The Rich Get Richer

"It bothered me to think that in this rich country, there were people who still lived as they did . . ."   Ruth Levinson, character in The Longest Ride, a novel by Nicholas Sparks, 2013


Ruth, a teacher, had gone to visit a student who lived in a shack and sometimes did not eat more than two or three times a week.


On the NBC nightly news, December 17, 2014, Brian Williams announced that recent information shows that the gap between the upper one per cent and the rest of the country has gotten even wider.  Yes, in this great and rich country, how is it children  have to live like this?  Yet even today it still happens, while we send millions and billions of dollars and jobs to other countries, some who are our barely disguised covert enemies.


I've said it all in previous articles in lousissues.BlogSpot.com, lousdevotes.BlogSpot.com, and louhough.BlogSpot.com.  I will let you read and reread these articles to find my views. 


But permit me to ask you a few questions first.


When will enough be enough for these rich people?


What are they lacking in their lives that makes them driven to store more and more coins while their fellow men go hungry?  They store coins in the same obsessive-compulsive manner that an alcoholic imbibes alcohol, trying to fill some empty hole within themselves.  It seems to be some type of addictive behavior.


When they get to the pearly gates and God asks them to account for what they did with the talents and other coins with which He entrusted them, how will they answer?  I bought some elections for guys I thought would help me make and keep some more coins?  Or will they say, I looked for half a dozen people per year and fed, clothed, and trained them until they were able to take care of themselves?  I expected nothing back for doing so.


Which answer do you think the Almighty will like the best? 


Which do you think will give them the most fulfillment, perhaps enough to fill that mighty empty hole?

If I Ruled CBS!

A friend of mine once stated the obvious, that people's fantasies were determined by what they needed most.  His were pretty much the same as most men's.  Mine were, as always, about wealth.  My income hasn't increased, so my fantasies haven't changed, except the amount I visualize has multiplied many times.  And no, I want my own, I don't want to marry it.


With money comes power.  Right?  So, I've decided to fantasize owning CBS so I have power over their programing. 


The first thing CBS needs is to eliminate all reality shows, because there isn't a single sniff of reality in any of them.  In fact, one or two of them should not have gotten past the first season.  I refer especially to Undercover Boss.  People would have to live in a monastery not to know what's going on after one exposure to this show.


Then, there is the problem of Saturday night.  CBS has cared squat about their Saturday night audience since they canceled Craig T. Nelson as a police commissioner who lived on a boat.  48 Hours Mystery is the only thing they seem to take as valuable, a very debatable opinion.  They keep showing reruns of current shows (probably to hook new viewers) as though we are too stupid to already know the shows are on the air.  They really ticked me off last season when they ran new Saturday segments of shows scheduled on other nights.  You see, newspapers have quit running TV guide sections in their Sunday editions because cable viewers can get the information from television.  The problem with that is that a lot of the CBS audience does not have cable.  So, a little hard to access the schedule on television.


Then there is the new disjointed manner of showing the shows.  Big Bang Theory was on Thursday, then Monday, now Thursday.  There will now be four sitcoms on Monday night, so either Scorpion or NCIS Los Angeles has to give up their spot.  Last year Tuesday night was perfect -- three really strong shows.  So, instead of putting NCIS New Orleans on a previously weak night, they broke up a winning night to do it.  Let's face it, Thursday night really needed this new hit.


Wednesday nights now scare the heck right out of me.  First, there is the Survivor horror show -- what humans will do to humans for a buck.  Criminal minds follows with it's usual flare for inciting fear.  That wasn't enough.  They then added Stalker.  By the end of the evening, I, a stalking survivor, have had the bejesus scared right out of me.  So, I read a lot more books now.


Thursday night starts off with a bang in Big Bang Theory and ends with Elementary.  Sometimes I watch the first one, sometimes the latter.  But there is no way I'm sitting through four sitcoms to get to Elementary.  Another night of reading here.


I've always liked The Mentalist, but resent that one or the other of my favorite shows has to go so it can come back. (I also resent that it is being canceled after this year).  What in h e double hockey sticks is wrong with putting it on Saturday night and giving us something good to watch then?  In fact, how about bringing back Vegas and putting it on Saturday night?  Oh, yes, I heard it would be canceled because it was popular among seniors.


Madame Secretary and The Good Wife are simply too good to axe either of them temporarily or permanently.  What are you thinking?  Depending on how you handle this, I could be anticipating another night of reading.


You know, my generation has always had to take a back seat to some other generation.  Mostly we were ignored for what the boomers needed.  Then advertisors catered to the eighteen to twenty-five crowd.  But heck the college grads can't get jobs good enough for paying off their student loans right now.  How can they buy anthing else?  And miracle of miracles, I read somewhere recently that retirees are becoming the wealthiest generation around.  My own status gives me pause about this, but wouldn't that be something if it's true?  CBS and all the other networks would have to cater to my generation at long last, at least if they want their advertisers to sponsor them.


So, let me suggest to you my view of what prime time TV should be.  I'm working within the current scheduling, but tweaking it a bit.


Sunday
7:00  The Mentalist
8:00   Madame Secretary
9:00  The Good Wife
Monday
7:00  Two Sitcoms
8:00  Scorpion
9:00  NCIS Los Angeles
Tuesday
7:00  NCIS
8:00  NCIS New Orleans
9:00  Person of Interest
Wednesday
7:00  Two Sitcoms
8:00  Criminal Minds
9:00  CSI
Thursday
7:00  Two Sitcoms
8:00  Stalker
9:00  Elementary
Friday
7:00  Two Sitcoms
8:00  Hawaii 5-O
9:00  Blue Bloods
Saturday
7:00  48 Hours
8:00  A Made for TV Movie
         or your music specials


Of course, as we (or you)) grow tired of our favorite dramas, we will expect them to be replaced with even greater works.


And put your bloomin' sports shows on sports channels so you aren't preempting good television for obsessive-compulsive sports viewing.  Why were Sports Channels developed if you aren't going to use them for the best sports?


They say a word to the wise is sufficient.  I hope that's true.  You better hope so, too.  Because when I get all my multi billions, I'm going to make my move on you.  And you don't even want me to turn my attention on daytime!  You do know this, don't you?

Retirement, The Time Of Your Life

Quite some years ago I had a brief idea of starting a column teaching people how to learn a craft or hobby.  It seemed a matter of self preservation for me at the time.  I was the go-to person for people who get bored.  Nothing to do?  Dial Lou.  Tired of rattling around?  Call Mom.  It's hard to know if they call me because they believe that I'm just rattling around also.  For sure, they never seem to give a thought that I might have something they shouldn't interrupt going on at the other end of the line.


A recent AARP publication inspired these thoughts again.  I couldn't believe the positions taken.  There was dread of how long retirement would be.  Others were urged to frenetically design their unstructured futures.  All the advice (except to save, save, save, for your end years) seemed to take the joy right out of the prospect.  Let me tell you  --  structured or unstructured  --  those years will just zip through your hands. And don't feel you're facing endless hours with nothing to do.  I've many times threatened to go back to work so I can get some rest.  Oh, she's not doing anything, she can run my errands.  He's retired, so we can get him to volunteer at church . . . or school . . . or the hospital.  People who hardly speak to you on a regular day have no reluctance to ask you to take care of their kid, for free if possible.  Those lessons you had at fifty about it being okay to say no, will never be more helpful.  The greatest puzzle to me is how many people, including almost strangers, have seen my education (B. S. in Journalism, M. A. in Educational Research and Psychology, All But Dissertation in School Psychology) as perfect training for cleaning their houses while they gallivant around being pretentious.  I wonder why they think I did all that work being schooled when I could have cleaned houses if I had been a high school dropout.


Then there are the ones who resent you for knowing how to do something that they always wanted to know how to do.  An acquaintance organized a dinner party to introduce me to two people involved in theater.  Her stated reason was she wanted to see my book turned into a play so she could say she knew the author.  Dinner had barely begun before she tells them that I've written a novel.  "Oh, I've always wanted to do that exclaimed one of them."  With that, he exhaled in a disappointed sigh and abruptly changed the subject.  End of her fantasy. 


Envying someone's golf skills or piano playing is common.  It is also a waste of time.  If there are things you have always wanted to know how to do, retirement is the time to do it.  Buy a piano keyboard and learn to play by using self teaching books.  Take bridge or poker lessons. Have a neighbor show you how to crochet.  Her help plus self help books should do the trick. (Offer to pay her for her time).  Take golf, tennis, swim lessons. 


