Barack Obama, a "Plant" for All Seasons

Has anyone stopped to consider that Osama Bin Laden, I mean Barack Obama may be a plant? I don’t mean a non-meat. A plant. Not a plantain. A plant. Not a factory. A plant. A plant. A plant is someone that demands attention away from the main event. A plant you say? Barack Obama a plant? I faintly remember when Barack Obama surfaced. Suddenly it seemed in the state of California there was someone indorsing “Obama.” Who was this Obama? Was it not coincidental his name rhymed with Osama? No one made mention of this. Osama Bin Laden? Barack Obama’s middle name is Hussein. Saddam….. ??? Strangely enough Barack Obama was Americanly accepted as a candidate for President of the United States. Isn’t this weird? How in the many years of conservatism could things turn around in America and catapult an all but unknown junior senator from Illinois into the limelight? How did this happen? Was it Arnold? Suddenly and with force this man was rocketed into mainstream America and without a doubt. Does anyone realize he is black? What happened to PC? How could it be a nation of bias, media slander, and government corruption could allow a black man to be thrust into the mainstream of American politics? Could it be because of this current? Can we believe this as an American public? Is the proof in order to win a case suggesting Barack Obama may win the democratic nomination for President of the United States? I remain skeptical, because the case has not been tried and won. A differing case is being tried in the public’s eyes daily. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are on trial for “electability,” yet no one is asking how or why Barack Obama got to court. Isn’t this strange? Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York responsible for prosecuting the mob, was eliminated from the election. John Edwards, former Vice Presidential candidate running under Senator John Kerry was eliminated. So were other more known candidates. How did this man arrive in this position? I suggest he is a plant, a vegetable. He is a “plant” by the Republican party to dilute Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Amazingly enough we have not heard from Ralph Nader. Many suggested he alone was responsible for Al Gore’s losing the presidency. Others know better and know how capable the Republican party is of manipulating the system. A “plant” would be synonymous with their past actions in a presidential campaign. Beware democrats! This candidate Obama may not be what he seems.

The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time...

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is a lesson Miley Cyrus should learn quickly. The raid on the ranch in Eldorado Texas run by the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints yielded hundreds of underage teenage mothers and prospective mothers. The inhabitants were evasive enough to keep identification of the children difficult. DNA tests had to be ordered to figure out who belonged to whom. Evidently it was a festival of underage debauchery, older men having sex with younger women. These men were both husbands and fathers to the inbred bastards. The photos of Miley Cyrus posing with her dad Billy Ray,while not atypical of the country music aesthetic, are untimely. Maybe it is a good thing if it will bring light to those sleazy glam-country music videos that surfaced a few years back. When logical human boundaries are broken for money, the result is anarchy.

Taking Your Shirt Off in Public

Many priests in the Roman Catholic Church were sexually frustrated. Warren Jeffs was sexually frustrated. Former Governor Eliot Spitzer was sexually frustrated. It appears Roger Clemens is sexually frustrated. Billy Ray Cyrus needs money. How could this immeasurably not prove the hypocrisy of the Conservative Religious Right? How did a self-appointed , self-promoted, self-fulfilling coalition suddenly come to power in the United States and in a few short years pre-empt the core of American philosophy and social dogma? How did specific freedoms get singled out and systematically abolished with the aid of the federal government? Is it the Bilderberg Group? Is it Skull and Bones? Is it the Illuminate? Is it Big Brother seeking to establish a New World Order? Who decided specific moral freedoms no longer deserved to be supported by our Constitution? Evidently the people mentioned above don’t agree. It may be they would not disagree in premise. Sexual virtue is what? Supreme? I always thought cleanliness was next to Godliness. We have to ask the Puritans that helped settle America. Maybe they have the answer. I hope the followers of the Church of the Latter Day Saints at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado Texas don’t have the answer, or maybe they do. They were searching for sexual freedom behind the closed doors of what appeared to be religious worship. Maybe we should ask the Mormons. Maybe this cultish sect actually represents expression of one of our core freedoms embodied in the American constitution. These freedoms slowly have been dissolving away at the hands of the Conservative Religious Right, and as a result America is no longer the same. What once was a liberal, rebellious, and joyful nation has become an oppressed people squirming in the boundaries this covert moral governing group has established. It is becoming common knowledge America does not like this interpretation of our socio-political value system. More importantly than whether we like it or not, open inhibition of our constitutional rights by our own federal government is illegal. Is this why only certain federal District Attorneys were fired, because they were cognizant of and disagreed with this practice? Who is going to file and prosecute cases against our federal government when they are struggling to maintain domestic peace, national security, and a viable economy? Like the huge example of 9/11 are these issues behind which to hide while subverting our constitutional rights? If sexual frustration can be the root of so much immoral behavior, then why as a country do we not reestablish our core freedoms and exercise them? Larry Flynt was ground-breaking in the field of pornography. He proved that as adult Americans we have the right to choose our own morality. If the Conservative Religious Right would stop trying to legislate morality politically from atop its soap box and get the hell out of Dodge, then maybe we could get back to the business of being Americans. Prostitution is legal and many places, because their governmental systems don’t favor hypocrisy. They may have corruption, but they call a spade a spade. The moral majority in governmental politics has lost sight of what a spade is. America has always favored sexual freedom, because as Freud proved you will never be able to separate the "ID" from a human being. In his terms it was the essence of who we are. Trying to act like the ID does not exist could be the cause of many of the things that are happening in American society. If Catholic priests were sexually frustrated, why would they use the cloistered confessionals of the church as a vehicle for such behavior? Is it because taking a vow of celibacy itself is hypocrisy? It seems America as a whole is out of touch with the natural inclinations of the ID. Maybe we should ask the creators and hosts of the thousands of pornographic teen websites what they think? Sex seems to be very important to them. Why would it be any less important to anyone else, accept that they were too ashamed to be accountable for their own sexual drive? Being sexually responsible is a privilege. It comes with becoming an adult. When we as a country stop educating our youth, start politically legislating morality, and become disconnected with our constitutional rights, Miley Cyrus takes her shirt off in public.

