Fun With Numbers

Our president, I've been given to understand, isn't crazy about reading.

Unfortunately, many Americans share his lack of passion for the written word. And many of those who do read ... well, let's just say I have a theory, the USA is possibly the only country in the world where as the population reads, the national IQ level plummets.

Perhaps I'm being overly harsh.

But then again, maybe not. Having been a bookseller for the past eight years, working in practically the only bookstore in town, a town with a population of almost 300,000, I feel I have my finger on the pulse of the reading public in my fair city. I'm priveleged to witness just what goes into the minds of the average red state American. Romance novels mostly, followed by a pretty substantial amount of mysteries, sci-fi and children's books.

Nationwide in our stores the current number 1 fiction best seller is Janet Evanovitch's latest and the number 1 non-fiction slot belongs to Ann Coulter. That tells me that reading habits here are probably not that far out of line with what most Americans are reading.

I think it was H.L. Mencken who said, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the average American." Or something like that.

I ran across a great book today, a children's book called "How Much is a Million" by David M. Schwartz.

I think every American ought to read it. It only takes a few minutes but I found it very helpful in understanding just how big the numbers are that we're dealing with in our economy today.

Too often, numbers are just numbers .. we hear about millions and billions and even trillions of dollars being spent but the numbers are too abstract. Most of us don't have a frame of reference for understanding just how big these numbers are.

How much bigger than a million is a billion? And how much bigger than a billion is a trillon?

This is what I learned in Schwartz's book.

If one were to count to a million it would take about 23 days. That's a lot of counting. A million is a very big number.

But get this, to count to a billion it would take 95 years. That's a substantially larger number so when we hear that we're spending 450,000,000,000 for this year's war budget that means if one were to count this number off it would take 42,750 years. That's a shitload of dough.

I read the other day that our current debt level, taking everything into consideration .. personal debt, state, local, federal and unfunded liabilities, Social Security and Medicare, for example .. the overall debt level is almost 90,000,000,000,000 bucks. That 90 TRILLION, folks.

Well, you ask, how long would it take to count to a trillion?

Mr. Schwartz tells us it would take almost 200,000 YEARS to count to a trillion. Do the math, that means that if one were to count to 90 trillion it would take 18,000,000 YEARS.

Now maybe you'll understand why I don't get too excited when I hear the media and the economists tell us how great our economy is.

Mr. Bush needs to read Mr. Schwartz's book.

But then again, why bother. Only one number means anything to presidents and that's the number 4 or possibly 8, the length of time they get to spend in office running up these Titanic sized debts.

Longing

I long to be free.

Given the choice to determine when and where in history I would like to have lived had not my soul been entrapped in this era, I've chosen the North American continent in the year 500 BEC, (before European Conquest).

I can only surmise what life may have been like then through books I've read.

Every era has its trials and tribulations, to be sure. It's tempting to romanticize the past, ignoring the hardships and foibles of human nature, and ascribing to it a pristine virtue no longer existant in our day.

I long for things I've never even remotely known, things completely alien to 21st century experience.

I imagine a state of nature of overwhelming abundance. Texts written by the first Europeans who settled here testify to that effect. Fish so plentiful that they could be scooped up in baskets, flocks of birds whose passage overhead darkened the skies for days, pure rivers and oceans teemed with life and forests so thick in some places they were near impassable.

All my life I've lived in an artificial environment. I'm sitting before a computer, listening to digital information processed to sound like live music, climate controlled by air compressed and cooled by machinery and chemicals, light emanates from a piece of glass overhead, made possible by my connection to the grid. As I go about my day I walk on concrete and asphalt which conveniently lead me to places where I can deposit my hard earned income credits into the eager hands of those who require those credits to maintain the artificiality that defines and necessitates my enslavement in American culture, which is rapidly becoming world culture.

The irony of ironies is that we who have come to rely so heavily on the artificial accept the artificial as 'natural.' We can no longer imagine life any other way.

And because we can no longer imagine life any other way we casually accept the banalities of culture as well as its exploitative and destructive character as the best of all possible worlds without deep reflection, without extrapolating the consequences, vaguely aware that disaster looms but assuaging those disturbing intrusions on our consciousness by surrendering more and more to the seemingly inevitable. The sense of defeat and hopelessness are endemic and pervasive, encouraged heartily by forces we can barely conceptualize.

