Test Drives Were Never This Electric

   The trick to getting people into electric cars is to get them to try them. Electrics are superior. They are much better than gasoline vehicles. 
   So, if this is true, all we need to do is get everyone to try out an electric. Test drive, test drive.
   A national campaign stirring people up to get in and try out the electric? That sounds like a capital good idea. Flood the media and internet with a promo that exclaims, "Try it! You'll like it!" Nothing sells without good advertising, so promos, promos, promos.
   When you have the better product, proclaim it.
   How far the dealerships go with the test drives would be up to them, but encourage them to provide those coming in for the test drives with a list of charging stations in town, so they can run out and see that recharging doesn't have to be a problem. Maybe even let them take a home-charger home so they can take the car home and see how convenient it is to charge it.
   "Test drives were never this electric!" another promo could proclaim.
   You've got to sell your product if you are going to sell it, meaning you've got to make all the sales points if you are going to make the sale.
   And nothing would be so convincing as a test drive.

(Index -- Climate change info)

We Should Listen to Merriam-Webster, after All

    One senator -- that would be Mike Lee out of Utah -- suggests Donald Trump should not be excluded from the ballot due to insurrection because, well, none of the defendants in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol were convicted of insurrection.
   Seditious conspiracy, yes, but not insurrection. We will wonder, though, but what they aren't basically the same thing.
   Those who do not like Trump being removed from the ballot also note that Trump hasn't been convicted of insurrection. How can you remove him from the ballot until the legal system finds him guilty? Due process, you know. 
    The simple answer to that is that it is the courts who are disbarring him. It is the state supreme court that disbarred him in Colorado, and the disbarment in Maine will not take effect unless and until the state court determines he is guilty. That is due process. That is the courts determining guilt. 
   But wait, the U.S. Code spells the crime out this way: "Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States."
   Has Trump been convicted in that fashion? Does he have 10 years coming? No. Will he be convicted in that fashion in Maine or Colorado? No. But, perhaps he and the rioters should have been charged with insurrection or rebellion.  The reason they weren't probably is because it is hard to get a conviction for insurrection. You basically have to prove intent to try to frustrate or subvert the government. "Intent" can be a difficult word to prove. The defendants would say they were just protesting a farce election, that's all. 
   So, they were marched off to jail on lesser charges: entering a restricted area, impeding an official proceeding, etc.
    Dictionaries don't convict. At least not usually. Merriam-Webster defines insurrection as, "an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government." 
   If you are thinking this leaves Trump off the hook, you are wrong. The U.S. Constitution says anyone who has taken an oath of office to defend the U.S. and then engages in insurrection -- and it uses that word without defining it -- cannot be an officer of the United States. If the Constitution does not define what insurrection is, that leaves it to the dictionary to do so. Merriam-Webster gets a voice in the matter, after all.
   And, here's an additonal thought: Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment does not apply to the defendants of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. There is no reason to bar them from holding office, and that is what the amendment is all about.
   But, Trump? Yes, it applies to him. And since the Fourteenth Amendment is a separate law from what is in the U.S. Code, it does not need to answer to the U.S. Code. It is a higher law and not subject to it. Trump does not need to be charged or convicted of a violation of the U.S. penal code. No, he can be guilty of violating the U.S. Constitution. That is quite enough.
    He needs to answer to the Constitution, and stop trying to shift the issue to the U.S. Code. Federal laws cannot shield you from the Constitution. 
 

The Constitition Keeps Coming Up

  Trump wants to run for president, but the Constitution keeps coming  up.
  It's pretty plain, clear and specific: "No person shall . . . hold any office . . . having previously taken an oath . . . (who has) engaged in insurrection or rebellion."
   Today, an election officer in Maine called out the president on this disqualifying matter. She said he will not be allowed to run in the state's primary unless the state's supreme court rules otherwise. That makes Colorado and Maine states that have said no to Trump and his insurrection, no to him being on the ballot.
   And, it's not over. There are another 48 states and the District of Columbia left. Yes, he just wants to run  for president, but how many times is this obstacle going to come up? How many times is this language in Constitution going to triffle with him?
    You can almost hear the election officials saying, "Mr. Trump, I know you want on our ballot, but we've got this little matter called the Constitution, Sorry, but it says no."

 

The Butcher of the Amazon is None Other than Man Himself

    It is said that we don't need to worry about climate change because the earth takes care of itself. Mother Nature fixes all problems, or so the theory goes. 
   Well, back in March, a study from Ohio State University showed the forest-growing season has inceased by a month since the turn of the 20th Century. You got it: As global warming set in, the warming increased the time span from budburst to peak leaf. More trees are on the way, and that means more carbon dioxide being sucked out of the air.  
   But, no, this does not mean we do not need to worry about global warming. It does not mean we can just turn things over to Mother Nature and she will lift us out of our troubles. The harmful effects of global warming are not going to wait the thousands of years it would take for the additional trees to eat up the CO2 we have injected into the air. Plus, consider that with global warming has come more forest fires.
   Up with the trees, down with the trees.
   Man had better do all he can to get us out of this mess. He got us into it, and it is  he who must get us out. Man is clearing out so many trees to make room for development that the world's tree coverage is decreasing.
   If trees were humans, would this be the world's largest genocide. And the butcher of the Amazon Rainforest is none other than man himself.  

(Index -- Climate change info)

Add Another Year-End List: This One for Mothers Who Die Giving Birth

   There are a lot of year-end lists. I would propose one more: a list honoring all the mothers who died while giving birth to a child.  
   No less than 861 mothers died in 2020, which is the most-recent year I am finding. That is 17-18 per state, so it becomes workable to print short statements honoring each.
   Mothers are one of the greatest treasures society has. When we lose them, it is right to morn. When they give their lives attempting to give life to others,  it is a noble tragedy. Let us bless their memory.

AI Could Help Stop Retail Theft

    We could catch a lot of those store thieves who use our cards. A data system -- what we need is a data system.
    Many stores -- I know Walmart does -- have video cameras filming the cashier aisles. You tell the security officer the date and time, and he can produce a video of the transaction and give it to the police.
    The police could help us here, if they were just to use AI. Then, matches could be made with other fraudulent transactions in the state, whether at banks or at other stores. Even a list of possible matching driver's licenses could be generated.
    Currently, the police do little. If you are lucky, they will go pick up the video and put it in the case file, but it rarely goes further than that. The case is closed. This should not be. We could catch many of these criminals. 

