Right thoughts, right actions, right life

There are times when we have to act on instinct, without much aforethought whatsoever, but in many events of our life, there is plenty of time or a sufficient amount of time to think before we act, and that thinking is of critical importance to our overall success and happiness in this life.  For instance, if in our mind, we do not have the correct thoughts, the correct mindset, or any good purposeful thought, it doesn't seem conceivable that our actions will come out very well.  In so many instances, the things that we do, are a reflection of the thoughts that we have, so that, those that can get or do get their thoughts in order to begin with, will have lives that are of more value for themselves as well as others on virtually every satisfaction level.

What are you thinking about right now?  The thoughts that you have, are your own, you are in control of them, you can discipline yourself to think the thoughts that you really feel are the most appropriate for your given situation.  As you think, so you will be, that is why it is so important to take control of your mind, so as to become the best person that you can be.  It is up to us to make the effort to be the masters of our own fate which is why we are gifted with free will and free thought, so that we can freely seek for ourselves the narrow path that will ultimately bring us the inner peace that we are intuitively seeking.

If you consistently do not have right thoughts, it isn't conceivable that your life will come out very right at all.  You cannot think one thing and ultimately be something completely different from what you do think.  However, don't get this confused with wish fulfillment, and things of that sort, because as you think, so too you must take the actions and make the effort to become what you have pictured in your mind.  First there is the thought, and then there is the actions and effort that must prove that the thought legitimately means something important to you.

It is to anybody's credit to those that have bad and incorrect thoughts that they do not act upon them, and as important, that they push those bad thoughts out of their mind by replacing them with good thoughts, instead.  There is an art to the act of thinking, and that art, like any good art worth pursuing, is a learned behavior, that we must apply ourselves to.

The responsibility for yourself and what you do and accomplish, rests at your feet.  The man that then desires to make good in his life, does so, by dedicating himself to doing the right thing and the foundation of those activities, is the thoughts that are in his mind.  There are far too many people that say one thing, but really mean another, or do another thing, but really want to do another, this sort of inconsistency will not end well, as when a man takes his own self, and divides it into two characters, or multiple characters, ultimately only confusion will reign.

If your thoughts are not consistent with who or what you want to be, you must endeavor to change your thoughts, today.  Ultimately, you are what you feed, and you are the master of the thoughts that you grow, prune, or weed out.  To become everything that you sincerely desire to be, think the right thoughts, from this you will enact right actions and it then follows that you will thereby live a right and righteous life.

The Noise of Yard Work

Depending upon where you live and the time of year, the landscaping, and the density of your neighborhood, you will in all likelihood hear yard noise year round, or through most of the year, from landscapers mowing lawns, leaf blowers, power saws, lawn edgers, snow blowers, and various other instruments.  The amount of noise that these devices can generate, depends upon how they are powered, the manufacturer, their physical size, their engine size, their overall power efficiency, and so on, but basically those devices that are fueled by some sort of gasoline combination, emit the most noise, in which, that noise can easily reach 100 decibels, and possibly more.  Not too surprisingly, the operators of this equipment are almost always prudent enough to wear ear plugs or ear protection devices in order to protect their ears.   However, for those that live in that neighborhood or in the area where the work is being conducted, the noise level heard for them is often both loud as well as annoying, even with windows closed, and with windows open, under many circumstances, intolerable.

That said, out of all the equipment, being used, the most intolerable of them all, is leaf blowers.  The thing about lawn mowers is that lawns do not move, so a lawn being mowed is just going to be that physical location of that lawn, as well as the same condition applies to tree removal and its work.  The thing about leafs, is that they go everywhere all over a given person's property  and then some, in addition to the fact that the operators of the leaf blowers make it a point to try to conduct and direct leafs into one or a couple of piles in order to collect them or to push them off to a given side, therefore a leaf blower is not only loud, annoying, and irksome, but also continues for a long, long time, and seemingly over every square inch of the subject property.

While one understands the necessity of a power saw in order to take down a powerful tree or thick branches, and one understands the need for a power mower to mow lawn, because that gas powered mower is just going to be a world of magnitude faster and more efficient that one powered by hand, or typically one powered by electricity.  On the other hand, leafs really don't weigh much of anything at all, and while there may be leafs all over the place, leaf blowers seem like overkill or just plain laziness in the collecting of such.  Undoubtedly, leaf blowers are effective because of the power generated from such, but this power is so high, that it also lifts up top soil, animal waste, herbicides, pesticides, and just basically anything in its path, which is all included with the blowing and the collectingof the actual leafs.

The thing about the current design of gasoline powered leaf blowers is that they are way too powerful for the job at hand and either need to be redesigned as a tool that is both less noisy as well as less invasive and destructive or, if not, be reduced to a minimum in usage.   The fact of the matter is that rakes do a commendable job of aiding in the moving and collecting of leafs, to which, leaf blowers should be seen more as an adjunct to raking, not as its replacement.

To Bomb or not to Bomb

Many countries like to bomb other countries in periods of war and strife, of which, the great advantage for those dropping such bombs is that since they are dropped at a distance high up in the air that the aggressors of this sort of warfare are often in the clear of not having to suffer a debilitating retaliatory response from the defenders of countries or organizations or peoples being targeted and bombed.  In addition, there are cases, especially when the United States is involved, in which, America's bombers, and the sophistication of its logistics are far superior to those that would try to mitigate or respond to such, so that America can pretty much bomb its targets without much fear of any reasonable retaliation to its air force, not to mention the fact that America has the most sophisticated drone strike force in the world, which means that for countries with unlimited military budgets and unlimited bombing munitions, that said countries can literally bomb their intended targets to their heart's content.

So too, bombing accuracy, at least in theory and often in practicality, has gotten far more accurate since the days of World War II, with today's sophisticated targeting mechanisms that allow specific targeting of areas that are incredibly accurate and reliable.  This means that those that love to bomb can make the argument, that, not to worry, these bombs only hit their intended targets with minimal collateral damage, even though in actuality, whether because of the sheer amount of bombing conducted, human error, or mission overreach, the collateral damage created by bombing is far more destructive, than agents of the state would ever want to admit to.

