What is Life?

Whenever I look out at the morning’s first light, I think about Life. And it always makes me wonder about other folks who are seeing a similar first light.  And then, later in the day, I see a notice on Facebook. Someone has posted a notice of someone famous who has now passed. Or, someone I know has posted a note about a loved family member who is now “on the other side”. And there are the frequent comments about those now-passed folks who are looking down upon us all.

And they make me wonder about Life. I concluded long ago that Life is solely about what we observe here on this place we call Earth.  That there is nothing that follows. No folks sitting gently on a cloud gazing down on us all. And when I “depart”, I will not “see” any of the people I used to hold dear. I will, in fact, no longer “see” anything or anyone.

No, nothing follows Life. Now that is a hard concept to grasp, that nothingness.  I mean, how could that be?  But, I think, what about the butterflies, or the pesky mosquitoes? When they cease to exist in life, is there a cloud somewhere, filled with butterflies, or still pesky mosquitoes?  Well, No, I conclude. There is no such place.

And so it is only (we assume) we humans that continue to pretend that something follows Life.  And we pretend that simply because the alternative is too difficult to grasp.  Now, to be fair, over the millennia, humans have developed this thing I call the Great Ponzi Scheme—or Organized Religion.  And under this scheme, not only is there something following Life here, but there is a whole entity filled with a God(s) and other extraordinary creatures who assure that our lives continue, albeit in a different form.  Now this religion thing exists so as to keep humans in line.  See, not only is there this free floating place called “Heaven”, a cloudy-filled place filled with the remnants of life here on Earth, with otherwise dead folks peering down on their still-alive friends and family, and no doubt frowning on their activities.  But also, the good inventors of Heaven also created this other place called Hell, with yet another God of sorts. Only this God, who is called Satan, is in place within his fiery domain to keep the bad folks in line, by burning them forever within the “Fires of Hell”. It has never been clear to me whether the bad dudes who are consigned to this Hellacious place have to remain there forever, or whether there is some kind of “statute of limitations’ after which the bad dudes also become elevated to the Heaven place, since they have doubtless learned their lesson. Right???

See, questions, lots of questions.

And since there are these knotty questions and no actual answers, I finally concluded that the religious scenario is simply a device to get folks to behave. See, that’s what organized religion actually is—a mechanism to get ordinary humans to behave themselves.  Oh, and the various religions also have this other characteristic—they elevate a few folks to positions above you ordinary folks, you know to supervise you. They get to call you out as a designee for Heaven or Hell. And then you get to choose whether you wish to begin behaving as the superdudes want, or you are ok with the Hell place.

Now suppose, just suppose, that no one had invented this religion thing. Or that, because it seems too silly, everyone on Earth simply ceased believing in it. What might happen then? You know, you awakened one morning and discovered that everyone had finally decided that there is no Heaven and, more to the point, there is no Hell. And then folks began behaving accordingly.  What would that be like?? Whoa Richard, what are you thinking? That would be terminally awful, right?  I mean, were there no payment at the end, would folks not begin behaving so as to achieve all the good stuff while they are still here?  And if there is no penalty box at the end should you misbehave, would that not prompt everyone to begin behaving badly?? Isn’t that the explanation for Donald Trump???  He behaves like a cretin precisely because he believes there is only a payment or a penalty here on Earth, and that nothing he does here will follow him after he ceases to exist? Hmmm, that could be troublesome. Suppose that conclusion led to the creation of thousands, maybe even millions of Donald Trumps. How awful would that be?

Well, that would indeed be awful.  Humankind can only afford to tolerate so many Donald Trumps in one lifetime.  I mean, I have been alive since 1934, and I have experienced Adolph Hitler, and Donald Trump, and Vlad the Impaler Putin, and Donald Trump, and even Ronald Reagan, and Richard Nixon, not to mention Donald Trump.