Being neither a psychologist nor a philosopher nor a cultural scientist I can only glean from the works of others why this must be so.

What's most perplexing to me is how we can so easily believe the superficial non-explanation of the why of things. Where is our innate curiosity? Or is that just another contradiction .. how can a lack of something be innate?

The most over-hyped concept in America today is the delusional idea of 'freedom and liberty.' I'm free to go with the flow. I'm free to accept the reigning paradigm of our death culture. I'm free to participate and 'prosper' or to rebel and face ignominy and ridicule.

Whatever man may have faced in North America in the year 500 BEC, I doubt that he had to think through what 'freedom' meant. To be free wasn't a concept, he just was. He didn't have to work for wages for the right to exist on this planet. He understood his place in nature and shared bountifully in its gifts and acted responsibly in its maintenence. His life was sustainable, he lived in cooperation with his surroundings, not conflict.

And this is fact, not romantic fantasy. This was before Christianity and the idea that man is top of the foodchain and given divine right to subdue nature to his own profitable ends.

I can only imagine real freedom and this morning I long for it. I'm sick to death of our never ending war mentality. I hate traffic and telephone poles and strip malls and concrete and asphalt and Walmart and cell phones and SUV's with their banal 'Support Our Troops' stickers. I hate having to understand freedom vicariously, through the experience of a long dead, barely imaginable culture, exterminated by those who lusted for the uncivil progress of civilization.

I empathize with the caged animal.

I feel his anxiety as he paces to and fro.

I long to set him free.

Freedom.

It's more than just a word.

Celebrating The 4th

Sometimes I feel like Rip Van Winkle. That I went to sleep one day and woke up in the Twilight Zone.

Does that ever happen to you?

Today is July 2nd, the last Sunday before the 4th.

Today I tuned in to TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Jesus' lifeline to a dying planet.

I should have known I was in for a treat when I saw a stage covered in flags and a whole bunch of white people dressed in flag shirts, white pants, white shoes and white gloves marching to 'The Stars and Stripes Forever.'

Being a religious ceremony as well as an orgy of nationalistic patriotic celebration the four major branches of the service were more than adequately represented.

All these white people were singing songs, "You're a Grand Ol Flag, Yankee Doodle, America the Beautiful, the National Anthem." It was quite the production and it wasn't done on the cheap. During one of the many songs I thought was the grand finale, a group dressed up as WW2 soldiers carrying the flag ran on stage and settled into the famous Iwo Jima Pose and stayed almost completely motionless for the length of a couple of songs. It was really very impressive.

Interspersed with all this flag waving and America Worship the moderator, decked out in red, white and blue like all the others, went into a long speech on the Constitution and how America was founded by Christians and how The Good Lord has given a special blessing to this country and how important it is to return to being "One Nation Under God."

I couldn't help recall past July 4th celebrations when I was filled with joy and pride as I imbibed the glory which is America. The land of the free, the home of the brave.

But that was before the 'day that changed everything.' Even before Video Game War 1 and the knowledge of Daisy Cutters and Bunker Busters and Depleted Uranium. That was before my education in unvarnished American history where I learned about Death Squads, Assassinations, Regime Change, Genocide, Ecocide, the Horrors of Chattel Slavery (sure, I knew some of these things existed but they hadn't really entered my consciousness with any force), this was before I was brutalized with the images of hideously deformed Iraqi DU babies and torture scenes from Abu Ghraib. This was before The Project For a New American Century and Neocons and Neoliberalism and Patriot Acts and Homeland Security and Gitmo.
In other words, these were the days I attended Fundamentalist Christian Churches and Voted Republican.

The overblown pastiche of Patriotic Propaganda displayed today felt like something obscene. An extravagant display of unthinking emotion that epitomizes what I view as the last gasp of an America in desperate need of feeling good about itself. USA and God and Flags and Songs all choreographed as if to say, "All is Well in America and God still Shines His Light on our Proud and Peculiar Land."

Rather than fireworks and picnics and weenie roasts, this particular July 4th maybe it would be better to step back and reflect on where we've been and how we've arrived at this particular point in history. Maybe black bunting and riderless horses alongside a caisson of flag draped coffins would be more in order. Maybe a time of Soul Searching would be more appropriate.

Maybe it's time to Sober Up.

