Are you old enough to remember Leslie Gore’s song, “It My Party (And I’ll Cry If I Want To)”? I do and thanks to the First Amendment which guarantees free speech in all sort of hideous manner I can proudly claim, “It’s my blog and I’ll write what I want to”.

As far as blogs go my blog is tame, irrevelant, useless, even geeky at times but so what? It’s mine and I can do with it whatever the hell I want. It doesn’t matter to me that I don’t have a large following of readers, or that I am not being discussed or considered. It only matters that I write what I feel and think and that it is out there, like a message inside a bottle, wondering in the vastness of cyber space until someday it might be read by someone who may or may not agree with me, but who might be inspired to also write or try to change the world. Perhaps someone with more talent or means than I.

So for the few, the VERY FEW, who read and leave disparaging comments, I say thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Thank you for taking the time to put two coherent sentences together. But above all, thank you for giving me the pleasure of knowing that I pissed you off!

The Harm of Psychology

Remember when going to a psychologist or a psychiatrist meant going to an office to discuss and try to resolve emotional issues that would better prepare you to deal with the many stresses of life?

Do you know why these mental health professionals are forbidden from dating their patients? It has to do with not allowing them to take undue advantage of people who find themselves in a vulnerable position in which dating them would do more harm. It is one of the most sacred tenants in medicine and the government takes it very seriously.

Well take all that and throw it out the window because when physiologist and psychiatrist move their shingles to Wall Street, all bets are off.

These days is just not Business Majors who are working there. Companies now routinely hire these mental health professionals to try to get in your head and make you buy, buy buy whether or not you need it or can't afford it. Sopping has become-thanks to very cleverly disguised advertisement helped along by these professionals-a form of therapy or relaxation. "Go ahead and shop. Ger yourself those shoes, that coat, that car; you're worth it". This seems to be the mantra of commerce today. It seems that as long as they are not treating you personally, they can cause all the harm they want not only to your mental health, but also to your pocket book.

It seems like a windfall when they cause you to buy to the point of stress and then treat you to help you cope with the financial difficulties that their collegiums helped create.
It is called the Physiology of Shopping and if you think that you are not under attack, think again.

Americans and the world for that matter, have become zombies; robots that obey the whims of everyone with something to sell. From turning classic Christmas songs into cheapened tacky advertisement slogans to using these time honored music to sell us something, it is a relentless attack with ridiculous scare tactics like, “if you don’t shop and give us your money we will be forced to close our stores and lay people off”.

Profit margins…those are the magical words that no one ever hears about. Companies and individual businesses need to learn to live with reasonable profit margins and not use their companies as cash cows that finance their lavish life styles. If everyone would learn to live without that luxury yachts, we all would be better off.

Why?

Why is it that some homeless people have no money for food or shelter but they find the money to buy marijuana which they then smoke out in the open early in the morning while huddled together fighting the cold of a winter morning?

Why are weather “forecasters” paid when they are wrong more than 50% of the time? Back in the day weather wasn’t even part of the news. People recognized that despite all the modern equipment in the world weather cannot be predicted with any measure of accuracy. Or could it be that the inaccuracy is caused by their own egos and willingness to the be the first to report on a small amount of rain which in San Diego can be big news?

Why do young people walk around with such arrogance ignoring or not even seeing those who are only slightly older than they are? Only in this country can a person of experience is dismissed as useless by a generation consumed with youth.

Why is it that despite a water shortages for the people who are already living in San Diego County are government officials considering enlarging the population and the demand on the ever decreasing water resources in the county by granting more building permits?

Why is the City of San Diego decreasing public services, including fire and police, but willing to consider spending tax payers money to build a new stadium for the Chargers, a team which has not won a Superbowl and year after year falls short of the mark?

Just a few questions I would love to have the answer to….

The H1N1 Vaccine Shortage

As I sit here suffering from the symptoms of a confirmed case of H1N1 which I got from my grandson, I feel qualified to speak about the current panic gripping the nation. A panic which is causing selfish, self-centered and immoral people to horde medicine, against all expert medical advice, get a vaccine when they are not in a high risk group or even worse, attempt to make money on the misery and misfortune of others.

Yes I am really sick and feeling lousy; body pain and aches and temperatures as high as 103.7. Yes, I am worried about my grandson who being only 10 years-old falls into the category of those who are being disproportionately affected by this new virus. And yes I am worried about the thousands of people who are standing in line for as long as 16 hours in hopes to get the vaccine. But I can’t help but wonder what the feeding frenzy would be if President Bush were still in the White House and the nation was facing such shortage despite assurances a few months ago that there would be enough vaccine available by now to properly vaccinate at least the high risk groups.

If you are a moderate intelligent American with an open mind and a willingness to listen to both sides and then make up your own mind and you still believe that the media is not biased toward the left, just take a look at the any of the three major news networks in this country and notice the lack of public outrage and outcry over the shortage.

I don’t know that President Obama, or any other president for that matter, can do anything to accelerate the production of a vaccine which is created by a private for-profit organization: Is not like the President of the United States can pick up the phone and order a private institution to increase production even under emergency circumstances. And yet somehow I feel that if President Bush were still the president, the outcry would be heard around the world!

Remember a few weeks back when President Obama visited New Orleans to see the damage which still affects the city? President Obama, in what is a rare occurrence, was criticized for being making the visit two hours long. Residents felt that the president should have spent more time in the devastated city. That criticism was first reported in early broadcasts the next day but it was removed and absent from subsequent evening broadcasts.

It seems that any criticism of the president is quickly removed from the major news networks if it makes it to the broadcast at all!

