Sen. Kyrsten Sinema

   Sen. Sinema is my hero.  She is an elected representative willing to risk her political future in order to save our democracy.  Our two political parties currently control our government and our corporations control our political parties.  But one of my favorite senators chose to cast off her political party and become independent.  What does that mean to her?  Well, she is free to vote according to her wisdom and her conscience.  She doesn’t have to vote like a “rubber stamp” for the party she is a member of.  I think that is a good thing.  My position is not always the same as Senator Sinema.  If you are an independent thinker, your opinion will often not be the same as another independent thinker.  But, we normally agree.

   There was a recent senate run off in Georgia.  It pitted a religious leader against an empty football helmet.  That should be an easy decision for the Georgia voter.  But, it wasn’t.  It was close and why was that?  The football helmet was a Trump Republican and the minister was a Democrat.  Democrat and Republican representatives can be counted on to reliably vote as their party tells them to.  The party punishes them if they do not.  I once asked Peter DeFazio, a congressman from Oregon, who voted against his Democratic party’s NAFTA position, what the party used as a carrot and what they used as a stick to control his vote.  He said, “The carrot is campaign funds and the stick is committee appointments.”   So the party controls the representative’s ability to be elected as well as their effectiveness if elected.  That is a lot of control over who you the voter elects.  This leverage is obvious on federal and state representatives as well.

   Mitt Romney and Jeff Flake are Senators who I see as moral men, who speak their truth.  But their vote does not necessarily walk with their talk.  It is the vote that counts and their party controls it.  I believe that Flake had enough of it and retired.  I would assume that Romney will also.  Had they been independents, both men would have been a good and long lasting influence on our government.  The Trump Republican Party is currently punishing Liz Cheney for her outburst of truth against the Party’s wishes.  Liz will not be able to run for any office in the future without following Sinema’s lead.  And, it remains to be seen if an independent thinker can prevail in Arizona or Wyoming.

   The two party system has very much brought our government to a standstill.  The Senate is so evenly split between Democrats and Republicans that a 60% yes vote (a filibuster braker) rarely happens.  And with a Democratic slim majority in the Senate and a Republican slim majority in the House, you will rarely see both bodies vote for a bill, as is required in order to pass legislation on to the President for signature and enactment.  It requires our gigantic military spending to pass that hurdle.  Outrageous annual military spending is a bipartisan effort.

  I asked Richard Carmona, past Bush appointed Surgeon General and a recent Democratic candidate for the US Senate, from Arizona, if he thought our two party system had outlived its usefulness.  He answered, without hesitation, “Yes.”  George Washington did not want to see political parties in our government.  George was right then and he is right now.

  Kyrsten, “Has anyone told you you’re my hero?” – Old Buz     12/22/2022

Remember:

“One cannot fool all of the people all of the time                                                                  … and that is why we have two political parties.”

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com 

The Big Plop Theory

   "Somewhere back in infinity ... it All began with a plop." - Divine Revelation 

   As an agnostic, I am a person of questions.  But some of the answers to these questions feel very improbable to me and some seem quite probable.  This leaves me with beliefs, but no faith.  So when I question the origin of the Universe, from the majority of friends in the scientific belief group, I hear The Big Bang Theory.  Friends in the scientific belief group believe in the Big Bang, but it seems to me they don’t fully understand it.  I find this theory highly improbable for oh so many reasons and have for many years.

   Big Bang sounds to me like everything from nothing.  My mind can’t accept that.  The universe from something the size of a head of a pin and located nowhere (space didn’t yet exist), expanding into a “known” universe 28 billion light years across.  You don’t believe that … do you?  Well, if you believe that God created the universe in 6 days, about 6,000 years ago, perhaps you do.   Big Bang got its start from an observation through a series of radio telescopes.  It was noted that when the system was focused in any direction, at a certain point, the image became static.  The Big Bang proponents see this static as a uniform background radiation caused by high temperatures (an explosion) and densities in the distant past.  I see it as the EHT (Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration) a finite measuring system attempting to describe infinity.  If the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing and the Bang took place an estimated 13.8 billion years ago, why is the rate of expansion still increasing?  It’s time to calm down, dammit.  The Big Bang proponents have a rough time explaining the first 5 seconds after the bang and without those first five seconds I don’t believe you have much of a theory.  Finally, if the building blocks of the whole universe were contained in that head of a pin, including the explosion itself, how was that Big Bang a creation?  It would simply be a change of form.  It sounds to me like mythology (B.S.).

   My Big Plop Theory is much more believable.  It sees the universe not being created but being infinite and not being created at a single point in time.  The Universe has always been and will always be.  We are seeing galaxies being created at the present time.  Their apparent source seems to be a giant Plop from a Black Hole.  Black Holes can suck in entire galaxies as well as releasing them.  Our galaxy, The Milky Way, has a Black Hole at its center, about 27,000 light-years away from Earth.  The Milky Way Black Hole is four million times more massive than our Sun and our Sun seems pretty massive to me.  But, everything is relative.  There is a distant galaxy named the Messier 87 galaxy that has a black hole at its center, M87 Black Hole, that is more than a thousand times larger than our Milky Way Black Hole.  So there you go.  Black holes and their galaxies can be pretty large.  We know very little about the workings of black holes.  That is primarily because they have so much gravity that they suck in light.  This plays hell with the workings of a telescope.