Can America still be a Great Nation? Are we capable of True Repentance? Maybe one day but right now we're not even close. We still Believe. America is Great because it is Good. And if you disagree you'll probably be labeled Commie, Liberal Scum. You'll feel the Wrath of the Ann Coulter lead Red State Hordes. Ms. Coulter, the Face of American Conservatism, the Blond leading the Blind. The divide in this country is deep and it is dark. As dark as our bloody history.

What am I talking about you ask. America is the Light Shining on the Hill, we're Spreading Goodness across the Globe.

I have two questions for our nation. Where is our Thirst for Justice? Where is our Thirst for Truth?

America, in my view is storing up a Huge Karmic Debt for itself. Wherever we go, we go in Guns A Blazing. We leave Death and Destruction and Poverty and Broken Dreams. How do we love thee O World, let me count the ways. Native American Genocide, Chattel Slavery, Manifest Destiny resulting in the theft of lands from Mexico in the Mexican-American War, the occupation and theft of Hawaii, the Spanish-American War with the brutal Subjugation of the Phillipines, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the ovethrow of the democratically elected leader of Iran in the 50's and the support of the brutal Shah, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Chile, Panama, Haiti, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, 12 years of deadly sanctions, and the never to be ended War on Liberty, I mean Terror.

Sadly, we're probably no worse than any other Empire in history but we're certainly no better either. We're not the first to rally around the flag and to Praise God for his generous Blessing.

But we claim to be so much more. We're the good guys in the White Hats. We have a Vision For the World. But our Vision so often is a third world country's Nightmare.

Maybe it's time not only to Sober Up but also to Grow Up. Let's be adults and seriously confront the problems that plague our land. Let's remove the blinders and take a deep, hard look at who we really are. Do we have the Courage? Do we have the Will?

We better. Because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate.

I wish you a soberly, reflective July 4th.

May God have Reasons to Bless America.

A Great Read

I read lots and lots and lots of books. I read history, theology, science, literary fiction (and even the occasional schlock fiction) current events, social criticism, politics, philosophy and just about anything else that promises to shed light on the human condition.

Every once in a great while a book comes along which avoids stereotype and genre classification and is just a great read.

I'm referring to Gregory David Roberts' "Shantaram."

Apparently, Mr. Roberts has lived a very unique and experience filled life. "Shantaram" is his autobiographic fictional account of those events.

Roberts, in real life, is an Australian .. a political activist in his early years who became addicted to heroin which destroyed his family life and lead to several armed robberies, landing him in prison, sentenced to 19 years.

He escaped over the wall in broad daylight and took flight to Bombay, India. He 'went native,' learned the language and lived for a while in the slums where he founded a free clinic for the poor. He earned his livelihood by working as a counterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunner, and street soldier for a branch of the Bombay mafia. Not exactly what one would consider a role model.

But that's what's so compelling about Roberts' story.

Despite the character flaws and the antisocial behavior, Roberts' story reveals a depth of character that many would want to emulate. His ability to see through human flaws by gaining an understanding of his own gives his characters a depth that transcends the superficial. His love for Bombay and the Indian people is revealed on just about every page of this long, 933 page novel.

Here's what some of the reviewers said of this work:

Pat Conroy; "If someone asked me what the book was about, I would have to say everything, everything in the world. Gregory David Roberts does for Bombay what Lawrence Durrell did for Alexandria, what Melville did for the South Seas, and what Thoreau did for Walden Pond. He makes it an eternal player in the literature of the world."

Moses Isegawa: "Shantaram has provided me with the richest reading experience to date and I don't expect anybody to unseat its all-around performance for a long time. It is seductive, powerful, complex, and blessed with a perfect voice. Like a voodoo ghost snatcher, Gregory David Roberts has captured the spirits of Henri Charriere, Robinson Mistry, Tom Wolfe, and Mario Vargas Llosa, fused them with his own unique magic, and built the most gripping monument in print. The land of the god Ganesh has unchained the elephant, and with the monster running amok, I tremble for the brave soul dreaming of writing a novel about India. Gregory David Roberts is a suitable giant, a dazzling guru, and a genius in full."

Jonathan Carroll: "Anyone who walks away from 'Shantaram' untouched is either heartless or dead or both. I haven't had such a wonderful time in years. 'Shantarum' is quite simply the '1001 Arabian Nights' of the new century. Anyone who loves to read has been looking for this book all their reading life."