This Christmas, Bless the Peacemakers

 Christmas is a tough time for peacekeepers. Like the line from the song says,  "'There is no peace on earth,' I said."
  From Ukraine to Israel, war rages. 
  But, If we cannot stop war, we should stop long enough this Christmas Day to thank those who are the peacekeepers, those who negotiate for peace, those who free the prisoners and hostages, and those who provide humanitarian assistance.
   Henry Wadsworth Longfellow concluded his poem with hope. 
     "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
     "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
      "The Wrong shall fail,
      "The Right prevail,
      "With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Place Gay History in the History Books

   Despite all the backlash against the discrimination of Blacks and Native Americans being in history books, we need to go one step further: Place the history of the LGBTQ community in American history books. Give it a chapter.
   You do not need to approve of the lifestyle to appreciate that gays have been persecuted. The history of America is much an account of a search for human rights, and a search for equality. LGBTQ rights are part of that. 
   Include in the history books an account of how this affected religions. Religions should not be forced to accept gay marriages. They should be allowed to believe as they choose to believe, and if they believe gay relations are wrong, that should be there right. Put the story of their struggling for this right also in the history books.
   The efforts of female athletes to compete just against those of their birth gender also belongs in the history books. 

In not Allowing Diversity, We Play to Socialism

   "California town proposes ban on Pride, Black and women's history celebrations," says a headline.
If I'm reading them right, this is their logic: We are all Americans. We are not Blacks and Jews and Mexicans, but Americans. Separating us out only leads to division; If you allow Pride, Black, and women's celebrations, it will will be divisive. We are not Jews, and Blacks, and Mexicans; we are Americans. There is no room for individuality; you are only part of the whole. 
   My view is different. I would suggest when you celebrate the part, you celebrate the whole. The individual parts impart flavor and richness and make the whole more of a treasure.
   I think of a dance troupe, and how the group stops dancing to watch just a single dancer step forward and perform. Or, of a choir, which allows one of its members to sing a solo part. 
   What are we seeking? A homogenized society? I cannot help but notice the likeness to a socialistic society, where it is suggested the individual must not have his or her own possessions, but everything must be had in common. The individual must serve for the greater good of the whole. He or she must give up personal rights for the benefit of the greater society. 
   In opposing celebrations of women's rights, and African-American rights, are we suggesting women and African-Americans have no right to tell their stories? We would deny them those rights? This is an error, for the rights of humankind include the right to speak of the wrongs that have been committed.
   Or, are we just saying that to point out how they have been discriminated against only creates animosity? Is that what we are suggesting is divisive? Are we saying it only makes White males look bad, and that will only stir up divisions and hatred? Not allowing someone to recount their history is a form of discrimination, in and of itself. If history books can speak of how England violated the rights of the colonists, they can also speak of how the rights of the American Natives were violated.
   What is meant only to be inclusive, need not be seen as divisive. We would but to celebrate the different members of our society -- welcome them and let them tell their stories -- but there are those that reply that those stories are not welcome here.
   "Here" being America, they should be.

Climate Change: Do We Toot Our Own Horn too Loudly?

 The U.S. leads the world in reducing pollution. We are doing our share. It's the other countries that are dropping the ball. We produce the cleanest gasoline on earth. We cause the least pollution when we mine. We lead the world, we lead the world, we lead the world . . .

That is what many of our leaders are telling us. But is it so. Are we really so perfect as that? Or do we toot our own horn a little too loudly? Maybe even much too loudly?

Yes, it is true that we don't even produce half the pollution that China does, but China has a billion more people. If you break it down per capita, our CO2 emissions are twice those of China -- twice, 15.32 tons per capita to 7.44 for China. 

How good are we doing now?

Which country has banned the sale of new ICE vehicles for 2025? That would be Norway. In the U.S., the sale of ICE vehicles is still on an upward climb.

Which country ia most nearly converted to nuclear energy? The U.S. is respectable, getting 18.2 percent of its energy from nuclear. But a number of countries are way, way ahed, the list topped by Ukraine at 55 percent, Slovakia at 59.2 percent, and France at 62.6 percent.

Wind power? It accounts for 56 percent of Denmark's energy, 40 percent of Uruguay's, and 36 percent of Lithuania's. The U.S.? A comparatively feable 10 percent. 

Only 3.9 percent of the U.S. energy portfolio comes from solar; a whopping 40 percent comes from natural gas.

The U.S. always tries to be number 1. When it comes to producing green energy, however, we are failing. 

(Index -- Climate change info)

What the Constitution Says, It Says

Our governor, Spencer Cox, says he believes Trump should be allowed on the Colorado ballot. His reasoning is that when it is a close call -- things to be said on both sides of the issue -- you should let the voters decide. 

That's a nice sentiment, but I wonder if there is not a more thoughtful criteria.

The Constitution says, "No person . . .  having previously taken an oath . . .  shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion." That's it, then. We either follow the Constitution or we don't. 

The analysts are saying the Colorado court's ruling will popularize Trump, vindicating his claim that he is being persecuted. True, true. It stirs up his supporters. It becomes a rallying point for further rebellion. Still, what the Constitution says, it says.

Some congressional leaders are suggesting passing a law to reinstate him on the ballot. Congressional laws cannot override the Constitution. 

In the end, Trump will be on the ballot. The Supreme Court, being mostly Republican, will step in and change the lower court's decision. 

 

An Inglorious Moment

    More oil is being produced by the United States than by any country at any time in history.
   Congratulations to the Biden administration. The 13.3 billion barrels a day for the final quarter of the year is just better than the previous record of 13.1 billion barrels produced during the Trump administration.
   I say congratulations, but I do not mean it. The Biden administration has done much to lay claim as the Green administration. But, now this.
  An inglorious moment.

(Index -- Climate change info)

Our Nation's Leader Calls Out Trump on His Un-American Comment

   Ah, we've got a responder. Just a couple days after Donald Trump said immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country," one of our nation's leaders has called him out for it.
   Fascist, white supremist rhetoric, the White House called it.
  "Echoing the grotesque rhetoric of fascists and violent white supremacists and threatening to oppress those who disagree with the government are dangerous attacks on the dignity and rights of all Americans, on our democracy, and on public safety," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.
   The White House could have expressed itself with a greater gift of outrage. For as awful of a comment as Trump made, pure outrage was and is warranted.
   No matter, at least one of our nation's leaders has finally stood up against the Trump comment. When a leading candidate for president calls for ethnic cleansing, and our leaders give it no notice, shrug it off, we should be concerned. 

We Wait for the Backlash

    Lost in a sea of other comments is Trump's comment that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country." While we wait to see if America's leaders will take umbrage to the new and distastful comment, we wonder if they are just so used to him saying disgusting things that they are beyond shock. They see no need to call him out on this because they've already called him out on everything else.
   Not so. His new comment is so egregious that it deserves its own backlash, and it should be a massive backlash. 
   Ethnic cleansing -- that is when you call for the removal of an ethnic group. 
   Governors, senators, representatives, and the current president should all be recoiling. The calls should be coming from both sides of the aisle. Being a patriot demands it. When the fabric and freedom and future of your nation are at risk, you have a patriot's obligation to call out such a comment. Trump's comment is so set against all that America stands for that, yes, the shock should reverberate. You stand up for America's values when you are an American. Are we doing that?

