Ghengis

A friend of mine asked me once how i come up with the different essay's i write every week and it made me kind of sit back and think about where they develop. When i first started this blog i wanted to concentrate on the similarities we all share, the need for food, water, shelter, love and safety and how every single one of us would die if those needs weren't met.

i wrote about different aspects of all those things for a long time then branched out into community. From there it was a small leap into politics which created a never ending stream of topics. Today i'm in the midst of reading a book about Ghengis Khan and the man has me mesmerized. i wanted to step back a bit because Ghengis Khan was a ruthless killer of men, women and children but also one who saw the benefits of uniting all the tribes of the plains of Asia into one people in order to stop the waring.

Ghengis had his own set of grievances, he had scores to settle and tribes to conquer but unlike most Khans he saw the value that could be attained by not killing his rivals off. Instead he united them to fight the Tatars and later other dynasties enabling him to expand his realm of influence and create the Mongol empire.

He was a dangerous, violent, cold-blooded killer a really awful man but one who had a vision. He and his generals killed millions of civilians and rivals during his campaigns in order to unite them all.

i have a really hard time with his methods for he was a man that spent his entire life killing in order to unite. He believed the end to war was to war, but in fact that was never the case for the wars just kept coming. There was no peace.

When you read about him you discover that he was tolerant of all religions, that he based his support for generals and lesser administrators on merit and not heredity or status. That acquiring money and riches was not his goal. That he may have tried to create the first civil state and believed in the equality of all men and women. He was not bound by custom and was open to advancing his concepts through the wisdom of others.

His Pax Mongolica at times had a stabilizing effect on trade, communications and the social, cultural and economic life of his conquests. He is credited with initiating the connection of the east and the western trade routes during his grandson Kublai Khans reign and it was said that during those days a maiden could travel in the realm safely on her own. But the wars went on and eventually his empire was destroyed.

So where am i going with this? i don't know. i find Ghengis fascinating, i like his ideas of unity and equality, i like that wealth meant nothing to him. i find common ground with his values for he revered his family and friends and rewarded honesty with his loyalty. i also find that his methods supports my opinion that war is not the way to create change for in the end he did not achieve a permanent solution. His empire lasted one more generation and self combusted. War never stopped and there was no peace.

Today the idolization of material things is a burden. If we could put aside objects and not be attached to them it would be easier to see that we are all part of the human cell, we are all in this together and together we can make a better world. The division that Ghengis tried to eliminate still afflicts us today. Instead of tribes we have Republicans and Democrats, poor and rich, educated and not.

What will it take to learn how to work together for common goals? Ghengis couldn't figure it out and it appears neither can we.

LaVallee Mailboxes

See ya next week.

What is a person?

Flamingo at Great Pond Aug. 2012

Abortion and rape have been getting heavy play in the media what with the Missouri Republican Todd Akins faux pas. The right have been stumbling all over themselves supporting and rejecting his statement, even going so far as to say he didn't really mean it, or he misspoke.

The problem is the right recognizes they have a major catastrophe here. Too many conservatives actually agree with Akin but don't verbalize it. Women all over the country on the right and the left are waking up to the liberties that people like Akin want to take away from them. Some call men like him the American Taliban who want to push women back into the subservient roles they had in the past. No birth control and no access to abortion even if you have been raped... just stay home and have babies.

Not really wanting to get into the whole abortion issue but concerned with the bestowing of rights on a fetus which many on the right want to do i've decided to publish some research i personally did years ago.

i think most here know that i'm not religious but i do enjoy studying the religious texts of all religions. Some of the most elegant language can be found in these ancient books and since so many people use them to guide their lives i think it's important to understand them. When i was wondering what actually constituted life i researched the scientific data and then went to the King James Bible to look up the religious view.

My personal belief is that you are not fully human or a person until you can breath on your own. The bible does address this and in some ways supports my own belief. So in the interest of sparking debate.

Here are passages that directly address the issue:

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Ezekiel 37:5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

Ezekiel 37:6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Joshua 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

Job 33:4 The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

Psalm 150:6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

Isaiah 42:5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

Galatians 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace.

