Amended NYE Resolution

In 2008, I resolve not to respond to (IMHO) inflammatory emails sent by well-meaning though (again IMHO) politically erroneous friends. I further resolve not to send or forward political emails to those friends I know disagree with the content.

The New Year and beyond...

My New Year’s Resolution, which will only be made public here, is to not send or respond to any political emails. I can often get VERY intense in my writing and wondering how it will affect my friendships causes me too much personal stress. In face to face discussions there is immediate feedback and I can live with that. Anyone who wants to know my electronic opinion will have to read it here.

Will I keep this rather high-minded resolution? Time will tell...

In that vein, Wonkette recently posted this, detailing Bush’s possible escape plan to Paraguay. While I try to view everything with a large grain of salt, I think, based on his track record, it is just as likely as not that Wonkette's post is viable. Again, time will tell...

What Would Lennon Do?

December 8, 1980, Minneapolis, Minnesota

On this day so many years ago, my girlfriend at the time, Seattle Kathy, and I, were enjoying dinner with a friend of hers, Paul, who was and is a stained glass artist. We ate well, and laughed often. At one point in the meal, Paul turned to me and told me to ask how business was. I dutifully asked, “How’s business?” To which he replied, “Business is fine.” When I asked him why he’d made the request he told me that, now, he could deduct the cost of our fine repast.

So we had another fine laugh at the irony of these three former would-be hippies enjoying a meal on the taxpayers’ dime. Kathy and I went home to our basement apartment stuffed and satisfied.

As was our custom as soon as we got home we turned on the radio, which was playing a song by John Lennon... and another... and another... and another. After our curiosity was aroused, the deejay finally came on with the news that John Lennon, our hero, had been gunned down by a “deranged fan” earlier that evening as he and Yoko Ono returned to their apartment in the Dakota Lofts.

And our lives were changed forever.

After I got over the initial shock I went to a nearby late night record store and along with a few other quietly sad people, I purchased a copy of “Double Fantasy,” the last record Lennon would ever make.

In one of the many inevitable tributes to Lennon, the local rock radio station began playing a Lennon song at the top of every hour. I was working as a pinball machine mechanic at the time and the station played over the speaker system in the warehouse we worked in. So, once an hour, for weeks, it seemed, I would find myself almost at the point of tears, or at the very least, profoundly saddened at the death of one of the few human beings I regard as a hero, albeit flawed.

Many times over the intervening years since I’ve listened to Lennon’s work and drawn inspiration from his music and lyrics. I’ve been to exhibits of his art and been amazed at the diversity of his life and interests. And always, there’s been an element of sadness.

And in these turbulent and often scary times, I’ve asked the inevitable question that titles this post: What would Lennon do?

I can’t say for sure, of course, but I feel in my heart of hearts that Lennon would have hated this war, this administration, this Britney-oriented pop culture we live in. I believe he would have written music decrying the mess America has become thanks to the Bush administration. I believe he would have joined his contemporaries Neil Young and John Fogerty, among others, in denouncing the oil companies’ excessive profits and disregard for humanity. I believe he would have joined should-be-President Al Gore in calling for care for the fragile planet we live on.

But most of all, I believe John Lennon would have told us that there is always hope. I believe he would have continued to tell us simply to:

Imagine.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Signs of future life...

The LA Times reported recently that humans are still evolving and evolving at 100 times the rate of historic levels, beginning with the advent of the agricultural revolution.

Which brings me to one of my favorite wacky theories... that of the indigo children, about which more than you could want to know can be found here.

I truly believe that the human species is on the cusp of something quite incredible. Considering that people in general, and particularly in the First World, are eating better and enjoying better health care than at any time in history, it makes sense that the species is near an evolutionary jump of some sort. I believe that this jump will include greater empathy even unto something that may well pass for telepathy, longer life span and greater intelligence.

Sometime in the middle late seventies I saw Timothy Leary give one of his rock-star-like performances at the University of Houston. Waxing eloquently as only he could he regaled us with the inevitability of mankind’s move into space, vastly improved intelligence through genetics and computer assistance, and the lengthening of lifespan through improvements in sanitation and medicine. Speaking in advanced hyperbolic mode he told the cheering crowd that “this is the first generation that need not die.” He summed this all up with an acronym: SMI2LE (please imagine the “2” in superscript).

SMI2LE, he told us, stood for Space Migration, Increased Intelligence and Life Extension. The first, he charged, was made inevitable by the other two factors, which are the direct result of, computer assistance aside, advances in health, nutrition and medicine.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

The logical genetic result of the incredible advances in health care, nutrition and medicine, particularly neonatal medicine, is going to be an ever increasing rate of human evolution. Hence, phenomena such as the indigo children, which are characterized by, among other things, empathy bordering on telepathy, intuitive power, a strong sense of entitlement and self-definition and a propensity to be drawn to spiritual matters and mysteries, the paranormal and the occult.

To be sure, as critics have pointed out, many of the characteristics associated with indigo children are applicable to children as a whole. But I think that is belaboring the point. Proponents of the theory of the indigo children say many have been “misdiagnosed” as having Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and also Autism.

The question I have there is, isn’t it just possible that medical and mental science is not seeing these children for what they may well be... signs of the future?

Signs of life...

On Monday the 11th, New Jersey moved closer to becoming the 14th state to abolish the death penalty, the first state to do so since 1964. It's a simple issue really, and should be no problem for right-to-lifers in particular, as the bottom line on both the death penalty and abortion is, put simply, life is either sacred or it's not.

Before the death penalty proponents jump on me, there are a couple things they should consider.

How much deterrence does the death penalty provide? If a miscreant KNOWS s/he is going to die fro his/her crimes, where is the incentive to hold back? If you've already killed one Texas Ranger, and God help you if you do, what's to stop you from killing another or anyone else that gets in your way? Life in prison is a far worse and more real punishment than being strapped to a gurney and ushered out of everyone's pain.

Am I saying that a full-bore Texas Ranger killer is the same as an embryo? Of course not. I am saying that criminals deserve real punishment, not a free lift into whatever afterlife exists.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to point out that I am pro-choice.

So, how do I justify my pro-choice stance with my belief that life is sacred?

Like it or not, an embryo is, to use incendiary language, a parasite. It is NOT a living breathing choice-making entity.

In further disclosure, I will say that while I am pro-choice,  meaning I believe women should have control over what happens to their bodies, I am anti-abortion, meaning if the choice is mine a baby will be born. It goes without saying I hope never to be confronted with the choice.

But this entry is about signs of life. Here's another:



Al Gore and a boatload of scientists have been officially given the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their work bringing the issue of global warming to the forefront of human consciousness... where it would have been years ago had Bush and the neoconservative mob not stolen the 2000 election.

At this point, it is unrealistic to expect Gore to run for the presidency in 2008. The country and the world are worse off for that fact. Gore apparently thinks he can do more for the cause as a private citizen than as president... which I find hard to believe. I'm fairly sure a President Al Gore would have been at the United Nations Framework Convention on Global Warming this week in Bali.

The sitting President, meanwhile, continues to deny that global warming is real, and continues to thwart any efforts to combat it. It doesn't take much of a leap to know he's doing so at the behest of the oil lobby.