The Just War Theory | Common Dreams

The Just War Theory | Common Dreams

Happy Easter.

Quote of the Day

“When Good Friday comes, these are the moments in life when we feel there's no hope. But then, Easter comes.”  

Coretta Scott King

How to Cultivate a Spiritual Life

How to Cultivate a Spiritual Life

• Attend church irregularly.
• Spend more time practicing good. Get rid of the racial talk and jokes. Accept diversity. Give up the idea that your way is the only way.
• Rather than collecting possessions, collect friends.
• Don't believe everything you hear, even if the messenger is wearing a collar, a robe, or a designer suit. In fact, be especially skeptical if they are wearing any of those.
• It is better to approach faith inwardly rather than outwardly. That way, you can own it, rather than buy or borrow it.
• If you think your God is bigger and better than mine, how about letting me see you walk on a bed of red-hot coals, kind of as a sign.
• If you're practicing right-wing, Christian, Republicanism, get out. You been brain washed. It's a cult of the worst kind.
• We are each fashioned after the Divine, which I interpret to mean we each have a touch of the Holy in us. We should treat ourselves and each other accordingly. Thus sayeth the Gospel According to The Peever.

Talking With Christ

Talking With Christ

He walked into my office. He was  old, worn down from all the living. His skin had that fragile, transparent look, like the slightest touch wold draw blood. Everything had taken its toll, including the booze. Whiskey mainly. I don't know what they thought I could do. They said  I was good at what I did, but this....He talked and I listened. Stories of delight, hope, despair, betrayal, friendship, love, hate, all meshed into sixty-seven years of living. He had died and come back maybe five or six times. Back from prison, homeless and on skid row, rejected by his son and daughter, countless lost jobs, two divorces, a bleeding ulcer. Back from promises unkept and nightmares turned real. Each time saved he was thankful, but not enough to quit drinking. What could I do for him but listen, say thank you for sharing our life, help him from his chair, gently squeeze his shoulder, and wonder how you tell Christ he's Christ? I guess you just let it go.

SUNDAY MORNING-EASTER

The seven days of creation:

Day One: Right-wing, Republican, Christians had to be created right off the bat. Otherwise, this whole thing wouldn't have worked.

Day Two: Trees were created so that Weyerhaeuser could make huge profits.

Day Three: Animals were created for the pleasure of NRA members to kill.

Day Four: On day four, water was created. Have you ever not taken a bath for four days?

Day Five: "Family Guy" was created, although some people think "The Simpsons" came first. There have been several wars fought over this disagreement.

Day Six: Sex had to be created somewhere along the line, or you wouldn't be reading this. Since the human race has ended up being pretty dumb, I'm figuring God was not real crazy about this idea. He probably had to do a power point presentation. "Lay on top of one another, (preferably a male and female), and make a wish. You may need to do this repeatedly, at least until you're fifty. Than forget it."

Day Seven: No selling autos or beer on day seven. No one has ever figured this out, but I'm guessing Moses got drunk and bought a clunker.

Winter Solitude

Photo by Adam Littlefield

Good Friday Health Care Options: Go Bare or Go Broke? | Common Dreams

Good Friday Health Care Options: Go Bare or Go Broke? | Common Dreams

A not-so-good Friday, if you happen to be sick.

Bumper Sticker of the Week

DOING MY PART TO PISS OFF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT

TRUTH

What is "the truth." More and more I'm thinking that "the truth" is nothing more than our mind trying to find some certainty in this uncertain world. "The truth" never transfers very easily from one person to the next. It usually takes a little persuading, often by force, some stretching of the facts, and countless repetition of the story, to establish a "truth." Still, there are some things that are hard to refute:

* You wake up in the morning, you're eventually going to have to take a dump.

* If two men are talking, sex will eventually enter the conversation.

* You cannot make a profit without cheating someone.

* A politician will never answer a question directly.

* Anyone claiming to know "the truth" is probably trying to  sell something.

* "The truth is plain to see," has blinded many a person.

* Truth is not in the eye of the beholder, it's in his or her mind.

* "The truth will set you free" has resulted in a lot of dead people.

How Screwed Up Is This Country? Some Clues:

• A gun is easier to obtain than a drivers license.
• You can get more votes in an election and still lose.
• As the world becomes smaller, so does our brain. This seemingly helps explain the phrase "cool."
• When you demand that the poor be helped, you're called a socialist. When you demand that the rich be helped, you're called a Republican.
• We call bombs "smart," and it's possible to be killed by "friendly fire."
• We keep electing people who haven't got a clue what's going on.
• Looking for a better country? Try improving yourself. Don't worry about the other guy. Worry about you.
• We kill people who don't agree with us. Sounds to me like murder.
• Fear. Fear. Fear. Everyone is afraid. The terrorists have won. You don't think so? Check your gun cabinet.

Wal-Mart Sues Groups over Protests at Stores

Wal-Mart Sues Groups over Protests at Stores

Their fleet of attorneys most not have enough to do.