I couldn't agree more.

In an age when schlock rules, Roberts' book deserves wide promotion. Unfortunately it's the 'crank em out' authors who get all the exposure and media coverage.

Do yourself a favor. Read 'Shantaram.' I think you'll find it time well spent.

Happy Thoughts

Once again it is Sunday

Once again the airwaves are full of Sunday preaching.

Once again one of the most popular, Joel Osteen, facing his mammoth congregation and more mammoth teevee audience, proclaims the power of positive thinking.

The gist of the message today (and every Sunday ad infinitum) is that the source of all our ills, the reason we can't be happy, well adjusted individuals is because of our Gosh darned stinkin' thinkin.'

He told the story of how is sister lives next to a railroad track. Every night, just as she's drifting off into blissful rest, a monster of a train comes by rattling the woodwork and jolting her out of her slumbers. Because of the deletorius effects of this nightly assault she decided to train her mind to ignore this inconvenient reality.

After two or three weeks of consciously willing her mind to shut down, she was finally successful. No more disruption. No more intrusion. Mental mastery. Blissful rest.

Mr. Osteen's ministry is devoted to turning lemons into lemonade through the power of positive thinking. Let no negative thought enter your mind. Start the day with a smile. Don't let daily hassles and irritations upset your sensitive sensibilities.

Good advice when taken in moderation. But as a panacea Mr. Osteen's sunny cheerfulness is destined for failure because his approach fails to address root causes.

As the camera pans his congregation one gets the sense that most are moderately to highly affluent. Just a guess but many are probably captains of industry and influential business leaders. Many of the rank and file are most likely consumed by the daily stresses and frustrations of making a living in the Houston rat race.

And because of the consistency of Mr. Osteen's message .. your life is messed up because you don't think right ... one is left with the conclusion that all of life's problems, like that pesky, noisy train will just go away once one learns to ignore reality and just think happy thoughts.

No doubt, Mr. Osteen's congregation faces real problems. Failed marriages, conflicts with co-workers, a sense of futility brought on by a feeling of helplessness as world events become more and more mystifying ... fear and insecurity, potential job loss in our outsourcing economy, fear of losing all that one has accumulated through hard work by the insidious effects of a threatened inflation. These and many more are symptoms, not causes of our malaise.

Joel Osteen doesn't address root causes, just as our schools and media system refuse to address root causes. The best we can come up with is 'the enemy,' the devil, the Muslims, the 'fill in the blank' are conspiring to steal our joy. Rather than confront these enemies, identify them and learn the source of their anger and enmity we are told instead to 'let no negative thought enter our minds, don't worry be happy.

Above all, it is implied, don't investigate.

And why would that be?

Because, obviously, investigation may lead to disturbing answers. What if, upon investigation, we were to find that most all of our and even the world's ills are rooted in our political/economic policies? What if we were to find that our system, predicated on limitless expansion, unrestrained corporate profits, mass production and mindless consumerism is directly responsible for our sense of alienation from all that is real and truly good? What if we were to begin thinking about the effects of cradle to grave advertising campaigns and how they may be moulding us, creating a false reality where nothing is more important than fulfilling our patriotic duty to 'shop til we drop?'

What if, upon further investigation, we were to find that our prosperity, our highly idealized American Dream requires that countless millions in Third World countries subsidize our booming economy through sweat shop labor and 'free trade' policies that, in effect, confiscate their resource wealth and domestic food production capabilities ... all enforced by a strong armed, US backed local ruling elite bought and paid for to insure their cooperation in their own enslavement?

What if our 'liberal media' was to seriously challenge and critically analyze our root assumptions? What if our journalists were investigators into the afore mentioned root causes and not just the mouthpieces of 'official sources?' What if politics were absent from the debate over global warming and the environment?

What if?

Would we change?

Or are we content with the status quo? Are we content with the social destruction taking place before our eyes as the few get richer, the middle shrinks and the ranks of the poor continually swell?

Would it be better in the long run if we follow Mr. Osteen's advice and blot out every negative thought from our minds and convince ourselves that by thinking happy thoughts we will indeed be happy?

I would suggest that instead of a constant diet of positive thinking, Mr. Osteen would better serve his congregation by every once in a while investigating that 'broad road that leads to destruction' .. you know, that wide avenue that Jesus tells us most of us are on.