Unless you have breath, you can never praise the Lord, and without breath you are not alive nor are you fully human. The Buddhists believe it is very difficult to obtain birth as a human but once you have it is then that you can grasp the basic message of the Buddha. For the Hindu's we are all spiritual beings that have human experiences so the idea of person-hood does not exist at all. In Islam as in Christianity and Judaism Allah, the Lord, and God all breath life into the newborn babe.

So in my mind to bestow personhood and all the protections of the law for being fully human upon a fetus or a fertilized egg is wrong. Until that fetus can breath on its own it is not a human being nor a person and it seems the bible supports this.

Storms coming!

See ya next week.

Dark Money

i'm just wondering how many here reading have ever thought about money and good government. What influence should money have over our politicians and how do we feel about people who prefer to give money in secret? Don't cha think one question should be why they prefer to give money in secret and how is that good for the nation?

Do you know what dark money is, have you even heard the term or been exposed to its influence in the political process today? Mother Jones editors coined the term “dark money” after doing research into 501(c)(4)'s that were buying ads all over the nation. They wanted to know who was supplying these groups with their money and came upon a brick wall.

Historically there has always been a battle between those with money and power wanting to control the political process and all the rest of the population. The first campaign reform law passed by Congress was in 1867 to make it illegal to pressure workers at naval yards for campaign donations and it has continued ever since. In 1906 Teddy Roosevelt banned corporate contributions for any political purpose. He believed that open competitions kept out the criminals and corruption. Unfortunately the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme court in 2010 trashed that law and allowed corporations to spend as much money as they want on elections.

So today what would we label a free and fair election? Is it one where a 1,082 people out of a population of over 300,000,000 donate over “94 percent of all individual donations to super-PACs from January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012. Those 1,082 donors amount to just 0.00035 percent of the US population.” MJ

Is this what we all consider a free and fair election? Where money donated to Super Pacs dominates the airwaves and pollutes the media with their small vision for society.

Here is another one for you. According to Mother Jones and their research dept. 47 rich individuals have given over $1,000,000 each, some as high as Sheldon Adelson who has given 36.3 million so far. Some will say more power to them if they want to control our elections let them.

Right now there are three groups that are using dark money to create what many will call a dark election if they are allowed to continue unobstructed. Karl Rove's Crossroad's GPS and American's for Prosperity partially funded by the Koch brothers operate as 501(c)(4)'s and hide their donors names as does the pro-Obama Priorities USA. These groups operate in the shadows and reveal very little about what they spend. Using money in this way in order to sway the voters leaves a bad taste in my mouth, i don't know about yours, but it seems that today there is too much money in politics.  This year may prove to be historic in the amount of money spent trying to influence this election.

When you don't know who is trying to manipulate you to vote or not vote, who is feeding your brain with goo to get you to vote for their guy its time to start wondering where this democracy of ours is really going. Do we approve of dark money? Should money rule our politics and elect our government servants? When do we start the conversation about private money financing elections and its corrupting influence? When do we start clamoring for laws that stop the free flow of private money?

If we continue to have politicians elected by private money the outcomes will not be conducive to a democracy or even a republic. Those politician's will appoint their stooges to regulatory boards, the judicial system and give sweet heart deals to contractors of their choosing. These “elected” officials will have no obligation to “all a we”. Is this where we want to go?

See ya next week.

I love rainbows

I love rainbows

Fill in either Conservative or Liberal depending upon which place you get

your propaganda from.

Logic is and never was the strong point of a _______________.

Those____________'s have been drinking the Koolaid again.

You are witnessing the fall of a great country aided and abetted by______________'s in Congress.

We played a shell game this morning where the_____________ media blocks a shot.

The lying and story telling by the ___________'s is what is ruining this country.

I wonder if the American people realize they are being duped by the ____________'s.

If the knee jerk portion of America would stop and think things through they would have a better chance of not being hoodwinked by the _______________'s.

Could the _____________'s become disgusted with what is going on, are these people beyond any sense of shame?