   Does it occur to you, as it does to me that a giant black hole, thousands of times larger than the M87 Black Hole, might have plopped out our entire known universe?  This is the basis for my Big Plop Theory.  If I am correct, this does not indicate a “creation” at all.  It is just a change in form from the entrance to the exit of the black hole.  And if galaxies are presently being created, as science observes, there is no beginning point.  It is all but a rolling out of infinity.

GOD* Bless you, Old Buz,    12.20.2022

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“Born an agnostic and with the help of GOD* will remain one.” – Old Buz

*GOD – an acronym for Grand Omnipotent Dna – The system (or systems) of the Universe as studied by science. 

“There are some things only intellectuals are crazy enough to believe.”                      - George Orwell

Railroad Strike

    The seven days of sick leave for a railroad employee is a very basic moral question to industry and government.  There is no simple solution, but in this blog, I will pretend there is one.

  Railroads are both a utility and a private industry in America today.  This fact brings up questions in the area of regulation that are seen from both a political point of view and a private industry orientation.  Does the government have any right to intervene in union vs. management negotiations?  Is a railroad a utility or a private industry?  Does a union worker have the right to strike?  Does the ownership of a railroad have the right to determine the terms of employment for its workers?  Your answers to these questions will be right, from your point of view.  My point of view is liberal and independent.

   If a railroad corporation is a member of private industry then the government has little to no excuse for entering into labor vs. management negotiations.  What precedent would be set?  Do you want government to enter into negotiations in the automotive industry or the appliance industry or pharmaceuticals?  Where would this creeping socialism end?  When you authorize a fixed number of days of “sick leave” it becomes a benefit to be used or accumulated by the employee and it moves away from its intended purpose of paying an employee for illness or family emergencies to vacation time or early paid retirement.  That moves it into the area of wage negotiations.  The government has no business in that area.

   The government’s point of view here is that railroads are actually a utility.  A strike not only punishes the railroad corporation, but it punishes the nation.  There is no adequate backup in transportation for the rails.  A rail strike would cripple our economy and our economy controls the quality of life for its people.  The health of the economy is a primary responsibility of our government.  I worked my way through college, in the sixties, for Southern Counties Gas Co., and when I accepted the employment, by a utility, I agreed to give up my right to strike.  The company offered a fair wage and fair benefits for giving up a right to strike.  A utility like gas, electric or water cannot be shut off during labor negotiations.  We had a union, but it was more symbolic than effective.  Any business that supplies a necessity and is a monopoly or near monopoly needs to be considered a utility and governed accordingly.  This means either by utility commission or being nationalized.  Then government has every right to enter into labor negotiations or pricing of the product.  My liberal political point of view leans me in this direction.

   Both of the above arguments are valid.  Which side are you on?

Cheers, Old Buz     12/01/2022

The Solutions:

“There are no perfect solutions to the problems of our imperfect world.”

(But, it is nice to keep searching.) – Old Buz

The Trump Train

    One has to wonder, after the recent election results are in, if the passengers on the Trump Train are growing weary of having their train follow a garbage truck.  It seems that lying is not winning elections any more … at least not obvious lying.  Are the train passengers getting off?  Yes but, I suppose some will always remain in waiting.  Hell, J. Edgar Hoover’s name still appears in large letters on our FBI national headquarters.  When our country remembers Donald Trump with the same lack of affection as it remembers Dick Nixon or J Edgar Hoover with, I suppose we will be cured.  Or perhaps the Republican Party would rally around Nixon today.  Hard to say.  However, it was nice to see that the election deniers of the 2020 election had so little traction.  The Democrats won the midterms by not losing.  Congratulations.

  Now let’s take a step back.  Your legislative representatives, in the House and the Senate, have come together in a bipartisan, large majority vote, 80 some percent, to usher in a proposed annual military budget, 30 to 40 billion dollars larger than the 2022 budget, which was already larger than the budgets of the next 10 nation’s budgets COMBINED (check this for yourself).  The most recent annual military budget figures, for the world, I was able to research were from 2019.  The US expenditure was $732 Billion.  The next 5 nations (China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia & France) totaled $574.3 Billion.  So if the US spent only what the next 5 nations combined spent, we would have saved $157.7 Billion in one year alone.  Add to this the 30-40 billion dollar annual increase that our legislators add on and you are looking at a savings of a couple of hundred billion dollars annually.  A billion is a thousand million and a million is a thousand thousands.  Two hundred billion dollars is a lot of money.  Could we defend America spending only what the next 5 nations of the world combined spend, rather than the next 10 nations?

    My suggestion for using the 200 billion each year would be to buy back the rain forest and turn it back into a forest & jungle.  This would be done by a world wide consortium or foundation.  The countries the forest is in would be responsible for its maintenance and would be paid for the oxygen produced by the consortium.  Maintenance should not be too difficult since that rain forest is the natural state of that section of the Earth.  We can cure climate change.  All it requires is considering ourselves Patriots of The Planet, not American Patriots.  If we put the planet first it will be the best action we can take, not just for ourselves, but for all living things.  Or, would you rather continue to put our military first and see where that leads?

  We are the most powerful thinking species on this planet.  Isn’t it about time our actions were a benefit to the planet rather than the planet’s destroyer?