Maybe we've reached the point where our global problems are insurmountable. Maybe the coma that most of us are in is a blessing in disguise, maybe the illness is terminal and there is no hope ... delusion being the only treatment.

I don't think we're at that point yet but we'd better wake up soon. All indicators tend to reveal that time is short. Something dreadful perhaps this way comes.

And that's not a very happy thought.

Letter To My Sister

Hola hermana,

Thanks for your email. Sometimes I do get depressed when I realize how few people I have in my life and how it got this way, then I get a note from my big sis and realize I'm not totally alone in this world.

I woke up this morning thinking about a line from Shakespeare, "The world is a comedy to those that feel and a tragedy to those that think." When I first read those lines many years ago, I thought he had it ass backwards but when those words popped into my head this morning I realized he was dead on.

If one word could be used to describe the complexity of a human being, the one word that would describe me is 'truthseeker.'

From my earliest years, I guess because I've always been a reader, I've understood that something wasn't quite right with what I was officially being told and taught. This gut feel, based on scraps of information gleaned over the years only intensified as I read more and more. I wanted to know why.

At first I thought the answers could be found in the church. As you know, I went full bore into it, wide eyed and trusting ... well, not completely, but enough to believe that all life's answers were there to be discovered. Going into it full bore I tried to conform to the church's view but I kept finding these nagging inconsistencies. Participation with a group of dedicated Jesus people satisfied for a long time my need for family, I guess. I suppose that's why I stayed with it as long as I did. And while there, I gave it my all .. I was willing to believe wholeheartedly in the 'inerrancy of scripture' and how I must use it to guide every area of my life.

But the things I read in the bible didn't match the facts 'on the ground.' One thing that always bothered me was why the church was so fractured. Why so many differing beliefs and why, if Jesus and the Holy Spirit were in fact in charge, did so many disagree (sometimes violently) on different matters of church doctrine. After all, Paul, the premier apostle prayed for unity and that all be of one mind. Because these words were written in the bible I thought it was possible. Not only possible but inevitable. Didn't Jesus say that anything you ask in my name would be done? It seemed to me that if anyone carried any weight in his prayers, it should be Paul.

Believing unity to be possible and inevitable, being the reader that I am, I took on a study of why different groups within the church believed as they did. I wanted to understand the reason for the division and hoped that in my small way, I could contribute to the eventual unity of the faith.

I studied all the 'isms.' Calvinism, Preterism, Dominionism, Catholicism, Dispensationalism, Fundamentalism, Universalism, Atheism .. and more.

What I found was that each and every ism based their conclusions, with much conviction and many references, on the bible...even atheism. Each separate group could argue it's case persuasively using the 'bible alone.' Of course, in order to do this they had to pick and choose which scriptures supported their views and ignore the many that may contradict.

Thus began a more in depth examination of the bible. How was it possible for so many competing viewpoints, each held with such unswaying conviction? And why did I believe that it was the 'Word of God,' from God's lips to man's ear? I won't go into all the details but I studied it out and came to the realization that I believed the bible was God's Word because that's what I had always been told. I accepted it like I accepted everything else having to do with Christianity ... on faith, not necessarily on fact.

Cutting to the chase this is my current position on the bible lest you think me a complete heretic. I believe all truth ( 'all' meaning all necessary for understanding man's condition) is in the bible but not all the bible is true. Man's clumsy pawprints are all over it and the truth contained within it is truly 'a great treasure hidden in a field.' A 'pearl of great price,' if you will.

How does one separate the wheat from the chaff?

By understanding the character of God. His perfection, the depth of his love. My criteria for determining whether or not something in the bible is 'true' is how it accords with the idea of perfect love working out a perfect solution to an imperfect world and a flawed people. That's why Universalism appealed to me so much. It was internally consistent and logical from a spiritual perspective. Universalism is the ism that believes that a perfect God will have a perfect result, that all creation will ultimately conform to the character of God, not unwillingly but by freewill choice. Love will indeed conquer death. And it doesn't matter if you're Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Atheist or anything else .. the plan is perfect and will not be thwarted.

That gets me around to the reason why I left the church.