Go to hobby supply stores and inquire about their classes in knit or embroidery.  Join a quilting guild that offers lessons for beginners.  Check out how-to books from the library.  Join a book discussion club.  Buy an old wooden boat and rehab it. Learn to repair small appliances.  Some construction supply stores offer how-to classes if you buy from them.


There is no reason why anyone should ever suffer from lack of activities.  I've even known men who formed Liar's Clubs so they could meet for breakfast and play bragging games with others.


Retirement should be the "time of your life".  So save, save, save now and enjoy it later.  Hobbies can be expensive and it's a sure thing our Congress isn't planning to give up their retirement packages to save ours.


Then tell yourself that anyone of average to above average intelligence can do anything they want as long as they are willing to put forth the effort.  It's true.

We Don't Name Teams After Losers

I know I'm in the minority here, but I've never seen the problem with naming ball teams after Native Americans or any other group.  People sure don't name their teams The Washington Losers --  or The Washington Weasels  --  or The Washington Rats, do they?  It seems to me they try to honor their teams by naming them after the most formidable and respected opponents they know.


In any event, I believe the Washington Redskins were named before the age of paranoia and political correctness came into full bloom.  Would the Redskins be the same under any other name?  Hardly.  Neither would they seem as much a part of our sports groups as they do now.


I know, I know  --  some Native Americans get all bent out of shape about being called by a color.  Yet, others of different skin colors might feel revered.  Let's try the Washington White Skins, for instance.  Why don't we honor them?


If you have followed my three blogs the last few years, you will know that I am part Native American, part redskin so to speak.  You do me honor by choosing one of the races within me for your team name.  I know you would not name the team you love after someone you hate.  I can't imagine where that idea originated.

Bully Behavior

Bully behavior is everywhere.  It touches all walks of life and all age levels.


For instance, there is a bully on television who is currently counseling people on --  you guessed it  --  bullying others.  Just because a person hangs out a shingle and sells himself/herself as a therapist doesn't make the individual perfect.  The famous can have clay feet.


There are bullies on television who are running courtrooms.  It makes for interesting, if controversial, fodder.  However, one who holds as much power as a judge probably should tone it down a tad.


All of us remember bullies in school.  Frequently they were the biggest kids.  Sometimes they were popular with the in crowds.  Always they made the most vulnerable miserable.


Of course, the literature right now is making us aware of bullying in cyberspace.  This kind of bullying often results in teen suicide.


Even people who are seldom out in public can be bullied in their neighborhoods.  I keep running into these related to parking.  No less than three men have taken it upon themselves to tell me where I can and cannot park.  Our complex has no assigned areas.  This is published over and over in the newsletter.  It suggests that we respect the spots where others usually park their cars.  It also says to ask our visitors to park in overload areas instead of near the buildings.  My car was recently in a repair shop for two straight weeks.  People who had previously respected my spot began to use it.  Why wouldn't they?  Even I wasn't sure it was repairable until the end of the two weeks.


When I got the car back, I didn't expect to magically get the space back.  I just began parking in the least congested area near my home.  So, one day when I left for a shopping trip, a guest of a neighbor parked in the spot and stayed there for a few days.  I picked another spot that was used only by visitors.  When I left that spot yesterday, it was taken over by a guest of a neighbor.  So, I picked the next space over that has not had a permanent car for at least two or three months.


All at once two men converged on me saying "Do you want to move on down?"  Well, no I didn't.  I had a bag of library books and groceries to carry.  I had no wish to carry them very far.  Then the man who was the resident of the nearest apartment told me where I used to park  --  as though I were too stupid to know that.  He said I was parked in his space near his sidewalk.  I reminded him he hadn't had a car for some months and that he had lived here long enough to know we don't have reserved parking anyway.  He said we are supposed to respect other people's spots and he had a friend that visited.  You know!  I'm supposed to respect his empty spot for the friend he is supposed to send to the overload lots.


Oh, did I mention?  The other times my spots were taken while I was shopping were taken by friends of his who were visiting.


Needless to say, I did not move my car.  Of course, relationships in the area are strained right now, as they always are with this individual.  I'm told he even deliberately damaged a neighbor's car when said individual parked behind him several years ago.  He has frequent shouting matches with other individuals . . . frequent fires in his fire pit . . . frequent day long parties with loud music and many cars . . . and a habit of badmouthing others to his friends.


Yes, as I said there are bullies everywhere.  For the very vulnerable they can make life miserable.  Some of us just aren't as vulnerable as we appear at age seventy-six.  And some of us have an editorial blog where we can air our issues.  Some people actually even read them.


Regrettably, some of these bullies are serving as models for others.  Tsk, tsk.  I'll hate living near their kids and their nieces and nephews when they become teenagers.

Let's Get The Wild Out

". . . Everything that stops us being animals is eroding, washing away like sand, going and gone."  stated by Mike "Scorcher" Kennedy, a character in Broken Harbor, a novel by Tana French, 2012.


One of my brothers thanked me this week for forwarding a scrap of nostalgia to him.  That's one of the more endearing characteristics of social media.  It can take us back to a less complex, more enjoyable time.  We can be kids again for a couple of seconds.  We can remember walking to church and school without seeing the bogeyman coming around every corner.  And, as in the memory of Scorcher Kennedy, murder rarely happened in his environs.  Much less did we have to fear terrorism on American soil.


I was having a chat with both my God, Jehovah, and Allah the other night, asking them if our religions couldn't peacefully coexist  --  as well as have peace between all the great religions of the world.  Why can't we just offer each other respect?  Why must we always be at odds over the very part of our lives that should bring hope and tranquility?


Scorcher Kennedy said the first thing man did when he became human was to draw a line in front of the cave that said wild stays out.  True.  And the point Tana French seems to be making is we are going wild again. 


Sure seems that way Ms. French.  Sure seems that way!  With all our social media, television and other means of learning how we live in different parts of earth, it would seem we should be aspiring to an improved world.  Why don't we?  Instead, people are using it as a way to attack and organize catastrophic events.  We now have murder going viral; people going wild again. 


As with all major tools of our lives, they can be used for good or bad  --  nuclear energy, bombs or home heat.  A shovel, tool or weapon.  Social media, a way to stay in touch with friends, or a way to organize crime.


May the people of earth get back to the place where they choose good over bad and civilized over wild.  I really miss the peace and simplicity of the fifties.  (I also miss the music).

The Crime Of Being White

I guess I'm not going to be able to eat at a nearby barbeque restaurant anymore.  It was a place I frequented in the early eighties when I worked for the school district here.  It is also the place where I have picked up a takeout sandwich and fries for special occasions these past eighteen years. 


The last time I went  --  on my seventy-sixth birthday the end of July  --  one of the waitresses began growling as soon as I walked in the door.  The clerk who took my order seemed amused at all the guttural noises and kept asking me if I didn't want a drink with my sandwich.


I noticed that no matter where I stood, the noisy one kept moving behind the drink machines.  I was clueless.  I have become used to angry African Americans in the last couple of years.  For some reason I have become a favorite target of black women during this time.  I don't see myself as having changed a lot over the period (though such behaviors could certainly cause big changes), so I'm having trouble understanding the attacks.


During the transaction, a young man who makes the sandwiches moved into view and stood watching in silence.  He, usually a friendly employee, seemed stunned.  But neither he, nor the lady who took my order, tried to stop the growling or the event she was hiding from my view.


As far as I know, I've never seen this young lady anywhere.  This was definitely the first time she had ever plated my food.  I've never worked with her anywhere and believe her to be way too young to have been someone I tested in the school district  --  which can raise a lot of ire if parents or students don't like the test results.


I'm sure the family who owns this barbecue chain would be appalled if they knew of her behavior.  The young lady would probably even lose her job.  You see, when I got home and unwrapped my sandwich, I found a wet spot in the middle of my fries, just the size of a mouth full of saliva.


And African Americans wonder why racism just won't go away when they behave in such a manner for no apparent reason but our crime of being white.

Forgiveness

After many, many years, I finally forgave a relative of mine.  The offense was not a small one and it was committed over and over for years.  It is probably the very offense which caused my need for total autonomy, which does not exist, of course.  I wonder if that person ever got around to forgiving me for my part in our toxic interactions.  I'll never know, as the person preceded me in death.  That speaks to the need for forgiving each other more often and face to face when possible, doesn't it?


I'd like to tell you that the forgiveness lifted a burden from my shoulders.  It did not.  I simply believe it was the right thing to do and that the Almighty is happy I did it.


I've heard it said many times that anger and resentment harm the individual who nurses the feelings, rather than the person who is the target of them.  Frequently, the individual is emotionally consumed by them.  It can affect their entire lives and erode their happiness.  I don't think my anger was that destructive.  In fact, I was probably more hurt than angry.  But it is good, nevertheless, for me to be over it.