Unfathonable that Trump Would Say Such a Thing

   When a candidate speaks like this, how can voters not abandon him? 
   Undocumented immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country," Donald Trump proclaimed Saturday. He's not talking of them being terrorists or rapists. No, he is suggesting that they will intermingle with the rest of us, and their blood will poison the blood of our nation.
   Almost unfathonable that he would say such a thing. And, it should be unfathonable that voters would not rush to drop him like a hot coal. But his followers will continue to follow. We will wait and see, but his campaign will probably not experience so much as hiccup.
   

For the Good of Your Health, Tax Plastics

   There was a day, you know, when everything was packaged in paper or bottles, not plastic. Bring back that day -- or try to bring it back -- by taxing producers who package their items in plastic.
    Plastic: It clogs our oceans, and sea life chokes on it. As plastic degrades, small particles are released -- some in the water and some in the air. The effects on human life have not been fully studied, but we know they can get into the organs, damaging them.
   So tax them. Tax plastics. If a bottle of milk or a bottle of Coke was once the way it was done, make it so again. Can you imagine how much plastic would be eliminated if everything from syrup to hot sauce was packaged in bottles?
   The harms of plastic are clear. Why we do not legislate against it, I do not understand. 

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The Spirit of Christmas is This

   If you believe in what Christmas is all about, don't get upset when someone says, "Happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." Don't lecture them on how we need to put Christ back in Christmas.
  No, let Christmas be a time that unites humanity, not divides.
  Peace on Earth? Goodwill to men? A love of all? There is little of those things in scolding others for not believing as you do. If you choose to bicker, you don't choose the spirit of Christmas, for the spirit of Christmas is not the insistence that others believe as you do, it is the allowance that they may believe differently.  

i

If News Stories Can't Find Them as Terrorists, Why Insist They Are?

   As a reader, I wonder, why do not the news stories of the migrants pouring across our borders tell of the drugs that are found on them? 
   There are a lot of reasons that people oppose allowing the migrants into the United States: They are drug traffickers, they are terrorists, they are rapists, etc. Let's stop and think: Most of them cross into America with the border guards watching, allowing the guards to take them in so they can apply for asylum. I just wonder why story-after-story-after doesn't say: Of the migrants who arrived today, this much fentanyl and this much methamphetamine, and this much cocaine was found on them.
   Why? 
   You know that if the drugs are found on them, the border agents will not go without reporting it. It isn't going to happen. So why don't we hear of these reports? Why? Could it be because the drugs coming into the United States are finding entrance in other ways and not on the backs of the asylum seekers?
   Terrorists and rapists? Yes, the good number of the immigrants are allowed to continue into America to await full trial. Yes, but before they are, they are checked in by the border agents. There is a process. Do they simply take names and that's it -- they are allowed in with no more checking than that? I am a news reader. The stories are not so clear. But I do wonder why, if more checking is not done at that point, why it isn't. Why can't you vet them right at that point, screening out the terrorists and rapists right at the border? It doesn't make sense to me to just let them pass and say, We'll do that later.
    And once they get to those immigrant courts in Chicago, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, and so many other cities -- if there are the places they are vetted -- why don't we read stories of how many were revealed to be possible terrorists? Why don't we read about how many of them had criminal records in the countries they were coming from?
   Well, why?
   You don't like these people flowing freely into America. You've made that very clear. You suggest they are drug traffickers, terrorists and rapists. I'm not so sure they are. To me it seems a ruse, an excuse for not letting them in. If these are just people coming to work, coming to join family, and coming to be part of the American dream, why refuse them?
   Read the news stories. If the news stories are unable to report they are drug traffickers, terrorists and rapists, shouldn't you be a little wary of whether those accusations are true?

For all the Study We've Done, We've not Done Study Enough

    Diets, we haven't studied them enough -- weight loss, that is. For all the myriad of programs, devices and studies, study has not been study enough. 
   Here's one angle I want further searched: Is hunger the product of not eating enough to maintain the weight you have? That might seem an easy enough question to answer, but let's have further study, the same. Let's research how holding back on eating creates a need to splurge on eating -- on how it creates an insatiability.
   And how do you overcome such a hungering? If hunger is eating less food than what you need to maintain your weight, how are you ever supposed to lose weight? It has been said time and again that a starvation diet sooner or later ends with the person putting the weight right back on. Can we study that -- more? What percentage of time does it happen, and -- if there are times when it doesn't -- what makes the difference? Study attitudes. Study what the person tells themselves and whether they feel they are putting themselves through the wringer or whether there are some who teach themselves it is fun to go without food.
   Yes, a good study of losing weight is going to take a deep look at all the actors and factors: too much starch, not getting enough fiber, what and how much is eaten when you first get up and whether you eat just before going to bed, genetics, exercise, sleep, whether you abandon sugar or how much sugar you allow yourself, peer pressure, weight-shaming, etc.  
These are questions you say have already been answered. I say they need more study. For all the study we've done, we've not done study enough. And with all the study we do, study the attitudes and persistence of those who have overcome.

 

Biden is Dramatically Upping Our Game

    The things the Biden administration just did to address climate change are of no small significance. Look at the commitments at the recent international meeting on climate conference, the COP28 meeting held in Dubai.
   1.) No more new coal plants. We are done building them. And the existing ones? We are going to put a nice set of new restrictions on them.
  Coal plants spew billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year, accounting for an estimate 26 percent of global emissions. If we can end the coal-plant reign, it will go a long way toward freeing the world from greenhouse emissions. 
   2.) We will impose sharp new restrictions on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.
   These moves by the Biden administration are drawing an angered response from many. "Eliminating methane is a de facto ban on natural-gas power plants," says a New York Post article. The article goes on to note that 40 percent of the nation's energy comes from natural gas. It says another 20 percent comes from coal-powered plants. Together, that is 60 percent of America's energy that is being swept away. The Post warns the Biden administration mandates "might just destroy the 21st-century American industrial economy as we know it."
   "Eradicating coal and natural gas plants will ravage America's electric-power capacity," the Post warns "These regulations will cause rolling blackouts and brownouts across the country."
   While the Post might be joining Chicken Little in a the-sky-is-falling mentality, things are not so dire. Although the Post suggests that wind and solar are not as dependable, a mix of wind, solar, geothermal, and nuclear (and perhaps some others) can reliably replace fossil fuels. Why does the Post say otherwise? Well, for one thing, the author of the article is an official at the Heritage Foundation, which has been funded by ExxonMobil. What do we expect the oil industry to say?
   These moves by the Biden administration are significant, and they come at a time experts on climate change are warning that we must dramatically up our game if we are to avoid severe climate-change damages. But the Biden administration efforts will be swept away with the stroke of a pen if Trump gets back in the White House. And other Republican candidates are sure to do the same if they are elected. It becomes imperative that Biden is reelected. His line-in-the-sand approach to climate change is vital. 