Arkansas Senate Overrides Veto of Voter ID Bill

Arkansas Senate Overrides Veto of Voter ID Bill

How Big Corporations Are Unpatriotic | Common Dreams

How Big Corporations Are Unpatriotic | Common Dreams

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AN AMERICAN, BY TODAY'S STANDARDS

• We follow the government blindly, no matter where it leads us or how badly we get screwed.
• You are not to question what the military does. That would be unpatriotic and you might be deemed a terrorist.
• Thou shall not bow down to any graven image, short of the flag.
• God Bless America-to hell with anybody else.
• Buy, buy, buy. Consume, consume, consume. After all, you're entitled. You're an American.
• Better to be a patriot than a poet.
• Corporate profit at the expense of the individual.
• America. Love it or leave it.

SILENCE

It is the silence of the world that is real. Those who love their own noise are impatient of everything else. They constantly defile the silence of the forests and the mountains and the sea. It is the silence of the world that is real. Our noise, our business, our purposes...these are the illusion.      Thomas Merton

Quote of the Day

“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”  

Mark Twain

More Arkansas Legislature Stupidity

It just doesn't seem to end. Now a voter ID law, which the governor vetoed, but the legislature will likely override. One after another, they are passing laws that probably will be deemed illegal by judicial review, but in the meantime will cause enormous heartbreak and degradation of the citizens of Arkansas. Frankly, anyone who voted for these assholes will get what they deserve. As for me, the reasons just keep piling up to reconsider our decision to move to Arkansas. I hate living in the past. It's not good for anyone, much less a 65 yr. old liberal, progressive, Democrat.

Why Old is Better Than Young

• All the fantasies should be over.
• Sex is no longer the main issue. Staying alive is.
• Old makes you eligible for universal health-care.
• You can say anything you want and blame it on old age.
• Old has a certain dignity about it, even if it doesn't look so good.
• They say it is good to listen to the wisdom of the elders. Well, you be the judge.

ADDICTION

I spent a lot of my life trying to figure out why people use drugs. I've come to the conclusion that there are as many reasons as there are addicts. I've seen children 10 years old and adults 85 years old addicted to one thing or another. The rich and the poor. From the jobless to judges. I've seen people I would have bet everything I own could not make it out of their addiction, only to stand tall and beat it. It might have been cocaine, meth, alcohol, nicotine, gambling, eating, co-dependency. We find ourselves in all kind of dire straits, but we have the capacity to recover. I wish I could say it is easy, but it's not. It will be the fight of your life. Or I suppose, better stated, it will be a lifetime of fight. It continues to be for me the most beautiful thing to watch. Recovery.

Arkansas Activists Eager to Fight for Reproductive Rights | Common Dreams

Arkansas Activists Eager to Fight for Reproductive Rights | Common Dreams

Time for progressives to get tough. 

How to Know If You Are a Republican

• You get stomped in a Presidential election, but you are pretty sure you really won.
• You are opposed to the government helping anyone but the rich.
• You think all artists are gay.
• Your favorite bumper sticker was, "George W. Bush: An American Hero.
• Your are sure Jesus was a Republican and carried a gun.
• You think healthcare is a commodity, to be bought and sold like a Rolex, or a fine bottle of wine.
• You listen to Rush Limbaugh as though he were a Prophet, rather than a naysayer with a string of baloney about 5 miles long and 2 miles wide.
• You are convinced that an unborn fetus is more important than the living.
• You are old, a military fanatic, white, Christian, and the single most important thing is your life is hoping that we can all go back to the 1850's and be happy once again.

Quote of the Day

“People want pretty much the same things: They wanted to be happy. Most young people seemed to think that those things lay somewhere in the future, while most older people believed they lay in the past.”  

Nicholas Sparks, Nights in Rodanthe

New Homes in The Village

I noticed in the Village Voice that there were seven permits for new homes approved by the architectural committee at their last meeting, six of which were to be built by Carriage Homes. Since they are doing most of the building, I hope they have numerous house plans, or not only will the people in Hot Springs Village seem to all be alike, but the homes we live in will also appear the same. That would not be good. No one will be able to find their way home.

Quote of the Day

"How hard it is for Americans, even Americans of goodwill, not to consider themselves the center of the universe."
Simone de Beauvoir

The Day That TV News Died | Common Dreams

The Day That TV News Died | Common Dreams

America Split in Two: Five Ugly Extremes of Inequality | Common Dreams

America Split in Two: Five Ugly Extremes of Inequality | Common Dreams

The rich get richer, the poor get forgotten.

TERROR

TERROR

I have wondered who exactly the terrorists are we are fighting. I got out my trusty Webster's to help me focus in on what it is a terrorist is:
Terrorist: A radical who employs terror as a political weapon.
Terror: An overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety
Fear: To be afraid or frightened of.
Anxiety: A vague, unpleasant emotion that is experienced in anticipation of something dreadful happening.

So, to sum up, we are to be afraid of someone chasing us, who lives somewhere, who for political (and maybe religious) reasons, is attempting to frighten us and make us fearful about the future.