Total Anihilation

With the presence of God slipping further and further away from American consciousness, it is no surprise the sexual morality of the country is in crisis. It has always been clear to anyone who understands Western Civilization America is a base country. Our needs and means, although disguised, are brutal and primitive. It may be this abruptness is alone what created the superpower that we once were. There comes a time when a country has to acknowledge they must live in the same plane as the rest of humanity, and like a maturing child finds a need to blend rather than dominate. While this egocentric behavior of domination is bred by the concept of Capitalism, over time like waning hormones it begins to take a back seat to nesting. The maturation process grows humility with the fertilizer of worldly experience. Both William Shakespeare and Socrates knew life truly is a tragedy. Could it not be that living in the realm of only the human experience creates this tragedy, because upon looking we find so much beauty embodied in Mother Nature? Real Native Americans may have been more successful, because instead of imperializing a country they respected her soul and humbly learned power from that great wisdom. There was always regard for the Creator no matter how He had been personified. The African culture was rich in humanity and ascribed spiritual qualities to tangible elements in nature. What more simple way to explain God’s existence then to begin to classify His elements? Water, sunlight, wind, and fire were crucial to life’s existence. Only an American could be so callus to discount God and proclaim science was itself King. Who created science for our benefit? Who created science to prove the existence of God? Only the American culture could so foolishly forget our immediate past, pushing it under the rug so to hide our heads in the sand. Responsible civilizations recognize their needs and without selfish monetary greed, find the processes politically to take care of their own. We as the American public have been failed. For reasons seemingly unfathomable, like television programming, a neo-nihilist socio-economic faction has booby-trapped the American way. Not only has logic, reason, and humanity been abandoned in our infrastructure, pure narcissistic Hedonism has been spread like the plague. One only has to watch ten minutes of television programming to see its effects. The pure and un-adultered gifts of God to humanity have been thrown back in His face. What other consequence could there be but total annihilation?

The Money Train

How can MS-NBC call an election primary before the popular vote has even begun to come in? I am confused again about the electoral process. The “superdelegates” are watching the people, the special interests, and each other. Special interest groups are watching the candidates and the people. Media are watching all of these. Finally it came to me in a flash last night. The presidential primary coverage is like a gambling show. They are not hypothetically monitoring a democratic process as it unfolds. They have their fingers in a big media gambling debt like any people playing poker on a television show. Is this the right concept for news coverage of such an important event? It seems big money has become the root of life in the United States. Everything meant to be digested by the American people erroneously has been stripped of all creativity, soul, and hope instead replaced by the stark reality of death and taxes. Legalizing the Lottery has not helped. When lawmakers decide that gambling is a better antecedent to the American Dream than good education, religion, and dependable leaders we are in trouble. Once again the short-sightedness of media has plagued our country. In the l950’s in America television was a reflection of real life. There were enough factories and jobs for life to exist. People had to deal with real life issues, not fiction on television. That has changed dramatically, and that life as we knew it has become dormant. I won’t say extinct, because we can all hope for better things. Better would be the quick fix of the internet, television, and fast food would become dormant taking a back seat to quality infrastructure. Good jobs, reliable leaders, and a sustained interest in the humanities. Television coverage of the presidential primary races represents the former. They are soulless tables of probability mediated like a sporting event. Whence should the model come for media coverage with integrity? One has to look no further than the semi-formal setting of a religious ceremony. They have wine. They have bread. They have fellowship. They have morality. They have quality leadership. Why has this tradition gone out of vogue taking a backseat to the psychotic rants of religious extremists? How as a country could we allow this to happen, a major faction of the country seeming to discount God’s presence, the foundation upon which this country was built? We may not all agree with the puritan religious roots of our country, but we must agree making your own cheese harmlessly in a community with no phones or automobiles is not evil. Screaming agnosticism and atheism while pressuring our academic system to change centuries of historic fact is. Ben Stein is saying it. As a country we must all agree the pursuit of monetary wealth and power are themselves depressing. Can that single dollar bill replace the heart and soul of a comic book superhero? Can that quarter replace a carnival trinket memorializing a child’s enjoyment of a county fair? Can that stack of hundred dollar bills replace the entertainment and wisdom of a well-written novel? Can that quick million dollars replace centuries of hand-written and copied music personifying centuries of enlightenment? Can a sack of gold replace a sack of fresh vegetables grown on one’s own land in the piedmont of the North Carolina? Can stock portfolios replace a hand-made wood vanity made in Colonial America. While there are things we need to live, money is not always the most prized, and it is this lessen the GOP and big business should learn. When the end of the world comes, a bank account full of worthless paper will mean nothing. Better to consult the creator and be creative while we can. Live today for today and forget about that damn dollar. Maybe the anchors on MS-NBC will stop talking about the money train for Hillary.