In point of fact, the sick thing about bombing targets, above all, is the plausible deniability of it all, that is to say, the easy excuse that is made time and time again, that civilians that were essentially murdered under state sanction, were not killed deliberately but just happened to be in the vicinity of the bombing, or the bombing coordinates were off, or the "bad guys" were trying to hide around civilians, or the civilians were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and so on, ad nauseaum.  The big question that is never answered is why any country feels that is has the right and the license to bomb another, especially when doing so will undoubtedly kill civilians, will undoubtedly take out infrastructure, and in general, wreak havoc throughout communities. 

Then there is the god complex, that so many countries that enact bombing campaigns, seem to suffer from, which is that by the very act of bombing and bombing and bombing, that all those that are suffering the deprivations from such bombing, will submit to its aggressor.  Really?  If this theory was really legitimate, than all those that did not have the wherewithal to fight back, would simply submit to their oppressor and thereby ask for the terms of their surrender, but in almost all cases, they do not.  Instead, unlimited and non-constructive bombing campaigns rather than defeating the enemy, often embolden those that have lost or are losing everything, to stand together, and to become, in today's world, insurgents, which in the greater meaning of that word, means to stand with their country, to stand with their people, to stand with their family, and to fight back by any means available, and to never give in, never, never, never, never in nothing great or small, and to never yield to your implacable enemy.

Nefarious and Systematic Labor Exploitation

In any country, in any situation, one needs to labor in order to secure the necessary things that a given individual requires, such as food, health, and shelter, with the only exceptions to this rule being those that are either too young to labor, too enfeeble to do so, or are mentally or physically handicapped.   A look back at societies indicates that mankind historically existed either as a hunter/gatherer and/or utilized the land for agricultural and sustenance purposes.  So too, mankind traded with partners strength-to-strength, worked together in small units with specific tasks assigned to able-body people, and so forth so as to maintain and enhance their family and community units. 

Fast forward to the modern age, and things are vastly different in many substantial ways. For instance, land ownership and/or the rights to hunt or fish on communal property, along with the sovereignty of the individual should be foundational points for all individuals on this good earth, and not meant to be subverted or controlled by a select few so as to command and oppress the masses.  That is to say, if one does not own the land that one resides and treads upon, and cannot hunt or fish without express permission from those that control the enforcing powers of a given state, as well as being restricted by that same state as to what they can or can't do with their body and with their mind, than those subjected people are for a certainty, exploited.

Further to the point, those that control the means of production, no matter what that production is, have within their DNA almost always, the strongest innate desire to see that all that would stand in their way, be crushed, so as to not become a competitor in any way, form, or manner.  This means, that small-time and independent farmers, or small-time and individual livestock herders, or small-time agricultural and independent producers must be marginalized and undercut in order to be trivialized in the great marketplace of a given country.  The massive players in all of these industries have consolidated for two basic reasons, of which one is to become more efficient and hence place themselves into a position that will make them good and sustainable profits, while the other is to drive out those that are independent by beating these small timers by price, by logistics, and by any other means that can be asserted.

The foregoing isn't meant as an object lesson for those that were small and independent to learn from, it is far more serious and diabolical than that, because the overarching aim is to not teach lessons, but to take these former independent operators, and make them subservient to the big operators, creating in form and function their new exploited labor force, that will work for the "man" as opposed to working for themselves.  Even more callous for the common man, is that as machines and robots replace the laboring hands of man, this effectively means that the worth of that man in the labor force becomes appreciably less because his worth is now compared against the value and output of the machines and robots that have replaced him, in which those said machines and robots care not.

This labor force now becomes underutilized and consequently has little or no choice but to work wherever that they can, doing whatever that they can, at whatever price that they can sell their labor for, in which, in all things, the man that controls the capital and its resources, dictates to that labor the rules of the game.

The Super-wealthy and Hereditary Nobility

The founding of America was done by European immigrants and refugees, looking for religious freedom, as well as economic opportunity, without having to deal with the restraints of an intrusive governmental interference or the restriction of having to be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth in order to achieve things of notable purpose.  The greatness of America is the greatness that allowed hard working, dedicated, driven, and purposeful individuals and organizations of people with common goals and visions to take and develop their ideas and this land into the force and the massive wealth that it has ultimately become.  Not too surprisingly, there are many people, who upon becoming powerful and/or wealthy, wish to see that their largess is passed on to not only their blood-related present generation but onto their blood-related generations to come, which is fine up to a certain point, but taken to the extreme, can easily create the equivalency of European hereditary nobility, ad nauseum.

The most basic problem with lots and lots of wealth as well as lots and lots of power, is those that have it, are seldom inclined to want to relinquish it, whatsoever.  It is one thing for those that have these things to enjoy and benefit from it, while they are living, and an entirely different thing for generations or institutions or charitable foundations to hold on to these vast resources in perpetuity.  If this country, will not tax appropriately those that have died, and/or will allow those that have departed this world, to escape their full taxation through the wherewithal of all the games that the best lawyers and laws apparently allow, than you have segregated in effect this country, into the very rich and powerful who are essentially eternal, while the rest of us are mortal and not given the same privileges or consideration.

You would think that the estate tax would be very straightforward, so that when an individual dies, they are taxed, and are taxed rather heavily after a given amount is allowed to be passed onto heirs and other desirable people and entities; tax free, to which at the present time the IRS allows $5.45 million dollars to be exempt from such taxation.  The balance of said estate, is in theory, taxed at the statutory rate of 40%, but in effect, isn't taxed close to that amount, because appropriate taxes are avoided through all the traditional tricks and loopholes of the trade.  This would signify that when they say that "you can't take it with you," it is only literally true in the sense, that you, the person that is now deceased cannot, but your family, your heirs, your charitable foundations, most certainly can, and often with only taking a relatively small hit to its luxury liner.

The fact of the matter is, if America will not appropriately and fairly tax the very rich when they are alive and will not appropriately and fairly tax them when they are dead, then the tax game is effectively rigged or gamed in their perpetual favor, which allows these super-elite privileged people to have their say as to what this country will or won't do, so that it is their voice that determines what America represents and does, and the people, are effectively silenced, now and forevermore.

Real ID is your National ID

The government just can't seem to resist getting all possible identification tangents from its citizens, for the obvious reason that a National ID card which is in essence, what the Real ID law sets up, has huge benefits for the Federal government, in being able to monitor all, and to treat all as subjects that should be subject to the constant eye of the federal government in all that they do.  The Real ID act was passed in 2005, and while the law is rather lengthy, it can be summed up into the basic premise that instead of each individual State having the right to create their own driver license's in the manner that best fits their desire and budget, they must instead, adhere to the format of such as dictated by the National Government.