Wow. Whoever, wherever, whatever these people are, they're good. Everybody I talk to is fearful and anxious. Everyone is buying guns. I heard one guy say he bought a whole pallet of ammunition. Some 10,000 rounds. He's really fearful and anxious. Congress is now made up of a body of males who seem to have a handle on terror. They want us to be afraid of the bad guy out there, while they take us to the cleaners. Anti-choice for females; the threat of taking away medicare and social security from the elderly; sending immigrants home; spying on us on every street corner; sending drones around to keep an eye on us; denying imprisoned people a trial; putting religion back in schools; no help for the poor; you get the news we and our corporate friends want you to have. The whole thing makes me nervous as a whore in church.

I listened to Rush Limbaugh the other day. It was by mistake, but I thought a would listen a minute to make sure I wasn't writing or saying anything that might resemble what he is saying. Listening to his right-wing brand of nonsense makes me anxious and fearful. He doesn't seem any different from bin Laden or Saddam. I get that same feeling of dread that I got listening to them. I think it could be terror.

This guy comes up to my door last week. I figure he's selling something. He had on a white, long sleeved shirt, which, if you know me, is in and of itself enough to make me anxious. He could have been a politician, but I figured preacher. Either way, I'm anxious. One's after my money, the other, my soul. Terror right at my front door. Scared the ever-living hell out of me.

Health-care really makes me anxious. All the right-wingers want ObamaCare repealed, and not a one of them can explain what it is or what it means to any of us. Humans who don't want other human to have even the minimal amount of health-care offered in the Obama plan, which is pitifully inadequate. That "take care of me and don't help anyone else" attitude makes me real nervous. That's sheer terror.

There's terror everywhere. I think my dog recently terrorized the propane man delivering tanks. AIDS is a terrible terror. Alzheimer's. Alcoholism. The weather. The evening news is make up of 85% terror. Shootings in places I've never heard of, as though I need to know that. Terror in the morning paper. I turn around and someone yells Boo. It all scares me.

Terror. Terror. Terror. Everywhere you turn there's terror. It's horrible. It grabs hold of your heart and makes you anxious and fearful. I wouldn't waste much money bombing Afghanistan. It's much closer than that. It's right around the corner. right outside the gate. In Little Rock and Washington, and Mississippi, and South Dakota.

Here's a cheap antidote, simple but somewhat effective. A prayer evoking divine protection. Chant it over and over, but try not to let the neighbor hear, you'll strike terror into their heart, thinking your a Muslim. Try it out, carefully:
I know who I am.
I know where I come from.
I will not allow anyone to make me feel fearful and anxious.
I am not afraid. 

Kellogg's Has Nothing on Me

Cereal was terrible expensive when my kids were young. Then it got cheaper, after a consumer revolt. Now it's back to expensive. Here is payback. Some Peever favorites:

Meaties: The breakfast of carnivores. Tiny morsels of beef, lightly frosted.
Christian Flakes: A tribute for those of you who are worried about The Rapture. You may not be able to count on God saving you, but you can for sure count on these Christian Flakes. They're simply Divine.
Fried Crispies: Tiny tidbits of anything that crawls.
Drearios: A low key cereal with a depressing aftertaste.
Tricks: A sweet tasting cereal, only for men.
Frosted Mini-Feet: Someone had to find something to do with all the chicken feet.
Prune Jacks: Keeps you moving.
Cocaine Peebles: A bite sized pick-me-upper. Throw down a bowl and hang on.
Golden Grams: Measured energy in every bite. It's high time you tried some.
Lucky Arms: Hands above the rest. Doubles as finger food.

NASCAR Congress | Common Dreams

NASCAR Congress | Common Dreams

SUNDAY MORNING NEWS FLASH

THE PEEVER'S TEN COMMANDMENTS

1. Never sunbath in the nude. You might forget to turn the other cheek.
2. Do not look at another mans ox, nor his ass, nor make a pass at him in the john.
3. Do not cheat your fellow man. There are no exceptions for lawyers, politicians, or CEO's.
4. Do not join a country club. It's not nice trying to fool God into thinking there are only white people.
5. Do not think that you are any better than the next person. This will help avoid number four and might possibly keep you from spontaneously combusting.
6. Do not change your sex. God does not like this, nor will the guy making a pass at a girl who is really a guy. Or vice-versa.
7. Do not idolize more than one God at a time. This is way to confusing for most people.
8. Go to church on Sunday. And do not work. Golf counts for church, and it is not generally considered work. And be sure to pray for that putt to go in.
9. Do not believe anything Moses said. He was President of the NRA.
10. Finally, never, ever, doubt the word of The Peever. For He has been to the promised land. Well, maybe it was only Las Vegas, but still...

HIDE AND SEEK

                                                                                           Photo by Adam Littlefield 

Quote of the Day

“When you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody.”  