(Index -- Climate change info)

Free the Gazans

    How is this happening? The Gazans, desperate for some place to escape to, have no where to go. They are surrounded by Arab nations, yet none of those nations are offering to take them in. Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia (and others)  should be saying, Hey, come live with us. We like you. We're your friends.
   There is no good reason the Gazans cannot be taken in by one of these countries. 
   Maybe the West Bank could even take them in, if Israel would leave the West Bank alone.
   International pressure should be raining down on Egypt and other countries, clamoring nonstop for the neighboring Arab nations to accept their own. International pressure is vital. We should shame these nations for not accepting their own. Shame them into taking in the Gazans.
   And, if Israel is concerned about Hamas soldiers sneaking in among the Gazan citizens, let them interview and vet them. Fair enough?

Cheney Personifies the Patriot

    When history sweeps its eyes backward to our day, considering who our greatest patriots were, perhaps no name shall so illuminate as that of Liz Cheney. In a day when our freedom was challenged, when the forces of dictatorship had somehow crept up in the very land of liberty, it has been Cheney, as much as any, who has boldly called them out, sacrificing her political career for the ideal that was -- and hopefully will remain -- America.

Cheney-Hutchinson Could be a Sizzling-Hot Ticket

 They are both women. They both have memoirs out blasting Donald Trump.  And, with Liz Cheney already indicating she might make a presidential run, Cassidy Hutchinson should join her on the ticket.
Cheney-Hutchinson. 
 Has there ever been a presidential ticket featuring two women? Obviously there hasn't been from the two major parties, but how about any such ticket at all?
  OK, it is not such a rarity in spite of what you might think; it has happened at least 20 times since Belva Ann Lockwood and Marietta Stow joined up on the Equal Rights Party in 1884. 
  But Cheney-Hutchinson would probably have more firepower than any such ticket yet -- by far. It would have the potential of almost being a viable ticket, capable of actually winning the White House. A long stretch, but still possible.
   So, let former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson join former Congresswoman Liz Cheney on what just might be a sizzling-hot ticket. 

Hold Mike Johnson Responsible for Obstruction of Justice

Isn't this obstruction of justice? House Speaker Mike Johnson says footage from the Jan. 6 attack will be blurred to protect the rioters from being charged with crimes. 

You will say, Wait, wait, wait. It isn't that Republicans want to protect the participants from legal action -- the DOJ already has access to the unblurred images -- it just wants to protect the participants from retaliation from the radical liberal left.

Really? we must ask. Online sleuths have already been extremely helpful in identifying Jan. 6 participants, using footage they have been able to access to identify the rioters. That information has been turned over to the DOJ to help with the prosecution. Don't throw a ruse at us by supposing you only want to protect the rioters from return violence. Your deceit as to what you are trying to protect is clear.

Obstruction of justice includes influencing, impeding, and interfering with the wheels of justice. Mike Johnson might want to throw a wrench into the justice system, but he is legally and morally wrong for doing so.

If Biden Over Trump is the Choice, We Must Choose Biden

    Joe Biden is not as dire of a prospect as many would have you believe. But those who favor Trump -- realizing how dark of a person he is -- try to paint Biden as even darker. 
   Painters who only use black paint cannot paint a bright America, especially if they are painting over the truth with their charcoal coating. Biden is not as flawed and worthless as all that -- he is not so dark -- and he certainly is not so bad that Trump should be considered as a viable option.
  "(Donald Trump) is an acceptable alternative. He is not the lesser of two evils; he is completely unfit for office," Liz Cheney says.
   And she is right. 
   If Trump is the only other stallion in the stable, don't make the mistake of trotting him out. If he wins the race, the race is lost. America has always been a winning entry, but will collapse down the stretch if Trump is elected.

All Someone Looking for a Program Needs is a Little Help from Friends

   Promises, promises. There must be hundreds of weight-loss programs in the U.S., and they all promise to melt the flab right off your waistline. Now, you can put down $120 a shot on them to see if any of them work. We are desperate to lose our guts. We'll try everything and take a chance on just about anything.
   $59 here -- but, no, that one didn't work. $149 here -- but, no, that one didn't work, either. But, how about this one? It's only $99.95 and, like the others, it comes with a money-back guarantee. 

   Would someone please step in and help the guy who just wants to drop a little weight? He just needs someone to help him wind his way through the maze of programs. Which ones work and which ones don't?
   There are two ways of going about this:
   One, Create a federal agency to go in and evaluate the programs, reporting on which ones are effective and which ones aren't.
   Two, Create a website where consumers can report their experiences and discuss the products. To prevent the companies from overloading the results, list one testimonial for the program, and then one against it. When it gets to the point where just positive testimonials are left, print them all. By that time, the consumer will have already decided whether he or she is going to trust that program.

The Colors of Our Leaders are Showing at Our Southern Border

   Eagle Pass, Texas: Customs and Border Protection suspends traffic coming into the U.S. to free up agents to handle the high volume of migrants crossing the border.
   San Antonio, Texas: The Migrant Resource Center is flooded beyond capacity, with hundreds left to sleep in the parking lot. 
   Lukeville, Arizona: The surge of immigrants across a stretch of the border is so heavy that about 4,000 agents are required to deal with it.
   Incidents such as these highlight the failure of our processing of immigrants all across our southern border. There are so many seeking entry, the system cannot handle them. So, what should we do? Construct a steel barricade to prevent entry? Throw up barb wire fences in the middle of the Rio Grande? Those efforts do not address the humanitarian need to process the immigrants in an orderly fashion, to help them, to improve their living conditions as they arrive.
   Yes, there is a crisis at our border, but it is not the crisis of terrorists entering America. This is no invasion. Nor is it a crisis of drugs entering the U.S. That is a separate issue being carried out by a separate group of people. These are people coming with few drugs. These immigrants just want to live in the U.S., work in the U.S., and join family members in the U.S.  
   No, this is a humanitarian crisis. It is a test of America's resolve to care for a people. It is a test of whether America desires to help immigrants who are in need. I'd say we are failing the test. As they pour in, we heap upon them our contempt. Are these our true colors? Is this who America really is? Or is the showing of colors just a display of the colors of those who are running our nation?

Rich Homeowners Could Make a Real Difference in Climate Change

 A new and very meaningful form of philanthropy: The rich give up their expansive and expensive homes in the hills to live in small, simple homes next to the companies they own. They walk to work instead of driving.
A very Spartan existence, to them.
One of the causes of climate change is the amount of household goods in the homes of the rich. If you want all the niceties, you must manufacture them -- and that takes energy, which means more climate-changing emissions being poured into the atmosphere.
   Just so the rich can live a lavish lifestyle.
   Large homes also require more heating and air conditioning. Tell me that doesn't run up the energy bill and require greenhouse emissions. 
   If the rich were humble, if only they could live like commoners.
   If they could move into the cities, right next to their offices, if they could walk to work like commoners. 
   No drive, no pollution. Fancy cars left in their garages mean less pollution in the skies above.
   The rich could become philanthropists. They could make life easier for everyone else by making it harder for themselves. They could slice a nice-sized chunk out of the world of climate-changing emissions.   

