DON'T LET MANKIND CAVE!

In the beginning, no not that beginning, the beginning of homo sapien man's history on Earth believed to be around 500,000 years ago, when we were still living, or rather cowering in caves.

We survived by using our advanced, for the time, brains and intelligence.

We were cunning.

We had to be because we were not stronger than most of the animals in our surroundings and certainly not faster than the predators of the time.

We were not more deserving of life than any of the other creatures on Earth and so we both respected and feared them and learned to live with them.

Eventually we even conquered our environment.

We did this by using the resources we found around us and by inventing ways to bend nature to our will.

But the main reason we survived was our ability to work as a team and not by an 'every man for himself' mentality!

Our individual skills were discovered and utilized for the good of all.

Some were 'hunters', others 'gatherers' and the community thrived.

Community is still important and works somewhat unnoticed behind the scenes.

How many of us weave our own clothing?

Who among us can say we built the car in which we get around?

And can any individual boast he or she paved the road upon which we drive?

These skills and so many others have become normal, expected.

The loss of any of them casues much distress and even anger.

Scientists and engineers live by a simple rule: Necessity is the mother of invention.

But that's nothing new.

It started half a million years ago in the caves of winter when the cold threatened our very existence.

No one can say who invented fire or rather how it was found and tamed but it happened.

And suddenly that knowledge spread like a wondrous virus and all mankind was aware of the life saving tool.

The dissemination of knowledge kept and keeps the human race alive!

But imagine if suddenly we lost the ability to invent or the desire to seek out solutions necessary to our very survival.

Imagine becoming that complacent!

Could we live long and prosper in a world where science and fact were no longer revered but rater shunned?

How long would we stay at the top end of the food chain if we reverted to the 'every man for himself' mentality?

In the Spring of 1953 Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay became the first two humans to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Did they set up shop and deny others entry?
Of course not!

Reaching the pinnacle of any endeavor is to be celebrated by all but not held as a personal trophy or private club of one.

Too many have reached their own personal best by employing the labors of others then refusing to acknowledge their input.

They hold onto the bulk of the profits produced by the workers' labors as if they had nothing to do with the success of the venture.

In 1914 Henry Ford paid his workers the unthinkable amount of $5 per day, way over the going rate, claiming that he wanted them to be able to afford a Ford!

Sales of the Model T and others soared.

A few years ago it was reported that the World's wealthiest family and owners of Wal*Mart paid their workers just enough so that they could only afford to shop at Wal*Mart.

While that has since changed it only did so as a result of the public shaming and protests.

Of course the founder of a company or inventor of a 'better mousetrap' should be lauded and allowed to retain the 'lion's share' of the profts generated by his or her endeavor but not to the point of a predatory practice of below poverty wages for their workers.

It is in our nature to push the envelope, to try to do the unthinkable or previously impossible.

Once we attain the summit, we must welcome others, for that is how humanity moves ahead.

This idea was famously voiced in 1675 by Sir Isaac Newton.

After receiving praise for his discovery and explanation of the force of gravity he humbly said, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

A rising tide is said to lift all boats, not just luxury yachts!

We must not lose sight of reality lest we fail to see the forest for the trees! And protecting both the tress and the forest should always be a priority.

But now the shoulders we once stood upon are forgotten.

Facts no longer matter or are belittled as fake!

Fire, once our savior, has become the harbinger of doom in many places.

Our planet is warming at an alarming pace and, like the fabled Nero of Rome, we sit idly by and watch it happen.

We heatedly debate its cause while ignoring the steps we could be taking to stem the tide.

What will it take for our leaders to understand the life-threatening nature of the problem and act before it's too late?

Or is it already too late?

For the sake of mankind, the World must join together and take control of our environment back from the captains of industry who seem only to care about their own personal wealth.

But in case they fail, where are those caves again?

A GREEN NEW APPLE?