Can you forgive others for offenses, large or small?  I hope so.  Many religious people believe it is necessary for our improved relationship with God.

Severe Tests

Anybody of Jewish or Christian faith should know about Job and his trials and tribulations.  God allowed Job's faith to be tested, and he passed with flying colors.


Not all of us are as good at maintaining our equilibrium as Job.  Some of us, even if we eventually pass our crucibles, whine the whole way through.


My Mother was prone to wonder aloud why some people seemed to have such easier lives than others.  She had lost her Mother and her husband at far too early ages.  She was never done with grieving their deaths.


The simple answer, Mother, may be you were stronger than the ones you perceived as having "easy" lives.  So, you may have been able to withstand more serious tests.  It may be that you were unaware of their particular heartaches.  Their crucibles may have been less visible than yours.  Or, for those who believe our souls return to this world time after time, until we "get it right", it might appear that your soul was older and was ready to handle more.


I'm sure it is desirable that we don't whine so much as I did during my last severe test.  (I kept telling God over and over  --  this crucible is too hard, God).  But I think the important thing is that we demonstrate the strength to survive them.

Sniggering Adults

Society is dealing a lot on television and the internet with teen cliques and bullying.  Oh, how they should!  Everyone knows there are multiple gangs of people in all high schools.  The members of some of them take pride in tormenting people who are different from themselves.  They stand around whispering, tittering and sniggering until graduation.  Just as for the high school jock who winds up selling used cars and going nowhere, many of these people, male and female, remain fixated at high school maturity level.


I'm not talking about somewhat slow learners whose tested maturity age is lower than their chronological age.  In many ways they are smarter than the sniggering adults.  I'm discussing people who, even though they may have gotten two-year degrees somewhere, remain stuck in clique mode the rest of their lives.  They see someone with five kids walking down the street, they move mouth to ear and whisper, whisper, titter, titter until the other moves away.


Included are clusters of two to four guys, watching someone doing yard work, their heads in a clutch, their laughter peeling as they whisper to each other.


How do we know they are being catty?  Of course, we don't.  But what would be the point of whispering if it were complimentary?


In many ways I'm sorry for these individuals who have nothing better to do with their time than gather in clutches and bad mouth their coworkers or acquaintances.  How sad for them that they have no goals for learning and achieving at their best level.  If they did have, they wouldn't have time to waste sniggering at and putting down their casual acquaintances.  They would be too busy improving themselves.

Lost In A Time Warp

Back in the "boonies"(*1) of time  --  another word of my own invention  -  Neanderthal type people clubbed others over the head in order to get their own way.  In other words, they were barbarians.


Per The Random House College Dictionary, a barbarian is a person in a savage, primitive state . . . uncivilized . . . without culture or education . . . philistine . . . crude.  This term is being bandied about freely in describing the wild, hard headed, radical, militant Muslims of the Middle East.  And it does seem a proper description of their behavior.  (And if you don't like being called Barbarian, quit behaving like barbarians.)


So, why in this world are people actually saying that the rest of the world should try to negotiate instead of war their way to a "lasting peace" with them?


To enter negotiations, both sides need to be able to think, be merciful, be open minded, care about humanity in general and be living in the same era of time as each other.  These people are nothing like the rest of this world, so let's get in touch with reality.  They are lost in a time warp of sorts. Negotiation is not on this banquet table, because the aggressors do not live in reality.  The real world is beyond their comprehension.  All they understand is that they want to kill, kill, kill.  And they embarrass Allah by saying they do it in his name.


*1  You know, out in the boondocks, only of time instead of rural America.

On Being A Couch Potato -- And Loving It

Now we have to plan how we will spend our retirement.  We can't just enjoy it, we have to plan it, program it and worry it to death.  Planning the finances, a luxury of the well off, isn't enough.  We have to know in advance whether to travel, to hike, to sky dive, to subscribe to Rosetta Stone language discs or to make a mountain out of a molehill.


A recent article in the AARP Bulletin stated retirement can last a long time.  Wrong.  It is not nearly long enough.  The article says if we retire at 65, men should have around seventeen years and women twenty.  They see that as a long time?  That's a mere flash in the pan.


My complex plan?  To do all the things I didn't have time to do while working.  Are we talking sky diving here?  Not a chance!  We're talking reading, writing and yeah, even "rithmetic" -- fantasy induced mathematical problems of how to spend fantasy money that keeps the mind functioning.  Forget Suduko.  Boring stuff!  Make up your own problems of how you would share a sudden windfall with family and friends.  Endless fun.


Like to knit, crochet, embroider, regular or crewel?  How about music -- listening or playing?  Television?  DVDs?  Throw in a little gardening and yard work?  The day will come soon enough when you have to hire the teenagers next door.


Have trouble filling up those hours?  Why?  We couch potato types like ceramics, charcoal and chalk drawings, photography, redecorating, magazines, mysteries, bird watching.


There is no end to the life-changing, fun and valuable happenings to be had in unplanned retirements.  It is so boomer of AARP to turn enjoyable living into a long-term tedious project.


You don't know what you will be missing.

The Center Of Attention

A person of my acquaintance used to say she wished that just once she could have been the center of attention.  (As she talked nonstop, she was always the center of attention wherever she was.  But that's a story for another time).


You've known people who wear the most nondescript casual clothes.  Perhaps they talk very little.  They sit at the back of the classroom and cringe for fear someone will notice them.


Then, there is the showoff who acts like children waving excitedly because they think they know the right answer.  Children or adults, there are all kinds of human animals.  Some have an insatiable need to be the center of it all.  Others are content with just being, and being all they can be.


A recent incident called attention to the fact that while some people face adversity and just let it slide right off, others use it as an excuse for attention.  Some ask for prayer support for themselves while ignoring the same kinds of requests from their friends.  Some expect their friends and acquaintances to rally around them all the time.  Others face the adversity just with the help of God.


As the saying goes, "Different Strokes for different folks."  I don't worry too much about the center of attention types.  They don't have any trouble getting their needs met.  They whine and clamor until they do.


It's the quiet ones who can't ask for help and attention that I worry about.  They weather the storms alone and probably could use a shoulder to cry on like the others.


Don't ignore the ones who seek your attention, but don't ignore the quiet ones either.  They may be hiding their tears inside.

And A Hundred Other Things

A lifetime friend of mine is having a bad time this summer.  And it will get worse before it gets better, because her husband has been put in a nursing home and she has been told he will not be going home again.  No, she usually doesn't read my blogs.




Some of her friends, whom I have never met, were heard to say "if your husband were in a nursing home this summer and a hundred other things were going wrong . . ."




Remember Dang, my ex?  Well, he has been in a nursing home for over two years.  Although he has had three other wives since me, I still occasionally have little "do this's" to take care of for him.  These seem to have slowed some since Easter.  In fact, they have been at a dead standstill since my car broke down on August 7.  If we can't find the correct part, which Oldsmobile quit making while knowing they had a problem with it, it will be terminal.


At the same time I got this good news, I noticed my driver's license had not arrived on schedule.  I called the local office.  They said to call the state.  The state said they showed I had paid for it but it had not been printed.  Thus, said they, I had to go back to the local office and take my proof of residency again . . . and stand in line again and wait again.


Now, presents a new dilemma.  I have to travel thirteen or fourteen miles from home for a legally required matter, and my closest "real" friend was miles and miles the other way.  My family that drives was even further.  The friend that I called came to help.  I gave her 20 of my last 30 dollars cash for gas and we went on our way.  Ah, luck smiled after all  --  the line was very short.


My friend said $20 was too much for gas, so decided we would use the extra $10 for lunch at a Chinese restaurant she had heard about.  Around here, Chinese lunches are usually four or five dollars, but lunch that day was over eight per person.  So, I wound up spending most of my last $10.  Number one son came by and needed the rest for bus fare, since my car was down.  I have been here broke long enough to receive the driver's license and almost run out of food. But never fear, payday is Wednesday and I'll have a ride to the store on Thursday or Friday.


While dealing with all the trauma today, the neighbor from h e double hockey sticks returned from a trip and a bat got into my home and flew downstairs into my living room.  Now, folks, does it sound to you like I'm a stranger to trouble?  If you have been following my three blogs, you know the real truth.


And then the current truth is that I let these friends of my friend rile me today when I should have just walked away --figuratively, that is. 


