Jim Hightower | Repeal the patriot act

Jim Hightower | Repeal the patriot act

Kevin Gosztola: Verdict's Impact Will Negatively Affect Future Whistleblowers Including Snowden | Common Dreams

Kevin Gosztola: Verdict's Impact Will Negatively Affect Future Whistleblowers Including Snowden | Common Dreams

BYE, BYE, MISS AMERICAN PIE

Manning to be sentenced today. What a travesty, that "True" information is seen as espionage. If he is sentenced to one day in jail, democracy as we know it will be done. In its place will be a pervasive fear that reporting the truth about the government will be punishable by prison. The government is now effectively separating itself from the people. We are called by the Constitution to overthrow any such government that does that. "We" are the government. When it no longer represents out best interests, we are called to redo it. Wherever they take Manning, that is where we should go. And we should stay until it is clear to the government that what they have just done is wrong, and we will no longer stand for it. One has to draw the line somewhere. When the truth can no longer be spoken, that's where the line should be drawn.

Slow Death For Democracy | Common Dreams

Slow Death For Democracy | Common Dreams

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"They say, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." But I think the guns help. Just standing there saying, "Bang" doesn't really hurt anybody."   Eddie Izzard

Shot at a Gunshow

Gun show in Hot Springs called a success despite the fact that a customer discharged a 45, the bullet going through his hand, striking the floor, and hitting another attendee. All in all, I would have to call that pretty unsuccessful. Well, I guess no one was killed.

The Facts Are Indisputable: Rush Not Just Slimy But, Happily, Unprofitable | Common Dreams

The Facts Are Indisputable: Rush Not Just Slimy But, Happily, Unprofitable | Common Dreams

SUNDAY MORNING GUNS

"Two persons shot at gun show in Hot Springs". Here we go. Let's just fling these guns around like they're water pistols. The front page will soon be filled with shootings of self, friends, strangers, and cops. Welcome to the wild, wild, west. We can thank the Arkansas legislature. Stupid fools.

New Survey Shows Record-High Opposition to 'Worthless' Afghan War | Common Dreams

New Survey Shows Record-High Opposition to 'Worthless' Afghan War | Common Dreams

You cannot kill your way to peace.

TO CHURCH OR NOT TO CHURCH

I don’t go to church. I don’t like sermons. They drive me crazy. I like singing, and I don’t mind praying, but I don’t have to go to church for either. I probably should be a little more specific. I don’t like Sunday morning church. But I do like some churches. There are some where I get a sense of the divine, where the sacred is obviously present. There are other places where I get that same feeling, like the ocean, Mt. Shasta, Mt. Rainier, Aztec temples, Stonehenge, the pyramids. I think it is good to visit and partake of sacred sites. I’d love to go to the Chartres Cathedral, Notre Dame de Paris, the Sistine Chapel, Canterbury Cathedral. I just don’t need the sermons that go along with them. I got enough hangups the way it is, I don’t need someone telling me I’m a sinner. I can figure that out on my own.

SUNDAY MORNING SERMON

We are each fashioned after the Divine, which I would translate into meaning we each have a touch of the Divine in us. We should treat ourselves and one another accordingly. Thus reads The Gospel According to The Peever.

Jim Hightower | McDonald's generosity exceeds all imagination

Jim Hightower | McDonald's generosity exceeds all imagination

This would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. 

Chief Justice Roberts Stacks Secret Court with Govt 'Yes Men' | Common Dreams

Chief Justice Roberts Stacks Secret Court with Govt 'Yes Men' | Common Dreams

This guy is dangerous.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

• Meth is a profitable drug that in the short term offers the maker a good living and the user a bittersweet high. In the end, both maker and user will succumb to one of three results: prison, insanity, or death.
• Being somewhat of a curmudgeon, one of my acquaintances recently suggested that I read Peale's "The Power of Positive Thinking." I asked what the hell good that would do?
• I think about my father a lot. I suppose one of the reasons is that he died suddenly when I was 18. He was 46. (I played softball against him the night before. The young guys won). Our relationship was close, but at my young age, not near complete. I think it is the unfinished business that keeps its presence with me after 46 years. The wondering what our relationship would have developed into? What he would have thought of me? I am much different from him, yet in many subtle ways, the same. Had he live, he would now be 92. He would have lived another lifetime. That would be a lot of time for things to really go good, or really go bad. It's funny to think that death ends a relationship. It doesn't.
• I think I thought up a new word: automagical. It's when something happens but you are not really sure how or why. It happens out of thin air. No planning. A big surprise. Automagically.
• For all you patriots out there who think the United States is the greatest democracy in the world, forget it. We rank 17th. Waving the flag and singing the song won't help.
• I asked God the other day why he allows homelessness, poverty, hunger, and injustice in the world when he could do something about it. He answered by asking me the same question.
• You can't kill your way to peace. Even a child knows this.
• I saw a bumper sticker that said, "Keep Christ in Christmas." Why not, "Keep Love in Christmas," or "Keep Peace in Christmas." Christ has to be in Christmas, or it would be "mas."