J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Let's See If You Can Get a Handle On This

• If politicians didn't take special interest money, the art of making wishes come true would be lost.
• I hear all the right-wing Christian soldiers are taking up a collection to buy God a gun. They just can't decide what kind She'd like.
• Adults wonder why kids act the way they do. Look in a mirror.
• When you look at all the money spent on school districts, you have to wonder why a student wouldn't know the capital of Vermont.
• No matter how many so called terrorists are killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, it still ain't going to make it right.
• With the recent legislation passed in Little Rock, Arkansas is working hard to become the most stupid state in the union.

Mississippi Stands Up For the Right To Be Fat, Not Just Poor and Ambivalent about Slavery, Women's Suffrage and Inter-Racial Marriage | Common Dreams

Mississippi Stands Up For the Right To Be Fat, Not Just Poor and Ambivalent about Slavery, Women's Suffrage and Inter-Racial Marriage | Common Dreams

Arkansas is giving them a run for their money.

SUPPOSE WE WERE ALL THE SAME

We worry about differences. Immigrants are unwanted in our community. We don’t trust Muslims, we get miffed at same-sex marriages, we’re scared of people with mental illness, and different colors freak us out. So what if we were all the same? We all want the same jobs. We want to live in the same place, in the same houses, all painted the same color. We all eat the same food and dress the same way, drink the same beer and have the same hair-dos. We drive the same cars, vacation in the same places, play the same music, and watch the same movies. We’re all the same religion and worship the same politicians. We laugh at the same jokes and cry at the same dramas. You can’t tell one of us from the other. Now, isn’t this fun? Welcome to Hot Springs Village.

Where Once I Lived

Photo by Adam Littlefield

Friday

Ah, the sweet smell of Friday. I can remember everything being better on Friday. The air smelled  of ocean. Each moment that ticked toward 5pm seemed like a revolution, being fought for freedom. Have you ever felt like you were totally in touch with the universe? Walking out to the car, looking down the street, feeling like you knew what it was all about. Life, that is. Understanding why we are here, your place in it all. Totally relaxed, the sun glowing a bright orange. Warm. Comforting. The birds talking, telling you to have a good weekend. Everything in perfect synchronicity. If you have ever felt any of this, you were probably the son-of-a-bitch that stole the drugs from my desk.

Quote of the Day

“Why is it that treasures become junk when there's no place to put them?”  

Courtney Pierce, Stitches

BABY BOOMERS

If you happen to be a baby boomer, take a look at babyboomerbabble.net. You might like it. Send in a story of your own. I'll be glad to put it up.

Congress to All Past and Future Innocents: We Barely Sort Of Fought For You | Common Dreams

Congress to All Past and Future Innocents: We Barely Sort Of Fought For You | Common Dreams

We got a bunch of slobbering buffoons in Washington. Time to clean house. And senate.

Bend Over and Kiss Your Butt Goodbye

It appears from what is going on in Washington and Little Rock, that we are getting screwed from all directions. Stay tuned. The streets are about to fill up, although as for as the poor go, I suppose they are used to it.  The middle class is going to have to pick it up, or be eliminated. If I were a betting man, I'd go with eliminated.

Combating US Capitalism's Moral Blinders | Common Dreams

Combating US Capitalism's Moral Blinders | Common Dreams

Capitalism is not a good partner with democracy. A least the way it has developed. 

Quote of the Day

“There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?”
Woody Allen

How to be a Good Salesman

• You have to be able to take money from people who can't afford what you are selling and not apologize in the process.
• Keep it simple. The simpler the sales pitch, the more appealing. Go figure.
• You have to be able to lie and cheat. Otherwise, you wouldn't sell things for three or four times or five or six times their value.
• Guarantee everything forever. People are impressed by such stupidity.
• Never stutter when explaining to the customer how badly they need your product.
• Advertise, advertise, advertise. Lie, lie, lie. Now you got it.

Jim Hightower | Paul Ryan is still stuck in the same old rabbit hole

Jim Hightower | Paul Ryan is still stuck in the same old rabbit hole

The Last Letter: Tomas Young Savages George Bush and Dick Cheney | Common Dreams

The Last Letter: Tomas Young Savages George Bush and Dick Cheney | Common Dreams

How to Know if You Have a Drinking Problem

• If you keep falling down when you drink, you may have a drinking problem.
• If they know your first name at the liquor store, you may be going too often.
• If your only friends hang out at the bar, you probably have a problem.
• If alcohol tastes better than water, watch out.
• If you think you get smarter when you drink, you better hope you're wrong.
• Waking up with a person you don't recognize is never a good sign.
• They say wisdom comes with age. That don't work with alcohol.
• A drink a day they say may help, particularly those with heart problems. A drink means one or two, not gallons or wine bottles. One 12oz beer, one 6 oz glass of wine, or one shot of 80 proof booze. Try to remember that, although it's probably getting more and more difficult for you. To remember.

