The intent of this blog is to promote human equality, human progress, human peace and justice, and optimism. To accomplish this, to encourage the discussion of ideas after identifying and discovering problems, and then creating positive solutions for "we the people," in order to provide for the "general welfare" and "domestic tranquility" of America now and its "posterity" into the future. To encourage an emphasis on separation of religion and state for all, no matter if this is for those "of faith" in a Maker / Creator (Deists, God-loving people, Christians, various people of spirituality) and atheists or agnostics.

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The Forgotten Judeo-Christian Alliances and the Rise of the Fourth Reich in America Today with Hawks Demonizing Good Jews and Christians

Jesus Christ, while living on earth, was a Jew.  Jesus Christ taught us about love.  Paul reiterated it.  Yet, what is the focus of Christians today?  Hateful remarks about important members of our diverse society.  People are swallowing this insanity.  Jews today use the ACLU to defend hate speech as “defended” by our U.S. Constitution.  I argue that hate and violence are NOT defendable, but are part of a larger strategy of implementing the Fourth Reich beyond just the German borders (opinion is mine, based on observations about fascist strategies which have increased in American politics lately; information about a 2013 film is available at http://4threichmovie.com/holding/home.html).  This is negative and should be challenged full force.

The First Reich:  The Holy Roman Empire.  The “remnants” of that Empire assisted the Third Reich – Hitler, right from the pope in Vatican City on down the chain.  Hawkish Jews who assist these Reichs are traitors to humanity.  Case in point.  The ACLU Jew who defended hatred of white racists.  Using logic, this man indirectly defended anti-Semitism – hatred of his own race.

Today’s Holy Roman Empire wishes to enshrine the Roman warriors – the hawkish brutality – which imposed totalitarianism upon Jerusalem and other areas of the world.  It finds allies worldwide, including the Chinese Communists.  Chinese Communists also impose totalitarianism upon it’s people.  It finds allies in the idea of a “manifest destiny” in the USA which destroyed good peaceful native cultures in this land.  It causes paranoia and fear through mind games of intimidation, while most Americans do not even realize this is happening.

If you stand opposed to this idea of totalitarianism and brutal militaristic practices, you are demonized and, as ruthless warrior, Allen West, says, you are a “communist.”  Yet a communist-controlled land creates the political buttons distributed by his political party at the Tampa convention.  If you are patriotic by stating, “we need to defend ourselves, not create more problems through offensive aggression,” we are also demonized for going against the grain of a totalitarian coup d’etat.

The Jewish heritage is about doing something for the overall good of people.  Where did Jesus learn this while on earth?  From Jewish teachers of his day (see Bütz, J. J. (2005). The brother of Jesus and the lost teachings of Christianity. Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions). Silly me!  The answer is there!  Those guys in the 1st Century were all COMMUNISTS!  NOT!

The Fourth Reich consists of an alliance in the religious groups which are supposed to be respecting the separation of church and state which was established in the USA by Deists and Christians who actually understood the love of Christ, even if they were sometimes hypocritical in their approach.  At least they did not IMPOSE brutality, totalitarianism upon the Roman Catholics and a fledgling church (sect?) called the Mormons.  But these groups would turn on good people with judgments which reside only with God.  They would point false fingers at people like Patrick Murphy and Allan Grayson.  For Allan Grayson, a judgmental man like Ron Long would falsely accuse the man of being anti-Christian and anti-Bible.  Long and other fascists need to get their facts straight.  The same with Allen West.

Diana Butler Bass encourages Christians to seek solutions which might be based on traditions, if those traditions make sense.  To me, the traditionalist viewpoint that homosexuality was the main point of Sodom and Gomorrah negates the Third Reich’s value of totalitarian violent brutality and unnecessarily attacks a small group of people.  In fact, the traditionalists miss the point that violence was the main point of Sodom and Gomorrah.  But if violence were acknowledged, then how could the Third (and possible Fourth) Reich justify its existence and the imposition of conformity to a totalitarian regime?  Diana Butler Bass:  “Seek traditions [that make sense for all in our society], not traditionalism.”  (Bass, D. B. (2006). Christianity for the rest of us: How the neighborhood church is transforming the faith. San Francisco, CA: Harper).

