WordWise's Blog

I am a proud product of, and happy participant in, a multi-cultural family. With diverse ethnic histories, assorted nationalities, varied religious philosophies, and differing sexual orientations, as a family, we have come together in loving support of one another.

 

Whether by choice, pairing with one who differs from us in some fashion or another, or by birth, born unto parents of such a pairing, we all have brought the world together into a melting pot of love.

 

Such is the story of America. Though not all pairings commenced with forethought of such a world, just such a world we have created. We must merely open our eyes to see it.

 

No, many did not foresee the results of their forced congregations and segregations. Their lack of vision failed to belie the human spirit’s adaptability and drive for happiness. And despite these results, there are those who continue to commit or protest wrongs of long ago. To what end, though?

 

Look into the face of your neighbor. See yourself in them, for there you exist. I am not so different than he or she than you. Neither purity of race, singleness of belief, nor sameness of spirit truly exist. Each of us carries the wholeness of God’s creation in a unique vessel. We differ. Six billion different people inhabit this planet and still we have not covered every possibility. We never will.

Yet, we’re all the same. I, as you, am one piece in the most awesome puzzle ever to exist. I must do my part to complete it. I must coexist with each of the others to form this humanity.

 

The concepts of racism, nationalism, sexism, or ageism cannot exist in this puzzle if we are to become the people we are meant to be. No football team will win with only quarterbacks, no basketball team with only centers. Our differences are what make us better, more capable. We must embrace them to move ahead as individuals, as communities, as a nation, and as a people.

God bless America!

As a people, we Americans are not perfect. We are responsible for electing a president who has lied and declared an illegal war. A president whose lack of vision and greed blinds him to the dreadful economic situation he has lead us to.

Yes, we are imperfect, but are we unworthy of salvation?

Senator Obama's pastor, Rev. Wright, has called for God to damn this country. He has pushed civil rights back to the '50s, with his anti-white rhetoric, and he has incited the lunatic fringe to a mouth-frothing anti-patriotism.

Obama, who has undoubtedly sat through countless sermons of vile hatred and loathing, now politely excuses himself from the fracas. A wholly political move, during a difficult contest for delegates.

Please forgive my naivete, but if we are to respect his judgment, which is all he's got to run on, how can we respect his twisting and turning to extract himself from his previous decisions? Is he so gullible that he becomes a follower of an anti-US religious leader? Will he Jihad against America, to console the demands of the master of his eternal soul? Probably not, but who wants to find out?

America has stood as the humanitarian example to the world, for two centuries. We have shame in our past, but we accept responsibility for our wrongs and change our ways to better the world in which we live.

No, God, please don't damn us. We are sinners, but please forgive us as you've promised, when we atone for our sins. Please, God, bless the United States of America.

Can I get an Amen?

As oil prices reach record highs, trickle-down economics cause the average driver to review their travel options. No longer able to afford a “Sunday drive,” as when I was a kid, most of us are merely looking for ways to save money on our required commutes. Getting to and from work is now becoming a challenge for your average worker and the 1980s promise of “telecommuting” has yet to catch on.

 

Green vehicles, which use little or no fossil fuels, are slowly making their way onto the streets, but the numbers are so small they’re having very little effect on reducing greenhouse gasses, though they may save their owners at the pump. But, what happens if gas prices keep going up?

 

Greed, one of the aptly named seven deadly sins, by OPEC and the oil companies, who’ve made record profits and now refuse to increase oil production, may well be the catalyst to the changes we need in this world. $4-$5.00 a gallon gas will create such a burden on the average commuter that alternative transportation will become more than just a good idea for the environment, it will become necessary, just to survive.

 

“Necessity is the mother of invention” and as it becomes necessary to invent new renewable and affordable alternatives to gasoline power, the demand for oil will quickly drop, causing the oil barons to up production and lower prices. Sticking with the greener and cheaper technologies will eventually land these oil conglomerates right where they belong – sinking in the tar pits and facing extinction, a just and ironic fate.