Would my Father have been better behaved had he believed that Nothing follows Life?  Well, it is by no means clear that he would have behaved worse, so maybe that question answers itself.  The fact is, whether he believed in a God and that Heaven and Hell thing, he behaved really badly. So, the promises of organized religion failed utterly to dissuade him from acting badly.  Now to be fair, he did not behave so as to kill people like Adolph, or even to cheat people like Donald Trump. No he simply failed at the promises of a decent life.  And what are those promises? Well:

·         After you are created, it is incumbent on you to educate yourself to the best of your ability, so as to understand the world in which you live;

·         As you mature, it is a good thing to consider forging a relationship with someone with whom you might share your time here on Earth;

·         Generally, it is a wise thing to try to secure some method to acquire the resources generally needed to live a pleasant life, as long as you are here;

·         Assuming you succeed in creating other living creatures, it is better to be kind to those creatures and to at least try to pass on what you know concerning how to exist peaceably and well;

·         Concepts such as Love and Helpfulness to others will come to you as you age, and you are encouraged to accept them and to act on their promises;

·         Generally, it is accepted that being kind and helpful to others creates a more just and pleasant world, so you are encouraged to act accordingly.

So, without religion, would Wars increase or decrease?  We cannot know, can we? But I believe that the evidence we have at our disposal at least suggests that the presence of the Heaven or Hell thing dissuades no one from attempting to control others via warfare, and that without religion, it is at least conceivable that War would not increase. Why? Well, I now believe that religion acts to convince certain people that they have the backing of God to act the way they do. At least rhetorically, they are able to claim that mantle. Hitler claimed that Jews were responsible for all the problems of Germany and that he could restore Germany if given the power to destroy all the Jews in his land.  That is one definition of Evil, but he employed the designation of religious groupings to claim a right to power. Now Donald Trump, on the other hand, simply promises the body faithful that he will assure their place in history. They will gain power so long as the folks give him their power as the leader of their pack. Now, to be fair, all political leaders promise something similar, but not all appeal directly to organized religion.

Now it is not the case that Trump, or even Hitler made explicit claims that religious groups, Christians for example, were his central authority base, and that he asserted his power directly from God.  Rather, folks like him recognize that humans tend to organize themselves into groupings, some of which have a religious orientation. But mainly, he sees that the people have themselves created a group and that, if he promises to deliver some power to those groups, he will himself gain power.

I suppose that, lacking religion, humans would still create groups, but those groups might not have the aura of power. If you create a group that is based on being a family member, there is kinship presence but not much in the way of power.  Now, to be fair, if you create or join a group because you are White, you might begin to corrupt that simple premise of skin color into a “We are better then you” mentality. Humans do so love to express themselves that way, don’t they? And again, that mentality can/will express itself eventually into some form of power corruption.

So, even without religion, humans might well become as power-mad as with religion. But it is at least conceivable that humans might not all do such a thing. Maybe even more than now, humans might begin rejecting the power trips, and begin treating other humans as, simply, other humans.  At least that is my premise. Give Love a chance could be a new slogan of humans.  And maybe politicians would be forced to inform us about what issues they plan to address through legislation, rather than which groups they plan on suffocating. That might be nice, huh?

But I know, I’m just being simple-minded. Most folks seem to prefer the power of religious bigotry. I have given it up, not that I ever had much to begin with. Maybe I should give many thanks to my entire family for never forcing me to adopt the rigorous rules of organized religion. And for never teaching me that I was better than other folks who in some way were different from me.  Yeah, we’re all just humans living on this planet for a very brief time. And then we are gone forever. Let us hope we are remembered for the good things we did for others.

So, Be Kind. Peace bro.

Being 88

How many of you sleep 6 or 7 hours at least when you go to bed at night? Somehow, after I passed by maybe 85 or 86, my sleep habits became . . . at best problematic. What do I mean by that? Well, I go to sleep (WE go to sleep) sometime before 10 each night. Occasionally we might be awake between 10 and 11, but mostly not.  And then, I awaken, thinking it’s 4 or 5, but it turns out that it’s maybe 10:30 or 11.  Then I return to sleeping, only to awaken at maybe 2:30 – 3:00. And then, it’s every half to ¾ of an hour until sometime near 5- 5:30. And then sleep escapes out the window and I make believe until about 6 – 6:15, when I finally declare it quits.  If something untoward occurs during the night, like the other night when the heavens opened up and poured water down upon our house for about an hour, then my “sleep” is gone, because I’m thinking about whether the basement is flooding.  Now that’s the other thing. One of the things that often keeps me from returning to sleep is that my brain suddenly begins thinking about something, like, Oh I have to begin raking the leaves sometime tomorrow.