Episcopal Bishop, John Shelby Spong, states it very nicely when discussing the love of Christ.  Others in the Anglican communion operate on fear and intimidation from hawks and Muslims, believing that “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few [homosexuals].”

References

Spong, J.S.  (2012, October 25).  Your are profoundly wrong!  A response to the Archbishop of Newark and other Catholic leaders.  A New Christianity for a New World (Newsletter).  Retrieved from http://johnshelbyspong.com/2012/10/25/you-are-profoundly-wrong-a-response-to-the-archbishop-of-newark-and-other-catholic-leaders/

—–.  (2012, September 6).  Think differently – Accept uncertainty.  Part XVI:  The story of the Crucifixion, Part One.  A New Christianity for a New World (Newsletter).  Retrieved from http://johnshelbyspong.com/2012/01/19/“think-different”-–-“accept-uncertainty”/).

Many people ignore the clear guidance of Jesus Christ:  “Many will be on the road to hell while few will find the road to eternal life.”  The universe progresses, with the help of a loving Creator, to one of life, not violence and death.  Fear and intimidation force hawkish, brutal conformity on the many.  In this case, the needs of the many becomes evil.

Jesus said to those who deceived, “your father is Satan the devil.”   Romney, Ryan, Allen West and others deceive.

Heard on the street:  “I have my health insurance because my employer provides it, so why should I be concerned about others?”  Why were the Founding Fathers concerned about others, rather than merely for themselves, when they began a great document (the preamble to the USA Constitution) with the words, “We the people…”?  Could the Founding Fathers have put words like, “This Constitution is established only for a select group of people”?  Why not?  That is what Allen West believes.  That is what the Bush family believes.  That is what Mitt Romney believes.  That is what Paul Ryan believes.  That is what the pope believes.  That is what Bishop Duncan (Pittsburgh Diocese, Episcopal), Archbishop Akinola (Nigeria), and many Roman Catholic bishops (who falsely judge others before their hapless parishioners) believe.  And if we disagree, we are demonized and called, “communists.”

Why was a brutal man like Andrew Carnegie (a Presbyterian), despite his ideas about how to step on other people’s toes to become wealthy, concerned about the good of all society?  Because he was a communist?  The quality of his business was better than those of lazy American CEOs today who think ONLY about themselves and refuse to consider the good of society.  Silly me!  I guess I missed something about  Carnegie, did I not?  Clarification:  I don’t embrace EVERYTHING the man did, but recognize good and bad.

Why did Adam Smith (a Presbyterian) first express his ideas that capitalism would naturally control itself by “Christian” men and would not need regulation, but later changed his mind after observing a Scottish 18th-century banking crisis similar to the one inspired by George Bush in 2008 (due to lack of regulations and allowing the greedy ones to go amok)?  Silly me!  I guess Adam Smith was ALSO a communist, even if Karl Marx did not arrive on this earth for many years after Smith!  BTW.  Have belligerent bankers today learned one goddamn thing about what they did wrong in 2008 with derivatives?  NO!  These greedy pigs remain stubbornly ignorant about it all.

Mr. West and others:  you are wacko and sicko.  The words of the Republicans today support fascism and assist in the establishment of totalitarianism like a Fourth Reich in America today.  Violence begets violence.  It’s evil and it’s wrong.  It is anti-Christian.  Jesus Christ used violence AGAINST people like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan – greedy deceptive people in the temple.  Jesus was perfect, though.  He DID NOT speak out so vehemently, as some people claim, against sex.  He encouraged love.  One cannot love their fellow man and woman when deceiving them and acting like greedy pigs.

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Libelous People Promoting and Worshiping the Bible or “Idiot Wind”

Letter from Democratic Party candidate, Allan Grayson:

On Wednesday, on the radio, my deranged opponent Todd Long said that I “want to remove the Bible . . . from this country.”

That’s a quote.

I actually would like to remove libel, not the Bible, from this country. But clearly that’s impossible as long as Todd Long resides here. Todd Long is the Mount Pinatubo of libel.

When the interviewer expressed, shall we say, a certain skepticism, Long doubled down. He said that I not only want to remove the Bible from America, but that I also want to “kick Christianity out of this country.”

Admittedly, Todd Long said this on Halloween. Trick or treat. But he was serious. Demented, but serious.