The Future President, Pastor Melissa Scott

Why is it easier to understand Pastor Melissa Scott, widow of the late Dr. Gene Scott, grammatically diagramming a Greek or Hebrew passage from the bible more than the media’s coverage of the presidential primaries? Is it because, unlike Barack Obama, Pastor Scott relates to the people because she herself is one of the people. Many of us agree that Senator Obama’s diverse childhood better could be representative of a more plural and immigrated America. Born to a East-African father, having lived in the eleventh largest city Jakarta in Indonesia, and having graduated from Harvard Law School makes him diverse. The poverty of Ethiopia was but a stones throw from Kenya where his father was born. The question is, is his diversity something that has the power to overthrow the history of a nation? Historically the president of the United States needed to fit a particular profile. In certain instances when change was imperative to the progress of the nation, the constraints of that profile were loosened. Traditionally Americans still wanted their president to look “presidential.” It may seem superficial, but when diplomatically mandating foreign policy to power players in the nuclear arms race, looks can be important. Take for example Kofi Annan. Born in the East African country of Ghana, Mr. Annan held two consecutive terms as the Secretary General of the United Nations. He also received the Nobel Peace prize. While it my be diluted to suggest looks should be considered in the election of a president, many people will agree the president can be a figure head. No one could be a better example than current president George Bush. He has proven continuously a president could be elected as a figure head only to be run by a covert coalition. What is best is if a future president, like Mr. Annan, could look diplomatic and possess the wisdom and experience necessary to implement good politics. The democratic party and America have made great strides arriving at this particular point. Our only two choices for a democratic nominee for President of the United States are a woman and a black man. The question remains how conservatism, which has been evidenced greatly in the last eight years, will weigh in the current election. Is the country ready to make such a huge step to allow either to become the leader of the free world? That is a daunting question, and it is frightening. It would seem that the impact of that choice may be lessened by the peanut gallery, this entity being the “boxed” group of GOP men that are attempting to pull the strings of the future president. We have two things with which to contend. There is the desire for the president to be nothing but a weak figure head (like George W. Bush), and there is the desire for the president to be a powerful intellectual, politician, and diplomat. Who is giving most of the money? These questions need to be asked. Does anyone really know what they are going to get? Is the track record of any of the three candidates substantial enough to judge the course of the future? What seems apparent is Hillary Clinton has direct experience with a successful period in the history of the United States. Who could say being First Lady itself is diluted? While she may not have been able to attend meetings with the Joints Chief of Staff, she slept most nights with an effective president. That is a significant advantage. With a father and grandfather as two four-star navy admirals, Senator John McCain has had experience in the military. As a POW in Viet Nam Mr. McCain certainly represents one faction of Americans that remain important to our vitality as a country. With all these things in mind the question must be asked, “Who is most capable of diplomatic negotiation in Washington, DC?” Without this we as a country have nothing more to look forward to than what we have received in the last eight years, continued war and a partisan stalemate. The way around this is to do as Hillary as done, solicit the support of the people of the United States. While we as Americans may have been sedated and force fed from a GOP feeding tube, the anesthesia is beginning to wear off as millions of businesses and American citizens struggle to put roofs over their heads and food in their mouths. Maybe a figure such as Pastor Melissa Scott is not such a bad American example. She would have to acknowledge her past as a porno producer and actress, yet she openly has and has moved ahead into a more enlightened and hopeful future. There is a substantial amount of “real” in her actions, not unlike a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy. Who could doubt the credibility of a war hero that spent five years in a Vietnamese prison camp? Does sleeping with a past president every night qualify as viable experience in politics? What kinds of things will make Mr. Obama seem real to Americans? Certainly not a middle name like Hussein.

Idol Worship

American Idol? The American Dream? Do these two concepts mix? Does having a so-called American Idol have anything to do with achieving the American Dream? Idol worship throughout history has been frowned upon beginning in the biblical days. God, a much scorned, doubted, and feared concept in America today dissuaded idol worship. So it seems the idea of an American idol has usurped God, hedonism at its most primitive. Americans should ask themselves what will an idol give them in times of need? How will an idol fill them with hopeful spirituality, other than they themselves hoping for that same monetary success. Isn’t that jealousy? When one learns to dispense with the idea of “getting,” then the soul is freed. God, unlike many far-right pundits believe, does not threaten the soul with fire and brimstone. He is not a vengeful God that preaches wrath and violence. Christianity and Islam are predominantly peaceful religions. Only mental illness and drug abuse could outwardly attempt to change that concept. Considering the amount of drugs that are produced in the Middle East, it stands to reason some extreme behavior may be triggered by narcotics. “Drugs are bad, kay.”

