep from the goats; the real question to ask is whether you have ever stood up for justice, knowing that by doing so, you would suffer for it.

The Poll Tax

Most people do not know what the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution stipulates, but in short, in 1964 when it was ratified, it basically stipulated that in national elections voting: "… shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax."  It then took a Supreme Court decision in 1966 to eliminate the poll tax in State elections, so that since 1966 poll taxes are no longer valid or legal in any State of this union.

As for a poll tax, it's name pretty much sums up what it is, a form of taxation or fee that has to be paid in order for a voter to be able to legally vote at the polling booth and those that did not pay such a tax, would therefore not be permitted to vote.  The purpose of the poll tax, not too surprisingly, was to take away the vote from the disenfranchised and poor, so as to tip the scales of justice to those that had the means to create their own form of justice favoring those of a certain class, race, and/or creed.  The poll tax was quite effective in its discrimination, as indigent people simply didn't have the monetary means to vote and often simply gave up trying to fight the system.   

While the poll tax as it was has now been placed into the dustbin of history, it has somewhat been resurrected by identification laws that certain State legislatures have passed over the ensuing years, so depending upon the State of your residence, in order for you to vote in a given election, you must present some form on legal government issued ID, such as your driver's license.  It would seem that, offhand, the presentation of proper ID to vote appears to be a reasonable request to make, but that isn't necessarily so.  For instance, for a well established person, having proper ID on hand is almost a given, however, there is a substantial part of America to which that isn't necessarily so, for a variety of reasons, yet they are of age, entitled to vote, and in fact, voting is their Constitutional right.

At a polling booth, in order to vote, you have to be able to identify yourself, which historically has meant identifying yourself verbally through your full name, address of voting registration, and possibly also your date of birth, all of this for the benefit of the official at the polling booth so as to verify this information against their records and thereby check your name off of the voting rolls for that election.   While it might be convenient to present one's ID in order to confirm or to establish identity, it should not be the law to do so, as that ID has previously been established by virtue of the fact that your name is on the voting roll.  This means, that a verbal declaration of who you are, to which that information is consistent with the information at the voting booth, should be sufficient to allow you, your right to vote. 

In short, whether you jogged to the voting booth, drove, walked, dropped by, got dropped off, or whatever, you should be able to wait your turn in line, properly identify yourself, and then vote.  Those that insist upon proper government issued ID in order to vote, are deliberately creating barriers to entry, much like the poll tax of old, to keep undesirables at bay, in their place, and left behind.

The New Color of Slavery

Whether you want to believe that slavery ended in America upon Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, or upon the surrender of the Confederacy on April 9, 1865, or perhaps upon the ratification of 13th Amendment in 1865, which abolish slavery and involuntary servitude, one could make a strong argument that slavery or its modern equivalence of never really went away.   The problem with the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865 is that the same power structure that created the Confederacy still existed, unbowed and unrepentant despite any loyalty documents that were signed, still owning the same land and still having access to the same poor and disenfranchised black people of the South, and although there were federal laws on the books, Union men in town, it didn't take all that long for things to inexorably slip back to the way that they previously were.

That is to say, of course, technically Southern plantation owners no longer owned slaves, as that was illegal, and perhaps considered impolitic, but just as surely Southern plantation owners adjusted to these circumstances by creating "black codes" and other laws and restrictions on black movement and labor, that were backed by southern justice, southern arms, southern violence, in such a manner that freed blacks were forced into positions of servitude similar to slavery to which the prime beneficiary of this labor was reaped in large part by that southern plantation class, trapping blacks into a system that offered no escape from economic deprivation.

It was not until the aftermath of World War II that the pressure to give the black man a fair place at the table of American bounty became something that began to inexorably increase on the Federal government; yet, while on the one hand, America began to become a more liberal society, there was a conscious recognition that jobs that were both labor intensive as well as historically poor in compensation, such as agricultural in all of its many facets, hospitality, and so forth, needed to be filled by somebody that would be satisfied just to have some sort of foothold in America.