We have these asinine remarks on tape. Which is a good thing. Because Todd Long, like a certain Republican Presidential candidate, has a habit of denying any prior statement that he deems inexpedient. As Nixon’s Press Secretary Ron Ziegler once said, such inconvenient truths become “inoperative.”

Actually, all this started when Long was brought face to face with his own nuttery. The interviewer asked Long, on Hispanic radio, whether he wanted to make English the official language. Long replied, “That’s totally false. I’ve never said that.” The interviewer then referred Long to page 169 of his own book, “The Conservative Comeback,” which says just that.

Things went downhill from there. It was a fascinating athletic event – could Todd Long lie faster than the interviewer could fact-check?

It’s not the first time that we’ve had some giant whoppers heaved at us. In July, an opponent said that if I’m elected, I will triple gas prices, prohibit guns and ammunition, and close down children’s lemonade stands. I guess we’ll find out.

But Todd Long has made one contemptible charge again and again: that I am “the most anti-Christian Congressman in history.” No one has any idea what that means; even Long can’t explain it. But his obvious intent is to stir up anti-Semitism against me, because I’m Jewish.

Somehow or other, our voters have not found Long’s disgraceful smear campaign to be a compelling political platform. And here we are, with less than one week to go before the election. Long feels that he has to up the ante. So he says now that I’m not only “the most anti-Christian Congressman in history,” but also that I want to “remove the Bible” and “kick Christianity out of this country.”

“Remove the Bible” – how would that work, exactly? Would they be incinerated, like Long’s crackpot allies did to all those Harry Potter books a few years ago? Or would we send earnest young atheists door to door to collect them, and then ship them all off to Communist China, postage due? Or perhaps just pile them all on Mt. Sinai, with a short note politely asking God to please take them back?

I don’t know. What I do know is this: We have to defeat Todd Long, …l.

Courage,

Alan Grayson

“Idiot wind – blowing every time you move your mouth,
Blowing down the backroads, heading south,
Idiot wind – blowing every time you move your teeth,
You’re an idiot, babe;
It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe.”

– Bob Dylan, “Idiot Wind” (1974)

 

Note:  I am a Christian and judgmental Christians have said I am “not a Christian.”  LIBEL.  I am against abortion and would work to take responsibility for my own family, but I don’t believe government should interfere by criminalizing those who might make a mistake.  Because of the religious stand and my recognition of the separation of church and state, I was told, “I am not a Christian.”

The finger judgmental people point at others, whether a false co-worker or this guy named Long, there are three fingers pointing back – and thumbing God at the same time.  I don’t blame Allan Grayson for being upset over this.  Let’s hope voters come to their senses.  It was a Republican who said, “you can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time.”

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Observations About Politics in America Today

Recently, I ran into a woman heavily involved in the Romney campaign.  And I mean HEAVILY involved in it.

My friends and I were having a private conversation about our support of President Obama.  This woman chirped in – unsolicited – about how she hates ObamaCare because she is a small business person.  Nothing said of substance, just hatred and emotions.  When we attempted to bring up some important points about the issue, we were shut down.  In fact, at that point, the woman became flustered – apparently she never had anyone attempt to speak some rational thoughts about ObamaCare to her – she resorted to the use of the “N…..” word for black people and President Obama.

Later, I am sitting in a restaurant with stupid televisions blaring and hear a negative Allen West advertisement (also unsolicited for those of us who go to a restaurant to eat, not end up with the indigestion of political crap and television) .  West’s wife is complaining about the racism against her husband.  Funny, all the times I have heard true racist derogatory remarks about Barack Obama and I have NEVER seen Michelle on television crying about how people treat her husband!

Further than that is the fact I have NEVER HEARD RACIST REMARKS SPOKEN AGAINST ALLEN WEST.  Yet, I hear plenty of such remarks spoken against Barack Obama.  Hmmmm….  Michelle prefers not to stir up the mud of racism, even though it is prevalent and she MUST know about it.  But Ms. West, the Republican in a party with plenty of racist supporters of Romney, chooses to stir up the mud.

The ones most uncomfortable with themselves are the ones who lash out.  Most of the remarks about Allen West have not been about his race, but about him being a wacko.  And, Ms. West, I live among the people, not among those in ivory towers who spend money for vicious and deceptive advertisements.  Silly me.