The Fly-By Night Double Crow Burger, at The Crows Nest in Crows, Arkansas

Crow Bites-tiny marcel's of strictly black meat.
The Deep Fried Crow Fillet-this is a good replacement for fish at Lent.
The Broiled Crow-lightly dusted with charred feathers, crow beak, and ground crow nails.
Crow Stew-with roadkill added for extra flavor.
Blackened Crow-this is a whole crow, feathers and all. For the hearty appetite.
A children's favorite: Crow Dogs.
And as a house specialty, Crow Tongue Sandwiches, on rye. Get even with the little devils always squawking at you.
The Crows Nest: Fine down-home dining at fly-by-night prices.

Quote of the Day

“Nothing in fine print is ever good news.”  

Andy Rooney

How to Measure The Integrity of a Person

• Does the person keep their word? What is a person good for, if not for their word?
• Integrity involves being in the moment. When talking to the person, are they listening, or are they preoccupied with their own thoughts and agenda?
• Is there any false fronts being displayed? Like a low cut blouse with a push-up bra, or a sock or potato in the crotch area? These are sure signs of falsies. Integrity demands up-front honesty.
• Can the person look you in the eyes? Failure to do so is a clear sign that something is missing. Perhaps lack of character, or worse, poor potty training.
• Is the person in question living a congruent life? Integrity demands living as honest a life as one possibly can. Do their words match their actions?
• If all else fails, keep a one month measurement of their nose. As the nose grows, so goes the diminishment of  their integrity.

Quote of the Day

Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for I have bought me a brand new 9mm. Thy rod and thy staff are no longer necessary.
From "The Peever Turns Religious: A Baptism by Fire."

5 Minutes, 152 Rounds | Common Dreams

5 Minutes, 152 Rounds | Common Dreams

Folly of Iraq Invasion Needs More Public Scrutiny | Common Dreams

Folly of Iraq Invasion Needs More Public Scrutiny | Common Dreams

WORDS

The Call: I've heard it all my life, but have not always answered. It doesn't come on a cell phone, it's not written in a book, or seen on TV. It comes out of nowhere. It tugs at your heart. It is an invitation to your soul. It carries with it the promise of freedom. It is what Joseph Campbell calls, "Following your bliss." It is a transformative and sacred call. As Maimonides, the twelfth-century rabbinie authority, physician, and philosopher said, "The sound of the shofar calls to us: Awaken, sleepers, from your sleep, arise, slumberers, from your slumber, and examine your deeds...look after your own souls, and improve your ways." Our purpose on Earth as humans might well be to hear the call and respond. How long will it take for you to answer Yes?

Sunday Morning Sermon

Sunday Morning Sermon

Working Class Heroes

Here's to the guys and gals who put in a hard day's work. The times have been tough: wages down, benefits gone, hours up, and many of the jobs people have made a decent living at are gone. There are no other reasons other than corporations wanting to make higher and higher profits for the CEO's and shareholders. Welcome to globalization. The greatness of this country was built, and continues to rest, on its citizens and their willingness to put in a hard days work, at fair wages, for decent benefits, and a reasonable level of assurance that they will have a job to go to in the morning. Over the last thirty years or so, all these things have been in jeopardy. Our working class heroes have not gotten a ticker-tape parade, they have been given the shaft. As a result, we are not the country we once were. Our economy is less, our politics are less, and our spirit is diminished. It is time for a working class revolution. In order to buy our labor, the transaction needs to be fair and mutually beneficial. When that balance is lost, so are we. The rich men of this country, with their right-wing ideology, need to be relieved of their leadership.  Like we did in 1910, we once again need to take charge. You can only be beat down for so long. Any more delay and American will become a third class nation, owned and operated by rich corporations, intent on doing nothing more than becoming richer and richer and espousing right-wing ideology.

Dropkick Murphys - Live On St Patrick's Day

Enjoy

Questions About "Leave It To Peever."

• Do you know anything about anything? I know a little about a lot and hardly anything about most things that matter.
• How long have you been writing this crap?  Too long.
• Have you written any books?  Several. The last was, "Why All Politicians Are Perfect Assholes."  I wrote it with a proctologist from Jersey.
• Where do you get all your goofy material from?  I read the Village Voice.
• Do you have any idea how many people you offend? At last count, about 98%. I'm going for a hundred.
• Are all of your statistics and facts accurate? In the twenty years I wrote this column, I have made two mistakes. I mentioned most people don't believe in the Easter Bunny, and that the directors of Hot Springs Village all seem to be above average intelligence. I was wrong on both accounts. 
•  Are you accountable to anyone for what you write? I figure I'm only accountable to my higher power, but my wife seldom reads what I write. So I'm pretty much home free. 
• You sure don't like Tom Cotton, our new federal representative. What's the deal?  He stinks of right-wing stupidity.  And I hate the smell.

Quote of the Day

A job is not a job if you can't get by on the pay.

America, Land I Love, Where Slaves Were Happy, Men Romped with Dinosaurs and Hippies Were Rude Dirty Immoral Satan-Worshippers | Common Dreams

America, Land I Love, Where Slaves Were Happy, Men Romped with Dinosaurs and Hippies Were Rude Dirty Immoral Satan-Worshippers | Common Dreams

Sometimes I wish I couldn't read.

