Trump's Promises

President Elect, Donald Trump, has promised that he will drain the swamp of Washington, DC and he seems to be trying to be true to his word, on this one.  He is draining the worst of DC, right into his Cabinet.

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When Trump says, “Believe me …..” you can disregard, at least, the concepts that follow.  It has been my experience that you can also disregard anything that precedes those two words.  A thinking person should learn this, in their youth, from their first conversation with a salesperson on a used car lot.  Obviously, not all used car salespersons are liars, but if they use the words, “Trust me” or “Believe me”, exercise care.

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Hillary Clinton once said, in a debate, that “half of the Trump voters are a basket of deplorables.”  A fact checking organization, reporting to our morning paper, said that she lied in the debates with Trump, 23% of the time.  I would count this in the 23%.  Trump voters, other than the fascists, are not deplorable.  They are gullible.  It is his cabinet members that are deplorables.  The same fact checkers that said Hillary lied 23% of the time, said Donald lied 87% of the time.  It is hard to take pride in either of them.  “Where have all the flowers gone?”  

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And why do we still have the Electoral College?  The Presidency is a Federal office, not a State office and should not be a decision made by the States.  Each individual voter should have an equal right to choose their President.  The election can only be decided fairly by the majority of the voters.  The Electoral College might have been a good system, over two hundred years ago, but it certainly isn’t today.  I live in a solid Red State, Arizona.  (We feed the political satire skits on Saturday Night Live.)  My liberal vote for President has been meaningless for the decade that I have lived in Arizona, just as the conservative voter in California’s vote for President has been.  This makes no sense.  The Electoral College has to go.  It is a flawed system.

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On the bright side, these next 4 years in America will be exciting times.  It will be a test of the strength of our Nation to survive the Trump Presidency.  There will be damage to our core beliefs of “Liberty and Justice for All”.  There will probably be damage to our trade and human relations with The World.  Earth’s climate change will increase.  Much of our progress in education will be reversed.   Hopefully, we will learn and never take a path like this again.

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Cheers, Old Buz, a proud member of Curmudgeons Anonymous 

A GOD for the wise

I am presently reading, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.  It is an excellent book, by a brilliant author.  In the book Dawkins quotes Seneca the Younger (Roman Philosopher 4 BC – 58 AD), “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”  Seneca’s quote is very wise.  It is a very apt description of the world today.  Dawkins is an Atheist, so I am sure that he is comfortable with the quote, but as an agnostic, it behooves me to separate G.O.D from religion.  This would allow for the possibility of a wise agnostic.

Each of us has our own unique concept of God.  This is best exemplified by the dyslexic reading of the word god, which is dog.  This is a part of an old, sophomoric joke, but it illustrates the point that I am trying to make very well.  Picture the universal concept, dog.  Some people reading this will picture a Dachshund.  Others may see a German Shepherd, in their mind’s eye.  The point is, our individual, previous related, experience determines the meaning of a word to us.  So, a reading by two individuals of any bible, or written description of God, will result in two somewhat different concepts of God, based on their previous life experiences.

Richard Dawkins refers often to the Darwinian observation of survival of the fittest, or a somewhat random selection, natural evolution, not the result of “Intelligent Design.”  I agree with him, but believe that this development takes place within “The System of the Universe” that is, within the “Grand Omnipotent DNA”, meaning … G.O.D.  G.O.D is the System of the Universe.  The universe is not the result of some random crap shoot.  It has rules.  DNA had not been discovered in Darwin’s day.  He didn’t know that every living cell, in every living organism, has a blueprint within it that tells it where it belongs in the organism and what its function is.  The DNA is unique to each individual organism.  Without this blueprint, every living community of cells would look like pond scum.  There would be no “survival of the fittest.”  No organization of life forms.  This DNA is but a sample of the System of the Universe, G.O.D, others would include: inertia, gravity, energy, life, existence.  This Grand Omnipotent DNA has rigid system rules and they work.  We study them and try to understand them with the ever changing theories of science.  No accidents here.  Remove gravity and it is all over.  Any of the others mentioned would do the same, except for life.  The basic systems are not random.  Does this mean that “Intelligent Design” as envisioned by religion is required?  Hardly.  The design of our universe goes way beyond what we think of as intelligence.  It refutes religion.  Is it possible that God is up there listening to your every word of prayer?  Probably not, but it would be nice, however improbable.  So what is the purpose of this G.O.D?  Well, the system is logical.  Our understanding can evolve with research and knowledge.  One couldn’t kill another human in Its name.  It does not defy logic, reason, history or awareness.  Good G.O.D.  What do you think?

