Low-income countries are exploited by high-income countries

According to the World Bank, from the period of 1965-1999, “the average annual growth rate was 4.1 percent in low-income countries, …and 3.2 percent in high-income countries.”  This would seem to imply that low-income countries, given enough time, will year by year close the gap with those that are high-income countries.  Unfortunately, this isn’t true, as the World Bank, reports that “In the last 40 years of the 20th century, the gap between the average income of the richest 20 countries and that of the poorest 20 countries doubled in size.”   The reason that this has occurred can be accounted by the fact that high-income countries, have a very low birthrate in comparison to low-income countries; so then, although the GNP growth rate of low-income countries is greater in aggregate, it is for the reality of the people, so being born there and living there, a reflection that therefore the continuing population increase within those low-income countries means that more and more people have to share the wealth; so despite the higher GNP growth rate, this is not enough to actually make those low-income countries do anything much except to fall ever further behind those high-income countries.  Additionally, high-income countries are the very same countries that control the financial system, that therefore divvies out and makes loans to those countries needing such, of which, the interest rate and thereby the financing of those loans are an ever-present burden upon those low-income countries.  Also, low-income countries are the very countries that high-income countries use mercilessly in order to outsource manufacturing and other low paying jobs that necessitate a lot of young human labor, but does not typically necessitate any high degree of education or experience, and of which those young laborers are typically not unionized, and often work in conditions that are prone to being unhealthy and unsafe.

The situation for low-income countries in a world that has gotten ever so smaller, is that the high-income countries to a very large extent must answer to the rule of law, and to the people that they govern within their borders, and because of this, along with those companies continual hunt for easy profits, businesses within those high-income countries have clearly recognized that the cheaper labor so being provided by low-income countries will not only provide them with an easier path to those good profits, but also provides them with the necessary cover within their own borders, of being considered an upstanding company for being in adherence with their domestic rule of law.  In other words, low-income countries, are the preferred way for high-income countries to exploit and therefore to make the lion’s share of their profits off of the backs of the laborers within those low-income countries.

For those that wonder why the governance of any low-income country, would allow their people to be ruthlessly exploited by outsiders, recognize that most low-income countries are not democracies, but rather are autocratic in nature, and when those that are the leaders of such, are feted by those that have the easy wherewithal to do so, then the pathway to that exploitation, becomes not only viable, but almost preferred, for at a minimum those low-income countries have achieved gainful employment for their young people, along with being able to sell the story that all this is just the start of that which will develop into something all so much better, though, in reality, it won’t.

“…with all deliberate speed”

The Brown v. Board of Education decision, so reached by the Supreme Court in 1954, was what appeared to be one of those seminal judgments that would recognize first of all that separate but equal schools, were an absolute disgrace and a lie -- as those schools so separated and set aside for minorities were not even close to being equal to the favored race.  Further, the Supreme Court indicated that in order for minorities to have a fair chance at a good public education and not therefore to be treated as second-class citizens or even worse, that those previously so denied equal opportunity to achieve a good education, would via “all deliberate speed” have that opportunity.  The reality is that this did not occur, of which, while the blame could be laid at the feet of all sorts of places, people, and institutions, none of that helps to resolve this very pressing problem that is grossly unfair to millions of children that are thereby denied the opportunity of receiving a good quality education.

The most appropriate way to rectify this current mess, is for the Federal government to assert itself in regards to the public school system akin to what it has done in previous times with recalcitrant States, municipalities, and the like, by withholding federal funding, as necessary, from infrastructure projects for each State and municipality until such becomes in full compliance with the intent of the law. The first necessary step would be to determine the racial percentages of each public school within the counties of  each State, and all those schools in which the minority percentage of the students so attending is found to be less than 50% of what the minority percentage of school-age children are within that county or district, would be compelled by law to have their school budgets reduced so as to match the median school budget of that county or district, and of which the funds from those overfunded schools would thereby be provided instead to those public schools that were currently under the median school budget of the county or district, of which this would continue, until the minority percentage of that overfunded public school reached the minimum standard so set for minority enrollment.

By doing the above, this would first reduce the advantages of those public schools which have higher budgets and clearly have more desirable features in their schools, by providing, instead, a portion of  those funds to those schools so lacking such; as well as basically facing the reality that as damaging as segregation can be, that in America, in regards to public schools, this seems to be an intractable problem, thereby necessitating that the least this Federal government owes to those that are most at risk, is better quality schools for those areas of communities, that fundamentally lack such.  In truth, impoverished areas of any community, are capable of having and should have quality educational facilities for the schooling of children within those communities, in which more money so provided for such, will alleviate some of the harm, though not all of it, that is the current status within those neglected communities and their public schools.

The federal law to integrate at all deliberate speed in public schools, was in theory, resolved in 1954; but in reality, this has not been addressed at a significantly meaningful level.  This thus signifies that the only way to rectify this, is by the Federal government stepping in and allocating as well as re-allocating monies as needed so as to obtain fairness for all pupils that attend public schools, and if necessary, to hold accountable, all those that do not and will not conform to Constitutional law.

Will you forgive someone as if it never happened?

Some people can’t seem to ever forgive, and some people say that they do forgive but their subsequent actions belie those very words; for in truth there are very few people that can genuinely forgive another person for a terrible wrong, and of which of those few, there is virtually nobody that is able to forgive someone as if it never even happened.  For whatever reason or reasons, people that have been wronged, often can’t seem to fully let go of that wrong, probably because they are unable or seemingly incapable of forgiving someone of something as if it never happened; mainly because it did happen, and therefore still on some level, it bothers them.

Each one of us can take great solace in recognizing and knowing that our God, forgives us wholly and completely as if all of the wrongs that we have committed actually never happened; and in consideration that God is the ultimate wisdom, it would behoove us, to try to emulate that very same characteristic in the here and now.  This indicates that after some degree of appropriate reflection, we need to as much as possible, learn to forgive others as if what so occurred, never happened; and until we do, we ourselves will be incomplete, because that lack of forgiveness, as well as that lack of unconditional love, makes us less than what we were created to be.

