Zeno’s Republicans

Zeno's Paradox may be explained as follows. Suppose I wish to cross the room. First, of course, I must cover half the distance. Then, I must cover half the remaining distance. Then, I must cover half the remaining distance, again and again and again. . . and so on forever. The consequence is that I can never get to the other side of the room. In other words change (movement in this case) is impossible.

Barack’s Paradox may be explained as follows. Suppose Barack Obama wants to create health care reform for the benefit of the American people and the salvation of the economy. In other words he wants to move our nation from where we are to where we need to be.

But before he can cross the legislative finish line he must debate the matter with obstructionist Republicans and compromise a little. Once that compromise is achieved and Obama is ready to move forward, the Republicans find something else to debate and demand another compromise. And once that compromise is achieved and Obama is again ready to move forward, the Republicans find something else to debate and demand another compromise.

This procedure goes on infinitely in the US Senate and effectively prevents change from ever occurring, once again proving the wisdom of Zeno and the depths to which Republicans will stoop to protect the insurance companies (their masters) at the expense of the American people.

Plantation Earth

Imagine a world in which most of the human race is owned and controlled by robots. Imagine further that robots own and control the world’s food supply, its water supply, its energy, its defense system, its educational systems, and its economy. In other words, imagine that most of the human race is almost totally dependent on robots for their very existence. Does this sound vaguely familiar so far?

A Few are Free
Granted, there are a small percentage of humans who sit above it all, owning and controlling the robots that in turn control most of the human race. This small fraction of humans, control the robots by controlling the “programmers” who in turn feed the robots the information that their owners want the people to have.
Thus, by virtue of employing/controlling the programmers, the owners of the robots determine what the masses are allowed to see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. In other words, by controlling the programmers, who control the robots, that control the people, the robot owners can sit atop their luxurious penthouses looking down on their respective corporate plantations, with modern wage slaves working feverishly in mass produced cubicles, while they control people in ways that chess pieces have been historically controlled on a chess board.

Exiled from the Plantation
And when it comes to turning the tide on this dire situation, most wage slaves are helpless because they can’t see, they can’t hear, they can’t touch the plantation owners even if they had a mind to. And if a wage slave wakes up and rebels (thinks for himself/herself), they’re immediately exiled from the plantation on which they and their family depend for their meager livelihood.

Recognizing Imprisonment Before Breaking Out
In the 21st century this form of exile is known as unemployment. And unemployment can easily lead to homelessness and starvation, a two headed monster with whom the modern wage slave is totally unprepared to do battle. It’s much easier to avoid thinking. It’s much easier to avoid seeing. It’s much easier to avoid rocking the boat. To quote Cervantes/Don Quixote, “You must first recognize that you’re in prison before you can break out.”

Thinkers Anonymous

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then -- to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true.

Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunch time so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"

One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it \hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."

This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking ..." "I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.

"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors... They didn't open. The library was closed. To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.

As I sank to the ground, clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting.

At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home.
Life just seemed ... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me. Today, I registered to vote Republican.

Hard Evidence That Right Wingers Think Their Own Kids are Too Stupid to Think for Themselves

Indoctrination or brain washing as it’s known in some circles is where one group of people controls the information that another group of people has access to. In other words, group one allows group two to hear only what they want them to hear, and they actively prevent group two from hearing anything that contradicts group one’s position. People who are uninformed (i.e. ignorant) are more easily controlled and manipulated than people who are informed. Thinking in group one’s view is very dangerous.

Fear and Trepidation of Obama’s Words
This week’s ruckus pitting conservative parents against President Obama and his education talk to our nation’s students, scheduled for 10AM this coming Tuesday, is a prime example an attempt at thought control. These conservative parents apparently live in constant fear and trepidation that if their own kids hear Obama’s ideas, they might actually agree with Obama – God forbid.

Keeping Them Blissfully Ignorant
On the other hand, if their kids are locked away in a dark classroom somewhere, far away from any TV set, they’ll be denied access to Obama’s magical, and tempting words. They’ll have no idea what they’re missing, and they’ll remain blissfully ignorant and controllable by their own parents.

I mean, realistically if these parents actually trusted their own kids to think and to choose intelligently for themselves they'd want them to have access to the full menu of ideas. But they don’t trust their own kid’s judgment so they want to “protect” them from challenging ideas, and in the process they want to control them.

They Never Questioned Their Own Parents, So…
Realistically speaking, these parents never questioned or challenged their own parent’s views, so why should their kids question or challenge them? After all, who’s the parent and who’s the kid…right?

Forbidden Fruit
But I have a question for these conservatively paranoid parents. Have you ever heard the story about how much more enticing and tempting fruit becomes once it’s forbidden? Have you ever heard the phrase “banned in Boston?” Have you ever heard the story about Elvis and his infamous pelvis?