Cheers, Old Buz     11/18/2022

 

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Patriotism: “Willful blindness, guided by the random location of one’s birth.” – Old Buz

P & G (Power & Greed)

 

   We are talking about the driving force of this nation, or any nation in the world.  Power and greed are born of a basic human instinct, the survival instinct, gone cancerous.  This cancer is attacking the third leg of our democracy of Of The People, By The People and For The People.  For The People is being replaced by  For The Party.  Of the people and by the people is easy to maintain in government, only people are involved, but when benefit for the party replaces benefit for the people, you no longer have a functioning democracy.  Party interests are large dollar interests.  This is evident in both political parties.  

  When a benefit to the people is asked for, partisan bickering stops it.  A clear example of this is the need for effective gun regulation.  In a nation leading in mass murder of school children, worshipers and shoppers, with over 70% of the population wanting more effective gun regulation, our legislature is blocked by large financial interests disguised as partisan bickering.  The same goes for better education, clean air, clean water, universal healthcare, regulating the pharmaceutical industry or infrastructure.  But, let there be legislation, like a 20 to 30 billion dollar annual military budget increase to a budget of ¾ of a Trillion dollars … an annual military budget already larger than the sum total of the next 10 largest military budgets in the world and it is come together time for our political parties.  No problem.  Bipartisan agreement.   Representatives voted by over 80% for the increase.  The vote was not by party lines.  Of the 14 senators who voted against the increase, 9 were Republicans and 5 were Democrats (one of which sometimes calls himself an independent).  The other 86 senators voted in a non-partisan manner for the outrageous increase.  This $30 billion increase alone would go a long way toward buying the rain forest back from private interests, saving the forest and giving the planet better quality air and slowing drastic climate change.  Today’s greed is a much more powerful driving force than the long term health of the planet.  When a government implements the pleasure of a few with the pain of many, we are no longer a functioning democracy.  Good governing is no longer an issue.

   A better educated voting population is part of the solution.  Ridding ourselves of massive special interest dollars of political parties and lobbyists is the other part.  Better education is easily attained.  The required steps are obvious.  It comes with better financial support and better systems of education.  Saving a democracy already awash in corporate dollars is another issue.  Beware of the P & G.

Cheers, Old Buz     11.1.2022

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Remember:

“One cannot fool all of the people all of the time and that is why we have two political parties.” - Anon                                                                                                                                                 

Agnostic Sparrow

 I think there is an agnostic sparrow that regularly perches on the very top of the century plant viewed from our Arizona back porch.  It perches at the very top of the plant, perhaps 60 feet above the Earth, on a seed blossom.  Other birds often land on branches below and eat the seeds or in the case of hawks wait for a rabbit or a ground squirrel to venture out, but this sparrow sits atop the highest point and never bends down to eat a seed, but may turn to take in a different view.  I believe we come to this life to educate our souls.  I believe that this sparrow is a fellow agnostic.  It has the awareness advantage of flight for its education.  I have the ability to read (very slowly in my case).  The sparrow, high above the earth, takes a moment to observe without concerning itself with flying or landing.  A time to reflect.

 

Cheers, Old Buz  10/17/2022

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Purpose of Life (my guess)

“Your life is a university for the wisdom of your eternal soul.” - Old Buz (If you are a high school graduate, substitute the words high school for the word university.)

A Dream about the Lion President

During my nap today I had a dream about the Lion President.  I learned that Queen Elizabeth II, a great human being, had passed earlier today and in the dream the Lion President claimed that during his visit to London he had been promised by the Queen, her throne, upon her death.  Amazingly, the MAGA population believed his tale as did the Republican members of our government.  The argument went, “If America can survive the Lion President, so can the British Empire.”  Off they went on The Ship of Fools to place his imagined claim on England’s Throne.  The Lion President, his Lion Family, the Lion Republican office holders and a group of well-paid porn stars.  In the dream, due to this voyage, America saved its reputation, upped the average IQ of the nation and The Lion President became The Lion King.  Remember history, England once dumped its trash in America in order to create our great country.  Turnabout is fair play.

Cheers, Old Buz   9/8/2022

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(This blog post is not intended to offend any member of the cat family or porn stars.  I love and respect cats.  I don’t know any porn stars.)

The Lion President

The Lion President

I saw an advertisement on TV this morning for an animated film titled The Lion King.  I thought, “How strange.”  There is no such thing as a lion government or a lion nation, so what is an individual lion the king of?  But, America has had four years of a Lion President and his lion government and the MAGA who marched lock step behind him. Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks or Sony, to name a few  could make a very funny film reminiscing about all of the lies told by Trump in his presidency and perhaps some that he shared before holding office.  I foresee box office records and Trump Monkeys marching on theaters.  There would probably be a Right Wing Christian fatwa attack ordered on the CEO of the production company.    The ex-President would threaten a law suit, as is his method of operation, but truth is a defense against slander, so he would not prevail.  He probably couldn’t get a reputable lawyer to take the case.  The quantity of lies told by Trump himself on video and tape and by his supporting cast of cabinet members, attorneys and members of congress would be more than enough material to script a hilarious film and a sequel.  What an entertaining trip down memory lane for Democrats, thinking independents and not willfully blind Republicans.  Probably an administration will never again offer such ongoing entertainment.  Lest you Democrats take too much joy in watching this film remember, “One cannot fool all of the people all of the time … and that is why there are two political parties.”  - Anon.

Cheers, Old Buz          8/26/2022 

The Essence of GOD

   Could there be a god for the wise?  I would answer yes.  The god that I would suggest is probably not a spiritual being, but is an acronym.  It is G.O.D. or GOD.  The Grand Omnipotent Dna, the system (or systems) that rule the Universe.  These systems are why the Universe exists as it does.  Without any one of them our universe, as we know it, would no longer exist.  You never would have existed.  GOD is the creator.