Those that look upon forgiveness of another, as something akin to a sacrifice, have got it all wrong; rather a much better and more appropriate perspective is to see that when we have been wronged, we need to awaken and to recognize that we too, have undoubtedly erred in our own way, as well; and as much as we so desire to be forgiven, we then need to forgive, for what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.  So then, our forgiveness so being provided to another, is while being beneficial for that person that did that wrong, is equally beneficial if not more so, for the person so forgiving, for in our forgiveness for others, we too are forgiven.

While there are plenty of valid reasons why even in forgiveness we should not forget, as well as there being good reasons why we would want to remember exactly what so happened; the truth of the matter is that those that keep score, have made a common but tragic error, for scorekeeping has nothing to do with expanding our heart to accommodate the reality that human beings are prone to imperfection, and therefore to expect perfection by others or of our own self in our character and in our behavior, is to expect the impossible.  Rather, it is the responsibility of all to do the best within our abilities, as well as to continually learn from our mistakes and our failed efforts, so as to thereby be of material benefit and of help to our fellow sojourners; so that when we come to the bridge of having been wronged by another, we do not burn that bridge, or walk away from that bridge, but we utilize that bridge for the very purpose that it was built for -- so as to cross successfully to the other side.

Public land sold to private developers

There is a fair amount of land in America, held for the public good, by governmental agencies, such as the State, county, or the Federal government.  When it comes to developmental projects, private developers have a strong inclination to desire public land over private land; for the main reason that private land can seldom be simply taken via eminent domain for private development, but must instead be negotiated, and not everyone that owns private land has an interest in selling, not even at a very good price; in addition to the salient fact, that some land that is desirable for development, is owned by a multitude of different owners, making the purchase of such, at a fair price, even more problematic.  On the other hand, when it comes to public land, the ownership of such is typically quite clear, and of which, with the right connections, and the right lobbying, deals can be made; and even done so in a manner that is not all that transparent to the general public -- which has a right to know that those that manage that public land for them have demonstrated responsibility by the decisions so made which should be done in accordance to the public good.

While there is a lot that could be said for private development, and the fact that the right development in the right area, can be for the greater good; it must also be recognized that selling private land to developers is entirely different than the selling of public land.  When it comes to the former, that land having been in private hands is essentially being transferred in a manner in which new money may find viable things to develop upon that land, which has some degree of benefit not only for the new owner and that development, but commonly to the public as well.  In regards to public land, if that land, for instance, represents parkland, then all those that used to use that parkland for the beauty of nature, relaxation, conversation, walking and the like, are thereby precluded from doing so any further, and what has replaced it, may or may not bring any real benefit to the general public, as well as it clearly will no longer represent the same thing as that parkland.

Further to the point, those that are responsible for the governance of public land, need to first and foremost, hold the line, against the selling of such to private development, and especially need to be as transparent as possible with those that they are answerable to.  Additionally, public land should not be something, that with enough pressure and the right connections, initiated by those private developers, thereby somehow morphs, as if by magic, into becoming something that is available to be sold.    If, a given community, really needs to seriously consider selling some of its public land, then it must also make sure that the selling of such, comes with necessary terms and conditions, that thereby provides something of tangible worth to those that are the public; for the transfer of that which once was public into private hands, through “sweetheart” deals which benefit the few at the expense of the many, is almost always a public wrong.

It’s high time for a real baseball World Series

There are plenty of other countries, that played baseball, besides the United States, of which, out of all those other countries, probably the most competitive of them would have to be Japan.  Sure, the regular season for professional baseball players is already quite lengthy – not to mention the current postseason structure that adds to the length of that season in the United States; but in consideration, that baseball is a sport that is popular in other nations, it would be a boon for the sport and its fans to actually see a meaningful World Series, played between the best in the United States v. the best in Japan.

That real Word Series, would not necessarily have to be in October or early November, but could actually be conducted in March, during Spring training.  No doubt, this would mean that some of the players that were part of the “world” champions would no longer be part of the team, and some new players would, in their stead, be there, somewhat affecting the integrity of the competition; but Spring training, would allow enough time for such a series to actually be held, and also would mean that the champions of their respective competitions, would not be suffering from late season burn out.

While it is true, that the Olympics, and the World Baseball Classic, are competitions that involve international play to it, it isn’t really the same thing.  After all, in today’s small world, the best in any sport, wants to face the best, and in the fair belief, that the competition would be meaningful, it would be beneficial to the integrity and the continual relevancy of the sport, especially for the winner of such to rightfully own the crown by becoming the world champion.  Additionally, a World Series with Japan, would also be something that could eventually morph into involving other champions of other countries in other leagues, depending upon the competitiveness of those players and the teams within those leagues.

None of this should come as any great surprise, since for instance, many sports, routinely are international in their format, such as in boxing, mixed martial arts, golf, tennis, and the like.  There isn’t any good reason to believe that somehow only those born in America, or those that have somehow gotten a visa into America, are by definition, the best that the sport could conceivably have.  Rather, there aren’t any borders when it comes to talent and athleticism, so therefore such should not be limited to just the borders of America, and one Canadian city.

Further to the point, Major League Baseball could do more to entice a Mexican based team into the league, as well as engaging other cities within Canada to become part and parcel of the sport, in order to gain viewership as well as to maintain relevancy.  The most pressing challenge, though, placed at the feet of MLB, is to either step up to the plate and truly have a World Series, beginning with Japan, or to simply remove the word, “World” from their championship series and replace it with something that reflects the reality that it isn’t a World Series at all, but rather it is solely a National or American one.