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Observations about Allen West and his Nasty Campaign

Allen West has aired some really nasty advertisements, never truly discussing his record.  For he is opposed to Social Security and other measures which make sense for “we the people,” but don’t make sense for the wealthy.

West rakes Patrick Murphy through the coals for an event in which Murphy was acquitted.  Is Allen West so clean or is there something in HIS past in which justice was never done?  Perhaps he never even came to trial – was given a break – and never had a trial to determine a conviction OR an acquittal.  He forgets that his finger pointing is one finger at Patrick Murphy, while there are three pointing back at Allen West, as well as a thumb belligerently pointing at God.  God is a loving GOD who does not condone violence.

Another observation.  West’s wife proclaims “victimhood” of her husband, claiming racism against him.  She is aloof and does not realize what is really going on.  I have heard more people using the “N…..” word against the president of the USA, than I have against Allen West.  People simply think of Allen West as a “nut job.”  There are no aspersions being cast about the color of his skin.  So WHO IS REALLY BRINGING UP THE RACIST ARGUMENT HERE?  West and his wife are living in an ivory tower, away from the true people.  And THIS is the reason NOT to vote for Allen West.

Yet another observation.  In traveling through this new Congressional District 18, I have noticed huge signs for Allen West.  In general, there are no signs with Allen West’s picture.  But when I enter African-American areas, this is what I see:  (1) signs with Allen West’s photo and (2) signs accusing Patrick Murphy of being a racist.   Again, I ask:  WHO IS STIRRING UP THE MUD WITH REGARD TO RACISM?  Allen West or Patrick Murphy?

One more observation.  I work the phone banks for Patrick Murphy.  First of all, the people we call are either Democrats, Independents, or “no party affiliation.”  When we encounter a person who supports Allen West, we are polite (even if we hear crazy people ranting and raving like violent beasts) and say, “Thank you for your time.  Goodbye.”  We don’t have registered Republicans on our lists (yet, based on Colin Powell’s recent comments about how that party, to which Powell still belongs, no longer has moderate people, perhaps we SHOULD be calling moderate Republicans).  I have Democratic Party friends who have been called by the Republican Party.  Apparently, the Republicans don’t care and use the Democratic Party lists!  When my friends explain they are Democrats and support Patrick Murphy, there is no polite response.  No, the Republicans hang up on them.

People on Facebook and other social media groups need to know this because the Media remains silent.  What kind of last-minute vicious and deceptive ads and phone calling should voters expect in the next few days?  Beware of the violent wolf and ask yourself, “is Allen West and Republicans – nasty people – really the ones we want representing us in Tallahassee and Washington?”  Think about that.  The Allen West billboard on the Florida Turnpike is one depicting a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  He is a nasty, vicious person, and we don’t need such a person in Congress.  And those who think we do, go form your own Hitler-type fascist nation – the fourth reich – elsewhere, but not here in America.

To Allen West and others:  violence begets violence.  If you don’t know what that means, then you are stubbornly ignorant and have not learned a thing from your experiences during your life.

Up to this point, I have been negative about a negative person.  Perhaps I hope two negatives will produce a positive?  That positive is Patrick Murphy.

Patrick Murphy has a positive plan with positive solutions.  Being a small business person, he is more in tune with those who own small businesses, than with the wealthy corporate conglomerates who feed money into Allen West’s campaign.  Patrick Murphy intends to protect Social Security and Medicare.  Patrick Murphy has a positive plan for America.

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Political Commentary on Friday’s Jobs and Unemployment Figures

As with a sound byte which the conservative Media prefers we accept because it can obscure the facts, I missed the television news statistics quickly flashed across the screen.  I recall a jobs growth with numbers in the 100-thousands, but don’t remember the exact figures.  So I looked it up on the web. I found the following:  “Since January 2012 an average of 157,000 jobs have been added each month…”  (PR Newswire story published in The Sacramento Bee newspaper).

One would expect Romney to ignore these figures because they stab at his campaign like a knife going through butter.  Instead, Romney’s focus is about the tenth of a percent increase in unemployment numbers.  What Romney does not say is this:  there are still too many of his cronies fighting against the will of the people and attempts to HOLD ONTO jobs.  Ironically, perhaps the increase in unemployment might be due to those who work in corporations which intend to fire employees who vote in favor of Barack Obama.  Perhaps the higher numbers might be government workers losing their jobs, due to Republicans.