Cheers, Old Buz

"Politics as Usual"

A couple of days ago New Hampshire had their primary election.  In the Democratic race, Bernie Sanders cleaned Hillary Clinton’s plow, every spec of dirt from it.  Or, at first glance, it appeared that way.  Sanders received 60% of the Democrats’ votes to Clinton’s 38%.  As you know, a primary election is held to determine committed delegates to the party’s convention from each state.  The results mentioned above gave Sanders 15 delegates and Clinton 9.  Ah, but New Hampshire has another 8 “Super Delegates” that have the same voting power as the people’s delegates, but have no responsibility to vote as the people voted.  So far, 6 of the 8 “Super Delegates” have cast their votes for Clinton, bringing the present results of the election to a tie.  The other two Supers haven’t committed yet, but probably soon will vote for Clinton, giving her the surprise win in New Hampshire.  These two Supers will quietly cast their votes after the results are in for South Carolina.  You won’t notice them.  It is the Democratic Party in action.  Clinton will be the Democrat’s nomination for the Presidency in 2016 and she will have the dirtiest plow you have ever seen.  The Party will not allow Bernie to be the gentleman that he is and clean it for her.

I go to votesmart.org for my information on political candidates.  They seem not to editorialize the information they present on subjects like: voting records, education, background and donations received.  It gives a very clear picture of the candidate.  Most of the data is fascinating.  For instance, the site showed Clinton’s top contributor as Goldman Sachs, several weeks ago.  Some of the criticism of her, by the press and the Sanders’ campaign, was her closeness to G-S and Wall Street in general.  If you look at Vote Smart today, Goldman Sachs doesn’t appear as a Clinton donor, but there is an unspecified lender debt of nearly a million dollars.  Could there be a connection?  The dark money, Pac Money, will really begin to flow very soon.   Thanks to Citizens United, there is a 74 million dollar basket with Clinton money in it.  Clinton’s campaign has about 38 million today and Sanders has about 28 million.  He has no giant corporate donors.  All that Bernie has is voters.  When the 74 million is handed to the Clinton campaign, the race is run.  So the 2016 race will be Clinton vs. Trump.

The Republican powers that be, seem to treat Trump better than the Democratic powers treat Sanders.  Trump gets the delegates equal to his primary votes.  Trump can still run an independent campaign that will hand the election to the Democrats.  The Republican Fathers will not mess with Donald, but if Trump is the Republican candidate, Clinton wins.  The independents are presently the largest voting block and even though they won’t vote as a block, I don’t see the independents voting largely for Trump.  Hell, a lot of Republicans won’t vote for Trump.  By the time the contest in the Republican primaries is down to two candidates, Trump and Bush (the candidate of the powerful), the Trump train will have the momentum to win the nomination and for probably the first time ever, the Party will not get to run their choice.  I see this as a good thing.  Political Parties, both of them, have outlived their usefulness.  The first small step in this direction is the removal of “Super Delegates” from the election system.  “Power to the people.”  “There is only time to iron your cape … then back to the sky.”

Cheers, Old Buz

"The Koch's Nation"

We are indeed a nation of Kochs.  We live in a country that is controlled by large dollar interests.  Over ninety-three percent of our elected representatives outspent the opposing candidate in their win.  Are you one of the three million who sent a campaign contribution to Sanders of twenty-seven dollars, or so?  What did you spend on groceries, gasoline and utilities last month?  That money went to the Koch Brothers and their ilk, who legally put a small percentage of the big dollars into the election, but enough to bury your donations.  So you give a token donation to who you would like to see in office and a much larger donation to the candidate who the corporations feel will benefit their interests.  The corporate donations, to political campaigns, benefit them hundredfold, but they are rarely for your benefit.   Do you think that the Kochs like the candidates that they back?  No … they own them.