White Elitism and Jazz Music

The American Way. Americana. American. Jazz. Does anyone really know the form of music known as Jazz is America’s only true art form? Certainly we must credit Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, and the other influential black musicians that shaped Rock ‘n’ Roll. The British Invasion by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and later The Who almost overtook Rock ‘n’ Roll by sheer willpower and intellectual prowess. Who can argue the Beatles catalog is on of the most substantive and significant bodies of music written in the popular style? Still American gospel music, blues, and rhythm and blues were the building blocks of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Berry Gordy exploited these original forms of music and in the wake of a racial crisis watered them down so they were palatable by a mostly white listening audience. This was the only way that primarily owned and operated white radio stations would play the music. Unlike shimmy shake dance moves utilized by Duke Ellington as early as l928, original black popular music other than jazz had to struggle to be heard. It was thought too primitive. Back water juke joints along the Mississippi River weren’t as sophisticated as The Cotton Club in Harlem. Were white people in America unable to understand, appreciate, and synthesize this early black popular music? Were elitist ideas all ready in place in America that attempted to stifle the expression of the negro race? Today jazz music is mostly unknown primarily because it embodies an intellectual understanding of the world as we know it. It does not spin. It does not sell. Conversely as an art forms it reflects and teaches the utter realities of life in the United States. During those seminal years when it was created citizens could not coast along on corporate-offered credit. You had to work to earn an honest dollar to put food on your family’s table. As a result the trying experiences of trying to live in America were embodied in her music. Isn’t this the music as a country of which we should be aware?

Media Coverage of the Andromeda Strain

I agree with Lewis Black. Every four years the presidential electoral process gets more ludicrous. It is difficult to make heads or tails of the extravaganza that is media coverage of this presidential election process. We no longer can call it a presidential election, because it has grown like the Andromeda Strain into a looming, killing, eating machine. It seems not to acknowledge anything other than its own veracious appetite for fame and glory. It is not interested in its hosts. It came from another planet with mass murder in mind, until a team of well-educated, liberal, democratic doctors took the wind out of its sails. That is why the recent primary coverage is like the Andromeda Strain. It seems daunting. It seems unfathomable until one sits down and makes it his own. “What is this thing, the presidential primaries?” Seeing that the presidential election is not until November 4, 2008 all of this precursory vaudeville is only a microscopic look at how the cards may fall come November. “Enquiring minds want to know.” The Republicans have a reputation for cold, calculated, legislative manipulation of the electoral system. Remember Florida in 2000? Bush won the electoral vote, one of the only four times in American history a President was elected circumventing the popular vote. As a result some states decided to change their electoral system mandating the electoral votes be determined by the popular vote. Now we have “Super delegates” in the democratic primary, a loose unofficial term by the democratic party to designate undecided delegates not chosen by the popular vote or caucuses in specific states. These could be seen as the primary “wild cards,” the electoral votes of the real election on November 4th. The media among others, notably special interest groups (better called what they really are) are putting pressure on the states to cough up a candidate. Still over six months to go and they want to know who the candidate is. Doesn’t this preempt the entire process of the Democratic National Convention in August? It used to until the process was changed. It used to be a party’s candidate was chosen at the convention by party caucuses. A large group of politically active delegates would gather and like a huge Flower Power Love In would hash out decision. Harking back to pre-internet days when people had to leave their computers, go into public, and socialize, the process was one of human interaction. The decision was made to let state primary races determine the candidates, opening up a can of worms for the media. It seems television coverage just can’t keep up with the immediacy of the internet. The candidates themselves do not seem to be enjoying the process. The national conventions now are but tightly-scripted media presentations. The state primary processes are trying to become the same, being driven by media. This should not be possible, because the function of the process is democratic driven by the unknown desires of the people voting. It should not be possible to influence the decisions of the voters by a media induced spin. If the media still were neutral then this process could be effective. It is not. Seeing as a decade of unruly and unsuccessful corporate mergers have plagued an unbiased media with arbitrary views, media itself is unqualified at the moment to justly and fairly cover the presidential election process. This is symptomatic of America as a whole as a misguided, self-serving, and nihilist media scurries to air its skewed message. There is a simple answer. Turn off the TV.

"That woman Ms. Lewinsky..."

It was said clearly today on PBS. Barak Obama is too much an elitist to get his hands dirty in the politics of life in the United States. Does he “relate” to the people, or does he just speak to them? Does he “move” the people because he understands their plight, or has he learned what to say as a savvy politician? Has he ever shown any inclination to take off his suit, pick up a hammer, and build a habitat for humanity like past president Jimmy Carter? That didn’t necessarily make him a more successful president, but it did show a side of him we have not seen from Barak Obama. Bill Clinton played the saxophone on national television. Mikhail Gorbachev did a little dance on stage. Bush senior threw up. What we should be looking for in our presidential candidates is a sense of timelessness that comes from wisdom. In the case of Ronald Reagan years of acting gave him insight into the human condition. Growing peanuts in the South gave Jimmy Carter an earthly wisdom. Getting a blow job in the White House showed a side of humanity that is not necessarily bad. It beats sitting on the Extreme Religious Right implying polygamy is ethical. Hypocrisy is bad, but is covering up mistakes in our private life through the watchful eye of media unnatural? Most people would do the same thing. Why is it our media has learned and craves to topple public figures despite their track records of service to the country? Is it that they are more concerned with their own monetary well-being than the good of the people?