The answer to that labor need came from south of the border, in Mexico, and in Central America, to which whether purposely done or by benign neglect, the powers-to-be made sure to differentiate these people from "real" Americans, by first allowing them to slip across the borders in unprecedented numbers, and further to make sure that these people would not be considered to be citizens, but instead be looked upon as undocumented workers, illegal aliens, or whatever.  Further to the point to separate these people from Americans, they made sure to setup the logistics of a language barrier; by making Spanish the de facto recognized second language of America.  The brilliance of this decision was that, those that are unable to comprehend English, but instead must rely on Spanish to conduct their day-to-day activities of their communication, place themselves into the inferior position of being both stigmatized by authorities and also exploited by labor, because by their language, there are in essence recognized as people that have no rights that need be respected.  This means, in effect, that they are subject to "Mexican codes" to keep them in their place, that a "good" Mexican is a Mexican that keeps their head down, does their work well, doesn't complain about working conditions or pay, and should be grateful for the bones thrown their way.

While one could argue that it isn't really slavery when you aren't forced to or compelled to move your feet into America, which while technically true, misses the point that the deliberate exploitation of any human labor, that is further not accorded full civil and economic rights, is a civil crime against humanity and a disgrace to anyone that pledges allegiance to this mighty flag and what it represents.

The Insanity of High-End Art Pricing

There are the rich, the very rich, and the superrich that are so superrich that they are absolutely beyond the pale, to which most people are absolutely clueless as to how the world of the wealthy actually revolves.  The world is a very large place to which money is made in all sorts of ways, some legal, some not, some of very questionable actions, some not, and some of blatantly illegal ways, and some not.  Those that make their money on the "dark side", so to speak, have only solved half the equation, as cash or cash like instruments, in and of itself, has limited value if you are unable to turn that cash into something of more tangible value, especially something that is both fungible as well as easily transferrable and preferably of international merit.

The big auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's have taken over from the Swiss bankers of old, as the new way to laundry and store money that has questionable origins.  The first clue that Christie's and Sotheby's are not on the up and up, is the fact that some of the most expensive art pieces in the history of mankind are sold or transferred to either straight-out anonymous parties, that "prefer for privacy reasons" not to be identified, or sold to a named person or rumored to have been sold to a named person in the art industry, who in fact is just a front for an anonymous buyer.

The second clue that things at Christie's and Sotheby's are not on the up and up, is revealed within the increasingly insane pricing of art pieces that are sold.  For instance, a Cezanne painting sells for $250 million, and a Picasso for $155 million, and the still living Jasper Johns painting goes for $110 million.  No matter how you slice and dice the pricing on these pieces, none of these pieces demand that type of pricing, yet prices like these or on a somewhat smaller scale are achieved again and again and again.

Because a given art piece must have a buyer as well as a seller, and of course, be able to accommodate the very nice commission for the art gallery or auction selling the piece, there has to be some sort of assurance for all parties involved, that the punch bowl in regards to these high-end art pieces is not going to be taken away anytime soon.  That bowl is primarily controlled and manipulated by the art auction houses themselves in conjunction with certain art critics and the credulous press.  That is to say, you are not going to get buyers, with even the most corrupt and dirty money, even considering buying art, if they aren't confidently reassured that the art game itself is rigged in everybody's favor.

For instance, if there is an agreement, an implied agreement, of course, that art pieces will always or almost always go up in price over time, this makes the dealing of this commodity much more enticing for those that need to wash their dirty money and thereby to cleanse it, from either a buying or selling perspective, as today's buyer, is often tomorrow's seller, and that washing cycle continues until such time as the game can no longer sustain itself.  So despite what you might hear from the art experts, or despite the denials from Sotheby's and Christie's, today's art pricing is a manipulated shell game, rigged, and fueled significantly by the very dirty money hiding behind the cloak of anonymity, tax evasion, and/or false fronts.

The Importance of Private Property

In today's modern society the law often in conjunction with the government is constantly encroaching upon man's natural right to enjoy and to control the very things that he owns.  In a country without private property, whether that property is owned by the government outright, or by the people in common, the individual, has no safe sanctuary, since the very steps that he takes upon any part of the earth, is not his own.

