How about a degree in Education?

One of the most serious of societal dysfunctions that nobody seems to be doing anything about is the cost of a college education.  I think back when, in the 1940s, I paid $40.00 as tuition for one quarter at the University of Washington.  I went to school on the GI bill, which paid me something like $35 a month, which I used to pay for my room in the Vets Dorm.  I earned enough in the summer months to pay for my books and living expenses.  In fact, when I graduated I had money in the bank and no debts.

A recent edition of TIME magazine told about the tremendous debts that are handicapping today’s college graduates.  This policy in itself is almost criminal.  This so-called responsible society is completely dysfunctional when it comes to money.  Why is a professional athlete paid millions of dollars for playing one season and a graduate is penalized $50,000 to $100,000 for “earning” a degree that may or may not get s/he employed?  To top it off the graduate’s credit rating is very low and s/he cannot file for bankruptcy.  A rookie baseball player is paid $325,000 minimum for one season.  An elementary school teacher is lucky to make $25,000 in his/her first year, that is if s/he is fortunate enough to obtain employment in these years of budget cuts.

This so-called religious society is completely dysfunctional when it comes to money.  Our legislatures, counties, and cities are seriously cutting budgets on education, infra-structure, personnel, and health programs.  At the same time, every other year, this country is spending billions of dollars on elections.  THE MAJORITY OF THE MONEY SPENT ON ELECTIONS IS A TOTAL WASTE!  A letter to the editor in the local paper stated: “Elections should be limited to 30 days and $30,000!”

I am not saying that religion is responsible for this irresponsible behavior.  But I will repeat that our so-called religious society is in denial and seemingly complete apathy.  We are standing on the river bank, swatting mosquitoes, while the soil is eroding out from under us.

A dysfunctional culture?

Are these signs of a dysfunctional religious society?

Earlier I commented that one of the results that I discovered in the 1980s, when I was doing statistical research on the correctional system, was the fact that 70% of the inmates in the adult correctional facilities had been born to teen-age mothers.  This seemed important at the time because abortion was a very hot political issue, particularly among the so-called religious factor.  Preventing or allowing abortion has never been an issue for me because I believe that each case should be decided on the circumstances of the individual situation; a one-way policy that fits all is just not appropriate.  Pregnant teen-agers were generally taken care of until the baby was born, then very often they were on their own: children raising children.  I know, both from experience and reading thousands of case histories, that emotional and physical deprivation of infants creates an internal hostility in the child that stays with them the rest of their lives.  Frequent result: delinquent teen years and eventual penal incarceration, an explanation for the 70% statistic.  Our religious society does all it can to prevent abortion but, in the main, avoids dealing with children trying to raise children.

One other statistic I know: the United States has the highest percentage of its population incarcerated of any of the so-called first world nations.  Again, in the 1980s and 1990s the politicians tried to out do each other by being “tough” on crime.  They over--rode the judiciary by imposing mandatory sentences.  They also cut down on programs of rehabilitation for various reasons.  The majority of the religious right supported these policies because they feel more secure when the “criminal” is in jail and they believe “those felons in custody do not deserve all those privileges anyway!”

Our so-called religious society seems to be in complete denial about what may be the largest illegal drug market in the world.  A United Nations estimate stated that the market in 2009 (in the United States) came to more than $142 Billion dollars.  I am sure that it has not decreased in the last two years.  The U.S. and Mexican governments have spent several billions of dollars at the border trying to stem the over whelming drug traffic without any real positive results.  The drug cartels have control of the drug business in Mexico and every state of the Union and continue on their day by day business with only minor interruptions and inconveniences. Illegal immigration is a very minor problem compared to the monstrous usage of illegal drugs in the United States.  Eliminating the market would eliminate most of the border problem.  What has our religious society done to eliminate the drug market?  Built a fence?

I could go on and on about the societal problems that do not seem to bother our religious congregations:  one in five children in poverty, the health insurance system, the salaries of professional athletes (compared to teachers, for instance), the millions of dollars that politicians spend to get elected, the cost of a college education, etc. etc. etc.

Oil Addiction

I recently read part of a book, written by a Christian fundamentalist who is both anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic. This book disturbed me to the point that I took it back to the library without writing down the title or the author (or finishing the book). 

One thing that he may be right about is the fact that the Middle East countries are supplying the United States with the major portion of our oil supply, upon which we are extremely dependent.  He points out that Saudi Arabia is using some of the money they make from selling us oil to establish Islamic studies in several of our major universities.  He states that some European countries now have rather large Muslim populations, large enough that they may not be “minorities”.  He also points out that the Muslim population in the United States is getting to be “significant”.  He declares that perhaps as much as 25% of the Muslims in the U.S. and Europe are militant anti-Christian, particularly the younger generation.  The ultimate goal, of course, is to make the major countries of the world “Islamic”, which includes all of Europe and the United States.  Where do India and China fit into this plan?  I do not know! 