The Media

If one as a foreigner were to make a value judgment about the quality of life in the United States, it would be difficult. Since the majority of perception about America is made via the media, does that not empower them unfairly in a way that is unhealthy? If media alone has become the visible and audible perception of America to the world, then had they better not rise to the occasion and present a factual, unbiased, and historically significant picture of modern day American life? Is that happening? Can a foreigner by reading a newspaper or a magazine or by watching TV get a realistic depiction of what life is like in the United States? I think not. The majority of reported news these days on both the internet and in print is negative. The majority of television programs for some reason are dark. Just flip through the channels after midnight and see what you find. Other than the relief of animated comedy shows, the majority of programming is bleak, stark, and even frightening. President Bush’s administration has been accused of a campaign of fear and intimidation. Are not the media equally as guilty as a stand alone entity? As much as Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama object to their treatment on televised debates, it seems readily apparent the media is spinning the news however they see fit. The powers at be, the owners of the news corporations just like special interest groups, are spinning the news in their favor. Gone is fair objectivity. Gone is a sense of positive competition. Gone is the spiritual element of good politics. Media still has not graduated from the adolescent mating ritual of reality TV. Is this level where life in the U.S. stops? Did the professional world, academia, and the arts suddenly just disappear? Is it only because the holy dollar of media comes only from that specific age bracket that watches TV? How as the major superpower of the world can we stand around and let media depict us as adolescent, juvenile, irresponsible, and immature? Yes, for one brief instant this ridiculous behavior might sell a product, but what about the rest of our lives? Have we as a country, a socio-economic system regressed to the desperate end of hawking tonic on the street corner to buy a scrap of food and a two bit bath? What is lacking is the soul of religion, because nothing else will and can provide the vision we need to make it through the likes of global warming, the energy crisis, the water shortage, and the ill-bred War in Iraq. If we continue upon the path that we are on, there is nothing in sight at all except extinction, Armageddon? Many Americans believe this is the path we are on, and there seems to be factual evidence it may be true. Is this what we as a country want, mass extinction, or do we want to re-instill moral and ethical values in our society? The only way to accomplish this is through traditional religion, and I don’t mean Jerry Falwell, Jim Baker, and Benny Hinn. History paints a very clear picture of how life is, and for us as a country to systematically abandon Europe’s roots and our own for such selfish Capitalism is an abomination. No wonder people laugh at us. What do we use as our models for civilization? Ignorance? Contempt? Greed? Violence? Are these things really coming from the threat of global terrorism, or are they coming from our own media? When your own product is so ill thought, unaware of its aesthetic, and unconcerned with history then why should it be allowed to be the perception of your entire country to the world?

Special Interest Groups

Why did Bill Gates deserve his money? Conversely why did Bill Gates’ Microsoft Crop. deserve to be prosecuted and split apart by the federal government? It is because having an entrepreneurial idea and ethically and morally running a successful business are two discreet and not necessarily related concepts. Many people can “brainstorm” and come up with ideas under duress or financial hardship. Maybe it takes an MBA degree to learn the administration skills to run a successful company. Evidently genius programming skills are not akin to being a successful CEO, or at least that is what the stock market is saying. Microsoft has yet to match their original achievement of replicating the Macintosh operating system on an IBM personal computer via “Windows.” There have been multiple attempts to be competitive in the multi-media world, such as copying a Sony Playstation or an Apple iPod, but as for original ideas… Microsoft should have stuck with what they did well, designing and creating reliable software for personal computers. While the suite of software known as Microsoft Office has made inroads into the business world, have they been as influential as the original version of “Word?” Stick with what you know and what works. There really is no need to click the “Software Update” icon in a menu of Mac OS-X. It only demands that the user learn a newer version of something that may have all ready been reliable the way it was. This is the disposable world of personal computers. It has continued to run amuck creating incompatibilities beyond comprehension, while a version of Mac 8.5 may just have served the user’s needs. Bill deserved his money at the time, but has that ingenuity continued? Has Microsoft continued to break boundaries in the world of personal computing? Longevity. Longevity is learning to plan for the duration. It, unlike the false promises of Capitalism or the Lottery, includes the table of probability, that which upon most insurance premiums are based. A Table of Probability? Probability. Chance. Taking into account things may advance or digress and planning ahead for them. Does the system of Capitalism do this? The majority of lotto winners, big winners, end up losing all of their money. They do not have the financial skills to handle such a cumbersome amount of money in the “Old West” of America. It seems as soon as Ed McMahon makes that call… “Sir, you have won the sweepstakes,” frauds, shysters, and hokems are lined up on the phone lines to offer you ways to lose that money. It is not easy in Capitalism to become financially independent, and our social, political, economic, and educational systems don’t necessarily teach it. This may be why Capitalism is failing. Three distinct players in the game don’t fully understand what their role is. The government, private business, and the public workforce are misinformed and confused about how to go about cooperating in a successful Capitalist socio-economic system. The easiest “check” is to measure consumer product prices against current salaries. If salaries have remained stagnant (which is the case in the United States) how can we as a country, the federal government as a watchdog, and businesses ethically raise prices? Why should prices rise anyway? In the current day and age the price of petroleum continues to drive market prices. The cost of oil is governing our way of life in America. Let me say that again. THE PRICE OF OIL IS GOVERNING OUR WAY OF LIVE IN AMERICA, because….. Are you ready? Because this is what special interest groups have wanted all along. What special interest groups are these if they are not drug companies, insurance companies, and credit firms? The data has not changed, it has just slipped out of sight due to aging. If our educational system fails to stay current, then students and therefore mainstream America will become uniformed about our own state of affairs. Automotive manufacturers have always wanted the car to be the supreme being. Simply look at our way of life as Americans. Auto insurance. Auto parts. Auto inspections. Auto sales. Roads. Tolls. Gasoline. Oil. The automobile became the center of our existence, because that is what special interest groups wanted. What about the greater needs of the country? Was it really necessary for Dwight Eisenhower to build the interstate highway system? In terms of national defense it certainly helped to have a reliable mode of transportation, but didn’t that all ready exist with the railroads? The National Strategic Rail Corridor is the hub upon which national defense turns, not the interstates. Automotive transportation was the will of the auto industry, and that alone. If the intellect of the United States had wanted to re-direct away from the automobile, certainly like the rest of Europe it could have succeeded. Choices are being made for mainstream America by special interest groups. They and they alone are determining what is good for America, and they are failing.