When that apple fell on Sir Isaac Newton's head after he presumably said ouch he asked, "Why?"
WHY!
It's a uniquely human thing to do.
When we lose the drive to ask why something happened we also lose the ability to fix it if it's bad or replicate it if good.
WHY?
What caused that apple to fall?
The 'whys' are usually followed by theories, investigations, conclusions and verifications.
This process has no agenda other than finding the cause and effect and getting at the truth.
It is not political, it's science.
And the people who ploy their talents in that field are called scientists.
Scientists DO have an agenda, getting at the truth!
Sir Isaac finally concluded that the Earth had an inherent property that pulled the apple downward.
Gravity!
Gravity caused the apple to fall and gravity keeps us from flying off into space when we jump.
Did the world immediately give Sir Newton the keys to the kingdom.
Of course not.
Many ridiculed him but in the end his shoulders were the platform upon which other scientists stood to reach higher.

That was then but now is now.
Now we have many problems facing us and one of them is causing disasters across the planet.
Storms!
What causes storms to be strong and get stronger and more frequent?
WHY?
Storms are caused by many factors but their strength increases when they form or travel over oceans.

And simply put, the warmer the water the stronger the storm.

What is causing the waters to be warmer now than they ever were in recorded history?

WHY?

There are many factors that are out of our control.

But we may be able to control some. And if so we owe it to ourselves to find ways to reverse the pattern.

It could be hard and take a long time but if we roll up our sleeves and get to work on that which we can control we can slow down the process perhaps long enough for us to find a permanent cure.

But no problem ever got fixed by doing nothing.

Some of our political leaders are talking about a "Green New Deal."

Is this the solution?

Perhaps yes, perhaps no.

BUT IT'S A START!

Are the proponents of this 'new deal' being ridiculed?

Of course they are.

The reasons for the ridicule include honest skepticism from some and dishonest greed upon the part of the industries that like the status quo.

Their bottom lines will be affected by changes suggested therein.

But even that can be worked out to everyone's satisfaction if we work together intelligently, using science and facts.

Gravity is real, and so is climate change and global warming.

And it doesn't take a sledge hammer to prove it when a simple apple can do the job.

REPUBS ARE - H Y P O C R I T E S

Hate mongering:

While claiming to pray for civility in America the GOP loves to stoke the fires of hate. In order to divide and conquer America they have gone back to their tried and tested tactic of pointing to scape goats to blame them for whatever is wrong in our lives or the country. With the current racist in charge immigrants are the goat du jour even though the jerk in the White House hired them by the hundreds to work in his putrid country clubs.

Yuletide:

The party of family values – NOT – is always talking about a war on Christmas. But while there is not any such thing as a war on the holy holiday nor has there ever been such a war in America, they are the ones that constantly go against the teachings of the religion most closely associated with Christmas! If anyone debases the spirit of the season it is the repugnant Repub party!

Puppet:

The current flag bearer of the Repub Party famously called Hillary Clinton a puppet after she pointed out how the man-child was doing the bidding of Putin. It has now become clear that the misogynist’s mouth may have been moving and his arms waving but the strings were definitely being controlled in Moscow.

Others:

Republican constantly point to the others claiming they are doing illegal things. But whenever they do it seems they are the ones perpetrating the evil deed. Their constant claim that Dems are committing voter fraud was laughably contradicted when the documented case of voter fraud in a North Carolina congressional race came to light this past November. How come no Repub yelled and screamed about it? Could it be because the fraud was perpetrated by Repubs on behalf of a Repub candidate?

Climate change:

Repubs claim to care about our lives and the lives of our children but refuse to do anything about fossil fuels ruining the environment. It does not take a PhD to figure this one out, THEY ARE PAID BY THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY TO DENY GLOBAL WARMING EXISTS. Of course, they don’t care since most of them are old white guys who will be dead before the Earth kills the rest of us.

Red Lining:

Since they are a minority party in America redistricting or gerrymandering is the only way Repubs can get elected. Then they keep control over areas where the constituents would normally vote for Democratic candidates by tweaking the districts even further as needed. They say they are doing it to keep things fair. Even the courts, which have been stacked by the GOP have disagreed and told them to re-map the areas more correctly. We shall see if they comply.

