The Imperial Presidency

If you heard the Kenyan's speech last night, you are now convinced that this president intends to rule, rather than govern.  He assured us he will circumvent congress should they not rubber stamp his socialist policies, and will rule by executive edict.  Never mind that such action is clearly against the law, and upsets the checks and balances that the branches of government use to temper each other.  Lame duck is now rampant tyranny.

And where is the loyal opposition?  The GOP is hiding under the bed lest the communists paint them as racist neanderthals.  The president is half black, you see, and we cannot criticize his policies because, well, he's half black.

Replete with the usual worn-out socialist rhetoric, he touched on all the bulleted talking points:  $10.10 minimum wage for government workers, class warfare in implementing "ladders to success" for the middle class (the very folks he destroyed by the way), and on and on.

What did we expect?  He's an America hating Marxist communist.  Did we really expect him to lower taxes, get government off the private sector's back, let the economy heal itself, and to defend the borders?  No, we didn't.

Inequality Idiocy

The Kenyan will give his state of the coup speech tonight, and it's rumored that the focus of such will be on "inequality."  Inequality?  What exactly does that mean, anyway? Inequality of income?  Of position?  Of citizenship?  To think that inequality is a national disgrace is to embrace absolute idiocy.  But the progressives love it.  It serves their purpose in creating further divisiveness among the low information populace.  Our system of government assures citizens an equality of opportunity, but nothing, especially socialist utopias -  can guarantee an equality of outcome. 

Let's review the notion of "inequality."  Ol' Lightfoot is six feet tall, weights about eighty-eight kilos, and is healthy and fit.  So is Payton Manning.  Now, Payton earns a lot more money than does Lightfoot, he's more of a cultural icon, and I'm betting he has a bigger house and a better auto that do I.  Now, why do we have such inequality here?  It's not fair.  Why should he have all that life affords, and I have to watch him enjoy his wealth and fame and glory.  It's simply not fair that he has so much and I have so comparatively little.  Shouldn't he buy me a bigger house and a faster car?  Shouldn't he put a couple of million dollars in my bank account?  Shouldn't he give something back . . . to me?  After all, we are equal, right?

Of course not.  Ridiculous, isn't it?  Payton Manning is one of the best quarterbacks who has ever played the game, and Lightfoot is not.  He's paid his dues, he earned everything he has and he's deserving of all that he's made.  So why should anyone think they are "owed" anything whatsoever from those who have made something of themselves?  And the case gets stronger when you compare the progressive left wing whiners to the people who have actually created wealth, not only for themselves, but for thousands of others.  Think Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page and Sergey Brinn.  And these are just guys in the technology business.  What fabulous advancements have their companies - Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google  - made for the benefit of all mankind?  Please tell me what exactly have the whiners done for the good of anyone?

Let's take it one step further.  Let's say ol' Lightfoot is not equal to an illegal alien; that illegals are burdened by inequality.  Is that fair?  Of course it is.  Here's why.  My ancestors came to this country from Ireland, Scotland, England and Germany and obeyed the law of the land, spoke English, gained citizenship, created wealth for themselves and others, had families, and generally were part of this marvelous experiment in self government.  In short, they assimilated into being Americans.  Now come millions of people who haven't achieved citizenship, refuse to speak the language yet demand that we speak theirs, contribute nothing except perhaps some sales tax, yet they expect all the perks and benefits as citizens enjoy.  Why do they feel they are exempt from compliance with the US immigration policy as it has been for centuries? There's an answer to that, but it's a big issue and we'll address it in another post. 

So while using the last five years to destroy the United States and its economy, the Kenyan will now carp about some progressive non-issue like inequality.  In the face of real issues facing this country, which will likely be ignored or simply marginalized, this topic is not only meaningless, but insulting.

Brain Wave Self Control

For the last thirty or more years, researchers have affirmatively determined that people are able to control their brain wave patterns, and by doing so, not only enhance a feeling of well being, but attain other benefits such as gaining a higher cognitive function (higher IQ), and overall better health.  Self guided meditation today has been lauded by physicians and psychologists alike as a boon to preventative health programs.