The Presidential Candidates

Politics at its core is compromise. No one can accomplish goals in a plural society if they are not willing to compromise. Compromise is a learned value that seems to come with age and experience, because only after trials and tribulations can the value of the support of your fellow man be learned. The framework of “The American Dream,’ although ripe with incentives over achieving monetary goals in a Capitalist socio-economic system, fails to teach the lesson of politics. Where is this learned? Is it learned in Poly-Sci 101 at the undergraduate collegiate level? Compromise is a core value crucial to the existence and maintaining of the human race, yet it is not learned in school. Where is it taught just like so many other core values crucial to maintaining a balance of ego versus compassion? It is taught through religion, an aesthetic that unnecessarily has been skewed through the pursuit of monetary power. One only has to watch a presidential candidate debate to realize that pursuit of monetary power seems to be the only force driving politics in the United States. Long gone is the philosophy of the founding fathers documented in our American Constitution. It, much like religion, has become but a unwieldy and cumbersome hindrance to the selfish pursuit of monetary power. The history of the United States is a confusing one laden with Godlike doctrine but also selfish hedonism. How could it be a clause like “All men are created equal” is included in our core philosophical documents when Southern plantation owners so easily bought and used slaves? So it seems the history of the United States is littered with hypocrisy. As can be expected this hypocrisy has never ceased, and never is it more evident than by watching media’s depiction of American life today. If politics truly is compromise, then how do presidential candidates plan to succeed in taming Washington DC, when they can’t exhibit compromise when running a presidential candidacy? The presidential race could and should be the precursor to what is going to occur in Washington once a new president is elected. Upon this premise should the decision be made for who is to be the next president of the United States. Much like a college job interview, the presidential election is a calculated openly visible test of how the future president will behave once elected. Standing in real time with each micro-second documented by media, isn’t the presidential race a valid test of a candidates future behavior? Could it be as in Nature vs. Nurture that one’s environment unfairly shapes a candidates behavior breaking under the inhuman conditions of the appetite of “immediate gratification” in America’s media? What is the better test of a candidate’s feasibility of success or failure in politics? Do we trust their track record of voting? It seems we can’t do that, because the majority of politicians waffle on the issues constantly changing their perspective and vote. Can we judge a candidate on his track record of success in government like Rudy Giuliani, a man guilty of prosecuting and taking out of power the Gambino family mafia? So quickly he was excised from the presidential race. Should we use bloodline as a determinate of one’s future behavior, as so easily characterized by nepotistic behavior? Contrary to the stout partisanship evidenced in American politics, compromise and compassion for one’s fellow man is a core value of life learned only through religion. Religion as a historical concept certainly is not represented by the Christian Right or Texas polygamist compounds or atheism or agnosticism. Religion could and should be best represented by the institutions they have been throughout history, and this history can only be learned by staying true to philosophies that have stood the test of time. We as Americans can not allow the selfish pursuit of monetary power the ability to reshape our written doctrines. Much pressure has been put upon our Supreme Court under the Bush administration squeezing the justices, much like the Attorneys General, into legislating in favor of monetary power. Philosophies such as religion have a place in American politics and governance because it is only here that core values are learned viable to human existence. If the pursuit of monetary power is allowed to skew our core philosophies and doctrines, then American is destined to fail to a coup d'etat. It is not possible to let the core values upon which a country was founded to be reshaped, or the country will fail. There is no humanly way possible an army of financial elites can overthrow the soul of a nation, and this message needs to be spread. As Americans of every financial class are continued to be manipulated into bankruptcy, they must realize that they are the “well-armed militia” that defeated Great Britain in the Revolutionary War. Only we as outraged and concerned Americans can force the pursuit of monetary power back into its selfish corner to pout like a spoiled child. Which candidate is capable of handling this task, and is that responsibility evident in their behavior on the campaign trail?