Infidelity:

The most notable members of the GOP have cheated on their then current wives constantly and so many end up with 2 or 3 wives in the long run. I’m talking about you Newt, and you Rudy, and of course you dt! Many Repub voters have fallen for the ‘Family Values’ bull shit and therefore think that Dems are out to kill the family and abort every child they can. But most Dems in the public eye seem to raise wonderful families with just one husband and wife in the picture, such as the Obama family.  GOP = Family values, my ass!

Taxes:

Ever since the days of the GOP God Reagan Repubs have been telling Americans the lie of trickle down economics and the reason so-called job creators must be given tax breaks. They also claim they are giving the middle-class huge tax breaks. It’s funny how after 50 years of tax breaks from the GOP the Middle-Class has almost been taxed out of existence! After viewing what the Repub Party has been doing to nearly 98% of the country their catch phrase should be altered to Tinkle Down!

Environment:

Many Presidents in the past helped create the wonderful system of National Parks. In fact after becoming president in 1901, Republican Teddy Roosevelt used his authority to protect wildlife and public lands. He started the US Forest Svc, 150 national forests, 51 bird reserves, 4 national game preserves, 5 national parks & 18 national monuments totaling around 230 million acres of public land!  These treasures are continually under attack by the GOP as wastes of money when it is actually the GOP that is a waste of money. So in order to get rid of the wonderful places they insidiously change regulations to allow oil drilling in them or pipelines to go through them or just plain defunding them.

Social Services:

Many years ago the Repub party created the fear of Socialism among the citizens of America. They made the word synonymous with all things that are bad and anti-Democratic. Then they pivoted to vilify all things that help society but naturally cost tax dollars. And since they would rather keep those tax dollars for themselves and their wealthy donors, they used false statistics to show our huge national debt was cause by these social safety nets. The final straw came when they gave those donors and themselves an indefensible humongous tax break that caused the National Debt to soar past $21 TRILLION!! The phony fiscally conservative GOP who claimed they cared about the rising cost of government is now campaigning to do away with Social Security and Medicare in order to pay down the National Debt and fix the catastrophe they caused!

Put all the above together and ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Repub Party: HYPOCRITES!

TAX FREEDOM DAY? REALLY??

April 24^th will come and pass without most Americans realizing its significance.

But it happens to be the day known as “Tax Freedom Day.”

You'll believe anything!

That sounds really cool.

This is a day for us to celebrate.

So why does it go unnoticed?

Well for one reason it’s not real.

We don’t stop paying tax on April 24^th and in fact most of us will continue to pay taxes every day for the rest of our lives.

And taxes are taken out of every paycheck and collected on most if not all sales.

So how is April 24^th a day of tax freedom?

Well if workers added up their entire gross salary for every day they worked from the start of the year and gave every penny to the government April 24^th would be the day they have paid their entire tax bill for the year.

April 24th? Hah!

In other words they finally start working for themselves!

Of course if you add all the other costs you must pay then the day gets moved a little further down the calendar.

For example if you add up all the money you pay to insurance companies of all sorts and utility companies who must be fed you might actually be depressed to note that not even the first eight months of the year are yours to keep!

But let’s just talk taxes.

The above scenario only actually affects the middle class.

How can this be you might ask.

Well the poor and homeless among us do not earn enough to survive let alone pay taxes so they are not affected.

And large corporations and the wealthiest among us, or rather above us as they would prefer be called pay little or no taxes to begin with and in some case are even rewarded with subsidies as is the case with that poor indigent corporation Exxon.

For this group Tax Freedom Day actually comes and passes at the one second mark of January the first every year.

So armed with the knowledge that the middle class pays most of the taxes in America one might think that they are the most important group and should be protected.

Surely if they are not around anymore then America will not have enough revenue to operate!

So how come one political party in particular is trying to squeeze them out of existence?

Glaciers? Glacier?
We don't need no stinkin Glaciers!!

Perhaps it is for the same reason they also wish to ignore that Global Climate change is caused by human actions and could eventually ruin the environment so vital to our future.

And that reason is pandering to the wealthy!

Most large corporations and the people who run them make their money by ignoring the environmental consequences of their actions.  Following rules and regulations can cut into your profit margin.