There are some who question whether Senator John McCain is eligible to be president, based on the requirement to be a "natural-born citizen." How absurd!

While serving our country, his father was stationed at the Panama Canal, a then US Territory. John was born on a US military base, which would also be enough to qualify him, because he was born to US citizens.

McCain served in the military, during the war in Vietnam, where he was captured and tortured as a POW. Many of his fellows never came home from that ugly war and surviving a tour in 'nam qualifies one as a hero...surviving captivity and torture, by the NVA, ups the ante.

This man has served the United States his entire life and paid more dearly for his freedom than 99% of us. He is eminently qualified, based on citizenship rules. It is yet to be seen, however, if he qualifies based on his politics and policies.

Below are a few paragraphs of interest, from MSNBC:

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, people are born U.S. citizens if they are born in the U.S. or their parents are U.S. citizens. The question arises because Article II of the Constitution limits the office of president to a "natural-born citizen," a term on which the Founding Fathers did not elaborate.

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a prominent backer of Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama, introduced legislation Thursday that would define a "natural-born citizen" as anyone born to any U.S. citizen while serving in the active or reserve components of the U.S. armed forces. Obama's campaign announced late Thursday that he will co-sponsor the bill.

"Those who serve and sacrifice for their country, like John McCain and his father, deserve every honor and privilege that our nation can possibly provide, and that includes the ability to run for the highest office in the land," Obama said in a statement.

The very vocal "anti-crime" governor of New York, Elliott Spitzer, got caught with his errr..."hand" in the errr..."cookie jar" so to speak.

He had a tryst with an expensive out-of-state call girl, which was exposed through a secret government wire-tap (I'm sure I've got another blog in me about that issue), who charged $1000/hr and had a minimum four hour rule. Spitzer only spent an hour with the girl, though rumor has it, even that was 45 minutes more than he needed. Allegedly (I learned to use that word from Kathy Griffin) the governor paid her $4300. It seems he's not a very good tipper, either.

The real issue here, in my opinion, is that those who speak the loudest against their chosen evils, so often seem to be distracting us from their own dalliances in those very sins. Outspoken TV preachers are exposed as fraternizing with ladies of the evening and, though Jesus befriended Mary Magdalene, these self-idolizing preachers are most certainly not walking in his footsteps. Or they proclaim homosexuality is a mortal sin, but are found to be partying their way through the gay circuit scene, smoking meth naked with other men.

Real men, like my pastor from my youth, my dad, and my brothers, will tell you that any time someone points a finger, three point back at them. They quote, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." They admit to their humanity, they love unconditionally, they live their lives honestly, and they let others live openly and freely.

Cowards and power-mad bullies point at others and declare themselves innocent, all the while raping the very morality they claim to be protecting.

God bless Governor Spitzer, for he lifts the rest of us up and disproves classism and elitism, by lowering the powerful to their true humanity.

Curiously missing from today's congressional hearings on the mortgage catastrophe, wherein the heads of several sub-prime mortgage lending institutions were grilled by our own Rep. Henry Waxman, was billionaire Roland Arnal.

Arnal was the sole owner of Ameriquest Mortgage Company, the leading sub-prime lender, during the incredible growth of that shady brand of mortgage lending. Once a major contributor to all issues Democratic, his switch to donating millions to George W. Bush landed him a gig as Ambassador to the Netherlands. Not the toughest job around, considering that the Netherlands is a nice toothless US lapdog.

The other CEOs answered to committees and shareholders, whereas Arnal answered only to his wife, Dawn, whose function was to decorate the offices of Ameriquest, Argent Mortgage, Town and Country, Long Beach Acceptance Corp., and AMC Mortgage Services. He made money hand over fist, while paying little to those who toiled under him, as he lobbied for looser regulations for his predatory products.

He catered to the greedy: under-qualified buyers with big eyes, shrewd but ethically-questionable investors, and politicians with re-election dreams.

But, alas, he was nowhere around when Congress decided to ask why so many lending bosses made so many millions, while their customers suffered so much.