While it might sound enticing, fair, or even Christian, for everyone to own everything in common, the actuality of it all is far from some sort of earthly paradise.  First, no matter how the bread is sliced, somebody is going to have effectively more rights than you to common land, and further, that somebody will often have less responsibility to work on that same land as you do.  In point of fact, that is one of the fundamental lies of communism, to which those in power, those with arms, those that are connected, decide just how much or how little freedom of action, or freedom of conscience, that a given citizen may have, and through it all it will be made abundantly clear that not all commoners are equal, and those that are less equal will have to make do with whatever the State elects to parcel out to them.

It doesn't take a genius to understand intuitively as well as in action that you do not treat your own private property the same way that you treat property that you do not own or property in common, or property controlled by some State agency.  In truth, you treat your own property with far more concern and care than any other property, basically because you have "skin in the game" knowing that how your treat your property has a direct material effect upon you, whereas property held in common, or anonymously, is not property that overly concerns you one way or another, so, for instance, if you have trash you toss it, cause you don't really care, even though you should.

Another very important aspect of private property, is that this is your line of defense from State encroachment upon you as a person, so that without private property, without private property rights, there is no safe haven, because a government that does not respect private property, will not typically respect you as a person, and rather than seeing you a person with certain inalienable rights, will see you instead as someone created to serve the State and if necessary, will make sure that you are obedient to this dictate.

When it comes to private property, the interest of the State should be strictly related to the fairness of as well as the acquisition of the holding of private property for individuals and not in contrast for the State to aggrandize unto themselves or to take unfairly private property from individuals.  A country with strong individual private property rights is a country made up of sovereign individuals that collectively may then decide to band together so as to protect those rights, and thereby become a country of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The Dangers of Anonymous Police in Riot Gear

The first thing to remember is that domestic law enforcement officers foremost duty is to protect and to serve the public, not to be a law unto themselves, not to be responsible to just some special subset of society , and that they therefore must be held accountable for the actions that they perform and accomplish in their day-to-day activities.  The responsibility that a given law enforcement officer has to himself as well as to society is enormous, as the real world is a combination of so many myriad factors and tensions that the performance of duties as a law enforcement agent is fraught with dangers, pressures, and decisions that can overwhelm a lesser man.

When tensions are high, there are very valid reasons as to why police officers will be outfitted into riot gear; for instance for their own protection, as well as intimidation, preparedness for danger, organization, efficiency, and safety reasons.  In almost every case, citizens that are facing up against a well organized police force in their full riot gear and accouterments are almost completely at the mercy for life and limb by these officers. 

When it comes to regular police duties, officers of the law are identified with badges or similar with their name and identifying number visible; this is necessary for all parties involved, providing the citizens a chance to basically ascertain that the officer is actually legitimate, as well as a valid protection of answerability for the people.  In addition, police vehicles are uniquely identified by not only their license plate but also the distinctive identification code on the roof of a given vehicle.  

However, when it comes to riot gear on police, with the exception of some word printed on their uniform or gear such as "police" or "sheriff" or similar, it often is virtually impossible to identify any individual officer of the law by name or identification number, if these are even shown.  Additionally, riot gear is typically so encompassing, that often times no body skin of the riot gear outfitted officer is shown whatsoever, in addition to normal visual identifiers such as the eyes and face being obstructed or shielded by the face shield and/or goggles or shades so that in total it is difficult or nearly impossible for the public to identify the officer in question whatsoever.

The officer in full riot gear is well aware that he is both seen as an intimidating force, as well as being cognizant that he is virtually and effectively anonymous to the public.  This anonymity, this unaccountability is extremely dangerous to the public, as those that are the law, or instruments of the law, are far more capable of giving full vent to their free rein, if they believe that they individually will not be held accountable for their zeal in their performance of their duty, as well as believing that those that strike against aren't ever going to be able to know who they really are as individuals and fellow citizens.

The fact of the matter is that all police officers in riot gear should always be readily identifiable by at a minimum a unique identifying number clearly displayed on their helmet so that the public and the police agency itself can know for a certainty the identity of that particular officer.  Anytime that a country degenerates to such an extent that the policing agency of said country is permitted to perform their duties without identification nor proper independent oversight, than the rights of the people, will be held in the hands of those that wield the sword.