But this is nothing new.  Ancient teachings have put forth this notion that control of one's mental process can yield fantastic - and theological - results.  Clearly the most familiar technique is that of yoga, a discipline that began in the third or fourth century BC in India.  Most of us associate the practice of yoga with Hatha yoga, that form of physical exercise necessary for purification of the body.  By controlling the physicality of the body, one purifies oneself for higher mediation.  But another less known form of yoga is Raja yoga.  Raja yoga meditation is generally based on directing one’s life force to bring the mind and emotions into balance so that one's attention may be easily focused on the object of meditation.  In those days, that object was typically the Lord, or the maker of life.  A yogi may require years and years of rigorous and applied practice to reach that state of nirvana, or achieving oneness with the universe.  

Today, science has taken the heavy lifting out of the task of attaining that state of awareness necessary to provide these mental and physical health benefits.  In one method, a practitioner would merely focus his attention on complete relaxation, all the while mentally reciting positive affirmations. Other folks use specialized music (euphemistically referred to as New Age music) to train the brain to resonate at at given frequency.  There are four frequency ranges of brain wave patterns, measured in cycles per second:  From lowest frequency to highest, these brain wave patterns are Delta (.5 to 4Hz, or a state of deep sleep): Theta (4 to 8Hz, or a state of higher REM state of sleep); Alpha (8 to 14Hz, or a state of very relaxed but highly mentally alert); and Beta (14 to 30Hz, or a state of highly alert and focused - our daily awake state).

To achieve the mental and physical benefits that we know can be attained by controlling one's brain wave activity, one needs only to enter into an Alpha state several times a day for perhaps fifteen minutes at a time.  This is not mind control, but self control of one's own mind.  It works wonders and is easy to do, once you accept the reality that each of us controls our own health and personal destiny.

You Have The Right . . .

You have the right to many things in our fair country: the right to keep and bear arms, the right to be secure in one's papers and effects, the right to a jury trial, and the right to remain silent, among many others.  You also have the right to be stupid.

You also have the right to be lazy.  So, if you're both stupid and lazy, you'll likely fall for any disingenuous nonsense foisted upon the populace via the compliant media.  My morning laugh is produced by the unfailingly partisan PolitiFact column in my local liberal newspaper.  It's laughable because, without exception, its take is that conservatives (read Republicans) are evil, lying bastards, while the enlightened left (read Democrats) are compassionate, tireless champions of the victim class.  In turning to the op-ed pages and reading the letters to the editor, one finds that many readers apparently buy into these simplistic categorizations.  But rather than rail against the published idiocy of these misinformed non-thinkers, one realizes that the stupid and lazy need to have their opinions fed to them in bite-sized dosages, analyzed and predigested.  Pity.  But that explains the purpose of propaganda outlets like PolitiFact.  If the liberal, progressive, Marxist and Communist pundits factually told people what they actually stood for, few people would support it.  It is an anti-individual position, and clearly inherently contrary to human nature.  Therefore their agenda must be cloaked in feel-good, compassionate pablum that tastes good, and is easy to swallow.  But only for those who are stupid and lazy.

Bye Bye 2013

Some random thoughts on the passing of the year, in no particular order.

Bye, Bye Love.
Bending guitar string blues to one of the most influential men of rock n' roll:  Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers passed away yesterday at age 74.  He and Don influenced me and many others with their fine, tight harmonies and musical hooks in hits such as Bye Bye Love, Cathy's Clown and Wake up Little Suzie.  They embodied the evolution of rockabilly into folk and folk rock.  Cathy's Clown was #1 on Billboard for months in 1958 in both Country and Pop categories. Rock on, Phil.