You and I should have no part in any "bail-out" of this mortgage mess. Every lobbyist-loving politician, every Rolls-riding mob-boss, and every ethic-eliminating investor needs to start writing checks, because THEY'RE the ones who profited from these deals.

The lovely Jillian Reynolds answers viewers' questions mornings on Good Day LA. She's been asked everything from what to do about jealous friends to how to get back into a favorite pair of retired jeans.

Her standard answer is something along the lines of, and I paraphrase, "I don't know...who am I to say...figure it out for yourself." And why not? I mean think about it, people on the street are having personal issues, in their lives, and they're expecting to get the answers from a TV weathergirl.

Jillian is a beautiful woman with a hunky husband and an adorable daughter. She's got a couple good jobs, at least during football season, which afford her a nice house in an upscale neighborhood and money to shop.

If you're going to ask her a question, you might want to zero in on her fields of expertise, like, "Where can I get a pair of affordable Manolos?" or "How do I lose my baby weight, like you did?"

For other subjects, refer to the above standard responses. Cuz let's face it folks, nobody wants to wake up to Dr. Phil's ugly mug first thing in the morning.

"For the way he dressed."

 

That was a parent's response, when asked why he thought a fifteen year old boy was shot in the head, by a fourteen year old classmate, in Oxnard.

 

The parent was in disbelief that this could be anyone's reason for this horribly violent act. And rightfully so. There's no sane person in the world who could possibly justify such a thing.

 

So, where did the shooter get his twisted reasoning? Who is more bizarre...a kid who wears flamboyant clothing or the kid who feels it's okay to shoot him?

 

While the fifteen year old recovers, in the hospital, and the fourteen year old sits behind bars, someone should be hunting down the real perpetrators in this heinous crime. The people who provided the home life that made a kid think it was okay to “kill the different”. The people who supplied the gun and the values. The shooter's parents.

 

 

I grew up wanting to be a cop, like my dad. I became a Law Enforcement Explorer Scout and spent five years working with, patrolling with, and being trained by the local police department, in rural Oregon. It was a great experience.

Unfortunately, I slowly started seeing reasons to lose respect for some of these cops. Confiscating drugs, but never citing or arresting the offender or reporting the incident. Pepper spraying a defenseless teenager, who was passed out drunk, in the holding cell, just for laughs.

Eventually, I applied for a job as a deputy sheriff, in southern California, passed all the tests and faced the oral review board for final decision. In the interview, it came to light that I'd be required to make a show of force for non-violent incidents, during my first year as a jailer. That meant beating them for mouthing off and that was the end of my career in law enforcement.

Not all cops are creeps and these gals and guys risk their lives to protect us, in many situations. But, the old adage, "Give 'em and inch and they'll take a mile" is true for some who are entrusted with the power of the badge. They can’t seem to remove their personal issues from their professional responsibilities.

This Baltimore cop was nothing more than a bully picking on the weak. He should not only be fired, but prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We must hold our cops to higher standards. They should all strive to match the status of Randy Simmons and Jim Veenstra, the LAPD SWAT officers who were shot in the line of duty, while attempting to rescue a hostage.

Every cop in America should demand that this “veteran Baltimore cop” be drummed out, because it’s guys like this that make it harder for the good ones to earn respect from the communities they serve.

Natalie Cole was a whiney mess over Amy Winehouse’s Grammy wins. The once upon a time talented daughter of Nat King Cole, whose battles with substance abuse are well known, was very clear on her dissatisfaction with Winehouse’s five Grammy Awards. According to Cole, “You don’t award [sic] bad behavior.” She stated that Amy should get her act together before she gets a Grammy.

 

Obviously unable to separate professional accomplishment from personal behavior, Cole spewed sour grapes, regarding Winhouse’s overly-publicized struggle with drug addiction.

 

On the other hand, Kanye West, whose mother passed away after elective plastic surgery, seemed to feel overly deserving of his Grammies. His rambling and rude acceptance speech and refusal to get off the stage when the music started up, belied his apparent self-important stature. Later, when he didn’t win Album of the Year, he sat in disbelief as Herbie Hancock accepted his Grammy. If Natalie spewed sour grapes, Kanye spat raisins.

