GIVE IT UP!!!

We in the West continue to have to work so hard and our leaders have to scramble to somehow "help out" every time another Middle East skirmish breaks out. When will the world get smart?

The Jewish state is an experiment reaching nearly 70 years now and that is at least 50 years too long! Eventually the sheer numbers of forces against them will win, even though all Jews and Christians believe that a Hebrew manifest destiny will prevail and their god will crush all foes in the end. Well, that's pure bullshit!

Consider how U.S. citizens would be reacting to anything resembling the mayhem caused by the theft by Jews of the land in Palestine. Had the axis powers won World War II, who knows what our own country would be suffering today? What if the powers of Europe, essentially rulers of the world, had been able to set up a whole state within our borders on behalf of some group who claimed they should be here "just because?" And not only setting up shop, government and all, within our borders but taking over more than half of Washington D.C. in the process? Or of New York City?

That's what a hard-charging group of Jews were able to pull off in 1948 with the backing of the U.S. and other western powers who rightfully felt compassion for the whole Jewish race. Had the compassionate westerners who jumped to the aid of the Jews been more wise and compelling, they could have talked the "chosen people" into realizing the folly of moving themselves into the middle of a militant world of Islam. The "chosen" could have chosen to better themselves instead of following traditional foolishness of making Jerusalem such a prize that simply had to be theirs. A lovely (and larger!) place somewhere in the western hemisphere could have been completely ceded to them if we were so compassionate - and they could have built a fabulous (and far more beautiful) replica of the storied "promised land" while being safe from harm among people who invited them to build and live in peace.

Today the people called "Israelis" go about their studied and practiced killing of their neighbors while enjoying the grand cheering section over here in this "compassionate" country. We should be instead telling them it's time to move into the modern world and move OUT of the Middle East where they don't stand a chance - god or no god!

Happy 4th, and All That Stuff

Certainly the locals had to wonder why I was one of those standing in almost unpresentable casual clothing in my driveway, waving and shouting "Happy 4th" instead of having my golf cart decorated like theirs and being part of the parade. Truth is, I needed this day off! My cell phone is even staying turned off and I am enjoying one of those uncommon days of no obligations. Truth is, I'm exhausted from all the time I stay "on duty" when anyone calls because I need to be that kind of servant if I am to earn even a nominal living here in this little community over the coming years.

At least we are near to having the status of "home-owners" added to our family resume; with a little luck we will very soon sign papers and take proper possession of this property we have enjoyed for nearly nine years. Then we may just have a future, here or wherever we may choose to go if and when we sell the home. But we are nearer to a comfort zone than we have been in many years.

So HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to one and all! I'm certainly all for independence!!!

Soccey? Or Hocker?

Awesome! and Beautiful! were a couple of words being gushed by a news reporter trying to describe his view of the big World Cup game that apparently "we" won in Brazil.

Last week, one of my local friends could hardly contain himself over the thrill of watching the Los Angeles Kings winning a game over a New York team in another "Cup" finals match. This week it was a different friend completely over-the-top with excitement about "our" team going into the big Brazilian games.

Maybe you have discerned by this point that I am neither a fan of these games nor even interested in knowing what the excitement is all about. To me, these two sports could be blended into one, called either soccey or hocker. Actually, I rather see them as the same game with some folks adding ice, skates and sticks. Both games are tedious, too long, too low scoring and too violent with the many invitations to injury of the bodies being twisted and smashed in all manner of "great plays."

Even if anyone took my suggestion and combined these to create a hybrid that may be more interesting (somehow increasing the scoring), I probably still couldn't work up any excitement over it. Certainly not enough to gush that a game was "Awesome!"

Progress Will Prevail

People who are called "Progressives" are often thought of as "bleeding heart liberals" or other such colorful, disgusting-sounding rebels. The simple fact is, those who are NOT progressive, who cannot face progress with calm acceptance of the inevitable, will be overwhelmed and miserable excuses for citizens of this country.

The opposite of progressive is "regressive," and it appears that is exactly what the common Republican is today. I am totally fed up with all the forceful statements and sometimes actions relating to taking back our country. What that has to mean today is that for some people, the desire for the nostalgic image of America overwhelms the logic facing everyday life. It also means, in practically every case, that seeing Dwight Eisenhower in the white house would be so much more wonderful than seeing some black upstart there in his office. Truth is, the two have many similar qualities and we are very fortunate to have the strength and intelligence of President Obama in office today - but it will be half a century before history makes that very clear.