(Index -- Climate change info)

A Good Fight Against Climate Change Includes Dense Cities

   If you want to improve air quality, increase the density of our cities. Packing everyone tightly into the cities is one of the most meaningful ways we could fight climate change. A car that doesn't drive into work because the owner instead chooses to walk isn't going to do much polluting.
   So, bring the people close enough to their job sites that they don't need to drive.
   And that means employers should factor in where their new hires will be living when they hire them. Two candidates being reasonably equal, hire the one that lives the closest.
    The whole business permit/building license/business permit/zoning process should revolve around this matter.You want to build an office complex? Are there enough housing units within walking distance or are you willing to build them? You want a building permit to build 200 housing units? Is there a nearby employer to accommodate? If we designate an area for businesses, do we also designate accompanying land for residential development so those businesses can employ people who will walk to work?
   Cars account for a large share of greenhouse emissions. Our efforts to fight climate change would vastly improve if we, in a wise way, increased city density.

(Index -- Climate change info)

  

   

Let Them Work, Let Them Work, Let Them Work -- and the Crisis Will be Over

    Just let them work, if you don't want a humanitarian crisis. Read the opening couple of paragraphs from a New York Post article and decide what should be done. Tell me that giving them jobs is not the answer.
   "Hundreds of migrants trying to get back into the Big Apple's overwhelmed shelter system have been flooding an East Village block as Mayor Eric Adams warned the crisis would soon be more visible than ever, The Post has learned.
   "The scores of asylum seekers lining the sidewalk on East 7th Street near Tomkins Square Park are among the thousands forced to reapply for temporary housing after being booted under the administration's 30-day cap on shelter stays."
   Mayor Adams should be fuming. He should be upset that we can't give these people jobs. If you allow these immigrants to work, they wouldn't need to jam your shelters. Adams should be yelling at President Biden, shouting at Congress, and making all kinds of noise in the national media, demanding that the broken system be fixed and the immigrants be allowed to work.
   There is nothing wrong with these poor people coming to America. We can raise false alarms and say the sky is falling.  But, no, we will survive quite well if these poor people are allowed a spot in America.
   When they want to work and are willing to work, let them. Tell me why we do not allow this?
   If you want to be set in your ways and determined to deport them after their hearings, be such a jerk. But, in the meantime, let them work, let them pay their way, let them earn a living so they won't have to depend on a government handout. 

This Would Fight Human Trafficking as Much as Anything

   A great way to encourage human trafficking is to deport the undocumented among us. And, yes, I'm chiding you. I'm not joking, but I am chiding. I'm correcting you -- maybe even mocking you.
  When traffickers run across immigrants who are here illegally, they threaten to turn them in if they won't work for them at reduced rates. Yes, it does happen. A news story on the radio today discussed it. It suggested this is one of the most common forms of human trafficking in Utah -- making them work cheaply in exchange for not being turned in.
  The poor foreign laborer cannot reject the offer. If they say, No, thanks; I already have a job, the extorters simply tell them they will turn them in if they don't make a rapid change of employers.
   You want to do away with human trafficking in the United States? One of the most meaningful things you could do would be to legalize immigration and legalize their right to work. Globally, about 25 million people are subjected to human trafficking and forced labor. This need not be. We could wipe out one of the largest (if not the largest) causes of human trafficking if we would just let people live, just let them work. We are talking about some of the poorest people on earth. The traffickers haul away with an estimate $150 billion in illicit profits at their expense each year. We are responsible for this. We created this system. It is us who gave the predators the leverage to exploit these poor from other countries.
   We aren't too smart, but we sure are self-righteous. All the while we are accommodating the traffickers -- all the while we are making it so miserable on the immigrants -- we are calling them names, demeaning them and making sure they realize they don't belong here. 
   We treat them as criminals, but it is we who are better fit to the description.  

Some Say We Should not be Gardeners, but We Should

 

   "Nature does not need our help. We are not supposed to be getting involved tending it like a garden." So are the words of Chad Hanson, director of the John Muir Project, a group that contests the National Park Service's efforts to replant seedlings in the wake of the wildfires from 2020 and 2021 in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
   The Parks Service this fall announced plans for the seedling-planting project, saying it was concerned that the natural process might not be sufficient due to the unprecedented number of reproductive trees that were destroyed.
   I tend to side with the Parks Service. Humankind is affecting our planet. When we, as humans, cause harm, we should try to repair that harm. Left to themselves, the forests might go through cycles of regrowth in a productive manner. But the forests are not being left to themselves. Our actions are hurting them.
  You could look at this from a biblical approach, noting God instructed man to "have dominion over the fish of the seas, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
  The John Muir spokesperson compared the earth to a garden. "We are not supposed to be getting involved tending it like a garden," he said. Of interest, when Adam and Eve were created, their first heritage was a garden, the Garden of Eden, and they were told to till the land and to take care of it. It became a commandment to garden it. Humankind has always been gardeners for this planet. It has been a trust from the Lord to care for this world -- and that includes taking care of the trees in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

(Index -- Climate change info)

We License Lawlessness by not Punishing People Who Steal $100

   Scenario: Victim named Paige allows friend to use her cell phone. On the phone, there is an app where she places money. (I'm not good with understanding apps, but I am told it is called a cash app.) The friend gets into the app and steals $100.  Paige calls police. Police say there is nothing they can do: it's a civil matter.
   No, it's a crime. Stealing $100 is a crime. Call it petty theft or call it what you want, but it's a crime. Our courts might be so overloaded they cannot deal with such cases, but it is a crime.
   Hire more judges. 
   Hire more prosecutors.
   Hire more police officers.
   Whatever it takes, do something.
   When my friend Paige told me of the theft, I urged her to call the cops, I told her, yes, I wanted her to have justice with the lady who stole the money from her. But I also wanted to see what cops would do. I knew -- I knew they would file a report and that would be the end of it, but I wanted to see if that, indeed, would be all that came of it, just to verify what a deep hole our legal system has fallen  into.
   Taking $100 off of someone's cash app? It's called theft. Yes, officer, it is a crime. The idea behind having police officers in the first place is to protect us from crime. You aren't doing it; you aren't protecting us. If we allow elements of our society to go free when they commit crimes, we license lawlessness. We are not a third-world country; America should be a country where the law is enforced. 
   But a lot of the time, it isn't.

The Gambling House Called Antarctica

    "We absolutely need to act immediately." With those words, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleads for the icy tundra of Antartica. In the age of climate warming, it is the fastest warming place on earth. "What happens in Antartica doesn't stay in Antartica," he says.
   In the fashion of Vegas, the we are gambling with the world's climate. The ice and the cold waters in the Antarctic Peninsula drive the oceans currents and regulate the world's climate.
   Draw your cards. Roll the dice. Pull the lever. Gamble with the world's fate, if you will. You can get rid of greenhouse gases, if you will. You can end the world's dependence on fossil fuels. Or you can gamble. You can play Russian roulette. Go ahead an take your pick and live with the consequences.