They Think You’re Too Stupid
By preventing your kids from hearing Obama you may actually cause them to ask why, and to want to hear his words even more. Even conservative’s kids have some natural born curiosity in their DNA, and when they’re told “Don’t do it,” they may just wonder “Why not?” If Obama is so dangerous, why are all their liberal friends getting to listen, while their own brains are being kept under lock and key? Apparently your parents think you’re too stupid to think for yourself? And yes, you should be totally insulted.

How to Organize a Free Market Economy that Pays for Everyone to Pull Together in the Same Direction, at the Same Time, Towards the Same Goals

A house divided against itself, as Lincoln once reminded us, will not stand. Yet even in the midst of our current economic meltdown, America continues to be a house that’s deeply divided (most politicians like it this way) along ideological lines.

Designed to Divide Instead of Unite
This is true because the two anachronistic (18th and 19th century) economic theories that still dominate 21st century thinking are themselves economically divisive. One system (capitalism) stacks the deck in favor of business owners and entrepreneurs at the expense of the working masses. The other (communism) stacks the deck in favor of the working masses at the expense of business owners and it systematically undermines individual initiative and entrepreneurship.

In other words both options presume that owners and workers are fundamentally different animals and as such they should naturally be pitted against one another. In any negotiations, when one side gains ground the other side loses ground automatically. Both represent zero sum games that actively promote division at the expense of unity.

Demming Weighs In
If he were still alive today, systems guru W.E. Demming would point out that if we want the country to come together and work together in order to dig our way out of our self created dilemma, we must first design a system that pays for us to come together, work together, and resolve this current dilemma. A system produces what a system produces, and if you don’t like what it’s producing, then CHANGE THE SYSTEM!

What Would a Unifying System Look Like?
So, what would that unifying system look like? To answer that question most succinctly let’s narrow our focus from the national economy to a fictitious corporation called XYZ,, Inc. In this company all the employees are paid a salary or an hourly wage, and they have benefits just like any conventional corporation. The difference is that all employees also own dividend yielding shares in XYZ, Inc.

In other words all the employees of XYZ, Inc. have two sources of income. One source of income is the labor/work they contribute to the corporation during their 40 hour work week. The second source of income is the dividend yielding shares they own.

So once the employee has proven himself or herself (there is a vesting procedure) XYZ Inc. makes a unique ownership commitment to that employee which transforms them from just another worker to an owner, a partner who wins when the company does well and loses when the company does poorly… a great incentive to help it do well.

Employees with an ownership stake in the future success of the business have a unique incentive to make productive decisions, contributions, and to make sure that those who are working alongside them are doing the same. Anyone who’s dragging their feet is potentially costing the entire team money. They’re effectively all paid to avoid foot dragging and to give it 100 percent.

An Ownership Union
In this scenario every employee in XYZ, Inc. is unionized on the side of the owners. When one wins they all win. When one loses they all lose. In other words everyone is paid to pull together, in the same direction, at the same time, towards the same goals. The Us VS Them mentality that’s so costly to conventional corporations is effectively eliminated and the need for a labor union evaporates into thin air.

Expanded to Include the Nation
Now let’s expand our focus to include the USA and its 300 million citizens. What would happen if each individual citizen owned dividend yielding shares in the Fed, the US Treasury, US Parks and Recreation areas, US natural resources, the US Highway System, the US Airways, (and that’s just off the top of my head in less than 5 minutes)? Under these conditions all US citizens would have an ownership stake, they’d be partners, and they’d have a unique incentive to pull together, in the same direction, towards the same goals, at the same time. BTW, that’s when miracles happen.

While Creating a More Perfect Union
The democratically elected government would of course collect taxes from everyone, instead of just the middle class (the lower can’t afford to pay and the fat cats find loop holes and park their funds in off shore accounts to avoid paying taxes). This systematic change would be anti-bureaucratic because the ownership power would be in the hands of individual citizens instead of the bureaucrats. It would underwrite instead of undermine individual initiative and entrepreneurship. And it would democratize the free market economy by virtue of altering the system…which by the way is the only way it can be done. And in the process it would finally create a more perfect union. Amen.

There's Plenty of Money in the System, But...

An old friend and I were recently discussing the economy when late in the conversation he said, “You know Rick, there’s actually plenty of money in the system. The problem is that so much of that money is in the hands of such a small number of people, at the expense of everyone else.”
We shook hands, wished each other well and went our separate directions, but after that every time I’d hear about the government pumping more money into the system in order to stimulate the economy I’d start thinking about my wise old friend’s comment.

US Population Figures
Finally I went to Google in order to see how the US population figures today compared to the population figures a decade ago. I discovered that in ten years our population has grown from about 270 million to a little over 300 million people, approximately a 10%increase.