The Gas Bubble

The .com bubble. The housing bubble. The credit bubble. Then what? Only the G-A-S BUBBLE. The gas bubble you say? What’s that? Is it a huge inflated pool of obnoxious gas floating in the atmosphere burrowing its way through the ozone layer at the South Pole? The gas bubble? Is it acid indigestion? Will Pepcid AC treat it? Is it a noisome flatulent cloud of evil looming over the future of the United States? The gas bubble. When will it burst? It seems Congress has made one of its first wise decisions in the Iraq war. “Should Iraqi oil money, the money that W has been after all this time, be used to rebuild their own country?” Isn’t it appropriate that a country rich in oil assets use its own money for its own well being? Aside from excusing that we, the United States, systematically destroyed the political and therefore social stability of their country, why not use their money? Unless we were imperializing said country with plans to make them territories of the United States like St. Thomas or Puerto Rico, following the model of Hiroshima and Nagosaki during World War ll, it should be our plan to “charge” Iraq to rebuild their country. It is opportunism at its best, and Dick Cheney was right there handing out contracts. Isn’t spending a billion dollars a month on the war enough? We are pouring money down a giant drain with no prize at the end. Why should we spend more of our money to finance a FOREIGN country. How about our own country? Deteriorating roads, schools, and an economy seem to merit financial attention domestically. Who made this decision, that we were going to systematically destroy a country under the ruse of “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” and then spend billions of U.S. tax dollars cleaning up our own mess? Blasphemy. At least Congress made a lucid observation. “What is happening to all that oil money.” It seems the tables have turned and the United States has become the butt of one of the worse jokes in her history. We are being heckled at the gas pump for an ill-conceived war covertly meant to take just what is making fun of us. We are losing on two fronts, on the Iraqi front and at home. How much more humiliation should we take before we concede it was all a greedy mistake? Weapons of Mass Destruction. I guess W. miscalculated if he thought we would march in and be the saviors of an newly born democracy, purchasing their oil for our own domestic consumption. It seems as with Viet Nam, it is difficult to defeat native people on their native land. They like to hide in tunnels underneath rural farmer’s homes. Who knew the gas bubble could bring so much grief and heartache to the soul of America? Who knew this liquid could liquidate the spirit of the Founding Fathers, all but demolishing spiritual and philosophical reasons to live restrained yet free lives? There are other forms of transportation not reliant upon the internal combustion engine, but past Vice President Al Gore was held in contempt for suggesting the automobile may and should go out of vogue. Do we want to continue to worship the graven image of the automobile? I think not.

The American Economy

Why is the media vilifying the FAA for demanding more thorough inspections of commercial aircraft? Anyone care to reflect upon any of the near recent air disasters resulting from maintenance neglect? Put it in perspective. Would you rather be delayed on a personal flight and have confidence that your aircraft is air worthy, or would you rather satisfy America’s urge for “immediate gratification” and let consumer’s fly on unsafe aircraft? It is kind of like our federal government playing devil’s advocate. Is it wise to schirk responsible adult wisdom and fault airlines on the verge of economic collapse for delaying travelers, or is it wise to understand that these inspections are long overdue? Maybe the inspections have not been well-planned logistically, but since commercial airlines have been deregulated, no longer under control from the federal government, it stands to reason a forced inspection on their private sector is going to be cumbersome. Ask the financial markets the same question. Now that mainstream America has become aware of their near fraudulent offerings of credit, will they allow these financial institutions to be scrutinized and regulated by the federal government? It seems we as America have learned a lesson. Private businesses, much like adolescent teenagers, do not have the self-governance habits in place that they need to assure millions will not lose their shirts. Who is supposed to be looking out for both sides? When American financial institutions so irresponsibly bankrupt themselves and millions of mainstream Americans, who is supposed to be the watchdog? Congress has voted to deregulate many corporations, and throughout recent history these companies have failed to maintain ethical business practices. It seems mere monetary greed is stronger than a long lasting, spiritual, and philosophical good of the American people. It doesn’t take a wise person to understand capitalism. If there is a finite pool of money, then there has to be a “checks and balances” system in place to assure the source of money spent keeps up with current prices. If prices rise uncontrollably and with no regard for salaries, then a recession will be created. People can not spend money they do not have, except in the midst of a credit fraud scheme. This began and continued to transpire until now. Thank God the newest bubble in American commerce has popped. How many times do we have to go through this as a country? The .com bubble. The housing bubble. The credit bubble. All of these things merely are attempts to fuel the stock market. If our country continues to pitch “hype” instead of sound infrastructure, we are doomed to self destruct. Which was the last administration that had an inkling of understanding of this process? Take away the smoke and mirrors, media spin, and stock market stoking and ask yourself who understands economics. Was it George W. Bush? Was it Ronald Reagan? Was it Bill Clinton? Is an elitist pampered with old money really capable of understanding this process? If you have never had to live in the “real” world, a world that demands realness, i.e. “Keep it real, dog,” then how can you understand a system of supply and demand that pre-empts social status? That is why I do not like the Old South. There is very little “real” about a system based upon plantation slave ownership steeped in Victorian pageantry. What is real is recognizing the needs of the American people, manufacturing products that serve the American people, and employing the American people on their native land with a system that both provides the goods and the income to buy them. It is that simple. If short-sighted businesses are tempted by “slave labor” in foreign countries, whether it be Mexico via NAFTA or India and China via globalization, then the American way of life will suffer and continue to deteriorate. Capitalism demands reason and logic, and these concepts are not rocket science. It can be summed up in one sentence. Salaries must keep up with prices. I will repeat this. SALARIES MUST KEEP UP WITH PRICES. The wages of Americans must be able to compete with the cost of living and in the most pristine setting should be able to win. In this way all of America wins. People are able to SAVE money offering future stability. People are pacified by the thought of future stability, and therefore people again will begin to spend from the naturalization of the economic process. What we have had in the past decade has been an un-naturalization of the economic process. Salaries have failed to keep up with the cost of living as manufacturing jobs are out-sourced, and the credit industry has run aground. THERE IS NO MORE MONEY, JERRY! Money should be produced by manufacturing quality products American needs, and they in turn should be exported and sold in foreign counties. This is the only way the economic system in America can be salvaged. If this commitment is not made, then the fate of Capitalism will be sealed. America will become destined to be a socialist nation.