(Index -- Climate change info) 

For Rule not by Constitution, but by Hatred, Cast Your Vote for Trump

    Is he going to be satisfied with building a wall? No. Trump is threatening mass deportations, ending birthright citizenship, and banning Muslims. His measures will not be compassionate, but they will certainly be swift.
   Banning birthright citizenship is not even Constitutional -- but no matter. Trump won't let a paper document stand in his way.
   He stirs up animosity toward the immigrant -- hatred and contempt.
   If you want a nation ruled not by the Constitution, but by hatred, vote for Trump.

A Nice, Big, Bang of a Thanksgiving Meal for the Migrants

 

   If these migrants at the border are in need, if they are poor and afflicted and persecuted . . .
   And because is it is nice to be good, and charitable, and caring to them . . .
   And, because it is Thanksgiving  . . .
   Well, I kind of wish some group here would get a bunch of Thanksgiving dinners over to them. 
   Reach out to those in need, America. We give to the homelesss on Thanksgiving. I just think it would be nice to give to the migrants, as well. They are also poor. Not everyone is fond of them, but some of us are. They have marched across the desert, suffering much affliction, just to arrive at the border where they must wait.
   I would imagine there are organizations that help feed them, regularly. But how about a nice, big, bang of a Thanksgiving meal? Perhaps they do get such a meal. But  if they don't, they should.

The Release of 150 Hostages is not Enough

 Not enough, the 50 hostages who are to be released in Gaza. There are 240 of them. We should thank the negotiators who arranged for the 50 releases, but it would have been better had they been able to secure the release of all 240. The news stories I have read did not explore what prevented all 240 from being released.
Also, I was surprised to learn the 150 persons who Israel is releasing in exchange are also all women and children, same as the prisoners Hamas will be releasing. I am surprised Israel captures women and children. Perhaps doing so helps in exchanges such as this, though. It will be interesting to learn how Israel has treated these prisoners.
And also, would it have been possible to get all 240 of the hostages released  if they were exchanged for Hamas soldiers? If so, it would appear that should have been done. 

Narrowing News to One Side is Not How We Practice Free Speech

    The warriors of words fight not on the battlefield, but on social media, at public protests, and in the news media. Among them are those that are reliable and those that aren't.
   News was once just the facts, ma'am. Now its rich in opinion. It comes at you from the left, and it comes at you from the right. The two sides often do a better job stirring us up one against the other than they do of letting us know what is happening. 
  So why don't you learn how to tell a good news story from a bad one?
  1.) Note whether the story quotes people on both sides of the issue. 
  2.) Watch for the tone of the story. Does it give you the feeling that both sides make worthy points? Does it stir you to anger, or does it help you understand where both sides are coming from?
  3.) Does it draw conclusions without citing specific sources? 
  It is fine to have an opinion. It is fine to express it. And, when you see something wrong going on, of course you want to speak up against it. You might feel like you are to wear out your days speaking against that which is wrong. That's cool.
  But as for your source of getting your news before you arrive at your opinion, go with the sources that are even-handed. And don't write off news sources too quickly. Some will tell you not to listen to the main media, for itis not to be trusted. Instead of swallowing such a line, pick up and read their stories for yourself.  Does the story quote both sides? Does it go about its perusal of facts in a way that makes you feel you can understand how both sides feel? Does it rush to a conclusion without providing evidence? How about your current news source? Take its stories and judge it by the same standard.
   Listening to the liberal left or conservative right is fine, but to guide you through those outlets, find a news source that is balanced and unbiased. Don't be captured by opinions that tell you not to listen to the other side. Do your own thinking. Don't let others tell you how to think or where to get your news. You can pick up a story and read it and make a determination if it is a good article on your own.
   Our founding fathers knew well the power of the press. They knew it was the foundation of a free society. But I don't remember ever reading a quote from one of them suggesting that we must only listen to them, and to them alone. None of them turned you away from hearing both sides. So don't let the pundits of today convince you differently. Narrowing news to one side is not how we practice free speech.

 

Freedom was Never Meant to be the Mask of the Wicked

  Presidential aspirant Nikki Haley -- drawing a heavy backlash -- has suggested banning anonymity on social media. State who you are if you want to use those formats. She did back down some, saying she is only referring to banning foreign actors (like Russian, Iranian, and Chinese bots) from being anonymous.
  I'm onboard with her original proposal, though perhaps with provisions. We should be allowed to know who is speaking, who is attacking us. Slander and lies should not be allowed to hide behind a cloak of darkness. We expect transparency in government. We should expect of ourselves what we expect of government. Allow people to use pseudonyms, yes, but make it so those names can be traced down to real people. With freedom comes responsibility and freedom does not mean you can go around hurting people, lying and stirring up trouble without being held accountable. Crimes go unpunished when there is too much anonymity. Freedom was never meant to be the mask of the wicked. Honest people don't cower from being identified. 

Trump . . . the Only Candidate Running to Become Dictator

  Trump is at it again. Same stuff: praising dictators, saying they are better than America's leaders. 
  Speaking at a campaign rally Saturday, Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping as a "great guy." "What can I say? He runs 1.4 billion people with an iron hand," Trump said.
   Ruling 1.4 billion people with a the iron hand of a dictator is a good thing? Has any other American politician ever made such a suggestion? Trump trumps the worst of politicians.
   Trump also spoke of both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian President Viktor Orban, praising them for being among the "strongest leaders" in the world. There's that reference again: these leaders are great because they are strong and govern with an iron hand -- they are dictators.
   Say it ain't so! This guy is the leading candidate for president? People actually support a man who appears to aspire to become America's first dictator? Really? Seriously? How far has America fallen? America will cease to be America as we know it if Trump is elected. It will resemble Russia or China more than it does what is now known as the USA. 
   Bless us all. We are going to need it if this guy is elected.

Help Us Out, Here, With the Jan. 6 Video Footage You are Releasing

 You hear that House Speaker Mike Johnson is going to release 44,000 hours of video footage of the Jan. 6 riot? 
  First, he should consult with Capitol Police on which footage should be screened out so as to not compromise national security.
   Then -- will you agree? -- the 44,000 hours needs to be indexed and organized. There isn't a citizen in America who is going to comb through all 44,000 hours. You couldn't get through that much if you watched the videos day and night for years.
   Yes, we appreciate your releasing the footage, but could you get a large team of editors to comb through it for us? We want the footage that shows crimes allegedly being broken. We want another file containing footage of the 114 officers who were injured. That might be enough,because we realize this will take a lot of time, but if you do have the time and don't mind, how about all the footage following around some of the people who were convicted? 
   We want to see for ourselves what happened, but we won't have a prayer of doing that if it means sitting there for years watching the videos.

