DEATH PANELS

The young lady has terminal cancer.  The only drug that might be able to save her life has not as yet been cleared by the FDA.  But the FDA has said it would grant her a "compassionate exemption" (more about that in a moment), which would allow her to legally take the drug. The drug company has said it will not make the drug available to her, no reasons given.

Which, in a free society it ought have the right to do, inhumane though it be.  The company is owned by individuals and they have a Constitutional right to deal with their products as they see fit.  It is surmised that the company is (a) concerned about a possible lawsuit by the young lady should the drug not work, but that concern can be handled with an exculpatory agreement it could sign with her; and (b) concerned that its reputation, and the reputation of the drug, will be adversely affected should it not work, resulting in the loss of substantial future income.  Perhaps.  Perhaps the reputation of the company will be enhanced if it acts in a compassionate manner.

The compassionate exemption that the FDA says it would give her is what is most wrong with this story.  The Government should have no say as to whether someone can lawfully take a medical drug.  That it can do so is tantamount to its having a death panel..literally decreeing who may live and who may not. Although the Administration claims there is no death panel under Obamacare, that is patently untrue.  A panel is specifically set up with the explicit power to decide whether surgeries and other medical procedures for particular patients are worth the cost.  How much, I wonder, is a life worth?

Where in the world, and the Constitution, the Government finds its authority to play God, is beyond me.  Why in the world any one of us would go along with it for one second, whether we be patient, physician or drug manufacturer, is also beyond me.

The colonists revolted for far less reason.

THE MIDDLE GROUND

I hate talk of the middle ground.  And that's a lot of what I hear these days.

"The Dems and the Repubs should find the middle ground on Obamacare, on the debt ceiling, on illegal immigrants."   You name it:  the wishy-washy, compromising, half ass, middle ground is the new Shangri-La.

One minor problem: there ain't no middle ground.  There is only what is right and what is not right.  There is no halfway between them.  You are either free or you are not free.  There are no part-time slaves.  There is only life and death.  There are no ghosts.  The middle ground is the imagined playground where fools and liars and con artists and criminals like to play...and where they want to lure you to play, too, so they can steal what you have.

The middle ground is a euphemism for surrender.

Want to hear the new play song of the middle grounders?

    "If the terrorists had knocked down only one tower 
      If Hitler had burned and gassed only 3 million Jews   
,     If Rosa Parks had moved back to the middle of the bus
      If only half of what we hear are lies
      All would be well with the world"

They want a middle ground?  Tell them to dig a hole three feet deep and lie down in it.

THE BLAME GAME

You hear it often these days that America's greatest problem is the quality of its political leaders.  I don't think that is the case.

Our leaders (if they can properly be called that) do stand in the way of our country's greatness.  The dishonesty they manifest in hundreds of ways do pose problems for us.  But our greatest problem lies not with them, but with us..the public...and our seeming lack of interest in studying and learning about, and becoming smarter about, political and moral issues.

Not one word can be heard in our public elementary or high schools about these two important aspects of our lives.  Students are left to study these two subjects on their own...which, I suspect virtually none do...and, as a consequence, most adopt their moral and political beliefs by the seat of their pants, if at all.  Virtually always when I seek to speak with adults about their moral and political beliefs, their not uncommon response is "I'm not particularly interested, can we talk about something else?"

The consequence of the lack of formal education is to give politicos free, unfettered, reign in the political field to do as they wish, and to place the resolution of morality issues in the fragile hands of whim and personal fancy.  

And the consequence of that is America's current state of health.

So who bears the blame?  We all do, for sitting by and letting the status remain the quo.

GROUPIES

Politics, in a sense, boils down to this one question:

     What do you rate as more important...the individual or the society?

A:  The individual?  You tend to be a capitalist.
B:  The society?  You favor socialism/communism.

How, you may wonder, can Obama and so many of his appointees lie so frequently to the American people?  Easy.  Because they are in the B group.

Why does the American Constitution speak so much of liberty and individual rights?  Because the Founders were in the A group.