At the present time, States that do not desire to adhere to the Real ID law, can subvert it or avoid it or request an extension to it, but in all things involving the federal government, this isn't a game that States are well positioned to play successfully with the very entity that can both bestow federal funding and largess for necessary things that States' desire and need, or to withhold such and thereby penalize the State.  When it comes to money, and really all States want their fair share, the federal government holds the purse, and He who holds the purse, wields incredible power.

The main features of the Real ID act is that the database and security features of State issued identification cards would be compatible State to State, meaning that all fifty States would have the ability to read State IDs from any of the fifty States as well as the federal government maintaining and managing the entire database.  Additionally, these State IDs would be machine readable, signifying that these machines would be able to read all "actionable" information on a State-issued ID, of which the owner of such, would be blithely unaware of exactly how personal and how detailed that information would be.  All of this combined, would create a database that ultimately wouldn't be controlled on a State-to-State basis, but on the National level, in which, the Federal government, would know for a certainty where each individual lived, worked, traveled to, and when and where documents were provided to identification depots.

Of course, as always, this government, insists these things are necessary for the safety and security of the nation, which, has its place, especially if this National government considers itself to be the shepherds, and we the people, to be its dim-witted sheep.  As invasive as the Real ID act is, this National government will invariably want even more and that final piece of the puzzle, would be to add onto our future driver license's a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag, which, as these tools get even more sophisticated and powerful, would allow the government to know in real time, which streets we walk upon, which streets we travel upon, and who exactly we are, where we are going, what we are doing, so as to monitor us in totality 24/7, every day in every way, till we depart this cruel world.

Get your Fiscal House in Order

The federal government of the United States does not even try to balance its budget, of which, this continual overhang of excessive debt is placed upon the shoulders of the youngest generation, and if this country can somehow sustain this financial game, its deficit will be passed onto future generations to come.  That said, we know that the federal government has given up, by just looking at the massive deficits it manifested in the 21st century, in which, in the years 2009-2012, this irresponsible government ran deficits exceeding $1 trillion dollars in each of these respective years, and for 2016 ran a deficit of $587 billion dollars.

Today, in this world, there is only one superpower, in which you would think that superpower would be able to reap the benefits of being in that enviable position.  Instead, America which is not at a Congressional declared war with anyone or anything, although it manufactures war with terrorism, and meddles again and again, especially in the Middle East, somehow is always at war.  The amount of monies dedicated in this country to the military-industrial complex is essentially monies wasted and wrested away from the babes of this country, which is truly a crime against humanity.

This government again and again, has not the intellectual honesty, nor the candor, nor the character, to get its fiscal house in order, in which, it doesn't get any more basic than the recognition that in order to balance a budget, it must both spend less, and tax more.  It would be one thing if America was in the most severe of circumstances that challenged its ability to even exist as a united nation, but all the wars and engagements by America since World War II, have been by design or in obeisance to the military-industrial complex, and not for the security or for the betterment of this great nation.  So too, pundits will state that the government must always step in to help those banking institutions that are "too big to fail", or for fiscal stimulus, or for various other reasons, in which, there is never acknowledged that monetary problems are created by poor governance, poor decisions, and corrupt institutions that game the system to benefit themselves, and when the die turns, placesthe burden of their inevitable failure onto governmental shoulders, who then pass it directly on to future generations.

Every time that the government kicks the can down the road, recognize, that the longer it goes on, the longer that it continues, the worse it will be for those that must deal directly with a collapsed fiscal house.  Every time that the government does not balance its budget in any given year, that deficit, along with the monetary interest that must be paid to our monetary masters, increases, in which, some day at some point, it must be paid or our fiscal house will collapse.  Every time that this country runs a deficit, those that aren't paying their fair share or are benefiting by receiving goods from the government, or being subsidized by the government, that those beneficiaries are stealing from future generations.

This government believes that it is right to wrest the bread, the opportunity, and the future, from those of the youngest generation to serve their ever present, insatiable lust for the things that they desire without making the sacrifice or putting forth the effort to get these things, legitimately.

Blackjack and the Lottery

Most every State in our nation allows lotteries of some sort within State lines, all of which, have certain and specific rules of the various games, the selling of tickets, where the lottery is sold and allowed , and where it is not allowed, along with whether the lottery is permitted online.  Whether lotteries are a good idea for States in the first place is highly debatable, as the appeal of "instant money" in return for providing no labor to earn such, is morally suspect.  However, the real crux of lottery issues is essentially that the State promotes and advertises playing the lottery as if the game is fair, reasonable, and fun, in which, in all aspects, it isn't.  For instance, there isn't a casino in America, that has the hold percentages that lottery operators have a monopoly on, in which it is estimated by researchers depending upon the State and the game, that the lottery operators, that is the State, keeps at a minimum 30% of the amount of the monies spent on the lottery, up to perhaps as high as 70%.  For instance, as reported by kslottery.com "The Kansas Lottery Act requires that a minimum of 45 percent of total sales be paid back to the players through the prize fund," which would indicate that the hold percentage in the State of Kansas is permitted to be as high as 55%.  To equate that in real terms, that would mean participants in the Kansas lottery on average for every $100 bet, would only get $45 back.

While different lottery venues offer different games, the basic backbone of lottery play in all of the States that offer it is the ability for the player to either make quick picks, have the picks automatically generated for them, or scratch off tickets, of which, none of these things have an element of skill involved whatsoever, and all of them are quick.  A better way to engage the general public in which lottery tickets are offered in an online format is to offer to the public games in which the rules are straightforward, mathematically calculable by patrons of the game, and that involve a skill level. The best game for such an adventure would be blackjack, which if you're going to offer lottery games in the first place, States should seriously consider offering as an option a game that engages its participants, without having to go to a physical casino, while having an active involvement in the outcome of a given game.

The thing about States is pretty much, once you open up the door to the lottery in your State, you can pretty much open up the door to other things in the same sort of field, of which blackjack would be one of them.  The advantage to the State of offering blackjack is the fact that it would attract patrons that need "action" in order to find some sort of fulfillment or adrenaline rush, as well as the fact that because there most definitely is a skill element involved, their decisions while playing such a game would matter.