Now mind you, when I was “young” (any age below say 60), I used to be able to sleep til 8 or 9, unless I had set the alarm clock (remember those??).  Course, I also used to be able to go to dinner, have a gin and tonic (or two), then some nice wine with dinner, and maybe a brandy after dinner, and still walk away from the table and drive home.  Yeah, remember those days???  Now it’s a beer or a glass of wine with dinner and then driving very carefully home.  Yeah, such fun.

Now to be fair, I can still rake and sweep/blow all the leaves away from our drive, and cut back our now overgrown hibiscus and lantana bushes, and still manage to walk back into the house without collapsing in a heap. Oh, I’m tired and even a bit achy, but basically ok.  Happily, we decided we would not have a lawn, and so we have bushes and ivy growing instead (we actually DO NOT OWN A LAWNMOWER). And yes, the control freaks masquerading as “master gardeners” probably all hate what I quaintly call my “garden”, I love it.

But all of these are simply quirks of the aging process. Yeah, yeah, I’m probably a classic “cranky old man” (it’s how I refer to my blog by the way), but still I have managed to continue to lead a normal life and maintain fairly normal relationships with friends and neighbors.  But ever since the arrival of the “bad old days”, you know the Days of Donald Trump and his MAGAHeads, I have begun to wonder about my cognitive abilities. I simply can no longer even pretend to understand how theoretically thinking human beings could even pretend to support, no less vote for some of these cretins who now have begun populating the Halls of our Congress.  And with the midterms now nearly over, my brain is close to simply shutting down.  Think – “ordinary humans” actually re-elected Marjorie Taylor Greene. But how could that be?? She gave herself away with her first two years—Jewish Space Lasers are the cause of California’s wildfires??? Really, you said that and then didn’t back away with a big laugh??? And that Herschel Walker dude, who keeps pretending publicly that he is what he isn’t.  I’m only surprised that he hasn’t yet claimed to be the first man on the moon.  Now, he’s Black, so I assume he gets some votes for that, but unfortunately for him, so is his opponent, Raphael Warnock. And even more unfortunate for Walker, Raphael Warnock seems a man of normal intelligence and even in possession of an ethical and thoughtful brain.  And then there’s that dreadful pseudohuman running for governor of Arizona – Kari Lake. From Wiklpedia:

“Lake returned to Arizona in 1999 and became an evening anchor for KSAZ-TV (Fox 10 Phoenix). While at KSAZ, Lake interviewed President Barack Obama in 2016 and President Donald Trump in 2020.

In her last years working in the media, Lake shared false and unverified information on social media, prompting criticism^[3] and acquiring a reputation as a provocateur.^[11] In 2018, she opposed the Red for Ed movement, which sought more funding for education through strikes and protests, claiming that movement was a "big push to legalize pot"; she later apologized for the statement (saying that she "made an incorrect conclusion") and, according to the station's regional human resources director, subsequently took an unexpected month-long leave from her position at the station. In July 2019, Lake was caught on "hot mic" footage promoting her account on the web platform Parler. She shared COVID-19 misinformation on Twitter and Facebook in April 2020. Lake's statements and actions made her a divisive figure among colleagues in her last years at the station.

In March 2021, she announced her departure from KSAZ, one day after FTVLive, a television news industry site, published a video clip of Lake at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando; the website questioned whether Lake was there as a journalist or as a member of a movement. In June 2021, she announced her campaign for governor.

So isn’t voting for Lake somewhat akin to voting for Fucker Carlson??? I mean, Arizona folks, how could you???

And then, of course, Ronnie DeSantis won his claim to Florida’s governorship. Floridians apparently don’t care who they elect, since apparently the state will soon be totally under water and it will no longer matter.

Now throughout this mess of an election, the braindead Donald sits presiding over the now moribund Republican party (yeah, keep on rolling Ike). He is now tantalizing his faithful by promising to be their president again.  Course, he may just be promising to be the president of the MaraLago Braindead Contingent, his latest creation.  But he does keep them panting hard awaiting his next arrival at their door to collect his dues.

So, I’m having increasing difficulties maintaining my brain function. Apparently brains, when presented continually with bizarre images and tales, begin to falter and even imagine that weird events are the “new normal”.  So, along with Climate Catastrophe, our new Political shitstorm now every two years, my brain has begun wondering whether I have moved suddenly to maybe Mars??

Or maybe, I am in some time warp and have returned to the past. Who knows, maybe I am now German and it’s 1936 and Adolph is now yelling at us all about the need to Make Germany Great Again. See that’s what happens when you apply too much stress to an aging brain?