Are the two groups reconcilable?  No. Can you have one leg in the A group and one in the B group?  You can try, but that would make you an ambivalent, pussyfooting equivocator not to be listened to nor taken seriously.

So where are the Dems and the Repubs?  Both in the B group, which is why the country is turning socialist at such a rapid rate.

Well, which is more important, the individual or society?  The answer to that depends on whether you think there are objective truths in the world or whether you think it is all a matter of opinion.

If the latter, pick your group.

If the former, consider this:  there can be individuals without a society, but there can be no society without individuals.

Hmmmmmm.
          

 

STUPID AGAIN?

Conjecture begins about Hillary Clinton running for President in 2016.

MILITARY and MONEY are the two prime and critical issues the coming President(s) will have to deal with.

MILITARY is physical and men and women deal with it from different perspectives.  We are faced with worldwide deadly terrorists...both outside and inside our country.  We need a`commander-in-chief who knows how to use the threat of force to deter aggression, and how to use force when the deterrence fails. 

Men are the stronger sex and are generally more comfortable with the use of physical force than women.  That is not sexist.  It is reality, it is history.  It is for good reasons that virtually all the great military leaders in history have been men, why women rarely commit murder (but hire men to do so), why the 9/11 hijackers were all male, why all but one of the terrorists holding the mall in Kenya are male.   Hillary Clinton is not male.

MONEY issues can be equally efficiently dealt with by both sexes.  The money issues we will be facing in the foreseeable future are in the stratospheric trillion dollar range.  Again, we ought learn from history...we need someone in the White House with extensive successful experience managing finances at that level.  Bush 43 did not have it, Obama does not have it, and we see the resulting disastrous state of our nation's economy.  Hillary Clinton does not have one day of such experience.

Are we gonna be stupid again, or are we gonna be stupid again?

THE DRUG OF CHOICE

The barbaric carnage going on around the world is  today's most potent and popular drug.  It is pedaled by powerlusters to those, mostly young, whose empty lives and empty minds make them vulnerable to its chief ingredient: the venom of hate   It is instantly and commonly permanently addictive.

Make no mistake...millions, maybe billions, among us are potential users.

And, no, love is not an antidote.  This drug is marketed in the name of love...love of God, love of heritage, love of family, love of self.

And those who fall victim to it are not deterred by its potential dangers.  Quite the contrary.  The loss of one's life is heralded as its greatest aphrodisiac.

And the supply of this drug is endless...and free.

Welcome to the 21st century.

A WORD TO THE WISE

Politicians:  The reason they are called ignorant is to remind smart people to ignore them.

You smart?

I USED TO THINK

I used to think that success brought happiness.  I now think that happiness brings success.

I used to think that the presence of police deterred crime.  I now think that at most it changes the where and when of crime.

I used to think that America was a great country because Americans were a proud people.  I now think Americans are not a proud people because America is not a great country.

I used to think that most people took drugs to escape from life.  I now think most people take drugs to help them face life.

I used to think that women got married to have children.  I now think women have children to get married.

I used to think that only fools thought they were smart.  I now think only smart people think they are fools.

I used to think that boredom came from not having anything to do.  I now think that not having anything to do comes from boredom.

I used to think that time healed all wounds.  I now think that time exacerbates most wounds.

I used to think that the ends justify the means.  I now think the means justify the ends.

I used to think that politicians would say anything to get elected.  I now think politicians will say anything to get elected.

AND THE SURVEY SAYS...

There is a lot of talk these days about whether the world is going to pot, or to hell, or to some other such nefarious location.  I wondered, too, until I came across a report by F.A.Schimal't, the world-renowned poll takers headquartered in Lyons, France.

They surveyed over 100,000 people over the age of 15 and asked but two questions:

   1.  Did you at any time during the past year do any of the following even once:
         Lie to, steal from, cheat or betray a friend, family member, co-worker or neighbor?

   2.  If your answer to Question 1 was No,  would your answer be Yes if the occasion arose when you felt it was in your best interest to do any of them?