Dollars Per Capita in the System
Then I looked into how many dollars were floating around in the system in 1998 VS 2008 so I could come up with an average amount for every man, woman, and child in the nation and compare those two figures. If there was an equivalent 10% increase in dollars available, and the distribution among the population was the same, then today’s economy would be flying as high as it was in 1998. On the other hand, if the available dollars per capita had decreased then it would explain the economic downturn and justify pumping dollars into the system, like we’re doing.

The Money Explosion Over the Past Decade
So, what did I find in this regard? I discovered that between the Bush administration printing money to support their war like there was no tomorrow, and the banks increasing the pool of dollars in the market exponentially every time they consummated a loan on a house or a car that got bundled sold, and re-sold again*, there was no way of telling ho much more money there actually is in the system today than there was a decade ago. One thing for sure, it’s lots more than 10%.
In other words the average number of dollars per capita in the system is vastly higher today than it was ten years ago, yet here we sit with companies around the nation closing their doors, workers losing their jobs, and unemployment lines growing longer every day all due to a shortage of money!

My Old Friend Was Right
So here’s the question. If there is lots more money per capita in the system than ever before, why is our economy teetering on the brink of disaster? The answer is that the distribution pattern has changed dramatically. In the words of my old friend, all that money is in the hands of a few (less than 5%) while the many (95%) are sucking air.
Can anyone say imbalance? Can anyone say redistribution is necessary and fast? Can anyone say “Why didn’t we read our frickin’ history books and know that this has happened before?” It was totally predictable while we ignored all the signs.


*With no regard to a corresponding increase in productive assets which is the classic formula for runaway inflation which started in our case with the housing market.

How Can We Expect to Get the Right Answers if We Fail to Ask the Right Questions?

7 Critical Questions for 21st Century Americans

In order to reveal the right answers to our current economic dilemma, Americans must first step outside their conventional 20th century boxes and be willing to ask the right questions. In that light I’d like to contribute the following 7 questions in an effort to initiate discussion, and to see what kinds of 21st century answers they might inspire.

1. Do we Americans really want a democratic government of the people, by the people, and for the people? In other words, do we really want to take the responsibility for governing ourselves, or do we prefer to subcontract that responsibility out to others who will gladly tell us what to do?

2. And if we really want that kind of freedom and responsibility, are we willing to dedicate ourselves to all that’s required day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, and generation after generation in order to earn that kind of fully human opportunity?

3. If we answer these first two questions in the affirmative, then how can we systematically democratize the free market economy without resorting to heavy handed government, socialistic leaning regulations that tend to undermine individual initiative, creativity, and innovation? To my mind, this is the 64 trillion dollar question of the 21st century.

4. Along the same lines, how can we systematically democratize the modern, top down, hierarchical, autocratically oriented corporation within whose walls most Americans spend the highest percentage of their productive lives?

5. How can we systematically get ownership/management and labor working on the same side, pulling in the same direction, at the same time, towards the same ends, working in harmony, instead of constantly at odds with each other? Miraculous things could occur under such a synergistic scenario.

6. How can we systematically shrink the cancerous wealth gap that threatens any precarious experiment in democracy, and realistically address poverty in America and the world without government mandated, cyclical redistributions of wealth?

7. How can we have a legitimate democratic political system without a democratized economy? In other words, when wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a few at the expense of the many, what’s to stop the rich and powerful from buying up, owning, and operating the American government, and running it to suit their own self serving ends?

Rick Osbourne
Osbourne.rick@gmail.com

An Open Letter to Sarah Palin from Chicago: Thoughts on How to Turn Red and Blue States Into the Re-United States of America

Dear Governor Palin,
In my 62 years of life, I’ve discovered that if you’re willing to search long enough and hard enough, there are very few people with whom you can’t find ONE issue on which to agree. Now I want to confess right up front that I’m from Chicago and I’m an unapologetic supporter of Barack Obama, which means there are plenty of issues on which you and I disagree. But after scouring all the possibilities, I’ve finally discovered one issue on which we are kindred spirits. That’s the issue of home schooling.

You Betcha We Can Agree on Home Schooling
Yes, you and I are both strong proponents of home schooling. We came to our conclusions for different reasons. You came to yours due to your religious convictions. I came to mine due to the 17 years I spent in the teaching ranks and seeing what we were doing to our nation’s kids in the name of education…whether in public or private schools. So despite the fact that you and I are on opposite ends of the political spectrum in lots of ways, there is at least one point on which you and I strongly agree.