Theory of Relativity: Obama Defends Drone Secrecy by Arguing He Is Not This Piece of Pure Lying Evil | Common Dreams

Theory of Relativity: Obama Defends Drone Secrecy by Arguing He Is Not This Piece of Pure Lying Evil | Common Dreams

America, You Must Not Look Away (How to Finish Off the NRA) | Common Dreams

America, You Must Not Look Away (How to Finish Off the NRA) | Common Dreams

Oxymorons

• I always thought this was a funny use of words: military intelligence.
• Have you ever had casual sex?
• How can you be half naked?
• Impossible-Republican Party. They ain't got a clue how to party.
• There's no such thing as soft rock.
• Never believe a politician when he or she talks about a temporary tax increase.
• Have you ever heard anyone give an unbiased opinion?
• How can you be legally drunk?
• Or have a sanitary landfill.
• I hear a lot of politicians saying this is our only option.
• Most days I'm clearly confused.
• Here's a good one: congressional wisdom.

Quote of the Day

The Wrong Greatest Generation

Tom Brokaw was wrong: Brokaw wrote The Greatest Generation. He based most of that greatness on the fighting of WW II. I don't think that's fair. As a baby boomer, we haven't really had any good wars to fight. Or maybe more appropriately, any popular wars to fight. The greatest generation handed us Vietnam. That was not a really good war and I don't think we should be penalized for it. I think maybe they did that on purpose. I think we are The Greatest Generation. Sorry. We enjoy sex.

POA Board of Directors Candidates

I have to confess, I'm not overly excited about any of the candidates. A lot of old men, which in the Village generally translates into conservative, ex-military types. Neither is bad in and of itself, but they are usually too tightly wound for me. I don't hear anything innovating coming from anyone. I remain undecided at this moment, but would give the candidates this advice:

1. Proceed with caution in hiring a new general manager. This is a profession that attracts a lot of big heads. I've seen, in my days, more bad city managers than good. Make what you do public. Let us see who you are thinking about. Secrecy is no way to run the Village.
2. The board needs to adopt municipal governing rules. No vote should ever be made in closed session. This is in violation of any municipal or county rules that I have ever heard of, although we are in Arkansas, where seemingly just about anything goes. The board needs clear rules governing its operation. They cannot be allowed to do things on a whim.
3. The board will need to elect a new Chairman and Vice-Chairman. This will set the tone for the coming years. I hope they do it very carefully and not necessarily by seniority. 
4. They need to do away with the time limit imposed on the public when speaking at meetings. It needs to be reasonable and adjusted to the topic being discussed. When the board is done discussing any particular topic, the public should be invited to voice their opinion at that time, not at the end of the meeting. Keeping the times reasonable and the discussion under control is the job of the chairman.
5. The board meetings should be conducted under Roberts Rules of Order. Someone should be appointed parliamentarian.

 Well, that's enough for now. Those are five pressing issues that the board should consider on an immediate basis.

Paul Ryan’s Regressiveness Redux | Common Dreams

Paul Ryan’s Regressiveness Redux | Common Dreams

We Need to Grow Less Cotton In Arkansas

I just can't believe that the people of Arkansas elected Tom Cotton as our state representative. While presumably smart, he is a tea-bagging, ultra right-wing yahoo. He has not made one vote that has not been regressive, demeaning, and outrageously backward. I can see why the Village would vote for him. We got a lot of right-wing Republicans who would just love to take us back to the 1850's. But I can't see many in Hot Springs willing to put up with this guys foolishness. The Democrats had better find a candidate to do him in in 2014. I just heard a report that cotton is on the decline in Arkansas. We can only hope.

Elizabeth Warren Slams Money-Laundering Banks: What Does It Take? | Common Dreams

Elizabeth Warren Slams Money-Laundering Banks: What Does It Take? | Common Dreams

The rich get richer, any way they can.

MONEY

Bill Gates is no longer the richest person in the world. That honor now goes to Carlos Slim Helu', Mexican business tycoon. He's worth $73 billion. Gates comes in second at $67 billion. Warren Buffet has gone down to fourth, at $53 billion.
Just how much is a billion dollars:

• A billion seconds ago is 31 years.
• A billion minute age was just after the time of Christ.
• A billion hours ago, our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
• A tightly packed stack of $1000 bills totaling one billion would be 63 miles high.
• Yet a billion dollars of spending by our federal government was only late yesterday afternoon.
• Our current debt: over 16.5 trillion dollars. (A trillion dollars is a thousand billion). A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon we're talking real money.

Sunday Morning

Sunday Morning

AMEN:

• War is wrong.
• Hunger does not have to be.
• The rich do not need government handouts.
• Love always wins out over hate.
• It doesn't hurt to say you're wrong.
• Revenge will wither your soul.
• No one should die alone.
• We are all brothers and sisters, fashioned from the same dirt.
• No religion is better than the next.
• Violence is a spiritually weak position.
• A public servant should be just that.
• We should treat the Earth like we would our mother.
• In the end, it will not be fame or fortune that sustains you, but family and friends.