A staggering 98.3% of those polled answered Yes to Question 1...and an additional 1.4% answered Yes to Question 2!  The survey's margin of error is plus or minus 1%.  Meaning, according to the poll takers, that fewer than 1-1/2% of the world's population over age 15, possibly none of them, are honest and virtuous.

So, the answer to the question "Is the world going to hell?" is, emphatically, No.

It is already there.

PROBLEM SOLVED

I have an idea.

America is the land of the free, right?  Right.  So that means I am free...free to be an anarchist.  Don't need the whole government thing, don't want the whole government pollution thing.  I'll take care of myself.

So, here's my idea.  Let's be honest, Alaska and Hawaii are not really A PART of the United States, are they?...separated from the rest of us by thousands of miles...hell, if they can be states, why not make Syria or Lithuania a state?  Let's take Alaska and Hawaii and declare them to be anarchist sites.  No government, no police, no taxes...live as you wish, free as the wind.  If you are an anarchist and like warm weather, it's Hawaii for you.  Like it a bit cooler?  Alaska will suit you just fine.  We will have just one simple unspoken but understood rule :  You leave me alone, I leave you alone.

That's it.  If you like what goes on with our big government...you know, the high taxes, the intrusions into your life, the wizards of Washington telling you what you must do, can do, should do, better do, the 17 trillion dollar debt...then stay right here.  But I'm heading out.  You have it your way, I'll have it mine.  What could be better?  Everybody happy, right?

And isn't that what life is all about?

BB AND BG

Every complaint the Democrats have against Big Business they can level, even more so, against Big Government...which means, since they are in power, against themselves:

BB is only in it for the money
      BG is only in it for the power

BB determines how much we earn
      BG determines how much we keep

BB can generally avoid responsibility for its actions
      BG almost always avoids responsibility for its actions

BB wants to run every facet of our lives while we are at work
      BG wants to run every facet of our lives while we are awake

There is one difference between Big Business and Big Government:
      BB has competition from other BB's (both existing and potential)...if it doesn't do a good job, the market can shut it down
      BG has no competition..if it doesn't do a good job, tough luck!

One other small difference:
      BB produces every product we love...all the high tech stuff, tv, sports cars, all the medicines we need to heal us, etc.
      BG produces nothing

So why the love of BG, Dems?

HAPPY

We pretty much define success in life in terms of "getting something"...money, position, power, a big house, a new car, the good life.

Misguided.  The ultimate goal in life is not getting some thing, or some things, but in being something...happy.  Ask yourself why you want something and the ultimate answer will always be "to be happy".  Get everything you dream of, but if you are not happy, you are not a success.

Ancient sects around the world understood that, and they spent time learning to be happy, and practicing what they learned...ridding their mind of poisonous desires that brought stress and anger and distress in far greater doses than the temporary slivers of happy we might imagine we find in them.  Serenity, beauty, contemplation, harmony with nature and camaraderie with others sharing our path, were the touchstones they lived by.  Compassion and brotherhood were integral components of their way of life.  And they were a success.

Happy is the crowning jewel of life...and of success.

***************
Look at the poster, Blessings of a Spiritual Life, which is offered for sale.  Each blessing is a blessing because it bestows happy.

FOUR WORDS

In all the reports recently about police officers shooting what turned out to be innocent victims, four words are strikingly absent...four words that might have saved lives...four words that in the old days had to be said before a policeman shot his weapon...four words that should be brought back in today's violent world:

"Halt, or I'll shoot"

NO CONDOLENCES, PLEASE

I am sick and tired of public officials...including the President, Governors and police chiefs...parading up to the microphone and offering their condolences to the families of those killed in the flurry of wanton violence in our country...like yesterday's deadly assault at the Washington DC Naval Station.  All civilized people regret the senseless killing of life.

But second, and perhaps more importantly, how did the killer carrying three weapons get past the security checks at the entrance gate to this military installation and at the building where he executed 12 innocent people?  What you say?  There are no security checks there...even though the United States is at war with terrorists?  Has not al Qaeda implored its troops to attack us here in the U.S.?  None of these officials...all of whom desperately wanted their current positions and who assured us they were uniquely qualified for them... none of them thought it advisable to have sophisticated electronic and other surveillance systems in place as protection against yesterday's killer?

