Author Archives: Commentary about the Blue Marble

Wake Up America

25 Sunday Apr 2021

Posted by in Respect

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            How and why has the respect for American institutions fallen so far and so fast? Granted Congress has not been above 50% since the 1950s, but it isn’t above the quarter now. Why? Respect has fallen dramatically during the last five years. I believe it is because a few of our elected officials have done so to enrich their campaign chests and themselves by denigrating others and the institution. Trump greatly increased disrespect by his constant attacks on it. Most of those negative comments were outrageous and completely unfounded.

            The military had the highest respect when Trump went into office before he hired several generals. When he fired them and started his diatribe against them, respect plummeted.

            The respect of the news media dropped when Fox News was conceived to divide us to increase the numbers and influence the far right. Their brainwashing was designed to destroy confidence in mainstream media while creating their own powerful political base. These divisive skills were designed to put divisive people in office and support them.

            We are told public schools are bad and private schools owned by some of the radial right are going to save our children by teaching them their philosophy. Remember a Representative’s comment about Hitler and training kids.

            Add to what a few Americans are doing to create division — the work of the Russians. We now know how they have used the right media and internet to put people in office and damage our institutions and companies.

            Fear is being created to divide us so a few Americans and Russia can benefit. Wake Up America while there is still time!

Blame Bad Parenting

19 Monday Apr 2021

Posted by in Parenting, Police

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            During his first term, Obama made a plea for parents to do a better job of parenting. Little was made of his plea for some reason. He summed up the problem of how and why kids got into drugs, guns, and gangs. Few if any kids joining a gang have been reared right.

            A great example is thirteen-year-old Adam Toledo. What parent allows a boy that age to be around a twenty-one year old gangbanger at 2:30 in the morning? Gangs are full of kids and adults who were the product of bad parenting. Who is the final person to correct the misguided kid? The cop with a gun who may have to shoot him or her? Sending a kid to a penal institution just makes them more hardened since gangs run the jails and prisons.

            How about throwing Mr. Spock’s child reasoning ideas out and getting back to kicking butt when a kid goes wrong? Sitting a kid in a corner or taking away their computer, phone, or TV doesn’t change a pre-teen or teenager who spends their time selling drugs or committing other crimes.

            Don’t blame a cop when they are faced with a kid with a gun or knife. Blame the parents who failed in their job of raising the child. Don’t march to the mayor’s home or to the police station. March to the kid’s home.

Bad Apples Everywhere

08 Thursday Apr 2021

Posted by in Violence

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            Perhaps the term I most remember my parents using about someone other than any other is “Bad Apple”. It meant that person lacked a good personality. The term relates to what happens when a basket of good apples contains one apple which has started to rot. All the good apples around it start to decay faster because of their proximity to the bad one. If the selection of which apples to put in the basket isn’t done well the whole basket can go bad more quickly.

            The larger the group of people, the more likely for a bad apple to be in the group. Sometimes an apple may look good on the outside but be going bad under the pretty skin. People are the same. Some examples are the military, the police, many organizations, and protest groups. After 9-11 the military needed to quickly expand so they took in people who were marginally within their personality parameters. A few years later when they reduced the need for bodies, those bad apples were dumped. Police officers are well screened but on occasion, a bad apple is put in the basket or one becomes a bad apple after constantly being put in bad situations every day. Many protests are branded because a few apples go bad by rioting.

            One thing we should all learn is to not judge all baskets because of a few bad apples.

Fix Old, Not Build New

08 Thursday Apr 2021

Posted by in Infrastructure

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            President Biden is pushing an infrastructure program to repair America’s decaying infrastructure. Fix means to repair the old broken roads and bridges, not to build new while continuing to let the old fall apart.

            Instead of building a new Lake Shore Drive, use the money to replace some of the thousands of miles of roads which are heavily potholed. Fix old so it will last for years instead of throwing some patch material into the same potholes each year.

            Fix right and without bribery or collusion or political connections. Chicago should put some impeccable honest people in a position to oversee the projects. Don’t use the funds to line some politically connected people’s pockets. Spend it wisely for the good of the people of Chicago.

Simple Gun Owner’s Licensing

28 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by in Gun Control

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            A talking head on a Sunday morning show put forth a fantastic idea for owning a gun. Why not have a license and training for different types of guns. It would be similar to a vehicle license process.

            If I wanted to drive a four-wheel vehicle I would get the basic license and an ability test. If I was dumb enough to get the organ donor license to operate a motorcycle, I would have to demonstrate my ability also. If I wanted to drive an eighteen-wheeler I would need a special license and ability to drive it. There used to be other classifications for other vehicles.

            His idea seemed to be a very sensible way to handle some of the concerns of over 70% of the American public. Just as with vehicle licenses; the costs would go up with each level of skill required. It’s the same with pilot’s licenses.

            The obvious criteria would be a low price for each hunting rifle and shotgun, a higher price for a revolver, higher for a semi-automatic, additional cost for an extended magazine, a high cost for any weapon which can be considered an assault weapon. Possession of any gun where the owner or possessor isn’t properly licensed would result in a substantial fine and/or imprisonment. I would suggest the fine be a minimum cost equal to ten years for the proper license and loss of all weapons.

Looking Forward

28 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by in Hope

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            I look forward to a time when we don’t know and don’t care what sex, race, or age a business owner is. One day our elected officials will make laws on an equal basis and not be swayed by money or political aspirations, and not favor one group over another.