The raw deal of being a temp employee or gig work

In the United States one can always count on the pundits that are trying to sell a certain mindset to come up with all sorts of reasons of why being a gig worker is so wonderful, such as trying to sell the story, that somehow young people, feel empowered by not actually having a traditional employer-employee relationship, as well as appreciating the flexibility of working their own hours; so then in essence they are doing their own thing on apparently their own terms.  Then there are those other workers, known as temporary workers, or “temps”, that work at established companies but they are not directly employed by those companies, but instead have come into their job through a placement agency or similar; in which oftentimes they end up doing the same sort of work that full-time employees do, but they don’t get the benefits, the pay, the recognition or the security of being a direct employee of that company.  Now, at least when it comes to temps, they know for a certainty that they are getting the short end of the stick, for if they were placed into an employment situation by a temp agency, then that agency is making their money off of the difference between the pay rate so charged to the employer, as compared to the amount of money so being earned by that temp.

What seems to be lost in translation, in our modern age, though, is the fact that temp work or gig work, is something that really didn’t exist back in the day.  Rather, it used to be, that employees were directly employed by their employer, because employers typically desired to have a stable workforce, and in order to have that, this necessitated that the employer make a fair commitment to those that they so employed.  Nowadays, though, employers have gotten far more committed to the bottom line and therefore far more focused upon making money and exclusively money above just about anything; so that many employers have deliberately looked at their employee workforce and figured out that there are those that need to be directly employed, and then there are those that can be outsourced, subcontracted, or hired on strictly as temps.  The main advantage for employers in reducing their permanent and direct employment base, besides the money being saved or earned, is the flexibility of essentially having a “just-in-time” workforce, in which because these others are not directly employed, they can essentially be treated differently than “real” employees, and so used strictly at the discretion and convenience of the company.

Maybe all of the above is okay, maybe this is just a legitimate part of capitalism, but it is important to recognize that those companies that do not hire directly as employees those that they previously would have, are going to have a different cost structure, then those companies that feel that they have an obligation to treat their employees in a manner which respects them as valued people, and have built that mindset into their business model.  The bottom line is that companies that outsource their business to foreign countries which have significantly reduced labor costs, or utilize temp agencies, which thereby relieves those companies of having to be responsible for healthcare and other benefits, are going to have a cost structure that typically would make them more profitable than similar companies that do not treat their employees in that manner.  That signifies that the losers in the job market are going to be those that are not making a living wage or have security in what they do, which includes a lot of temp and gig workers, of which therefore they aren’t likely to be able to live a quality life in this the richest country in the history of the world.

The true nature of life is cyclical

Humankind is led to believe that humans are ever evolving and therefore invariably improving, of which, an honest and comprehensive view of the evidence that surrounds us would indicate that this isn’t true and never has been.  Modern society has a strong tendency to take the past, and all such that doesn’t fit into their nice and neat theory of evolution and to therefore mold or re-construct this in a way that the story still sells, though that story clearly does not represent the whole truth for it deliberately ignores or mythologizes great civilizations that have existed previously.  The reality is that humankind is cyclical in nature, of which we see the evidence of this throughout this entire planet in regards to its flora and fauna, along with what so occurs in humanity, itself.

The reality is that humankind, again and again, invariably goes through the same basic cycle, which is the cycle of birth, and then a life so lived, through the various seasons and stages of that life, followed by physical death.  This therefore signifies that the only thing that keeps humankind alive as a species, therefore, is that it continues to cycle its way through life, over and over again, as compared to somehow evolving into something in substance that it is not, and never will become.

This implies strongly that all the time, effort, and devotion so made in trying to extend the life of humanity substantially beyond its finite capabilities, is an exercise in futility, for eternal life on this earth, or some sort of semblance to it, is not ever going to happen, and furthermore has no good purpose behind it.  After all, the cyclical nature of life, should be our clue, that what we need to learn on this plane, is something that is within our grasp to know, each and every time that we are part of the cycle that life so presents within this world.

So then, the first lesson to know is that the natural cycle of life of which we are participants in day-by-day is what we should concentrate our energy upon; for everything that we really need to know, is contained within that endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth; thereby representing the truth that will thereupon allow us to become enlightened in a manner that we can be of material aid to those that surround us, in our communities, and in our world.  This signifies that the only eternity that is applicable to this world, is that eternity of the cyclical nature of this planet, of which, our objective should be to be in harmony with that nature.

So too, all that appears to be mindless repetition to our untrained eyes, is in fact, anything but; for we are challenged to first understand who and what we really are, and then from there to figure out what we are supposed to be doing with our newfound knowledge.  That is to say, the point of the exercise on this planet is to fully comprehend that which we currently see as the ultimate reality as really a cyclical construct that is meant to make us desire greatly to shatter the illusion that seemingly entraps us, so as to reveal that which will be our epiphany.

Evil is the absence of light

It perhaps makes for good drama, to believe that there is an eternal battle between good and evil, of which both sides are engaged to the death against the other, with the ultimate winner, not known, until the war to end all wars is finally over.  The thing is that this viewpoint is a fantasy, and not the reality, for good is Light, and that Light cannot ever be extinguished though it may be covered for a time; and that which is considered to be evil, is that which has walked away from the Light into darkness, of which, that darkness, no matter how long or how deep, will invariably meet its end, when it surfaces or is exposed at some point, to face the truth, which is Light.

This signifies that the evil that we see around us, reflects those that are lost, confused, demented, or in some sort of active rebellion, of which, the ultimate result is the only result that could conceivably occur, which is their eventual return, hat in hand, but willingly, to that which releases them from the prison of their own making.   It should be kept in mind, that there isn’t anything inherently wrong in walking into darkness, for curiosity has its place; it rather becomes a serious mistake, when the darkness is perceived to be better than Light or as a substitutionary means to escape that which must be faced and thereby overcome; for that which sits in darkness, is ultimately that which has nowhere to go, for it cannot see properly without the light, and must thereby so acknowledge, sooner or later, the truth that those that are in darkness can only be truly liberated by that which is Light.