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

Lawmakers and priests: Either get out of the vagina business or go to medical school.

Congress: Obama’s Willing Executioners of the Fourth Amendment | Common Dreams

Congress: Obama’s Willing Executioners of the Fourth Amendment | Common Dreams

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen.”  

Charles Bukowski

ALCOHOL IN THE VILLAGE

In looking through the police report in the Village Voice, I get the distinct feeling we moved into the twilight zone. It's really pretty funny, in a sad sort of way. Many of the reports, you can be assured, have to do with alcohol. We have a very high percentage of alcoholism in the Village. The traditional statistics used has been one in ten drinkers become alcoholics. Here, we would probably be closer to two or three in ten. When you add to that the horrible roads, you begin to get a sense of the danger involved. Dementia is another problem that we have to confront. Adding the two together creates some of the stories you read in the "police report." Enabling our drinkers is not going to help them or us. Allowing drunk drivers to simply go home after being stopped is a dangerous and misguided precedent. While it obviously helps the driver, and makes life easier for the arresting officer, it in the long run is going to cost the rest of us dearly. Hopefully, the police are not letting them drive home. If they take them home, that doesn't mean they will stay there. If they are subsequently involved in an accident, the lawsuits could be tremendously costly.
It doesn't hurt to drink. It does hurt to drink too much. The older you get, the less you can drink before intoxication. Medications are another factor. Dementia can be caused by too much alcohol over a long period of time. Your life will not get better by drinking too much. It will only get more distant.

State and Federal Tea-drinking Politicians Are a Sorry Lot

Here's a good one in The Village Voice: "Unlike D.C., state politics offers hope." A Steve Brawner wrote it. He must be overdosed on tea. He's worried about debt, and how well they did with saving money. I'm worried about people, and how poorly most of them are doing in Arkansas. The state Legislature is saving money left and right, while one in four children go to bed hungry at night, health-care is atrocious, our educational system is next to last in the nation, everybody and their mother can now carry a gun, and the assembly is firmly anti-choice. He does mention term limits, which thank God we have. He claims Arkansas is much more of a citizens Legislature. I claim they are nothing more than a mouthpiece for the tea-party, which wants to drag us back into the Dark Ages. The legislature in Little Rock is doing nothing but taking away the hope of thousands of Arkansas citizens, many of whom have recently voted for the very people that are going to make life even more miserable for them. It's amazing how far a well thought out con can get some people.

MIT Opposes Freedom of Information When It Comes to Aaron Swartz | Common Dreams

MIT Opposes Freedom of Information When It Comes to Aaron Swartz | Common Dreams

MIT kissing governments ass. Pucker up!

IN THE NEWS AT HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE

Seems we are way behind in revenue. Golf is taking a beating. They are using a figure of $330,000 off projected revenue. That seems awful high. Mainly due to the weather. They never mention the high cost of visitors who would like to play. Anything over $50 begins to discourage many a visitor. Even in prime time, family members are over $50. Those prices are ridiculously stupid. Family members should pay what we pay, if using our cart. Otherwise, an additional ten dollars for a course cart. And it wouldn't hurt to treat visitors the same. How many visitors is one household going to have during a year? My visitors want to go somewhere else to play. Or they don't bring their clubs.

Revenue is down at the Woodlands. They need to look at what shows are drawing people in and increase them. They need to decrease shows that are not bringing in people. That shouldn't be real hard. Baby boomers are looking for rock, folk, more with-the-times music. We don't mind a little louder. Bands use amplifiers that don't work at low volume. The venue is not that big, so it is at times going to be loud. Patriotic stuff can be limited. The WWII generation is attending less. The Arkansas Symphony is always a hit. The size of the theater is not conducive to large amounts of revenue.

As for assessments, I wouldn't raise them to more than $50 for the time being. You'll get more lots turned in. We already can't figure out what to do with all of them. Higher assessments will hurt the West end, where retirement money is being stretched. People once thought a $100,000 was a fortune. Welcome to today. The county line wouldn't be a bad place to say on one side, this amount, on the other, this. A lot of East-enders want the assessment to go up, so I would make their dreams come true.