Reveling in Your Emotions is One of the Biggest Blessings of Our Age

 You could list the blessings of living in our modern day and come up with a magnificent assortment: Travel the world and get there in mere hours, visit national parks in all their splendor and beauty, watch creative TV shows and movies, attend sporting events, find almost anything on the Internet . . .
   Wait, you are leaving one of the biggest of bigs out: Music. And it is not just music. It's that you can turn to music to amplify your emotions. Back in the day, you couldn't just dial up a song on YouTube when you were feeling emotional.
   After all your long efforts and failures, will there come a time when things finally go right? Well, here's a song to express your emotions:

Now I believe there comes a time
When everything just falls in line
We live an' learn from our mistakes
The deepest cuts are healed by faith
Now I believe there comes a time
When everything just falls in line
We live an' learn from our mistakes
The deepest cuts are healed by faith
. . . I'm all fired up! (fired up, fired up)

   Let that song reflect your feelings; Let it express them. Emotions scream louder when you can pull such a song out and play it over and over and over -- all day long, if you want. In the old day, you could have this thought about how some day everything is going to turn out right, but it was nothing like this. 
   Oh, and there are a million songs about lost love and heartache. Listening to them over and over actually can make the heartache feel enjoyable.
   There are fanciful songs like "Up, Up, and Away," songs that welcome you to a new day like "Oh, What a Beautiful World," and inspiring songs like "The Impossible Dream." Life is lived at its fullest when feelings and emotions are reveled in, when you are buried in them like in the waves of the sea. When you can shout an emotion, or whisper a gentle feeling, that is life at the height of its sublimity.
   Thank YouTube for this; thank the old record player. Back in the day, they couldn't just snap their fingers and some genie would sweep their emotions off to an awaiting paradise. Make no mistake, this is one of the biggest blessings of our age.

 

Guns in the Hands of the Elderly can Lead to Suicides

   The older the man who owns a gun, the more likely he is to commit suicide? Guns abound among the elderly, and as factors such as depression, disease, disability, loss of spouse, and feelings of abandonment by family increase, the gun sit faithfully at hand, ready to be used. 
   Men tend to own guns more than women, so it is the men who face this danger.
   A new CDC study shows that men 85 and older are more at risk of gun suicide than any other age group.
   The proliferation of guns in America has its consequences. Make it convenient to kill ourselves, and eventually there will be a high volume of those who do.  

We Will Yet Pay for the Scoffing of those Who are Irresponsible

    And the people kept on going to their little league games, going out to shows, and feasting at their family dinners. 
   With no thought and no discussion -- and often no belief -- in the solemn threat against their world.
   One congressionally mandated report, according to CNN, "warned that even though planet-warming pollution in the US is slowly decreasing, it is not happening nearly fast enough to meet the nation's targets, nor is it in line with the UN-sanctioned goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius -- a threshold beyond which scientists warn life of Earth will struggle to cope."
   That, and many news stories like it, roused the populace very little. The masses were nonplussed. There was work to go to, sporting events to watch, more important matters to attend to. And a large force of the public urged the rest that there really wasn't anything to worry about anyway. It amounted to just a bunch of chatter from scientists who didn't know what they were talking about, the scoffers argued.
   But there comes a day of reckoning. You ignore the experts and the scientists and those who would save you at your own risk. Irresponsibility eventually has a price. 

(Index -- Climate change info)

Trump's Prediction Should Scare the Public from Voting for Him

    Coming from Donald Trump, you have to wonder if he -- supposing he is re-elected -- is going to have special counsel Jack Smith and others committed to a mental institution.
   Commenting on his Truth Social website, Trump predicted that Smith and other Justice Department officials will end up "suffering from a horrible disease, TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME (TDS!), in a Mental Institution by the time my next term as President is successfully completed."
   Of course, there is one little hangup. Trump has no authority to send someone to a mental institution. But, who knows what hold he will take on government. Who knows but what he will widen his power so he can simply issue a presidential decree, and off to the mental institution they go.
   Notice his post on Truth Social says they will end up in the mental institution while he is in office. He doesn't leave it open to their going to the institution sometime later. Rather he suggests it will happen while he is in office, while he is in power, while he is in control so he can make it happen.
   The millions of Trump supporters will see no danger in what Trump is saying. They will scoff at the suggestion he will send political opponents to a mental institution. But words have meaning. He said it will happen. He said it will happen while he is in office. Would to heaven that the American people could see the danger in his words. This Truth Social post, all by itself, should scare the people from voting for him. If you hear someone make such a comment, and react by saying, Yeah, I'll still vote for him, heaven help us.

The Polls are in, and They don't Point to High EV Sales

 If you are an electric car advocate, here's what you've got to deal with: Only 31 percent of Americans say they are likely to make an EV their next purchase. The younger folk are more likely to go EV, but even then, most of them say no. Millennials are at 40 percent, Gen Xers at 33, and Baby Boomers at 22.

Income, though, has a lot to do with it. Those with college degrees come in at 47 percent while those with only high school diplomas or less are at 18 percent. Only 40 percent of those with annual incomes below $50,000 are ready to take on EVs.

Republicans? You would ask about them. Only 24 percent of them say they would consider going electric.

Looking at all those figures, it is clear that the price of EVs has got to plummet if EVs are to prevail. The average American isn't rich enough to afford a nice-riding EV.

(Index -- Climate change info)

Greatest Poets of all Time?

They will tell you these are the greatest poets. It becomes you, then, to tell if they are correct.
Greatest poet of all time #1 is William Shakespeare. We shall share a sample of his poetry, and you are to determine if it is the best, or if he should be moved down the list.

 
Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

I find this Shakespeare not a great poet at all. What do you think? If it were I making the list of the top 10, I would leave him off the list, entirely.

On the list presented by the authorities, Edgar Allan Poe checks in at #2.

The Raven
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
‘’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, ‘tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.’

Annabel Lee
And this was the reason that, long ago,
   In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
   My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
   And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
   In this kingdom by the sea.

This is an improvement upon Shakespeare. Poe is one of the better poets on this listing.

This next one, you have never heard of -- and understandably so. Nevertheless, someone called Saadi checks in at #3. 

Manner of Kings Story 05
I may so act as not to hurt the feelings of anyone
But what can I do to an envious man dissatisfied with himself?
Die, O envious man, for this is a malady,
Deliverance from which can be obtained only by death.
Unfortunate men sometimes ardently desire
The decline of prosperous men in wealth and dignity.
If in daytime, bat-eyed persons do not see
Is it the fault of the fountain of light, the sun?
Thou justly wishest that a thousand such eyes
Should be blind rather than the sun dark.

Next up is an actually great poet. William Woodsworth is listed as the #4 best poet in mortal history.

Ode: Intimations of Immortality
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
that rises with us, our life’s star,
Hath had The soul  elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar;
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home.

The Lucy Poems

Strange fits of passion have I known:

And I will dare to tell,
But in the lover's ear alone,
What once to me befell.
When she I loved look'd every day
Fresh as a rose in June,
I to her cottage bent my way,
Beneath an evening moon.

Francesco Petrarca is #5. He's not too bad, but he simply is not worthy of being called one of the ten greatest poets. 

Crap otherness

All the octopi untie my limbs

time to unite with time they say

Meanwhile mesmerized on the dance floor

I’m drooling with my jar of pickled fruits

in shadows and in bliss

as if the world could briefly satisfy my wish.