But, of course, I would be better prepared to understand others if I had a husband in a nursing home and were dealing with a hundred other things.  Then I would be sure not to blow my cool like everybody else.  (LOL)

Gouging The Public

A friend came by Saturday.  He'd been trying to find a phone number in the AT&T Yellow Pages from a city where he (but not I) lives.  He knew the business exists, because another similar merchant had referred him.  I looked in the Yellow Pages for my little city.  Similar results.  Same for Yellow Book, a Yellow Pages competitor.  They frequently come through when Yellow Pages fails.


I commented on the uselessness of the new trend in phone books -- covering only your own small scrap of space, instead of the previous phone books covering the entire metropolitan area.


"Yeah, they expect everyone to go online for everything, but if you can't be on the internet, that's too bad."


This reminded me of an article I started a couple of weeks ago but never finished.  It's about how the business world controls buying and selling by their individual versions of gouging the public.


For instance, if we want a complete listing of phone numbers even for just our own cities, we must have internet service.  To heck with someone who can't afford internet.  Of course one can go to the library and get an hour of borrowed time, but how often can people make that trip?  And if they go, do they have transportation?  Being poor is being poor.  For the impoverished, being on-line is a distinctive luxury.  I'm not talking about what kind of Smart Phone is inexpensive enough here.  I'm talking about not being able to afford it at all.  The man in question finds the cost over his head, as he found the expense of a car for several years.


Another way businesses gouge the public is to quit making parts for useable, if out of date, equipment.  Perhaps the worst offenders are the makers of printers for computers.  How many times have you had to buy a new printer because you could no longer find ink cartridges or they used a new kind of paper? 


Or how about changing the kind of printer to wireless so they are incompatible with your perfectly good computer. 


In the world in which many of us live, there simply isn't money to replace a computer system just because a printer goes out and the bottom line guys have quit making the kind of printer that goes with it.


This kind of thing is called gouging the public.  It is forcing them to upgrade their equipment or go without completely.  It is one more sign that our world is becoming morally bankrupt.  One more sign of man's inhumanity to man -- of kicking a person when he's down.


I can't imagine a city, state or country where everyone is upper class.  I'm not sure that is even possible.  So why do the fortunate exploit those with less?  I guess money is how they get their jollies.  What do you think?  Oh, yes, same for car companies that quit making parts for useable cars.  I can assure you they won't be getting the sale when the customer is forced to upgrade.  So where's their bottom line then?

When Speaking Of The Poor

On a recent This Week Robert Reich said that Paul Ryan was running around Congress with a new budget that includes a commitment for Americans to take care of their poor.  He said that Ryan had experienced some kind of a conversion.  Good for Paul Ryan.  I hope more members of Congress will see the light and let the light shine all the way from increased minimum wages to supporting all of our most down and out.  I'm sure God, Jesus and Pope Francis will all be proud if this takes place.


According to the Paul Ryan interview in the back of the current Time Magazine, Ryan has written a book in which he proposes that we renew the American idea of equality for all.  Government should ensure we all have that right.


He believes the recovery from our recent recession took too long, certainly longer than any other since World War II.  He seems not to have noticed it was the worst recession since the Great Depression.  It should have taken longer. 


So Ryan, with his newly found concern for the poor and his consistent belief in his own ability to solve our problems, has taken upon himself to start visiting black neighborhoods so he can find out how they are successfully beating back poverty.


Now, herein lies the crux of one of our biggest problems  --  those who think and act like those who are in need of government assistance for handouts are limited to African Americans.  There are people of all races and creeds who are poor.  Experts have been quoting stats for years that show that many, many Caucasians have to depend on assistance.  In fact, a huge draw on subsistence funds is being made by formerly hard working Senior Citizens who have fallen victim to Congressional attempts to save Social Security for future generations. That, although a good and laudable goal, is not a good and laudable excuse for forcing current seniors onto the welfare roles.  There have to be other ways to save the fund than this.


Such misunderstandings about poverty are no doubt the cause of much hatred of the subsistence programs.  Some people think the handouts go only to the black community and this interacts with their extreme and deep rooted prejudices.


I could quote you the stats again, but people have ignored them always before and would probably negate them now.  So, Congressman Ryan, write another book which requires you to look them up yourself.  Then, they might mean something to you.  And while you are studying the facts, take a look at who is in the top one per cent, or two, or three or more.


You and I should be so fortunate as to have a small fraction of the wealth of Oprah, Herman Cain, Puff Daddy, Snoop Dogg, etc., etc., etc.


America, the equal opportunity country, is succeeding beyond belief.  And it's time for Congress to get with the program and continue this equalization by keeping jobs at home, taxing those who have, and limiting our contributions to other countries (at least until we seriously reduce our debt).  And also continuing to work for job creation and pleasing the Almighty by extending opportunity and helping those at home as freely as you pass out cash to the unworthy and false friends abroad.   When speaking of the poor, be cognizant of the facts, the stats, and then educate the knee jerk responsive masses of these facts.

Basic Human Rights

Over the course of history, the population has grown too large for people to be completely autonomous.  There was, no doubt, a good deal of sense when individuals began to bond together for hunting and gathering.  There was safety in numbers.  Less animals like buffalo and deer had to be slaughtered when a group shared the bounty. There was less waste that way.  Crops could be grown by some people working together while others tanned the skins or preserved the foods.


But with the advantages of socialization came problems as well.  Alone, man had complete control over himself.  With others he had to learn to adapt to the needs of his clan.  (You know, what we would call being considerate of others and using manners).  It was not okay for individual man to hurt, steal from or abuse others just because he needed or wanted something they had.


Each society developed their own rules and regulations to keep some from impinging on the individual human rights of others.  William Graham Sumner introduced the word mores into our language in the early nineteen hundreds.  Sumner said -- as we can concur -- each society believes their own mores are the right ones.  Sumner said that believing our own mores are the most desirable is ethnocentrism. 


Per Random House Collegiate Dictionary, ethnocentrism is the belief in the superiority of one's own group or culture.  It is also a tendency to view other cultures in terms of our own.  Snobbery or arrogance, in other words.  I'm right, you're wrong, and I don't care what you think.


People believe what they are taught to believe and their way is the only right way -- in their own opinion.  But who made their rules?  Did their mores and then their laws evolve from agreement of all individuals, no matter their sex, age, level of education, temperament, etc.?  Or, did a bunch of bullies bash others into submission and tell them what to do?


We've all seen cartoon pictures of ancient man clothed in animal skins and dragging a large club with one hand and a woman by her hair with the other.  Is that the kind of individual that made our rules, or did everybody have a say?


In the Garden of Eden, after God made woman to be a companion for man, there was only one rule -- don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Per Bible history, a serpent enticed Eve to eat the fruit, and then Eve enticed Adam to have some, too.  Adam, of course, could have said no, but did he?  No, he was more than willing to join the fun.  Yet man is never, ever held responsible for his enjoyment.  It is always a woman's fault.


Although most of us know this story from the Christian Bible, which includes books from the Torah in it's Old Testament, other cultures also tell first man/first woman stories and some even tell of the flood.


Much of the thinking and rule making of the Middle Eastern cultures was based on the idea women sinned all by themselves and enticed men to join them.  And God supposedly punished women by making them have the children.  Hence, all things women, especially those related to childbirth, became woman's cross to bear and man should not be involved.


Radical religious people today still blame woman for all sexual exploits, even if a man rapes a woman --  which western cultures now know to be a man's need for power and control over the victim.  It is never a need or aberration of a man that is at fault, it is always the fault of Eve and her female descendants.  Jesus, himself, happened on a stoning where two individuals had actually committed adultery.  He stopped the stoning by saying, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone".  Everybody walked away that time.  But stoning still takes place in non-Christian cultures and religious zealots still sometimes kill their daughters who have been raped.  The family's own pride and embarrassment is considered more important than the child they supposedly loved from birth.  Such love I can do without.


From this environment came early Christians.  None of us seem to be able to totally shed our learning and reconstruct ourselves completely with new beliefs.  The early Christians, such as the eleven remaining disciples and Paul and his followers did the best they could.  Yet, we find hints of previous religions in our current religious practices.  For example, the habit of saying Amen was a holdover from Egyptian religions.  Easter came from a celebration for the goddess Ishtar.  You understand?  Our beliefs, our mores, our practices hinge on our backgrounds and our cultural habits. So, we differ in many ways, yet we all think we are right.


Westerners, particularly North Americans, have learned to fight and stand up for our rights.  The country as a whole fought for freedom.  African Americans, with the help of several generations of Caucasians, have fought for their freedom.  Women and slaves had to fight for the right to learn as well as the right to vote.  Both have had to assert their right for equal opportunities of employment.  Both are still fighting for equal pay for equal work.  Both still have to insist that government men and employers recognize their rights.


