Integrity

This whole idea of men governing themselves is a complex and unsettling study indeed. How do you set up a government that is effective at governing and also effective at offsetting man's inclination of being drawn to power? Not sure I would want to tackle that one on my own. Personally I think the Constitution of the United States of America is where I would start; ratified in 1787, it has guided a nation for 227 years and could easily move us, with our civil society intact, through the next 227 years if we could figure out a way to re-establish it as our guiding document.

    While my endeavors as an amateur singer-songwriter have not provided any significant monetary gains, they have provided a bit of education. While talking with a respected lawyer here in Wichita once about a contract that would define my position as related to any royalties that may be generated by a multi-artist project I was considering taking part in, I inquired as to what I should look for in the said contract's wording. After offering a few suggestions he basically said the whole thing hinged on the integrity of the one writing the contract. Paramount to any other consideration was whether this person is trustworthy because regardless of the care taken in the wording of the contract, an unscrupulous person could find a way around it. This lesson has stuck with me over the years and I have seen evidence of its presence in other places as well. For instance, our Constitution is said to be useless if used to govern an immoral people. I believe we are witnessing a government being facilitated by men and women who have demonstrated their lack of integrity by swearing to uphold the Constitution then circumventing it when it is the least bit inconvenient for them. My hope for this great country is that "we the people" will wake up and start electing men and women of integrity as our representatives and that it is not too late to find our way back to a government guided by the greatest Constitution ever conceived. Disciplining oneself when so much power is available to you by way of  language manipulation and the skewed presentation of facts by a largely willing media machine, is a difficult thing to reject. Much too difficult for most of those currently residing in Washington these days. While I believe John Adams when he said "Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." It would also seem it is  inadequate to reign in an immoral and irreligious Washington elite. What do you say we start to fix it this November.

Up Up and Away

Has anyone else noticed their electric bill has increased recently? Just wondering. I've noticed. Our bill is considerably more than it was just a few years ago and seems to be increasing by the day. Staying true to their inconsistent and illogical ways our bloated and inefficient government has forced us to buy more expensive light bulbs, which pose a more real health threat than the old ones by the way, to ostensibly reduce our energy consumption. While this mandate might have actually saved us a little money on our electric bills, all things being equal, they end up just costing more to buy while we continually pay more every month for our electricity due to their policies. All I seem to hear about anymore is how the poor are suffering and how we have more and more people living below the poverty level. Well, maybe if the government found something to do other than obstruct market forces and causing everyone's cost of living to go up, (yes, this includes the poor), we might make some meaningful headway in overcoming the epidemic of poverty we are having. As the air in the US continues to be cleaner by the year, an incredible feat considering the amount of energy we use, we are attacked on all sides by environmentalist and others who are somehow bothered by our success as a nation, as being greedy and poor stewards of the world's resources. Therefore, we must pay more for electricity and for light bulbs and for vehicles and for toilets and for showers and for new construction and for tires and for (fill in the blank; quick, before the government does). Just go to the World Health Organization website and check out how the cleanliness of the air over our major cities compares to other countries. Rather than tearing down a country that has demonstrated such an incredible resilience through the last 237 years and which has offered so many people so much opportunity, why not reinforce those principles which have brought us here and see what incredible things might come of the next 237 years. Who knows, maybe we can actually come up with a "war on poverty" that actually works. If fact, there's no doubt in my mind that we can. Whaddaya say we give it try rather than burning down the whole house for the sake of a ruling class who couldn't survive in the real world if they had to.