  When a well-meaning person says, after you sneeze, “GOD bless you,” the concept remains valid.  You have systems within your body designed to fight disease and the fact that they exist is a blessing.  Wishing that these systems prevail is a blessing.  It may not affect the outcome, but it is a kind thought.  It exemplifies empathy.  Empathy for all living things is a valid goal.

   Choosing the acronym “GOD” for the system(s) of the Universe is a cheap trick.  I apologize, but I had my reasons.  The essence of the word god was long ago established by the mythologies of our various religions.  Some of the mythologies promote positive actions and some are clearly evil.  The evil comes from promoting yourself or your group as superior in god’s eye to other living beings.  No good ever comes of this.  We are all GOD’s creatures.  I chose the acronym GOD in order to expand on and attach to good ideas already in existence.

   Does GOD change with the passage of time and our understanding of the systems in play?  Probably not.  It is our understanding that improves with research and hopefully it will continue to.  GOD is probably a constant.

  There is an understandable confusion about the use of DNA in the acronym.  DNA is the system ruling the development of any living organism.  It tells each cell what its job is in the operation of the organism.  Without it there would be no organism.  I needed a “D” for the acronym GOD.  The system of DNA is no more important than gravity, energy, inertia or awareness to the total system.  DNA is critical to your existence, but so is gravity, so don’t get hung up on it.  DNA, as used in the acronym GOD is a synonym for the word system.

   What of the mythology that many live with, in their belief in religion.  Choose the stories that build kindness in your actions.  This is what Kurt Vonnegut is saying when he says, “Live by the foma* that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.”  I am not a believer in this concept, Kurt may not be either, but I see little harm in it … if it is not abused.  As an agnostic, I don’t see untruths as a reliable means of expanding one’s awareness.

GOD bless you, Old Buz       8/16/2022

*foma = harmless untruths 

Price Controls

“Price Controls”

   There, I said them, the two ugliest words in our free market, capitalist society.  You won’t hear them on your cable news, be you a Republican lemming or a Democrat lemming.  The folks that control your fuel supply and its price work for their shareholders, not the public.  No matter what the price at the pumps, you are not to say or think those words “price controls”.  We have many times gone to war for American Oil Companies, so why would we complain about greed driven inflation?  America is not experiencing a fuel shortage.  At least the last two administrations have claimed that we are no longer oil dependent on other nations.  The price is being raised for excessive profits, not in response to a war in the Ukraine.  What can Joe Biden do?  Nothing, without your “representatives” acting as your representatives and employing price controls.

  So why doesn’t your government take action to prevent you from being slaughtered at the pumps?  There are two reasons.  One, your representatives don’t represent you.  They represent large dollar interests.  Two, in an imaginary world where they did employ price controls on oil, the oil companies would cut supplies and you would be waiting in line, on your knees, to beg for a few gallons of gas.  The oil would be going to Europe where there is a shortage and no price controls.  Have you ever noticed that the proposed Keystone Pipeline ends at a port in New Orleans?  That is the pipeline claimed to make us oil independent.

  Is there a solution?  Not an easy one.  It is time to treat fuel that gets you to work and your food to the market as a utility.  And, it is time to nationalize any utility or other natural monopoly.  Yes, your government needs to serve you.  With greed growing grotesque in our nation, we need to return to reason.  The excess profit motive is rotting the nation from within.  Any increase in minimum wages will result in inflation beyond the benefit of the wage increase.  Corporations will do this … because they can.

 Cheers, Old Buz      6/15/2022 

Guns Don't Kill People

 Guns don't kill people.

Lunatics and morons do.

Your Legislators enable them.

You might think carefully about your upcoming vote.

        Cheers, Old Buz

        5/26/2022

Simple Majority?

       

   Is this still a government of the wealthy, by the wealthy and for the wealthy as our founders designed it?  The simple majority would say that it is, but I would argue that we have perfected their goals far beyond the expectations of our founders.  Our leaders are primarily sponsored by corporate dollars.  And, they vote accordingly.  The legal form of financial corporations took place in The United States primarily in the first two-thirds of the 19^th century so the giant corporate dollars were not considered by our founders.  The advertising budgets were much smaller.  They were relying on individual wealth and power. 

    Another mass murder in a school yesterday.  19 students and 3 teachers killed. Shootings usually take place in schools, supermarkets or places of worship.  There have been over 200 mass murders in the US, so far this year.  Some folks think we have adequate gun legislation presently.  As a gun collector and target shooter I don’t think we are even close.  I believe that a citizen above the age of 21 should be allowed to own one or more single shot weapons.  That owner should be licensed.  “You need a license to drive a car”.  What if you could go buy dynamite in a dynamite shop?  In 1927 a man blew up 38 school children and 6 adults at Bath School.  That is why you can no longer buy dynamite in a local store, even if you are 21 and not a convicted felon.  You need a verifiable reason to buy dynamite.  It is federal law.  Consequently school children are no longer being blown up.  Are our present representatives less intelligent than federal legislators were in 1927?  Could it be that lobbyists have too much influence on our government?  Do you think perhaps corporations are better represented than you are?  The simple majority thinks the government is doing just fine.  Why change it?

   I could go on and on.  The examples of your elected representatives, in both parties, not putting your interests before that of large corporations is inexhaustible.    