The church teaches unending hell and eternal torment. Even the gentlest and most loving groups I've been acquainted with hold this abhorrent doctrine. When I tried to show them a better way, through scripture, I was told my view could not be spoken about in the church. 'We love you bro, but we think you'd be happier in another fellowship.' Trouble is, there is no other Christian fellowship other than those that believe the lie of eternal hell. 'A little leaven leavens the whole lump.' There are congregations that believe as I do, they're just few and far between and I haven't found one here.

It was there and then that the realization hit me full force that the search for truth was a lonely pursuit. But not without its rewards.

Whether for good or ill, along with being a truthseeker I'm also a loner. That's an indelible part of my character. I didn't plan it this way, as far as I can tell, it's just a foundational part of who I am. I prefer solitude and contemplation. My greatest joy is the finding of another piece of this puzzle called life. But I don't always like what I find, I guess that's the downside of wanting to know 'why.'

One thing I came to understand was that in the church's search for the eternal they seem to have forgotten about the here and now. Being freed from church dogma, I became more interested in how things are not just in the 'pie in the sky when you die' philosophy of the church.

My latest efforts have been concentrated on understanding politics and economics. The whole left v right thing.

What I've found confirms a lot of what I believe the bible is all about. The bible talks about 'good and evil,' heaven and hell, right and wrong. Politically these things get conflated into 'liberal and conservative,' 'right and left' ... with the overwhelming conviction in America that 'right' = 'good' and 'left' = evil. Watch the news and you'll be convinced that 'liberal' is a dirty word and that 'left' is positively satanic.

I've reached the conclusion that the exact opposite is true. And this matters ... a lot.

The subject is complex and I could go into all the reasons how I've arrived at my conclusion but that would be too lengthy and you're probably asleep already.

In a nutshell.

At it's most ideal the left is socialist, believing that the poor should receive a more fair distribution of its goods and resources, that those who create the wealth should particpate more fully in its benefits. This is anathema to the ultra rich, those who rule and dictate policy. The conservative right has always feared the leveling influence of the masses and have structured our government in such a way that the upper crust will always be in control. They own the government, the courts, the media and the church. All powerful institutions capable of maintaining its control through highly effective propaganda. Billions of dollars have been spent on think tanks and PR firms in order to manufacture your consent for their policies. This bodes extremely well for the elite class but it's disastrous for the poor and disenfranchised.

Here's something you've probably heard many times in your life .."Two things we don't talk about here, politics and religion.' Now why would that be? Why would the two most important subjects be considered off limits? I believe it's because talking leads to discussion, discussion leads to investigation, investigation leads to facts and facts bring light. The one thing Jesus says the world hates .. light .. because it exposes its deeds as evil.

Ok, in answering your question. Why do these things matter? Why do things happening in other countries matter? Why not just live day to day and take things as they come? Because .. as long as we think this way, as a herd, the closer our world comes to extinction. Grave problems face the world right now .. many scientists believe we're in the midst of the world's sixth great extinction. The first one caused by man. Species are disappearing at 120,000 times the natural rate. The big fish in the oceans are 90% depleted. The environment is a wreck. Globalism ...predatory, corporate capitalism, the unending lust for wealth... has made slaves of the world's indigenous populations, kept in hopeless poverty while our country lives off their resources. Globalism as a fiscal policy is turning our 'land of the free' into a police state. Forty percent of Americans believe that the NSA's monitoring of billions of its phone calls is a good thing. Meanwhile, the disparity between the world's richest percentile and the world's poorest is growing at an exponential rate. Unending war, scarcity of resources, and evironmental destruction are inevitable by products of the way we do things.

At its most extreme the political right has no heart. It's all about money .. which Jesus said the love of was the root of all evil. I believe him.

Because it has no heart, the right has counterfeited one through its hijacking of the American fundamentalist church ..the wackiest and goofiest, albeit most dangerous element of the faith. Jesus said that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. He says that the deception will be so great that if possible, it would fool even the very elect.

Study what's really going on in Iraq. If you have a heart, the injustice of it all will break it. We've destroyed their infrastructure, brutalized and impoverished their people and set them at each other's throats ... all so the US can establish a dominating presence there in order to gain control of the last of the remaining oil. The peak oil problem is very real and will result in catastrophic changes in the way we live. The sad thing is, it didn't have to be this way. Intelligent answers are available to most of the world's most distressing problems but these viewpoints never get aired in our corporate controlled, news for profit, government worshipping media. The answers to the world's problems, I believe, are best articulated by the political left, the view that's constantly suppressed. If the American people had a heart and a brain they'd be outraged.