The nice thing about blackjack, is the State could set the rules, and by manipulating those rules, know for a certainty what their hold percentage would be, to which, in aggregate because players don’t play expert strategy, while also typically gambling at a higher monetary unit than is prudent for their bankroll, as well as by making side bets that are tempting to the consumer, but mathematically a poor investment, would find that their true State hold percentage would be higher in actuality.  The State would still make its money, while giving patrons more "bang for their buck", along with that desired adrenaline rush that entices consumers into gambling in the first place.

Health care Costs

According to the Associated Press, America spends on average $10,345 per person per year in America for health care, if that sounds outrageously high, keep in mind, that the average wage for individuals as reported by CNBC was just $44,569 for 2014.  Further to the point, the Associated Press reports that for health care that: "…about 5 percent of the population….accounts for nearly half the spending in a given year.  Meanwhile, half the population has little or no health care costs, accounting for 3 percent of spending."  This sums up succulently everything that is wrong with our health care and its cost structure throughout America, in which the system not only is not very efficient in its money allocations, but apparently our health care infrastructure lives in some sort of idealistic world of not taking into consideration that time, monies spent and ultimately the billing of such, matters.

One of the fundamental problems with health care is the opacity of virtually everything that happens with patients when visiting a physician or while being admitted to a hospital.  The patient typically doesn't really know what is going on, is powerless or too ill to do much about it, and in addition, is typically clueless about the cost of what is going on, and in particular, who pays for what.  Additionally, health care should not be looked upon, as an unlimited bucket of services, that society, or insurance, or individuals, will just have to pay for, no matter the cost, no matter the reason, no matter much of anything. 

While it is understandable, that people that are sick should desire to get well, if must also be stated, that ultimately, not every problem can be successfully mitigated or resolved, in addition to the rather inconvenient fact, that all physical matter must eventually die.  This doesn’t mean that hospitals and doctors should be callous towards their patients, what it does mean, though, is that putting forth: "all the king's horses and all the king's men" is often neither the prudent nor effective course of action.

Additionally, individuals, more than any other entity, must have skin in their own health care game.  That is to say that the decisions, activities, and things that people do on an everyday basis with their body and mind, most definitely has an effect upon their overall health and therefore insurance companies, governmental bureaucracies, and employers, should incentivize people to make good lifetime choices, as this pays off in the short as well as over the long term.  Then there are those, typically the very young, as well as the very old, whose health, needs significant medical attention, which should be provided, but within a prism in which cost, equipment, and manpower are considered in conjunction with each other.

So too, fingers must be pointed at the entire health care system, as to why, with so much monies spent, America accomplishes far less than what it ought to for its people.  This would imply strongly that the system as currently structured and managed is widely inefficient and based on results, not all that effective, either.  This would indicate that from the very top on down, the heath care infrastructure must be reconfigured, re-imagined, and redone.  Health care in America isn't working very well, and it thereby needs a very significant makeover, and in order to do so, America must demonstrate in action the urgency and wisdom to effect the necessary changes required for this country and for its people that deserve no less.

The American Debt Crisis

America is the richest nation in the world, the nation with the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the highest Gross National Product (GNP) bar none.  Not only does America have all the advantages of being the de facto currency or reserve currency of the world, it has the military might and economic influence that permeates or influences virtually every nation on this good earth.  In addition, to all these wonderful things, America is the destination of choice of the best and brightest throughout this world, along with its being the favored nation for bringing real assets and knowledge by accomplished entrepreneurs to our shores in either actuality or in practicality.  Yet, with all these massive advantages, America seems incapable of keeping their fiscal house in order.

When President Clinton left office at the end of 2000, the deficit of America was $5.67 trillion dollars, a massive amount but in comparison to our real GDP of $12.56 trillion dollars, perhaps manageable, under the right circumstances.  Since then, under Presidents Bush and Obama, America's deficit has soared to $19.39 trillion dollars, whereas the real GDP is just $16.73 trillion dollars.  Further troubling news is that our real GDP growth from the years 2005-2016, has not exceeded 3% per annum in any of those years, which is unprecedented for America, and proof positive that America does not have the ability to grow its way out of its massive current debt.

In point of fact, in order to have enough escape velocity to alleviate the current debt crisis, America must either grow its way out of it, by producing real higher growth, something that would appear to be improbable, cut deficits, something that the politicians of this great nation refuse to take the necessary steps to accomplish, or, essentially debase the monetary currency of the realm, by inflation, which is, no doubt, the plan of the moment, but with incredible perils of its own.

The problem with stoking the inflation fires, is as follows, of which on one side, American tax revenues increase because prices, salaries, and fees will correspondingly increase, and by virtue of our progressive tax system, higher incomes mean higher tax extraction rates, effectively meaning that wage earners while earning more money nominally, are actually netting less money in actuality which also translates into less buying power.  The other positive of inflation for the government is, in theory, they are able to pay down their debt with money that has been effectively devalued, so inflation has made that ongoing deficit lower in real terms. 

However, as always, for every winner, there is a loser, in which, those that invested in bonds, and other fixed interest instruments, will while still being paid what they have due to them, are being paid back in debased currency, to wit, they will lose out not only from the interest that they should have received giving them a real positive return, but because of inflation, their real return will actually be negative.

There is though one additional problem to higher inflation, which is the biggest debtor of them all is America, and America will therefore have to pay higher interest rates on its debt, because the lenders of such, will, once convinced that inflation is here to stay, mandate that they get a net positive return for their risk.

This, would then indicate, that there is no easy or ready solution for our massive deficit solution, and in fact, if America insists on not getting its house in order, by continuing to run incredible debilitating deficits each and every year, now and into the future, this house of cards will inevitably collapse and a new monetary issue will be created, amongst the absolute chaos of this momentous and unsettling event.

Public Transportation and your Identity

The worse form of public transportation in the sense of intolerance and disrespect by far in America is by airplane, in which, citizens are essentially treated as suspects, when entering into the airport and while going through the airport security procedure, which allows governmental employees, at will, to search, screen, and pat-down whomever that they so desire.  That is the norm in America, and the chances of it changing anytime soon are pretty much zero.