The most important aspect of the issue is what Romney wishes people would not remember.  Romney has said he believes the “norm” for unemployment is 9%.  The figures under Obama are some I DO remember.  In October, the figures rose from 7.8% to 7.9%.  A twisted man like Romney and his crony Republicans may be playing a role in increasing these numbers, but condemns Obama to the unsuspecting and undecided voter.  After all, if he wishes the “norm” of unemployment to be 9%, then there are probably already strategies in place in overpaid corporate board rooms to do exactly that.

Besides these facts, voters should not fall into “Romnesia” and forget the 8 years of negative job growth under George W. Bush.  People can look at this with fear and intimidation for the tremendous power of those like Romney with tremendous amounts of money or look at it from the perspective of protecting and implementing the first few words of the U.S. Constitution:  “We the people…”  You can either protect the pocketbooks of the grossly high wealthy or protecting your own pocketbook – and those of your descendants, for years to come.  Do you wish to condemn your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. to the lot of Roman-type slaves and brutal warriors, or would you prefer something better for America?

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Today’s Protestants and Roman Catholics

There are some Protestants who worship the Bible.  Many Roman Catholics worship the pope and the dogmatic doctrines created by past popes – men, not God.  When Moses came down from the mountain and discovered the people were worshiping a human-created golden calf, he reminded the people about the idolatry of such a practice.

I was raised in a Protestant faith which has transformed itself from one involved in 17th-century puritanical witch hunts in New England to a denomination which recognizes the love of God and the original blessings given to us all as a gift from God.  This religion does not advocate a hateful god which encourages worship of the Bible, proof-texting, self-righteous human judgments, and the importance of doctrines of men which negate the love of God, our Creator.  Today, the Puritans are right-wing Protestants, Mormons, Roman Catholics, Jews, and Muslims.  They prioritize hate before love.

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IndependentLens: Discussion about Bishop Gene Robinson

Jesus spoke of love for one another. The Old Testament focus in Leviticus was about a lack of children in society. Homosexuals did not perpetuate the birth of children, so were going against the grain of the society. Thus stringent measures were taken, which are not necessary in today’s society. Our world is different today, requiring all kinds of forms of loving families, even alternative families with same-sex parents, to lovingly care for children of unwanted pregnancies and from broken homes in an over-populated world.

Jesus Christ never endorsed traditionalism. Yet, in this program about Bishop Gene Robinson, there were those who talked about “2000 years of tradition.” So what? If the traditionalism is not the solution, then why do we stand by it? Jesus did not believe in idolatry. Yet, the man in this IndependentLens program… the man from California who repeatedly used the words, “Bible-believing,” sounded as if he worshiped the Bible, not God. That is idolatry and blasphemous and would NOT have been favorable to Jesus Christ.

In another portion of this program, a man speaking against the pro-same-sex measures of the Episcopal Church said, “The needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few.” Jesus Christ said, “the road to hell is large and spacious and many would be on that road; whereas the road to everlasting life, few would find it.”  The words this man spoke before the Episcopal gathering were words abrasive to those of Jesus Christ. This recognition is the reason why our American justice system finally abolished Jim Crow measures against a minority. The larger numbers who persecuted the minority were/are evil in God’s eyes. Besides the fact… Jesus Christ said, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” “Love God; love your neighbor as yourself.”

The same book of the Old Testament speaking against homosexuality due to the need for more children also endorsed the stoning of rebellious children and forbade eating a number of foods, including shell fish. Why would we pick some and not the other? Because of men who don’t feel comfortable with themselves and who have endorsed continuing “traditions” which don’t mean a rat’s tail.

And at Genesis 19, there was only a threat of homosexual rape, but nothing actually took place. Yet, to hear the word, “sodomy,” one would believe there were explicit sexual acts at Sodom and Gomorrah. There were none. God disliked the violent rape, not the sexual acts.

Furthermore, the “traditions” at Sodom and Gomorrah were about deliverate violent homosexual rape acts with strangers visiting the area in order to discourage strangers from visiting. God had said those people should accept strangers in their midst, but they disobeyed God by promoting rape with strangers.