The Village is going to see hard times, pushing it towards becoming a municipality. Within the next twenty years, that will likely happen. Until then, someone is going to have to start using their head. Maybe the new general manager.

God, Save Me From This Stupidity

Racism is alive and well here in Hot Springs Village. Hardly a day goes by that I don't hear someone complaining about blacks, Hispanics, the poor, exploiting the system and stealing our money, all the while living on easy street, eating steaks and enjoying the good life. I always make it a habit of asking them if they would like to change places with someone living on food stamps and living in a one room apartment in downtown Hot Springs. I assure them that I could find someone who would make the sacrifice. They stare at me blankly, I'm guessing trying to figure out what planet I came from. Never let it be said that education, money, and privilege results in enlightenment.

ALEC in 2013: Rightwing Legislative Group Fuels Race to the Bottom in Wages and Worker Rights | Common Dreams

ALEC in 2013: Rightwing Legislative Group Fuels Race to the Bottom in Wages and Worker Rights | Common Dreams

More right-wing stupidity. And a lot of the working poor support such crap, making themselves poorer.

PEEVER LAW #11

CAPITALISM HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DEMOCRACY AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH PROFIT AND EXPLOITATION.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“What's Walmart, do they sell like wall stuff?”
Paris Hilton

MAL-WART

A recent headline stated "Wal-Mart Wows 'Em." It should have read, "Wal-Mart Screws 'Em."  My goal in retirement is to help unionize Wal-Mart. Not one store, cause they would just close it. ALL OF THEM WORLDWIDE. A union specifically for Wal-Mart. We'll call it "The Mal-Wart Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Screwed Employees." Kind of catchy, don't you think?

SUNDAY MORNING SERMON

Decisions have to be made. It's probably not a good idea to smoke, but you have to decide. Over-drinking will only lead to heartbreak, but no one can tell you not to. You have to decide. You shouldn't get pregnant if you don't want a baby, but it's still your decision whether or not to have it. Pain and suffering are a part of life, but at some point, death may be more comforting. You should be able to decide. Politicians, or religious saviors, cannot make our decisions for us. We were set free. We can handle it. You make a decision and you learn to live with it. That's how you learn to be responsible.

Answering The E-mail

Dear Peever: What do you think about your new home?  Harry
Dear Harry: So far, on a scale of 0-10, zero being hell and ten being heaven, I wold give it a 3. The last election was horrible, the state legislature gong tea-bag Republican for the first time since reconstruction. What a sorry state of affairs.

Dear Mr. Weik: Is there anything you like about Tom Cotton, our new federal congressman? Sally
Dear Sally: No. He is a fellow human being, or at least I think so. That doesn't win him much praise with me, since I'm pretty down on human beings at the moment.

Mr. Peever: You talk a lot about the poor, but you live in a rich community. What's up with that?  Larry
Dear Larry: That has to do with a diabolical twist of fate: My wife was successful.

Peever: Do you see any hope for America in the future?  Karen
Dear Karen: If you mean by hope do I believe America will change her way's? The answer is no. We appear addicted to self-destructive behavior.

Mr. Bruce: Any comments on the economy?  Billy
Dear Billy: The rich keep getting richer, the poor poorer, and the middle class just keeps getting it. This is called capitalism.

Peever: Now that you are retired, any advice for those of us who may be doing so in the future?  Donna
Dear Donna: Good luck.

Dear Bruce: What about your President Obama at this point?  Carl
Dear Carl: A shade under mediocre.

PEEVER LAW #96

Picking a Congress is a like like picking your nose: You never know what you'll get, but it's likely to be bad.

RACISM AMONG THE RICH AND PRIVILEGED

RACISM IS ALIVE AND WELL IN THE VILLAGE. ALMOST EVERY DAY I HEAR SOMETHING FROM OUR ENLIGHTENED POPULACE ABOUT HOW BLACKS AND MEXICANS ARE USING UP ALL OUR MONEY AND GETTING A FREE RIDE, COMPLIMENTS OF US. CLEARLY, EDUCATION, SOCIAL STATUS, AND AGE ARE NOT DETERRENTS OF STUPIDITY AND GREED.