Extreme Islam Misogyny and Hip/Hop

Two startling things have occurred in the last three years. Because I have been working on cruise ships, I have lost touch with reality in the United States. In many ways this has been a good thing. For the first time I was able to view the United States from a perspective similar to foreign countries. How was this possible? Ship television has to cater to over 60 nationalities, because the cruise lines employ foreign workers. This has been a major appeal of cruising, that American guests get to meet people from all over the world. The cruise ship industry could be considered the pinnacle of a successful foreign worker policy. They have had their pitfalls. Both major cruise lines have been sued on labor related issues. Luckily and to their credit they have done the right thing and settled the cases while implementing processes on the ships to correct such wrong-doing. The cruise lines have always been proud of their ability to employ and handle workers from over 60 different countries all over the world. As the American federal government should well know, Immigration is a major issue. They should be able to learn a lesson from the vacation industry which while orchestrating pleasing recreational packages for guests effectively processes and handles thousands of foreign workers. It is always startling to arrive back in the continental United States, because the quality of life in America pales to the experiences had both on the ships and in foreign ports. Most foreign workers covet their cruise jobs, because the cruise ships represent the best of the “American Dream.” Magically the “American Dream” is floated to their doorsteps, and often without ever placing foot in the continental United States, they are able to return to their countries and buy a home. This was the premise under which President Bill Clinton ran for office. He and Hillary believed every American should be able to buy their own home. As a newly transplanted to the Midwest doctoral student at Ohio States, this spoke to me, and I have been a Bill Clinton supporter ever since. The Clinton administration had major successes in America during his tenure as president, and I remember them clearly. The stock market rose above 10,000 for the first time in history. President Clinton, with a pragmatic approach to the federal trade deficit, put into place the means to balance the America’s budget in a short period of time. President Clinton was a proponent of “Multiculturalism” and effectively supported the legal immigration of thousands of Asian-Americans. Columbus, Ohio became a successful example of the possibilities of Multiculturalism. Instead of one culture dominating each culture is embraced for its positive influences on society. Hillary’s book “It Takes a Village” further supported the notion of society as a plural entity with roots in the family unit. Above all of Mr. Clinton’s successes was the careful and eloquent negotiating of an end to the civil unrest and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. The Dayton Accord was signed in Paris, France on December 14, l995 putting an end to a three and a half year long conflict of the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. During Mr. Clinton’s presidency the “American Dream” was at the forefront of political initiatives stimulating both the economy and the ingenuity and creativity of aspiring Americans. Startling enough and incognito two blatant movements have emerged in American society. First there has been a conscious attempt to disguise history and therefore modern culture. Second there has been an influx of Extreme Islam ideals into pop culture and surprisingly enough, the federal government. It seems our current regime in government has been operating covertly behind the mask of “The War on Terror” yet in reality have been implementing policies that reflect extreme ideas. The emergence of the “extreme” left and “extreme” right are characterized by Extremism, and that term has been brought to the United States only by the Islam terrorists. Without our even knowing it the very enemy we are supposed to be fighting has all ready infiltrated our government and culture. These ideas were presented well by Oprah Winfrey on a show dedicated to misogynistic practices by major record labels through the venue of Hip/Hop music. It is easy to discern the connection between Extreme Islam behaviors and behaviors exhibited in the newly born Modern Hip/Hop genre. Both contain strong tenants of suppressive anti-female sentiment expressing and condoning violent behavior toward women. If one looks at the mostly recent history of Hip/Hop, while freely expressing the ideas of urban violence, racism, and economic oppression, there is an evidential lack of misogynist view.