If the price of oil, which is now more than $100 a barrel, goes to $300, $400, or $500 a barrel, reincarnation and religion is going to be the least of our worries in Europe and the U.S.A.  The United States consumes 21 million barrels of oil each day of which 14 million barrels is imported, primarily from Islamic controlled countries in the Middle East.  If the price goes out of sight, or Middle East production is drastically cut, or diverted to other countries, the comfortable Western economies are going to be a disaster in progress; a depression which will make the current economic situation look like a picnic in the park.  The question is not “IF”, but “WHEN”?  This whole nation, in fact the whole world, seems to be in complete denial to this addiction.

This same author states that there are 192 nations on the planet, all of them oil-addicted, who will be competing for oil reserves when those reserves have reached their peak and production starts to decrease.  As he puts it, the world is consuming almost 100% of crude production right now, which means that the production margin is non-existent.  The reserves in the North American continent are relatively insignificant and not nearly as large as the reserves in the Middle East.  Today, in the U.S., we are only producing one-third of the oil that we consume each day.  Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran have approximately 75% of the world’s known oil reserves.  At some point in time, China, India, or Russia may decide to compete with us for these reserves.

How can a country, whose economy is almost completely dependent upon consumption, compete with ambitious countries that are producing real goods?  The people in our government are almost completely obsessed with obtaining ideological power.  If we, as a people, are not in complete denial, what would you call it?  We are just standing here looking out over the river, swatting mosquitoes, while the bank is crumbling out from under our feet.

The "MOUNT" IS COLLAPSING!

April 8, 2011.  Last night we watched the second documentary (Public Broadcasting) on the Civil War.  I was particularly interested because my great-great grandfather, who grew up in eastern Tennessee, was a Union soldier who was captured and suffered out most of the war in two or three Confederate POW camps.  The Confederate POW camps were noted for their abuse and starvation of prisoners.  When the war was over the Confederates put more than 2000 POWs on a river boat designed to hold 200 to 300 passengers.  The over-worked boiler on the boat exploded and more than 1200 of the POW passengers were killed, my ancestor among them.

The Confederate States have never quit their efforts to defeat the United States.  For almost one hundred years after the Civil War the southern whites rampantly bullied and persecuted their Negro neighbors almost without restriction.  Because Lincoln was a Republican, the South for about that same 100 years was primarily Democratic.  In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Democratic administrations of Kennedy and Johnson shoved “racial equality” down their throats and the Southern states became solidly Republican almost over night.  Then, in 2008, the ultimate insult: a half-black was elected President in an election the Republicans were not able to manipulate.

Now, aided by gullible Conservatives and Tea Baggers in the more northern states, the representatives and senators of the Republican southern states have decided that if they cannot absolutely control the government, then it behooves them to handcuff it.  They have solved the tax problem.  Of the large corporations in the U.S., more than 90% are not paying taxes; instead they have moved their corporate headquarters off-shore, mainly to Ireland and Switzerland, where they do not have to pay U.S. taxes in spite of the fact that most of their business takes place within the borders of the U.S.  Add to this the tax cuts for the wealthy.  Now that the tax situation is handled, they start in on the national debt; the Republicans are not admitting responsibility for any of it.  Both the Democrats and Republicans ignored the soaring national debt during the Bush administration.  Thanks to Mr. Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld, contractors were added to the armed forces, tripling or quadrupling the cost of war.

Most of the budget cuts proposed by the Republican “antis” are designed to eliminate or cripple the social issues like Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, medical research, Planned Parenthood, education, National Public Broadcasting, environmental protection, etc.  Although these items are less than one-eighth of the total budget, this is where they want the cuts, primarily because it is where the cuts will do the most harm to the lower and middle classes and the least damage to the wealthy.  You may think that this is an exaggeration, but their actions speak much louder than the sound bites they put on TV.

If they succeed, the “American Dream” will be toast, history, nothing but a fantasy for all except the very well-to-do.  Instead of being a “world leader” the United States will be looked at with scorn by most of the rest of the world: the largest third-world nation on earth, second only to India (and maybe not second).  

Back in the 1980s Russia bankrupted itself, primarily by overspending on the military and because of a couple of useless military campaigns like Afghanistan (does that name sound familiar?).  Now Russia is hampered by alcoholism, unemployment and apathy and has become a second-rate world power.

Are we next?  The citizens of the United States support the Mexican drug cartels to the extent that the drug peddlers are as powerful as the Mexican government. Materialism has put our credit card debt at record levels.  We are completely addicted to the use of fossil fuels. The Republican congressional representatives want to severely cut the budget of the EPA, which would eliminate many environmental restrictions on corporations.  We are fighting two very expensive, unnecessary wars and have military units scattered all over the world.  The unemployment situation does not look solvable.  The U.S. economy depends on materialism, not production; production takes place over seas and consumption increases our debt to other countries. 

