Obama

For years I had been half jokingly remarking that an economic depression would be beneficial to Americas soul-to remind people that our rampant materialism was not healthy...Obviously the reality of a depression would be more difficult to watch, and I have no clue whether the new "stimulus package" will have any affect. Certainly the current economic trouble IS exposing the flawed system, and the old adage "no pain no gain" applies here, with the choice-as always-being whether we find opportunities for productive change or try to preserve the status quo....in my humble opinion the latter is Not an option, because the rest of the world IS going to rise in power and influence, and oil and other resources Are going be depleted, so the time is Now to find new directions...Mr.Obama understands the problems and has assembled smart people around him...but I question the ability of the average politician or power broker to genuinely compromise for the common good, so we shall see if it is not too late...

Love revisited

This is the love of my life Elizabeth, maiden name Dunham, whom I met about a year and a half ago when she started riding bicycle with my sister. After their weekly rides the ladies would meet for "coffee talk" at my sister's house, where I would take my mother for the social gathering. There was no romantic involvement at first, but we gradually got to know one another and in May of '08 took a short Geo ride, then went to a casino for the birthday surprise of another friend, and a baseball game, then talked a lot at the fire in July, then the Paul Rodgers trip, and here I am writing this today. An easy camaraderie and abundant laughter was there from the start, which makes us realize that previous relationships in our lives were somehow contrived or unnecessarily difficult...and that a genuine love- with a genuine friend and 'soulmate'- is not work, rather is expressed naturally, almost effortlessly, with spontaneous joy and understanding. Perhaps all the other people in our lives were necessary lessons we needed in order to be the people we recognize in one another today, and maybe if we had met at the age of twenty we would not have emotionally connected as we do now, yet the reality could be simpler than that, where we just finally met a person with whom our true emotional selves- both child and adult- can be openly shared, and with whom our inner, original chemistry transcends analysis. We lift and buoy each other is a positive, joyous manner, and sometimes stand in the kitchen doing nothing, yet break out laughing for no reason- because that is the emotional sincerity of how we relate to one another. Serious talks, playful talks, serious walks, playful walks, laughing while working, while sitting, while eating, while driving, while making love...We simply enjoy what happens as if it has been blessed upon us from something beyond our understanding. There has been nothing 'giddy' about any of this, rather it has simply unfolded and deepened into a stronger desire to be with and give to one another. ..not bad for a pair of people independent by nature... At core is the growing trust and compatibility rooted in our basic decency, with honesty and fidelity as the foundations of our intimacy....Character traits which we individually brought to the table and which make everything as a couple that much more precious and enduring.

Christmas '08

Hey... 'Twas another great Christmas in Warren, and despite all the personal and worldly troubles we might be faced with, it is incumbent upon all of us to appreciate the good things and people we have in our lives...This is the traditional "couch picture", satiated by our good fortune and abundance! Hope everyone is well

God

My friend asked me to describe my vision of God, which of course I could not do. That is, a mature concept of God is an understanding of how the word relates to every definition offered throughout history as it is perceived and comprehended in one's private thoughts. How people define God is as varied as individuals, but intimately intertwined with how they define and understand spirit, or religion, or science, or love, or nature, or Creation, or all the other aspects of the human condition. The meditative experiences that have clarified my personal understanding- as it relates to the rest of humanity- is all that I can offer, and such revelations cannot be articulated, rather are intuitive, emotional perceptions of reality rather than blind faith. God in that sense encompasses an holistic vision which incorporates my non-verbal intelligence rather than my verbal, logical reasoning, which together strive to understand the unknown.

   Were I to be pressed further I would say that the word God, at least as it is related to a spiritual experience, is as undefinable as the word orgasm, or sorrow, in that unless one has experienced them there is No explaining them to another person through words and rational means of thinking. They are  in no way less unintelligent or less real than logical, linear ways of perceiving. There will always be a gap in our knowledge, and spiritual, mystical experiences may never prove something exists beyond materialism, but they offer a different way of seeing and interpreting the world. I envision the unity of materialism and spirit and man and God and time and all other aspects of Creation as parts of the same Universal Intelligence, although the loving, positive aspects of that origin have been distorted by some religions into perverse,negative aberrations-called the Devil or Satan or other terms. Science has no answer for the idea of God as being one possible origin of the Universe, including the Big Bang, evolution and all the rest. As the Buddhists would say, the whole conflict is merely a 'grasping for soul theory' brought about by the ego...Get rid of that and peace of mind-and maybe of humanity- follows.