All the ____________'s think about is winning at all costs. Why don't the _____________'s look at where they are being led?

When will the _______________'s step up and chastise their own?

Let's not forget that it was the ____________ tax policy that got us here.

The _______________'s are a collection of people that represent the scum rising to the top of the morally and ethically bankrupt political pool. A pool filled by corruption as thick as a crude oil spill.

Somewhere on the south shore nice empty spaces

Now fill in the blank with Obama or Romney.

The more ____________ campaigns the more he exposes himself as a man completely and utterly without morals, dignity, or class.

Ultimately it's ____________ own constituents who will have to draw the line, who will have to say no you have gone too far and abandon him.

______________ is a job killer.

_______________ is the king of empty vessels and a shape shifter extrordinaire.

______________ is convinced his world view is correct.

The media needs to do a better job of calling out ____________'s lies and distortions.

Making shit up, that's all _____________'s doing.

i'm sick of the back stabbing by both sides. i hope some of you filling in the blanks recognize that both sides say exactly the same things to manipulate you and make you angry. My piece last week about limiting the campaign season would do away with a lot of this, but here are two more issues to consider.

Great Pond a wonderful birding spot

1. Why is it that this political season no one talks about the situation in Afghanistan? Just looking at the troop deaths alone in the past few months we had 36 in May, 42 in June, 29 in July, and for August it is pushing 10 already. No one knows why we are there anymore and it is ignored by the ______________

media. If the mission was to topple OBL then we have accomplished that and more. Bring them home.

2.  Setting the record straight. Statement by President Bill Clinton on Governor Mitt Romney's New Television Advertisement

New York, NY—Governor Romney released an ad today alleging that the Obama administration had weakened the work requirements of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. That is not true.
The act emerged after years of experiments at the state level, including my work as Governor of Arkansas beginning in 1980. When I became President, I granted waivers from the old law to 44 states to implement welfare to work strategies before welfare reform passed.
After the law was enacted, every state was required to design a plan to move people into the workforce, along with more funds to help pay for training, childcare and transportation. As a result, millions of people moved from welfare to work.
The recently announced waiver policy was originally requested by the Republican governors of Utah and Nevada to achieve more flexibility in designing programs more likely to work in this challenging environment. The Administration has taken important steps to ensure that the work requirement is retained and that waivers will be granted only if a state can demonstrate that more people will be moved into work under its new approach. The welfare time limits, another important feature of the 1996 act, will not be waived.
The Romney ad is especially disappointing because, as governor of Massachusetts, he requested changes in the welfare reform laws that could have eliminated time limits altogether. We need a bipartisan consensus to continue to help people move from welfare to work even during these hard times, not more misleading campaign ads

“Remember a lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” Mark Twain

See ya next week.

A retired guy cleaning his fish!

Manipulated

Did you know that honey and cinnamon mixed in tea may reduce cholesterol if taken regularly,

or that tea made with honey and cinnamon can arrest the ravages of old age, or that cinnamon taken alone can reduce your sugar levels?

Some time ago i had a paragraph here about blueberries helping with the skin but did you know that peaches are now considered a super food and will give you added energy, chocolate that is 70% pure is a heart health food and Acai berries will burn off anxiety symptoms. Every year we are bombarded with some new data that alerts us to the latest fad that will improve some aspect of our lives. Many of us looking for help dutifully purchase the new anti-aging, weight-loss inducing, sex enhancing food, liquid or pill that may or may not have some effect.

We humans are weak, we want to be loved, appreciated and admired. We want to fit in with our groups mores and so we purchase things to make ourselves more acceptable. The clothing we wear, the cars we drive, the homes we buy, the foods we eat, the jobs we have and the exercise programs we indulge in all suffice to make us feel better about ourselves.

Most of our desires are formed and manipulated by our past experiences, belief systems, parents, unmet needs, jobs and for some the influence of media and the internet over real life experiences. Today the influence of media and technology plays a larger role than all those other items i mentioned. We are being manipulated to a larger extent than ever before by forces that want us to consume and reveal every facet of our lives.

See ya next week.