Let’s look at the bright side.  We of the Koch Nation respect wealth and success.  We aspire towards it.  We will even borrow beyond our ability to repay, to display it.  We are the nation of conspicuous consumption.  Does anyone need over 3000 square feet of home for a single family?  No … the five million dollar plus homes are bought to impress friends and acquaintances.  Often they are bought to impress total strangers.  This need is shown with the purchase of an automobile at a price of over thirty thousand dollars.  We all do that, if we can.  This is the value system that we have been raised in.  We have Faith in our values.  The people we most respect are actors and athletes.  The great ones are showered with unimaginable wealth and notoriety by our society.  They are our heroes.  Corporate leaders often do their best work in the dark.  Do you know who the CEO of General Electric, Raytheon or The American Tobacco Company is?  Even the much publicized corporate leaders, like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, do not have the name recognition of a Michael Jordan or a Meryl Streep.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel, which is not an oncoming train?  Well, the head of the most financially powerful church in the world, “The Church”, rides around in a Fiat and preaches that you are your brother’s keeper, not his killer or his judge.  How is that for a welcome change?  The millions of elderly members of my organization, “Curmudgeons Anonymous”, would primarily respond that the exception proves the rule.  An exception never proves a rule.  The exception proves the rule not to be universal.  An opinion has not yet been confirmed by Radicalized Agnostics.  There is hope.  The growth of the independent voter may lead to open primaries, meaningful campaign reform and an end to legal lobbyists.  Perhaps someday there may be an end to the source of legal bribery in our government … political parties.  The Koch brothers are not the problem.  They are the visible winners of our political/economic system.  They will soon die of old age, but the system will continue.  There will always be Kochs to take their place.  You have to change the political system.

Cheers, Old Buz      

"Radicalized Agnostic"

I am a Radicalized Agnostic.  My faith, simply stated, is, “I don’t know if God exists, but if your Faith indicates that He does, I am willing to sacrifice my life and limbs to kill you and yours.”  That is to say, “My philosophy, right or wrong … my philosophy.”  These thoughts are so beautiful that they give me peace and security.  And, bring a tear to my eye.

When Ted Cruz states that he is first a Christian and second an American … I must correct him.  Ted, you are first a human being and second a fool.  Imagine what a world it would be if the Religious and the Patriots were all, “First, Human Beings.”  You see, the morons who group themselves against all others and are willing to righteously murder the others, would quickly find those actions unacceptable if they realized that we are all human beings.

That logic notwithstanding, I am willing to take up arms to defend The Agnostic Philosophy.  Show me a person gullible enough to believe that six thousand years ago God created the universe in six days, then created a woman from a man’s rib and I will show you a person who would benefit from a brain swap with a pigeon.  The pigeon would of course perish, because an animal can’t survive in nature without some form of awareness.  The Religious and the Patriots are less than human and will not be missed.  I am willing to fight for a better world.  We Agnostics have God on our side (if God exists).

The Religious like to congregate.  It has been proven, again and again, that the group mentality is always slightly less than the least intelligent of its members.  This is best proven by the two groups, known as The Democratic Party and The Republican Party.   This was clearly revealed two presidential campaigns ago.  A question was submitted to 19 Republican presidential candidates, from an on-line source.  Question: “Was the Holy Bible written by God?”  Eighteen of the nineteen candidates answered in the affirmative.  Only Ron Paul was honest enough to answer, “There are many good concepts in The Book, but it was probably not authored by God.”  There was not a candidate on that stage gullible enough to believe that God wrote The Bible, but only one was honest enough to say so.  That was it for Paul.  He had offended The Simple Majority (the religious).  “Praise The Lord (if there is one) and pass the ammunition.”

“Perhaps all Bibles are bull shit.” – The Radicalized Agnostic Creed

Cheers, Old Buz, The Radicalized Agnostic 

Radicalized Agnostic – One who doesn’t know if God exists, but is willing to fight to maintain the question.