The revered papers written by our forefathers declare that all men are created equal.  The problem is they were not speaking of mankind.  Their definition, if you recall, did not include women and slaves.  Both were chattel -- the one meant to serve man as servants and the other meant to serve them as people who carried and delivered men's children, plus supervised the running of their homes.


Men began our country.  Men have served as our presidents.  Mostly men have written our laws.  Mostly men have peopled our courts.  Mostly men have served in our churches, written our religious laws.  In fact, Catholics and Southern Baptists still don't permit women in the ministry.  Women are relegated to the serving roles facilitating the work of the important individuals -- mostly white men.


People who are attracted to power positions in religious and public life are usually people seeking control over others as well as personal recognition.  A lot of these individuals take it as their basic right to tell others what to do through mores and rules and laws.  Often their fervor goes well beyond the necessity for helping us all to live well together.  They forget to focus on basic individual human rights.  They focus instead on their needs to tell others what to do.


When people do point out that the federal government is out of line  --  out of control --  they are usually saying the States should have the rule.  Wrong.  No one body, or two bodies, or even four bodies of power should have the ability to infringe on individuals.  Whether government or religious, no group --  Congress, Southern Baptists, Catholics or Muslims, even -- has a right to try to bend others or design rules to bend others to their will.


Both government and religion should facilitate us living more rewarding and happier lives.  They should not be allowed to dictate how we live our daily lives.  They should not be bastions of power for the ever greedy control freaks.  They should not be places where the weak can be exploited by the strong.  They should be places that foster the growth and dignity of each individual, black or white, male or female, young or old, rich or poor.


And once we seek to right a recognized wrong, we need to see to it that the pendulum does not swing too far in the other direction either.  Change comes easier through rational and reasonable means than it does when a whole mob stones -- literally and figuratively.


Don't mess with my rights.  I won't mess with yours.  As long as I don't infringe on you or others, nobody has the right to infringe on me.

Thanks For The Fun

I woke up from one of my afternoon naps, realizing I had had a good time at Family Dollar today.  This, after chatting with the Almighty the other day about the problems involved with finding one where I want to go.


Shopping has become anathema to me.  Just about the time grocery stores became singles trolling stations, my "pettist" (my own word invention) of pet peeves, I also ran out of money for anything much but groceries.  I'd almost rather have a root canal than stop for a couple of items.


I had to go to the library today to make some copies.  My printer, not satisfied that it had been notifying me for the last two years that it is not communicating with my computer, has now developed a paper jam using invisible paper.  I don't know what its problem is.  First, it doesn't get along with the hardware and now it doesn't want to do anything for the operator either.


So, to the library I must go --  with a total of 94 cents change and a slew of papers to copy.  I finally whittled down the slew to required items only and left the place with 14 cents.


My micromanager, the Almighty, seemed to be pushing for a quick stop at Family Dollar instead of a long trip to Aldi, so I acquiesced.  Or, was it just my subconscious that wanted the easy route?  I loaded up on a twelve pack of cola, eggs, a gallon a milk and a frozen pizza.  Then I stood in the everlasting long line.


While I was still shopping, I'd passed a man who greeted me in a friendly manner.  For a moment, I thought Buck O'Neill -- the sweetest man I ever met -- was back on this earth.  But he didn't look a thing like him.


Then the lady in front of me turned out to be a likeable Chatty Cathy.  She informed me she told her son she needed to go to the store for a few items and to see if she could find a rich man.  Then she gestured toward my purchases.


I said, "Well, yes, I got a few items, but I'm not even looking for a rich man."


Then she cracked me up by saying she'd take the money and forget about the man.


So would I, I thought.  So would I.  In fact, I often tell the Almighty that he placed me in jobs all my life where I did stacks and stacks of work for chicken feed.  Now, I wouldn't think it should hurt if He and the universe repaid me by retroactively sending the cash I should have earned back then.  I wouldn't turn down a lot of interest, either.


I guess a way out of poverty would be to search for that woman's rich one, but what would I do with him if I found him?  I already have that one baby bird that keeps trying to hop back in the nest and that's more than I can handle.


I guess between bouts of colitis, I could fit in a couple of extra loads of laundry.  But what would I do if I had to give up some of my daily naps to clean up after him?


So, no, lady, you can keep your rich man.  But thanks for being entertaining just the same.

Finding Work After Fifty

There was a man picketing President Obama as he made his speech in Kansas City this morning.  He accused the President of being single-handedly responsible for him not being able to find a job.  He says Obama should try to build a relationship with Congress so they could solve problems together.  He doesn't think the President should use Executive Order to work around Congressional obstructionist behaviors, no matter that presidents beginning with George Washington have used it.  Needless to say, the man is a Republican.  If he were a Democrat, he would be saying the Congress is do nothing and causing the whole problem.  He can see only the view of the President that is presented by Republicans who are trying to take back the Oval Office. 


At the same time the President was inside the Uptown Theater talking about the four per cent second quarter growth in the economy and the low unemployment rate, this man was outside saying that nothing had been done about employment for people fifty and over.


God help you, sir, and anybody else who is fifty and looking for work.  But that's not the President's fault.  That is the fault of chronological age.


I know about being over fifty and job hunting.  I may be the resident expert on the topic.  It's not a pretty situation.  Employers want to hire the youngsters.  Why?  They are recently trained and up to date.  They will work more cheaply.  The supervisors don't want to hire people with more experience than they have.  They might actually know more at fifty.


Generally, "50 Somethings" have to take a significant cut in pay to find a job.  Eventually, even minimum wage jobs will look good as a path out of desperation.  So, cut to the chase and take the first one you can abide of the ones you are offered.  Employers look more kindly on someone who is employed, even at the lower end.


You will also need to quit dwelling on Obama, the economy, how unfair life is and that everything would be better if Republicans ran the world.  In the first place, if Republicans always ran the world you would be taxed, while the rich would get off scot-free and all the jobs would be outsourced to China so the rich could get even richer.


This aside, focusing on the downside all the time shows in your face and your body language.  Being unsure of yourself shows the world you have poor self confidence.  Even if you get a job during this time of hesitation, you make an easy target for kick-me experts.


Every morning look yourself in the eye -- in the mirror -- and tell yourself you are a creation of Almighty God.  God didn't make any losers, so you must be one of the Eagles.  And believe it.  Look for work using skills at which you have succeeded before, and accent the successes in the way you present yourself.  Don't oversell yourself, as, if hired, you will have to prove you can do what you say.  Just tell the truth in the most positive manner possible.


Be realistic about the kind of things you know.  If you fetched supplies for a roofer, a roofer you are not.  Become a gopher again so you can use your experience at the same time you learn new things. 


On your resumes, don't lead with your age.  It will show up on transcripts and work history anyway, so don't make it a focus. 


Try to dress younger -- not like a teenager --  just young ideas.  If you are gray, consider a partial dye job.  And don't do comb-overs or wear hairpieces.  Unless they are done professionally, they look
ridiculous. 


Make your resumes creative and informative.  Some Personnel Directors like to see people lead with experience that makes the candidate seem experienced for their job.  And don't let your spirits get down and out. 


Selling your resume is the same as selling a product.  The more times you try, the better your odds of success.  For instance, in book sales, I heard that a good expectation is that one will sell books to three per cent of the people they contact.  So for every one hundred applications you file, you stand a chance at three job offers.


Volunteer at places where you can show your skills.  Sometimes a good volunteer is the first choice at a paying job.

Our Changing Complexion

On this evening's CBS news program, an Hispanic man who lives on the Texas border was showing how multiple groups of illegal aliens cross his property to enter the U. S.  The bottom line of the segment was that we are being invaded and the border needs to be secured.  Governor Rick Perry of Texas called out 1000 National Guard Troops today to help with the crisis.


There have been predictions for many years that by 2025 or at least 2050, there will be no more majority in this country.  A lot of people in their high rise apartments in New York and Washington, D. C., and their weekend homes in the Hamptons, don't seem all that concerned about this.  They are still believing we should be admitting all those little children who appear at our doors.  Since it is unlikely very many of them will be arriving in their digs, why should they be stressed?


I cannot imagine what it is like to live in Texas, Southern California, Arizona, etc., where there is a never ending stream of illegal aliens.  I can simply give you an example of what it is like to live in lower middle class apartments in middle America.  In order to live here, one must be able to buy a share in a coop and pay a monthly maintenance fee ($220 monthly at this time).  It is worse in rental complexes.


We have been proud of our diversity in the past.  We've had white, African American, Hispanic, Middle Eastern and Asian Americans since before I moved here in 1996. 


To understand the following information, please use this key. 


