U.S. leaders compare themselves oh-so-favorably to how some dictators act and consider themselves very noble men -- for only being duplicitous and politically cut-throat, and not sending their deserving enemies to be beaten, tortured or shot like some of the other leaders they know. (What did you think they talk about when they visit Washington? The U.S. leaders gather around them and say things like, "Tell us again what you did to that guy who called you a no-good liar?")




"Leave no child behind." The Bush administration cutbacks and lack of program funding, coupled with the blow-back budget cuts at the state and county levels as a direct result, have left several million children behind. But people who were aware of Texas' so-called gains in this area under GWB could see that he was putting forth a boatload of rhetoric and statistical manipulation. By this blatant subterfuge, the most cynical portion of his campaign promises (by which he convinced the less astute that he was a "compassionate conservative"), he probably gained 5-10 million votes, enough to put him in office as the most powerful leader in the world.




How many of you know about the congressional "redistricting" that is constantly going on? Not many, I suspect, as it's considered a boring subject by most people. Both parties are guilty of it, but it's perpetrated by whatever party is ruling the roost.

What they do is get maps made showing numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans in each neighborhood, draw lines around those zones, then mix and match to get the desired results, even if it means district shapes are left horribly cockeyed. There are districts that have corridors only a few blocks wide and stretching for miles. (Is this what the framers of the constitution had in mind? Probably not.) If there's an opposition party stronghold, they jigsaw and truncate it in such a way as to weaken it's chances of voting that way again.

Greasy, shady stuff, but considered a legitimate exercise by the rascals whom we are oblivious enough to call our leaders.




We as a world have successfully passed into our third great epoch. The first was governed by the creed Safe Makes Right, during that long pre-dawn of human history when the best man was the alive man, the one who survived to hunt and eat and procreate another day.

Then, around thirty-thousand years ago, when people started forming into bigger groups, it became Might Makes Right, when they who controlled the biggest warriors with the biggest sticks, or most tanks, or accumulated nuclear throw weight, ruled over the others.

But in the last few decades a new dawn (or perhaps it's a sunset) has initiated, one in which Money Makes Right. Those individuals and corporations who have the most financial resources have the clout to make much, much more, and easily stifle competition and attempts at restriction from smaller entities, including governments, who in effect become their pawns.




Here's a question for you: If someone wanted to start a company that would kill over half-a-million people a year, most of them Americans, and give health problems to several million others, could they start this manufactory? Or, if already doing this, stay in business? (For the answer, refer to the previous piece.)




I write a lot of things about America, mostly of a disparaging nature, as I believe that this country has a serious set of negative trends -- commercialism, rampant irresponsibility, lack of business honesty, corrupted politicians, overly violent TV and movies, erosion of personal integrity, declining ability to communicate effectively, food pollution, etc. -- which only seem to be worsening.

But a fully objective look at the U.S. reveals that it is, for the world, the living, breathing tree of good and evil. We assisted Europe in getting back on its feet after WWII, and conducted a comparatively benevolent form of occupation in Germany and Japan. (But, OK, we firebombed Dresden and Tokyo and dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)

We've aided many Third World Countries to save lives during droughts and other emergencies, donated tons of grain, built bridges and schools, etc., but then we hooked them on bad food and cigarettes. Our State Department, CIA and military have a horribly mixed record of supporting both freedom and tyranny, depending on what we perceive to be in our "best national interest."

People around the world who are coming in contact with Americans may be meeting missionaries or educators or happy, well-heeled vacationers, or someone looking to exploit the local populace with a high-pollution factory.

Or even within our own borders, a person can choose to live a life of pure asceticism, devoted entirely to spiritual growth, and find places and people to support that lifestyle. Or they can conduct themselves in quite the opposite manner and live in abject degeneracy, suffused with alcohol and drug abuse, and find plenty of easy access to that sort of life as well.

Born of the seed of freedom: the tree of good and evil. Pick your fruit and take a bite.
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