So, I say, start doing what you were hired to do...and keep those too-late condolences to yourselves until they are something more than a cover-up for your failure to do your jobs.
.

JUBEL - AN INVITATION

I was reading about Socrates and Aristotle and it became instantly clear why a very great percentage of the population never study philosophy...and an even greater percentage do not understand it.  It is, frankly, so abstract and obtuse as to be confusing and incomprehensible.

That was but one of the reasons for my creating my own personal philosophy.  I call it JUBEL and it has but 5 simple-to-understand tenets:



J    - the ultimate object of life is to be Joyful mentally (happy) and physically (healthy)

U - the prime way of life is to live with our total being and our spirit driving Upward in a state of positivity 

B - we must Believe in the value of life and in our worthiness to live it

E - we should seek to Experience as much of life as is possible for each of us

L - we should continually  out pour our Love of nature, of  our lives, and of our connections with others 


Will you join me in living JUBEL?

THE DEADLIEST INVASION

In the most recent post, I referred to two new ways in which Federal and`State Governments are invading our privacy.  Some wonder whether it is is a big deal.  It isn't.

It is a gigantic deal.  On a planet with 7,000,000,000 others, our privacy creates our own space, our own breathing space, which no one enters without permission...our permission.  This space is so precious to us, that often there is a special area of our privacy which no one...family, friends, ministers, included... is ever permitted to enter. 

Referring to intrusions into our very private space as "invasions of privacy" is a very apt term.  It is an invasion far more potentially damaging than a military invasion could ever be, because it is where our spirit resides in solitary serenity...and the invasion seeks to destroy it.

America's recognition of an individual's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, is rooted in the right to privacy.  We are each free to reveal that much of our most precious value...our inner being...as makes us happy.  What that is is determined solely by each of us relative to our own lives.  That the government, set up to guarantee our privacy to us, is the invader and destroyer of our privacy, is a treachery of the worst order.

I would strongly suggest that you advise all those in the political world that you will never ever bestow your vote on anyone who is a soldier in any such invasion.

1984 DEFICTIONALIZED

One requirement of Obamacare is that physicians must must must ask you a whole list of questions which you must must must answer truthfully with heavy penalties on those who refuse to do so.  Among other questions are:  are you having sexual relations, with how many, of what gender, how frequently????  Your answers to these questions, even if they are irrelevant to the reason you are seeing a physician, are forwarded to the U.S. Government.  Here comes massive lying and a breakdown of the important private and confidential relationship between patient and physician.

Some public schol districts in that bastion of freedom--California--have hired outside firms to monitor what the kids post on Facebook, Tweeter and other social media and report to the school administrators any posts that suggest possible drug use, violence, hatred of teachers, suicidal thoughts, etc.  Why not implant a recording device in every child's s throat to record every word the child says to anyone?  Or in every child's brain to monitor what the child is thinking?  After all, the sooner we know about these bad thoughts, the more we can help the children, right?  The school districts are an arm of the State Government.

Oh, well.

Orwell.

HAIL TO THE UPSIDE

Politicians of all stripes (we know who wear stripes, don't we?) love crises, the bigger the better, because they shine a public spotlight on polticos and make them feel special, important, needed...like weathermen love bad weather, newsmen love tragedies, police officers love civil unrest, sportscasters love a good on-field fight, and, yes, like bloggers love 'em all.

Now there is one upside to focusing on the down side:  Before anything can be done about the down side, before it can be fixed, if it can be fixed, it has to be known.  Problem is, most of those I hear focusing on the down side, never get to the upside...and the reason for that is that the upside turns off the spotlight.

So, the news we hear most of is bad news and the world can seem like a bad place to be.  And that will likely remain the case until more and more of the public let it be known, one way or the other, that the good in life has its own brighter spotlight.

It does, doesn't it?