GOP Leaders: 56 Years of Devolution | Common Dreams

GOP Leaders: 56 Years of Devolution | Common Dreams

BUMPER STICKER OF THE WEEK

I AM A SHAMELESS AGITATOR.

SUNDAY MORNING

Someone Save Me If You Can

• I don't believe God plays favorites.
• i don't think God favors any particular religion. There are many paths to Her doorstep.
• God has many disguises. One minute He's a beggar on the street, the next a brilliant sunset, and still at another moment a child laying in your arms sleeping. God has to be everything, or nothing.
• The harder I look for God, the further I get away from Her.
• Church doesn't have anything to do with God. Church has to do with man.
• I don't believe in heaven and hell. I don't think that either place is up or down, or a place where we go when we die. i think heaven and hell are in our hearts. Part of our soul. Part of our God make-up. I think we visit heaven and hell on a daily basis. A child is born; a loved one suddenly dies; a niece who graduates with honors; a cousin who becomes a drug addict. Heaven and hell touch each of us deep inside our heats and both a an integral part of the human experience.
• Jesus brought God to life, as did Buddha, Muhammad, Zoroaster, Confucius, St. Francis, George Fox, Lau-Tzu, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Dali Lama. The Divine seems to come to life in some people, seeping out, affecting us all.
• No one can understand God. If one claims to know God, you should run from them. The Mystery cannot be understood. It exists only in its non-existence. A person who claims to be enlightened probably isn't.

Knowledge is Your Best Friend

How to be irrelevant, irresponsible, and illogical all at the same time: Run for public office.

Rightwing Fraudster Who Helped Sabotage ACORN Settles Suit for $100K | Common Dreams

Rightwing Fraudster Who Helped Sabotage ACORN Settles Suit for $100K | Common Dreams

America Is Down on the Ground Gurgling and Some of Us Have Our Hand on the Wound and Stay With Me! | Common Dreams

America Is Down on the Ground Gurgling and Some of Us Have Our Hand on the Wound and Stay With Me! | Common Dreams

God save us from ourselves.

Some Tips for Future Hot Springs Village Residents

• We are the home of almost 100% Republicans, of which a significant amount are right-wing Republicans.
• We do not clean up our messes very well. We are used to someone else doing that.
• We don't mind low wages, as long as they are not ours.
• If you can't drive, I would count us out.
• If you like to go to church, you are in luck. We have more churches than any one 14,000  person city in the country, so long as you're Christian.
• Our leadership is getting better. We dumped a horrible general manager. And most of the people who hired him are off the board. The next general manager will hopefully be human. And our next Board of Directors President will hopefully be more open to ideas and input from the public.
• Prices are relatively high for the houses being built. Currently, buying a pre-existing home is your best bet. It's a buyers market
• If you are under 55, visit a local nursing home in your area. This will help prepare you.
•  Our monthly dues of $36 is extremely low. You can't beat what we get for it. It will probably go up fairly soon, but even at $50 a month, it's a bargain.
• In the end, we are a community with many of the same struggles as any. We have many good points, and many bad, most of which I have already mentions in point number one.

My Body is a Temple

Doesn't it say somewhere that your body is a temple? I'm declaring myself tax-exempt. And I won't put up any of those obnoxious crosses or anti-choice signs. Because that would make me non-tax exempt. I would be declaring a political ideology, which I swear I don't have.

Bumper Sticker of the Week

Learn from your parents mistakes-use birth control.

One Economy, Two Americas | Common Dreams

One Economy, Two Americas | Common Dreams

Quote of the Day

“Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.”
Bob Dylan, Chronicles, Vol. 1

The Time's in Arkansas, They Are a Changin'.

I figured it out. With the first Republican state legislature elected since Reconstruction, that's exactly what these right-wing Republicans appear to be doing. Taking us back to the grand old years of 1865-77. They want to rebuild society just as it was at the time. I can hardly wait. Hello Arizona.

Ongoing Stupidity in Little Rock

House panel rejects raising minimum wage. A vote for business and a vote against people who are trying to make it on minimum wage, now $6.50, probably the lowest in the country. Not a proud moment for Arkansas.
The Arkansas senate also overrode the veto of Gov. Beebe regarding a ban on abortions over 3 months. While probably illegal, it gives Arkansas the most restrictive abortion law in the nation.
The idiocy of all this will only get worse. I'm sure most residents in the Village are pleased with this. As for the rest of us, it's two more reasons why Arkansas may not have been the best choice for retirement. Not even good golfing and low real real-estate taxes can keep up with these morons.