On the other hand, there are other forms of public transportation which depending upon your income level, and where you live, you may take on a daily basis or hardly at all, which consist of subways, buses, and trains.  These public transportation agencies have different sets of rules depending upon the community and location, but all of them, in one form of another, are gravitating away from accepting cash payments on the spot, and instead, one must have already previously purchased a Metro card, or TAP card, or a ticket through various means to accomplish such.

Once all public transportation refuses cash on the spot, and instead insists that you have the proper governmental permitted access card or ticket to board these public transportation vehicles, than this essentially means that in order to utilize public transportation you must positively identify yourself at some point in order to get access to these conveyances.  For many people, this might not pose a problem, because they don't see the inconvenience or the hypocrisy of having to identify themselves, probably because they are so use to doing it or have been conditioned to doing it on an everyday basis, but for the indigent and very poor, it is a major burden when cash is no longer accepted, while from a freedomfor citizens to simply access public streets, public facilities, and public transportation, this mandated insistence that all must be identified, is an unwelcomed and unnecessary intrusion upon the people's rights to simply get from place-to-place without having to identify themselves, and yet another negation of their freedom of movement.

In point of fact, all the types of identification and security measures that are currently conducted in airports are subject to being enforced in the very near future for all public transportation, to which, all this will be sold to the public as necessary for their safety and security.  Certainly, the lines and screening as seen and done at airports won't translate completely for all public transportation, as the logistics of such can't be accomplished, but as long as the government has the right to stop any and all "suspects", search any and all bags, while making their presence known, this will effectively serve the same purpose as our current airport security.

Further to the point, when all must be positively identified, in order to board any sort of public transportation, than the government will have a database of pretty much exactly who and whom is on board at all times, making it far easier for the government to reconstruct events when something untoward happens.  Some will applaud this, many will not care, but others will recognize it for what it is, an intrusion upon the sovereignty of the individual, with the governmental boot increasing its powerful pressure upon the citizen's neck.

Democracy and the Tyranny of the Majority

Imagine that you live in a country in which in its simplified and most basic form, has but two families, one being the McCoys and the other being the Hatfields.  Unfortunately, for the McCoys, they are significantly outnumbered by the Hatfields, so that in this democratically elected government in which each citizen gets one vote, the Hatfields by majority vote control the judicial, as well as the legislative, and the executive branches of this government.  Although, this government does have a written constitution, its interpretation is done by the judicial branch, its enforcement is done by agents of the state, and the executive branch is the commander-in-chief of it all.  As you might suspect, this democratic government is highly favorable to the Hatfields and not at all beneficial to the McCoys, yet, in theory, since it is a government of the majority, and thereby majority rules, that seems fair, but it sure isn't in its unfair execution of justice.

One person, one vote, has its place, but in order for it to be effective as a rule in any country and at any time, there has to be a higher law that all must answer to.  This law exists and is known as natural law, basically defined as the law that all peoples are subject to, which is objective, fair, consistent, and moral in all of its myriad aspects.   The point, therefore, of any civil government, is to band together in one body politic so as to protect and defend the natural rights that all citizens have within a given country, and therefore governments are instituted amongst mankind, deriving their just powers from the consent of those governed. This government is constituted amongst the people so as to most effectively provide them with fair opportunity, safety in numbers, and the freedom to pursue their own happiness.

If, on the other hand, everything comes down to how the majority rules at the ballot box, no matter how slight or how extensive that vote differential is, in which, the majority than determines what it will do to the minority or how they will properly reward the majority, you perhaps have a democracy in name, but have a tyranny in actuality.  Above it all, in any real legitimate government, there is justice, which is in its application, equally applied to all, it is fair, it its reasonable, it is considerate, it is humane, and it is consistent.  We know when the law is just, by the fruits of the laws within a given country, to wit, there will be equality of opportunity, there will be an equality of liberty, and there will be an equality of freedom.

The rights of mankind are not held in the scepters of kings, it is found only in the Kingdom of God that has bestowed upon each of us, certain, unalienable rights.  A legitimate democracy is only legitimate when it affirms our unalienable rights, as well as recognizing that any democracy governs best, when it governs least, recognizing that good governance in all of its many forms, simply comes down to seeing the other as equal in rights and opportunity as one self, favoring none at the expense of the other, and being a good neighbor, through and through

Nature has a Sensibility that we may never fully understand

Life in all of its aspects is complicated, far more complicated and intricate than most people could possibly imagine.  It is fantastic that man sees something such as the flight of birds and believes deep within his psyche, that he too should be able to fly, or that man sees the fish of the sea, and believes deep within his psyche, that he too should be able to swim in water.  So too, in looking at the human body, man believes that it can be improved upon or modified, or re-configured, which perhaps is true to a point.  The thing about the body, is when you hear from esteemed medical doctors or pundits that you don't necessarily have to have two kidneys, or that they don't really know the reason for having an appendix, or that your tonsils aren't really necessary if you are, for instant, constantly suffering from strep throat or similar, is that your body is far more complicated, far more intricate, than perhaps even medical doctors are really aware of.

So too, when looking at nature itself, people wonder that since mosquitoes are the reason for yellow fever as well as other air-borne transmitted diseases, as well as there being other insects or animals, that seem to be rather detrimental in some respects to humans, and with humans having to be on constant guard against dangerous bacteria, viruses, and parasites, one conclusion that might be reached is that we must therefore need to live in a world which is completely antiseptic, but that isn't necessarily the truth, because, again, it is far more complicated  and intricate than that.

For instance, there is a lot that people can learn from the process of immunization, in which, the principle of such is for the body to be injected with a known agent accomplished though without its associated pathogen, this thus creates still an induced immune response from the body, and hence immunization against this particular pathogen, thereby, providing protection to the body from that pathogen without having to destroy the pathogen itself.   This is a prime example of understanding nature, and rather than taking a path of the wholesale destruction of the pathogen in nature which may or may not cause problems, known or unknown in the future, instead, the body is trained to defend itself from such.

It's wonderful, that man sees the world and wishes to improve upon it, and desires to re-make the world in all of its many aspects bend to his will, but hubris on the part of mankind can in itself set in motion tragedies that need not occur.  This is why things that are built in order to make life safer or more efficient may instead end up making life more dangerous and ultimately are found not to be efficient.  It is the reason too that the unthinking application of chemicals, or antibiotics, or myriad other things, may indeed have unintended consequences.