WE WERE ALL WRONG

A couple of thousand years ago, that thoughtful gentleman named Aristotle identified The Law of Noncontradiction:  "Something cannot both be and not be the same thing, at the same time, and in the same respect".  That is a law that even a 5-year-old knows is true.  The next time she asks you for a cookie, see if she buys your telling her that giving it to her and not giving it to her are one and the same thing.

But politicos think it is.

House Republicans are moving to pass a bill that both funds and defunds Obamacare.  The bill will go to the Senate, where the defunding provisions will be removed, the Senate will approve the plan and send it to the White House for signature.  Repubs can then say that they voted for a bill to defund Obamacare, but their wishes were overridden.

After two weeks of wiffling and waffling on whether to take or not take military action against the Syrian dictatorship, the President spoke to the American people and told them he would not take any action since Hasad had`agreed to turn over Syria's chemical weapons to the U.N.  Two days later, it was revealed that while he was talking to us, the President was shipping arms to the al qaeda-related rebels in Syria...which sounds an awful lot like taking action to me and getting the U.S. involved in a foreign civil war.

So, Mr. Aristotle was wrong, that 5-year old girl was wrong, I was wrong...the Law of Noncontradiction can be contradicted.  Politicos on both sides of the aisle have proven it wrong.

Actually, why have an aisle since you can sit on both sides of it at the same time.

And, oh yes...what was Shakespeare thinking with that "to be or not to be" stuff?  What about "to be and not to be", Willie?  That's my question!

NO LONGER

When the bread gets moldy, you throw it out.

Is there really anything more to say about what is going on in our country?

Makes me wonder:  do WE still have a country with which we identify, which we feel proud of, which we love?  I don't see it, do you?

We were once a country "of the people, by the people, for the people".  We are no longer.

Those in office were called  "civil servants"...not servants as in slaves, but servants as in "proudly serving the people".  No longer...almost all serve themselves.

We were predominantly a moral people wanting to live in a moral country.  We sang songs to its morality...freedom, justice, equality.  No longer.  The moral flag has been torched in the name of personal expediency, personal advantage.

The good guys are outnumbered and made beholden; the bad guys run  rampant and free.

When the bread gets moldy, you throw it out (and you don't wait 'till you get a fresh loaf).

Or you get sick, very sick.

UNQUESTIONED ANSWERS

if you are

smarter because you know what you don't know
stronger because you know your weaknesses
adept at getting it done quickly because you know not to rush
more honest because you admit you don't always tell the truth
more dependable because you never say "it depends"
more loving because it takes more to get you to love
more courageous because you are afraid of fear
following the crowd but standing still
aware that in life it is never always, but is not always never
certain that the more you give the more you have  to give
richer because wealth isn't worth much to you
happier because you allow yourself to feel sad
a success at coping with failure

then you know that even nonsense makes sense

YOU'RE FIRED!

Members of Congress are saying they don't know what to do in Syria?

What?  You don't know what to do about dropping bombs and missiles on people's heads, or whether to kill human beings?  You are 40 or 50 years old and still don't know what to do but expect to know what to do in 3 or 4 days when a vote is scheduled to be taken?  Other than listen a bit to what lying administration officials tell you, what exactly have you done to figure this out?  What independent military and philosophic thinkers have you spoken with, what books have you read?  Or did you spend your time playing poker on an ipod, as John  McCain did when he attended...physically but not mentally... Congressional hearings on the issue.

Oh, yes.  You don't know what to do?  You are our employee.  The American people hired you to do a job which you said you were qualified to do...we have been paying you to do that job, and now you say you don't know how to do  it.  Sayonara.  You're fired.

THE VERY RED LINE

There is a lot of talk these days about a red line and whether the use of chemical weapons in Syria crossed it.

It was crossed years ago when Syrian and other dictatorial regimes wantonly and brutally killed millions of innocent people.

It was crossed when the Muslim Brotherhood undertook a world holocaust, swearing  to kill all those who do not obey its religious tenets.

It was crossed when terrorists beheaded those who confronted them, and, yes, when the youngest of those terrorists chose to become suicide bombers

It was crossed on 9/11…and on many other times in world history.