 

So, does a Grammy reflect a performers talent or is it a popularity contest for the politically correct? Did Obama win a Grammy because his recording was the best or because he’s a black man running for president? Should Amy Winhouse get overlooked because she’s on drugs or do we recognize her talent? Does Kanye get special treatment because his mother died or should he be held to the same standards as others?

 

Perhaps Natalie Cole should run away and join the Cirque de Soleil. After all, both their performances were atrocious. Nat Cole and John Lennon are probably spinning in their graves.

Just as the US Navy admits to being unsure of the true source of a recent threatening radio transmission, previously credited to Iranian speedboats, in the Strait of Hormuz, Bush now calls Iran, “…the world’s leading state sponsor or terror.”

Meanwhile, in Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf, who many believe had a role in the assassination of rival Benazir Bhutto, warns the US to stay out of his country, where it is almost certain that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda are holed up.

Pakistan, a highly volatile nation, with nukular (sic) weapons, is, no doubt protecting the single most dangerous man in the world, while Iran, with no present nuclear capability, has oil and fears, rightfully so, a US invasion.

Bush’s foreign policy has maintained a single strategy, during his overly long term in office; bullying the defenseless. Just when Iraq began to open its doors to forced inspections to determine if it had WMDs, Bush invaded, claiming he had proof that they did. Now, a bogus radio transmission, possibly from a young US sailor having a go at his buddies, leads Bush to more lies about another oil rich nation.

There’s little doubt that Saddam Hussein was a threat to neighboring countries and peace in general, or that his fall from power was overdue, but to imagine that toppling his regime would halt terrorism, was pure fantasy. Completing a war started by his daddy, getting control of more oil fields, and beating a far less-capable foe, were all the incentive GW needed, to invade Iraq.

Now, while on a “peace mission” to the middle-east, Bush is calling upon our allies to take action against Iran, who, ironically, is well stocked with American arms, which we supplied for their fight against none other than Iraq. Perhaps the president sees Iran as his Swan Song, his one good deed before it’s all over. I hardly think so. Since we recently became assured that Iran has no nukes, now would be the right time for Bush to invade and continue his foreign policy, before he’s booted from office and a sane person (we hope) takes over.

Al Qaeda, it’s stronghold on the Afghan/Pakistan border, is free to move between the two countries, now that it is protected by Musharraf. Osama and his entourage seem to have set up a recording studio that would make P Diddy jealous, deep in the WMD protected hills of Pakistan. Of course, George W. Bush, evader of personal military service, has turned the other cheek, when it comes to Pakistan. He’s apparently incapable of negotiation or diplomacy and evidently knows better than to threaten a country who has any kind of real defense.

The real threat of terror runs free and, as bullies so often do, Bush is lashing out at the weaker Iran.

CONCEPT

The head of the oxymoronically named Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, is calling for each state to develop a “federally approved” method for identifying its citizens. Implementation will be in stages, but is to be completed by 2017.

These federal IDs are designed to reduce the risk of identity theft, halt illegal immigration and, more importantly, remove the possibility of terrorists boarding domestic flights.

The plan is to require each state to create a system for verifying the identity of every person who applies for, or renews, a state identification card or driver license. To be approved by the feds, each ID card/license would have to incorporate the latest in high-tech anti-forgery methods, meet requirements for approved sources of proof of citizenship or legal status, and each form of proof would have to undergo individual verification. Also, each issuing facility would have to comply with strict security demands.

Seventy-three percent of the $14.6 billion cost for these new requirements would come from the federal government, the other nearly $4 billion, from the states.

Sounds like a GREAT idea! At least until one considers the actuality of it all.

 

TECHNOLOGY

 

The project management aspect of such a lofty goal is so incredibly daunting that there is no way for this to work, without a complete refit of federal, state, county, local, and private date collection, storage, and retrieval mechanisms.