God has provided many gifts to us, of which one of them is to provide us with free will, of which that will, permits us to go about our business, for our betterment or not; of which no matter how bad our predicament might so be, there is always that escape route, that will instantly remove the scales from our eyes, and the darkness from our soul, if only we would re-open the window of our soul to that illuminating Light.  The most salient characteristic about light is the fact that all that which is in darkness, will have that darkness removed instantaneously, once the light is turned back on again.  This signifies that evil, as dark as it might be, and as bad as it can be, is only just one good step away from returning to the sanctuary of light, by voluntarily making that commitment and then doing just that.

The reason why there is so much evil around us, and why evil seems so intractable, has almost everything to do with the stubbornness of humankind’s heart, and the lack of accountability that so many people suffer from.  Additionally, far too many people keeping doing bad things, and feel that they are trapped in such, because they wish to postpone as long as possible, the righteous punishment that seemingly awaits them.  The thing is, that fear is misplaced, for God while being a God of justice, is also a God of unconditional love.  It must be remembered, then, that the personal condemnation that so many of us fear to face as a consequence of our bad actions, never comes directly from God, but rather it comes from our own judgment that we have done wrong, and the resolution of such is to do our part to bring light to those that desperately need such.

Unconditional love

The greatest truth is that God loves each and every one of His creations, exactly the same, as well as that love for each one of us, is absolutely unconditional.  This signifies that there is nothing that we can do to become God’s favorite, for God has no favorite; nor is there anything that we can do that is so terrible or wrong that we will ever lose God’s love for us.  This indicates, amongst many things, that in God, we have no greater friend, for God never abandons us or rejects us, no matter what.

For any one of us, to actually have unconditional love for a fellow human being is something that seems to be virtually impossible, but it is in the sincere trying that we are thereby able to make progress, day-by-day.  Further to the point, the very concept of unconditional love, should encourage us to take a look at those that we interact with, and especially at those that we find to be difficult, and thereby to understand the necessity that fundamentally each one of us has the exact same value, so that it doesn’t behoove us to separate our self from that which we are actually a part of.

None of the above, signifies that what we do, does not matter; for it absolutely does matter whether we are actually good or bad.  What must be taken to heart, though, is that the judgmental bias that so many of us suffer from, we are better off dropping from our personal repertoire, in the recognition that God absolutely never gets it wrong, and since God is unconditional love, then we need to spend less time criticizing, fighting, and hurting one another, and thereby more time being supportive, forgiving, and loving.

After all, if all we love is only our own, as in our family, our life, our job, and so on and so forth; then we really have not progressed or evolved all that much.  Rather, we need to look outside ourselves, and endeavor to see that commonality that each one of us has in kind; for every one of us is created out of the exact same substance, and all are truly equal in the eyes of God, so then our fair obligation to God, is therefore to do our part to take that which appears to have become separated and to thereby gather up those pieces and start to stitch them back together in order to help create that necessary picture of unity, harmony, and one.

Humankind, unnecessarily spends far too much time and wrongly buys into the construct that certain people and certain societies, are inherently superior to other people and other societies, and thereby essentially believes that because they are superior, that they have the right to rule the roost, and through that mindset all sorts of havoc ensue, which does little or nothing to help make this world a better place for all.  Instead, there should be the conscious recognition that out of many different cultures, many different families, and many different backgrounds, that the objective of the exercise is to, through blood, sweat, and tears, become united under the principle that we each are adherents to unconditional love by being that love one to another.

The battle between those that have and those that have not

While it is true that the United States has a Constitution, and that Constitution is the highest law of the land, of which that Constitution properly utilized was so created to promote the general welfare of the people, and to secure for them the blessings of that liberty; that regrettably isn’t the case for a significant amount of Americans who are often denied their most basic civil rights, and thereby suffer from discrimination, harassment, persecution, as well as suffering from the lack of good opportunity, of which they often have little or nothing of material worth to possess, and realistically typically  have no viable path to extricate themselves from their rather bleak situation.

In point of fact, none of the above is happenstance, for all of this is the deliberate policy of those that are the power brokers of America, of which, the whole point of the exercise, is for those at the very top, to get ever more through the outright manipulation of rules, regulations, and laws, so that more and more of that which is produced in aggregate is ultimately held in the hands of fewer and fewer people, so that they can thereby create dynasties, and live their lives upon the backs of those that they exploit, and take wholesale advantage of, each and every day.  Further to the point, the policing and justice arm of the state, are beholden never to the people, but in fact, are enthralled only to those that are their true actuators, in recognition that those elites at the top, pay a whole lot better and can do a whole lot more for those that execute their desires, than the oppressed minions could ever hope to cobble together.

For all those millions of Americans that are ever indebted, and wonder what it will take to conceivably escape from such crushing debt, it is important to recognize that the whole point of that construct is that those that have nothing, are fundamentally never permitted to have that burden lifted from off of their tired backs, because they are required to remain vulnerable and thereby exploitable, so as to serve their masters, forever; or until they have nothing further left to give.  That is to say, the reason why so many Americans work so hard and have literally nothing of material worth to show for it, is that this is necessary so as to keep the masses in their place of servitude and additionally to feather the beds of the superrich, so that the hundreds of millions upon millions of dollars that the people are entitled to as their fair compensation that they have honestly labored for, doesn’t ever reach their hands, but goes instead to those that have taken ruthless advantage of them.

Those that have not, are in a perpetual battle against those that have, but that battle is not fair, for with the exception of the fact that those have not have massive numbers on their side, they lack power, monetary worth, and the overall means to successfully take down or to successfully reform the edifice that keeps them down and exploits them.  That is why, so many in America are incarcerated, so many are ill-educated, and so many are left without hope or opportunity, because those that have are never about fairness and equal opportunity, but rather are all about their insatiable lust for even more, because in their corrupt minds, they never have enough.