The red line is THE LACK OF RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE.

It is riding furiously around the planet on the backs of those four horsemen, it can be found in the dung heap of lies and underhanded connivings of political leaders, including our own.  And it is nurtured by a head-in-the-sand pervasive do-nothing attitude, and our failure to properly teach our children what truly comprises human decency, and about its endearing beauty.

It is indeed a red line, painted as it is by the blood of its victims.

And unless the good people of the world wake up very soon, they may never wake up again.

NOT CEDE, SECEDE

Supervisors of Suskiyou County in northern California have voted to secede`from the state and form a new county called Jefferson County, with laws that conform to the Constitution.  Under existing laws, secession would require the approval of the U.S. Congress and the State Legislature, which is not likely.  An absurd concept:  having to get approval from the political entity you are seeking to separate from.  23 states have at one time or another had unsuccessful attempts by counties wishing to secede.

I would take it one step further:  secede not just from the state but from the country.  And the state can secede, as well.  The United States is just that:  a collection of individual sovereign states, each with the retained power and authority to decide whether or not it wishes to continue to be affiliated with the other members of the United States.

What a wake up call that would be to the self-impressed, power-wielding, overbearing politicos in Washington, D.C. Shape up, or we ship out!  Think of it as political divorce. Obey the Constitution, or we don't complain, we leave.  We did not, do not and never will agree to the imposition of unConstitutional laws and bureaucracies upon us...and we will not reward you with our sanction...we will not let you do to us as you wish, impose unlawful burdens upon us, and limit our response to ineffective verbal complaints (which will likely achieve nothing).  We are ready to take effective action now. 

In other words, we will learn and implement the lesson taught us by our Founders.

UNDER WHO?

A lawsuit in Massachusetts asks the court to remove the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance recited in public schools each morning on the grounds it discriminates against non-believers.  The attorney for the schools claims there should be no objection to those words since children aren't required to recite the Pledge.

Really?  So showing a picture of Adolf Hitler and having the children raise their right arms and shout "Sig Heil" would be just fine as long as the kids can opt out of doing it?  "Those are fully grown mature independent-thinking 5-year olds," you say, "who can choose not to do something that violates their fundamental beliefs, so what's the problem?"

What, indeed?

The court before which this case will be heard is the same court that made Massachusetts the first state to allow same sex marriage.  There is hope sanity will prevail again.

THE COMPETITIVE EDGE

It would be nice to think that organizational efficiency and competence and superior products emanate out of personal standards and pride and the drive to achieve excellence.  But, in fact, that isn't so.  They primarily stem from a desire to retain financial income in the face of the possibility of losing it.  In other words, they are the result of competition.  Absent free market competition, the level of performance generally sinks into the abyss.

Think of government agencies and why 80% of the governments of the world ran on deficits last year.   Think of business monopolies.  Think of why totalitarian regimes limit, if not prohibit, foreign travel.  Think of why the quality of education at  public schools does not generally measure up to that of private schools.  Think of why virtually all athletic records are set in competitions and not in practice.  Think of  how differently people deal with each other when dating and when married.

If you need a concrete reason why the government should get out of our way, keep its hands off our business, literally and figuratively, and why freedom rules the roost, there it is.

Benevolent competition is not a fight to the death but a striving for excellence and the glory of life.  Our competitor is not our enemy but an ally in our quest to bring out the best within us. 

TO PORN OR NOT TO PORN

A proposed law in California would make it a crime to post nude or semi-nude pictures of someone on the internet even if the person in the picture consented to the picture being taken in the first place.  Prosecutors would have to show that the picture was posted with the intent to inflict emotional distress, and that such distress was felt...two facts extremely difficult to prove.

I am opposed to the proposed law, not because I think its hunky-dory ok to post nude pix of someone without their permission...but because I am sick and tired of our looking to the government to solve all our problems.  Should we have a law that makes it a crime if the picture is not posted on a porn site but is merely shown to one other person?  What if there is no picture but your private parts (hate that term) are described in detail on a blog?  All can cause distress.  Hell, I felt distress when a girl turned me down for a date (rare as that was).