            DK, don't know.  NA, Native American. C,  Caucasian.  H, Hispanic


Building 1, six apartments


1996     C / C / C / C / NA / C
Now     C / C /  H   /  H /   H  /  H


Building 2, four apartments


1996      C / C / C / C
Now      H / C / C / C


Building 3, four apartments


1996     C / C / C / C
Now     C / C / C / H


Building 4, four apartments


1996     C / C / H&C / C
Now     C / H /H / DK


In eighteen years, we have gone from one Hispanic individual in my immediate surroundings to eight Hispanic families.  That Americans born here, aside from Hispanics, will no longer be a majority here by mid century, seems an understatement if this is a true representation of what is happening everywhere.  It looks to me like another two years and we'll have a new Hispanic majority.  Is that okay with you in the High Rises?  Well, it's not okay with Texans, Californians, and the people of Arizona where it is worse than middle America.


I've told you before that some of these Hispanics are better neighbors than some of the Caucasians in these buildings.  Yet, even with that in their favor, there are a few chuckles to living with it.  Virtually every Hispanic family I know buys a car for every family member of driving age.  When the car dies, it is frequently left parked where it died.  The owners faithfully renew the license plates even though they can't use the cars.  As long as the tags are up to date, nothing can be done.  So, we have to keep creating more and more parking areas -- and we are running out of ground.  Two men who own dead cars don't even live here anymore.  One does come and check on his family's two apartments and the people living in them, but one has not been seen for years.


But enough with the details!  Becoming a minority takes a lot of adjustment for many of us.  It was especially true in the workplace where supervisors, people of other races or cultures, paid us back for what other Caucasians had been accused of doing to members of their race.  It is but somewhat better in our communities.


I hear that the illegals are a great expense to us.  Certainly those who don't pay taxes are not helping to carry the load.  But then, I've no expertise in determining just how great either of these costs are to our communities.


I'm simply pointing out that our complexion is changing at a very rapid rate, and we need to slow it down ASAP.  We need some time to adjust and reorganize before the mid-century is here.

Why Not Steal From One Who Has Something?

I keep getting miffed about the number of people who try to make a run on my money.  Among the frequent attempts are the low-lives who offer riches if I will pay them, or, better still, give them my bank account number.  Others stand where they hope they can see my pen numbers.  Another told me recently that he/she needed my computer password.  I cannot describe for you the bitter disappointment on his/her face a few weeks later when I said I don't bank on line.  (And, no, I don't give out my computer password to strangers or friends).  I can't usually remember it anyway.


Perhaps I'm one of those people who attracts snake-in-the-grass individuals, but I'm not quite senile yet.  I've had some senior moments and, on any given day, I might forget your name.  However, I still have enough wits about me to be suitably paranoid about my stuff.  Paranoia, by the way, is now seen as being aware of your surroundings rather than as a neurosis or mental health issue.  It was left in the most recent DSM to facilitate doctors trying to bill insurance companies for patient treatment.


Recently, someone climbed on the neighbor's roof and unlocked and opened a bedroom window.  When I got a phone call at 12:28 a.m., I heard a gasp that sounded like it was in the hall outside my bedroom.  I'd been reading all evening and no television noise had notified anyone that I was around.  When I went to bed, it was evident that neighbors on both sides were home.  It tests reason that it is possible for B & E experts to stomp all over a neighbor's roof and the neighbors not hear it, don't you think?  Anyway, I had heard them earlier sorting through some pipes and an outdoor umbrella in front of my house and I even heard the stomping.  Due to my fans being on high, I could not tell that they were coming through the window.


So, let me be abundantly clear!  I have $25.51 in savings -- for a long time now.  My income is $823 per month.  That is not enough to even rent an apartment in my country plus pay for utilities and buy food.  If I did not own the paper on one of the country's smallest townhouses, I would have to be living on the largesse of relatives -- or on the street.


Although my 1998 auto  --  a gift from my daughter and son-in-law -- is significantly better than my previous car, a 1997 two seat minivan, it is not anywhere near a Lamborghini.  So why do people feel obligated to punch it, scratch it and try to break and enter it?  I just don't get the fascination with me and my stuff.  I'm not rich, or famous, or even beautiful.  At 76, I'm barely tolerable.  And I know practically nobody but family, so my lovely personality could not have ticked them off.  Oh yes, there are not enough United States readers of this blog to have elicited this hate, either.


I hardly ever have any cash, so forget finding the mother lode inside my apartment.  On the rare occasion I check out $30, I spend $10.00 for gas on the way home and pay the other $20.00 to the man who pulls weeds in my yard.  That's it folks!  The bare, ugly truth!


So, whoever you are out there, find another victim.  If you took everything I had it wouldn't make you secure, much less rich.  It would be just about enough to get you a felony conviction and a stint in prison.


I'd suggest you find a rich person to stalk, but I'm one of those perennial optimists who believe God will eventually make it up to me for all this poverty.  And then you and I would be back to square one and I would have more than my life to lose.  But, I would be able to afford that licensed gun I need for protection.  And then you would be risking your life, too!

Crime And It's Punishment

". . . It's easy enough to understand.  Some bastard steals the public's money.  The public has a right to know about it."  John Cotton, reporter and character in The Fly On The Wall.  Author, Tony Hillerman.  Harper Fiction, 1971.


I'd just finished reading this book and using another quote in my political blog  --  at louhough.BlogSpot.com.  Then, on television news last night we witnessed a former mayor of New Orleans being escorted from court after sentencing for taking bribes in office.  He claims to be innocent.  That may be true, but there must have been some overwhelming circumstances to make him suspect.


The issue in the above-mentioned book was what exactly are the responsibilities and moral requirements of a reporter who stumbles on any kind of fraud or graft when doing his work?  Does he consider the families and the individuals involved in the crime?  Or, in the case of a public servant wasting tax payer money, does he report the crime for the taxpayer?  This rather simplistic analysis of the theme of the book makes it a "no brainer". 


The reporter's duty is to report the crime and protect the public -- not to protect the criminal.  But does that duty change if unrelated innocent people may be caught in the crossfire?  What if a whole country can be hurt?  Where does the duty belong then?  More difficult, isn't it?


For the criminal to ask for mercy for his family after the fact is not reasonable.  They were his responsibility and his duty to protect.  He should have thought of them before the crime.  And God help them after the fact.  He, himself, deserves no consideration.  Most would contend that if he did the crime, he deserves the time.


Innocent victims who are caught in the crossfire because they were associated with the criminal, though they had no knowledge of the crime, are a harder problem.  Some politician's job or future or reputation should suffer because he held an office several levels higher than the criminal?  I don't think that should happen, do you?  It is the responsibility of the criminal's immediate supervisors to pay attention to his department and detect and report the crime.


But the greatest problem of all is, as in the case of politics, when a whole country loses a good leader just through guilt by association.  That makes a whole country that gets cheated twice --  once by the criminal committing the crime and again because an innocent bystander loses his political career for nothing. 


John Cotton was right when he said the public has a right to know when a bastard steals it's money.  But he also was right to question if facts and truth are the only issues involved.


Certainly, crime and it's punishment need a lot of thoughtful reflection.  And keep in mind, the criminal needs to pay for it some way.  But the criminals are not the only people hurt by crime.  And we need to give special consideration to individuals caught in the criminal's path to self destruction.  How would we want to be treated ourselves if we were victims of circumstance?  Think about it!

Keying

I was having a laugh with the Almighty this morning.  Well, I laughed anyway.  I can't speak for God.  I sensed He told me one of my articles was ready to put into the computer.  He seemed hesitant over the word keying.


So, I explained to God that typing had always been a service position.  It was something that mostly women were expected to do for men.  It was one of the ways we facilitated the work of our "betters".


But there was a problem when it came to computers.  Men used them at least as much as women.  They couldn't let themselves be viewed as doing women's work, now could they?


So, we don't type anymore on computers!  We key in our manuscripts, our messages.  Well, at least they let we women "key" instead of "type" also.


All is well with the world after all.

Fads In Terror

I was three years old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, thus hastening our participation in World War II.  Throughout the war, right up until the treaty was signed, the reigning terrors were that our loved ones would be killed while fighting for our country; the mainland might be hit; just a generalized fear of any country that could produce people as crazy as Kamikaze pilots.


The movies Reds and Dr. Zhivago were good examples of using sound effects to demonstrate changes in Russia and surrounding countries.  Noise and speed and loud swelling music demonstrated how fast communism was thrust upon the world.  In one of them, it shows a rather mild mannered socialist college student being transformed into Lenin.  The wheels and noise and speed of the train Lenin rode across his country exemplifies the speed, noise and shock with which communism hit the world.  It left in it's wake the American fear that there might be a communist hiding behind every bush.  McCarthyism spread throughout America as well as our government, ruining lives and careers of many people, some of them innocent.