Charles Baudelaire is #6. Do you think he should be on this list?

Get Drunk

And if you sometimes happen to wake up

on the porches of a palace,

in the green grass of a ditch,

in the dismal loneliness of your own room,

your drunkenness gone or disappearing,

ask the wind,

the wave,

the star, 

the bird,

the clock,

ask everything that flees,

everything that groans

or rolls

or sings,

Everything that speaks

Johann wolfgang von goethe rings in at #7. Do you enjoy his poetry?

The Dance of Death

The warder looks down at the mid hour of night,

On the tombs that lie scatter'd below:

The moon fills the place with her silvery light,

And the churchyard like day seems to glow.

When see! first one grave, then another opes wide,

And women and men stepping forth are descried,

In cerements snow-white and trailing.

There are other lists suggesting who the top poets are. Clearly, I did not find a good listing.

I would not place a one of these poets on my personal list of top poets. And you?

Truth Should not be Victim to Politics

 You cannot say that burning fossil fuels warms the planet. It's against the law. Or, at least it could become so. The Texas State Board of Education is considering recommending that its school districts replace books that teach man-made climate change with those that don't. While the recommendation would not be binding, the idea could prompt other states to follow their lead and create standards requiring schools to use Republican political doctrine instead of sound scientific understanding.
   Politics over science. Alternate truth over reality. 
   Anger will be stirred by such claims as mine -- that Republicans would replace reality with their own political wanderings. Sometimes, though, you have to say what is true even though extremists will be angered. If you want baseless idealogy, go to an extremist; if you want solid fact -- if you want truth -- go to a mainstream scientist. Yes, I say "mainstream," even though the extremists say that is the problem. They say there are other scientists who counter the mainstream scientists and mainstream is the last thing we want to follow.
   I say you can always drum up a "scientist." I suggest you can always find a "scientist" to say what you want him to say. So go ahead and drum up your "scientist." Try to replace logic with political incoherency. Truth can be replaced, but it cannot be diminished. 
  Truth should not be the victim of politics. We should fear what the Texas State Board of Education is considering. 

Here's to the Many Who Support the Immigrant

They march across the hostile terrain of Mexico, hundreds of them expiring on the hot desert floor each year as they try to reach America.

"Have you been aware?
"You got brothers and sisters who care
"About what's gonna happen to you"

That old Guess Who song leaves hope that they are not forgotten, that there are those who raise an eyebrow of concern. There are those who wish they could rush down to the border to see them in, welcome them.

"Maybe I'll be there to shake your hand (Shake your hand)
"Maybe I'll be there to share the land (Share the land)
"That they'll be givin' away
When we all live together, we're talkin' 'bout together, now"

The bonds of humanity reach to greet our neighbors from the south. The bonds of humanity do not ignore their plight. Here's to the many who support them, who care, who do not subscribe to the politics of our day against them. 

Neil Diamond's People Are Headed Our Way

 Neil Diamond praised them, these immigrants.

"Only want to be free
"We huddle close
"Hang on to a dream
"On the boats and on the planes
"They're coming to America"

Was he speaking of the ones who come with their paperwork all in order, or did he include those who show up unannounced at the border, just seeking asylum? Surely, Diamond had those who said they don't mind immigrants coming, they just want them to come legally.

It is immigrant season, now -- migrant season, the season of the migrant caravans.

"Home
"Don't it seem so far away
"Oh, we're traveling light today
"In the eye of the storm
"In the eye of the storm"

News two days ago says a caravan of hundreds of migrants left the city of Tapachula in southern Mexico, heading for America. They were to join up with a larger caravan that left six days earlier. When the season is well underway, will we have caravans that number in the thousands, as we do in many years? They are "traveling light today" and "only want to be free." 

"To a new and a shiny place
"Make our bed and we'll say our grace
"Freedom's light burning warm
"Freedom's Light burning warm"

A Brain Can Atrophy as Fast as a Body

 An idle mind is the coroner's workshop, if you don't mind me saying so. A brain can atrophy as fast as a body. Muscles body or muscles brain, they both exist, so exercising the brain is as important as exercising the body.
   This is not a new thought, of course. And, a corollary has always been that television is the wasteland that wastes the mind. Careful there, though. That which stimulates is that which exercises. TV is sometimes a stimulant, and sometimes not. Sometimes you laugh and laugh at the creativity. Other times, you are nonplused. Sometimes TV inspires us to be creative, ourselves, and sometimes it provides nothing but a story that requires no thought or reflection of our own -- no real thinking, for the TV is doing it all for us. Laughing can be good when ist is a stimulant, but not when it just lets us disengage from our own thinking.
    I wonder at our rehabilitation centers. Too often, patients do little other than watch TV. Their life in their old age becomes as their life in their young age. Just as we often sit our kids out of our way by sitting them in front of the TV, so it is with residents in a care center. 
   Not that care centers do not provide some things for residents to do. Bingo and book readings come to mind. And, there are concerts and such. One of the best activities is physical therapy.  I just think rehab centers could expand on their offerings. Woodwork and origami, chess and coin collecting. Teach, teach, teach; let them learn foreign languages and let them learn astronomy.
   An education is not just for the young; it is for those who would to remain young.

If You've Invested the Time and Money, Build Them

 There were no deaths in Three Mile Island. There were none at Fukushima. Nuclear waste can, indeed, be recycled. The reactors are safe from meltdown. Nuclear, along with wind, has the lowest carbon footprint. 

All that said, I would still be cautious about new nuclear.

1.) It is too expensive in terms of federal spending. The federal R&D budget for nuclear energy was about $1.65 billion for 2022.

2.) The mining causes lung cancer in a high share of the miners.

3.) It takes too long to put them up, 10-19 years compared to only 2-5 for wind and solar.

However, inasmuch as many of the existing projects have already went through the R&D process, much of the federal money has already been spent. Don't waste it. Finish the projects. Nuke plants do take a long time from from the start of planning, but many of the plants have already invested that time. It is behind them. If Bill Gates (who is leading the new nuke movement) and his buddies are willing to finance the projects from here, go for it. Build them.

(Index -- Climate change info)

Slow Down, Israel, Slow Down

    Slow down, Israel, slow down. You are going at the war as if you need to win it now and the only way to do that is murder all the civilians. You don't need to murder all the civilians. You shouldn't want to. You should be willing to say, If it will save lives, we will ease up, we will show some restraint.
   So, take the foot off the pedal.
   You have surrounded the city. Now, cautiously enter, cautiously searching out the enemy, and cautiously avoiding the civilians. Shoot and shoot to kill when you see the enemy; hold your fire when it is only a civilian. If it takes months to do it this way, do it. If it takes years, do it.
   Take the lead roll in getting food and essentials into the Gazans. Put it directly in their hands. Curry favor with the Gazans; curry friendship. It will reach a stage where they are pointing Hamas out to you, helping you ferret them out. 
   The Gazans aren't your enemies in this war; make them your allies.