WalkFit

The Walkfit infomercial has been completed and my testimonial is about 2/3's of the way through the program...by the way, those are the original '3,000 mile' inserts I wore for the entire walk, still usable...I really do owe them my healthy feet -which are priceless but only cost me $20 ...and yes, I do still wear a pair in all my shoes..........

Hope

ahhh, yes...so Mr. Obama is a dreamer and idealist whose enemies are cynicism, apathy and hate...but the world has sighed a collective sigh of relief that our reputation-decimated by the Bush years-can be repaired....To those who argued against his "inexperience"..it was "experience" that made the mess we're in. To those who criticized his "socialism" well, "free enterprise" has shown itself quite flawed..What shall it be-socialism or greed? or no doubt a little of both?... I am always amazed at the simplistic arguments of the propoganda machines to justify both positions...Funny thing is, Truth and Reality always seem to intrude into human nature and shit happens anyway. Me? Like John said " I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round..." Who knows-maybe a meteorite will hit tomorrow and make it all irrelevant...I'll still put my faith in Creation and hope for the best , as I have always done...the future is what we face Together or divided http//www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081105192704.htm

POSTSCRIPT: I am the most encouraged I have been in years by the intelligent manner with which Obama is choosing his cabinet, such as Nobel physicist Steven Chu for energy secretary... My God! A president who is not afraid of reason and actual facts! Hopefully the next four years will be the long overdue start of a new future during which foresight has a place.

Optimism

I just repositioned my stock portfolio, which is invested in an IRA in Vanguard mutual funds, and basically exchanged money between the same funds I have owned all along, so by doing that have re-purchased many shares at a lower price. Whether that will ultimately improve my profit will depend on what the economy does in the next ten years, but I sense that the market bottom has been reached and I do not want to miss whatever rebound occurs. Because the federal budget is consumed by three major expenditures: Social Security 21%, Medicare 21%, and Defense 20%... it is clear that entitlement programs make up the bulk of our debts rather than the "earmarks" and "subsidies" that politicians babble about. Now people can and do argue every which way about whether we should be paying for elderly people's medicines and food stamps and all that, but to me the question is whether we can afford them, and there is no doubt that yes we can, IF there were more equitable distributions of wealth. There is NO rational justification for the skewed priorities capitalism has produced, whereby a radio talk show personality or a ball player or a writer or a surgeon should be paid a million dollars while the Essential occupations which benefit society and produce something tangible-such as farmers and mechanics and-are paid marginal wages. Even teachers, who commonly cry poverty, are among our highest paid workers when one considers the actual hours worked per year. Most people-particularly those in power who decide such things-frequently use terms such as "parity" to justify what they earn without ever examining honestly whether any of them actually deserve it; they assume that because so and so makes this much then they should too. Yet the society can survive without ballplayers and doctors and politicians, but farmers? or garbage men? Perhaps the 100 Billion dollars that Wall Street financiers gave themselves as bonuses over just the last 3 years(...no doubt skimmed off potential profits that Could have been distributed to IRA's and 401ks) could be distributed to the truly needy and there would be plenty of money to be shared among people-with no need for new taxes. How about it Brad Pitt, or Rush Limbaugh, or the rest of you? Rather than attend charity fund raisers, just refuse your salary for the rest of your life and donate that to the starving in Haiti. As globalization spreads the wealth between nations, there will be a lot more shifting of power in the coming decades, and unfortunately the United States may not be one of the winners. It depends on whether we refocus our priorities and decide to take action in some critically needed areas, not least of which is weaning ourselves of foreign dependencies and reinvesting in some good old fashioned elbow grease.