            I look forward to a time when people aren’t buying guns because they are influenced into believing they are in danger of another race or ethnic. Imagine a time when gun laws are like those in other countries.  A time when all gun deaths are accidents or self-inflicted and not kids and adults being shot in cars, stores, or schools.

            I look forward to the time when humanity takes care of the planet we all share and not destroy it and its flora and fauna. One day the leaders of one country will not envy or hate the people of another country.

            I look forward to a time portrayed in Star Trek; The Next Generation where people live in a utopian world. Where people are able to make their own way while being respected by others. I look forward to a time when hate is just a word in the dictionary and not on the nightly news.

            I really look forward to a time when humanity decides there is enough of us on this small planet and not the numbers project forty years ago. Those projections have been on track to this point. Imagine almost twice as many of us in 70 or 80 years.

            I look forward to a time when this letter is in the past tense.

Old Familiar Cold Snap

28 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by in Climate Change

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            As I write this, it looks like and feels like the winters I experienced up here fifty years ago. One winter we had snow, freezing rain, snow, and it repeated several times. I could walk on it without breaking through. The frost line used to be four or more feet deep freezing water lines from the main to the homes. That may be the winter with 20 to 25 degrees below zero nights and days not reaching zero.

            A few years ago the TV meteorologists fell in love with the Polar Vortex term to gain attention. Like today’s cold weather it is for a few days but not weeks. People will point out these snaps as global warming being a myth. Overall the winters have been so light a vortex is an anomaly. Younger people will remember the last fifteen to twenty winters as their base memory and not know how winters were before Global Warming.

            Youngsters, I have a parka and long thermal underwear left from those winters. Somewhere I have very heavy socks to wear in my old rubber boots and several neck scarves to keep out the frigid wind. Today I wear a light jacket over the sweatshirt I wear inside my home and a headband over my ears when I am outside.

            I don’t miss locking up my lungs for over a minute while trying to take a breath, after getting hit by a sudden gust of wind, or busting through 4 to 5 foot drifts to get home. Nope, those weren’t the good ole winters.

No Relation

28 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by in Uncategorized

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            When I was a little boy I lied more than I told the truth and it made adulthood easier. Maybe that is why I have so little regard for most politian’s. Being a good liar seems to be a prerequisite for the position.

            My paternal ancestors came across the pond in the late 1600s and to the best of my knowledge and the history of the Johnson family; we have never had a politician in it. So when I hear Wisconsin’s Senator Ron Johnson spouting all the lies about the election and how Trump has been cheated, I am glad he has no more of a relationship to me than the last names we have in common.

            When he was at the latest CPAC meeting I bet he was one of those who got his picture made with the golden idol of Trump and worshipped the man himself. Wouldn’t it be nice if he decided to tell the truth and not be a sycophant of an egomaniac who only cares about himself?

Who is the Enemy?

28 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by in Radicals

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            Pogo said something like “We have found the enemy and the enemy are us.” Trump’s base is a disillusioned group that believes the most idiotic ideas put forth on radical internet sites. Whether Trump actually believes these crazy conspiracies and outright fantasies, I don’t know but he has continued them.

            One of the principles the far right believes is the Congress and Senate are against them and need to be eliminated to protect the Constitution and Country. To protect themselves, the Republicans have shifted the onus on to the Democrats but the base thinks both parties are against them. The more Republicans play to Trump’s loyal supporters the more they have to leave sanity and safety for all of them. When Trump’s aura is found to be a scam his base will turn against both party’s people.

            The “Deep State” is the people who just come in each morning, do their jobs, and go home – no matter what party is in power. If they don’t like the current President’s policies they quit and hundreds quit during the last four years. Sooner or later Trump’s base will figure out the Republicans have had control of the “Deep State” since the mid-nineties.

            The Republican Party used to be the “Law and Order” party. After Nine-Eleven, they took their eye off domestic terrorism and put it on international. The domestic threat grew rapidly. During the last four years the party put incompetent lap dogs in many Department of Justice positions allowing Trump to take the heat off his radical base. His social media rants allowed the White Supremeists and militias to grow and move into some political positions. This allowed them to infiltrate the bureaucracy and state and national legislative bodies. The enemy may be us!

Immigration is Karma

24 Wednesday Mar 2021

Posted by in Immigration

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            So much fuss is being made over the children coming up from Guatemala and Honduras. People are missing the reason the kids are fleeing their homes. Some families come for economic reasons and climate change but the vast majority is for safety. Those countries are controlled by gangs. Gangs rape, ill, extortion, kidnap, and force the kids they don’t kill to join them. Usually it is join or the family is killed.

            The media doesn’t go back to when and how the gangs got started and took control of those nations. We are the reason! We decided Los Angeles would be better if we exported the members of a growing band of violent Central Americans who preyed on their own people. We sent them south and now thousands of families and unattached kids are coming here to get away from the gangs we exported. That’s Karma!

            We have created this mess and the economic money we are throwing at it ends up going into the gang’s pockets. We criticize the governments for getting tough on the gangs but these governments are in a fight for survival in their countries. We criticize other countries for using violence to put down simple protests but it is necessary when those gangs are armed with guns that our business people sold to them,. It is Karma! Locking them up in gang controlled prisons doesn’t stop them. Let their government’s police and paramilitary do what is necessary. Ignore what they need to do for survival.

            We caused the problem. Let those countries fix it so their people will want to stay in their countries and not flee to the United States.