There is a beautiful symmetry in nature that first should be observed, than should be understood in all of its many aspects, before mankind takes the step of improving or affecting his will against it.  It is the easiest thing in the world to state that one knows what one is doing, and thereby to trust that judgment, but in reality things, more often than not, are far more complicated, and those that will not take the time and consideration to learn at the feet of nature, will find directly or indirectly that this insensitivity is akin to fire, which though it illuminates, also burns.

American Plutocracy

In many aspects of American life and governance, this is a nation ruled by the wealthy on behalf of the wealthy that exploits those that lack wealth or connections to wealth.  The simple fact is that those that have a lot of money, typically also have family, friends, and associates that they want to take care of now and far into the future, so the money that they have is a vibrant form of power, of which few when obtaining such power, voluntarily wish to relinquish such a legacy whatsoever.

It would be one thing if the wealth obtained by those that have it, came on the fair and square, that is, was properly earned through honest labor in the full meaning of the word, whereas the truth of the matter is, the rich of today, make the bulk of their money off of the poor and the exploited or receive their riches from their bloodline.  Take, for instance, money that is inherited, in which, those that are born into impoverished families or of families of modest means, of which many Americans fall into these categories, typically inherit nothing but perhaps some wisdom, or, if fortunate, a very modest sum of money.  Those though, that die with millions are able to with the aid of the appropriate lawyers, accountants, and financial advisors, to take the vast bulk of their net worth and pass it on either directly or indirectly to their progeny or foundation, in which this money will continue to exert its power for generations to come. 

Then there is the structure of corporations which is akin to a pyramid, with the bulk of employees at the bottom, and the CEO, and other executives at the very pinnacle of such a pyramid.  While employees do receive compensation, the lion's share of the profits, the lion's share of the benefits, for many American corporations, gravitates to the very, very top and a very, very few in total.  It is these high-powered executives that enrich themselves with stock options priced particularly well for their benefit, so too, it is these executives that receive the largess of over-the-top severance and retirement packages, as well as often being accorded the very best in travel, food, and entertainment, all charged to the company's cost of doing business.

America has private ownership of land, but that ownership, that access, that negotiation for prime pieces of land, has almost never been on the up-and-up and aboveboard to the general public, whatsoever.  The very best land to be exploited for its natural resources, or for its prime location, or zoned to improved its value, are all set aside for those that are members of the exclusive club that benefits from such, and thereby those that are on the outside, never are permitted a fair shake or a fair chance.  When the best land is owned by a select few, is it no wonder that they are able to exploit such so that as manufacturers, or as a rentier, or as natural resource extractors, they make money, without having to break their back in doing so.

The ordinary folk never have a chance, as they need to work at whatever wage, fair or not, in order to provide for themselves as well as their family, which is exactly what the plutocrats want. These magnates are few in number, so they understand well the necessity to spread their money around so that the justice system, the policing system, company management, media, and the application of such, are done in a manner that those working at the behest of the elite, gladly do so, because these select people benefit enough, that they appreciate the wages bestowed upon them, recognizing in their most honest moments, that the alternative to not playing ball with the plutocrats is rather bleak.

The very rich have it all and control it all, leaving just scrapes of the American dream for mainstream America to live on, in this, the richest country of them all.  This is indeed a country of the few, for the few, and by the few, in which they live, and we die.

Mars won't be a paradise, till earth is

It's perhaps a bit of a cheap shot to smirk at lines as inane as the: "Earth's surface is the shoreline of a new ocean," and “Creating a self-sustaining civilization on Mars would be the greatest adventure ever in human history,” and recognize that the personages mouthing such are hopelessly inept in their thought processes along with their woeful misunderstanding of wisdom or sensibility.  The "special ones" will always get a lot of airtime, because what they have to say sounds compelling, mainly because it serves its purpose as an escape hatch, from the everyday corruption, hopelessness, and brutishness that surrounds so many of us on planet earth and therein lies the rub.

While it's alright to fantasize about traveling to planet Mars and creating a sustaining civilization on it, it's hypocrisy at its absolute worse to take the means to do so from the people of today and generations to come without having corrected the fundamental problems that exist on planet earth.  The obligation that all humans have on this planet to begin with, is to live in harmony with each other, to see themselves in the other, and to live a life that lives by those very principles. 

The escape plan to Mars, or some other planet, or some other distant galaxy, is fundamentally unsound, because it is structured to benefit the few and the elite, while taking from the many and the unconnected.  The first principle that one needs to understand is that everything that humans need to do and to accomplish to begin with first needs to be done correctly on this planet.  There are challenges enough on earth, to keep us busy for generations, and if mankind refuses to get its house in order here, it won't have its house in order somewhere else.

It's fantastic that man's reach exceeds his grasp, and it's fantastic that man applying his mind can accomplish so many grand technical feats, of which, some of these benefit mankind, and some do not.  The overarching purpose though, of a life lived well, is not that you helped better your own bed,

although that has its place, but that you helped those most needful of help to begin with.  What credit is it to any man, if your superior mind and knowledge is utilized to aid a favored few at the expense of the masses of mankind?

In point of fact, there isn't anything much easier than working with people of a like mind, because to a certain extent, these people are sort of like reflections of your own persona.  Of far more difficulty, though, is to work with those that actively hate you, despise you, treat you wrong, misunderstand you, and abuse you, for these are the ones that really need your guidance, love, opportunity, empathy, and understanding.  After all, if they are too much trouble for you to deal with, however are they going to generate on their own the escape velocity that they need in order to attain their mission in life?

The actual greatest adventure in human history will be the utilization of one's mind to connect to the source of all wisdom and truth, to thereby understand fully: "E Pluribus Unum" at is foundational principle level, than you will see clearly as if for the very first time.

The Government and the Underclass

America has a massive underclass that lacks the opportunity in most cases to escape from their Sisyphus cycle of dependency on governmental handouts and subsidies.  This underclass often does not have the correct toolkit to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps so as to achieve some of the things that we typically take for granted as parts of the American dream such as: self-sufficiency, retirement savings, home ownership, and good health.  Over the years, governmental agencies of all sorts have stepped in to help, to which, some of these programs are a real benefit and boon for some, whereas others are so lacking in real effectiveness that they are actually a hindrance to those that they are supposedly setup to serve.