After the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, every small village in the world wanted to own them.  Most still do.  During the cold war, this was the fad of fears.  It was the "in" thing hanging over our heads.  Some more fearful people, who also had the dollars, built underground shelters to protect them when the end came.


But the cold war ended and saner heads prevailed.  Wise people in wise countries began to dismantle nuclear arsenals.  Fears began to subside a little.


Concurrent with nuclear fears were fears of what would happen to human body parts if we didn't use them enough.  Some people became obsessed cyclists and walked as often as possible to make sure the species did not evolve without legs. 


During the time of the military draft, people feared their fathers, sons, their mates would be called up to be sent to some Asian country to fight for some other government.  But the worst of the fear became that when they got home their minds and hearts would be so scarred they would never totally recover.


All these wars in the Middle East keep bringing up the "petrol fear".  What would happen if Americans got cut off from their petrol source?  Ho hum!  You mean we might have to cut back to one car per family?  We might have to walk six blocks to see a friend?  Our lives might even become less harried and complicated if we didn't have to rush back out to soccer games, etc.


Then there is the fear of losing our natural resources.  We were urged to keep our waterways clean and to conserve everything.  Then there came the fear of losing it all to global warming, which quite possibly has nothing to do with people.  It may just be a natural cycle of the world.


And now we have the fear of terrorism.  These crazies are worse than the Japanese pilots.  They strike whomever, whenever, wherever they can find security is weak or lapsed.


There is last, but not least, the fear of losing it all to illegal aliens -- to drug cartels -- to gun infested gangs -- to crazy snipers.


When you have lived as long as I, you will have been cognizant that fears tend to run in trends.  Some of them are quite real.  Some represent borrowing trouble.


The best way not to become paralyzed by the fears is to learn as much as possible.  Then you take reasonable steps to protect you and yours.  In religious homes, we pray and ask for God's protection of us all.  Then, we live our lives to the fullest.  The best revenge on terrorists and fear mongers is to live our lives to the maximum and richest extent.  Do not let them win.

Global Warming

If we were to ask the citizens of the United States a series of questions related to getting at their true feelings, I believe we would find that they do not disagree that we are experiencing global warming in this world.  Some just might not fall into line about the reason for it.


Proponents of a "green" ecology tend to ignore historical facts when spinning their alarm stories.  There have been several Ice Ages and subsequent meltdowns.  I believe I'm not stretching the point too far by saying these meltdowns would be considered global warming.


We Americans have grown rather cynical over the generations because of misinformation that our scientists have provided us.  Just think of the science pertaining to healthy bodies. We were to quit butter and red meats.  Following that we had to cut out chicken fat.  Butter then became better for us than the fake alternatives.  We were to use canola or olive oil, preferably the latter.  Some other oils are now being suggested.  Today, white breads and pastas are no nos.  Then we have the poor oppressed onion.  God forbid we should eat a sweet one that looks just like a strong and bitter one.  Eggs were out but now they're in.  I could go on and on, but you have my drift.  We are supposed to adjust ourselves continually because science is still basically in it's infancy.  What they know for sure one day is hogwash the next.  Maybe we should just quit eating altogether.


Now, where the current hogwash is, pertaining to global warming, is the recurring theme that it wouldn't be happening if it weren't for humans dirtying up the planet.  Several ice ages and their meltdowns not only call this into question -- but turn it into a downright lie.


The first known ice age was about 2.3 billion years ago.  Another biggie was 600 million years ago.  Then 450 million and 300 million years ago.  Each one lasted twenty to fifty million years.  The one we are most familiar with began about two million years ago and lasted until about ten thousand years ago when it began a meltdown that continues to this day.  The start of this last ice age coincides with the start of "skillful man", our predecessor.


But, you see, scientists and "greenspeakers" don't believe the common man can think for himself.  So, they gloss over the lessons of history and expect us to align ourselves to their way of thinking and their baby science steps.


Is modern man contributing to the ozone holes and global warming?  Possibly.  But will agonizing over every little infraction of the rules stop global warming?  Hardly.  We weren't here crapping up the planet when they happened before, were we?  And what stopped it then?  Even scientists probably don't know that.  Perhaps they should consult the creator of the universe.  I'll bet He knows.


Now, do we humans need to be worried about other aspects of our environment?  You bet we do.  We need cleaner air just for easier breathing much less C.O.P.D.  We need cleaner fuel.  We need to increase the use of wind and solar power.  We need to stop dumping sewage and trash into our waterways.  We need to do every little thing we possibly can to conserve our fuel and our water resources.  We need to recycle, use less and preserve as much as we can.


But don't lie to me again and tell me this global warming is all our fault.  We weren't here when a number of the meltdowns happened in the past.


And, oh yes, does the EPA need an additional almost 20 per cent to sit around the office being hateful to those of us who call in with genuine concerns?  I don't think so.  Ask them what they have done about the smell of burning medical waste and flesh that several of us have reported in my neck of the woods.   What they need is to get off their duffs and start doing the jobs they are already being paid to do.

School Shootings

We've all heard the expression, "different strokes for different folks".  This is based on Transactional Analysis, a somewhat popular form of therapy which lends itself well to groups.  The statement is based, as well, on theories like those of Rudolph Dreikurs, M.D. who tells of reasons for misbehavior -- need for attention, power struggles, assumed disabilities and revenge.


Let's analyze School Shootings from a psychologist's point of view for a bit.  An average child is going to get a lot of attention in the beginning.  Parents usually receive them with a great deal of pride and love.  But not all children with average needs are born into average or normal situations.


Some children simply are not wanted. Others, though loved, are neglected due to lack of funds, parents working multiple jobs, Moms who spend all their working hours on charities or even parents who spend so much time at church activities that the kids take a back seat.  These kids don't get as much attention as they need.  Like greasing the squeaky wheel, these parents tend to take a Band-Aid approach to child rearing.  They pay attention when there is a problem, but quickly go back to s. o. p. when the status quo is reached.  Children of parents like this learn to act up to get attention.  They also have a lot of autonomy and power in their homes.  A  school classroom can threaten this autonomy, causing kids to engage the teacher or other students in power struggles.  A teacher who becomes embroiled in such struggles has already lost.  The trick is to avoid the confrontation.  A power struggle cannot exist without two or more participants.  One cannot have one alone.


An assumed disability can be a child thinking he's not good at math, so doesn't try.  Or it can be a child who doesn't put forth effort to find friends because he/she has had no success in previous attempts.  With the prevalence of bullying in school and in cyberspace, these kids often fall victims.


And then there is revenge mode.  This is where kids get back at parents, teachers, fellow students and even strangers for all the bad things that have happened to them in their young lives.  Of course, you can all see that this is where school shooters, adults who go "postal" and office attacks fall into place.


We had our share of bullies back in the fifties when I was in high school, but bullying opportunities were not really so easy to find back then.  For one thing, parents were more supportive of classroom teachers.  Now, not so much.  Every other set of parents is in the classroom telling the teachers how to do their jobs and threatening trouble if teachers discipline their kids.  The children catch onto this and show less respect -- and certainly no fear -- to and of the teacher.


Bullying is such a big deal anymore that hardly a week goes by that we don't hear about a new episode in class, on the playground or on the internet.  Kids can either internalize the bullying, which causes depression even to the point of suicide, or they can externalize it and strike out at the bullies, the unloving teachers, the busy, distracted parents, the world.


But there is a further factor in the creation of a school shooter or "postal" employee.  It is as follows.  The average, run of the mill kids -- most of us -- are never going to be heard of outside of their hometowns.  They are never going to get their names on the national news, especially the news programs that ignore good behavior and focus on the bad like crime and sudden deaths.  Good behavior, even if deemed newsworthy, gets a very small percentage of the sound bites each day.


So, our kids who have received insufficient attention . . . who have learned to engage others in power struggles . . . who have learned they are not as worthy as a straight A student or a prom queen . . . who have reached a stage of utter revenge are now learning weekly that if they shoot up a school or a playground, their names will never be forgotten, perhaps even worldwide.  Their names will be repeated often right after the shooting, then on the annual anniversary, at five years, etc., ad nauseam.


Now, keep in mind that the distracted parents, the frustrated teachers, the mean classmates, the prettier, smarter, more likeable children have left this revenge seeker emotionally flawed, if not downright psychotic.  Plus, if they shoot up the school they will have the attention they've always craved -- instantaneously.  And their names will never be forgotten.


If you were this kid, what would you do?