Winter Woods Walking.
Few people other than Florida natives have seen the real Florida - the beauty and diversification of the untamed Florida landscape.  I had the privilege of hiking a few miles in a remote tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest yesterday.  In a short, two-mile hike, we saw magnificent, century-old live oaks, branches covered with Resurrection Fern; cypress bogs with newly formed knees; flatwood pine forests; deer and racoon tracks everywhere; hog spore; mushroom blooms at my feet; and lakes teeming with gators and fish. The waterfowl performed a cacophonous symphony to which the gators barked the bass score.

The topographical diversity is amazing, especially in such a confined area. We hiked the northern part of the Richloam tract just east of I-75 and north of SR 50, and the trail we were on is a horse trail known as the Blue Diamond trail, branching off the Hammock trail.  It was an ethereal, soul cleansing  experience.  I stood at the edge of a lake, smoked a cigar, and took in the serenity.  The beauty and solitude in the deep Florida woods is worth the hike.  Have a good pair of hiking shoes, carry a good knife, a compass and water, and wander these miles and miles of trails for yourself.  You'll be renewed beyond your expectations.

Global Warming, er, I mean Climate Change.
The New Orleans Saints beat the Philadelphia Eagles last night in 21 degree weather.  Tonight the Green Bay Packers will play the San Francisco 49ers in what's forecast to be possibly negative-8 degree weather.  A Green Peace research ship had to be rescued from being trapped in ice in the Antarctic, its scientists airlifted off the immobile ship by helicopter.  Ironically, they were down there to prove the existence of global warming.  Beijing is so smogged in that people must wear masks to filter out particulate matter.  The sun shifted magnetic poles last year - it's now upside down - and the earth's own magnetic poles shifted by a significant measure.  But we are to believe that western civilization and our SUVs are killing the planet.  Nice try, but rubbish.  The planet isn't dying, and even if it were, we're not the cause.  Three-fourths of the Earth is ocean, and the oceans drive and cleanse the atmosphere.  It's self cleansing, and has done so for millennia, including filtering the devastation from catastrophes such as meteor impacts, volcanoes, wild fires, and everything else that occurs naturally.  Whatever is happening is a natural climate adjustment as we move from ice age to ice age, and just because people have only been here for a relatively short time, we narcissists assume we're the cause.  We are not.  The world has been here long before us, and will be long after we're gone.

Alien Nation.
In 2013, two nations picked up on the planetary exploration NASA seems to have abandoned.  India sent a probe to Mars, and China landed an unmanned robotic rover on the Moon.  Back in November, I posted about the exploration of our nearest celestial neighbors.  As the Chinese rover cruises the Lunar landscape, seeking answers to questions no one dares ask, I think back to July 1969.  A couple of Americans walked on an alien landscape, and answered many questions no one dared ask. One is, "why haven't we been back since the Apollo project?"  Many scientists have evidence of artifacts that were seen and/or found on the moon, and that begs yet other questions.  "Who's been here?' is certainly one.  Perhaps the Chinese will learn what we learned during the the Apollo missions, and hopefully they won't be as squeamish about announcing their findings to the world as our government has been. Bottom line?  We ain't alone, my friends.

Alien Nation, Part Deux.
Comes now one Mexican alien living in California who, after petitioning the state supreme court, has now been granted permission to practice law in the state of California.  He's not an American, although he lives in California, but presumes to be proficient in law.  In contrast, my wife is a lawyer, having spent 4 years in college and another 3 years in law school, earning a Juris Doctorate degree magna cum laude.   Fair?  Well, she's a real lawyer, and this joker is not.   And she's not a criminal and he is.  She graduated with highest honors, and this person did not.  Yet he's allowed to practice law in California.  This kind of nonsense is why people refer to California as the land of fruits and nuts.

Kenya.
Speaking of aliens, the Kenyan's half brother - same father, different mother - was surprisingly forthcoming in a candid interview recently.  Seems he and his brother have opposing views on American exceptionalism.  Both are Kenyans, yet one is a political conservative living in Kenya; the other is a Marxist/Communist living in Washington, DC.  You get to guess which is which.