Listen to that still small voice

All sorts of people are after our attention, some with good intentions, some not; some with good advice, some not; and some with wisdom, and some not.  When we are children, we are often compelled to listen to those that are our authority figures, whether they be our parents, or older siblings, or teachers, or whatnot, of which we listen and thereby typically obey, perhaps willingly, perhaps not.  There does comes a time, though, when what we listen to, and what thereof we are obedient to, is oftentimes at our discretion, for to listen to everyone all of the time and then to follow what they so say, would make us susceptible to simply allowing ourselves to be blown by the various winds and moods of the times, thereby vacating and surrendering our own volition to those others.  This thus signifies that who we listen to is going to be a significant part as to what we are thereby able to accomplish in our given life, so therefore we need to be selective in those voices that we listen to and thereby take to heart.

The one big advantage that human beings, as well as books, or other types of media have in their influence over us, is the fact that those things are tangible; in the sense that we can hear them, listen to them, and read them; of which, oftentimes we are thereupon allowed to interact one with another, human to human, and because this appears to be so seamless to us, this seems to be the best way to listen and to be listened to.  As true as that might be, the one problem with exclusively human interactions, as well as our listening to good lectures or the reading of good books, is that there are invariably going to be flaws, misinterpretations, and agendas within those engagements, of which, these mistakes and these errors, could well be harmful to us.  That is to say, even those of immense wisdom, don’t always get it right; and so, it behooves us to be discerning in what we thereby listen to and adhere to; in addition to the salient fact, that each one of us, should always be desiring to find that fountain of wisdom, that always gets it right.

This signifies that it is to our benefit, to try to calm our minds in such a way, that we are able to let go of the distractions that take us away from that which is always with us, if we would only have the patience and desire to listen to and to hear that small still voice within that speaks to us, each and every day.   After all, we are only potentially as good as the information that we take in and process, correctly; and if that information is incorrect, then the results forthwith are going to be less than desired.  So then, while it is true that listening to God, is never going to be in the same format as listening to a fellow human being; we need to recognize that we are spiritual souls encased within a finite material body, and when we are thereby able to successfully rise above our material limitations to take in that which encompasses us completely, we will place ourselves into the position, of removing the veil, and thereby being on our way to becoming truly enlightened.

For-profit pornography is a form of prostitution

With the exception of a couple counties in the Nevada, prostitution is illegal in the United States.  On the other hand, for-profit pornography, that is pornography so created in order to sell or to be viewed by the general public, is for some unfathomable reason or reasons, considered to legally be an artistic expression so protected under the First Amendment. That sort of reasoning is appallingly poor, since pornography, almost without exception is simply the recording of sex acts, of which some of these sex acts are extreme, unusual, unnecessarily graphic, even dangerous, degrading and the like; all so created, in order to bring some sort of pleasure or gratification to those that are viewers of such for a price.

The reality of the pornography business is that those that are the producers and creators of it, are functionally serving the same purpose as what a pimp represents, of which, the objective of the game, for those that are pornography makers is to run that business to make what money that they can make, at the expense of the objectification and continual exploitation of the females that are hired to perform for them, without these females often knowing the full ramifications of what it is that they have signed up for -- along with the performers suffering from a typical lack of knowledge or understanding of who ultimately legally owns the rights to the porn so created, and what those rights allows the producer to do with that porn, seemingly for as long as period of time as there remains a demand for it.

At least, with prostitution, the prostitute, has a reasonably strong control of what is or is not permitted to happen with their paying customer, along with the salient fact, that what occurs behind closed doors, almost always remains behind those doors, which thereby protects the privacy of all those so involved.  The fact that prostitutes are considered to be committing a crime, subject to all the penalties and inconveniences thereof; whereas those that are being paid to perform pornographic sex acts, aren’t subject to being arrested, is pure hypocrisy. 

So then, in consideration that the courts have made their ruling, and have essentially green-lighted pornography, forever; this would indicate that in fairness the laws in regards to solicitation and prostitution, should be immediately decriminalized and thereby fairly regulated for the protection of those so involved in these transactions.  At least, by doing this, there would be some semblance of consistency between the two; and the argument to reform our current laws in regards to prostitution, would really come down to the admission that what consenting adults do in private is their private business and therefore the state should have no interest in weighing in upon those transactions.

Those that are against prostitution being legalized or decriminalized should also be against pornography being legal, of which both would seem to be subject to the same sort of basic reasoning; and those that believe that pornography is somehow some sort of artistic expression protected by the First Amendment, should be able to be creative enough to find a workaround for prostitution that thereby legalizes it or decriminalizes it on a national level.  The fact that this is not the case, in the present day, is demonstrative proof that those that legalized pornography and have kept prostitution illegal, do not recognize the inherent inconsistency of their dubious reasoning, which would be overcome by admitting into law that private transactions between consenting adults in which each party has exhibited the good capacity to enter into that agreement, and have agreed to the terms thereof, should as a matter of course, be legal.

Traffic tickets are no joke in the United States

Government municipalities have a strong interest in meeting their budget requirements, of which, one of the ways that budgets are met are through the traffic citations that drivers get each and every day for various infractions, of which some of those infractions so ticketed are fundamentally unjustified; and virtually all of those ticketed driving infractions, consist of a monetary penalty which is not only considerably higher, than it was only a decade ago, but in light of what the infraction entails, such as going over the speed limit, or “running” a stop sign, does not reflect a fair cost of how much that ticket should be, in consideration of the true danger or exigencies of such an infraction.

One of the main issues with traffic tickets is that besides the fact that the fine is not transparent to begin with, is that the fine itself, typically just represents a “base” of what the total fine is going to be.  In other words, once ticketed, the driver may be subject to a penalty assessment, a state criminal surcharge, a court assessment, a county fund assessment, an emergency medical fee assessment, and so on and so forth, only thus limited by the imagination of the legislative act so put into law, dictating the terms, conditions, penalties, and monetary amount that a particular traffic offense consists of. 

So then, a traffic ticket can depending upon the offense and the conditions thereof, could run up to a total fine of $500 or even significantly more, and of which, if the given driver does not make their court appearance or pay their fine on time, this could lead to some rather dire consequences; of, for instance, having one’s license suspended or revoked, which is yet another fine, and in some jurisdictions, a criminal offense, mandating time in jail, of which, that jail time, and the lack of having a driver’s license, could thus mean the loss of one’s job, one’s home, and pretty much one’s everything, all stemming from “just” a traffic ticket.