Predatory Gambling

    Just wanted to get some thoughts down whilst I was in the midst of them. I've never quite understood the whole concept of "predatory" lending. Someone who has poor credit and cannot qualify for a loan from a bank for instance should expect to pay a higher interest rate for whatever loan they may find as the lender will be taking a much higher risk lending to them than to someone with a good credit record. Additionally, these loans tend to be fairly short-term loans and for lesser amounts of money. If I'm going to loan a high-risk individual 1000.00 for 2 months at 5%, my profit will be approximately 50.00 if things go well for me. If not I go to the back of the line of institutions who are owed money by this person and wait for who knows how long to collect some portion of my principal or interest. Not a good business decision. To make the decision look a little more doable from the loaner's standpoint he asks for a much higher interest rate to offset the risk he is taking. It all seems pretty understandable to me and if the word predatory is to be applied I would say it should be shared between the loaner and the person who has earned such a bad credit rating by preying upon unsuspecting loaning institutions. Or how about this. Don't borrow money at all. This would preclude any lending, predatory or otherwise. 
    How about applying the word predatory to the casino industry. You have to pay back a loan, but hitting the jackpot at the casino doesn't involve paying off any loans and therefore no interest either. Think about it. The less I have, the more attractive a jackpot looks. At least a loan has some built-in unattractive parts to it. You have to pay back more than you are borrowing, for instance. Hitting the jackpot has no such unsightly side effects and it's fun to gamble, besides. I'm sure the argument is that people are free to choose whether to gamble or not but the same is true with borrowing money. If we are going to suggest the loan industry "preys" on the vulnerable then we must apply this to the lottery and the casinos as well. The poor are far more vulnerable to the draw of easy money than are those who already have a sufficient income.
    I understand that there are those in society who will take advantage of people who are vulnerable in various situations. These situations are as numerous as the sands of the sea and as varied as the human face. So I am not arguing that someone might try to lend someone some money who doesn't need it or try to charge them an unduly high rate of interest. My problem is with the terminology and with the fact that so many other, more egregious and common infractions are absolutely ignored in this discussion. Besides, maybe the loaning institutions are just trying to even the score after the government forced them to make so many bad loans under the guise of fairness. Talk about someone taking advantage of the vulnerable. Make a study of the U.S. government's entitlement programs sometime. You may conclude we have a predatory government.

Remember When

    Do you remember back to times in your life when someone said something to you that reflected poorly on you and it hurt your feelings to hear it. You know, when someone pointed out a behavior or action you had taken that was inappropriate or rude. Maybe you just didn't recognize the hurtful nature of your words because you had grown used to hearing them sent your way as you were growing up and you had drained them of any real meaning long ago. So here you are, embarrassed by a friend who has confronted you about your hurtful actions and you are feeling very defensive all of a sudden and blurt out a long wordy sentence that when boiled down means simply, "Oh ya, well uh-uh" For some reason this seems to move you past the uncomfortable confrontation for the moment and your day continues on. Over the next few days, as the emotion evaporated from the situation and you are left with just the facts of what was said you realize your friend was not only right, but also courageous when he approached you about this. You see that you were in fact in the wrong and that there is an apology waiting to be delivered. You are faced with the fact that you have acted poorly and it hurts but the hurt leaves in its wake a better, more compassionate person who is more ably equipped to deal with people in a more appropriate manner. What has just been described is a normal part of the maturing process. If you've never experienced this, you are either a product of an incredible upbringing or you don't have any real friends. 
    Now, let's say that when you cross that line that your parents or a friend should challenge you on, instead of being met with a challenge you are given an excuse. Instead of that knot in your stomach that will only go away when you have apologized you are told that your behavior is completely understandable and is, in fact, appropriate because of some past situation and some real or perceived injustice that you have endured; although the person you have truly offended and hurt was not directly involved or even aware of this past wrong that has occurred. Instead of maturing into a thoughtful, compassionate and loving individual who is an asset to your family, community and society at large, you become a special case. You are part of a family of "special cases" who are immune from the scrutiny that others are subject to because of your special status. Any attempt to hold you accountable as an equal is quickly attacked by the media due to years of indoctrination by most of society. Think of the incredible athletes who are identified at a young age and who grow up in a very different world than the majority of us due to people's reaction to their abilities. While not precisely the same it is a similar situation. In the interest of brevity I will not explore to what extent the whole of our current society may in fact be less than fully matured, but will leave my comments focused on our precious group of victims who will never have the opportunity to mature because of their value to the ruling class in our country.

Thanks, and have a great day. I mean, if you want to. I'm not trying to tell you what to do because I hate women or anything. No really. Oh well, think what you must.