Cheers, Old Buz       5/25/2022

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Thanks to a Scam

 

   I am alive today thanks to a scam of the pharmaceutical corporations.  The big dollar pharmaceuticals no longer need test tubes.  My drug costs Medicare $195,125.74/yr., or $534.59/pill/day.  It works just fine, thank you, it has kept me alive since 2019.  I have the presently incurable disease called chronic lymphocyte leukemia.  The drug Imbruvica, sold by Abbvie, is the maintainer of my existence.  But, why so expensive?  Well, the short story is the drug was developed by Celera, who sold the sales rights to it to Pharmacyclics for $3 million (hopefully a fair profit for a job well done).  Pharmacyclics sold to Johnson & Johnson for $975 million, multiplying the cost of the right to sell the product by 325.  Abbvie saw an opportunity there and paid $21 billion for the sales rights.  This purchase raised the cost of selling the drug by 7,000 times.  Too bad Medicare and I couldn’t have bought the drug from the developer, Celera.  Your feckless government is aware of this and your representative is ready to say, “I stand up for my voters and place them right behind me.”  The process described here will destroy Medicare.  It won’t be there for your children or your children’s children.  There is no reason to believe the pharmaceutical scam isn’t widespread and growing.  Greed above all.  “Gold rules!”  In the long run the pharmaceutical corporations are destroying their golden goose, in the short run they have unearned profits and extreme wealth.

   Is it the duty of your government representatives to protect the public from horrendous corporate greed?  In our free market economy it seems not.  When your government is employed by corporations, not voters, the democracy is no longer functioning.  Another example of our reaching this point is an 85%, bipartisan vote of our Senate to approve an annual military budget, 20 billion dollars larger than last year’s budget and larger than the next 10 nations in the world’s combined military budgets.  This is a military that stays home when Putin is marching.  We are willing to fight any nation in the world, if they don’t have nuclear weapons.  We proved that in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Putin tried to imitate our actions in Iraq in the Ukraine, but it won’t work in the long run, just as our adventures didn’t.  Putin has realized that we won’t fight if the use of Nukes is threatened and he becomes free to take any action.  This will be a problem for Russia and The US down the road.  Perhaps nukes were never a promise of peace for the future.  I guess it will be the task of thinking people to create a system of sustainable world peace.  We won’t do it with ever expanding annual military budgets and nuclear arsenals.  We also need to take a hard look at a Senate that can’t come up with other than a 50/50 partisan vote on healthcare, education or infrastructure but comes gleefully together for a gargantuan annual military budget.  Why do you think this is?

   “A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” – George Bernard Shaw

  Cheers, Old Buz     4/24/2022

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Lost in Translation

   A good friend of mine ends his emails with a quote from Confucius, “The essence of knowledge is having it to use it.”  My first reaction to the quote was the statement does not show wisdom.  It shows a misunderstanding of the word essence.  I understand essence to mean the deep meaning or root meaning of a word.  A basic meaning, found below a common definition.  Many words can be substituted for the word knowledge in this quote.  Try the words a hammer or a saw and the quote is equally inaccurate.  Confucius is honored with wisdom lasting over twenty-five hundred years.  To be fair to Confucius, he never spoke these words.  The words he spoke were in Chinese and therein lays the problem.  It is in the translation.  The Chinese translation for essence is benzhi and translating it back to English, the first word choice is nature.  The Chinese translation for knowledge is zhishi and translating it back to English, the first option is understanding.  Now we have a more reasonable quote, “The nature of understanding is having it to use it.”  Or, I might say, “Knowledge without understanding cannot be put to reliable use.”  The meaning of any translation is in the hands of the translator, be it written or verbal.

Remember this while reading a bible:

“The essence of a quotation is often lost in translation.” – Jesus of Nazareth (Spoken in Hebrew.)

Cheers, Old Buz     4/21/2022 

"To Russia With Love"

   “As you sow, so shall you reap.” – King James Version of the Bible, Epistle to the Galatians, 6:7.  This blog is probably the last place you would expect to see the Bible quoted.  But this concept is the essence of a properly functioning justice system.  That just system does not take place on our planet.  To the greedy goes the wealth.  To the selfish goes the power.  “No good deed goes unpunished.” – Satire, but too often true. 

  Each day on the news I see the death and destruction that the Russian military is bringing down on Ukraine.  The people of the Ukraine did nothing to earn this.  It is one man’s decision, Vladimir Putin.  He pretty much stands alone.  This is obvious from the photo of him at one end of a thirty foot table, with his advisors grouped at the other end.  There was no popular desire in Russia to annihilate a small neighboring country.  The resulting deaths are young Russian men and Ukrainians of all description.  War is insanity.  So in our imaginary just world, what should Putin reap?  The answer is fairly obvious.

   The obvious solution needs to take place within Russia.  If it comes from the United States or any other nation, it may well precipitate a world war.  More unnecessary deaths of innocents.  Russia needs to put their own mad dog down.  Hopefully a person of greater wisdom would replace him.  They couldn’t possibly do worse.  With a satellite guided surgical drone strike by the US this could easily be accomplished, but again, that isn’t an ideal solution.  No, a Russian patriot needs to step up and save their nation.  The Russian action in Ukraine has already gone way too far.  No reparations can repay that little nation adequately.  But Russia can try.

  I have stated in an earlier blog that “There are no perfect solutions in this imperfect world.”  All that we have available to us is the best solutions.  The killing of a human being seems never to be justified, but in this case it may be the best solution to halting an unpopular insanity.