The Arkansas Minimum Wage

Our right-wing legislature is about to take up the Arkansas Minimum wage, which stands at t hefty $6.25 per hour. That's $50 a day, $200 a week, for a fifty week total of $10,000. That's before taxes, and social security, and health-care, if available. In reality, there generally is no health-care, and a person would be lucky to get 40 hours per week.
The wise one's want to raise the minimum wage to $8.25. That's a dollar below the federal minimum wage. At $8.25, that's a whooping $66 dollars per day, $330 dollars per week, and $16,500 dollars per year, for fifty weeks. Again, that's before taxes, social security, and health-care, if available.
Taking either of these wages, be it $6.25 or $8.25, it's a pathetic sin. none of these bozo's could make it on either salary. In fact, none of them could do the work required for an hours worth of salary. It would take some backbone, some common sense thinking, and a great restraint to not shot the employer, none of which they possess. If I were a minimum wage worker, I'd spit in their face as they filed out, headed for their favorite tavern to talk with their favorite secretary. Or maybe I'd just take pictures.

Quote of the Day

“EVERYTHING NOT FORBIDDEN IS COMPULSORY”
T.H. White, The Once and Future King

Chamber Forum

The Chamber of Commerce held a forum for the five candidates seeking election to the POA board of directors. Like many things in the Village, the format was way to restrictive. The questions had to be general in nature, and not directed at anyone in particular. That's real useful. While I like Jeff Atkins answers to many questions he's been asked, I would ask him how he will avoid a conflict of interest concerning the handling of lots in the Village, in light of him owning over a hundred. I would expect him to answer that he will excuse himself from that discussion and vote. That would help me when I  vote. And again, severe time limitations on questions and answers. What's everyone's big hurry. All us retired people got nothing else to do. What is everyone so afraid about, allowing the public to speak?

Hightower Lowdown | Corporate kangaroo courts have quietly usurped our constitutional right to trial by judge and jury

Hightower Lowdown | Corporate kangaroo courts have quietly usurped our constitutional right to trial by judge and jury.

I know a young man who has been held in jail for over a year without a hearing. The state calls the case a conspiracy to sell marijuana, which supposedly allows them to hold him for however long they want. They call this justice. I call it crap.

We Are Bradley Manning | Common Dreams

We Are Bradley Manning | Common Dreams

Quote of the Day

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
 Albert Einstein

The World According to The Peever

• If left alone to fend for themselves, men would become extinct.
• Which came first: Adam and Eve, or Adam and Steve?
• Rich people need to be very careful where they walk, lest they stumble over their own arrogance.
• Never join an organization that takes a vote on whether or not you can join.
• War helps those in power stay there. They watch, the poor fight.
• Making a profit means you have exploited someone, somehow.
• The executioner and the killer are one and the same.
• Dead is dead, or so they say, when it come to dying.
• In the scheme of things, the only thing more important than life is living it purposefully.
• Read one fiction novel per week. It will help you escape reality.
• When you hear someone say, "this is the truth."  Run.
• Handing out guns to everyone will only cause us misery. It is not an answer to fear. (I suppose it actually is an answer to fear). Our time in the text books will be known as the 2nd Dark Age.
• Still, in the midst of suffering, goodness and compassion will prevail. 

HOW TO KNOW IF SOMEONE'S BEEN REBORN

* They can't talk about anything else. At least anything else that makes sense.
* If they can present a bill from the obstetrical department of heaven.
* They think Charlton  Heston is really Moses.
* Pat Robertson makes sense to them.
* They're offended when you question a virgin birth, which frankly I think is quite possible.
  I once used that very theory. Her mother didn't seem very convinced.
* It doesn't seem right to have to be saved more than once. This is a one strike your out deal.
* No one can tell these people anything about the Bible. They seem to understand its exact   meaning. The world's greatest theologians are no match for them. Why these theologians spent so much time in school when they could have just been saved is beyond me? Seems like such a waste of time.
­­ 
Still, in the end, each of us must walk our own path. Should your journey waver because of anything said in opposition, or any skepticism shown by others, it is time for you to look back to where it is you are going. Forward is not an option.

Quote of the Day

“Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.”
Billy Sunday

Welcome to Sunday Morning

A little music to get the blood following. The Heritage Blues Orchestra will be at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, May 3-5. As for as church goes, I attend Sunday Morning, on CBS. It just seems to help me more than sitting in a church somewhere being told how much I sin. Hell, I already know that. Anyway, I'm not trying to talk you into anything, but you might want to try it. As for as praying, I don't think that takes any special effort. Looking at a sunset, or a mountain, or a tree, or a child, feeling the awe and thinking, Ah, is enough for me. And on this particular Sunday morning, I hear there is a job opening in Rome. I'm thinking of applying. It's about time a Protestant was Pope.

HERITAGE BLUES ORCHESTRA ''Don't Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down``...

Quote of the Day

“I used to work at McDonald's making minimum wage. You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? "Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law.”

Chris Rock

Jim Hightower | The GOP's disdain for low-wage workers

Jim Hightower | The GOP's disdain for low-wage workers

The Sequester and the Tea Party Plot | Common Dreams

The Sequester and the Tea Party Plot | Common Dreams

Washington Prayers

Due to the vast stupidity being shown by all concerned in Washington, the Senate chaplain, Barry Black, opened yesterdays session with these words: "Rise up, O God, and save us from ourselves."
That's the smartest words I've heard coming out of Washington in a long time.

Quote of the Day

"I got mine. Piss on you."
Anonymous