Philippians 2: 5-11

The story of Jesus the Christ is a multi-faceted story that because we have heard it so often, perhaps we have become complacent about it.  Here you have, the King of Kings, the Lord of Hosts, who was born not in some sort of kingly mansion, not in some beautiful home surrounded by devoted servants, but instead was born in a manger, because there was not room at the Inn.  Still, the light of his birth was noted by the Heavens, followed by the wise men, so that they could find Him, pay respect and homage to the King of the Jews and to worship Him and this cosmic event.

We read in Philippians 2:7-8 that: "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."  Jesus was the man who made it clear that he sought no clamor from his flocks that instead, he recognized that his mission was to come to the people, in truth, in love, in scripture, and to testify to that truth, without concern for his own safety, his reputation, or of anything of this world.  Jesus the Messiah did not ever assert his ego, or his way, instead he walked that narrow path that gave no quarter to earthly rewards or the temptations of Satan.

The telling message of Jesus the Christ is one that is so often missed by those that see the glory but fail to recognize that He was ever humble, and obedient to the dictates of God, to which He willingly surrendered to Him.  This is the simple message which is often misinterpreted by mankind that spends an inordinate amount of time and energy asserting itself one against the other, railing against the system, railing against principalities, but often misunderstanding the very purpose of life to begin with.  The race on earth is not to the swift, nor to the strong, but to those who willingly listen and are obedient to the word of God.

The word of God to us, is the exact same words as to those of the Christ himself, and those words are to stop with all the madness, stop with all the uproar, and to by-and-by take the time and consideration to find a still and quiet place so that within you and within that place, in true contriteness of heart you will begin to hear for the very first time, the sweet soothing whisper of God.  None of the glory of this world means anything, none of the applause, none of the awards, means a thing at all, if it isn't in accord with the way and that way is the same throughout history, and it is that mystical untrodden path of surrender to God.

There is very little point in chasing after vanities, because you can never catch the wind, but you can catch a ray of sunshine and from that sunshine you can build a pathway to Heaven.  Every step to Heaven is a step created by recognizing that the way to God's heart is forged by forgetting yourself and instead working towards helping and aiding others by your actions, by your concern, by your love, and by your care, so that step by step, hand in hand, one will aid the other, and thereby come into God's ineffable unending glory, a glory that only can be discovered by listening and obeying that still, small voice within.

Obey the Law

We are told to obey the law, but why, and who are these people or institutions telling us this in the first place?  Not too surprisingly, today those that tell us to obey the law, don't necessarily have our best interests in mind, as in actuality, they try to take man's law and make it equivalent to God's law or natural law, so that in effect, we will be subservient to the State and the State's law for the convenience and service to the State.  Additionally, there isn't anybody alive today that can actually obey all the laws on the books in the United States, as some of these laws are contradictory, subject to interpretation, or disjointed, to say the least.

While it makes sense in a civilized nation that citizens should obey the law, that law in order for it to be respected and obeyed, must be sensible, rational, equally applied, non-discriminatory and in accordance with God's law.  Too often, nations want to pass law after law after law as if the fact that more laws are passed, will make for a greater country and a sounder nation, when in fact, typically the result is simply to make more willful acts crimes, that aren't really crimes in the scheme of things, but are considered to be crimes in the eye of the State so as to pander to certain powerful segments of the State, and to place citizens in the uncomfortable position of being perpetually in a state of subservience to the State.

The foundation for good law must always come via a hierarchy to which at the very top of that pyramid is natural law.  Natural law is defined as: "a body of unchanging moral principles regarded as a basis for all human conduct."  It is important to understand that this definition of natural law emphasizes that this law consists of "unchanging moral principles", which is the very basis for good law.  All laws that change with the times, change with demographics, or political correctness, or whim, are not good laws, because they are forever changing depending upon how the wind is blowing, and thereby it is virtually impossible for the populace to obey the law, when the law itself, changes from administration to administration, from judge to judge, from legislature to legislature.  That isn't law.

In actuality, virtually all that we need to know about the law is contained within the Ten Commandments and/or the Two Commandments giving by the Christ: "…Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22: 37-40).  Those that obey these Commandments, this law, so to speak, will find that they will obey the most meaningful law of all, God's revealed law.  Unfortunately, in today's' upside down justice system, by virtue of obeying these Commandments in good conscience, this could easily mean, in fact, does mean that you will undoubtedly come into conflict with arbitrary man's law.   