So then, the question might be asked, as to why some people just don’t pay their fines and take good responsibility in showing up for court and taking care of it; of which, in consideration that millions of Americans, are barely surviving in the first place, and often do not have the ready money to pay that fine, without causing some other issue or pain in their life, this thereby represents one of the most prominent reasons; in addition, to the fact that some people aren’t all that organized and are subject to being overwhelmed or just plain intimidated.

The truth of the matter is that traffic tickets are regressive in their structure, and represents a construct in which those of color, are far more susceptible to getting ticketed in the first place, and of which, minorities typically have far less of monetary worth, income, and assets than the favored class; so then, it could easily be argued that traffic tickets are yet another way to unfairly oppress those that have so little to begin with, and thereby those traffic tickets act as a means to persecute and to suppress those that  are disenfranchised, so as to keep them ever in debt, and ever without the means to extricate themselves from their often bleak existence.

The power of the government v. you

In all criminal trials, it is the state apparatus, and the power that such a governmental entity has v. the person so accused of a given crime.  That is to say, individuals accused of a crime, who are far too often impoverished and ill-educated, must somehow defend themselves, through a plea bargain or through an overworked and overburdened public defender mounting a defense for them, unless they have the monetary funds to afford a competent attorney -- against the mighty policing arm of the state, which has virtually unlimited power on its end, versus that which is typically limited in all of its resources, along with the salient fact, that most defendants are not truly knowledgeable about the law, the nuances and application thereof, and have little experience in the arguing of law as involving their particular case.

For a country that seemingly is for the underdog and for fair opportunity, clearly, criminal trials are indicative that America through its jurisprudence doesn’t really care about equality or fairness under the law, but rather utilizes the law as a cudgel against those that are perceived to be violating the law, or not adhering to community standards, or are some sort of nuisance which needs to be punished by that law.  The proof of this is by the very nature of how criminal law is practiced in America, in which the prosecutor and law enforcement, typically work together, hand in glove, and the judge, oftentimes, isn’t impartial, whatsoever; but more serves to validate under the guise of justice, the general arc of what the prosecution is trying to accomplish.

The bottom line is that the generic police motto of “to protect and to serve” is disingenuous, for that protection is for those that are the power brokers and adjudicators of a given community, and thereby this signifies that the service so done by the police is for those elites, and thereby, police officers understand that real police work is the actual keeping of the general public, and especially all those that are annoying and disenfranchised, in their place.  So too, the prosecution knows that its purpose is to take those police actions so made and to make good on them, by first specifically targeting all those that are pretty much defenseless and clueless, so as to pad their prosecutorial record to make it appear as if they are unbeatable; and next to concentrate upon all those that have the temerity to believe that in America, justice is going to be fair, by teaching all those recalcitrant people, that the state will get what it wants, through its deeper pockets, connections, and the general twisting of the rules, so that the fight will never be fair, and will invariably result in the vast majority of cases being won by that prosecution.

The power of the government is something to be rightly feared, for it is only that government thru its instruments that can rightly accused anyone of a given crime, and once so accused, life as it once was known by those so suffering that fate, becomes, at best, difficult and inconvenienced; and at worse, the wresting away of one’s freedom for incarceration, punishment, and shaming.  They say that this is the land of the free, but reality of its jurisprudence and the results thereof, proves nothing of the sort.

Solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment

In this modern era, surely one would reasonably think that when it comes to the humane treatment of prisoners, that the United States would desire to be the industry leader in providing a reasonably safe environment for those so incarcerated and would not countenance cruel and unusual punishment.  Yet, as reported by ncchc.org, we read “…that approximately 80,000 inmates are held in some form of isolation in state and federal prisons on any given day;” of which, we need to keep in mind that this is not simply someone having a “time out” but rather involves the isolation of a human being from everyone else for 22 and even 23 hours every single day.  If this was just for one day, or for the temporary protection of a given inmate, or as a reasonable means of punishment for a given inmate for a finite amount of time, not exceeding a few days that would be one thing, but in America, solitary confinement can be well beyond hours, days, weeks, or even months, for it actually can be for years.

It is unfortunate, that far too often, when America has to deal with inequality, lack of opportunity,

discrimination, poor housing, poor healthcare, dysfunctional family environments, and massive income disparities, that the go-to answer for the United States, is typically to clamp down hard upon those that are agitating for change through ill-advised behavior.  Further to the point, America, even in today’s world, is all about invoking the antebellum Southern attitude which is that for all those that are compliant and thereby subservient to the master’s desires, life can be somewhat tolerable; and for all those that are not compliant, then corporal punishment, solitary confinement or its equivalency is the price to thereby pay.

The bottom line is that most of those subject to solitary confinement, do not willingly wish to suffer such, and often aren’t deserving of being in such; but following the perverse philosophy that “those that are out of sight are out of mind,” this is what America’s justice system in reality propagates.  This signifies that in America, incarceration is fundamentally a punishment tool, and further to the point, not only does the United States care not a whit about the successful rehabilitation of those so incarcerated, but rather it prefers to take that which is human and thereby of unalienable rights, and wrest their humanity away from them as if they were functionally animals, or not even that, just things or just plain trash.

America spends an extraordinary amount of money on its imprisonment system, but fundamentally fails to realize that it has a moral and legal duty to provide those that are so incarcerated with their Constitutional rights.  While there are plenty of people, that believe those that have been convicted of a particular crime, deserve no rights, that should be answered by stating emphatically that those people with those beliefs are fundamentally wrong.   Two wrongs do not make a right, and it is important to recognize that when the state apparatus instigates a wrong, that they should be held accountable for having done that wrong. 

Human beings are social creatures, and solitary confinement, by definition, isolates that which needs socialization into a frightful existence that clearly is not.  Life does not always provide us with easy answers or with easy solutions, but to lock a given individual up and to throw away the key is never the right answer, and it is high time that America recognizes and thereby corrects its wrongful behavior.