The indigent and the underclass want to see that the playing field is somewhat leveled, and consequently throughout recent history, they have more often than not turned to governmental agencies in order to achieve this worthwhile goal.  The problem though with the government, is that unlike private charitable organizations which contribute vital help to poor people often in a personal way which does not typically stigmatize the person receiving such aid, the government on the other hand, appears to want to deliberately stigmatize its beneficiaries.

There are many, many problems with governmental aid, of which a fundamental one is that those that work on behalf of the government, are paid by the citizens of the United States through taxation, but appear to answer to none other than fellow bureaucrats and certainly not to the public in any meaningful way.  On the other hand, many charities utilize a significant amount of resources in which the people doing the yeoman work are actually volunteers, of which, their volunteering of such, is typically a reflection of their belief that their mission serves a higher purpose and this gives them the satisfaction of performing their duties with a certain joy. 

The thing is that when you make it public policy that the bureaucrats that are ostensibly serving the public and their needs are in actuality making a good, living wage from such social work, the people that are the recipients of such aid, are consequently being cheated from their largess, because of the bureaucratic overhead which first takes care of the bureaucrats before it even considers taking care of its mission.  Additionally, the public are often treated as suffering supplicants in which, the bureaucrats of these various social programs make the process of receiving needed aid so circuitous, confusing, and arbitrary, that many times people are denied the very things that they really need and are eminently eligible for.

Additionally, in virtually any governmental program, the established players, that is the actual providers of food, shelter, healthcare, education and whatnot are always served first, and served in a manner by the government and its cronyism so that the program is setup specifically that these enterprises benefit the most from such, followed by the overhead of the program getting its share, and finally, whatever balance is left over is handed out to those agile enough to navigate the paperwork and rules so as to receive what has already been earmarked for them to receive to begin with.

While at some level the government, or at least a few subjects within the government, actually do want to help the unfortunate, that is truly help the needy and poor, in practicality the underclass merely represents the reason for the program's existence, of which the only true winners are the established and consolidated industry players, the bureaucrats that than get their cut while lording it over the weak and poor, leaving the poor only with the detritus of despair.

The Reverse Mortgage Trap

The con of reverse mortgages is in the very way that they are presented on business programs or other television programs in which the intended audience includes a significant amount of people that are both senior citizens and also have a good chance of owning their own home.  These ads that are shown are not the quick cut and jerky motion that you come across in so many other advertisements that appeal to younger generations, but are instead carefully constructed with just the right music, a front pitchman, often recognizable to the audience as well as being a respected senior citizen, who carefully enunciates the value of the product using his sonorous voice of somber and dignified tonality.

The very first hint that all that you are seeing on your television is a con is how earnest that the ad is in its their pitch to senior citizens, as if, these pitchmen, who are strangers to your family on a personal basis, know what is best for you, when, in fact, they don't know anything about you whatsoever.  Your house is often the biggest material asset that most people own, and because mortgages are initially sold with thirty-year payment terms, those that have reached their senior citizen years, frequently own their own home free and clear, and thereby have no mortgage payment.  As a home owner, you are still responsible for property taxes, upkeep, and so forth, but the mortgage payments have ended, so all is good, except for one fundamental thing and that thing is that homes, unlike an investment in a bond, for instance, do not throw off any income in a given year, although home values may go up, there isn't any dividend being kicked out to the owner.

So then, enters the reverse mortgage pitch, able to sell their siren song, of monetizing your biggest asset, which, for many senior citizens has its place, especially when the income of senior citizens is minimal, because many do not work, and many do not have pensions or other reliable income generators, so an offer to get cash, up front, may sound quite enticing.  The reverse mortgage pitch makes it sound even more palatable by stating that the loan taken out doesn't need to be paid back till you die, or move, or sell your home.  It almost sounds too perfect, because the structure is setup to provide the money that you need to live on now, as well as your home is still yours to live in, too.  Of course, there are many terms and conditions that might upset everything, with the most obvious one, being that when the last principle to the contract has died, the reverse mortgage loan must then be paid off in full, or the bankers will own the home.

Additionally, as in all mortgage or mortgage-like products, negotiation and understanding of what your financial obligations are is paramount.  For instance, reverse mortgage terms are going to be variable and typically tied to some indicator with periodic rebalancing such as the LIBOR rate or they are going to be set to a firm fixed rate.  Obviously, a fix rate makes it pretty darn clear about your monthly financial obligations, whereas the variable is almost always constructed in a manner to deceive buyers of the volatility of such, and is always written in a way to help protect and benefit banks over the long term, although sold to consumers as if by having a variable rate, it benefits them.  The reason that the reverse mortgage terms matter is because upon contract completion, by your death, or similar, your heirs would prefer to have equity in the home, and therefore be able to benefit and inherit something, whereas the issuer of your reverse mortgage would strongly prefer to have it all.

If you are retired and own your home but are cash-strapped, reverse mortgages are probably not going to be your best choice, they may, however, be a convenient choice, but financially for your heirs, for your legacy, and because of the dicey terms and conditions of such, they aren't a good choice.  Remember, banks are in the business of making money and vulnerable senior citizens with ready assets that can be exploited are a comfortable way for banks to make an easy killing.

Relationships and Happiness

We live in a social world, in which our interactions with other people, probably more than any other single thing, provide us with our satisfaction or dissatisfaction with our life.  In America, especially America, you might think that there would be a straight line correlation between the more money that you have and thereby the higher the happiness, but that isn't true.  The thing about money is that it may or may not help bring you happiness, depending a lot upon whether your focus is upon money along with the power, security, status, and options that money may bring, or rather, whether your focus is more in tune with the recognition that while money has its place, successful relationships and meaningful interactions with other people, family, and friends, has a higher and more important value.

Long before civilization as we know it in our modern day age existed, we lived in more primitive times in which simple survival, literally on a day-to-day basis, was the objective of everyday life.  In that life, in which there really wasn't much of a social safety net, because society itself wasn't all that safe or secure, where good health was problematic, and the future consisted of what needed to be accomplished the next day, the relationship of those that bonded together, was of paramount importance, because each person had his duty to the other.  This joint dependency in trying times, created a life which may indeed have been brutish, short, and desperate, but had at its core the need for togetherness in order to achieve survival, if nothing much else.