We are told by so many great men in history, such as Saint Augustine, that: "An unjust law is no law at all."  It is important to understand the real meaning of these words, because the true test for any man is whether or not he will obey natural law, despite the fear of dire consequences in this world for not doing so, and whether too he actually comprehends the words of our Declaration of Independence, that the people are empowered with: "… the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them."

The fact is when it comes to obeying the law, the only law to be obeyed must be in harmony, and in accordance with God's law or it is not a law that any good man needs respect.  God has gifted each of us with a mind and a free will, to do whatever that we want, to serve whomever that we desire; to which each day we can assert ourselves, obey or not obey, recognizing that it is always within our hands, within our will, to do what we ought.

Negative Interest Rates

Receiving a negative interest rate from a banking institution that is holding your money, seems like an oxymoron, as most people correctly associate bank deposits with earning a positive return on their money as well as being a prudent thing to do, but these are not normal times and the era of parking money in banks, by consumers, or by other banks or other financial institutions, and thereby making easy money by virtue of that money being loaned out at a high enough interest rate so as to afford the depositor a nice rate of return have ended.

While there isn't a lot of difference, unless one gets to extremely large numbers, between a small nominal positive interest rate for a depositor of money, as compared to zero interest, or even compared to a minute negative interest rate, just the fact that a deposit of $1,000,000 instead of being slightly positive after a term of one year, or the exact same amount as if the money has been stuffed inside a mattress for a year, but instead to see that the principal has been reduced to $999,999, is both unfathomable, and erringly strange.

Because we live in an era to which inflation is quiescent and in some economies and countries, deflation has become or is now the norm, so that if prices are indeed declining, it makes sense that the value of money, real cash or its substitutes, should also deflate, because in the end, because products have been reduced in price and/or are providing more bang for the buck, than even with a negative interest rate, the overall value of the money held as a liquid asset has actually gone up in value relative to the fact that the basket of products that it can buy has also increased in quantity and/or quality over the same period of time.

The reason that negative interest rates are in play comes down to the fundamental fact that in a deflationary cycle or the anticipation of such, most banking institutions make it public policy to try to get ahead of the curve, because when the public believes that pricing of products will get cheaper over time, than they will have a distinct tendency to spend less money now so as to be able to buy more later and if done in mass, this leads inevitably to a downward spiral of an economy slowing down or in fact, turning negative, which means higher unemployment, less income, less revenue, stock market collapse, and the increase of monetary defaults.

The whole point of negative interest rates is to provide an incentive for banks and banking institutions to lend money so as to maintain economic vibrancy because money or assets that sit either unused or underutilized are large contributing factors to a slowing down, stagnation, or ultimately the decline of business activity within any country, which then lends itself to the creation of an economic depression, to which America suffered through such from 1929 through 1933 and does not want to go through such an event, ever again. 

The fact that negative interest rates exist and are in play signifies a seismic shift in financial markets, and is a clear signal, that the economy is in recognition that an economic abyss, is more than a remote possibility.   Whether negative interest rates or the threat thereof, increases bank loans which therefore increases business activity and thereby stokes the economy actually works is questionable, but that is how the die has been cast, by the smartest bankers in the world.

Gap Insurance

For most Americans the two biggest purchases that you will ever make in your life are your home and your vehicle so the financial decisions that you make when transacting this business has significant ramifications.  The thing about purchasing a car is that many auto dealers will try most everything in the book to make extra money off of you, for example, by pushing for extended warranties, or extended loans so as to make the monthly payment lower but the total cost of the vehicle appreciably higher, financial charges and markups added to your loan under miscellaneous fees and charges, along with various nefarious dealer add-ons, including one of the absolute worse, which is gap insurance.

Gap insurance is insurance for your vehicle that covers the "gap" between what your loan amount is for the vehicle and what in actuality the vehicle is physically worth it if was involved in an accident and the car was completely considered totaled by your car insurance company.  The first issue with gap insurance is the fact that it doesn't make a lot of sense that the vehicle that you are driving off the dealer's lot is worth less than the amount of money that you now owe on the vehicle.  Not only does that not seem fair, it certainly appears to be a rotten deal, after all, if you are on the short end of that stick, why purchase the vehicle in the first place?  The next problem with gap insurance is that you can take it for a 100% certainty that if your car dealership is pushing for you to get something for your car and that this certain something must be purchased through that dealership, right here and right now, that they definitely don't have your best interests in mind, that instead they have their extra profitability in mind, and will utilize your fear that this beautiful car needs this extra protection against you.