We have a million laws on the books, and we are still a crime-ridden society.  And the reason for that is we are not ready to take full responsibility for ourselves, and not ready to take care of ourselves.   That is a prime reason we have overbearing federal and state governments in our country.

Don't want nude pix of yourself flashing around the world?  Don't take them with anyone you cannot fully trust.  If you are not 1,000% percent sure of the person holding the camera, keep your clothes on.

One other thing.  Why are we as a society so skittish about nudity?  The human body can be a most beautiful thing..and if yours is, feel unabashedly good about it.

THE IR CURSE

The industrial revolution in the 1800's and pushing into the 1900's .was, at one and the same time, the biggest enhancer, and the biggest destroyer, of the quality of human life.

Industrialization triggered the invention and production of an avalanche of new products in virtually every aspect of man's life.  The products brought increased safety, capabilities, variety, and pleasure to man's life.  There can be no denying this.  It is the reason why IR is considered by many to be man's signature achievement.

But it also brought with it unseen and unimagined forces and influences that have`remained to the present, and, in my view, have seriously and significantly desecrated the beauty and glory of human life.

IR promoted a seemingly insatiable desire for more and more concrete goods and, for many, attaining them falsely replaced relationships and thoughtful, pleasurable activities as the popular keys to happiness.  In addition to their cost, the goods brought a host of ancillary expenditures, including fees for warranties,  delivery charges, premiums for property insurance, and more.  And costliest of all, came the  perception that a bigger government was necessary to regulate the new expanded economy (which soon  meant: to regulate us)...a burgeoning bureaucracy to be paid for via a host of new and increased sales, income and other taxes, charges and fees.

A worshiping of the almighty dollar needed to meet all these costs, quickly followed.  That led  to man's working longer hours, often at jobs that did not interest him...and leaving him less time to spend with the people and the hobbies and activities he loved, or by himself in quiet reflection.  It led, too, to unspoken and constant competition for the accumulation of wealth.  Friends and neighbors became competitors.  A person's standing in the community was to some`extent gauged on that standard:  How much wealth have you accumulated?  Those not faring well by that standard, for one reason or another, often felt and feel inferior, unsuccessful, and unworthy, and suffer the psychological problems that those feelings can engender.

IR brought a repetitious lifestyle because mindless repetition was found to equate with the efficiency of factory assembly lines.  It also brought overcrowding and a congestion of people.  Crowded cities with towering apartment buildings housing workers and their families sprung up close to the huge industrial factories needed to produce the new goods.  Traffic became stifling and slow.  Public schools became crowded, and personal attention and education declined.  Man couldn't breathe.

Do you need`all these IR goods?  Absolutely not.  Man lived for tens of thousands of years  without them.  Perhaps ideally it would be good to have them, or some of them, if they didn't bring with them the negatives I have mentioned`above.  But so far, man...most men...have not been able to achieve that. 

What man needs is the time and the opportunity to relate to the natural world of which he is a part.   What he needs is for his spirit to soar to far away imaginations.   (Ever wonder why virtually all of the greatest thinkers, artists, musicians, composers and sculptors lived before IR?)

What he needs is the space`and the freedom to "live with his arms driving upwards".  And if  you are not quite sure what that means,  then you, too, are a victim of IR. 

GOOD GOLF

So, minutes after meeting in the White House with key government officials and announcing his decision to ask Congress for its approval to attack Syria, Obama (and  Biden) went golfing.

I applaud the Prez and VP for sending a clear signal to the dictatorial Syrian regime and to the world that Americans will not stand idly by when scores of youngsters are permanently denied the opportunity to ever play this wonderful game. 

One thought:  Why not have O and B go to Jordan right near the Syrian border, and loft some golf balls over into Syria...maybe for a day or two?  That would send an even clearer signal of what we are ready to do when evil regimes don't play ball with us.

And the public's voice should be heard.  A recent poll indicates 68% of the American people do not think the Prez and VP should yell "Fore" to warn the Syrians of the incoming golf balls.

Agreed.