And if you are sued for negligence that causes a death here and there or an oil spill that kills thousands of creatures and pollutes the environment your attorneys can drag things out until the public forgets and a lawmaker is convinced to slap you on the wrist and move on.

You see when you don’t have to worry about money or taxes for that matter you are free to spend as you like.

And what better way to spend your money than to buy and own a government!

Art Pope is not a Pope!

When billionaire right winger Art Pope bought the elections in North Carolina he populated the legislature with his cronies and placed himself as the States’ Budget Director.

In that role he decided to stop funding the States education system.  He also fired the head of the State’s education system for no apparent reason and then blocked certain courses from their medical school on what might appear to be religious grounds!

Former head of NC School system
Tom Ross never saw what hit him.
He was too intelligent to think
anyone could be so stupid!

The school, University of North Carolina, UNC was once considered the bright spot in the State and one of the top medical schools in the nation.  It is now in danger of losing its accreditation as a medical school.

What a tremendous blow not only to education in North Carolina but to the State as a whole.

But megalomaniac Art Pope is not alone in his dream of total control.  The Koch brothers are scheming to steal National elections and are currently working to place their favorite son, Scott Walker in the White House. (Please click the links for more information!)

Vote for me
AND MY FAMILY!

In a plot straight out of “The Omen” if this happens look out America, or rather look out American Middle Class!

When and if these men and others like them realize their dreams the American Dream will devolve into a nightmare.

And if that comes to pass Tax Freedom Day for those of us still around will most likely be pushed back to late December.

Juxtaposition

I love that word.

Juxtapositions conjure up contradictions and opposing views that somehow mesh together into a whirlwind conglomeration of life as we know it.

And if you alter the letters of juxtapose just a little the resulting homonym, ‘just suppose’ is quite thought provoking.

Just suppose that all the peoples of the world worked together as one.

Just suppose we treated the Earth as our home rather than our garbage dump.

Just suppose we all had the common goal of making the universe our backyard.

Just suppose we were able to put all the great minds together to find cures for all that ails our species as well as others.

Just suppose those great minds could instill the desire in current and future generations to become great.

And finally just suppose that we all realized how stupid it is to be fighting wars in the name of peace.

Juxtapositions have been around since before the dawn of mankind and will be here when we are long gone.

But don’t think they all have to be bad.

The inventor of the compound trinitrotoluene, aka TNT was Alfred Nobel of the Nobel Peace Prize!  In other words he gave us the means with which to blow ourselves up and an award for not doing so!

But reality is what it is and ‘just suppose’ is juxtaposed on it every day.

The news fills our lives with stories of new and amazing advances in medicine juxtaposed against those showing our troops searching for terrorists who live like moles in caves.

We see extravagant life styles with lavish parties thrown on yachts or at mansions while millions upon millions of Americans wonder where their next meals will come from.

We witnessed the financial meltdown in Europe that caused citizens to riot over increased educational costs while being told how important education is to our collective futures.

Financial cable shows point to people buying luxury items as proof the recession is over only to broadcast the next story about skyrocketing oil and gas prices that will cause the economy to tank.

There are weather related stories showing record droughts; floods; extreme heat and major snowstorms with bone-chilling cold all blanketed against claims that climate change is a myth.

And speaking of myths there is now a theme park with Noah’s Arc showing man and dinosaur cohabitating, an oxymoronic juxtaposition in and of itself.

Law abiding hard working productive members of society who love each other are barred from being wed at any cost while the World prepares to watch the spectacle of yet another so-called Royal Wedding in London, paid for by whom?

And finally people who have been unemployed for years due to the wrong doings of others and now in need of assistance are used as pawns in a power struggle to help millionaires and billionaires keep even more of their easy earned cash, many of whom caused the problems in the first place.

Now juxtapose all the above with year end celebrations that traditionally bring people together hoping for peace and good will toward all mankind.

So as the final juxtaposition comes and the famed ball drops in Times Square we say goodbye to father time and the dying 2010 while saying hello to the baby that shall become 2011.

Will this finally be the year?

Just suppose!