But how can we take preventive measures?  Love and pay attention to our kids.  See they get their basic emotional as well as physical needs met.  See that they "respect" others.  Take off the pressure to be the best at everything.  Stop the constant competition.  Quit being Tiger Moms.  Make sure our schools hire loving and dedicated  teachers who help kids fit in and who teach them to treat each other well.  Find ways to give kids attention for positive behavior -- all kids, not just the gifted and athletic.  Teach them to love and respect each other and their elders.  Work with them at their level of learning and understanding.  Give them positive feedback for each successive approximation to their learning goals.  Be good role models ourselves.  Oh, yes, if someone calls the local authorities to report a child as dangerous, get the kid some help.  A casual stop by of a team of officers is not sufficient to stave off problems.  Recent events show that clearly.


And stop publicizing the ones who commit bad and evil acts.  Once we learn how to rear healthy, happy, constructive children, we won't have to worry about gun or knife or terror controls.  We won't need them.  The problem is not the weapons.  The problem is the rearing, the educating and the plain old caring -- for everyone.

You Can Do It Too!

The other day, I figured out that I have now been on my own -- head of household, so to speak -- for thirty-seven years.  During this time I have had no wage earner other than myself.  ( I had $225 per month child support for two years, 7 months).  I've had no human protector.  There has been no human partner to help me deal with disappointment or grief or even happiness.  All of my decisions, right or wrong, are mine. There is nobody else to blame for my mistakes and nobody to share my joys.


So, you are on the pity pot, you say? Quite the contrary!  I have survived being alone.  I've had my children, of course, but the parent-child relationship is based on the needs of the child, not the adult.


Sometimes, I feel like my pitcher -- of love, resourcefulness, power of thought -- has run dry and there is nobody to turn on the tap and fill it back up.  Yet, those who have developed dependencies on me, whether family or friends, keep coming back to exact the last drop from the pitcher.


How have I survived?  Well, certainly not without a strong belief in God, in Jesus and in a better life. These beliefs have made me strong.


If there are widows, single mothers, singles or divorcees (even men alone) out there facing a mountain of woe, remember me.  I have survived thirty-seven years of holding the fort.  You can do it, too.

Developing Relationships

I once heard a well-known family therapist use his own family as an example for teaching.


Per him, his mother was a very difficult person.  There could be no discussion of problems or negotiations about a situation.  Nobody could even imply that she was slightly imperfect.   Her view was always the correct one.


His father, on the surface, always came off like the bad guy.  It was after the therapist reached adulthood that he began to realize his father hadn't had it so easy himself.


How can anyone express his or her wishes to someone who always sees himself/herself as right, even perfect?  The essence of a good relationship, especially a marriage, depends on all individuals being able to say "When you behave that way, it makes me feel . . .".  If an individual can never discuss issues, no progress can be made.


Though this therapist worked with families, the need to negotiate and to see our own flaws is crucial to all of our relationships in the home, at work, in society.  Everyone must be able to express their feelings with the full attention and cooperation of the other individual.  If not, the relationship has little chance.

Prima Donna Trash Collectors

Have you ever noticed how everyone acts like they are prima donnas or divas these days even if they can't dance or sing?


In our neck of the woods we have prima donna trash collectors.  They have designer lists of what they will or will not pick up.  All trash must be in plastic bags that are not set out at the curb before a regulation time.  All trash cans must have lids (they frequently don't).  Sticks and branches can't be longer than a particular size and must be tied together in bundles.  God forbid you should be caught with only one regulation length stick.  If you don't have something to tie it to, it will just sit there until h e double hockey sticks freezes over.  Or, you could disguise it with a plastic bag.


Appliances will not be picked up.  They may not stand outside while you figure out what to do with them.  And, if the neighborhood used furniture store doesn't pick them up at the appointed time, you can be subjected to a fine up to a thousand dollars.


Now, when recycling went into effect, the results were mind boggling.  We will take plastic, but not glass.  Don't put Styrofoam in your bin.  But isn't that a plastic?  Some will take newspapers, but none of the colored pages.  Some will take magazines but others say hold the slicks.


Metal scrapping is so lucrative that police recently arrested a shirtless man trying to steal copper from the top of a school.  But woe to us if we put metal in our recycling bin.


We are considered environmental gremlins if we include chemicals, paints or batteries in our sacks.  We are expected to pay $15.50 per month for trash pickup and still drive out to the hinterlands to get rid of this trash.  And now the EPA wants 19 1/2 % more to save our planet.


There's no doubt that there is much we can do to preserve the landfills of our world.  And I don't quarrel with the thought that some of us don't do enough.  But haven't we gotten a little carried away?


Are your sure, for instance, that our sins of environmental pollution are what is causing the artic meltdown?  If you are, then how do you explain the meltdown of the glaciers?  Were there millions to billions of people driving cars, dumping batteries, spewing smoke and leaking runoff then?


It's trash for Pete's sake.  Pick it up already, that's what we are paying you to do.  And you should sort the stuff yourselves.  Your companies are the ones who are going to earn the bucks when you sell it at the other end.

How Can I Write About A Good Day?

I once read a piece by Irma Bombeck about someone who had told her that in writing humor she didn't have to work very hard.  Bad idea!  She proceeded to tell the person about how easy it is to think up something funny in the midst of a day when everything is going wrong -- say, if your kids are home from school sick, the car is in the shop, your mother-in-law is in the hospital.  We've all had days when everything is going wrong.  Irma Bombeck had to think up funny stuff anyway.


So, why am I thinking of this now?  After I'd written two pieces for Issues, neither one of which I liked, I thought of turning to humor.  At first that sounded good.  Then, I realized I was thinking of humor for Devotes as well, but how can I wring humor from the Bible?


I was back to doing issues for Issues, but aside from the two pieces I'd already abandoned, I didn't have any issues I wanted to address right now.  The weather is beautiful, the grass is cut, the baby bird that keeps coming back to the nest is learning to fly a little.  I just don't feel like rocking the boat.


Back to the thought of humor. A no go.


Then there is where to go with Devotes again.  My gut tells me Jesus wants me to do love -- but I've already done that more than once.  God seems to be referring me to prophesy, but that will take a lot of study.  So where does that leave me?  With Irma Bombeck.


And, of course, I can tell all the Mothers of the world that I hope they had a Happy Mother's Day.  May God bless and keep you -- and shower you with love and humor.

No Money Accepted

I have received a few e-mails attempting to give me (or my devotional program) money.  Much as most of us could use extra cash in this day and age, my ministry through these blogs is free.  I receive no money for the work that I do here. 


Neither am I able to help the individuals who write and ask for financial assistance.  I am a retiree who writes because that is who and what I am and have been since high school. I live on a shoestring budget.


I hope that my three blogs are of benefit to others.  Much as I get discouraged sometimes, I believe that enough people read them to make my efforts worthwhile.


My blogs are as follows: 


louhough.BlogSpot.com   This is a political blog.  Many of my readers might disagree with my positions, yet I pray that they find a new way of interpreting and understanding their own political beliefs.  Personally, I tend toward being a liberal Democrat.  Yet, surprisingly, I occasionally agree with Republicans, such as in matters concerning the right to bear arms.  I strongly believe that we should improve our public schools and see that they are controlled at the national level.  That way we can be more sure that all students are presented similar materials and have equal opportunities to learn.  I believe that we should continue to support education at the highest level we can afford.  These children are the future for ourselves as well as later generations.


lousissues.BlogSpot.com     This is a place where I vent my hurts, angers, observations and knowledge to anyone who feels they can learn and benefit from the work.  If I offend others with my interpretations of their behaviors, I consider it poetic justice for them offending us.  As President Truman once said, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."  If you don't want others criticizing you, don't make waves in their lives.  It is time we demand that others treat us with the same dignity and respect that they expect and demand of us.


lousdevotes.BlogSpot.com    These devotionals are often based on life events.  They are meant to give others my spin on the world as interpreted by Bible passages and/or things I have learned from living seventy-five years. 


I believe that each of us can learn from each other.  I believe strongly in God.  I've had experiences that some would consider ridiculous, yet I know they are real because I have lived them.  I have survived much. 


Many of my beliefs are based on the Golden Rule and on my strong feeling that neither government nor religious preferences should ever interfere with individual rights.  Government and organized religions are meant to help masses of people be better organized and more considerate of each other.  They are supposed to help us survive, not interfere with our quality of life.  I seldom hear a liberal or conservative in either group who does not use his position to bully others into his/her own way of thinking.


I hope each individual who reads my work finds help, entertainment or becomes introduced to new perspectives.  My point of view is presented from the Main Street perspective.  That is how I started my political blog.