 

ID theft is a real and growing problem, because every person, business, and government group has different processes and different applications on diverse operating systems, across a variety of networks. We can store data on a secure computer, locked in a vault, buried in a bunker, and guarded by attack dogs, but as soon as the data is called up by a remote user, who requires it to conduct business, all bets are off.

 

So, how do we change the systems that are already in place, in all fifty states, in each state’s field offices, and make the data match and secure it? Not in this decade, if ever.

 

An extremely small percentage, of humans, has been born, since any kind of data security was created. An even smaller group was born in a country, state, and city where such security existed and only a fraction of that group was born in a place that had implemented any.

 

 

 

THE HUMAN ELEMENT

 

Most existing “proof of citizenship documents” are paper and easily forgeable. Even the poorly forged documents will get past the highly overworked and under trained DMV staff, who are notorious for being thoroughly disinterested in their jobs, in the first place.

 

Can we somehow retrain the thousands and thousands of DMV workers around the country, to be experts in determining fraudulent documents? They’d need to be able to identify a legitimate document, whether from Podunk County, Mississippi, circa 1930, or BFE, Idaho, circa 1999, or any other federal, state, and county documents from any other year?

 

It’s impossible, but what if we could? To comply with the DHS, each proof document would then be stored, physically and/or electronically at great expense and risk (see data security, above).

 

Then each Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) or Social Security Number (SSN) would have to be verified, through the federal social security administration (SSA), which has been known to cause the occasional SNAFU. There are a number of legal visitors and citizens who were issued multiple TINs or SSNs and, as anyone who’s had to deal with the SSA knows, it can take months to get verifications from them.

 

 

 

DANGER FROM WITHIN

 

An ominous sounding header, but it’s important to know that some of the most heinous attacks, on US soil, came, not from illegal intruders, but from outsiders with legal status, US veterans, preachers, and students.

 

Those who perpetrated the 9/11/2001 attacks were in the US legally and had all the right paperwork. With a legitimately obtained REAL ID, they would be allowed on a domestic flight.

 

Timothy McVeigh, an honorably discharged Gulf War soldier, registered Republican, and card carrying NRA member, killed 168 people, when he blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, in Oklahoma City. With a legitimately obtained REAL ID, he would be allowed on a domestic flight.

 

Prior to bombing the federal building, McVeigh visited Waco, TX, during the Waco Siege, where David Koresh and the Branch Davidian fought it out with the feds, resulting in the death of 76 people, including 21 children. With a legitimately obtained REAL ID, Koresh would be allowed on a domestic flight.

 

Seung-Hui Cho, a student at Virginia Tech, killed 27 students and 6 faculty members. He wounded an additional 17 students and six were hurt trying to escape. He had high-tech security key card access to the college and, with a legitimately obtained REAL ID, he would be allowed on a domestic flight.

 

 

 

TERRORISM WINS

 

While regurgitating his pro-war rhetoric, GW claimed that we would not allow the terrorists to scare us into changing the way we live, that we would continue to enjoy our freedoms. Yet it seems that at every turn, we are losing our liberties. Our young soldiers are dying, our phones, mail, and electronic communications are no longer private, and now, as we head into what could be one of the worst economic downturns in US history, we are being forced to fund ridiculous programs that have more of a chance to backfire and worsen the Identity Theft crisis, than to succeed.

 

 

 

CHECK PLEASE

 

Mr. Chertoff, REAL ID is good, in concept, but you need a reality check. We just can’t afford your billion dollar boondoggle. REALLY!

Are we being Bush-whacked into another war, in the Persian Gulf, or are the Iranians trying to get some understanding from the American people, on one hand, as when President Ahmadinejad visited Columbia University, while on the other hand they're trying to provoke us into a war?

1. Bush threatens Iran that further antagonizing the US military will have serious consequences.

2. Iran claims that the recent video of speedboats taunting US naval warships is a hoax.

The first thing that crosses my mind, and what a shame it is, is that we can’t believe our own president.

Let's face it, Bush's credibility, when it come to threats against our national security, is severely lacking. We've lost thousands of young soldiers, because of a war he declared, based on lies and poor intelligence about Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), in Iraq.