If this is not enough to convince you, consider the latest salvo fired by the White House when they attempted to change Fox Network’s status from a legitimate new media organization to that of a “talk show” which is not entitled to have access to the president and one in which the president does not have to appear as clearly demonstrated when the President appeared in all three major network news casts to promote his health reform plan but refused to appear in any Fox News broadcasts.

The White House’ attempt to discredit and disqualify Fox News was so outrageous that the entire Press Corps rebelled against the move, choosing instead to fight for the First Amendment and not allow the president to go after a news agency simply because he doesn’t like the criticism.

When President Bush was president not a day went by where the major media outlets didn’t burn then President Bush in effigy for anything and everything.

Once again we witness that the facts don’t really matter and when it comes down to it, everyone, including the President and his administration, always tries to put the best foot forward.

Celebrating Life's Journey

This is the view from our camper as we spent two days at the Silver Strand State Park in Coronado, Ca.
The night was warm and had we any firewood, there might have been a nice fire in the fire ring.

As it was, it was great just sitting on lounge chairs and enjoying a very special bottle of wine given to us by a very good friend.

I’ve come to realize that there is no reason to lament birthdays. They are, after all, the natural progression of a life’s journey which begins at the moment of our birth.

Oh sure we miss the health, the once toned body, the ability to eat anything we ever wanted and not gain an ounce. Some of us miss the hair that once kept our heads warm in a cool evening like this one. Others might miss the good looks, but the experience gathered during the voyage, the serenity that comes from finally understanding that despite its ups and downs like is good when one takes the time to share the small details like the one above, the patience that prolongs those special small and sometimes fleeting moments of pleasure more than makes up for the loss of those things which in the long run, don’t matter.

Whenever I find myself at a place like this, I can’t help but miss those loved ones who are no longer with us. The many people who at one time or another have enriched our lives and have touched our hearts whether they ever knew it or not. I missed many people this day, but the knowledge that I too might be missed by someone, that

I too will someday complete my journey added peace to my day.
And I realize that despite all the history of mankind, the sea has been tenderly kissing the shores like passionate lovers, and that it will continue long after I am too a memory.

All told, while the time spent in this special place wasn’t particularly lengthy, it was quite special and memorable. Making it ring more true that is not the years in a life, but the life in the years.

Chicken Shit

When are airline travelers in general going to wake up and wise up? In what is perhaps the worse recession in 25 years, if not longer, airlines are holding the entire nation hostage with “chicken-shit” fares and added fees. It seems to be a game of chicken which the airlines are determined to win.

As fewer people can afford to go home for the holidays and stay home, the more airlines raise fares and fees for everything from booking on-line to reserving a seat. They claim that is a necessary move in order to survive, but what they don’t often reveal is that they are manipulating the law of supply and demand by cutting fights and seats and then raising the fare of the remaining seats. This game is going to continue until no one can afford to travel.

It seems that the airline industry is headed for a show-down with unknown consequences. Sooner or later someone is going to blink in this dangerous game. Either the airlines lower fares and eliminate this ridiculous fees and make up the difference with more people taking to the skies or they continue with the racketeering scheme and go bust, or worse yet, demand and expect a government bailout. After all, we can’t allow the airline industry to fail, can we?

I don’t know what will happen, but I do know that nature abhors a vacuum and that whether or not American airlines make it or not, other stronger, larger, more financially stable companies will fill in the vacuum. So I say, if American airlines continue what amounts to legal extortion and by it they fail, let them. We need a revolution in this country; shake things up and let politicians and corporations alike know that ultimately they work for us.

If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants." -Wiliam Penn

"Everyone and I mean everyone would like to live in an ideal world where there’s no poverty, no hunger, no wars, no crime, no corruption and above all; freedom. Freedom to choose, freedom from oppression, freedom to pursue whatever an individuals definition of happiness may be. And there lies the problem; freedom and Utopia are mutually exclusive for without some kind of moral code which dictates what behavior is acceptable and non-acceptable in a society where perhaps millions, if not billions of people need to live together there can’t be peace or even civility.

You cannot have an ideal world as long as everyone has the freedom to do whatever they like or want to do. Why: Because some people’s wishes are counter to the laws and rules which are needed and required for society to live in peace. Perhaps because men is inherently evil and only laws-may they be man-made or divine- can rule his behavior.

There are people who will use the freedom provided by the government to do things which are flat out illegal or immoral. Some of these people, if not all of them, do not believe that their activities or desires are necessarily bad, and that if it weren’t for laws which prohibit their activities, they wouldn’t be criminals. Take the organization NAMBLA-North America Men/Boys Love Association. Their sole purpose for existence and use of the First Amendment is to promote sexual relations between men and young boys! Should this be legal? Is this healthy for society, for boys, children? It shouldn’t be, but somehow some people believe that it is. Sounds like circular reasoning, doesn’t it? Well it is.

Freedom allows for greed and where there is greed there are going to be victims. When some people get rich through legitimate or illegitimate means some people will suffer. It’s that simple.

Almost as soon as the USSR broke up, crime- which had been tightly controlled by the suppressive government- spiked to never before seen levels. Pornography soon became its main export. And not only “regular” pornography but child pornography! So while some are getting filthy rich on this disgusting business, there are thousands of children who are victims and are suffering. This money buys weapons, drugs and bribes from officials who are paid to look the other way. In a country where poverty is still a problem, where people are hungry, cold in winter and hot in summer this is not hard to do.

These are just but two examples; there are thousands!

I am not making an argument for socialism or communism, or perhaps I am, I don’t know. I am simply trying to say that freedom without faith, without a moral code to dictate decent versus indecent behavior can not and will not ever lead to an ideal world.