I should not be complaining and pointing out all the problems if I do not have a solution to these tribulations, but I am sorry to say “I do not!”  If this “Christian” nation were truly practicing Christianity, it would solve many of these difficulties.  We readily accept the admonition to believe in Jesus Christ so that we will be accepted in Heaven because that gives us the security that our materialistic personalities desire.  However, we just skip lightly over the fifth and sixth chapters of Matthew and become generous and loving if it is not too inconvenient or someone close needs help.

It is rather like driving downtown.  You can only drive one car.  When someone in another car does something dumb or dangerous, you do your best to see that you don’t get caught up in the same problem.  Each of us can only live the one life that we have been blessed with.  About all we can do is stand here and swat mosquitoes, while our so-called leaders ride our “MUSTANG” into the ground.

Unexplained Aerial Objects

A review of the UFO books, written by Dr. Jacques Vallee

I have recently read four books, written by Dr. Jacques Vallee.  Dr. Vallee has spent approximately fifty years researching what he terms “Unexplained Aerial Objects”.  The first three books, a trilogy (Dimensions, Confrontations, Revelations), were published in 1988, 1990, and 1991.  The last book, entitled “Wonders In The Sky” was published in 2009.  Each book contains many “occurrences”, and some opinions, although Dr. Vallee is very careful to not make any assumptions that are not supported by fact.  The subject, to me, is fascinating, but at the same time, it is also frustrating.  Why is it frustrating?  In spite of fifty years of careful research in which he and his colleagues investigated thousands of incidents, there is no conclusion: Unexplained Aerial Objects truly exist, and evidently have been around for thousands of years, but we still do not know the real source of the phenomenon and the reason they show up unexpectedly from time to time.

Dr. Vallee’s research has been severely hampered by two factors: the UFO cultists and the Air Forces of several countries.  The Air Forces are extremely interested in the technology involved – these mysterious objects in the sky can hover, change direction at will, zoom off at supersonic speeds, and disappear from sight in an instant.  They can also kill people and/or create severe health problems in observers.

The UFO cultists are another problem.  They are totally committed to the opinion that the UFOs are the result of visits of aliens from other planets in the Universe.  Dozens of UFO cults have been organized.  As soon as an individual reports seeing a UFO, he/she is very apt to be besieged by the cultists and reporters, most of whom are not interested in scientific facts, but the “story”.  The cult enthusiasts very often bring amateur hypnotists with them and usually have pre-conceived notions of what happened and often ask leading questions so that they will get the answers they want.  The final “story” is very apt to be exaggerated, contain untrue ‘facts’, or be a complete hoax.  Sometimes the subject enjoys all the attention, but very often the cultists leave the subject very angry and/or frightened and as a result, reluctant to cooperate with a true scientist doing research.  Either that, or the subject is very reluctant to tell anyone of the contact because of ridicule and/or the fuss, so the researcher does not hear of the event until years later, if at all.

So, stories from the past indicate that UFOs have been with mankind for thousands of years.  A most powerful biblical story is that of Ezekiel, who called them ‘Cherubim’ and described them: “Their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures, and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.”  There are hundreds of petroglyphs in many places that are pictures of beings that answer to the description of the beings in modern UFOs.  We can only guess what influence these beings had on civilization, religion, and mankind in general.

‘DIMENSIONS’ is the first volume of the trilogy (1988).  In it Dr. Vallee reexamines the historical record that led to the modern UFO phenomenon and to the belief in alien contact.  He than tackles the enigma of abduction reports, which come from various times and various countries, as well as the psychic and spiritual components of the contact experience.  In the last portion of the book, he notes the factors that inhibit research into the phenomenon – the triple coverup and political motivations – and concludes that the extraterrestrial theory is simply not strange enough to explain the facts.

‘CONFRONTATIONS’ is the second volume of the trilogy (1990).  Dr. Vallee personally investigates forty astonishing UFO cases from around the world.  He finds it shocking that professional scientists have never seriously examined this material.  This book is about the hopes, experiences, and the frustrations of a scientist who has gone into the field to investigate a bizarre, seductive, and often terrifying phenomenon reported by many witnesses as a contact with an alien form of intelligence.

‘REVELATIONS’ is the final volume of the trilogy (1991). It presents startling evidence that well constructed hoaxes and media manipulations have misled UFO researchers, diverting them from the UFO phenomenon itself.  Dr. Vallee takes readers step by step into the tangled web of UFOlogy’s dark side, in an effort to clear the ever-thickening underbrush that has obscured the real nature of the UFO phenomenon.