Glen Beck’s point about accepting civil unions, but not marriage, is not acceptable.  Even when same-sex marriage is accepted, there is no church which can be forced to perform such acts, as long as the separation of church and state remains. No person should be forced or coerced into a same-sex union of any kind. Yet, millions upon millions of GLBT are coerced by tremendous societal / religious peer pressure and intimidation (how many times did we hear, “why are you not dating some girl?”) to marry someone of the opposite sex.

Jesus is about love and acceptance. He never turned anyone away, whether he/she might be a GLBT lay person, a pastor or priest, or a bishop. “There can be no peace without justice.”

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Failure or Success? Perspective Matters

Dr. Joseph R. Fischer wrote the 1997 book titled, A Well-executed Failure:  The Sullivan Campaign Against the Iroquois, July-September 1779 (published by U. of South Carolina Press).  Irritated as I was in learning the title of this book – due to my ancestor, Ensign John Barr, who was a soldier in that campaign – I obtained the book by Interlibrary Loan and read it.  In fact, Dr. Fischer, a military historian, commended General Sullivan for a “tactical victory.”  He rated General George Washington as leader of a “strategic failure.”

Why did Dr. Fischer, at first blush, seemingly condemn General Sullivan and his troops in the sub-title of the book?  Was it a deliberate statement?  Further research might be necessary, particularly to once again obtain the 1984 History doctoral dissertation at SUNY Buffalo describing the Sullivan massacres as an answer to the British and their Native allies (Mohawks and Senecas – ?) massacre of colonist villages.  This Paul Stevens dissertation (not referenced in Dr. Fischer’s book) describes General Sullivan’s disgust at the time he resigned his commission in person before General Washington*.

Another conclusion to be drawn might be recognition of a diplomatic victory on the part of General Washington, without jeopardizing a soldier’s (Dr. Fischer) compulsion to support a military victory.  I am no expert at all on military events.  As a lay person, I would say the only means of a strategic military victory in 1779 would have meant genocide.  Perhaps General Washington recognized this and worked to a diplomatic victory when the treaty was signed?  A diplomatic victory is NOT a failure, but perhaps a military man had a need to put it this way?  I speak gingerly regarding this issue as I acknowledge speculation on my part.

References

Fischer, J.R.  (1997).  A Well-executed failure:  The Sullivan Campaign against the Iroquois, July-September 1779.  Columbia, SC:  U. of South Carolina Press.

Stevens, P. L. (1984).  His Majesty’s “savage'” allies:  British policy and the northern Indians during the Revolutionary War–The Carleton Years, 1774-1778.  [Ph.D. Dissertation].  Buffalo, NY:  State University of New York at Buffalo.

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Hypothesis for “Where Have All the Leaders Gone?”

Mr. Iacocca, perhaps I am not wealthy enough to be allowed to make conclusions.  Perhaps I have not made it to the top of the heap, as others have done, so I am simply a stupid intellectual to be ignored.

Nevertheless, my recent reading of essays about the wealthiest persons in the world, Andrew Carnegie, I may have stumbled across the answer to the question you posed in your 2007 book, Where Have all the Leaders Gone?

Andrew Carnegie believed CEOs of corporations had to learn what work ethic is and that those who inherited wealth don’t know what true work ethic is.  Therefore, these people should not lead.  They become false models for those who work for them.   The problem of work ethics lies not in the workers, but in the leaders.

In order to fix this idea of “work ethic,” the late Kenneth Lay and other living  stupid leaders force the Ayn Rand “ethics” or “virtues” of selfishness and greed – espoused by Greenspan and Paul Ryan – upon employees like a communist leader or the pope, elders of Mormonism, and the late Jerry Falwell of the Southern Baptists (and other leaders)  claim there is “utopia” if people only follow one way of thinking.

There is no objection to the role greed and selfishness played in the rise of the poor son of Scottish Presbyterian immigrants, wealthy tycoon, Andrew Carnegie, to the accumulation of massive amounts of wealth (when considered for the days he lived).  There is no denying statements by 18th-century economist, Adam Smith, in the claim capitalism should be free of interference.  But to embrace ONLY these statements to validate Ayn Rand’s irrational thoughts about “virtues” or Barry Goldwater’s irrational statements about greed –  there is a virtue in NOT “compromise” – is absurd.