COTTON DOES IT AGAIN

Our federal representative, Tom Cotton, voted to delay some of our new health-care benefits. This is a typical right-wing House maneuver: Let's vote against anything that will help the average American. I wonder if Cotton voted to delay his own health-care benefits, which we will be paying for? I'm guessing not. I'm sure he sees that expense as being very appropriate. This guy is the worst thing that could have possibly happened to most Arkansas residents. He's a tea-sipping, in it for himself lawyer, masquerading as a war hero to get himself elected to a right-wing, mostly white, Congress, that represents the rich and any special interest group that will give him and his fellow right-wing colleagues money. God needs to forgive America, not bless it.

PEEVER LAW #58

Singing the song, waving the flag, and dancing the dance does not a good citizen make.

Surveillance Blowback: The Making of the U.S. Surveillance State, 1898-2020 | Common Dreams

Surveillance Blowback: The Making of the U.S. Surveillance State, 1898-2020 | Common Dreams

A PRAYER FOR THE OVERTHROW OF THE WICKED

1 Why do You stand afar off, O LORD ? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble ? 2 In pride the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted ; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised. 3 For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire, And the greedy man curses and spurns the LORD. 4 The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, "There is no God." 5 His ways prosper at all times ; Your judgments are on high, out of his sight ; As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. 6 He says to himself, "I will not be moved ; Throughout all generations I will not be in adversity." 7 His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression ; Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. 8 He sits in the lurking places of the villages ; In the hiding places he kills the innocent ; His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. 9 He lurks in a hiding place as a lion in his lair ; He lurks to catch the afflicted ; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. 10 He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. 11 He says to himself, "God has forgotten ; He has hidden His face ; He will never see it." 12 Arise, O LORD ; O God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the afflicted. 13 Why has the wicked spurned God ? He has said to himself, "You will not require it." 14 You have seen it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find none. 16 The LORD is King forever and ever ; Nations have perished from His land. 17 O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble ; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear 18 To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.
New American Standard Bible

PEEVER LAW #32

JUSTICE IS ONE OF LIFE'S FINER PURCHASES.

SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER

Dear God,
Help us to follow your example,
by looking out for those who each day feel that they are marginalized,
who cannot find hope,
who believe that they have little to offer,
who are overcome by the challenges of poverty.
Help us to widen our horizons,
to make space for the stranger,
to watch out for those who feel invisible,
to give time to the outsider,
to talk to the person facing silence,
to restore justice and value.

Give us the courage to undertake this, the determination to join with others in seeing grace in every human face,
and the faith to embrace the opportunity in your name. Amen.

George Zimmerman Gets Away With Murder | Common Dreams

George Zimmerman Gets Away With Murder | Common Dreams

Different day-same story. It pays to be white.

What I Have Done Is Costly, But It Was the Right Thing To Do | Common Dreams

What I Have Done Is Costly, But It Was the Right Thing To Do | Common Dreams

Picking on Cotton

Our noble federal representative, Tom Cotton, voted to strip food stamps from the agricultural bill. Arkansas is one of the leading food scarcity states, with one in four children going to bed hungry at night. Yet he has the audacity to remove food stamps from the bill. I hope he also took out the cotton subsidies, cause he's going down. This is one arrogant SOB.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.”
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

PEEVER LAW #77

IF YOU NEED A GUN TO EXERT YOUR POWER, YOU DON'T HAVE ANY. POWER IS A VERY GENTLE THING.

The Mean Team Piles on Jobless Americans | Common Dreams

The Mean Team Piles on Jobless Americans | Common Dreams

Might as well stomp on us while we are down. Any idiot that votes Republican that doesn't have $5 million in the bank is going to get just what they deserve.

Peever Law #54

The colder it gets, the higher the cost to stay warm. The warmer it gets, the higher the cost to stay cool. This is in accordance with the rules as set forth at the Republican National Convention of 1956, in support of the oil and coal industries.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“In much of the rest of the world, rich people live in gated communities and drink bottled water. That's increasingly the case in Los Angeles where I come from. So that wealthy people in much of the world are insulated from the consequences of their actions.”
Jared Diamond

THE MYTH OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Economic development is not real. It is make-believe. People will live here they feel best. If it is a place they can see raising their children. A friendly, progressive, diverse community, with good schools, good streets, parks, developed neighborhoods, and a welcoming attitude. Short of an ocean, or mountains, or year round warm weather, that's about all you need. Well, and maybe a strip-joint or two.

Anatomy of A Protest: North Carolina and Your (Formerly) Private Information | Common Dreams

Anatomy of A Protest: North Carolina and Your (Formerly) Private Information | Common Dreams

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Rabbits can't expect justice from a court composed of hawks.
The Peever

PEEVER LAW #30

Never turn down a free beer.