The fact of the matter is that auto dealerships are not insurance companies, and therefore any gap insurance that you buy from a dealership, in almost every instance, does not originate and is not financed by that dealership.  Instead, that dealership has brokered deals with outside insurance agencies that handle gap insurance to which these insurance companies have made a separate deal with the dealership that enables them to handle the transaction, and thereby the auto dealership by virtue of outsourcing the gap insurance to the insurance company is able to at the time of that sale of the vehicle, book that profit or fee, and wash their hands thoroughly of any responsibility in regards to that gap insurance. 

This means that should you have a need to avail yourself of this usage of this gap insurance you won't be getting your money back from the dealership that sold the insurance to you, but instead, you will be dealing with a third party insurance company, that may or may not still be in business, that may or may not be legitimate, that may or may not honor their agreement, and almost certainly as part of their business model makes it their business to do every and anything to preclude consumers from collecting on their gap insurance.

Whether gap insurance is something that Is needed or not, a good deal or not, depends on a multitude of factors; but what can be said for a certainty is that you should never get or contemplate getting your gap insurance from a car dealership, but rather instead should contact a legitimate major car insurance company and inquire with them about gap insurance as they are both regulated and have the wherewithal to actual pay a claim out fairly.

Cold Tap Water in the winter

If you live in the part of America to which winter time brings cold temperatures, you are always delighted that when you turn on your tap water or shower water and give it a little time to warm up, that the water pours our fairly warm or even hot, but the credit for that temperature change goes primarily to your water heater and you definitely pay for that convenience.  However, there are times when we need or desire cold water, but there isn't anything built within a typical house that impacts the temperature of the cold setting for the water, so that during the dead of winter, you will often find that cold tap water, really is ice cold water, especially when you first turn the tap on!  Why is that?

The origin of the water that is tapped into our homes typically comes from lakes, streams, rivers, and whatnot that surround our particular community to which this water is piped and pumped underground, and once you get piping situated about 4 feet below the earth's surface that water stored there will find its equilibrium at around 50-55 degrees, so that even if the water entering the pipes is below 55 degrees or well above 55 degrees when it enters the piping, it will over time moderate its temperature to conform to the earth soil that surrounds it.  However, not all piping is dug to a depth of 4 feet or lower and further the piping that is in close proximity to a particular home is typically closer to the surface of the land, meaning that it is more susceptible to surface air temperatures and additionally because water is stored often times in large water towers that water there too is susceptible to air temperature.

The bottom line is that the air temperature most definitely affects the temperature of the tap water that comes out of our faucet when we turn the dial to cold, so that in the dead of winter that water coming out of the tap will be appreciably colder than the hottest day of summer, with probably a temperature difference easily exceeding 10 degrees, even though the faucet dial is in the exact same position and further, these temperature extremes will be more noticeable when the faucet is first turned on.

If it wasn't for the underground piping in the first place and the fact that deep water lakes have remarkably consistent cool temperatures far beneath the surface, than cold water would be far more problematic in achieving our home water needs and desires.  We shouldn't be surprised that the air temperature does affect the water temperature of our tap water, however, if it wasn't for the actuality that the water is primarily pumped to us deep underground to which the ground temperature is quite consistent and thereby provides the basis for our tap water being cool, we would not be able to have pretty much cold water on demand.  That said, not too unexpectedly, when the temperatures drop or rises appreciably, our cold tap water pretty much follows suit.

The Super Bowl should be played on a Saturday

During the regular NFL football season, NFL games are typically played on Sundays, although there is usually one game played on Thursday, as well as on Monday.  The reason that the NFL is played on Sunday, comes down to the fact that Fridays are set aside for High school football, and Saturdays are set aside for Collegiate football, leaving Sundays to the professionals.  It is not until the playoffs that any Saturday games are played, to which half of the Wild Card and Divisional Round games are held on Saturday, with the other half being played on Sunday.  For the Conference championship and for the Super Bowl those games are held on Sunday.