One Turns Into Two, and Two Into Four, etc.
Furthermore, with that one point of common ground in mind, I suggest that if I were ever offered the opportunity to sit down (no pre-conditions please) with you in order to explore our respective motivations for being in favor of home schooling, my bet is that we’d find another issue or two on which we could also agree.
And if we were to explore those next two issues, we’d probably find more and more things on which we could agree. In fact if push came to shove, my bet is that we’d find more things on with we agree than on which we disagree. And in the process we’d find common ground on which to respect each other. Furthermore, on those issues where we disagree, we could do so respectively without calling each other names, or thinking that the other was a flaming idiot for disagreeing with us.

Dividing and Conquering Americans
The bottom line here is to recognize that modern politics (the Atwood/Rove School) is so incredibly adept at finding things on which people disagree, and then pitting red states against blue states, men against women, blacks against whites, union workers against non-union workers, Christians against Muslims, gays against straights, young against old, businesses against government, that we the people are so thoroughly confused, frustrated, distracted, and angry we forget that for the most part, most people want the same things out of life, and there’s almost always more things on which we agree than disagree. All that makes our current process of divide and conquer politics (and hate mongering) absolutely abominable.

Sarah’s Phone Number?
I know Senator Obama is way ahead of me on this line of thinking and now that he’s won the Presidency, maybe we can once again move toward becoming the United States of America instead of the Divided States of America. But Sarah, if you’d send me a phone number, I really would love to speak with you and explore the home schooling issue…just for starters.

Sincerely,

Rick (The Writer) Osbourne
Osbourne.rick@gmail.com
630-495-3445

The War Prayer by Mark Twain

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. Thecountry was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burnedthe holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bandsplaying, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissingand spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding andfading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness offlags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marcheddown the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, theproud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheeringthem with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by;nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriotoratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, andwhich they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones ofapplause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in thechurches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, andinvoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good causein outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rashspirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubtupon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angrywarning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrankout of sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came--next day the battalions wouldleave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers werethere, their young faces alight with martial dreams--visions of thestern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, theflashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the envelopingsmoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from thewar, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in goldenseas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud,happy, and envied by the neighbors and fiends who had no sonsand brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win forthe flag, or , failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. Theservice proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament wasread; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burstthat shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose,with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out thattremendous invocation

*God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest! Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!*
Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like ofit for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful andbenignant Father of us all would watch over our noble youngsoldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patrioticwork; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hourof peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong andconfident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush thefoe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishablehonor and glory--

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow andnoiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister,his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his headbare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to hisshoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even toghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, hemade his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to thepreacher's side and stood there waiting. With shut lids thepreacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with hismoving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered infervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lordour God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to stepaside--which the startled minister did--and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience withsolemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deepvoice he said:

"I come from the Throne--bearing a message fromAlmighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock; if thestranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard theprayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if suchshall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explainedto you its import--that is to say, its full import. For it is likeunto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more thanhe who utters it is aware of--except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has hepaused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two--oneuttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Whoheareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponderthis--keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing uponyourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon aneighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rainupon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possiblypraying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may notneed rain and can be injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer--the uttered partof it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the otherpart of it--that part which the pastor--and also you in your hearts--fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us thevictory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. the *whole* ofthe uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed forvictory you have prayed for many unmentioned results whichfollow victory--*must* follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part ofthe prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of ourhearts, go forth to battle--be Thou near them! With them--inspirit--we also go forth from the sweet peace of our belovedfiresides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear theirsoldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover theirsmiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help usto drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of theirwounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humblehomes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts oftheir unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turnthem out roofless with little children to wander unfriended thewastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst,sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter,broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refugeof the grave and denied it--for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord,blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitterpilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with theirtears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source ofLove, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all thatare sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(*After a pause.*) "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desireit, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!"

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic,because there was no sense in what he said.

What Leadership Is, and What it is Not

In the words of Francis X. McGwire, "Leadership is not making someone do what you want them to do. That's dictatorship. Leadership is making someone want to do what you want them to do. and the dffierence is huge, like night and day."

George W. Bush apparently lacks the capacity to appreciate McGwire's words of wisdom, but Barack Obama does not. I just say if you really like failed policys at every turn then vote for another four years of George W. McCain, and tell the current snake to slither back to Crawford, TX with his other reptile pals. But if you want real change, then vote for Barack Obama.

Reverend Jeramiah Wright Plays Mark Twain

Mark Twain once said "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when the bastards deserve it." A vintage Mark Twain quote if I ever saw one.

Reverend Jeramiah Wright has recently been crucified in the media for saying something very similar. But since Wright is black the pastor of the church where the nation's leading candidate for the Presidency of the United States (who also just happens to be black) is a member ...well, shall we just leave it at, he's been crucified by media members who all seem to be competing to be as much like The National Enquirer like as humanly possible.