Corporate profits and the lack of social accountability

In the capitalistic system it would appear to be the highest calling of those that are practitioners of such, to make a profit; yet, a profit without taking into account that all businesses have some sort of innate responsibility to do right by their community must also being fairly considered.   That is to say, if a given for-profit business is all about just the making of money, of which ethics and morals as well as responsibility to the general public, plays no part whatsoever; then the end result, at best, is going to be directly beneficial for a very few, somewhat beneficial to others, and perhaps quite detrimental to the many.  The reason that this is so, is that, the concentration of capital into ever fewer hands disrupts the good functioning of democracies because the impact of money plays an outsized role in how rules and regulations, as well as laws are actually enforced or even enacted in legislatures and thereby adjudged in courts of justice.  Additionally, some businesses, by their very nature, deal with toxic chemicals, or other elements that are inherently dangerous to the public as well as to the environment if not properly handled and disposed of, in which, these companies are often going to be tempted to avoid doing what is necessary and prudent to do for the safety and protection of people and that environment, if that business, unduly weighs making profits above proper social accountability.

Clearly, those businesses that either directly or indirectly create or utilize toxic elements must be held accountable to such an extent that the general public and the government should not ever be left “holding the bag” when pollution, or negative environmental events, occur.  In other words, those businesses that are in industries that either create pollution to some extent, or are handling toxic chemicals, must be licensed in a manner in which, there is some sort of guarantee or monetary bond so created to handle adverse consequences, of bad acts so made -- that is structured to be part and parcel of the conditions of that business, and therefore is a necessary cost of doing business, so it thereby has precedence over the distribution of profits, because of that accountability.

In point of fact, corporations should always be held accountable to that society, which permits their existence in the first place.  This signifies that appropriate rules and regulations by governmental agencies need to be enforced in a manner in which the general public and their protection thereof, comes before profit.  After all, it isn’t fair for any corporation to make a bucketload of money, with one hand, while with the other hand, saddling the environment and public health with toxic costs which essentially are socialized; thereby permitting that corporation and its beneficiaries to hold onto their profit, without a fair accounting of what the true costs were of that profit to that society and to that environment.

All those that are in businesses in which the nature of that business could cause environmental or public health harm, need to as part of their business enterprise, fairly account for the contingencies of that harm, rather than taking the attitude that corporate profits are theirs to own, but the bad consequences of corporate harm is essentially at the public’s expense.

Departure from this world is inevitable

As much as some people prefer not to think about it, or simply to ignore it, or seemingly don’t care about it, the bottom line is that nothing that is born into this material world, will ever be able to live forever in this world, but must eventually experience material death.  So then, that would seem to say, either of two things, of which the first is that life has no real purpose, for our very birth is ultimately our death sentence; or the alternative which is that our birth here, really represents the leaving of our natural state, which is spirit, in order to incarnate physically, whereupon our actions and deeds thereof are meant to represent in truth our sincerity to our purpose for being, before our inevitable departure to our natural state of spirit.

So then, at a minimum, all those that understand that they are eternal beings, should want to reflect that truth by their actions in the here and now.  This signifies that as much as we might get caught up in the day-to-day activities and diversions that this world so represents, we owe it our ourselves to maintain our focus, and therefore not to concentrate too much on that which is temporal, for it fundamentally takes us away from that which really eternally matters.  That is to say, our duty here on earth, is to help make this world a better place, by behaving in a manner in which we respect and aid others, display patience, express our concern, and give compassion one to another. All the other stuff, especially the negative, involving such characteristics as domination, meanness, selfishness, and dishonesty, don’t serve any good purpose, but rather serves to distract us from the only prize that really matters.

Nobody really wants to live a life of regret, but a significant amount of people, have the good capacity to self-reflect honestly enough, to see that their lives have some degree of failure and hence of regret.  That regret often comes down to having not spent the necessary time doing that which really matters and has lasting value, as compared to that which brings at best, a temporary sugar high, but does not come close to standing the true test of time.  After all, a proper perspective would clearly indicate that those that see the testing ground of earth, as being something other than a testing ground, are going to have a strong inclination to miss the forest for the trees; for all those that fail that test, are compelled to keep going back to that which they need to go back to, until they graduate to the understanding that the true point of our existence is to seek and to truly know that which is the actuator of it all.

The fact that our physical body cannot escape death, is indicative that the physical should not be our main concern and should never be paramount over our eternal soul.  Those that recognize that we are children of God, thereby have an inherent obligation to pay proper homage to that God, by taking upon themselves longsuffering, faithfulness; and expressing joy whenever possible; for they understand implicitly that to unduly love that which is only thus created for our edification, but not the Creator of that domain, is a dead-end road that should never be taken; but rather, instead, these dedicated souls make it their committed purpose to not ever relent in their devoted search for that stellar stairway which leads them to Heaven.

In America, your home is not your castle

One would think that a concept such as a "no knock" warrant would categorically be illegal except under the most exigent circumstances, and even those circumstances, should necessitate an independent and dispassionate review of whether this "no knock" raid was actually necessary in the first place.  After all, the fact that "no knock" warrants even exist and somehow are legal in the United States is a slap in the face to the 4th Amendment, to the Founding Fathers, and to the fundamental premise of what the Constitution was created for.  This is because if potentially any home at any time, is permitted to be searched with a "no knock" warrant because the police in conjunction with a compliant judge believes such is necessary for whatever dubious reason, essentially means that nobody's home is their castle, because everybody's home is potentially subject to such a "no knock" invasion, and thereupon the people so duly suffer all the inherent danger of armed enforcers of the law invading that which most people would reasonably believe that they have the moral right to defend themselves in.