There are many people that believe that if it isn't broken, then there isn't any reason to fix it, and as the Super Bowl is consistently the event of the entire year, there seems little point to fix something that doesn't next fixing.  Yet, if television wants to have even bigger and higher ratings, than it would behoove the NFL to move the game to Saturday, as opposed to Sunday.  The advantages of a Saturday Super Bowl are massive as Sunday is the day that the fewest amount of Americans have commitments to work, thereby signifying that they can devote more time and energy to their usage of the free time on a Saturday, recognizing that on Sunday that they can still recuperate.  As it is, nearly 150 million people live in the Eastern Time Zone, and presently the Super Bowl game does not reach its conclusion till after 10PM EST, on Sunday, an evening to which most everyone will have obligations to go to work or to school on Monday. 

In addition, just because the Super Bowl ends, doesn't mean that the party is or should be over, as there are always going to be plenty of people that still want to talk, discuss, argue, or enjoy themselves, and perhaps need some time to settle down to that quietude that is necessary for a good night's sleep.

None of this would be a bother, if the game was held on Saturday, in addition, the game time could be moved to a little bit later in the evening so that more of the game would be seen in prime time on the West Coast.  All of this combined would bring even higher TV ratings, and hence more people that could enjoy the full panorama of the Super Bowl experience, with time to recover from such, on Sunday.

Also, all of the high powered business executives that must be at the Super Bowl proper in order to conduct and to glad-hand clients, would be far more appreciative of a Saturday game time, as this would allow them to resume their usual business schedules on Monday, with far less wear and tear.  All of the above, points to the sensible thing which is to move the Super Bowl from the Sunday time frame to Saturday, which would increase viewership here and abroad, increase advertising dollars, and make for the best super experience ever

The Men that would be god

The more that scientific and technology advances and the more that mankind achieves; the more that certain scientists believe that they are discovering the origin of, or at least the understanding of, life itself.  This means for the layman that believes and the esteemed scientist that understands or knows how to manipulate life, that this fundamental understanding of the origin of life, this particular knowledge, pretty much somehow aggrandizes the powers of life to mankind, and therefore it follows that mankind is through his own knowledge and efforts, now a god, master or near master of life and death.

All throughout history certain figures have believe that they are god or its equivalence, the main difference today, though, is that those that believe themselves to be godlike, or that mankind is the highest form of life, have increased in numbers substantially because the more that man knows about the physical body, the brain, the molecules, the atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons and so forth, the more that man is absolutely convinced that he is the real life incarnation of Dr. Frankenstein, only rather than starting with the various pieces and parts of corpses, he starts instead with an embryo, and unlike the fictional Dr. Frankenstein, this embryo is real, its genome can be altered, and when successfully done, will ultimately create a real human baby from virtually nothing.

This mastery or near mastery of human reproduction is absolutely remarkable, and the advances in science will undoubtedly continue over the foreseeable future, and for those that believe the physical form is all that there is, there really isn't anything more to say.  The fact is, the greater that man's powers and understanding are, the more responsibility that he has to his fellow man to use this wisdom correctly, because great powers used for selfish and evil reasons, will ultimately have devastating effects upon all and this is this misery that mankind lives through again and again and again.

When mankind incorrectly believes that he is all, that he is all knowing, infallible and the like, the only possible result for this hubris is a disaster of epic proportions.  God has gifted us with free will, but for all this free will, is the world that we live in is it: fair? Just? Equal? Paradise?  It is none of these things, although it could be all of these things if mankind recognized once and for all, that: "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God…" (Psalm 46:4).

There is something to be said about living the simple life, by just doing the things day by day, that are beneficial for yourself as well as your family and community and not worrying about the big political picture, or the government, or science, but just being about your business and in your efforts and in your actions making the world better for you having been here.  These people are most definitely the salt of the earth and the Kingdom of God are filled with them.  Then there are those that push the envelope in all sorts of endeavors, this too can be wonderful, look, for instance at the mightiness and influence of America, but recognize that without careful prudence and humility that this can become all vanity and with this great vanity comes a very great fall.