‘WONDERS IN THE SKY’, published in 2009, is an unprecedented compendium of pre-twentieth-century accounts of mysterious aerial objects by two leading investigators of unexplained phenomena.  Using vivid and engaging case studies, and more than seventy-five illustrations, Dr. Vallee and his colleague Chris Aubeck, elucidate that unexplained aerial objects had a major impact not only on popular culture but on our history, on our religion, and on the models of the world humanity has formed from deepest antiquity.

Personally, I find all of this fascinating.  Tomorrow, March 22^nd, 2011, I will be eight months into my 85^th orbit of the Sun.  That means that it will not be very long before I find out what is on the other side (maybe).  IMHO I believe mankind has an exaggerated opinion of its intelligence and knowledge.  The older I get, the more I realize that we actually know very little about this world we live in, and, how to get along with each other.  Our main personality factor is hubris, when it should be Unconditional Love.

There is an old adage: The larger the sea of knowledge, the longer is the shoreline of ignorance.

So, where do we go from here?  I am almost half way through my 85^th orbit of the sun.  Most of the time, like the majority of my colleagues and relatives, I don’t look beyond the end of my nose unless I am almost forced to do so. 

I have no reason to complain.  I chose some excellent parents, lived through the 30s depression without missing a meal, survived the South Pacific in World War II, got a college degree and was always gainfully employed until I really retired.  I also have been able to volunteer for more than 5,000 hours at the local homeless shelter during the past 14 years.  I have been married to my best friend for more than 60 years and we have a wonderful extended family who love us and are a true blessing in many ways.

This past election particularly bothered me and, actually, I have been discouraged by the political actions of both the state and national legislatures and the individuals who waste millions or billions of dollars getting elected and then waste millions and/or billions of taxpayer dollars after they get the positions they fought so hard to get.  And now, after both parties have ignored the national debt for years and years, it has suddenly become the primary political issue.

I am registered as an “Independent” voter, which means, in Oregon, that I cannot vote for any of the party candidates in the primaries.  In spite of this, I have not missed voting in an election since I voted for Eisenhower for President, way back when (was it really 1948?).  I have always tried to be a good citizen, a good parent, a good husband, and a reliable employee.  I am far from perfect, but my wife and I survived our mistakes without any major catastrophes and ended up with a wonderful family.

In spite of this, I am discouraged.  It seems to me that this country, this society, this culture is going downhill like a runaway toboggan.  Is this just because I am an old fogey?  What are the facts?

1. The real God that we worship in this country is “Mammon” (money)!
2. Materialism is a rampant disease that has completely engulfed today’s society.
3. Church leaders avoid preaching the true philosophy of Jesus because they do not want to be labeled as “socialists”.  The majority of the congregations are “capitalists” who prefer security and materialism to wasteful generosity.
4. The state legislature is little more than a “social” club; the lobbyists write the bills and the voters make the hard decisions.  The budget is their only real chore.
5. The national legislature is primarily concerned with getting re-elected, protecting the corporations and the wealthy, and denigrating the ideological opposition.
6. As noted previously, this nation is supporting a huge illegal drug market that has enabled the drug cartels to paralyze the Mexican government and practically disenfranchise the Border Patrol.
7. We seem to be reverting to the “Old West” philosophy, that is: “I’ve got mine and I’ll share it only if I want to – to hell with paying taxes – and if you haven’t got yours, tough tits.  Let the devil take the hindmost.”
8. That means: “Let someone else take care of infrastructure, education, health care, the environment, the homeless, and the mentally ill.”
9. As soon as the “grass heads” get marijuana legalized the streets and highways will not only have drivers impaired by alcohol, meth and cell phones, but there will be a large influx of  “grassers” impaired by the legal weed to watch out for.

Are we just standing on the shore, swatting mosquitoes, while the bank under our feet is collapsing?

Illegal Immigrants?

Immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America come in all different categories; that is, some are laborers, some are educated, some are athletes AND some are criminals.  Now, we can put up with the workers, the students, and the athletes, but we do not want the criminal element in any way shape or form.

Who is responsible for the large influx of the Hispanic criminal element?  We are!!!!

The population of the United States, its citizens and residents, provide that undesirable element with a huge, and very profitable, illegal drug market.  The manufacturers of firearms in the United States also provide the drug cartels with an almost unlimited supply of late model firearms, to the extent that the cartels have fought the Mexican government almost to a standstill.

Our U.S. Border Patrol is also overwhelmed.  The Border Patrol can stop many of the innocents, but the drug cartel manpower goes back and forth across the border like it did not even exist.

As long as the citizens and residents of the United States provide a hugely profitable drug market, there will be a large, mostly illegal, Hispanic criminal element in our midst.  How long are we going to ignore this very expensive nuisance?  IMHO this is a crisis of gigantic proportion, more important than war, terrorism, and/or illegal citizenship.  Are we so busy swatting mosquitoes that we haven’t noticed the bank crumbling under our feet?