  To the Russian Avenger (hero), “Put on your cape and off to the sky.” And if you die, it will not have been in vain.  Long live Russia.

Cheers, Old Buz, Patriot of the Planet        

 

Dear President Vladimir Putin,                                                                                   March 26, 2022

You have lived a good life, but your recent decisions have cost countless innocent lives.  Stand up for Russia and lie down.  In your brave act of suicide with honor, you will save the life of a Great Russian hero, your would-be assassin and perhaps you will save the world.

Sincerely, Old Buz   iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com 

2 Political Parties

   Abraham Lincoln is known for the quote, “No one can fool all of the people all of the time.”  That fact is obviously why we have two political parties.  I am watching our US Senate hold confirmation hearings on the Biden nomination for a Supreme Court Justice, Katanji Brown Jackson.  My first reaction to the questioning by the Republican Senators was, “These men are racists!”  The subject matter of the questions seemed both unfair and irrelevant and pointed me toward that conclusion.  But I hadn’t thought it through.  These Republican Senators had little racist reaction in their confirmation hearings or votes on Clarence Thomas.  They wouldn’t even consider the appointment of Merrick Garland, a well-qualified, white, Democratic president’s nomination to the Court.  Their ill-conceived actions appear to be purely partisan.   Democratic Senators are more than capable of the same error.  Senators of both stripes act in the same manner and are equally ineffective in their outcomes.

   Our Senate is capable of rare bipartisan action.  They recently came together for an 85% approval of an annual military spending bill that was twenty billion dollars larger than the previous year and for a larger amount than the next ten military nations in our world, combined.  I know, I have mentioned this in a previous blog, but I think it bears repeating.  Our Senate is bipartisan when it comes to egregious military spending.  This is a problem for funding education, healthcare and infrastructure, some things that the citizens of the country benefit from.  The question becomes, what is required for the US Senate to come together in a non-partisan manner?  This question was answered by a very wise man, “A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” - George Bernard Shaw.                                                                                                                                                   

 This short tour would indicate that our Senate is a poorly designed, ineffective legislative branch of government.  The Wyoming teacher is much better represented than the California teacher.  The Senate is not related to population.  It is the state itself that is equally represented with two senators, regardless of the state’s population.  This fact alone destroys the concept of one citizen, one vote (equal representation).  Can you fix the inherent problems of the Senate?  Yes!  Get rid of the US Senate.  Call the House the Legislature and go to 4 year terms for its members.  While you are on a roll … outlaw political parties (puppeteers), lobbyists (bribery organizations) and political action committees (more of the same).  What would be wrong with an honest functioning government?  Could we live with that?  

Cheers, Old Buz     3/23/2022

curmudgeonsanonyous.com 

Son of God

   My mother was a married Jewish virgin and my father was The Lord of Israel.  Do you have faith in what I have just written?  You have no reason not to believe me …right.  After all, you are reading revelation not hearsay written from a story told a hundred years before.  And you Jews, stop laughing, you have your stories of Passover, Noah’s Ark and the first woman from the first man’s rib.  The point here is that there may be valid reasons to doubt religious tales and most of us do.

   We are seeing the fact that this belief in biblical “history” is generally doubted.  I am yet to see news of any group attempting to pray Putin out of Ukraine.  I think that most folks don’t believe that God actually injects Himself into human affairs.  They like to believe He does, but I don’t think they are being honest with themselves.  It is more effective to send anti-aircraft missiles to the Ukrainians than sending them God.  My nephew, a very intelligent man and an avid sports enthusiast, has told me that if he has a problem too large to handle, he turns it over to Jesus.  It is a good thing that he didn’t choose a career in the military, but then it is a good thing that I didn’t either. 

  We patriots do hand our moral rudder over to the steering of our political leaders.  I understand that 2/3 of the Russian people believe that Putin has a just cause in Ukraine.  I would guess that 2/3 of Americans believed that we had a just cause in Iraq.  “United We Stand.”  Folks (you delusional 2/3),  Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 and had no weapons of mass destruction.  Sorry Dick Cheney.  There was no legitimate reason to bomb the crap out of that nation and then install a puppet government.  Do you see any relationship between President Bush’s actions and President Putin’s present efforts?  I see little difference other than it was our military then and it is Putin’s military now.

   Awareness Guide:

“See what is plain to see.  Doubt if you don’t.” – Daniel

Cheers, Old Buz    3/9/22

iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

A Prophylactic for Putin

 

“There are no perfect solutions to the problems of our imperfect world.” – Old Buz

But we do need a prophylactic to curb Vladimir Putin in his efforts to fuck the planet.  Given that the man is crazy, but has a finger close to a red button, a sizable conventional military and dictates to a very large population … it needs to be well thought out, but don’t expect perfection.

   Let’s start with the down side.  Putin needs a win for his ego.  Given the sanctions, the Ukrainian resistance and world opinion, this war is not going as planned for Russia.  We can’t create a no fly zone over Ukraine or use our satellites and drone force to destroy Russia’s tank force for fear of escalating to the planet’s nuclear ending.     Let the Separatist portions of Ukraine be an independent nation.  They have had a civil war going there for 8 years.  Let them separate.  Putin can call it a win and pull back his “Peacekeepers” while saving face.  Ukraine can end their expensive battle with the Separatists.  I am not proposing handing this new nation to Russia.  I am proposing a small independent nation that may unite with Russia, if they wish to, or simply be allied with Russia.  This already is the case de facto, but it needs to be official and recognized by The UN in order to stop the pain.