Mitt Romney admires Goldwater’s nonsense “virtues” and Paul Ryan admires Rand’s nonsense “virtues.”  Both fly in the face of one of the wealthiest men in the world.  Andrew Carnegie also believed the wealthy have a duty to society.

Mr. Carnegie lived at a time when unions had not been established, so he agreed with the others in his management cronies.  They were all against unions.  But his reasoning was based on the fact that HE insisted he never had any assistance (or so he claimed – and he is wrong) to earn his wealth.   A teacher had assistance from my mother, became wealthy and departed from the teaching profession, and then spurned my mother.  How many wealthy ones like him disavow the assistance they received from peons along the way?  Thus, it is right for unions to provide assistance to those who don’t have it.  The problem, as you point out in your book, Mr. Iacocca, is when unions become as unreasonable as the wealthy CEOs have also become.

Romney received help from Daddy.  Paul Ryan had an attorney as a father who likely made more money than teachers.  George W. Bush had assistance from his daddy and made a LOUSY leader (as pointed out in your book, Mr. Iacocca).  These are all lousy leaders who have inherited wealth.

Barack Obama worked his way up.  Joe Biden worked low-paying blue collar jobs as he worked his way to the top.  By Andrew Carnegie’s standards, the choice is clear.  Obama and Biden.

Perhaps there are some detected levels of imperfections in these two guys.  Perhaps the same can be said about Andrew Carnegie, too.  When these two guys “step on toes” of others – as Romney / Ryan do all the time – the roar of Fox Noise is deafening.  My bet is that Andrew Carnegie never had that kind of sabotage, but even if he did, his extreme wealth could shut it down immediately.

The problem lies in racism, too.  After all, who are the guys who have likely inherited the wealth today?  Stupid white men who carry a hidden objection to African Americans or Hispanics working their way to the top.  Deceptive men (and women?) who live in denial of their hidden racist attitudes.  And yes, there might be disappointed good white Anglos who are passed over, due to affirmative action.  But why do these idiots continue to vote for stupid white men like Bush, Romney, and Ryan, rather than work together with those who recognize the value of diversity?  Actually, I have heard African Americans, perhaps familiar with Andrew Carnegie’s success, who have spoken out against affirmative action, too.

Where have all the leaders gone, Mr. Iacocca?  Perhaps this blog provides some answers.  But who the hell am I?  Nothing but horse shit, don’t you know?

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Letter to Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe

Dear Mr. Jacoby,

I came across your May 6, 2012, op-ed on the web:  “Thanks, Obama, but wealth is not theft.”
First of all, “those who peddle class resentment” are today’s wealthy 1%.  They pay less taxes than the wealthy did in the 1950s when the economy hummed along quite nicely.  American CEOs are the highest paid in the world and the gap between CEO and the lowest paid worker has increased astronomically.  Yet, when I was working in a corporation and executives respected management guru, Peter Drucker and CEO, Lee Iacocca, more than Ayn Rand, the Drucker idea about the gap between the highest paid CEO and the lowest paid worker was advocated.  It’s a much smaller gap than what we see today.  Business worked quite well under these circumstances and more people owned a piece of the American pie.  I refute your negativity towards working people and the 99% of America.
Philosophers might argue about what “piece of the pie” means.  The argument might be:  my statement presumes there is a limit to wealth.  I choose to think in terms of an infinite “pie.”  So nah nah nah nah nah nah… to all the detractors who wish to make an issue out of something and miss the point:  the small business merchant class has been destroyed in America, the same as what happened in Ancient China as that economy imploded due to austere measures.
Descendants of American individuals who once owned their own retail outlets and small farms are now forced to work for the big conglomerates with CEOs making 200 to 300 times what the lowest-paid worker makes.  What I am saying here is not an advocacy for socialism or communism, but a revelation of the facts that small farms which once provided enough finances for individual families have been destroyed by big agri-business with a few people at the top controlling the wealth and paying the descendants of small farmers peanuts while expenses within the economy – the things that block family “profits” or discretionary income – have risen astronomically when considering more than just the “government breadbasket” statistics which are out of whack.
Secondly.  Funny, but Romney and Ryan have created a platform in the Republican Party rife with fascist definitions of the family, but refuse to acknowledge the facts about family profits.  The pot is stirred up regarding envy and jealousy of those who make better five-figure salaries, while never recognizing the number of people who make six-, seven-, eight-, nine-, ten- or more figure salaries.  There is a definition that de-values work from teachers, but places great value on techies, accountants, and lawyers who make far more money doing things like – ambulance chasing, figuring tax deductions and how the wealthy can escape paying their fair share.  Teachers can loose their jobs while these others are a valued part of the economy?  Lawyers and tax accountants are sacred cows?  While the average family is told by the Republicans how morality is supposed to work and “if you make too much of a five-figure income” and just beginning to turn a profit, after many years of living paycheck to paycheck , you ain’t worth shit.
 