Default Discrimination

    It would seem victim-hood is as hard to leave behind as entitlements. If you happen to be one of the "elite" minorities in our society, that is to say a woman, a black, a hispanic, or a child, then you are expected to assume a default position of "discrimination" whenever you encounter rude or unthoughtful people. In my opinion our friend, Oprah, has given us a glimpse into this phenomenon with her recent encounter overseas. While this event has become quite the news story, our country is full of similar situations. Unfortunately, there are no sane leaders among our alleged intelligentsia who are willing to try and move us away from this built-in response to any negative event in the life of an "elite" minority. (I use the term "elite" minority to accent the fact that only a handful of the actual minorities in our country benefit from this mindset.) One of the difficulties in working through this ambiguous maze of pseudo-reasoning is the immediate and very negative reaction one gets when trying to engage others in dialogue on the subject. No one wants to have the reputation of being a woman-hater, a racist, or being against the well-being of our children, so one feels a strong intimidation when approaching this subject. For the sake of brevity I would like to try and illustrate my point with a recent experience of my own. As a singer-songwriter I occasionally attend a local singer-songwriter circle. It had been years since I was able to go but decided to check it out again. As I entered the small sandwich-type bar and grill I saw the circle and headed towards it. I stood behind one of the guys in the circle waiting for the current offering of a song to end before entering the circle and taking my chair. I was having difficulty staying out of the waitress's way and eventually the guy I was standing behind scooted his chair over to allow me a chance to be seated. I took a seat adjacent to the young man who was singing one of his songs. The song had a nice rhythm and chords I was familiar with. I began playing my mandolin along with him being careful not to get in the way of his song. After the song, instead of introductions and a welcome from the leader of the circle, all that was offered was a statement of the rule about only playing when invited and an apology from the leader to the singer for my taking a seat during his song. That was it. Nothing else. Then we were on to the next guy in the circle. Looking back at that situation, I believe if I were a black, or a woman for instance that I would have immediately interpreted this cold reception as being sexism or racism. Since I am not a member of either of these "elite" minority groups, I was left with the conclusion that I was the victim of unthoughtful musicians who were too interested in what they were going to play next to concern themselves with this new guy. I honestly believe that true sexism and racism and several other -isms are present at a much lower level than what public perception would indicate. In fact, there are those who fuel the elevated perception of these ostensibly discriminating acts to further enrich and empower themselves. There IS a comfort level that comes with likeness, this is not in question. But a hispanic, or a black or a woman who loves music, for instance, has entered a comfortable place for me.

A Semi-sweet Ending

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     As his shaky finger moved unsurely toward the ENTER key on his laptop he closed his eyes. Then with a shallow but intentional certainty he pressed it. This will relieve my suffering. This will release the world from the burden of my existence. The next few moments were filled with a swell of chaos and noise eventually subsiding to reveal his lifeless body, completely unnoticed, lying just in front of the trash-strewn table. This is how he had always figured he would go, and if he were here to see how well his plan had worked he would have been pleased.

     The plan was hatched months earlier after someone had poisoned his little puppy dog, removing the only bit of joy in his life. Now, the only question was how to move himself into the next stage of existence. "To launch oneself wholly into the spiritual realm from the physical would most appropriately be achieved by a wholly physical act of undisciplined lust for something in this material world", he thought.

    

Rewind to an hour ago as Harold, who is ostensibly ill today, is in the break room of the huge Caterpiller manufacturing facility in Illinois where he has worked for years. He is arranging the room to make retreat impossible once the flow of people has begun. With a company wide email invitation completed now and only the SEND command left to accomplish he takes a box from the large plastic bag and sets it on the table just behind him. Now, all that is left is to send the notice of the free donuts in the break room.
 

Look Out Rusty Eck Ford

It's a done deal now. The state of Kansas has successfully slipped its foot in the door of a room any government would love to have access to. With relatively little commotion in the local media and with the usual vagueness that comes with the ostensibly compelling arguments offered by politicians the state has laid claim to KTA resources. Now comes the easy job of misusing the language to demonstrate how much money the state will save over the next couple of years to go along with the misuse of language they used to get the bill passed. "No KTA fares will go to state projects". Give me a break. Fares are, in fact, what give the turnpike its very life. If you use KTA equipment and personnel on state projects you are using money from KTA patrons. Where do you think the money comes from to buy the truck and pay the salary of the workers? What money the Turnpike gleans from selling ads or fibers from their private computer network are of minimal substance financially and simply help keep our fares among the lowest, (if not "the" lowest), in the turnpike world. Can the state find some "savings" by using KTA resources? Gosh, I hope so. Could I save money if someone else paid my electric bills? Using the state's logic the next step will likely be to pass a law requiring Rusty Eck Ford's repair shop to start servicing 20 state vehicles a month. It seems to me that could save the state some money too. And don't worry, the state wouldn't think of taking money from the patrons already using their services. No, really.