So see you on our lovely planned trip on that wonderful Titanic. Won’t it be fun???

Angry Politics

I’m not sure why, but I really thought the hate might begin to dissipate by now.  I have been observing elections since the 1952 election.  I was too little and way too ignorant to understand or even think about the Roosevelt and then Harry Truman years.  So I don’t have any understanding of our republic’s politics during and just following WW II.  It seemed like the public loved Roosevelt, even to the point of electing him to a third term. Now, to be fair, the country had gone through a Hellscape from roughly 1929 and the crash, until the end of World War II.  Maybe republicans went along because the alternative was too much to bear thinking about.

And then they nominated our Hero First Class, Dwight Eisenhower. However good and however smart might have been Adlai Stevenson, he was never going to beat Dwight Eisenhower, the man who had led the Nation to victory.  Yes, we had a President during that same period, and folks loved him, but Ike was the War Hero.

And so, we switched from a Democrat to a Republican. But after his second term, the republicans ran out of gas, and we had run into the 1960s. Remember the 60s?? Yeah, and John F. Kennedy. Although elected by a very small majority, he was young and smart, and the Nation looked to him to lead.  In his inaugural address he dazzled the Nation. From the JFK Library:

“What many consider to be the most memorable and enduring section of the speech came towards the end when Kennedy called on all Americans to commit themselves to service and sacrifice: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” He then continued by addressing his international audience: “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

Having won the election by one of the smallest popular vote margins in history, Kennedy had known the great importance of this speech. People who witnessed the speech or heard it broadcast over television and radio lauded the new President. Even elementary school children wrote to him with their reactions to his ideas. Following his inaugural address, nearly seventy-five percent of Americans expressed approval of President Kennedy.”

And then, the troubles began anew. 1963 . . . I remember it well. Here, again from the JFK Library, a brief summary of that awful event:

“The president (had) addressed Democratic gatherings in Boston and Philadelphia. Then, on November 12, he held the first important political planning session for the upcoming election year. At the meeting, JFK stressed the importance of winning Florida and Texas and talked about his plans to visit both states in the next two weeks. 

Mrs. Kennedy would accompany him on the swing through Texas, which would be her first extended public appearance since the loss of their baby, Patrick, in August. On November 21, the president and first lady departed on Air Force One for the two-day, five-city tour of Texas.

President Kennedy was aware that a feud among party leaders in Texas could jeopardize his chances of carrying the state in 1964, and one of his aims for the trip was to bring Democrats together. He also knew that a relatively small but vocal group of extremists was contributing to the political tensions in Texas and would likely make its presence felt—particularly in Dallas, where US Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson had been physically attacked a month earlier after making a speech there. Nonetheless, JFK seemed to relish the prospect of leaving Washington, getting out among the people and into the political fray.

The first stop was San Antonio. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Governor John B. Connally, and Senator Ralph W. Yarborough led the welcoming party. They accompanied the president to Brooks Air Force Base for the dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center. Continuing on to Houston, he addressed the League of United Latin American Citizens, and spoke at a testimonial dinner for Congressman Albert Thomas before ending the day in Fort Worth.

Morning in Fort Worth

A light rain was falling on Friday morning, November 22, but a crowd of several thousand stood in the parking lot outside the Texas Hotel where the Kennedys had spent the night. A platform was set up and the president, wearing no protection against the weather, came out to make some brief remarks. "There are no faint hearts in Fort Worth," he began, "and I appreciate your being here this morning. Mrs. Kennedy is organizing herself. It takes longer, but, of course, she looks better than we do when she does it." He went on to talk about the nation's need for being "second to none" in defense and in space, for continued growth in the economy and "the willingness of citizens of the United States to assume the burdens of leadership."

The warmth of the audience response was palpable as the president reached out to shake hands amidst a sea of smiling faces.

Back inside the hotel the president spoke at a breakfast of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, focusing on military preparedness. "We are still the keystone in the arch of freedom," he said. "We will continue to do…our duty, and the people of Texas will be in the lead."

On to Dallas

The presidential party left the hotel and went by motorcade to Carswell Air Force Base for the thirteen-minute flight to Dallas. Arriving at Love Field, President and Mrs. Kennedy disembarked and immediately walked toward a fence where a crowd of well-wishers had gathered, and they spent several minutes shaking hands.