Though we all can enjoy re-watching the old film It's A Wonderful Life, there are millions of white citizens who cannot accept the changes that spell out the reality of our America of 2014. The immanently lovable Jimmy Stewart and his beautiful bride, Donna Reed, are easy to watch and adore. But the film reflects a long-gone era, not today's real world. (And by the way, things weren't perfect in Bedford Falls nor in any bygone era.) Yet that's the world Republicans want to recapture. Too bad. I have respect for history but also for change. And in our world, change always wins in the end.

And who are those who cannot invite or accept change? Old white people. That is, most of the old white people in this modern world. In age and race, I am one of them, but I'm no part of them in fundamental values. I detest regressive attitudes.

Simple Consideration

Being inconsiderate is often probably just a product of being lazy. Or maybe forgetful.

The sweet-voiced lady who called me at the end of May could have instead sent a large, ugly man to find me and hit me very hard in the solar plexus. Instead, she mentioned off-handedly that she was getting a few nibbles on her home and wanted to see whether I had any homes available in my little senior community where she could down-size after her large home sells.

She had stopped me last fall while I was passing by a home where she was visiting, here in my little community; she liked the feeling here and was hoping to move here one day soon. So we had the discussions leading to what she might do and one thing she was sure of was that "Come June of next year, I want to list my home." We arranged for an associate and me to check out her property and give her an idea of the market value, along with projections for the next eight-to-nine months leading to June. She was so very appreciative and said that when June came around, she would allow me to list her home and look for another one here in my neighborhood.

The fact that escrows have been cancelling like crazy in the last two weeks and that my income is virtually nothing other than my meager social security, surely played into my astonishment and my difficulty breathing after I had welcomed her call and said I was going to be calling her in two days to set up the listing. To find that she had listed with a happen-upon agent who came to a garage sale, having no connection whatever previously, simply knocked the breath out of me for a moment.

Simple consideration would have been to remember the guy she sought out and asked for assistance back when I was recovering from surgeries and struggling to keep going each day. But she merely "forgot."

Now she has called again in the hope I have found something for her here. If I do happen to find something, while listings in my neighborhood are almost non-existent, I might manage to make upwards of a thousand dollars. had she stayed with the promise of letting me list her home, I could easily have earned five times that amount, But, "Oh well."

Let's Move Into the Present!

Baseball purists can go ahead and hate me and my opinions, but really! Isn't it time to allow technology to play its part?

Sure, they have grudgingly moved toward allowing instant replay to help with balls near the foul poles and now with a few other parts of the close call difficulties. But the real problem with baseball? We all know. We all have been part of the age-old shouts of "Get some glasses" or "Don't take the bat out of the hitter's hands," or other such criticisms of the umpires.

Now that we have the technology to place that electronic rectangle that outlines the strike zone and pin-points the position of the pitch, it makes no sense to me at all that we have to continue using the old method of depending on a human's eyes and quick decisions to make those close calls. Plate umpires are clearly shown to be inadequate. Baseball could take a major step in a good direction by finally making it easy to know without doubt whether a pitch is a ball or a strike. Let the chief umpire be responsible for governing the game as always, but relieve him of that awful requirement of seeing clearly while in harm's way behind the catcher, and having to instantly decide how to call a pitch.

It would be delightful to see batters then try to find some invisible electronic device to berate or be able to show it that hateful face of disagreement. Come on, Purists! You KNOW we will eventually have it done this way. But how long will you fight it?

The Triple-H Factor

Former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift brought up the difficulty women face in gaining leadership positions in politics: Their words and capacities are simply not the focus of the general public. She says the real focus goes immediately to Hair, Hemlines and Husbands! She is undoubtedly correct in this statement.

Consider this phenomenon. There are men in major positions of respect and power in our national politics, some of them for many decades, and some have had "bad hair days" for years; others have no hair at all. Is it mentioned in any public way? Not typically. But let a woman get up to speak and see how much her hair gets discussed above the substance of her speech.

Expect Hillary to run and along with this, expect the media and general public focus to often center far more on appearance than on substance. Some candidate running against her will be just another male in the same, drab business suit we all accept by habit. He may even have an ugly comb-over that flies laughably in the breeze and he may have a wife who rarely shows herself at all for whatever reason. But it will be Hillary's hair, clothing and marital partner that will be the continual topics of discussion.

Even many who consider themselves "liberal" in today's world still trudge along in the mud of out-dated traditional attitudes toward gender.

Personally, I look forward to eight years of dramatically (and often) changed hair styles along with varieties of skirts, pants-suits or anything else, and seeing the occasional glimpse of a very public male figure now in the second-fiddle role in the white house. But my focus will be on how she handles the mammoth job of the presidency.