Fast forward to today's world, and while family structures still exist, the vibrancy of such, are often problematic for reasons which vary from: ill-education, ill-health, substance abuse, ill-opportunity, ill-housing, selfishness, ill-decision making, debt, and various other things.  Yet, through all the confusion and havoc of everyday life, people, friends, and family do matter, in fact, they matter the most.  All of us want to be happy, or at least express that we do; we want to feel satisfaction and importance, in which these things pretty much don't require large monetary means to accomplish, but instead, involve the need of the investment of time, attention, listening, and interaction to achieve.

Just about everyone wants to be validated, wants to believe that they have value in this world, and oftentimes in order for that belief to come to fruition, it will come from those closest to them, that pay them mind, that smile and interact with them, as they try to see the world from the perspective of the other, in order to more fully comprehend who they are and what they are about.  When we pay attention to our friend, listening to their words, monitoring their body language, and accepting them for who they really are, we become a true friend, simply for being there and actively caring about them.

If you really get to know those that surround you, really get to know them, by spending undistracted time with them in meaningful conversation which enlightens both of you, connecting with one another in ways that bond you together because of your mutual respect and acknowledgment of your mutual worth, than that binding attachment will allow you to bring out the best in each other, and to thereby unearth priceless happiness through the gift of faithful devotion to someone other than yourself.

When thought crime becomes a crime, than all are criminals

George Orwell's 1984 is brilliant fiction, meant to serve as a warning to mankind, that when the very things that you think but have not acted upon, are considered to be crimes by the state, than your freedom of thought has been revoked, and thereby you are no more than a cog in the machine of the state.  You would think that a country that permits the selling of the book 1984, and movies such as the "Minority Report", would not fall down the rabbit hole of supporting the prosecution of thought crimes, but in fact, that is the direction that this country is progressing towards.

The reason that the state wants to push the envelope of creating crime out of thought, is quite obviously, to control the thoughts and thinking of the population, so that they are more easily manipulated by state resources.  Some people might consider that to be a good thing, that we all therefore should have banal and dull minds, but if nobody is pushing the envelope, if nobody is actually utilizing their mind in all of its grand capacity, then we have essentially sacrificed freedom, free will, free thought, in order to behave as if we were created to be servants to those that do not suffer from these same imposed limitations.

We do not know the thoughts of anybody's mind, and there is a very good reason why we do not, which is that even if we were to know the thoughts of somebody's mind, we still would not know all the things that were part of the process that created that thought in the first place; for instance, the psychological makeup of the thought, the complete understanding of the person that has the thought, the depth or doubt of the thought, the conviction of the thought, the hidden meaning of the thought, the reason for the thought, the symbolism of the thought, and so on, and so forth. 

It then follows that if we cannot really know what a particular thought means, how is it possible, to know for a certainty, what a person means, when he writes something, or says something, without any real action that affirms what has been written or said.  If everyone that ever said, "I'm going to kill you" went to jail for attempted murder or similar, simply for making that statement without taking into context the whole panorama of what was happening at that time, than the prisons would be overflowing with people, simply for speaking out their frustration at a particular moment, or joking at a particular manner, or similar.

The state has taken upon itself to have the power, rightly or wrongly, to monitor everything that we do on our computers, everything that we say or text on our cell phones, everyone we contact and associate with on social media, to which, obviously, if the state is with anybody 24/7, there are going to be numerous instances of thought crimes.  The state more and more wants to stop crime before a crime is even committed, but unless there is real tangible evidence, that a crime is going to be committed, by that person taking overt and tangible actions to commit such a crime, than the state has obviously crossed a bridge too far.

In actuality, the state wants to make thought crime a crime, just as the state desires having so many laws upon laws on its books, so that at any time for just about any reason, people that the state considers to be a threat, can be arrested, in which, thought crime is the easiest of all crimes to pin upon an individual, because from a state perspective, thoughts can be broken down into little evil sound bites, and that distortion ensnares virtually everyone.

Forceful Compliance

Life is full of all types of examples in which people, have to at one time or another, comply with another, simply because not to do so, will result in the usage of force, violence, punishment, or a form of constraint of which none of these things are desirable, so that person, young or old, small or big, complies.  For example, a small child, doesn't have a lot of good options when parental authority rears its fearsome head, and will comply, with or without tears or bellyaching, because not to do so, will have very negative consequences.  So too, protestors in all of their various forms when confronted by police officers in full riot gear, that are armed to the teeth with lethal as well as other accouterments of their trade clearly can create real havoc on citizens, who will often comply, reluctantly or not, again because of the consequences of not doing so, could be catastrophic.

The fact that people in all sorts of situations comply with authority, legitimate or not, has more to do with the physical or psychological punishment that they could receive if they do not comply, and little to nothing to do with actually agreeing that their compliance is legitimate and not coerced.  This means that those that believe that overwhelming force is the way to lead the world or society and are able to signify its effectiveness by showing that this force compels people and countries to drop to their knees in submission, are missing the most important and vital point of the whole matter, which is that individuals and societies are not foolish when submitting, if by doing so, they maintain their integrity and typically the higher moral ground.

The fact of the matter is that submission or compliance with authority in all of its many guises, does not mean, and often does not represent, an agreement or a belief in the validity of whatever that authority symbol is representing, although, of course, sometimes, it might.  In the cases in which there is harmony between those that exert force and those that comply, that harmony represents a respect for either the entity applying the force or a general agreement that the force is legitimate in that particular case, or, it could be simple cowardice.  In other cases, compliance can be an expedient to minimize damages to the person or society in the hope that by providing such compliance, privileges will be extended in the future or consideration of such compliance will be looked upon favorably.

The thing that those that apply force seem to forget or not to recognize, is that those applying force cannot do so indefinitely, without themselves continuing to fully believe in its rightness and legitimacy, as well as, those that are submitting, are often submitting while calculating their options for future responsive actions.  Everyone has been that child that has been bullied, and within their mindset, there is often a defiant plot of revenge, waiting for the right circumstances, or triggered at some other party that is actionable within their sphere.  Citizens that are being abused, browbeaten, and manipulated by their government, are also plotting their revenge, in one form or another, because they will at some point, not take it anymore.

It's not that difficult to get most anybody to submit to force, it is, on the other hand, far more difficult, to get people to submit to you purely out of respect, because that calls upon the qualities of: forbearance, love, wisdom, integrity, fairness, and goodness.