The book of Revelation is all about the overthrow of the status quo. It's about the end of all the injustice and man's inhumanity to man. Were Jesus alive today, I believe he would be a hardcore, radical, leftist revolutionary. The exact opposite of how the fatcat, comfort loving American church views him. American Christians believe GWB stands on Christian principle. What a joke. The real joke is that the church is so deluded that it can believe black is white and good is evil.

I'm not really depressed. I've just had my eyes opened to the reality of the world, and that is a depressing situation. I believe our country is on a crash course with it's destiny. 'As you sow, so shall you reap ..' Truer words were never spoken. I'm not looking forward to cataclysmic change but I really believe that change is inevitable. It is written. It's our fate to live on the cusp of monumental upheaval. It will be messy, ugly, and painful .. but here's where I have hope. IF we don't wipe ourselves out, perhaps the human race will learn something about living in harmony with the earth, that today's way of doing things is unsustainable and can only lead to disaster. Perhaps on the other side of whatever imminently awaits us, a wisdom will be gained. At least in the short term, til the greed and lusts of the human heart take over once again and the cycle reverts.

We're living in the Matrix. Virtually everything we believe to be true is a lie. It seems incredible and paranoid that that could be so, but it's true. At least, that's what this truthseeker believes. But you know what? I'm glad it's a lie. I'm glad that 'the way things are' are a lie. I'm glad that the way things are aren't the way they're meant to be.

Camus said, "In this world there are victims and executioners. It's the thinking person's duty to never side with the executioners."

We, as a nation, side with the executioners. Damn scary when you think about it. One of our early presidents, Jefferson, I think, said .."I tremble for our country when I realize God is just."

Food for thought.

More later.

G

Back From the Books

As you can see from the date of my last post ... well, it's been a while.

So much depressing stuff going on, I decided I didn't like this century much anymore so I decided to do a little time traveling.

I wanted a clearer understanding of how we got to where we are. Hoping the past might provide some insight I began an American history reading project.

This thing took on a life of its own.

I figured I'd start with Pre-Colonial times. Simple enough, eh? Let me tell you, it's not that simple. Everything is connected to everything else so there's no clear cut beginnings. Start to read about the founding of the colonies and you realize you need a little background. After all, there were some major players on this continent, each with their own unique set of circumstances. You can't really understand American history unless you have at least a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, French and British history as well. And then there's that little matter of the indigenous population and their plight.

Starting with Alan Taylor's "American Colonies; The Settlement of North America," (excellent) I soon had, literally, 30 books going. From Prescott's "History of the Conquest of Mexico" I was also reading books in a multitude of categories; pre-colonial, colonial, the American Revolution, bios of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, "The Age of Federalism," Civil War stuff ... Goodwin's "Team of Rivals," a bio of Grant, McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom, Potter's "Impending Crisis" ... bios of Jefferson Davis and Nathan Bedford Forest.

Of course, with the interconnectedness of everything I couldn't leave out Britain .. so I added "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" to the mix as well as Churchill's "History of the English Speaking Peoples." Britain has always been entangled with France so I needed to know about Napoleon and I read the gut wrenching account of his ill advised foray into Russia , Zamoyski's "Moscow 1812; Napoleon's Fatal March." Which got me interested in Russia and a trio of books, Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra," and "Peter the Great, His Life and World" along with a cultural history of Russia, "Natasha's Dance."

These books catapulted me into a need to know about the Great War and its causes. Massie's "Dreadnought" was a great introduction and Churchill's, "The World Crisis 1911-1918" provided an insider's view. And since the seeds of one war are contained in the treaties of the last one, these books lead me ever onward to books about WWII .. Kennedy's "Freedom From Fear" about the Depression and America's involvement in WWII and Shirer's, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," along with Werth's, "Russia at War; 1941-1945."

You get the picture.

The foodchain has been soaking up some history.

These books are great at giving one the 'official view' of America's illustrous past.

But in order to be fair and balanced, one has to look at the not so popular view of America. The likes of which are found in Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States" and the multiple works of Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Naomi Klein and William Blum ... to name but a few.

It's been quite the project, 30 books or so done and 30 or so more in progress. I'll probably be at this for a while. It's been time well spent. I still don't like this century too much but at least now I have a better understanding of why.