The first lady received a bouquet of red roses, which she brought with her to the waiting limousine. Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, were already seated in the open convertible as the Kennedys entered and sat behind them. Since it was no longer raining, the plastic bubble top had been left off. Vice President and Mrs. Johnson occupied another car in the motorcade.

The procession left the airport and traveled along a ten-mile route that wound through downtown Dallas on the way to the Trade Mart where the President was scheduled to speak at a luncheon.

The Assassination

Crowds of excited people lined the streets and waved to the Kennedys. The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza.

Bullets struck the president's neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. Kennedy. The governor was shot in his back. 

The car sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital just a few minutes away. But little could be done for the President. A Catholic priest was summoned to administer the last rites, and at 1:00 p.m. John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead. Though seriously wounded, Governor Connally would recover.

The president's body was brought to Love Field and placed on Air Force One. Before the plane took off, a grim-faced Lyndon B. Johnson stood in the tight, crowded compartment and took the oath of office, administered by US District Court Judge Sarah Hughes. The brief ceremony took place at 2:38 p.m.”

I was traveling from our home in San Francisco to my headquarters office in Cambridge, MA that day. As I left the plane, I rented a car and began driving from the Boston airport to Cambridge. As I arrived at our Cambridge HQ, the announcer spoke those fateful words. “The President is dead!” And I sat in the parking lot, unable to move. Eventually, I entered our offices, and found that no one was even able to speak, so shocked were they all.

And, for me, that marked the end of a period of non-hostile politics in America.  As we moved into the Johnson era, Vietnam appeared on our radar screens.  And Left and Right politics began becoming angrier. Marches, and riots began to define our politics.  And we entered a period of divisive leaders—think Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, and the Bush boys.  Yes, we had Jimmy Carter for a brief period. But Jimmy was seemingly too mild—bright, sunny even, but not up to capturing the mood of the American public.  He stood no chance against Reagan, who divided as only Donald Trump has done since that time.  Yes, we managed to get a bright, honest, ethical guy in the form of Barack Obama. And he inspired many millions. But he also angered millions. He was Black, remember?? And our Nation’s pool of angry White folks was growing every year. Mainly, I think, the pool of angry white folks grew because they perceived a loss of power by White people.

And then we acquired The Donald as President—yeah that Donald, the Trump.  And the evil and the Hate began pouring out of every pore in America.  And that dark mood began permeating our political system, mainly I think by corrupting the language and the mood of one of our parties—the Republicans.  Hate began defining the actual ideology of the entire party.  And the people who hated voted their consciences by electing folks like Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Bohbert, Josh Hawley, and Steve Gaetz, and the list goes on and on. Republicans like Liz Cheney who want to hold the powerful to account, regardless of which party they represent, began to be the exception.

And we entered a period that now begins to resemble 1936 Germany, that period when Germany folded up its Democracy and elected Adolph Hitler.  America now seems poised to repeat that sad story. It is not necessarily the case that we seem bent on electing another literal Adolph Hitler, i.e., someone who will authorize the murder of millions of Jews or other people deemed undesirable. But instead, we seem bent on nominating and (ugh) electing more people of the Donald Trump ilk--i.e., ignorant, corrupt, full of Hate. Think Herschel Walker, or Mehmet Oz, or Kari lake—people who will deny the legitimacy of the election should they lose, and even mount campaigns of violence to overthrow legitimately elected people.

And then we have the various conspiratorial agents, like QANON that spew lies and hate, in attempts to organize otherwise normal Americans into cabals practicing hate and even thuggery.  Think the attack on Paul Pelosi in San Francisco. Think also the sudden arrival at polling places of armed thugs who intend to frighten away legitimate voters.

All of these actions could be stopped by the Republican Party, except that the Republican Party is now a dead institution. That party of Dwight Eisenhower no longer exists. In its place, and claiming the name Republican, is an institution led by the equivalent of an organized crime gang, with Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, and dozens of equivalents. That someone like Liz Cheney, a republican of the old school, could actually take on this crowd never ceases to amaze me. She is a wonder. But she is also increasingly a loner.

Should this group take control of our government, America may be finished as a functioning Democracy. Remember they seem to already control SCOTUS.

So please do VOTE folks. It is your right, and your duty as Americans. VOTE these thugs out of power. Then perhaps America can begin to work on “fixing” SCOTUS—12 justices anyone???

So VOTE ON PLEASE.