   Do not put an immediate end to the Western economic sanctions of Russia.  Oil and gas sanctions need to be added.   There need to be painful results from causing pain to another nation.  Putin needs to be unpopular in his homeland.  He has earned that.  The next step is for our CIA to dust off its Jack Kennedy Play Book and prevent any future action from Putin.  I have always held that “The end does not justify the means”, but in this case it feels like putting down a mad dog will save millions of innocent lives.  A CIA operative in Moscow could get it done and a compliant Russian Cabinet might well go along.  They might just seal the evidence in Russian archives for 75 years.  It is sloppy, but it worked once.  It can work again.  Consider it a gift to civilization.  The guy is a lunatic with power.  Sounds familiar?    But, there is no functioning democracy to remove Putin.

   In time the world can lift the economic sanctions on Russia.  Russia can help to rebuild Ukraine.  A Russia that accepts the responsibility for Putin’s actions can be forgiven, just as the world has forgiven Germany for Hitler’s actions and Japan has forgiven America for its nuclear assault on two civilian populations.  Humans forgive.  These are problem times for our planet and again, “There are no perfect solutions to the problems of our imperfect world.”  We can only do our best.

Cheers, Old Buz     3/6/22

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

Patriotism 101

    There is a lesson to be had from the Patriots of Ukraine.  I guess there are many, but we need to start with one.  It was reported on the news this morning that the prices for groceries in Ukraine markets have not risen during the Russian invasion.  The lines outside of the large suburban grocery markets are long.  The demand for food is high and the supply is short, but prices are not rising.  This tells you that high demand and shortages do not necessarily cause price increases.  Greed needs to be present.  That grocery store is not experiencing higher costs, so they are not punishing a war-torn nation with inflation.  Their wealthy appear to be Ukrainian Patriots.

   Turn your attention now to the CEOs of American Oil Companies.  According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2020, Russia sent less than one per cent of their gas and oil production to the US.  We send more gas and oil to Russia than they do to us.  So, even with a war in Ukraine, there is no shortage of fuel in The United States.  Our oil companies will create the illusion of “blow back” and shortage in order to raise the price at the pumps and their profits, but it just isn’t so.  The oil companies determine the price and supply. You and your government have no say in the matter.  The same goes for the pharmaceutical companies and each of those industries prove it every day.  Inflation is ruled by industry.

   It would be good for the US to sanction Russian fuel sales, not because it would hurt Russia, but because Europe would follow and this would cripple the Russian economy.  With this hammer over Putin’s head he may pull out of Ukraine.  He needs to know that an invasion of Ukraine or any part of Europe will cripple his nation’s economy and make Russia smaller, not larger.   We need to make that “Light on the hill” burn a little brighter.

Cheers, Old Buz     3/2/22

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

Data vs. Dialog

   I pretty much watch MSNBC for my data input.  I believe it is reasonably accurate.  I also listen to their dialog, which I take with a “grain of salt.”  MSNBC primarily presents the Democratic Party’s philosophy.  It is nice, but has a liberal centrist slant.  In my experience their data has proven to be fairly accurate, when checked against primary sources.  It still doesn’t hurt to check them.  As the wisest man I know once said, “See what is plain to see.  Doubt what is not.”

   So, what is a reasonable interpretation of the US backing of our ally Ukraine in their present war with Russia?  Well, our annual military budget for our own military, presently at peace, is $768.2 billion (recently passed by 85% of our Senate).  Our current financial support for Ukraine is $650 Million.  We invest about 1,182 times as many dollars in our peacetime military as we do in support of allies fighting a war.  They are fighting a war that we and NATO may be fighting in the very near future.  What do you think?  Is a little more support in order?

  Courtney Kube reported on MSNBC this morning about some confusion at The Pentagon about why Ukraine or we haven’t hacked into the Russian military command, stopping their effective military co-ordination.  Without this communication the Russian military would be bouncing around Ukraine like a pin ball.  There would be a lot of confusion and collateral damage.  The advantage would shift to the home team, with local coordination of troops.  The answer to this proposition is a proven military truth: “What you do to your enemy, they will soon do to you.”  That is why our nation no longer nukes other nations and why other nations do not nuke us.  Don’t count on Jesus for the obvious answers.  Hacking can be accomplished by any nation of any size in our present world.  Its use tends to spread its general application and the hacking, shutting down of utilities around the planet could lead to the extinction of the human species.  It may not be such a bad thing from the point of view of other living things.

Cheers, Old Buz      2/24/2022     iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

“Born an agnostic and with the help of GOD will remain one.”

$ 73,000,000 Settlement

 

   Seventy-three million dollars is the settlement awarded to nine families, some of the 27 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.  The amount was charged to the manufacturer and distributer of the Bushmaster AR-15 style assault rifle supplier, Remington.  Good news?  Be careful what you wish for.  None of the executives of the company that supplies this weapon are going to Heaven, but they supply a legal product in a legal manner to the American public.  There is no legal justification of their punishment.  They are not the bad guys.  The folks that approve the distribution of this human killing device to the general public are your elected representatives.  Not the judicial branch of government.  Their job is simply to determine if a law has been broken.  The mother of the lunatic that committed the mass murder acquired the murder weapon legally.  Remington broke no laws.  Sorry lovers of justice.