Mr. Jacoby, perhaps you need to consider there are gray areas, not just black and white.  For if you work from the premise there is only black and white – socialist or capitalist – then you can come to the conclusions you drew in May of this year.  BUt I challenge you to stop being stubbornly ignorant and consider the gray areas.  Consider the role President Obama plays in stimulating free-market capitalism which flies in the face of the McDonald’s, Wal-Marts, and Chick-fil-a’s, whose focus is about destroying competition (and those they disagree) than to compete with them on a level playing field.  McDonald’s vision years ago was to destroy the “mom and pop” restaurants.  The same is true today with Wal-Mart.  But in either case, you probably will not see such “vision” written down on paper. just deceptively implemented.  
 
Something I recently read about wealth and wealthy tycoon, Andrew Carnegie:  Andrew Carnegie condemned wealthy leaders who inherited their wealth.  Examples of Romney, Ryan, and the Bush family come to mind.  Apparently, he believed that those who inherited the wealth had no idea what it meant to WORK in order to EARN their wealth, so were not worthy of being “captains of industry.”  He believed those who worked hard, earned their money after many years of hard work, made better leaders because they know what it is like to EARN, rather than destroy competition and take from others.  Carnegie believed in being a giving person.    Those modeled after Carnegie’s ideas would be Barack Obama and Joe Biden.  Barack Obama was chastised in 2008 for “lack of experience.”  But such criticism, by Carnegie’s standards, was unwarranted.  And what do the Republicans do to those who have gained this wisdom after many years of experience and working their way up from little or nothing?  These hapless SOBs wish to put most of us “out to pasture” with little means of supporting ourselves.  Just when we “begin to turn a profit,” the rug is pulled out from beneath us by wealthy people claiming “there is not enough of the American pie to go around.”  As I said, it’s an infinite pie which the 1% wish to claim is finite.  
 
There are numerous statements from some wealthy people who preceded the jackass wealthy of the 21st Century which berate the attitude of the Ayn Rand followers.  What is unbelievable is that those who embrace the Ayn Rand attitude act like communists who took power in Europe in the 20th Century.  They believe utopia is found when everyone believes the same thing as these wealthy ones believe (this is called fascism) and wish to rip apart everything from the past, as if it was always a failure – except some perceived idea of perfect morality which existed in the past (a fantasy).  America became a great nation, due to attitudes from Adam Smith, Andrew Carnegie, and “trust buster,” Teddy Roosevelt (conservationist, too).   These attitudes  conflict with those of Ayn Rand and others.  
 
America became a great nation due to religious leaders like Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and the “power of positive thinking” which would have negated the focus and generation of extremist attitudes towards minor negative aspects of ObamaCare.  This negativity generated by big business ignores many of the positives about ObamaCare.    
 
Dr. Peale’s “positive thinking” flies in the face of conservative religious dogma generated by the pope, elders in Salt Lake City, Liberty U. (and the Southern Baptists) in Virginia (and Dixie), and Billy and Franklin Graham, among other televangelists.  Original blessings is really what Jesus Christ endorsed, not the concept of original sin.  Original sin is a doctrine from a church of men.  The pope and others do not like this Dr. Peale positive attitude, so, as conservative Republicans wish, the pope and others wish to destroy those who endorse original blessings.  The pope has already done so by excommunicating a priest who endorses original blessings.  To the pope, elders, and deacons of narrow-focused dogmatic churches, I say:  “Seek wisdom, not certainty.”  
 
Mr. Jacoby, there ARE gray areas, not just the black and white defined by narrow-focused religions and their goons in business leadership.  

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