The most basic lie about "no knock" warrants is the same lie used for whenever the policing force is permitted to do whatever that they so want to do, come hell or high water.  That corrupt concept might be the norm in some pathetic dictatorship of a country, but it is definitely not okay for that country that declaims itself as the leader of the free world.  The bottom line is that if anybody cannot be reasonably secure within their own home, or within their own car, or within their own person, from the long arbitrary arm of the law, then that is the epitome of a country that is not free, but rather represents essentially the description of a police state masking itself as a republic.

Many people and most countrymen will defend to the death, their family and their country, because that is the embodiment of what it means to protect and to secure that which is lawfully their own.   This is why it is so important for any country of integrity, to actually treat their citizens in a manner in which they are accorded the respect and courtesy that is theirs per their Constitutional rights.  This present Constitutional government and the policing arm of that government were initially so created to be a material aid to domestic tranquility as well as to secure the blessings of that liberty that each citizen has the right to.  This thus signifies that to take away the liberties of a given citizen, without fair and due process of the law, done so in an unreasonable and unnecessary way is anathema to that country which was founded upon liberty for all.

Each citizen should be reasonably secure in their property, in their person, and in their home, for if they are not, but instead are subject to essentially capriciously having any one of those things, being at risk though the sole discretion of the state apparatus, then no citizen is safe, and no citizen is therefore secure from that government which is supposed to be of, for, and by the people; for such a government as that is behaving  instead in a deliberate and calculating manner that runs roughshod over those that are its equal.

The disenfranchised and un-favored are always guilty of something

The real reason that there are so many laws as well as the inconsistent interpretation of those laws is so that those that are not part of the favored class, such as the disenfranchised, poor, those of certain creeds as well as those of certain races are thereby subject to being harassed, arrested, victimized, fined, and ultimately having their freedom wrested away from them at a moment's notice with little or no Constitutional protection to preclude such.  The bottom line is that the policing arm of the state have seemingly the absolute power to disrupt anyone's life that they so wish to disrupt, only ameliorated by those that have some semblance of power behind them, which thereby provides those people with a modicum of Constitutional protection.

Millions upon millions of Americans rightly fear their government, because that government, has the power to enforce whatever that it is that it desires to enforce, of which, the pushback from the people and the institutions that defend those people via the principles of the Constitution, are in many instances, lacking in the resources and thereby the influence to effectively preserve the freedoms that all are, in theory, equally entitled to, which is why so many are arrested, harassed, and incarcerated.

Anytime that any government has the power to essentially find something that the people are guilty of, and thereby are able to enforce that belief against the people, even if such is eventually overturned or dismissed through some court of law, that government has already achieved what it so desired to achieve which is at a minimum, the intimidation and the marginalization of those that oppose or are an inconvenience to that government.   In truth, the resources of the government, are essentially unlimited, over and above the fact, it is the government that has the power to take a person's right just to be about their personal business, away from them, with virtually no ill consequences for that government when it is overzealous in doing exactly that.

Those that run this government do not really mind those that have unorthodox viewpoints or dissenting opinions as long as these are expressed in a manner in which there is no ill effect to those that are acting the part of a tyrant.  It is only when the government perceives those that dissent as a clear and present danger to them, or the potential thereof, that the government is quick to act in a manner in which they assert themselves in a way in which the policing arm of the state, under the guise of national security, safety, law and order, or similar, is used as the impetus to pick up the "usual suspects."

This is why there are so many laws in America, and wide interpretations of those laws, so that those that are in control of the business of America, have the constant wherewithal to clamp down where they need to do so, and when it serves the interests of the state to do that.   Further to the point, this country makes sure to have a constant source of bogeymen, foreign and domestic, that thereby necessitates their ever vigilant guard so as to protect the people; though in reality, they aren't protecting the people, but rather they are protecting their fiefdoms from being legitimately questioned, let alone being fairly taxed, fairly regulated, and fairly examined by the people.

Debauching of the coin of the realm

Most business transactions as well as most personal monetary transactions involve the coin of the realm being used as the means to trade or to pay for one thing or another.  In other words, we buy things with dollars and we are paid with dollars, of which, because this is the coin of the realm, this makes for transactions being done seamlessly as well as being transparent, one party to another, so that this is the de facto go-to way that business and personal transactions are accomplished, millions upon millions of times each and every day.  All this is to the good, as long as the dollar maintains enough stability, so that not only can transactions continue smoothly day-by-day but also so that long-term decisions can be made in the good conscience that the dollar will continue to be stable and of value enough to do so.

However, the problem with fiat currency in general, is that governments have a very strong tendency to debase such over a period of time, knowing that by doing so, not only is a hidden tax put into effect, which is especially pernicious upon all those that don't have an investment vehicle that is able to "earn" enough so as to keep what they have basically have so as to thereby maintain more or less the same value, but that because of this debasement there are going to be winners and losers within the currency game, of which, the biggest winners are always going to be those that are the in the know as to what is really going on and what is really going to happen.

Further to the point, sudden currency debasement, destabilizes societies in a manner in which, many of those that have labored hard, are susceptible to essentially having all that they have earned, becoming more or less worthless, thereby placing them in the unenviable position of being beholden to their government for their sustenance or the alternative of having to rise up against that government in the optimistic hope that such a revolution will thereby somehow make them whole and not further enchain them.

Again, virtually all of the "worth" of a given person, or institution, is measured in the coin of the realm, and when that coin becomes debased, this upsets the delicate balance between creditor and debtor, of which, those that are the creditors are typically those that are best positioned with that government, to not only to maintain their position, but to even improve upon it, when that government replaces the old currency unit with something new. 

Of course, there is the issue of the fact that the American government is itself, a great debtor, but recognize that its debt is primarily held in the hands of its own citizens, thereby signifying that upon the backs of those citizens, and in particular, those without true representation, they will thereby create that new currency, which will burden at a significantly higher rate those that are its common laborers in a manner in which they will know their place. So then, such debauchery of the coin of the realm, will in the end, hurt not those who are well placed and in the know, but hurt greatly, those that have faithfully played by the rules, never suspecting that the game is rigged and that they are the losers to it.