   In the long run, subverting the law is not a good decision.  Think of the recent act of Republican senators not willing to hear witnesses or view documents in an impeachment trial.  The Constitution (the law) called for them to be unbiased jurors.   One could not be an unbiased judge of anything without hearing witness testimony or viewing relevant documents.  So, the thinking, but with little or no moral rudder, Republican senators were saying, “We know he is a lunatic and a liar, but he is our lunatic and liar.”  You see they were wishing for a “good” outcome for their party, not to properly implement the law.  The law is not always right, but it should be the deciding factor in a court of law.

   So, what is the “proper application of an assault weapon?”  A battle field is the obvious answer.  Swat teams often experience “collateral damage” with their use.  Citizens often use them for mass murder.  What is the basic requirement of an assault weapon?  Rapid fire and it is a bonus for the imaginary killers if it looks mean.  So, a single shot weapon, even if it looked mean, would be relatively harmless.  It would be effective for suicide (40% of civilian gun deaths), because a well-executed suicide rarely requires a second shot.  Collectors don’t require rapid fire.  Target shooters don’t require rapid fire and hunters would be more skillful in tracking and shooting with only one shot.  With only one shot the home defender will kill less friends and relatives.  (This paragraph was obviously a plug for my “one shot” solution to mass murders.  It requires intelligent legislation.  We don’t see enough of that.  Legislation is primarily dollar driven.)

   We need not hope for bad judicial decisions to bring about desirable outcomes.  We need to demand thoughtful and just legislation from our legislators.  Political bickering and corporate bribery often get in the way of just legislation.  Can we build a truly great nation with political bickering and corporate bribery?  It has been hard.

Cheers, Old Buz     2/19/2022

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

A Black Female Supreme

 

  When President Biden declares that he will nominate a Black Woman for a vacant position on the US Supreme Court, he is making a racist, sexist statement.  Sorry all you well-meaning liberals, but that is a fact.  To limit the field of contenders by ruling out male or Caucasian contenders takes away the most desirable attribute of “best qualified.”  I’m not saying that a Black Woman could not be the best qualified nominee.  It is just that color or sex has little to do with the issue.  

   What of the concept that the Court should mirror the population in its distribution of race and sex?  Is that a legitimate goal?  Well, yes I suppose it is, but it should tend to do just that without racism and sexism involved.  So avoid those pitfalls.  Don’t declare that the next appointed Supreme Court Justice will be a Black Female.  It is not how a just America should function.  “Just” needs to be an important consideration in our justice system.

  Look at it from the standpoint of “The End Justifying The Means.”  Can having a Black woman on the Court by only encouraging Black women to apply and only considering Black women for appointment possibly be a good transaction?  Well, my take on that philosophy is, “We live in the means and die in the end.”  In other words our devious thoughts and actions are never justified by the chance of a desirable outcome.  Bad methods are unlikely to win the ball game.

   It would be nice to see a Black Woman be our next justice appointed to the Supreme Court, but I would see it open to all and have that person be the best qualified of the applicants.  Sex and color are not valid qualifications.  If mirroring the population is the primary consideration for Court appointment, let’s consider groups with no representation on the Court, like Orientals and Gays.

Cheers, Old Buz     1/30/2022

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

White Privilege

 

   I am a “white” person, but I would be proud to have a racist call me a WINO (White In Name Only).  You see, I don’t believe that skin pigmentation has anything to do with who an individual is.  As to my “white privilege,” I don’t believe that I have any privileges due to the color of my skin.  What I do have is the rights and privileges that our country claims to offer to all of its citizens.  Equal treatment under the law and by the society has always been mine, but hardly ever given to people of other than white skin tone.  Our society has always screwed people of color and treated me as promised.  What is called white privilege is not a privilege at all.  It is a right promised to all citizens of our nation.

   The time to keep our word is long overdue.  In my lifetime I have never voted after standing in a line of over ten people.  That is not what I see in the news for people of color.  Black leaders and spokespeople are now asking for federal legislation to stop voter suppression and vote subversion by officials.  Voter inequity by states is not a black issue, as is claimed.  It is an issue of a challenged democracy.  The Republican target is the voting power of Democrats, not people of color.  Black people are simply an easy target.  As an ethic group, they reliably vote Democrat and they are often ghettoized (made an easy target of zoning).  When people of color are disabled in their voting rights, your group will be next.  So back color blind voting regulation and let your voice be heard.  When voting rights are controlled by one political party, it will not be easy to turn our system of government around and you will no longer have anything similar to a democracy.

   Our US Senate recently came together and voted in a non-partisan vote (85% in favor) to spend more dollars on our military in 2022 than the next ten nations in the world combined spend.  Yet they cannot come together in a non-partisan manner to ensure equal voting rights for all of our citizens.  Is there a problem with our government and the people we elect to office?

   Donald Trump once said, “When all of the nation can vote by mail, no more Republicans will be elected.”  He was often wrong, but he had this one right.  Actually it has nothing to do with mail.  It has only to do with more people voting.  Republicans would rarely win if our democracy was fully functioning and more of our population voted.  The “Party of No” does not represent the people and it offers them nothing.  To be able to win the Republicans would need to change their mission to conservative change and conservative economics.  This would not be a hard pill to swallow for most thinking Republicans.  Thinking, honest Republicans are presently a small minority of their membership, but a change in the party to benefit all, would be a welcome and a popular shift.  Honest, thinking Republicans have been forced out of the party, but they need to take it back for the good of the nation.  

Cheers, Old Buz, proud to be a WINO         1/7/2022

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com