Secondly, when I first watched the video, I was a little skeptical about its authenticity, even before Iran insisted that it was a fraud. It must be truly frightening to be a young sailor, in the Persian Gulf, and have Iranian speedboats quickly closing in on your position, threatening to “explode in a few minutes”, but there were a couple things that confused me.

Why didn’t the ships fire on the boats, when they claimed they would explode and before they got so close?

The US sailor, on the radio, states that the boats are unidentified, so why do we believe that they are Iranian?

The speedboats allegedly respond, in English, that they are coming for the ships and that they will explode, but when was the last time that any imminent threat to our military was broadcast?

During the alleged radio transmission, from the speedboats that we can see are bouncing across the waves, we hear a clear male voice with no apparent background noise from the boat, the waves, or the wind. Neither do we hear any staggered breathing, from the person sending the message, as might be present if someone were being jostled about in such a circumstance.

I’m no forensic expert, nor am I a conspiracy theorist. I’m just a concerned American, who is sick of the Bush wars and who has grown skeptical of the current administration.

My lack of trust was planted and cultivated by Bush and his group of bad karma gardeners. I just pray that there’s enough courage in the Senate and House to keep this Bush free of weeds, until he’s uprooted once and for all.

This morning, I awoke bleery-eyed and lazily ambled to the kitchen for my coffee. As usual, I clicked on the big-screen, to Fox11, as I passed through the living room. The room flashed from dawn's early light to bright orange, nearly blinding me as though I were staring directly into the sun.

Turned out to be Jill's face with her gawdy new fake-bake, looking more shocking and unreal than Steve's over-tan and invisible goatee combo. Dorothy, on the other hand, seemed pale in comparison, her freckles dancing delicately across the screen.

My significant other, an accomplished and talented makeup artist, stated, "Jillian is so bronzy and with those white lips, she looks like a Bronze Bombshell".

Jill, we love you and we want you to always look your best. Please feel free to drop in at the MAC Store, in Mission Viejo. Eddie will hook a sister up!

As we saw, Senator Hillary Clinton had feelings about her convictions and her decision to run. How anyone sees that as a breakdown or personality flaw, is beyond me. It's good to know her purpose is heart-felt. I doubt any of us can say we don't get a lump in our throats or a tear in our eye, when we think of the things in which we truly believe and to which we are truly committed. I think any politician worth a damn should be doing so in a more selfless manner. To run for office simply to gain power or for financial reasons is 180 degrees out of phase with the requirements of office.

The desire for power is evident in many species, but none more so than in humans. It's just much simpler for lions. Their less-complex existence means that the tougher more fierce lion gets to lead the pride. Fortunately, or not, we have become more civilized (allegedly) and our method for selecting a leader requires that we weed out those with ill intent. A daunting task, n'est ce pas? Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men? I doubt even the Shadow knows, for sure.

So, maybe we shouldn't pay our already wealthy representatives so much and then provide them with paid housing and outrageous benefits like free travel, food, and office space (with offices or retreats in multiple locations). But, it is we who continue to allow them to legislate such perks.

Elections will always be a matter of selecting the lesser of two (or seven or eight or ten) evils, simply because there are SO many issues to deal with. This is why we have to prioritize the issues that matter to us, determine which candidate supports our critical views, and vote for the one with whom we are most closely aligned.

For instance, I'd love for gay marriage bills to be passed, but I won't vote for a candidate based on that issue, unless they also support my views on things like Iraq, Afghanistan, health care, etc. I'd rather have a strong, healthy, and financially secure nation, than to be able to see my Eddie in a wedding dress.

We must use our rights, if we are not to lose our rights. Politics can be very frustrating and delving into the issues of the day can be very time-consuming, but, for many of us, it's the only service we must provide to our country.

None of these candidates, who spit out the word "change", has any better chance of living up to their promises than any of the others, but if we all make it known that we are dissatisfied with the status quo, changes will occur.

We just need to keep reminding the politicians that they serve at OUR pleasure, not we at theirs.